2011/2012 NBA Thread: Greatness & Awesomeness

[#1Batmanfan]

yo docker i thought you said Memphis was going to destroy us?? thats what i thought!!!!

 

[Docker2.0]

Look, can all agree that Kobe is a f**kn' gunn and Bynum and Gasol are p***ies with no heart?

Only if you change your avy.

 

[Docker2.0]

yo docker i thought you said Memphis was going to destroy us?? thats what i thought!!!!

Never said it.

 

[Anubis]

Only if you change your avy.

What? Kermit takin' a smoke break to think about how he smoked Piggy's bacon the night before too INTENSE for you?

 

[#1Batmanfan]

Never said it.

really?? you didnt say memphis in 5??

 

[#1Batmanfan]

LA, got great news for you:

Memphis in 5.

 

[Anubis]

Give it a rest Frankie Muniz.

 

[Docker2.0]

What? Kermit takin' a smoke break to think about how he smoked Piggy's bacon the night before too INTENSE for you?

Oh! Actually I like that one. I meant the one with the dancing tranny. Thing gave me a headache.

 

[Docker2.0]

really?? you didnt say memphis in 5??

Wasn't me.

 

[Anubis]

Oh! Actually I like that one. I meant the one with the dancing tranny. Thing gave me a headache.

Why? Cuz it caused confusing feelings in your pants?

 

[Docker2.0]

Why? Cuz it caused confusing feelings in your pants?

Let's not make this about me.

 

[Darthphere]

Was that you on the counter?

Wasn't me.

Saw you banging on the sofa?

Wasn't me.

Caught you on camera?

Wasn't me.

 

[runawayboulder]

God I hated that song...but that was pretty funny.

 

[L.A.]

Leave me alone!!!

 

[runawayboulder]

It sounds like Bosh may be out a while. If the Heat have to play Boston without him they are going to have a big problem.

 

[Mister J]

There's some solace in that it's a strain, as opposed to a tear, but ab muscle injuries suck. Definitely will need him back, sooner than later.

 

[Daniel Thompson]

I think OKC will dispatch the Lakers in 6 games, if Kobe goes off crazy atleast 7 games. But LA struggled against Denver so OKC will be a real problem.

 

[Mister J]

People keep referring to OKC as 'Denver on steroids', which doesn't bode well for the Lakers at all. Gasol and Bynum will need to stop dicking around and be more assertive on the regular. That's just too much size.

I like to throw barbs at Mamba as much as the next sociopath, but it's not really on him. He's not going to attempt the coax the bigs into destroying if they look listless. He's more than happy to go try to win the game his bloody self. That quip he had about Metta World CrazySOB being the only guy he can count on to play with energy every night says as much. That frontcourt should be a problem for the opposition every night; a big ass problem.

 

[Scrandy Randy]

I think OKC will dispatch the Lakers in 6 games, if Kobe goes off crazy atleast 7 games. But LA struggled against Denver so OKC will be a real problem.

It's not as simple as saying because LA struggled with Denver that OKC will be a bigger problem. Denver are the only team in the Playoffs besides San Antonio that don't have any real dedicated scoring and instead rely on scoring from everyone including a very deep bench. Denver also had very young and extremely athletic bigs in McGee and Fareed that I think caused Gasol and Bynum more problems then Perkins and Ibaka will. OKC have three players that provide the bulk of the offense for their team Durant, Westrbook, and Harden. Even then you only need to really nail down 2/3 of them(Durant and Harden) because I'd personally challenge Westbrook to make his shots and I think he'll play himself and even Durant out of a couple games if things don't go his way. I think MWP & Kobe can do a manageable job on Westrbook & Durant that leaves Harden who I think Barnes can also do a reasonable job on, Barnes when he's on his game is a very good defender.

I think this will com down to how LA's twin towers perform.

 

[L.A.]

The NBA on Sunday rescinded Reggie Evans' technical foul from Game 6 against Memphis.

 

[Hound55]

Blake has always been mediocre. No the exception to the rule is Blake and MWP actually making shots. You're using a sample size of one game to make a point when Blake, MWP, and the rest of the Lakers shooters/bench were miserable and among the worst in the league in every statistic. That's a sample size of what 60+ games? But no this one game proves Kobe's at fault. Those 60+ regular season games, just a fluke. Get in the "flow" Kobe!

