Lakers are going with what seems like an All Offensive Team..WHY?
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psy123321123
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 12:14 am    Post subject:

Well, when you think about it, the Spurs had everything. They had great offense in their passing game, everyone was an option. if you were open, shoot it. They also had great defensive schemes. Whenever I see a mismatch, I always see the opposing team's player runs a route, that defender, should that route run close to the guy with the ball (and mismatch), the Spurs secondary defender of the secondary opposing team's player would stick his hand and wave it a couple of times at the ball.

A lot of times, I see a loose ball, and many times, the Spurs end up with it. That's just great team defense. That's just one sequence that I see over and over again. I didn't see the game more than once, but I'm pretty sure there were lots of other good defensive schemes like this.

Spurs also had good adjustments. When they had problems with OKC in games 2 and 4, they were quick to adjust.

Bottom line, to say that the Spurs is only a good offensive team with limited defense and makes little adjustments would wrong.

I hope this Lakers would be a good offensive team though. I'm a Lin fan and I truly believe he can lead a showtime type of offense. Not saying he's the next Magic Johnson or anything. They're completely different as far as built and other stuff. But I truly think that he can lead a run and gun offense like the show time days.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 2:10 am    Post subject:

Romano338 wrote:
These Lakers are a joke
I'm already sick of this season


Slow down there Romano, its like that first bite of cake. Don't knock it til you try it. Its best you go in with no expectations and look to see improvement and chemistry. I guarantee they will surpass last seasons record and there will be some very very good games ahead.

Wait til the season starts, then give it time.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:01 am    Post subject:

KobeRe-Loaded wrote:
I think Sacre can play PF

In HS junior varsity level, yes! He is much better playing bench though.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:03 am    Post subject:

KobeRe-Loaded wrote:
I think Sacre can play PF

In HS junior varsity level, yes! He is much better playing bench though.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:07 am    Post subject:

NYClakerguy wrote:
it's because we lost Gasol, who is basically Ed Davis, Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill combined.

Not true, only Boozer does not play defense but the rest of them are not soft as Gasol (aka NoBollasDeLosToros)
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:07 am    Post subject:

NYClakerguy wrote:
it's because we lost Gasol, who is basically Ed Davis, Carlos Boozer and Jordan Hill combined.

Not true, only Boozer does not play defense but the rest of them are not soft as Gasol (aka NoBollasDeLosToros)
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:15 am    Post subject:

Spurs actually play great team defense. They might not be the best individually (minus Kawhi) but as a group they're an elite defensive team. And they also take care of the ball on offense wich protect their basket aswell.

The heat could never get in transition.

And if you really think the Lakers are trying to build a team that can compete you're seriously lying to yourself lol. They know next season is a waste.

I bet the lakers conceed more ppg next season than they did last.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 3:43 am    Post subject:

I'm going to try to take a more optimistic view.

Yes, defense wins championships, but I think most will agree that the Lakers are unlikely to win the championship this year.

However, since the Lakers are not going to be bad enough to keep that top-5 protected pick, and a guy like Kobe is not a tanker, the goal of the season is to be competitive and try to make the playoffs (unlikely as that may be or seem to people right now).

Towards that end, I think there is a method to the madness.

The Rockets in 2012-2013 were a young unproven team filled with athletic, unseasoned, youth put together for the first time.

The consensus was that (despite having Asik manning the center), they would be very bad on defense. Teaching defensive fundamentals takes time, and it would be a hurdle partly because these guys had never played together before (thus no continuity or chemistry on defense) and they were young (so may not know all that much about communicating and positioning on defense like veterans).

They were also expected to be bad in half-court offense, because it takes time to get young rookies and 2nd year guys to learn to execute well in half-court plays.

So in order to be competitive, they decided to be a running team focused on offense. Using their pace to outrun opponents, in order to get their shots in transition or get their shots in before the opponent set up their defense. Then quickly running back using their youth and athletic speed, while the other team of older guys took longer to jog up, thus giving the Rockets more time to set up some semblance of defense. Matches were like football games or tennis matches, with both teams running back and forth quickly trading buckets.

