*Official* 2007-2008 LA Lakers "the year we missed out on KG" thread - Page 9

Taraz · #81 11-20-2007, 03:18 AM

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10, 10, and 1.2 in 24 mpg is beyond impressive. I also have been impressed with what I've seen of his one-on-one defense.

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It's been 9 games. He's looking really good, but I don't think it's a given he will sustain this level of production or that he will improve substantially unless he works hard. Especially since questions have been brought up about his work ethic.

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His hands, frame, and agility, at his height/weight is something you cannot teach.

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Agreed, he has awesome hands and a great frame. His defensive agility is pretty great although it doesn't seem to translate into agility on the offensive block for some reason.

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Everything points to Bynum being an all-star.

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All I'm saying is that it's real early to be saying things like this. Biedrins averaged about 10-10-1.5 last year in 29 min, but I don't think he is going to be an all-star necessarily.

IrishHand · #82 11-20-2007, 04:43 PM

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He's looking really good, but I don't think it's a given he will sustain this level of production or that he will improve substantially unless he works hard.

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It has as much to do with PT as with hard work. Presumably, hard work will get him more PT...but if Bynum gets more PT, his production will go up. Simple math. At this point, I'd be stunned if he didn't end up producing around my preseason predictions (14/10 w/ 1.5+ bpg) assuming he continues to eat into Kwame/Mihm's minutes (which should be a foregone conclusion frankly).

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Biedrins averaged about 10-10-1.5 last year in 29 min, but I don't think he is going to be an all-star necessarily.

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Biedrins is skinny and doesn't have half the natural "gifts" that Bynum does. Despite that, he's gone from 10/9 in 29mpg last year to 13/11 in 36mpg this year. Not bad for a 21-year old non-All-Star.

FUJItheFISH · #83 11-20-2007, 08:18 PM

sweet lakers got ariza and got rid of cook. kind of sad about evans but oh well.

Semtex · #84 11-20-2007, 08:49 PM

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sweet lakers got ariza and got rid of cook. kind of sad about evans but oh well.

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yeah i don't think there is any other way of looking at this haha.

IrishHand · #85 11-20-2007, 08:56 PM

Facking godsend for the Lakers. Dumps the $10.5M owed to Cook over the next 3, gets a 1-year $3M Ariza. Step one to shipping Ariza+Kwame+whatever for a quality, overpaid vet. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Taraz · #86 11-20-2007, 09:43 PM

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sweet lakers got ariza and got rid of cook. kind of sad about evans but oh well.

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yeah i don't think there is any other way of looking at this haha.

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My thoughts exactly. I loved Evans, but Ariza is basically a younger version of him. My only concern is that Mo came through with a 3 every now and again, but I don't think Ariza can shoot at all.

Spellmen · #87 11-20-2007, 10:39 PM

Ariza career 3pt %: 0.143

Semtex · #88 11-21-2007, 11:26 AM

What a win last night. This team is freaking smoking right now. Pacers aren't a particularly good defensive team, but they still have been holding opponents to around 100 all season. 134? Wow. This is the Lakers this year. Kobe gets 30+ and shoots a perfect 11-11 from the line; 8 different guys get into double figures (and Mihm had 9); Kobe, Radmanovic and Farmar go a collective 11/19 from 3; the team shoots above 50% for both field goals and 3s; and the list goes on.

Its still too early to start sucking each others popsicles but wow what a performance. When shooting at this level I think its pretty obvious the Lakers can beat anybody in the league.

tuq · #89 11-21-2007, 12:26 PM

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When shooting at this level I think its pretty obvious the Lakers can beat anybody in the league.

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Well yeah. When anyone shoots at that level they can beat anyone in the league. I do not however think those numbers are sustainable unless they dust off Paul Westhead. That said, impressive victory and they are looking surprisingly good.

Semtex · #90 11-21-2007, 01:05 PM

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When shooting at this level I think its pretty obvious the Lakers can beat anybody in the league.

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Well yeah. When anyone shoots at that level they can beat anyone in the league. I do not however think those numbers are sustainable unless they dust off Paul Westhead. That said, impressive victory and they are looking surprisingly good.

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Yeah obviously they will not shoot 58% FGs all season but I don't think it was a crazy fluke by any means. The key to all this IMO is not just the shooting but the fact that the Lakers might have the best bench in the league right now. Lakers bench has gotten at least 3 players into double figures five out of their ten games so far, you could even say 6-10 because in the Utah game Radmanovic got 9. In those games they were 4-1 (5-1 if you count Utah game). The one loss was a very weird Spurs game where Duncan shot abysmally, finished with 5 points, yet Bowen saved them going 6-6 from 3 and finishing with 25 points or something. In the Chicago game a stunning five players from the bench scored in double figures.

This is the key to this team right now, but a couple questions still remain, namely, what will Ariza bring (shouldn't be too much of an issue neither Cook nor Evans brought much to the table offensively and neither scored ten points all season). Also, the key question is can it be sustained. I don't see why not. The way the offense is set up everyone gets their share of good looks every game.