No, he hasn't always been mediocre... When he was at Portland he would have been one of the top 5 or ten floor general-styled point guards in the league... And back then, when he actually got to do his job he was around the top ten or 15 or so in the league at three point shooting at any position...

If anyone's trying to make more of an undersized sample it's Kobe's dumbass fanatics who seem to have very short memories about how good these players were before they were stuck next to the guy. Blake spent most of his career being a good shooter... it just so happens that time happened when he was playing on a team where he could actually run the offence.

As for the "sample-size of one game"... Well, we're stuck using what we have. Maybe if Kobe could string together multiple games of not playing like an ******* I'd be able to use a bigger sample.

The fact that you had to use the word "flow" in inverted commas just further shows how out of touch Kobe's sympathisers are... The term is frigging foreign to them...

Bynum has also played out of his skin with Kobe in the game and like an idiot with him out of the game. That's Bynum being a petulant little kid who decides when he wants to try not Kobe.

Granted Bynum will play like an idiot both with and without Kobe being on the floor... The guy's an idiot. Playing like an idiot will happen.

But guys are more willing to bust their arse when they know that seeing the ball within the natural flow of the game is possible.

If you think Kobe's at fault you honestly don't know what you're talking about. One of the best players to ever play the game and he's at fault for not giving the ball to some of the worst shooters in the league. What a joke.

Isn't it funny how regardless of what players the Lakers sign, and what their reputation is as shooters... Somehow they keep winding up with "some of the worst shooters in the league".

Hmm...

Even guys who were once in the top 20 in the league percentage-wise for some reason go to the Lakers and can't seem to shoot anymore...

Gee... I wonder what could possibly cause such a consistent trend of ineptitude... Regardless of personnel... It's a conundrum, isn't it?

Your wasting your time. Anybody who doesn't follow the Lakers and only sees the National games is really unqualified for the discussion. People are still using the same tired critiques that Shaq formulated to take attention away from some of his bogus episodes.

First sentence - load of crap. "Only we people who were truly blessed to don the yellow and purple glasses can really see the world for how it is..." Please.
Second sentence - it's because they're still valid.

Kobe's been operating the same since day one, when guys show effort and MAKE SHOTS, he'll get them the ball. But passing to wide open "shooters" who continually miss makes no sense, that's why Lebron is ring-less right now. There's countless games this season where Bynum and/or Gasol didn't show up, and they admit this themselves all the time.

He has been operating the same since day one - Like an *******.

He operates completely outside the flow of the game, dictating the game from the 2-spot. Freezes the ball and then expects everyone else to try to play within that environment.

There's always going to be individual games where one or two guys don't show up with their A-game. That doesn't justify holding your team to ransom, killing all rhythm and forcing teammates to play in a stagnant system where only your own game is going to benefit. He's basically f***ing the rest of his team for himself, and giving himself excuses when he fails. And everyone else makes these excuses for him when he falls short.

"Oh, no one else stepped up."

That's generally because it's friggin' hard to "step up" and play next to him. Because you have the added pressure of knowing it's quite possible that you're going to get frozen off the ball at the whim of some prick who management will side with.

Even more than that, Metta, Blake, Barnes, Fisher when he was there this season & Sessions now, routinely, miss wide open shots. Not some of the time. All of the time. If I felt like it, I could go through all these old threads and re-post the various times I've pointed this out, or locate the stats after damn near every game. But your also debating with Knicks fans, so...

No doubt they routinely miss open shots. For some reason, Kobe just never can find a role-playing teammate who can just sit there cold for minutes at a time and stick those shots, can he? Poor guy. How can they keep letting him down like this... Pfft...

On top of that, for 90% of the season, Mike Brown was calling set plays for Kobe to get the ball, and its the main reason for that players only meeting they had, it wasn't just Kobe. Mike Brown is also the one who told Pau to get out of the paint and linger around the perimeter, how's that Kobe's problem?

Because Kobe's made a career of playing like an ******* and nobody expects him to change now.

People expect him to continue playing how he has. To expect otherwise would be ridiculous.