But it worked. All offense, no defense, got them into the playoffs as a low seed.

I think the Lakers may be doing something similar. They know that they may not be that great defensively, especially with aging guys like Kobe, so they hope to be competitive by crashing the offensive boards and going all offense to compensate.

If they can set up an all-offense oriented team, it can also be balanced by a defense oriented coach. Filling in for that coache's offensive woes, as it were, since many coaches tend to be defense first or offense first and lacking on the other side.

An all offense and little defense team may not win the championship, but it can be competitive enough to make the playoffs as the 2012-2013 Rockets showed with their football trackmeet games.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 5:59 am    Post subject:

epak wrote:
Azarian wrote:
Tim Duncan made the Spurs defense very good in the Finals, don't discredit the Spur's defense


Actually coaching made the Spur's defense good.
Timmy's d has dropped a lot as he's aged.
The guys play team defense.

And not to mention, their offense is so good, that Miami had to play a lot of half court offense. People seem to not realize that a great offense helps with the defense because the other team is limited in fast break opportunities.
bingo. i dont think people realized how Fast break/transition offense or 2nd break offense heavy these top teams are nowadays.

i dont think my OP method would work back in the early 2000's, 90's, or 80's.

i dont think this same spurs team that just beat bron and the boys would beat any of the champions prior to the heat. including the spurs themselves from their earlier rings.

this style of play works against this run n gun, hurry up offense to beat your defense down the court since i dont have a great half court offense...style of teams. a great offense is kryptonite to those teams. guess who those type of teams are? clippers, okc, heat.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 6:05 am    Post subject:

The Spurs played team defense but WAIT.

1. Kawhi Leonard's D on LeBron James. Hello.
2. Boris Diaw is an above average defender between three positions.
3. Tony Parker and Ginobili force turnovers.
4. Duncan is still an elite defender by position and timing alone.
5. Devin Green, your 3 and D guy.

For the Spurs, it isn't just TEAM D, but the fact that the Spurs rely on Team D as a last resort because they can actually handle their own assignements.

When a team has players that can handle their own assignments, it makes it A LOT easier to implement defensive schemes, especially when defensive switching is involved.

Look at Miami. LeBron wasn't being All D Team. Wade? Can't run on that knee. Bosh was above average but he's light. Chalmers? Not really.

Miami didn't have the Shane Battier that they sorely needed. Miami didn't have Wade's knee healthy enough. They couldn't run because they didn't force turnovers like they used to. They relied on that.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 6:14 am    Post subject:

revgen wrote:
Championships are won because of 3 factors. Defense. Matchups. Adjustments.

The Spurs won mostly because of matchups and adjustments. They had the depth to matchup against almost anybody, and with an elite coach like Popovic, they were always prepared to adjust to whatever the opposing team threw at them.

I've never been that impressed with Byron's ability to make the necessary adjustments in the playoffs. IIRC, one of the worst defeats in NBA playoff history came under his watch when he was coaching the Hornets. His only real success came with Eddie Jordan and Lawrence Frank as his assistant coaches in New Jersey.

Our depth isn't even close to the Spurs, and won't be for a long time. So that's out of the question unless Mitch has another Magic Wand moment we don't know about.

I don't mind us going all-offense if what we're doing is rebuilding. But according to Ramona Shelburne's tweet, we're trying to gather elite FA's in 2015 and 2016, which would be the opposite of rebuilding. If those FA's are going to come over, I doubt they want to go to a rebuilding situation.


You missed a 4th factor. Offense. You have to be able to score efficiently and maximize your offensive possessions.

That doesn't mean your team has to be an offensive Phoenix Suns of yesteryear type juggernaut. It means you have to be able to score efficiently and get buckets when you need them.

Let's not act like offense isn't important. That's an understatement. It is CRITICAL to success.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 6:17 am    Post subject: Re: Lakers are going with what seems like an All Offensive Team..WHY?

"Chemistry is why" and as fan I hope this group of guys that's been put together has it, because this will be the only way they can surprise and exceed expectations, maybe even make the playoff and scare a team or two.
postandpivot wrote:
not sure which mod thought it was cute to change my title. but ok. lol.

