Now that we’ve been talked off the Kobe ledge and feel reasonably comfortable with Odom’s role, let’s move on to something less fun … statistical analysis. What follows is my attempt to weed through stats from last year and projections for this year and draw a few conclusions about the team’s likely performance. I recognize […]
Know Your Enemy: The Phoenix Suns
This is the latest in a series here at FB&G that will run through the start of the season, focusing on some of the top teams in the West and maybe a couple from the East. Today we talk about recent rivals — the Suns. — Reed Last Season Record: 55-27 (sixth seed, but had […]
Breaking Down Team USA
Due to particularly oppressive slave-driving from The Man, I was not able to watch any of the Team USA exhibition games. However, my good friend Kyle (my arch nemesis during hundreds of heated and poorly played pickup games during law school), has been breaking down the games and roster in a series of long emails […]
Slot Machine
How much is a stubborn, awkward head-band-sporting Machine worth? Unfortunately, that has become a complicated, perhaps even messy, question and one that must be answered by Mitch in the next few days. I’m not going to delve into the suddenly competitive Euro market issue, as that’s been covered deeply elsewhere. What I do want to […]
Preview and Chat: the Dallas Mavericks
(I’m tied up at work today, so this will be brief. Fill in thoughts in the comments. –Reed) Records: Lakers 51-24 (3 seed); Mavs 47-28 (7 seed) Offensive Ratings: 114.2 (3rd); 112.8 (8th) Defensive Ratings: 107.2 (6th); 106.9 (5th) Projected Lineups: Lakers: Fisher, Kobe, Radmanovic, Odom, Gasol; Dallas: Kidd, Terry, Howard, Dirk, Dampier Dallas Coming […]
Preview and Chat: the Portland Trailblazers
Records: Lakers 50-24 (3 seed), Portland 38-36 (trying to finish above .500) Offensive Ratings: Lakers 109.6 (3rd), Portland 104.1 (15th) Defensive Ratings: Lakers 102.9 (6th) Portland 105.3 (18th) Projected Lineups: Lakers- Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Vlad Rad, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol Blazers- Steve Blake, Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, Lamarcus Aldridge, Joel Pryzbilla Gasol is Back! […]
Building a Champion: Redux
Last July, when we were all frantically in GM and trade machine mode, I wrote an article called, “Building a Champion,†where I tried to analyze what went into the title teams of the last 10 years and how the Lakers matched up. The big picture points: (1) Title teams need 2-3 stars who complement […]
Preview and Chat: Seattle Sonics
Records: Lakers: 47-21 (1 seed); Sonics: 16-52 (Hoping for Beasley). Lakers Offense: 113.8 pts per possession (4th); Lakers Defense: 106.5 pts per possession (6th). Sonics Offense: 101.4 pts per possession (30th); Sonics Defense: 109 pts per possession 110.8 (23rd). Starting Five Lakers: Odom, Vlad, Turiaf, Kobe, Fish. Starting Five Sonics: Green, Wilcox, Petro, Durant, Watson. […]