That's my point, he doesn't have a game but he plays hard, and as a big man, that's all it takes. Bynum had his best year this year, if anything, he benefits from playing with Kobe because if he didn't, he'd be getting double teamed every time he touched the ball, and he can't handle it now as it is. On top of that, nobody outside of Kobe is a consistent perimeter threat, so teams don't have any motivation to stop doing it unless Kobe makes them pay for it.

Yet surprisingly, despite all of the benefit Kobe gives him, when Kobe went down he came out and tore it up... Looking generally like the best centre in the league for a stretch there.

Nobody outside of Kobe is a consistent threat because nobody outside of Kobe consistently gets the ball, the offence falls stagnant and guys are left shooting cold.

Again, strangely all the players you mentioned (with the exceptions of Fisher who was a career Laker barring brief stops in Golden State and Utah and was accustommed to playing under Kobe's regime and Sessions who has never been a shooter generally) shot better at teams which weren't the Lakers.

Artest, Barnes... Hell, when Barnes was pretty good at the Suns where the ball gets moved around and we play a more equal opportunity offence - strangely, we've seldom had the Lakers problem of guys just not being able to shoot and falling in long, looooong slumps. And of course Blake, who was at one point one of the top 10 or fifteen shooters in the league.

Dwight Howard makes that whole Magic team work by handling double teams and making the right play out of it. Every big man in the history of the NBA that was worth his weight had that skill, and Bynum doesn't. Simple. So what are they supposed to do, keep forcing it down to him and watch him travel or try to force a shot through it? All he has to do is offensive rebound and he'll score just from that, he's stunting his own growth by showing a weak mentality and no character.

Angles as well... You have one of the best high post options in the league and don't use him properly. High-lows just never happen. Ever. Frankly I think Brown is too scared for his job to go any way but through Kobe.

Honestly, it's hard to blame him.

 

[Scrandy Randy]

Isn't it funny how regardless of what players the Lakers sign, and what their reputation is as shooters... Somehow they keep winding up with "some of the worst shooters in the league".

Even guys who were once in the top 20 in the league percentage-wise for some reason go to the Lakers and can't seem to shoot anymore...

Gee... I wonder what could possibly cause such a consistent trend of ineptitude... Regardless of personnel... It's a conundrum, isn't it?

Lakers 08-09 shooting stats

Odom - 0.492
Fisher - 0.424
Ariza - 0.460
Farmar - 0.391

Lakers 09-10 shooting stats

Odom - 0.463
Artest - 0.414
Brown - 0.427
Fisher - 0.380
Farmar - 0.435

Lakers 10-11 shooting stats

Odom - 0.530
Brown - 0.425
Artest - 0.397
Fisher - 0.389
Barnes - 0.470
Blake - 0.359

So there goes your first point that the Lakers always conveniently have "the worst shooters in the league" because that's not the case when looking at the stats.

Next the 10-11 stats show that many other Lakers(Odom, Brown, and Barnes in particular) managed to shoot particularly well with the shooting cancer that is Kobe Bryant while Blake was the worst at 0.359. So there goes your point that Kobe has changed Blake. Blake has been on the decline since his mediocre best season in Portland where he averaged 11 PPG(wow double digits) and had 5 APG.

So the notion that Kobe needs to spread the ball to over the hill role playing shooters that don't make shots and made up one of the worst scoring and shooting benches in the league is wrong.

 

[Daniel Thompson]

Hopefully the 76ers can steal game 2 tonight, we should of won game 1. Cannot afford to go back home down 0-2.

 

[Doc Samson]

No, he hasn't always been mediocre... When he was at Portland he would have been one of the top 5 or ten floor general-styled point guards in the league... And back then, when he actually got to do his job he was around the top ten or 15 or so in the league at three point shooting at any position...

If anyone's trying to make more of an undersized sample it's Kobe's dumbass fanatics who seem to have very short memories about how good these players were before they were stuck next to the guy. Blake spent most of his career being a good shooter... it just so happens that time happened when he was playing on a team where he could actually run the offence.

As for the "sample-size of one game"... Well, we're stuck using what we have. Maybe if Kobe could string together multiple games of not playing like an ******* I'd be able to use a bigger sample.