Lakers are going with what seems like an All Offensive Team..WHY?

someone said "defensive wins championships"

oh really


So..explain to us how the spurs beat the heat....
....
Offense

GREAT, not pretty good, but GREAT passing and Great shooting from positions 1-4,which spread the floor and made the good passes seem like GREAT passes because it destroyed the heat's defensive abilities.

The league has changed. you cant play lock down defense on perimeter players. but you can pack the paint and dare guys to shoot. you can wall off people to stop them from just rushing the rack. If you do that well enough without fouling. and you have very good passing with great spacing due to stretch 4's, and other shooters, and at least 2 penetrate score/dish guys. you have a chance at beating every team in the nba.

you make shots, the less you have to worry about getting back in transition.

IF you cant beat em... join em. The landscape of the nba isnt filled with a lot of defenders like it use to be. its a ton of offensive guys that play little to no defense.

lets take a look at some star players.

LBJ-Defender
parker-average defender
Blake griffin-turnstile
CP3-slight above average defender
irving-turnstile
john wall-average defender
westbrook -slightly above average defender
curry-below average defender
Melo-below average defender
Lemarcus-below average defender
Love-below average defender
Dwight-above average defender(use to be great)
harden-below average defender
Durant-average defender


those are the nba's stars.
thats pretty bad if you think about it. nba isnt what it use to be. thats for sure.

Do you need at least a shot blocker? NOPE
the spurs were 13th in shot blocking. the heat were 12.
two middle of the pack teams in that category.

spurs and heat are top 6 in steals. the heat i can see. but the spurs were #3. how did that happen? aside from Klenard. Well, its probably because the spurs were so savvy on the offensive end. it made other teams Press and try to force things to score more to keep up with the spurs efficient scoring. this causes more TO's.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 11:14 am    Post subject: Re: Lakers are going with what seems like an All Offensive Team..WHY?

Badgolf wrote:
"Chemistry is why" and as fan I hope this group of guys that's been put together has it, because this will be the only way they can surprise and exceed expectations, maybe even make the playoff and scare a team or two.
postandpivot wrote:
not sure which mod thought it was cute to change my title. but ok. lol.

Lakers are going with what seems like an All Offensive Team..WHY?

someone said "defensive wins championships"

oh really

So..explain to us how the spurs beat the heat....
....
Offense

GREAT, not pretty good, but GREAT passing and Great shooting from positions 1-4,which spread the floor and made the good passes seem like GREAT passes because it destroyed the heat's defensive abilities.

The league has changed. you cant play lock down defense on perimeter players. but you can pack the paint and dare guys to shoot. you can wall off people to stop them from just rushing the rack. If you do that well enough without fouling. and you have very good passing with great spacing due to stretch 4's, and other shooters, and at least 2 penetrate score/dish guys. you have a chance at beating every team in the nba.

you make shots, the less you have to worry about getting back in transition.

IF you cant beat em... join em. The landscape of the nba isnt filled with a lot of defenders like it use to be. its a ton of offensive guys that play little to no defense.

lets take a look at some star players.

LBJ-Defender
parker-average defender
Blake griffin-turnstile
CP3-slight above average defender
irving-turnstile
john wall-average defender
westbrook -slightly above average defender
curry-below average defender
Melo-below average defender
Lemarcus-below average defender
Love-below average defender
Dwight-above average defender(use to be great)
harden-below average defender
Durant-average defender

those are the nba's stars.
thats pretty bad if you think about it. nba isnt what it use to be. thats for sure.

