http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2010/03/18/facing-a-zone-looking-at-the-lakers-zone-offense/

Personally I’d rather see the rotation stay as is for the playoffs. I don’t mind him getting 5-10 minutes a game but no more. I really don’t think he’s a very good defender. He looks like he’s trying hard but he makes dumb fouls and still can’t stop any dribble penetration. Plus, I still can’t get that image out of my head from 2 years ago in the finals when Paul Pierce dribbled right past him to cap off a huge run the C’s put on the Lakeshow. He’s supposed to be a shooter and I don’t think he’s shot well for 2 full seasons now. I wish we would have paid Turiaf. Everyone always thinks the Lakers need a 3-point specialist but They’ve won 4 titles in the past decade without one.

As for the rest of the team; I think Lamar and Ronald Artest are playing very well in the past few W’s also. Their numbers don’t stand out but they are doing exactly what the team needs them to do. I’m not yet sold on the bigs’ improved performance because their past 3 wins have been over teams with weak frontcourts.

All of what was written sounds negative but I really think that in a week or two the Lakeshow is going to get rolling and the rest of the league will be worried. They haven’t showed barely any intensity all season and you know they will eventually when they start smelling playoffs.

But he’s not the best shooter. Not even on his own team. He has the greatest arsenal of shots, but that doesn’t make him the best shooter.

http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2010/03/18/3297/

Right now, he is very lethal and his presence alone makes us difficult to beat, but he is able to take another step.

Now that step would probably be against his being, and thus incredibly difficult and probably impossible until circumstances force him to, but it’s worth daydreaming.

He could be saving tons of mileage by picking his spots more, or if Gasol becomes a bit more deserving, he could be channeling his defensive focus each game, playing Bruce Bowen like for 3 quarters and then becoming the Mamba for the fourth.

I mean, with Bynum, Gasol, Odom and Artest, I think Kobe *could* become Bowen-like, or even Trevor Ariza like for 3 quarters and we’ll still be in a position at the end of the 3rd where we won’t need the Mamba-mode in the 4th.

Not to mention that even when imitating Bowen, he’d still be an incredible threat to score and impossible to leave alone…

However, it’s easy to bash Kobe when you have charismatic people like Iverson and Shaq, an impressive dunker in Carter, someone who smiles a lot like T-mac. As for the Lebron vs Kobe arguement, I’d still choose a healthy Kobe over a healthy Lebron. Kobe was a beast early this season, but got hampered by a bunch of injuries.

Finally, what was begun so long ago shall now come to fruition! *fingers crossed*