If you were looking for good news, you came to the wrong place. Mike Trudell of Lakers.com has an injury update and it’s not a good one.
Metta World Peace (knee), Steve Nash (back, etc), Jodie Meeks (ankle) and Steve Blake (hamstring) are all out for Game 4.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) April 27, 2013
After having his knee drained before game three and still trying to give it a go, though not playing at all in the 2nd half, Ron has been ruled out of game 4. He joins Nash, Blake, and Meeks who have also been ruled out.
If you’re counting at home, those four players plus Kobe Bryant make up five of the Lakers top nine players and nearly their entire wing rotation. Say that out loud a couple of times to let it sink in. If you’re looking for an equivalent on the Spurs, from a strict position standpoint, imagine of Parker, Ginobili, Neal, Leonard, and Green were all ruled out. That’s a sobering thought (that will likely lead you to knock back a couple of drinks to make you less sober).
The Lakers will only have 10 players available for the game and will be starting two 2nd year players who were both taken in the 2nd round. Yep, this is where the team is at.
Warren Wee Lim says
From last thread:
Thats why Ive been calling for Pau to br traded for 2-3 pieces that would address: youth, athleticism, perimeter d, fastbreak pts and transition D.
Jordan Farmar anyone?
Michael H says
While trading Pau for pieces would make sense, it would be extremely difficult and I really don’t see it happening. The biggest problem is his 19 mil salary. We would have to take back 80%. That would mean we might be forced to take back contracts we don’t want. And the way the front office has structured all the contracts to expire for 2014, I can’t see them taking back anything that would interfere with that plan. About the only thing we could hope for is a trade to a team that is convinced they are going to lose a star player to free agency and want something in return. Not impossible but unlikely.
Hale says
MDA only needs seven players available anyway.
Play hard tomorrow, Lakers.
PurpleBlood says
It´ll be refreshing at the beginning of next sesaon simply to have a full squad in uniform!
Something to look forward to…
LT mitchell says
Jamison speaking to John Ireland regarding adjustments:
“We made no adjustments. Everyone knows especially in the playoffs you make adjustments from game to game, half to half, quarter to quarter, and we didn’t make any adjustments at all.”
Granted, adjustments or not, Lakers likely lose this series….but it’s unconscionable that this clown of a coach refuses to or is unable to make any adjustments in the playoffs. MDA’s idea of an adjustment is to increase Kobe’s minutes from 40 to 48 minutes a game. It’s unfortunate that Kobe chose not to tweet anymore. I’m pretty certain he could have come up with some adjustments like he did in the regular season.
It’s time to fire this clown. Only than, can this team hope for a resurgence, like the Knicks are having after MDA’s departure.
WE WANT PHIL! WE WANT PHIL!…..or anybody, just get rid of this clown.
PurpleBlood says
Glad `Tawn is telling it like it is..
Robert says
Lt mitchell: I still have at least one more game until “the jury is in”, so I can’t fully respond to your post. I am only allowed to respond that I am reading your posts, and I often smile when doing so, because they are indeed amusing : ) I will say this: I do find it interesting that the three biggest names that keep coming up in the NBA coaching free agent market are: B Shaw, B Scott, and PJ, All Lakers and all guys who should be members of our family. The fact that many other teams express interest in these guys and we have not during our last 2 coaching changes is well – interesting.
rr says
Robert,
You are being silly, albeit in an amusing way. Everybody knows that you can’t stand D’Antoni and that you want him fired.
Snoopy2006 says
I am loving what Francisco Garcia has brought to the court tonight. Great ball denial and overall defense.
david h says
darius: anyone else see the fat lady, section 304, row 11 singing in the stands friday evening?
it ain’t over till it’s over may apply in mlb baseball, nba history says no team has ever came back from a 3 -0 deficit, until now.
here’s how: tony parker sustains a season ending leg injury.
tim duncan sustains a season ending knee injury.
manu ginobili sustains a season ending back injury.
it would take an act of god, not congress for this to occur and would still take a monumental effort on the part of the lakers to win the next four games, but realistically, let’s just say we win one game, starting tomorrow.