Do you need at least a shot blocker? NOPE
the spurs were 13th in shot blocking. the heat were 12.
two middle of the pack teams in that category.

spurs and heat are top 6 in steals. the heat i can see. but the spurs were #3. how did that happen? aside from Klenard. Well, its probably because the spurs were so savvy on the offensive end. it made other teams Press and try to force things to score more to keep up with the spurs efficient scoring. this causes more TO's.
Fascinating to more that only ONE of the NBA stars mentioned won a ring - the person that played D. (Lebron)

The Spurs had a great defensive strategy - let anyone not name Lebron beat them. Even with Leonard superior skills as a defender, he had help in key places on the court to force Lebron give up the ball. Leonard RARELY left Lebron.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 2:17 pm    Post subject:

Spurs had good defense because of coaching and consistency. The majority of them have played with each other for a majority of years. They knew what different players were capable of and they trusted each other. That comes with time.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 2:26 pm    Post subject:

revgen wrote:
Championships are won because of 3 factors. Defense. Matchups. Adjustments.



Chemistry as well
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 2:27 pm    Post subject:

Romano338 wrote:
Anyway, this season is (bleep)
lakers aren't what they used to be. They were a winning team, always aiming the win.
They don't worth more than the Cavs or the Sixers now.


Plenty of room on the Clippers bandwagon...
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 2:27 pm    Post subject:

Maybe we want a team and just try and out score them each time
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 2:37 pm    Post subject:

this team is defensively underrated. Davis is a rim protector and was shocked when they resigned Wesley because he is one dimensional. But it looks like defense was an issue this off season they wanted to address.
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meows a lot
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:06 pm    Post subject:

epak wrote:
Team defense: individual responsibility, communication, rotation, shot contest is more important than a single great defensive player. Our next coach needs to preach that.


absolutely. a team can achieve more than one single person could. rotation rotation rotation.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 4:50 pm    Post subject:

PnP, I understand what you're trying to say, but don't be fooled into thinking that this is a strategic or a coaching philosophical change. I'd say is strictly driven by dollars.

The league is always (repeat always) will have a need for players like Tony Allen, Cooper, Bowen, Chandler, Ibaka, Bell, and Mutumbo, etc etc etc, guys who can change the outcome on the defensive end of the floor. But they're being forced to become nomads.

Presently, the current CBA salary cap and the disproportionate amount of money paid to elite offensive players has just squeezed defensive specialists off the rosters. Teams are simply not willing to commit their cap space for defense. Defense doesn't pack butts in the seats, defense doesn't sell jerseys. Until the league figures this out, the defensive specialists are an endangered species.

Your elite defenders want to get paid too. They're not going to stay on the rosters with high priced superstars. They're going to go to teams with cap space who can give them money. Or those superstars are going to have concede salary in order to both acknowledge and make room for the elite defenders.

Good example is the Thunder. I've read plenty of articles that have said if KD and Westbrook take max money, then Serge will pack his bags. Or all 3 can decide to take less money to make it work, but the players are now beginning to understand that's exactly what the owners want from them.

To say that the Spurs won the series on offense is accurate, but to say that defense is not of any emphasis to Pops would be a fallacy. They didn't to turn this into a defensive series because Miami was so totally inept. Besides Lebron who was going to get his anyways, who was there to stop? I will say this much - Duncan, Leonard, and Green are top 5 at their positions in defense, and Ginobli is a stout defender when he decides to play at full energy, so had there been a need for the Spurs to play defense, it would have been there.

But back to the point. Nobody is building rosters around defense and in the Lakers case, they can't buy defense if all they have to offer are minimum contracts.

Sure the Lakers current roster might appear to be offensively geared, but Jim and Mitch's game plan changes from day to day, hour to hour. Whatever they throw up on the wall and sticks is the game plan. It's almost pointless to assign it any type of label until everyone is signed and the roster is filled.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:26 pm    Post subject:

The Faceman wrote:
Romano338 wrote:
Anyway, this season is (bleep)
lakers aren't what they used to be. They were a winning team, always aiming the win.
They don't worth more than the Cavs or the Sixers now.
Plenty of room on the Clippers bandwagon...
As the Spurs, Trailblazers and Suns have proven, it is a team game.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 5:33 pm    Post subject:

misterioso wrote:
PnP, I understand what you're trying to say, but don't be fooled into thinking that this is a strategic or a coaching philosophical change. I'd say is strictly driven by dollars.

The league is always (repeat always) will have a need for players like Tony Allen, Cooper, Bowen, Chandler, Ibaka, Bell, and Mutumbo, etc etc etc, guys who can change the outcome on the defensive end of the floor. But they're being forced to become nomads.

