I knew that there had been an influx of talent, but I didn’t realize how significant it has been.

Consider the New Jersey Nets, on pace to have the worst season in NBA history.

Even THE NETS have 2 All-Star caliber players (Lopez and Harris), the starting shooting guard from an NBA conference champion (Courtney Lee), plus some solid rotation players (CDR, Yi Jianlian, Terrence Williams).

Would you rather have that team, or your 2006-2007 Lakers (Kobe, LO, Kwame, VladRad, Smush Parker)?

It’s a truism that on any given night, any team in the NBA can beat any other team. There’s that much talent going around now.

By the way, when Fisher comes up, Kobe often mentions that he respects Derek because “he’s as competitive as I am”. That makes it possible to believer that Fisher wants to win as much as he does, and that, I think, is how you earn Kobe’s trust. By proving that you’re willing to fight as hard to win as he is, that you want it as badly, as passionately, as pathologically as he does.

Pau is however a very good second-in-command. He can move the ball, play in the paint, he rebounds, he passes, he scores when we need him to. When he’s on the floor things flow smoother.

As for additional warriors on the team: Artest. Before he developed the feet problems, got a concussion and now stomache flu, he was diving for loose balls, fighting for rebounds, and played with pretty much the same intensity as Kobe. I have no doubt that once he recovers and his energy levels go back up to normal, Ron the Rottweiler will be back in his full glory.

I really didn’t like the idea of him coming to the Lakers, but I’m starting to warm up to the guy. He’s a fighter, in the good sense of the word.

David Ricardo laid out the theory of comparative advantage and applied it to trade. He posited that even if one nation was more inefficient than a second at creating either of two products, if the first nation was better at creating one product than it was at the second, both nations would still benefit.

Now, I’m going to make up numbers for an artificial scenario with Fisher and Farmar. Let’s assume that 25 minutes of Fisher with the first team yields 10 ‘units of basketball value’ and 20 minutes of Farmar with the second team yields 20 ‘units’. Now, giving Farmar 25 minutes with the first team he produces 25 units while Fisher in 20 minutes with the second team only produces 1 unit. In other words, the drop off from Fisher working fewer minutes with the second team is more than the gain produced.
Looking at some possible sources of Fisher’s value to the team : 3 point shooting when left open, ability to inspire trust from Kobe, ability to make a defensive stop or two in a system, possibility of running the offense, these would seem to be strengths that are more valuable with the first team.
[Asides : For: Luke provides the second team the same steadiness and "run the system" that Fisher does and Luke could not step into Fisher's role in the first team.
Against: Then again, it doesn't seem as if Fisher actually runs the offense, it seems as if Kobe does what Kobe wants, either way.
Further : I would suggest that giving Farmar 36-40 minutes is also a worse option as is Farmar is not yet ready for 36-40+ minutes and would have poor effects on the team play
Further : Brown is not a replacement for Fisher/Farmar
Finally : ~6 minutes playing time is usually not enough for most players who need more time to settle into a rhythm ]

Note that this argument is not conclusive, as there are always “fudge factors” I have ignored. (Kobe/Odom running the offense, reducing Fisher’s minutes, etc). I do suggest that this could be a significant reason behind Phil’s decisions, though.

[And yes, I *am* ignoring the 5 man lineup plus minus statistics for the Lakers, which would be relevant if this decision were primarily about the statistics and not about the general nature of the reasoning]

Miami actually LOST the game because D Wade:

1) only scored two points after halftime,

2) missed two free throws with less than a minute left in the game, and

3) made the ill-advised behind the back pass with less than 10 seconds in the game.

As good as he was in the first half, he negated all of it in the last minute.

Isn’t that the reason we are here? We voice what we feel is the issue and discuss it with one another. We know we don’t have a say and what the Buss’ family and Mitch will do. We just share ideas on what we would do or what our concerns are. THIS is a Laker fan site and I come here to vent.

Give Bynum and Gasol 4 more touches each per game. Take those touches away from Kobe (2), Farmar (2), Brown (2), Artest (1) and Fisher (1).

With the high percentage both Bynum and Gasol convert, that is essentially giving away 7 points (+/- 1 point) and getting 11 points (+/- 1 point).

Based on True Shooting % it is really just that simple.