Go Lakers
Warren Wee Lim says
I for one, dislike wishing injuries to the other teams’ players. Thats just a sacred rule.
Pau Gasol being traded to a team with less than 57M in payroll will involve not having to send us the full 85% of his salary. If its a team with 10M in space then they only have to send us 8-9M.
Michael H says
Warren
While you are right, there are very few teams with much cap space. And the few that do are rebuilding teams that would have little interest in Pau. The only teams that would consider Pau are teams that are either contenders or close. I’m not saying it can’t happen, there just are not a lot of teams that those perimeters. I still think the best bet is a team that feels they are going to lose a player and receive nothing if they don’t make a trade. That senario exists with a couple of players I can think of.
vhanž says
If Ebanks is not gonna play in Game 4, then I will say that this coach is better to be fired.
Craig W. says
Glad everyone is so united. When the front office doesn’t fire MDA, we can all call for the ownership to be fired. Now isn’t that really practical.
At some point you either shut up or join a fan club for another team. This constant screaming the same few feelings gets really old.
Warren Wee Lim says
Craig hits my G spot once more. I for one gets tired about the “fire MDA” campaign. The guy can’t do nothing right. I’m sure if it was Phil the script would say: “Better luck next year coz it was just an unfortunate year of injuries…” .
In other news, partially related, Mike Brown (remember his defense?) has agreed to the Cavs. That also means that it is possible that the Lakers get a salary-offset based on his new contract. I twitted Larry Coon and all he could provide was an assumption:
Larry Coon ?@LarryCoon 25 Apr
@wwlofficial I know the Lakers are entitled to a salary offset. I don’t know the amount yet.
Warren Wee Lim says
Michael H,
I am not saying that all 29 teams would cater to getting Pau. All I’m saying is atleast 3 teams would think about trading for him knowing he is available. Now what they give us in return is yet another discussion. However, there are very obvious needs:
1. Salary relief. Every team that we trade with needs to have some sort of relief for us.
2. Young talent.
3. Youth and Athleticism.
4. Perimeter and Transition D.
5. Fastbreak capabilities.
6. Shooting capabilities.
Now I do not suggest there is a team that can offer all of that in 1 player or 1 deal but it can atleast be discussed. The Timberwolves have often been linked to Pau Gasol, maybe because of Ricky Rubio and if there’s any time you trade Pau its this time when his value is at his highest.
Trading a player is tricky. When the player has his highest point, you don’t like to trade him. When he is at his lowest, no one likes him. Atleast on the price you require. With Gasol, the best time to strike a deal is in the off-season wherein he’s coming off very good performances.
Why?
I for one do not like calling Gasol an “insurance” in case Dwight leaves. While it might be partly true, I actually do not think the presence of Gasol increases the chance of Dwight staying (this is priority #1 in case you forgot) because its 1 more mouth to feed plus its one more ego to fill. Dwight, while he knows he will never play beside a better big man than Pau for the rest of his life, knows that the other positions we have is a more pressing need. This will then define what and who we become in the future.
Notwithstanding the possible pieces we get for Pau, the team has:
C: Dwight (we’re hoping he stays, right?)
PF: Jordan Hill
SF: Metta World Peace
SG: Kobe Bryant; JOdie Meeks*
PG: Steve Nash; Steve Blake; Chris Duhon
There is very good reason to believe that Metta will get the amnesty. Amnesty-ing Kobe would simply be betrayal in the eyes of many and would not speak well of the franchise moving forward. With the passing of Jerry Buss it doesn’t bid well for the Lakers management to be labelled “cheap”. Therefore, if we do end up moving Pau, its also with the amnesty of Metta in mind.
Metta’s amnesty will then pave the way of an Earl Clark re-signing. The assumption here is that we get Clark to agree to a reasonable contract (like Jordan Hill’s) filled with team options for 2nd/3rd years because his age and his play fits that of Dwight. His skillset is also one that favors MDA’s team (if not for Gasol) Earl Clark would extensively be playing Sf/Pf for him.
