Is anyone concerned with our lack of speed?

2 years ago when this thread was made, it was a small concern. Now, it is a big concern, because a lot of the league runs now, even the old teams run now, like the Spurs. A lot of the league is very young teams though, so although we might not face speedy teams in the playoffs (if we make it lol), a lot of the bad teams along the way are fast and they are beating us partly because of it.

Weezy wrote:2 years ago when this thread was made, it was a small concern. Now, it is a big concern, because a lot of the league runs now, even the old teams run now, like the Spurs. A lot of the league is very young teams though, so although we might not face speedy teams in the playoffs (if we make it lol), a lot of the bad teams along the way are fast and they are beating us partly because of it.

although, the Spurs do have some good young productive talent unlike the Lakers. Lakers seem hell bent on trading for veterans and not scouting young talent. why did this all stop?
We got Kobe like this, D-fish, Bynum and then nothing ever since just gambling with aging veterans or ones that had some serious injuries (Howard & Nash).
Is Kupchak over-rated?

You just used Howard and Nash in the same sentence for being on the same team.......

Then you ask if Mitch is overrated?

Well, look likes you got a point & got me. I meant to infer as far as getting young promising talent.

let me insert Jamison in there for Kupchak. Now, Meeks looks like a nice piece but not sold on his defense. So, that's a wash.

frankrj wrote:

Weezy wrote:2 years ago when this thread was made, it was a small concern. Now, it is a big concern, because a lot of the league runs now, even the old teams run now, like the Spurs. A lot of the league is very young teams though, so although we might not face speedy teams in the playoffs (if we make it lol), a lot of the bad teams along the way are fast and they are beating us partly because of it.

although, the Spurs do have some good young productive talent unlike the Lakers. Lakers seem hell bent on trading for veterans and not scouting young talent. why did this all stop?
We got Kobe like this, D-fish, Bynum and then nothing ever since just gambling with aging veterans or ones that had some serious injuries (Howard & Nash).
Is Kupchak over-rated?

It stopped because our philosophy of winning was based around our "core" players and that as long as we had them, we would be good enough to win. Guess what? The core got old. And we are seeing the effects of this. And the fact that the supporting pieces are uttter trash just makes it worse.

Just look at the athletic players we have lost since the 2008-2010. Ariza, Odom, Brown and Farmar. Those guys would spark our offense and defense with their athleticism. We no longer have that element. Everything is a grind. Everything is 3 yards and a cloud of dust. You can't do that in basketball. You have to be able to manufacture easy points. Just think back to how beautifully efficent and dominant our offense was in 2007-2009. It was free flowing, a lot of body and ball movement, etc.

frankrj wrote:Well, look likes you got a point & got me. I meant to infer as far as getting young promising talent.

let me insert Jamison in there for Kupchak. Now, Meeks looks like a nice piece but not sold on his defense. So, that's a wash.

Why do people consistently look to blame individuals for this team's woes?

We have the right pieces (save a couple two-way athletic wings/slashers). We really do have the pieces.

It's an issue of not PLAYING AS A UNIT and not BRINGING the INTENSITY.

Stop blaming Jamison, Meeks, Dwight, Pau, and Morris for each night's loss.

It's collectively everyone's fault, Kobe included. No moves or trades are going to change anything if we keep bringing this kind of effort and continue to rely on Kobe's offense.

Sorry, I will never be a supporter of Jamison and non-athletic/non-energy players. A nerve just got hit to remember the players (Ariza, Odom, Brown and Farmar) mgmt let go because of money so they fill it with sub-par players and that is what you get. These are not good pieces. Maybe it is in Philly, Charlotte, Indiana, etc.
Like Belicheck or the Steelers, they get players and they know before signing them that their personality fits into their system. The team first system. To hustle and play your heart out. The Lakers have not done this as of late (Jim Buss probably is the reason)

This opportunity to fill in the need for athleticism/defense/hustle/speed/slashing has been there for 3 years now and Ebanks hasn't been able to crack the rotation. SMDH

If you're Mitch and you put 4 Hall of Fame players together you cant address every need, you try to put the 4 best players who's skills fit together and hope the role players fill in but right now 2 of the Big 4 are hurt and therefore the role players asked to fill in are playing bigger roles than they should. We should be fine once Nash and Pau come back IMO

The Rock wrote:This opportunity to fill in the need for athleticism/defense/hustle/speed/slashing has been there for 3 years now and Ebanks hasn't been able to crack the rotation. SMDH

If you're Mitch and you put 4 Hall of Fame players together you cant address every need, you try to put the 4 best players who's skills fit together and hope the role players fill in but right now 2 of the Big 4 are hurt and therefore the role players asked to fill in are playing bigger roles than they should. We should be fine once Nash and Pau come back IMO

should be fine if they slow it down and rotate on defense better. Any champion plays to their strengths not their weaknesses. Once those 2 slow guys come back you don't speed the game up, execute better and slow it down like Mike D did in the 2nd half against the Knicks. 3 HOFs are past their prime. Past performance is no guarantee of future results when the game has changed.

