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One and done! Sadly no repeat for Lakers next year.
Posted by: SPQR on Jun 18, 2009 - 10:29 AM
lakers-blog
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A writer named John Smallwood has written a piece saying why the Lakers won’t repeat.
Here is the link to his story and why he feels this way :
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/20090616_John_Smallwood__Lakers_are_good__but_this_isn_t_another_NBA_dynasty.html
While next year is far off and plenty of things can happen, I find myself disagreeing with his assertions and reasoning and here is why:
First off he says the Lakers are a flawed champion in flawed league. Yet he really does not go on to say where our flaws are. I would say the only real flaw we have shown is that we don’t play defense consistently. Yet both in regular season games against Boston and Cleveland the Lakers played more than representative defense. They did the same against both Denver and Orlando in the playoffs and these were two very accomplished offensive teams. After their lapses in defense I don’t really see any huge flaws on this team. Yes, the point position could be improved but don’t most teams have spots on the floor that they wish were better?
Next he says we are not clearly superior in talent to other teams. I am not so sure about this. We won 65 games in the tough west. Does that not speak of a certain amount of talent. I can’t see a team without a lot going on for it winning that many games out west. When I look at our roster I see the best player in hoops, an all time great, Kobe Bryant.No team besides Cleveland and Miami have a comparable player in any way shape or form. Does Smallwood not understand how important this is? I see Pau Gasol, one of the most versatile big men in the game. Lamar Odom, ditto. I see a young up and coming star in Trevor Ariza. I see in Drew the possible dreadnaught center of the league, even better than Howard. I just don’t see any other team that has this type of core roster. The size and ability of just Drew, Pau and Lamar separates us from any other team in what we can do. Just ask Denver or Orlando about it. When you look at all these special players and the size of our big three front line players plus the all time great Kobe I actually do thing we have a definitive talent edge on all the other teams in the league. Do you guys know of any team that boasts this type of roster?
He says that with Garnett back Boston could well beat us. Maybe, but he seems to forget that next year we will have a HEALTHY Andrew Bynum, not the ghost who still helped us in the playoff. The Drew we saw before the injury was so much better than the post injury Drew. Mr. Smallwood will be in for a big surprise next year when he sees the injury free model of Drew like we did for a brief moment this year. He also fails to say that Allen, Garnett and Pierce will just be another year older. He also fails to take note of the fact that both Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar should be even better next year. And dare I saw Sasha too? Yes he stunk the joint out this year. But has he really lost his ability and shot for all time? This is hard to imagine. I would venture to guess that the chances are next year we will see the Sasha of a year ago and not the brick layer of 2009. Lots of players have a bad year. Not many suddenly lose all their skills forever for no reason. It is hard to believe Sasha, at his age, is suddenly a has-been. If he does return to form it will be a huge plus for this team and make ever so much better than it was this year.
Because of the age and expected improvement of Drew, Ariza, Brown and Farmar and because in all probablity Sasha will also revert to his form of last year, no team in the league in my view can expect to find more internal improvement than the current world champions.
He talks of Orlando and Cleveland. Will Orlando be appreciably better next year? Will their improvement match what we should expect from Drew, Farmar, Brown, Ariza and Sasha? I don’t see it how they can do it. Will Cleveland somehow find enough firepower and inside help in free agency to actually be good enough to beat us? They were destroyed by an Orlando team that was destroyed by us. That is a pretty big jump they will have to make to take over the top spot from the Lakers next year. I don’t really see that happening either.
He then talks about Portland and San Antonio. Forget the Spurs. I respect the hell out of them but Duncan is fading fast and Ginobilli is a walking triage patient. I just don’t see this team suddenly getting so good that they pass us up. Yeah if they got Lebron James or maybe Dwayne Wade but that isn’t happening. Portland? A very talented young team but not as talented as the Lakers and they showed last year against Houston they still have much more tweaking and learning to go. Can they honestly challenge us next year? I just can’t see that happening either.
If injuries don’t destroy us, if Drew can finally stay healthy and play like he did right before the injury for a full year and if we keep Trevor and Lamar, I not only think this team will be a shoe in to repeat, but may actually have a chance to win 70 or more games.
I think Mr. Smallwood is vastly underrating this team and what it can do next year. I think the Lakers are in the catbirds seat in a very big way. I think next year at this time Mr. Smallwood may end up writing a very different type of article.
What do you guys think about Smallwood’s article and our chances of repeating?
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