The Lakers could also use a Morris + Goudelock return.
melgums says
i agreee with vhanz. devin ebanks must play tonight or else..
BigCitySid says
Hope this group can avoid being swept. As for personnel changes…there will be PLENTY of off-season to address those issues. Here’s hoping those decisions will be logical and not emotional, or else we’ll be looking at version 2 of this season :-(.
rr says
One more time, Craig: you don’t get to tell other people how to root for the team. You can complain about it if you like; I do that sometimes myself, when the venting is dressed up as analysis. But your way of being a fan is no better than anyone else’s.
Shaun says
I would agree with the sentiment that making 0 adjustments warrants a conversation about MDA – now some of us including myself just do not think that MDA is a good coach, and I would take it further and say he is on his way out of the league – and others take a look at the circumstances he had to deal with his year and say he should get a pass…. But look at what Jamison is saying – no adjustments at all at any point in time whether review of a past game or halftime
this to me is a big Coaching mistake – it shows the players you either gave up on them and don’t believe they are going to win so why bother or that you will not put in the effort to coach, which leads to losing the team as they don’t respect you for not trying, which sounds like how jamison feels and I would guess most of the team feels after flushing MDAs offense out after the Memphis meeting
If you look at pop this series he calls a timeout even when up 20 because we got a layup and he is Mad about a guy not making a rotation – these little things are the coaching equivalent of the different between a Kobe and a John salmons
Robert says
rr: I will tell you what. In addition to waiting until the jury is in, I will wait for both the supporters of MD and the fence sitters to weigh in. I will consider their arguments. However the following will not be considered: 1) The fact that he is under contract 2) The fact that we had a bunch of injuries 3) The fact that our FO does not get along with any of the ex-Laker candidates. What I will consider is that if someone can put together a case that shows that MD should be our coach. Last fall that case was that he matched our personnel better than the alternative(s). I do not hear anyone making that case now, and in fact, even the supporters are saying that we need to change personnel to fit his style. Since we have no cap space, and very little room to maneuver, I do not find that to be a compelling future. All of this said, I fully realize that Jim/Mitch may very well keep him for their own reasons. Further, the reason why the coaching slot is one that is interesting to discuss, is that it is changeable. We can pine for LeBron and Durant or Chris Paul all day long, but that is not happening until at least after next year, and probably not then either. A coaching change while debatable in terms of timing/desirability, is achievable in a short time horizon, unlike wholesale roster changes (at least roster changes for the better – we could go backwards by letting DH go for example). Besides, while perhaps I am “Silly” – it appears that many others are being much more aggressive in expressing their views than I am : ) I also think a decision needs to be made. Of course – you are entitled to make one or not, but as my GM-I need your decision : ) You can make it strictly for basketball reasons as I am not related, nor do I have any grudges against any of the potential candidates : )
Craig W. says
rr,
I have no problem with anyone’s opinion. When that opinion is repeated and repeated – usually without any further evidence/elaboration for the opinion – it simply reflects someone who hasn’t done a lot of thinking. On a blog, that gets tiresome, whether it is me or anyone else doing the commenting.
Assume we are reading this blog. If you want to restate your opinion, at least do enough homework to bring a different aspect to what you are saying.
Robert says
Why is a fire MDA campaign any more/less annoying than reading constant speculative posts about trading Pau? OK – should we trade MD for a couple of younger coaches (perhaps Shaw and Scott)? Why do we need to root for MDA but we do not need to root for Pau? In my case, when the game starts, I root for all of them. However, that doesn’t need to apply to posts or commentary. Else we would all have the same posts – which would simply be “Go Lakers”.
Joe M says
Robert is right, and has been right all along about MDA. He will NEVER lead this Lakers team nor any team to a championship, IMO. There has not been a NBA team that has won the championship in at least the past 20 some years that did not make defense a priority. This method of lets just “outscore” the opposition does not get it done folks. Mike D has proved all year he don’t care much about defense and will not make it a priority. Why are we hopeful the Lakers keep this guy? Yes, players are still more of the problem, but don’t underestimate the importance and value in having great coaching. If the FO can’t get rid of him, that’s one thing, but the sad thing is, I don’t think they are going to try.