The fact that you had to use the word "flow" in inverted commas just further shows how out of touch Kobe's sympathisers are... The term is frigging foreign to them...


Granted Bynum will play like an idiot both with and without Kobe being on the floor... The guy's an idiot. Playing like an idiot will happen.

But guys are more willing to bust their arse when they know that seeing the ball within the natural flow of the game is possible.

Isn't it funny how regardless of what players the Lakers sign, and what their reputation is as shooters... Somehow they keep winding up with "some of the worst shooters in the league".

Hmm...

Even guys who were once in the top 20 in the league percentage-wise for some reason go to the Lakers and can't seem to shoot anymore...

Gee... I wonder what could possibly cause such a consistent trend of ineptitude... Regardless of personnel... It's a conundrum, isn't it?

First sentence - load of crap. "Only we people who were truly blessed to don the yellow and purple glasses can really see the world for how it is..." Please.
Second sentence - it's because they're still valid.

He has been operating the same since day one - Like an *******.

He operates completely outside the flow of the game, dictating the game from the 2-spot. Freezes the ball and then expects everyone else to try to play within that environment.

There's always going to be individual games where one or two guys don't show up with their A-game. That doesn't justify holding your team to ransom, killing all rhythm and forcing teammates to play in a stagnant system where only your own game is going to benefit. He's basically f***ing the rest of his team for himself, and giving himself excuses when he fails. And everyone else makes these excuses for him when he falls short.

"Oh, no one else stepped up."

That's generally because it's friggin' hard to "step up" and play next to him. Because you have the added pressure of knowing it's quite possible that you're going to get frozen off the ball at the whim of some prick who management will side with.


No doubt they routinely miss open shots. For some reason, Kobe just never can find a role-playing teammate who can just sit there cold for minutes at a time and stick those shots, can he? Poor guy. How can they keep letting him down like this... Pfft...


Because Kobe's made a career of playing like an ******* and nobody expects him to change now.

People expect him to continue playing how he has. To expect otherwise would be ridiculous.

Yet surprisingly, despite all of the benefit Kobe gives him, when Kobe went down he came out and tore it up... Looking generally like the best centre in the league for a stretch there.

Nobody outside of Kobe is a consistent threat because nobody outside of Kobe consistently gets the ball, the offence falls stagnant and guys are left shooting cold.

Again, strangely all the players you mentioned (with the exceptions of Fisher who was a career Laker barring brief stops in Golden State and Utah and was accustommed to playing under Kobe's regime and Sessions who has never been a shooter generally) shot better at teams which weren't the Lakers.

Artest, Barnes... Hell, when Barnes was pretty good at the Suns where the ball gets moved around and we play a more equal opportunity offence - strangely, we've seldom had the Lakers problem of guys just not being able to shoot and falling in long, looooong slumps. And of course Blake, who was at one point one of the top 10 or fifteen shooters in the league.

Angles as well... You have one of the best high post options in the league and don't use him properly. High-lows just never happen. Ever. Frankly I think Brown is too scared for his job to go any way but through Kobe.

Honestly, it's hard to blame him.

Since you want to play this game...

If Kobe is such a ballhog, how is it that he lead the league in Usage Rate I believe 4 times, but D-Wade's done it just as many, and Jordan lead 8 times!? In fact, in terms of all time Usage Rate, he was behind Wade & Lebron (until recently with them joining forces), Iverson & Jordan.

If Kobe makes his teammates so horrible, how is it that he made Smush Parker respectable, but when he left the Lakers for the Heat (who had the worst record in the NBA at the time), he couldn't even make the team & was out of the league in a matter of months?

Before Gasol got to LA, he was an All-Star once, and never made an All NBA team. Since then he's been on the All NBA Third team twice and an All-Star every year except this one.

You say Blake was better before LA, but was Trevor Ariza better after he left? Where's Chris Mihm? Luke Walton? These guys were his "major contributors", and Kobe took them to the playoffs and 45 wins. Are you kidding me?

 

[Daniel Thompson]

Nice win by the 76ers. Now lets take games3 and 4 and go up 3-1. Although we should be up 2-0 right now on Boston.