Presently, the current CBA salary cap and the disproportionate amount of money paid to elite offensive players has just squeezed defensive specialists off the rosters. Teams are simply not willing to commit their cap space for defense. Defense doesn't pack butts in the seats, defense doesn't sell jerseys. Until the league figures this out, the defensive specialists are an endangered species.

Your elite defenders want to get paid too. They're not going to stay on the rosters with high priced superstars. They're going to go to teams with cap space who can give them money. Or those superstars are going to have concede salary in order to both acknowledge and make room for the elite defenders.

Good example is the Thunder. I've read plenty of articles that have said if KD and Westbrook take max money, then Serge will pack his bags. Or all 3 can decide to take less money to make it work, but the players are now beginning to understand that's exactly what the owners want from them.

To say that the Spurs won the series on offense is accurate, but to say that defense is not of any emphasis to Pops would be a fallacy. They didn't to turn this into a defensive series because Miami was so totally inept. Besides Lebron who was going to get his anyways, who was there to stop? I will say this much - Duncan, Leonard, and Green are top 5 at their positions in defense, and Ginobli is a stout defender when he decides to play at full energy, so had there been a need for the Spurs to play defense, it would have been there.

But back to the point. Nobody is building rosters around defense and in the Lakers case, they can't buy defense if all they have to offer are minimum contracts.

Sure the Lakers current roster might appear to be offensively geared, but Jim and Mitch's game plan changes from day to day, hour to hour. Whatever they throw up on the wall and sticks is the game plan. It's almost pointless to assign it any type of label until everyone is signed and the roster is filled.
Lakers' past track record indicate that they always have multiple plans, some might factor in the info in Mike's article.

Since defense in the NBA is based on effort and effective schemes - the right system and coaching will provide a great deal of success - as seen by Coach Thibs, Pop and others.

NBA champions always have the ability to play great Team D!
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:15 pm    Post subject:

misterioso wrote:
PnP, I understand what you're trying to say, but don't be fooled into thinking that this is a strategic or a coaching philosophical change. I'd say is strictly driven by dollars.

The league is always (repeat always) will have a need for players like Tony Allen, Cooper, Bowen, Chandler, Ibaka, Bell, and Mutumbo, etc etc etc, guys who can change the outcome on the defensive end of the floor. But they're being forced to become nomads.

Presently, the current CBA salary cap and the disproportionate amount of money paid to elite offensive players has just squeezed defensive specialists off the rosters. Teams are simply not willing to commit their cap space for defense. Defense doesn't pack butts in the seats, defense doesn't sell jerseys. Until the league figures this out, the defensive specialists are an endangered species.

Your elite defenders want to get paid too. They're not going to stay on the rosters with high priced superstars. They're going to go to teams with cap space who can give them money. Or those superstars are going to have concede salary in order to both acknowledge and make room for the elite defenders.

Good example is the Thunder. I've read plenty of articles that have said if KD and Westbrook take max money, then Serge will pack his bags. Or all 3 can decide to take less money to make it work, but the players are now beginning to understand that's exactly what the owners want from them.

To say that the Spurs won the series on offense is accurate, but to say that defense is not of any emphasis to Pops would be a fallacy. They didn't to turn this into a defensive series because Miami was so totally inept. Besides Lebron who was going to get his anyways, who was there to stop? I will say this much - Duncan, Leonard, and Green are top 5 at their positions in defense, and Ginobli is a stout defender when he decides to play at full energy, so had there been a need for the Spurs to play defense, it would have been there.

But back to the point. Nobody is building rosters around defense and in the Lakers case, they can't buy defense if all they have to offer are minimum contracts.