LT mitchell says
Craig,
I took Jamison’s statement about MDA as “further evidence” of MDA’s incompetence. I guess a head coach making no adjustments in the playoffs is no big deal to some.
P. Ami says
I don’t think Ebanks has any time in his schedule to play today. He is a busy guy, otherwise, why would he be missing training sessions at the team facility, all season long?
scotch69 says
OKC just lost a major piece in Westbrook. What does a legit superstar do? He scores 41pts and grabs 14rbs. He didn’t shoot a high %, but he was aggressive and put a lot of pressure on the defense. He shot more than twice the next guy with next highest number of shot attempts (Ibaka who shot 50%), but we didn’t hear complaints from his teammates about lack of touches and balance in offense.
Warren Wee Lim says
Lets use reason in assessing the right thing to do here. My call to trade Pau Gasol is not a secret, I’ve been advocating it since Dwight suited up, played ugly, played better and played well… all because my reason is warranted, and it has alot to do with balance.
The Lakers are shot. No cap space, no superstar to recruit… not even a full MLE. We have 2 centers, we have some forwards, we have NO guards and we have the league’s highest payroll to date, and, after we supposedly sign Dwight Howard to his new max contract, we’d still own that title. In contrast to the fire-MDA call, my call is need-based and not something thats a luxury to many. You want to fire MDA but you don’t really have a solution outside Phil Jackson. So what if Phil doesn’t coach? Mike Fratello is out there.
My call to trade Pau warrants a new call, because we are now at a different stage of the season. It would also be important to note that after a string of REALLY GOOD GAMES, this Pau Gasol guy has his value at its highest since the start of the season. That in itself is new development… unless you want to consider getting swept in the 1st round is also new development to ask for MDA’s head too.
As for the details, we are not free to discuss. The outcome of any trade will also be assessed based on the parts we get back. There is no outlier as to which teams and which players will be available, one thats privy to us atleast, so there will never be a “substantiated” news or rumor for Pau. We don’t even know if Mitch is taking calls for him. But for the same reasons I urge the support to do so. Mitch Kupchak, here are the reasons:
1. It is logical for someone in need of something while having something else in excess, when given the chance, to trade for needs with something in excess. To be more specific, Pau Gasol is a Laker luxury right now. We have dire needs at the other positions. So we trade our luxury, to get better at other areas.
2. With the CBA’s new luxury tax scheme, it is totally fair to assume that going over it in huge amounts without even guaranteeing a playoff spot is a bad bet. So upon seeing the patters this year, with decline considered, there is no reason to believe the Lakers will magically improve on their own especially when the problems are in transition and perimeter defense.
3. Post offense, is not a big priority nowadays. Now lets qualify this statement before it becomes the center of attention. For a team that “already has” Dwight Howard, Metta World Peace and hopefully a Kobe Bryant back in the fold, the team could use much-athletic and much-rangier guard or forward.
4. The need to get younger and more athletic. Trading a 32-yo Pau Gasol in the offseason for younger and more athletic pieces will allow the team to be more attuned to Dwight’s future team as supposed to Kobe’s old one. Old doesn’t work anymore, we’ve tried.
5. Kobe’s injury just further magnifies our need for offense and defense from the perimeter. With Steve Nash already a huge question mark on D while he was healthy, the Lakers need to think about a new way of putting a team together with all these 35+ year olds. Getting rid of one, in favor of younger pieces will only benefit the team long term. As should be our outlook.
6. Pau getting traded will magnify how serious we are of Dwight’s return. Its going to show him that its HIS team and we’re doing things to placate him. Getting Pau out, while we’re trading a really good player, means that there’s one less giant to feed inside. One less ego to please.
So thats it. MDA will always and forever be a polarizing matter esp for most posters here. Pau Gasol, outside of being amnestied, is not really a choice. Its the only thing to do.
