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All Star Chat

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Just providing a place to talk All-Star weekend stuff.

I’ll start it off with a few thoughts:

1) I would have given the dunk contest to Howard, although Green was impressive.

2) I thought Kobe could pass?

3) I didn’t catch much of the Rookie/Sophomore game. How did Farmar look?


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Comments

  2. kwame a. says

    The Howard dunk was by far the best dunk of the nite, I thought it was really creative, plus he’s just a freak athleticly. Reminded me of when Shawn Kemp used to do the dunk contest, he would get shafted like that because he was taller than most of the competitors.

    Kurt- do you think this Kidd thing is gaining more traction?

  3. DR says

    Dwyane just did it perfectly, and Kobe didn’t. Another night would bring another outcome.

    The worst part of this is all the flack Kobe is getting for not being able to pass. Just another opportunity for the Kobe bashers.

    And there was Shaq on the sidelines grinning and slappin fives to his boys when Wade took it home.

  4. Renato Afonso says

    1 – NBA is so unfair… One small guy deserves bigger credit just because he’s small. It’s all about the dunk, not the person entering the competition. So it should have been between Howard and Green.

    2 – The first miss was just bad luck. And not even Steve Nash did that good last year…

    3 – The rooks just didn’t try. The game was the worst display of basketball in years. I wish they stopped doing this game.

    … What about Pippen’s possible comeback?

  5. AM says

    1) Howard should’ve at least made the finals over Robinson. Neither finalist really brought it on their last two dunks.

    2) FWIW, Kobe didn’t miss a pass in the first round, and led the field. That said, he had to go all Michael Cooper in the next round — and Michael Cooper went all “current, offensively-challenged Lakers squad” in the Shooting Stars competition!

    3) I thought Farmar looked good in the Rookie/Sophomore game, given that it was mostly the “Chris Paul & David Lee Festival of Assists & Dunks (featuring Monta Ellis)”. He wasn’t in the top tier of his team (Gay, Millsap), but he was comfortably in the second tier with Foye, Morrison, and Bargnani. The only thing that disconcerted me was that he had a couple of those lazy or telegraphed passes that he’s been making lately that were picked off.

  6. kwame a. says

    Rookie Sophomore game is atrocious, and unfortuntaley it is indicative of the way these younger players approach the game.

  7. Sanchez101 says

    Farmar looked ok, he made a handful of mistakes, namely getting hit pocket picked by Paul.

    His highlight was definitly his allyoop dunk – he really does have hops, he just doesn’t show it off as often as a lot of other guys. Charlie Rosen seems convined that Farmer his very limited atheletically and seems to mention that every chance he gets. Hollinger seems to disagree. Im not a scout so Im not going to pretend like I could judge athleticism.

  8. Kurt says

    Kwame A., I’m not sure how much traction the trade is gaining because it’s hard to tell who is keeping the rumor alive (aside Laker fans). I think the Lakers would do it in a heartbeat if Odom/Bynum are not part of the package, so maybe they quietly keep it alive. Maybe Kidd’s agent is doing it.

    I still just don’t see why the Nets would make this move. They want to move Carter, but Kidd seems to be less of a priority. I would not take the Kwame/Farmar/Mihm/McKie package for Kidd if I were them, that’s a lot of junk for a top point guard, even if what you want is cap room. I think you could do better.

    Also, Peter Vecsey (who published this rumor first in the mainstream media, Eric Pincus has mentioned it before) said that the Nets also want the Lakers to take on the fat Jason Collins contract too. Now that makes a little more sense to me if I’m the Nets, clearing out two big salaries. But the Lakers are rightfully balking at that. They’d be way over the luxury tax threshold with that and have a hard time building a team of roll players to go around their stars on the cheap.

  9. Kurt says

    As for Pippen. I would bring him in for a workout. See what kind of shape he’s in and if anything is left in the tank. Remember, this guy shot 42.5% (eFG%) and 27.3% from beyond the arc two years ago, before he went to sit on a couch. There may not be much if anything left. But, as he knows the offense as well as anyone, I’d take a look.

  10. Kurt says

    7. Tex Winter and other Laker brass have said Farmar’s athleticism tested off the charts at their workouts. I don’t think that’s his issue, I think he’s just adjusting to the game at the NBA level, and the grind that an 82-game season can be.

  14. AM says

    It’s funny that even All-Stars can go into the “stand around and watch Kobe” mode. Lest he be seen as a “ballhog”, though, he’s looking for cutters and has been on the giving end of some nice alley-oops.

  16. DrRayEye says

    This may be that last time this season to think of trades–but we need to be analytical and SHORT TERM in our thinking. From my perspective, if there were opportunities, the following players could be traded/released with no harm to the current Laker team this year:

    Shammond, McKie, Smush, Mihm, Cook.

    The only players that the Lakers need to acquire would be one (or two) point guard(s).

    I can’t imagine New Jersey accepting the above list of players for Jason Kidd–and going outside of or beyond that list would erode team depth/chemistry for the Lakers. Of course one could tinker with my list, but I personally would not trade the list of players mentioned by Kurt for Kidd–we need Kwame and Farmar this year still!

    Players like Scottie Pippin could be added–McKie could be released.

    It’s OK, but it is only a part of the answer. It’s dealing on the cheap and delaying a longer term solution for another year.

    I don’t have a name, but I think we could find one or two point guards and improve team balance against the list above– or adhere to a basketball “Hippocratic oath” and at least do no harm.

  18. skigi says

    During All-Star saturday night, when the shooting stars game was about to start… They announced on TNT that Smush is gonna play in the 3-on-3 for the LA Team in place of Lamar Odom because Odom is “injured”. Whats that all about? Did he get injured over the weekend? I heard Lamar on a radio show just this past week talking about how he was looking forward to playing in that game.

  19. Kurt says

    18. I have two guesses.

    1) Rather than put more strain on his knee, Odom decided to sit out.

    2) OThe Lakers heard nobody was going to play defense during this contest, so they thought Smush the perfect fit.

  22. Kurt says

    Man, sounds like just one of those freak things. Unless he was skiing. Not sure why else one would head to Park City on your days off, unless you like to look at women bundled up in a lot of clothing.

    So, more Brian Cook. Who has been shooting like crap of late (38% eFG% in his last 10 games). He better snap out of it because our defense is about to get worse (he is worse than Radman at that end).

  23. k_swagger8 says

    How unlucky can radmanovic get. first he gets hacked in the hand by brian shaw during warmups, then now has this freak accident! what is it with the Lakers and their MLE signings???