frankrj wrote:

The Rock wrote:This opportunity to fill in the need for athleticism/defense/hustle/speed/slashing has been there for 3 years now and Ebanks hasn't been able to crack the rotation. SMDH

If you're Mitch and you put 4 Hall of Fame players together you cant address every need, you try to put the 4 best players who's skills fit together and hope the role players fill in but right now 2 of the Big 4 are hurt and therefore the role players asked to fill in are playing bigger roles than they should. We should be fine once Nash and Pau come back IMO

should be fine if they slow it down and rotate on defense better. Any champion plays to their strengths not their weaknesses. Once those 2 slow guys come back you don't speed the game up, execute better and slow it down like Mike D did in the 2nd half against the Knicks. 3 HOFs are past their prime. Past performance is no guarantee of future results when the game has changed.

I missed last night's game, they slowed it down to Mike Brown's pace last night in 2nd half?

Yup, they were down by 26 and got to within 6 late in the 4th w/ 2nd half half court game. They are losing but a few tweaks could turn it all around. What if they won all these games they lost by less than 10 points and had a 4 game streak instead of 4-game losing streak. It is not a big stretch. People are panicking too soon.

- Melo got hurt & left in the 3rd by a Howard hard foul and now has is day-to-day with an ankle sprain.

Speed and athleticism are issues for any team at this level. Playing to your strengths is key to success. We haven't had any real athletes on the Lakers in key positions for a long time yet we have had a ton of success. Why's that? We played to our strengths....

Now we have a system and coach that seem inflexible in approach and philosophy. I'm not sure it stops there however. Even the Owner has lamented that we haven't been an "exciting" team to watch during our 12 year run.... so I think the edict came from higher than most of us think it did to force this style change without a corresponding change in personnel.

The Celtics somehow can play with a bunch of older players and still compete every night..... yet we have more marquis names and suck..... Hmmmm.....

Do we need more speed? Without a doubt.... We need it on the floor as well. Having a couple deep bench players with athleticism while having tired old vets on the floor running an offense made for the "regular season" isn't solving anything.

I think the ability of the Celtics to compete every night is simply between their heads. Doc Rivers has them buying into a team concept (along with KG holding people accountable). Play within their ability, and not hero ball. Pretty much, everything anti-Kobe ball.

You don't often, if ever, hear of them complaining about touches because it's not in their best interests to do so. The shots will come if they're open.

Rooscooter wrote:Speed and athleticism are issues for any team at this level. Playing to your strengths is key to success. We haven't had any real athletes on the Lakers in key positions for a long time yet we have had a ton of success. Why's that? We played to out strengths....

Now we have a system and coach that seem inflexible in approach and philosophy. I'm not sure it stops there however. Even the Owner has lamented that we haven't been an "exciting" team to watch during our 12 year run.... so I think the edict came from higher than most of us think it did to force this style change without a corresponding change in personnel.

The Celtics somehow can play with a bunch of older players and still compete every night..... yet we have more marquis names and suck..... Hmmmm.....

Do we need more speed? Without a doubt.... We need it on the floor as well. Having a couple deep bench players with athleticism while having tired old vets on the floor running an offense made for the "regular season" isn't solving anything.

charvin wrote:I think the ability of the Celtics to compete every night is simply between their heads. Doc Rivers has them buying into a team concept (along with KG holding people accountable). Play within their ability, and not hero ball. Pretty much, everything anti-Kobe ball.

You don't often, if ever, hear of them complaining about touches because it's not in their best interests to do so. The shots will come if they're open.

Rooscooter wrote:Speed and athleticism are issues for any team at this level. Playing to your strengths is key to success. We haven't had any real athletes on the Lakers in key positions for a long time yet we have had a ton of success. Why's that? We played to out strengths....

Now we have a system and coach that seem inflexible in approach and philosophy. I'm not sure it stops there however. Even the Owner has lamented that we haven't been an "exciting" team to watch during our 12 year run.... so I think the edict came from higher than most of us think it did to force this style change without a corresponding change in personnel.

The Celtics somehow can play with a bunch of older players and still compete every night..... yet we have more marquis names and suck..... Hmmmm.....

Do we need more speed? Without a doubt.... We need it on the floor as well. Having a couple deep bench players with athleticism while having tired old vets on the floor running an offense made for the "regular season" isn't solving anything.

Yeah, that and they've been completely injury-free, unlike us. Yet they're barely hovering over .500. I'm fairly certain we can compete and possibly win it all with a healthy Nash and Gasol.