Kevin_ says
Warren Wee Lim: Lakers still wouldn’t have lots of wiggle room if they amnestied Pau. Kobe makes $30 mil, Nash makes $9, Metta makes $7, Blake makes $4 and Hill makes $3.5. That’s $53.5 for just 5 players if they amnestied Pau. The cap for next year is $58 million. Throw in another possible max deal if Dwight resigns and Lakers are well over the cap before constructing a 12 man roster. All this is with a Pau amnesty. Trading him puts them right back in the $100 million payroll once they put together a full roster. Trading Pau doesn’t solve all the financial implications it saves a hell of a lot of money but Lakers are in a tough spot regardless.
Robert says
WWL: First off your posts do not bother me at all – I actually find them interesting. I would prefer if we all just posted and didn’t spend time complaining about others. As to your statement that I do not have a solution outside of Phil: I am not sure Phil is still a solution. He was last fall but we missed out. I also favor B Shaw (and have for some time), and would also favor B Scott. So that is 3 options : ) As to your Pau plan. I am somewhat OK with it in theory. What I have always said is that we keep Pau for 1 more year, unless we can fleece someone. I do not think that other teams will give us much for Pau considering they need to absorb his salary, but if they do, hey I am fine with it. I am also fine with keeping him, and I would lean that way, because I do not want to absorb post 14 salary.
Albert says
Laker Fans: See what a great coach can do! Look at what Chicago’s Tom Thibodeau has done even without Derick Rose. MDA wouldn’t even hire this guy as an assistant. I know there are very few coaches who can be difference makers. Unfortunately MDA is not one of them. All these injuries to players will be used as excuse for MDA’s failure.
Harvey M says
Ok,
I am going to step up for MDA, as many would have expected but it is not an unequivocal endorsement and sorry it can’t be on the terms of Robert’s missive exactly.
1) we know he has had a huge amount of injuries and no training camp, to institute his ideas. add to that a) he had to take on an entire coaching staff which were not his own and b) he did not get one single add on of a player chosen to help him implement his preferred style of play. Of course, in addition to losing key personnel that also means zero continuity on offence or defence, as their is a constant stream of new lineups with people who are not used to playing together.
2) Of course, along the same lines, he seemed to have been added to actually institute his style as their was a lot of talk about showtime 2, after his hiring, which also gives him a bit of an out for the beginning of the year. Let us also not forget, that the ideas he implemented in Phoenix, have has a huge influence on the whole NBA, as we see many, many more cases of teams that 1) shoot a ton of 3’s, 2) are dominated by elite point guards and quicker rather than larger players 3) use a lot of PNR and 4) don’t favor as much, post ups for bigs or a defence first mindset.
3) over the last 40 or so games, the team really played like they gave a S####T. I have not been a laker fan for decades, but my more overall observation is that is not an achievement that deserves to be ignored.
4) he did prove to be a lot more adaptable than many thought he would be, eventually.
5) The team suffered most because the roster had flaws, and the add-ons over the summer, as RR has pointed out tirelessly, may have been very exciting players, but at least in the case of Nash, may not have complimented the strength/weaknesses of the team as much as you would have liked, and in the case of Dwight, because he came in injured, was actually quite a problem for the first 50 or so games, and added to the ongoing issues re athleticism.
6) he had a very positive impact on the role players he actually used, most notably Blake, and Earl, but he also got at least some good effort from Meeks and I think till Jamison went down got a lot from him as well.
Weaknesses
1) he has said some stupid things, in the press, particularly the stuff relating to Pau. That was an undeniable mistake. However, his attitude to the bigs is a bit justifiable given how compromised they were physically throughout the first 2-3 months of the year, and given that from the FO’s point of view, Dwight was a more essential piece than Pau.
2) His rotations are a bit too short, imho, especially for an older team. I agree that he could have got a bit of rest for the overused players, by giving Morris (and Goudelock??) some burn, but lets also remember hindsight is 20/20 and during the bulk of the last year, many would agree that making the playoffs was paramount, and we will never know, if playing a longer bench would have compromised that.
3) defence, its hard to say. once Dwight was healthy and when Kobe went out, there were signs of defence. I think the notion that he doesn’t care for defence is ridiculous but perhaps its safe to say its not his forte. I believe that with a better constructed roster, he would be able to do enough on the defensive side and with the help of his assistants to have a “good enough” defence, because in the end, one of things he is best at, is getting a “buy in” from his players.