Sure the Lakers current roster might appear to be offensively geared, but Jim and Mitch's game plan changes from day to day, hour to hour. Whatever they throw up on the wall and sticks is the game plan. It's almost pointless to assign it any type of label until everyone is signed and the roster is filled.
see i was flowing with you until you went on the FO rant. lol

all of what you said minus the last part is accurate. but i knew that when i made the statement.

you are making my point.
If green is top 5 at his position. how far as "DEFENSE" dropped on an individual basis. sure he's a decent defender. but he aint tony allen, T.prince/cooper,etc, etc.

but in this era. he's top 5. if kids see defense means little on an individual basis for perimeter guys. they will no longer focus on that aspect. and they will no longer desire to be good at that. they will change their focus and desires based on what the nba (the dream) is doing.

you made my point with the heat. the heat as a team were a solid defensive team. but you said they were so inept. it proves my point. how many well balanced teams are in the nba currently? spurs...you want to say indy but indy lacks a legit point guard. ghill is not that great of a pg. he's serviceable as a POINT guard(guy who's supposed to run the team's offense).hibbert can fall asleep at the wheel at any moment. so there that goes.

memphis? somewhat. but where are the jumpshots coming from? can they hit enough 3's consistently to open up the floor to keep teams from just packing it in? which will disrupt their solid post game as well as conley's driving lanes.

i dont see any other team thats well built and balanced.

let me throw this out there for you again

my idea of well balanced is this

a real pg
solid post play
some mid range jump shooting
a good 3 ball


we're just talking offense right now.

lets throw out a few teams from the past that played in the same era. which shows you how far the league has fallen when it comes to well balanced teams.

spurs of old with drob
portland of old with drex
seattle of old with gp
houston of old with hakeem
Lakers of old
cavs of old with mark price & daugherty
Pacers of old (reggie and smits)

unbalanced teams - the hawks with nique
the knicks(pre houston)


all of the balanced teams i named above had all those categories i named. cavs were lowest on that totem pole.

that kind of balanced attack meant you had to not only have solid team defense. but you had to have some stoppers on your team. guys that could literally shut someone down and bother a star player a bit.

i like K.lenard. now he's an above average defender for sure. but lets be clear. he reallly didnt bother lbj by himself. its because the spurs could set up a wall of defense to stop the heats drives. since there were no real post play. to make their defense focus on a guy on the block which would free up wade or lbj to drive. they have shooters, but you have to penetrate to get them open assuming the defense will collapse. OR you have to kick it down low and collapse the d and pitch it back out.

no post play means no collapse. so only if they penetrate will the spurs think about collapsing. but what the spurs figured out last year is this. no need to collapse if you backup from the start. only play up on ray, close out on chalmers well and he's done for the night. thats it. everyone else make a wall. to stop wade and lbj from rushing the rim without charging over people.

this is the sign of an unbalanced team at its finest. lbj can handle the bal and dish it off and play point forward. but not better then a REAL LEGIT floor general pg. who's small enough to squeeze into the seems of the defense and find spots which will force the defense to collapse(tparker did this to the heat all series long).

diaw is a decent defender. but lets be clear he aint that great either. the heat's offense isnt geared towards beating a guy like him. the heat players dont have the skillset to do it. but these guys were your champs for 2 years straight. i told you then, the heat aint all that. its the era they are playing in thats watered down. the spurs exposed it even more.

think about it. diaw is good at defending LBJ in the post. cause lbj's post game is suspect in comparison to real perimeter post players (kobe, pierce)
sure it works on low level SF's that dont have a clue of how to defend the post. but not on a tweener pf/sf that's big enough/strong enough and has a little know how.

if lbj cant speed past you and give you that off arm(since you're usually to thin to deal with that blow, or to big to keep up). diaw is a tweener guy. quick enough to play LBJ since he's giving LBJ 5 feet of space to begin with.

that forearm wont work on diaw like.

diaw cant stop gasol in the low post. at all. diaw cant stop zbo on the block at all. diaw couldnt slow down any legit PF on the block that knows what they're doing down there.

These new era nba teams are trying to out run and out shoot people. then throw in a little frantic trapping/pressure defense to force more TO's to run some more. i told you when okc went to the finals. you had two L.A. fitness teams playing one another. super fast/athletic guys just running back n forth. without any real offensive balance. the league has turned into who can out run the next guy. and play a hint of defense, hit a couple of 3's and bam you're the champs if you stay healthy enough.

