The Rodgers Report: 8 Reasons LA Won't Win

trodgers

Eight Reasons the Lakers Will Not Be Champions
While Los Angeles fans have their eyes on the prize, there are plenty of reasons to think that, although very good, the Lakers will not win the NBA Championship in 2008. What follows is a list of eight reasons LA will not win, culminating with the most serious threat.

1. Lack of Athleticism
-With Pau Gasol playing the 5 spot, the Lakers can put a fairly athletic team on the floor at the 5, 4, and 2 spots. Derek Fisher lacks a bit in athleticism, but is a hustle player with good strength. So long as Luke Walton is starting at the Small Forward position, the Lakers are at a (sizable) disadvantage against nearly every team in the NBA. That is a problem. And while Jordan Farmar brings improved athleticism at the PG spot, I cannot imagine seeing an upgrade to that pivotal SF position at any time soon. Vlad Radmanovic is more athletic than Walton, but he is no athlete either.
Cause for concern: slight. The Lakers have many other things going in their favor that can cancel out Walton's lack of athleticism.

2. Inexperience
This is not the same team that was bounced from the playoffs the past two seasons. This is a much deeper team with more experienced players in the starting lineup. That said, aside from Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom is the only other player with noteworthy playoff experience. Compare this to, say, the Spurs, the Pistons, or the Celtics and the Lakers will be at a disadvantage come playoff time.
Cause for concern: slight. Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher have about as much experience as anyone could ask for. Odom, too, has solid experience. The bench is fairly seasoned from two consecutive trips to the playoffs. Finally, some upgrades (Gasol) have added decent playoff experience as well.

3. The Road to the Finals
The odds of any team winning the Championship are small. Factor in the tough, tough Western Conference that could see the Lakers face Phoenix, the team that has beaten them two years in a row, in the first round. A victory could send them up against the Rockets, a team with a 18-game winning streak or the Mavericks, arguably the best team in the league last year. A Western Conference Final game likely against the Spurs would be a true test. And a win would put them up against LeBron James (the only player in the NBA who has a chance against Kobe every night), the Detroit Pistons (who shellacked the Lakers in the last meeting between the two teams in the Finals), or the Boston Celtics (everyone's favorite at the beginning of the season to win it all).
Cause for concern: slight to moderate. It's a tough road, but someone will do it. I like LA's chances.

4. Not Enough Winners
The Los Angeles Lakers are not winners. Kobe Bryant is. Derek Fisher is. Lamar Odom is not. Pau Gasol is not. Vlad Radmanovic is not. If success in college matters, I suppose Jordan Farmar and Ronny Turiaf are, but it really does not matter. This is a different game. Gasol has never made it out of the first round. In fact, neither has Farmar, Coby Karl, Sasha Vujacic, Turiaf, Andrew Bynum, or Trevor Ariza. That means just Kobe, Fisher, Odom, Walton, Vlad, and Mbenga have made it past the first round. (Chris Mihm is in limbo.) Cause for concern: slight to moderate. Make no mistake: Kobe, Fisher and Odom have enough skill in previous playoff trips to make the team formidable. Gasol has been very impressive as well.

5. Derek Fisher
I love Derek Fisher. I was so pleased when the Lakers signed him even when other Lakers fans said that he was too slow, too old, could not defend, and was not even a good shooter when he wasn't getting open looks. Derek Fisher was exactly what this team needed to go from so-so to good. He is not, I think, what the Lakers need to become the best. At least not as a starter. When his shot isn't falling, he is absolutely a detriment to the team because he does not have the footspeed necessary to defend against Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo, Jason Kidd, and the rest of the PGs he will face in the playoffs.
Cause for concern: moderate. A 4-5 duo of Gasol and Bynum will make dribble penetration very difficult, but we have not seen Bynum in a long, long time in purple and gold.

6. Jordan Farmar
Sorry to pick on the young guy, but when you get past Derek Fisher, you come to Farmar. He is playing heavy minutes at the 1-Guard position and his game must be honed considerably if he is going to give the Lakers what they need to win. His outside shot is solid and he has slick handles and great passing ability to go with tremendous athleticism. That said, he plays like a rookie. His defense is subpar most of the time with him losing track of his man fairly routinely. His love for complicated and fancy passes gives him more Turnovers than he should commit. And his Free Throw shooting is dreadful for a Point Guard. He MUST improve.
Cause for concern: Moderate to Severe.

7. Injuries
When Andrew Bynum went down with a knee injury, LA fans thought it was over. Pau Gasol changed all of that in the minds of Lakers fans and seemingly in the minds of most sports enthusiasts as well. Unfortunately, I must remind everyone that Bynum still has not come back and Trevor Ariza, the most consistent perimeter on the team other than Kobe, is still out as well. Chris Mihm's recent progress is encouraging, but he has missed basically two seasons in a row now. Kobe's finger is hanging on by a thread and is painful. I don't think Lakers fans realize how close this situation is to critical. An injury to Kobe or Gasol would almost certainly mean the end of the title hopes. With no Bynum and Ariza, it will be very, very difficult for LA.
Cause for concern: Moderate to Severe.