Overall, I would prefer that he stays, as again I think continuity matters, so he deserves and I think the players will benefit from one more year, and a proper training camp. And I think the wildly inflated hatred of him was over the top, and doesn’t appeal to my own sense of fairness. But in the end, its not up to me, and Dwight may have a lot to say about it, and he doesn’t seem to be a big fan.
No one is talking about the hiring of Mike Brown by Cleveland, but that would seem to open the door a bit for those who oppose him, as that should provide some salary relief at the coaching position.
mud says
what a lot of whining!
being a fan means going for the ride, win or lose. it doesn’t matter who is right or wrong. none of the fans will ever be anything other than watchers on the sidelines, except for the chance to inspire with cheers or boos, when attending games. when the team wins, it doesn’t make the fans true winners and when the team loses, it doesn’t make the fans true losers.
look, face reality. it’s been a bad season. there have been a lot of bad breaks, injuries and disappointments. many might have been avoided, but the sheer magnitude of bad occurrances have assured this ending this year. speculation about next year may or may not be accurate. we’ll have to wait and see, that’s why the games get played. if you truly see the future, you are boring. shut up and stop ruining the fun.
all in all, i’m satisfied with the season. everything went wrong and the team didn’t just roll over and quit. no coach could have saved this season. there’s no way to say for certain that any player could have made a difference. live with it. see y’all next season.
scotch69 says
If the Lakers lose today, it would mark the 4th time that Gasol’s team gets swept in the 1st rd of the playoffs. He has yet to win a playoff game (0-15) without Kobe playing alongside him.
Craig W. says
LT mitchell,
The adjustment question has been raised a couple of times and you have directly challenged me on it, so I will respond. This is not to say I think MDA is a great coach, but with two players at the very end of your bench (one of whom was just called up from the D League) starting a playoff game – just how much adjustment could any coach make? The guards out there had their hands full just following a basic game plan. Presuming they could handle subtle adjustments to the game plan isn’t realistic.
Look – this is a terrible situation and I am not trying to ‘toot’ anyone’s horn, but lambasting MDA for not making adjustments just seems to be ‘piling on’.
If you are going to call for MDA’s head, at least you could give some reasonable alternatives – Phil Jackson is NOT, repeat not, a logical alternative for lots of reasons.
Michael H says
Aloha Warren,
I am just trying to stay realistic. The Lakers are going to go all in for next year and I honestly believe any moves made will be from a pure basketball perspective, not a financial one. That doesn’t mean that they will not explore trades for Pau, they will. But the trades will have to make us better and not mess up our cap situation for 2014/2015.
So if you take a look at the Timber wolves I just don’t see it. Yes they have some cap room but beyond Love and Rubio, I really don’t see any guys that make us better.
Houston has shown interest in Pau. And they have a ton of cap space and some good young talent but they are probably our major competion for Howard. And if they don’t get him I am still not convinced that they would go after Pau. They have built a promising young roster and I am inclined to believe that they are more into developing the young guys at this time.
The other team that had expressed interest in Pau is the Raptors. Now they are over the cap so we would have to take on a lot of salary. There are a couple of names on that team I like but would they be willing to give one of them up without us taking back some crap contracts? I don’t think so.
I am not saying that something couldn’t pop up because it could. I am just trying to stay real here. Oh by the way I think trading Pau would not be something that Howard would appreciate. If you think about it, Pau is the one guy on this team that is always looking to get Howard the ball. I think it actually could be something that could hurt our chances of resigning him unless the players acquired clearly improved his chances of winning a ring.
T. Rogers says
Interesting comments. It makes sense to keep Mike for at least another year. Any new coach taking over would rather start while the team is truly rebuilding (summer 2014). That way he can help craft the roster he wants. Its a lot better taking over with (presumably) Dwight, Nash and a bunch of cap space. What quality coach in his right mind wants to walk into this circus right now?
