Lakers on an uprise...just missing a few pieces to the puzzle.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

first, i was talking about last year. Remember, one of these people im arguing with here is NIK who at the beginning of last year went on and on about how the Lakers would still be good because Kobe had good role players around him like Odom. Then, now....to defend Kobe says how he had no help.

See, you need to step your game up. I can demolish you just from the opening lines. I said Lakers would be a playoff team if everything went as planned. If Rudy-T could get the players to build chemistry and play together as a team. First half of the year, Lakers remained in the playoffs for months. Then they just begin building chemistry. Rudy-T suddenly steps down, everything goes down hill. Kobe's injured, Odom's injured, Vlade doesn't play, Malone bitches and doesn't sign, Grants playing gimpy, basically, nothing went according to plan. In the beginning of last season, yes, I said Lakers were a playoff team. After all the bs the team had went through, I made a thread (around March or April) stating that I don't believe the Lakers will reach the playoffs in their current state...I am real as they come, everything I speak is real. Anyone saying LeBron is on Kobe's level doesn't know their shit...That's all there is to it...LOL

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Kobe is the best SG in the league, plain and simple. He's not "perfect", nobody is. Last year the Lakers had a lot of problems:

1- Odom was forced to play PF. He can play some nice offence from the post, but he doesnt have the ability to be a defensive stopper from that position, and he cant stop the penetrations of the guards, since he aint a good shot blocker. That created a defensive hole.

2- Chucky Atkins and Tierre Brown (not to mention Sasha Vujacic) are in the Top 10 list of the worse defensive PG last season. Plain and simple, they just wasnt able to defend. Everybody and their moma made season-high games against them. It's a fact. They let everybody penetrate, and without a good intidimator inside, it was like Heaven for the opponents. Another great defensive hole.

3- Kobe Bryant had to take care of the whole attack, so he had to waste a lot of energy in offence. He needed some help from other people in defence, since usually he had Horry and Shaq inside who made his defence better. With Odom and Mihm didnt feel comfortable in defence, since nobody doubled his player, and nobody really was an intimidator inside. Another defensive hole.

4- Rudy T. doesnt know the definition of "defence". Plain and simple. The biggest defensive hole.

5- We had B.Cook, Medvedenko and Luke Walton as our best bench players. C'mon now! They cant even defend themselves during pratice.

LAKERS MISSED A GOOD DEFENSIVE-MINDED COACH, A DEFENSIVE-MINDED PF, A DEFENSIVE-MINDED PG, AND, IN GENERAL, THEY MISSED SOME CREDIBILITY.

Now they have a pretty good defensive-minded PF in Brown (i aint a fan of him, but he's better than Odom as a defensive factor in the PF spot), two backup Centers in Bynum and Divac (ok, they aint superstars, but it's better than Medvedenko, isnt it?), two defensive-minded SF in George and Jumaine Jones, two defensive-minded PG in McKie and Smush Parker, and the best coach in the League. Judge Kobe from the next season. And in 2007, when Lakers will be contenders.

im pretty much done with this argument. its getting silly and just back and forth bullshit that isnt going anywhere. bottom line, IMO you guys seem to be more Kobe fans....then Laker fans. Thats cool if thats the case, but just be real about it. You guys always make excuses as to why the team sucked last year other then say that MAYBE....just MAYBE Kobe didnt do all he should have as the teams leader. its always somebody else. my argument about THAT, is based on NIK...aswell as a lot of Laker fans who at the beginning of last year defended their team saying their supporting cast was good. They had a potential All-Star in Odom...and other positions were filled. Your guys' opinions seem to completely mirror whatever the Laker front office's opinions are. Then, after the season...turn around to say "Kobe had no one all year". Yeah, im not doubting the team had problems. But i didnt see that Kobe was perfect all year either. There are things he can do to improve himself. If you guys dont agree, then you ARE saying he's perfect. Like i said before, this isnt based on last year alone. This is based on what ive ALWAYS thought of Kobe. He rode Shaq, period. Teams doubled Shaq his whole career...the whole time he is on the floor. It was rare teams played him strait up. Yes, Kobe is one of the best perimeter players in the league. Combine his skill, with the open looks and wide open lanes that Shaq was creating with the double teams...and you have a perimeter player that can look unstoppable. Kobe needs to learn how to play as the main focus now. Like it or not, with Shaq there...Kobe was NOT the main focus for defenses. Your main focus is gonna be the 7 ft, 300 somethin pound guy 3 feet from the basket....not the guy 20 feet from the basket. Why i put Lebron where i do in this argument. Lebron is young, barring injury probably has a long career ahead of him. You cant deny how good he is at such a young age. An MVP candidate in only his second year...and on his team, he is the man. He is the main guy. Its his team...win or lose, its on his shoulders. Kobe...experienced this for the first time last year, halfway through his career. So they are both learning the same thing as far as being the main focus on their teams. They are both learning it....and Lebron is only in his second year. Obviously, Kobe is the veteran. He obviously has been through things in the league that Lebron hasnt yet. But Lebron will go through those things, and will already have been through this process of learning to lead his team when he does. Is Kobe a stronger player right NOW, probably so. Will Lebron be stronger within 2 years, i think so.

I'm more of a Kobe fan than a Laker fan? You just lost all the fuckin' credibility you had, I was down with the Lake Show from the day I was born. Bottom line is, by the end of Kobe's career, he will be a top 10, maybe top 5 player. Hell, analysts have argued he could end up the greatest, and I agree there's a chance. LeBron? He'll be lucky to get into the top 50 greatest players by the end of his career. I don't see him winning a ring without a top notch supporting cast, which will most likely be never...Kobe, I believe he still has it in him to win rings, and the Lakers have a history of always coming out on top...Kobe has more to his name than LeBron, Kobe's worth more than LeBron, Kobe DOES have more of an upside to him...At this age, Jordan was just beginning his legacy. Kobe's already a proven winner, a proven great, he resists the pressure, he's been through that shit...If he's still on his way up, which he should be since he's only 27, then LeBron doesn't have a chance...PeACe