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They are not coasting they are struggling. Gasol is out of sorts offensively, Bynum needs to get his game back, Artest has dissappeared offensively to the point he's hurting the team. Matt Barnes has not provided the lift off the bench he was brought in for.
Now granted all this can be sorted out with time, effort and patience but a team that's coasting is playing wel,l that is NOT the Lakers right now.
My definition of coasting is that they aren't pouring a lot of energy into putting their best guys out there for 40minutes or so in order to help recover from this shaky streak.
Basically, they don't really care and by "they" I really mean Phil.
P.S. I don't want to make it sound like I'm disagreeing with you...they definitely have some issues. I just think that they (correctly) aren't really worried if they wind up with 5-6 fewer wins on the season and are focused on peaking late and arriving rested and healthy for the playoffs.
Coasting or not, the Lakers don't want to dig themselves into so deep a hole where they wind up with a 4-5th seed. Yeah they can win on the road, but not having home court advantage playing either the Spurs or the Mavs this year is playing with fire. I honestly have the feeling the Mavs are for real this time around.
Coasting or not, the Lakers don't want to deep themselves into so deep a hole where they wind up with a 4-5th seed. Yeah they can win on the road, but not having home court advantage playing either the Spurs or the Mavs this year is playing with fire. I honestly have the feeling the Mavs are for real this time around.
Good points. Unfortunately for them I think that age and injury are giving them a bit of a choice between bad or more badder.
I just think there's such a thing as going to the well one too many times. The Lakers have had plenty of games in recent years where they merely half-assed it, but managed to turn it on at the right time( playoffs) The ability to 'flick the switch' becomes much harder as you get older.
I don't think the Lakers win without decent contributions from Bynum in the playoffs, even if it's just as a big body to help protect the rim and rebound. Gasol started off playing MVP level ball but seems to be wearing down, not a good sign with less than half the season played. Kobe is either really conserving energy, or he's lost half a step. The spring in the legs is gone, I noticed that in the game against the Heat Wade was just blowing right past him. Now of course, he'll certainly tune in defensively in the playoffs, but how much is that going to impact his offensive game with the amount of mileage on his body?
I just think there's such a thing as going to the well one too many times. The Lakers have had plenty of games in recent years where they merely half-assed it, but managed to turn it on at the right time( playoffs) The ability to 'flick the switch' becomes much harder as you get older.
I don't think the Lakers win without decent contributions from Bynum in the playoffs, even if it's just as a big body to help protect the rim and rebound. Gasol started off playing MVP level ball but seems to be wearing down, not a good sign with less than half the season played. Kobe is either really conserving energy, or he's lost half a step. The spring in the legs is gone, I noticed that in the game against the Heat Wade was just blowing right past him. Now of course, he'll certainly tune in defensively in the playoffs, but how much is that going to impact his offensive game with the amount of mileage on his body?
Decent points. I mentioned in this or another thread that Kobe might have some nagging injuries as his numbers are down and not just due to minutes played. Had a lot of the less basketball knowledgeable Lakers fans (which is most of them) telling me how Kobe would be playing at top level into his late 30's and would match Jordans rings, MVP totals etc etc....not gonna happen.
Decent points. I mentioned in this or another thread that Kobe might have some nagging injuries as his numbers are down and not just due to minutes played. Had a lot of the less basketball knowledgeable Lakers fans (which is most of them) telling me how Kobe would be playing at top level into his late 30's and would match Jordans rings, MVP totals etc etc....not gonna happen.
Kobe had knee surgery over the summer I think, that was certainly hampering him at the start and may still be bothering him. He's also had issues with one of his fingers on his shooting hand, it required surgery but he played through it. As far as I know, he never bothered to get the surgery for that.
Kobe is a warrior and doesn't make excuses with injuries, to his credit. BUT..... at some point playing through injuries will catch up with him. Right now, he's at the tail end of his prime. At 32, he already doesn't seem as explosive as Jordan at 35, in his final Bulls season. There's no way Kobe will be anywhere near even his current level at 38, if he plays right on through.
For one, Kobe has played TONS of basketball from 18 years old. He was drafted onto a team which was playoff ready, 4 years from winning a title. Outside of the 2005 season, he has been in the playoffs every year of his career, often resulting in deep playoff runs. He's been to the finals 7 times, and made it to the conference finals at least 3-4 other times( by memory, in 1998 losing to the Jazz, in 1999 losing to the Spurs, in 2003 losing to the Spurs again.)
That means most of his career, he has played significantly longer seasons than the average player. That will catch up to him, make no mistake. He is super talented and skilled, but not super-human. By contrast, Jordan between 30 and 40 took 4 1/2 years off. 1 1/2 years between 1993-1995, and 3 years between 1998-2001. That allowed him to recharge his body and lessen the wear on already well worn knees. There's no way Jordan would have put up 20+ ppg at 40, with several 40 point games along the way and a 50 point game, without those breaks. Not from a skill standpoint, but from a physical standpoint.