I’m not on the Phil Jackson train. It is time for the Lakers to turn the page. We need to look around the league and face reality. The sun is setting on the Phil/Kobe era. The sooner we accept this the better.
James says
When a team isn’t great to begin with, and they start losing players, then they are in deep, deep trouble. Plus the coach isn’t exactly inspiring.
Individually, the Lakers have some great players. But they haven’t been a great TEAM in a long time.
lil pau says
Heads up: there are tons of tickets available for today’s game on Lakers ticket exchange, but I believe they must be purchased 3 hours before tipoff, which means 23 minutes from now. There will be a lot of empty seats today– would be nice if they could be filled with some real fans to counter the goofballs chanting for a coach we’re never going to get.
In my section, I know a lot of regulars are not going; from my perspective, the memory of games like today make games like game 7 against Boston that much sweeter. There will almost certainly also be plenty of tix well below face available at the arena from scalpers, although I don’t like to advocate that option.
Play hard! Play smart! No Bynum-type idiocy!
GO LAKERS!
P. Ami says
Albert, great point… Missing one of the greatest guards in the leagues history, his backup, one of the best PGs of the last 10 years, and his backup, plus having lost the starting SF…. A good coach would have still managed to beat a team with championship experience, youth and athleticism, a great coach in his own right, and one of the greatest pivot players in the history of the league.
Let me make my opinion clear. The Lakers have no excuses for not playing hard. To my eyes, they are. Playing hard, they have every good reason in the world to be swept by a championship contender while missing 5 major rotation players out of 8.
lil pau says
P. Ami, I’m with you. Each player we lost has made the other players’ jobs so much harder, yet posters here suggest Dwight should ‘do more’ on offense, despite the fact he is triple teamed much of the time and guys like Morris, GLock and (formerly) Meeks and MWP are being left wide open. It’s similarly wrong minded to suggest that MDA’s struggles with this lineup and, as you point out, against this very, very good team, should the basis for any kind of evaluation of his acumen. I didn’t think we had much of a chance against the Spurs at full strength, but once Kobe went down, it’s so easy for SA to pack the paint against us, swarming Dwight and bodying Pau out of the paint.
I want the Lakers to play hard, and like men (no cheapshot fouls), and then, once it’s determined once and for all that Manu and Parker are better players than Morris and GLock, we can turn our attention to the Big Debate about the future– how far is this unit from a darkhorse championship contender in 2013-2014 and should the Lakers (1) continue their strategy of going all in for next season and then shedding huge amounts of salary in 2014 or (2) begin the rebuilding process immediately? Kobe’s health and how much the team feels it owes him for the twilight of his career will play a big part in this internal debate. We won’t be privy to the details, but intelligent fans should be able to infer them from the result.
GO LAKERS.
Sandibe says
I have tickets to today’s game. I had fleeting thoughts about selling them but thought that it would be better to take my seven-year-old son to his first playoff game to learn about loyalty. It is easy to cheer when a team is bringing home championships. True fans support their teams even when hope is unrealistic.
Robert says
T Rogers: “What quality coach in his right mind wants to walk into this circus right now?”
“Any new coach taking over would rather start while the team is truly rebuilding (summer 2014). ”
Those are good points and they do support standing pat at coaching for 1 more year. Of course they say nothing positive about MD, they simply are good points nonetheless. So rr – see points like this can possibly impact me : )
Harvey: I appreciate your post. There is no doubt that MD has had a myriad of extenuating circumstances, and a second season without such circumstances would allow him a better chance at success. We can agree on that. However, where your case requires faith is that its premise is that he was the correct guy for the job in the first place. To be “silly” (you gotta be this year), if they had named me as head coach, much of your post could apply to me as well. Injuries, partial training camp, roster flaws, etc.. I probably would have made some silly mistakes in the beginning and done better in the second half of the season : ) So would that mean that I deserved a second year? : ) By the way – I do not want the job – it is Jim’s job that I want : )
batman says
scotch69
todays hardly fair….also dallas did us in with 24 & fish
batman says
albert
thibodeu and the bulls are playing a streaky team in a weak conference…MDA sucks i agree, but thats a bad comparison