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The Official Los Angeles Lakers thread
Bay Area Jat:
^^ i do not see any of the above mentioned happening especially not kobe winning the mvp IMO ofcourse
GangstaBoogy:
Here's a good analysis for the Lakers defensive situation posted by a fan on lakersground.net
--- Quote ---For all of the pissing and moaning about Kobe's D, the league's coaches still rate him as the best defensive 2 in the NBA.
Yeah, yeah, LGers say he's playing too much centerfield, not levelling guys off or closing guys out like he used to, but that is mostly a function of the 4 bums they have on the floor with him.
Face facts - there's not ONE other guy on this team who's even rated as an average team defender.
DFish has mad heart, but his lack of athleticism post foot surgery made Tyronn Lue the primary PG defender in 00-01.
Kwame gets a lot of run for his supposedly great individual post defense, but he's a piss-poor team defender and still can't play the PnR.
Odom has length, but gets beat by quick 3s and punished by 4s in the post, so his only real asset on D is his rebounding (which IS important).
Walton has cement feet and is routinely murdered on back cuts, picks and - despite being a solid 235# - gets destroyed on the low block.
Mihm & Turiaf are foul machines.
Mo Evans (according to Rambis) is a disappointment defensively - great body, but just can't figure out how to stay with his man.
Maybe the youngsters have some promise, but with Phil, it's a dice roll as to whether any of them - including Bynum - see any floor time.
Saying that D is infectious is trite. D at the NBA level requires skill, desire and self-determination. The guys in the league who are considered top defenders are that because they've conciously worked at it.
Some, like Bruce Bowen & Ben Wallace, bounced around the minors and developed as defenders because it was the only way they could get into the league.
Some - like JKidd, Tim Duncan and Marcus Camby - played for college coaches who would not play you unless you showed you were the best defensive player at your position, regardless of how highly recruited you were.
Some - like Kobe, Artest and MJ - have enormously out of whack egos and take it personally if you score on them.
At the NBA level - you gotta go get 2-3 good defensive players and then teach the others guys how to play with them, a la the Spurs. That's why Alonzo Mourning was AT LEAST as important as Shaq to the Heat's title. With Zo, they basically taught everyone else to just funnel their men to him and get ready to grab the rebound.
Riles didn't ask Shaq or DWade to play infectious D - he went out a got a HOF defender.
--- End quote ---
wcsoldier:
I don't think that analazing the individual defense of each player is pertinent to explain our very weak defense of last year ... of course they are players who are better individual defenders than others BUT Team defense is what it's all about ... and it's all about chemistry , energy and something you WANT to do ... in 05-06, our defense was very decent and the players were the same ... in 06-07 , Phil worked on the offensive side , the passing game (which was our main weak point of 05-06) and focused less and less on the defense ... of course we ain't gonna become the SAS in this sector but if these average defenders bring intensity and make a team effort , we'll be way better ... for example name me one Cav who is a very good individual defender? there is none ... they play very good team D though
Antonio_:
Homie the fact is that in the US they play individual attack and individual defence, too much.
Then they play Italy, and they get sonned. And we don't have better individual scorers or defenders, at all.
They play Argentina and they are in troubles (ok, now they have Kobe and Co.). And Argentina doesn't even have NBA players but a Detroit reject.
They play too much individually.
They don't attack as a team, they don't defend as a team.
A great zonal defence executed with perfection > having 2-3 great individual defensive players in your team.
A great attack system (like the Suns one) > having the 2 best scorers of the NBA in your team.
They just have to understand this simple thing.
wcsoldier:
^^^^ Yeah even without starting a FIBA vs NBA argument , they(fans , experts ect..) have to understand that even if the NBA , the success is more about TEAM and not individuals ...so they have to stop pointing out only players individual weaknesses to explain the losses .. by the way there are some Italy vs France coming this week homie ;D
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