Kobe may very well match or exceed Jordan's totals, in rings, points, whatever. But keeping it in perspective, he will have played longer than Jordan in order to do it. One thing to keep in mind, while I don't normally like to deal in hypothetics, if Jordan had never retired until, say, 37-38, had not missed almost an entire season in his 2nd year due to a broken foot, he could have very well wound up as the all-time leader in points, possibly another ring or two, same with MVPs. I'm only extrapolating here, but Jordan easily could have wound up with 40,000 points, 7-8 rings, 6-7 MVPs had he not taken those mid/late career 'breaks'. People forget that Jordan was ready to play beyond 35, but issues with Bulls management broke up that team. Jordan's stance was basically, if Phil leaves, so does he. Pippen was out the door behind them off to Houston, and the rest, as they say, is history....
apparently things are not so bad in lakerland. the word is that the blowout loss to the griz the other night was simply due to the glitch in the IPHONE alarms and 3 players (including pau) OVER SLEPT!
Pau Gasol appeared to be sleep-walking through much of the Lakers' embarrassing loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at the Staples Center on Sunday. It turns out that might not have been too far from the truth.
A team official confirmed Tuesday that Gasol missed the team's morning shootaround for that game without permission and later claimed to have overslept.
Three Lakers in all said they did not get up on time because the alarm clocks on their iPhones malfunctioned that morning, sources said, but Gasol was the only one who didn't show up at all. Luke Walton was one of the other two Lakers who arrived late. The third Laker was not identified but sources said it was not Kobe Bryant. A source would only confirm that Gasol missed the shootaround.
now the funny thing to me, when i get MORE SLEEP then normal, i tend to be more rested, i dont "sleep walk" though things, or what ever.
i just found this funny, any excuse they can to take the blame off themselves i guess.
Kobe had knee surgery over the summer I think, that was certainly hampering him at the start and may still be bothering him. He's also had issues with one of his fingers on his shooting hand, it required surgery but he played through it. As far as I know, he never bothered to get the surgery for that.
Kobe is a warrior and doesn't make excuses with injuries, to his credit. BUT..... at some point playing through injuries will catch up with him. Right now, he's at the tail end of his prime. At 32, he already doesn't seem as explosive as Jordan at 35, in his final Bulls season. There's no way Kobe will be anywhere near even his current level at 38, if he plays right on through.
For one, Kobe has played TONS of basketball from 18 years old. He was drafted onto a team which was playoff ready, 4 years from winning a title. Outside of the 2005 season, he has been in the playoffs every year of his career, often resulting in deep playoff runs. He's been to the finals 7 times, and made it to the conference finals at least 3-4 other times( by memory, in 1998 losing to the Jazz, in 1999 losing to the Spurs, in 2003 losing to the Spurs again.)
That means most of his career, he has played significantly longer seasons than the average player. That will catch up to him, make no mistake. He is super talented and skilled, but not super-human. By contrast, Jordan between 30 and 40 took 4 1/2 years off. 1 1/2 years between 1993-1995, and 3 years between 1998-2001. That allowed him to recharge his body and lessen the wear on already well worn knees. There's no way Jordan would have put up 20+ ppg at 40, with several 40 point games along the way and a 50 point game, without those breaks. Not from a skill standpoint, but from a physical standpoint.
Kobe may very well match or exceed Jordan's totals, in rings, points, whatever. But keeping it in perspective, he will have played longer than Jordan in order to do it. One thing to keep in mind, while I don't normally like to deal in hypothetics, if Jordan had never retired until, say, 37-38, had not missed almost an entire season in his 2nd year due to a broken foot, he could have very well wound up as the all-time leader in points, possibly another ring or two, same with MVPs. I'm only extrapolating here, but Jordan easily could have wound up with 40,000 points, 7-8 rings, 6-7 MVPs had he not taken those mid/late career 'breaks'. People forget that Jordan was ready to play beyond 35, but issues with Bulls management broke up that team. Jordan's stance was basically, if Phil leaves, so does he. Pippen was out the door behind them off to Houston, and the rest, as they say, is history....
Kobe and Jordan greatest of all time. You are correct and people don't give Kobe his due.
Kobe and Jordan greatest of all time. You are correct and people don't give Kobe his due.
Yes, I would agree that Kobe is the 2nd best 2-guard of all-time.
Arguably top 10-15 all time.
FYI - There is at least one active player in the NBA right now that is on par with Kobe in terms of career achievements and I would rank them comparably. Can you name them?
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