8. Defensive Toughness
The Lakers are NOT a good defensive team with Walton and Vlad at the Forward spot. Fisher's weaknesses are exposed more with Odom at the PF spot. While the Lakers do not give up a lot of points per possession, they play a fast-paced game that gives opponents a lot of possessions. They lag off shooters at the perimeter and have been absolutely crushed inside by unlikely players who are far from offensive juggernauts: Kendrick Perkins, etc.
Cause for concern: Severe. A healthy Bynum makes the Lakers the best team in the NBA without any question. Having Ariza as an option at the 2/3 spots gives LA another specialist in a role they need. Without either of these guys, LA is going to get worked by the Garnetts and Duncans of the world. And if you're saying that there are only two of those guys, LA will also get worked by the Zydrunas Ilgauskases of the world. And there are several similar players in the NBA.
_________________

Props to BDG for the Imago.

strikemode14 · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject:

nice read..
_________________
Strikemode14 is the greatest.

http://gprime.net/flash.php/postingandyou

]

Weezy · Joined: 03 Jun 2006 Posts: 21602 Location: Anaheim, CA

Sorry, trodgers, I didn't even notice your other thread said 'post comments there', I thought it said post comments 'here'.

We aren't athletic, but neither are the Spurs and they win all the time. Inexperience, yup, that's gonna hurt us, we've got 3 guys that have been further than the 2nd round on this team, that's it. Road to the Finals, I agree as well, you have to play a TOUGH team every single round. I'm not sure how it works, so correct me if I'm wrong, but we could play something like the Suns in the first round, Utah in the 2nd and the Spurs in the WCF. IF we got past all those teams we'd be dead freakin tired for Detroit or Boston and they'd have played most likely one tough round, eachother.

I don't agree with the not enough winners part though, winners aren't winners until they win if you know what I mean. Just cause certain guys haven't made it far on so so teams or because they're young doesn't mean they will fail, you either make or break in the playoffs, we'll only know how they'll respond when they're there. We've seen nearly every player on the team come up big before in clutch moments of regular season games though, so I'm encouraged. Fisher, yeah, his defense is a concern as always, but if Bynum's there it isn't AS big a concern and you know his shot will be clutch at least.

I wouldn't say Farmar is a reason we can't win it all, he's been in big games, he took his team to the NCAA championship, he's a winner as far as I'm concerned. Injuries and defensive toughness are indeed a cocern, can't win it all with no defense. Bynum isn't a great defender, but we do need him back, he's better than Pau is on d. I myself think we can win it all this year, but I don't think we're favorites at all like the media does. I think the Spurs are still the favorites and even a team like the Mavs is tougher and more experienced in a 7 game series. So IMO we CAN win, but I won't be surprised if we don't. No big deal though, there's always next year and the year after that and the year after that with this team.
_________________
Weezy's Weemens

Jessica Biel, Monica Bellucci, Josie Maran, Mila Kunis, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Camilla Belle, Reon Kadena, Rachel Bilson, Jaime King, Olivia Munn

trodgers · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject:

Not a problem, man.

We might be more athletic than the Spurs. You may well be right there.

As for winners, though, look at San Antonio compared to us. Winning in college is nice, but it's no guarantee of success in the NBA.

As for Farmar, agree to disagree? :)
He might be a winner some day, but he is not at this point. He has a long way to go.
_________________

Props to BDG for the Imago.

Lakeshow24 · Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 999

Injuries: Severe.

Defensive Toughness: Severe.

We need Bynum back. Our defense borders on atrocious at times without him.
_________________
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. Born and Raised. Westside!

Miss Chick. Call those games from heaven!

borri · Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 3071

Excellent post Trodgers. I'd just switch it up a bit like this:

1. Inexperience - Notwithstanding Shaq/Kobe chip1 (Shaq was too dominant), this team has just Kobe and Fish. This team is too young to have a good chance against the wiley vets in SAS.

2. Defensive Toughness/Lack of athleticism - This goes hand in had. We are soft at the PG, PF (Gasol once Drew comes back), SF positions. Our bench is horrible at defense.

3. Not Enough Winners - Again who can you really count on in the playoffs to make big shots and plays. Kobe and Fish only. The rest are unproven.

4. Derek Fisher - defensive liability against Parker, Nash, Davis, CP3, Deron. No worries against Kidd (not an offensive threat) Alston. I am not even mention AI since DEN is outside looking in right now.

5. Jordan Farmar - see D-Fish. Defensive liability plus inexperience is a recipe for disaster.

6. Injuries - Only concern here is Drew taking too long to come and gelling with the starter in time for the playoffs. Hate to see us trying to mix Drew + Gasol come playoff time.

