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A Lakers Blog. Thoughts, reflections, and the odd rant on the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA (even the Clippers).

Talking Lakers with Zach Harper

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Yesterday, I was lucky to chat with Zach Harper from the CBS Eye On Basketball Blog on their daily podcast.

We discussed all things Lakers (well, most things at least), including the team’s early season struggles, Kobe’s bounce back season, Pau’s fit in the offense, Nash’s return, and the poor defense we’ve seen so far this year. We also talked my egg plant parm recipe and, in general, my prowess in the kitchen (the former of which is better than the Lakers’ defensive rotations have been in multiple games this season).

You can give it a listen here or just click on the player below. Hope you enjoy it. Happy Friday, folks.


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Comments

  3. Hindi says

    MWP reportedly not happy with benching. Pau met MDA to discuss playing in post and crunch time, MDA gave a nod to the latter. Jamison is reportedly depressed with DNP-CD. Stars just don’t seem to be right for this team.

  5. jerke says

    I wouldn’t put too much stock in the MWP reports Hindi – there are several articles where it seems someone asked the same question out loud in a scrum – and all of the authors put their own spin on Rons response. Some have said he’s happy as long as the team wins, other say he doesn’t care – others act like its a benching/demotion(I know the report you’re talking about)and say he’s disappointed. All that matters is who finishes games – which Ron knows – and evidently Pau cares about a lot as well. MDA also said yesterday Ron would start some games as well too – OKC etc… Just depends on matchups. As for jamison – he’s a pro and knows its not personal. W healthy front court/and nash back he’ll get more time.

    Nash is officially a game time decision – personally I think he plays tonight – even if just limited mins so that he feels better and in rythm for a big welcome back game in LA on xmas. Would be so nice to see them put a big emotional whuppin on the knicks.

  7. drrayeye says

    Thanks, Darius,

    Good to see some nuances in discussions about the Lakers. Most of us agree that the Laker organization has put together an interesting roster that could be molded into a championship team. The challenges of this “molding” process has already cost Mike Brown his job–and Mike D is struggling. Here are my components of concern:

    Balance: the team must have a balance between offense and defense, balanced scoring, and predictable substitute patterns.

    Flexibility: the team needs to adapt this balance appropriately to defeat fundamentally different opponents. Sometimes that wuill be through tempo, sometimes through emphasis, sometimes through substitution patterns.

    cohesion: a sense of buy-in from the entire roster. It leads inevitably to the right kind of chemistry.

    Trades: only as a last resort.

    Here’s my nuanced analysis:

    D’Antoni has come in with a showtime mandate, a slowtime team, no preseason, and extremely limited tolerance for losing from everyone. His assistant coaches have almost entirely been held over from a contrary rigorous Princeton era and philosophy. Key players still think in terms of alternate approaches. Only a few players have worked with D’Antoni’s approach, but Steve Nash might be able to adapt D’Antoni’s approach to meet these diverse challenges–or not.

    Mike D’Antoni has already been able to successfully implement features of his “Phoenix” approach: 3 point shooting has dramatically improved. He’s also discovered a small ball combination that has been more successful than the classic superstar alignment he inherited, but if overused, it unbalances the team, and cries out for risky trades with unpredictable consequences for team chemistry.

    D’Antoni must balance the scoring potential of Meeks with the defensive potential of Hill, integrate the very different contributions of Dwight and Pau, and find meaningful roles for Ebanks and Morris, while providing opportunities for Jamison to provide his special offensive touch.

    D’Antoni must find a way to manage Kobe. If he can, everything is possible. If he can’t, the Lakers will be inconsistent, even moody–within and between games–and D’Antoni will fare no better–and possibly worse–than last season’s Lakers under Mike Brown.

    These are interesting times.