The lakers did not build this team as a 1st option. but from what we can do under the circumstances. i can see WHY they chose this route for the moment. if everyone stays healthy. as bad as health has been for us. its about time we have a perfect season where no one gets anything more then a hurt ankle .

We just might have enough solid offensive guys to shock some people.

and i'm not talking first round exit.

again besides the spurs out west. what other team is SOLID? there isnt one. all of the nba is shaky right now minus the spurs.

this might be the spurs fiirst chance to repeat because of this watered down product we're witnessing. which is how the lakers can sneak in too.
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postandpivot
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:16 pm    Post subject:

A Mad Chinaman wrote:
misterioso wrote:
PnP, I understand what you're trying to say, but don't be fooled into thinking that this is a strategic or a coaching philosophical change. I'd say is strictly driven by dollars.

The league is always (repeat always) will have a need for players like Tony Allen, Cooper, Bowen, Chandler, Ibaka, Bell, and Mutumbo, etc etc etc, guys who can change the outcome on the defensive end of the floor. But they're being forced to become nomads.

Presently, the current CBA salary cap and the disproportionate amount of money paid to elite offensive players has just squeezed defensive specialists off the rosters. Teams are simply not willing to commit their cap space for defense. Defense doesn't pack butts in the seats, defense doesn't sell jerseys. Until the league figures this out, the defensive specialists are an endangered species.

Your elite defenders want to get paid too. They're not going to stay on the rosters with high priced superstars. They're going to go to teams with cap space who can give them money. Or those superstars are going to have concede salary in order to both acknowledge and make room for the elite defenders.

Good example is the Thunder. I've read plenty of articles that have said if KD and Westbrook take max money, then Serge will pack his bags. Or all 3 can decide to take less money to make it work, but the players are now beginning to understand that's exactly what the owners want from them.

To say that the Spurs won the series on offense is accurate, but to say that defense is not of any emphasis to Pops would be a fallacy. They didn't to turn this into a defensive series because Miami was so totally inept. Besides Lebron who was going to get his anyways, who was there to stop? I will say this much - Duncan, Leonard, and Green are top 5 at their positions in defense, and Ginobli is a stout defender when he decides to play at full energy, so had there been a need for the Spurs to play defense, it would have been there.

But back to the point. Nobody is building rosters around defense and in the Lakers case, they can't buy defense if all they have to offer are minimum contracts.

Sure the Lakers current roster might appear to be offensively geared, but Jim and Mitch's game plan changes from day to day, hour to hour. Whatever they throw up on the wall and sticks is the game plan. It's almost pointless to assign it any type of label until everyone is signed and the roster is filled.
Lakers' past track record indicate that they always have multiple plans, some might factor in the info in Mike's article.

Since defense in the NBA is based on effort and effective schemes - the right system and coaching will provide a great deal of success - as seen by Coach Thibs, Pop and others.

NBA champions always have the ability to play great Team D!
this is true.

Team D is more key then defensive guys nowadays.
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TheElectronica
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:24 pm    Post subject:

Team defense is key but at the end of they day if it wasn't for Kawhi's man defense on Lebron the Spurs don't walk through Miami the way that they did.

Miami's offense was heavily dependent on Lebron creating easy shots every time down the court. Wade wasn't helping and Bosh was sorely underutilized. On the other side of the court the Spurs just attacked whoever Lebron wasn't guarding. They ran the offense through Diaw/Duncan when Lebron was on Parker. They ran the pick and roll when Lebron was on Leonard. And when Lebron wasn't on Leonard, the rest of the Heat defenders were overwhelmed by his athleticism.

The key was that the Spurs had the personnel to compete individually and had the coaching to take that defense to the next level. For the Lakers, they have versatile defenders but lack an anchor. Guys like Wes or Lin or Kobe all have flaws to go along with their versatility. Hill, Davis, Boozer, and Randle don't exactly stand out defensively. That said, I see them as a middle of the back defensive team. It's not like the Lakers have lazy players on defense, or completely selfish players defensively. They have an interesting mixture of athleticism and experience, and should at least be middle of the pack.
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