Radner · Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 11392

I said the Lakers were inexperienced to win a title and managed to get attacked. This was before the Lakers got Gasol. man10

Good post though

KareemTheGreat33 · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 1760 Location: Philippines

Did you write this up after the loss to the Kings? j/k

Well thought out article as usual..
_________________
fortuna favet fortibus

Mo Rings · Joined: 04 Aug 2007 Posts: 1188 Location: West Hills

WWAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

We're not perfect.

Guess what, they haven't made the perfect team yet!

It is not really our job as Laker fans and boosters to pick apart our team, let the other teams do that on their own. You realize of course all these threads about OUR weaknesses is like the old saying "Loose lips sink ships"....

Think about it.
_________________
Fan since '64

trodgers · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:01 am Post subject:

I wrote this before the loss man1

I wanted to temper some of our spirits a bit and remind everyone how difficult it is to win a championship. As for picking apart your team? That's what fans do, I think. We love our guys, but we're critical of them, too. In fact, it's better when we're critical of them than when others are.
_________________

Props to BDG for the Imago.

lakerzkb8 · Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 10887 Location: Canadaland

So you firmly believe we're NOT going to win the championship due to those 8 reasons? You mentioned you wrote this before the Kings loss, so were you going to intentionally release it after a loss or what? Not sure what your trying to accomplish with this blog because at the end of the day your just killing energy. This is the first time in how many years we genuinely have something to be excited about, i'd rather see threads that say "Lakers need to improve on..." instead of " We're not going to win the championship because..." Last few seasons as fans we've been though hell, we deserve to have some fun and get a little cocky because at the end of the day it IS just a game. I gave your post a read and many of the points you can use on any elite team in the NBA and you can add onto it with other points. No team is perfect, but hey we are the #1 seed so we must be doing something right.
_________________
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WLZ3uDDAP0c

Z's House of Honeys 2.0

1. Angelina Jolie 2. Minka Kelly 3. Carmella Decesare 4.Audrina Patridge 5. Heidi Klum 6. Halle Berry 7. Melissa Theuraiu 8. Maria Menounos 9. Raquel Gibson

This game's in the refrigerator: the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard, and the Jello's jigglin'! - Chick Hearn RIP

ElginTheGreat · Joined: 24 Jul 2005 Posts: 1665

Nice read.

What are your thoughts on us winning with just Ariza or just Bynum as I am beginning to question if both of them will be back come playoff time.
_________________

lakerzkb8 · Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 10887 Location: Canadaland

edit
_________________
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WLZ3uDDAP0c

Z's House of Honeys 2.0

1. Angelina Jolie 2. Minka Kelly 3. Carmella Decesare 4.Audrina Patridge 5. Heidi Klum 6. Halle Berry 7. Melissa Theuraiu 8. Maria Menounos 9. Raquel Gibson

This game's in the refrigerator: the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard, and the Jello's jigglin'! - Chick Hearn RIP

trodgers · Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:46 pm Post subject:

LukeWalton · Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 8605 Location: Los Angles

Good Read. Well Thought Up.

Really I Don't See A Problem With Our Athleticism. I Think We Are Fairly Athletic Team Who Can Run Up and Down The Court, Play UpTempo..etc With The Exception of Walton and A Few Others I Don't Think Any Team Really Has An Advantage Over Us In This Dept.

Inexperience Kind Of Worries Me. Bynum, Farmar, Sasha, Vlad, Pau, Ronny.. Aren't Really Battle Tested But These Guys Don't Appear To Be The Type Of Players To Shy Away From The Big Stage.

PG Play Is Going To Be Big. How Fish and Farmar Can Handle All The Elite Guards. (Kidd, Paul, Parker, Davis, Nash....) This Has Been A Problem For Us For Years But Somehow We Seem To Come Out On Top. We Have Pau and Bynum To Protect The Paint.

Bynum Comes Back Healthy, Adjusts Well Alongside Bynum. I Don't See Why This Team Won't Win It All.
_________________

Ed Guru · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject:

Great blog - I don't feel it was negative at all and agree with at least the majority of the points - especially the pros and cons of DFish.

Fortunately for us there isn't a seasoned team of veterans that are used to winning with an athletic combination. I think it's a balance issue - we have some winners, some athletic players and some who've done it all before.

With Bynum and Ariza I like our chances. In some ways Ariza is as important as any other as he allows Kobe to slip across to 3 and shore up our defence.

The latest seems to be that we're unlikely to see Bynum much (if at all) before the playoffs - time to play like Houston guys (who thought I'd ever say that!).
_________________
..with the sharpness..

trodgers · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:09 pm Post subject:

I appreciate the posts, guys, whether agreeing or criticizing.
_________________

Props to BDG for the Imago.

MDI · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject:

I hate you for giving me a reality check

jk jk

Great read and you're spot on about our weaknesses.

Good job!

jam2