Its obvious why we are losing...

I'm not gonna put it all on MWP, he deserves his share of blame, but he's not the sole reason. Dwight could and should be putting up better than 15 and 9 for example. Miami had LeBron's 32, but they also had Wade's 30, we have nobody that can be a 2nd star to that degree right now, 2 franchise players on one team sharing the court and playing that well.

I don't really agree with this. Every single team has positions of weakness. Ours is at SF. I mean who can win the battle at every position every night? We don't have Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol to win at SF.

To beat a team like this we're going to have to get contributions across the board and we didn't get that.

guys all have to do their job and imo metta and dwight are not.

kobe obviously is now with his assisting.
nash is with his shooting off ball.
meeks is with his limited minutes and somehow still gives us 6 points.
blake is playing solid on both ends to give nash rest.
clark obviously is.

metta isnt on both ends. shooting like crap and not playing good d at all.
dwight is doing some stuff but not what he should. FT's have been better lately ill give him that. but he cant let his offensivve touches dictate how he plays d. he injured i know but still. he had the energy and lift today against miami just didnt use it on d for the whole game. only had a hand full of good defensive trips down the floor.

metta needs to step it up bc hes getting too many touches and not doing anything with them. and dwight does too although hes getting way less touches than earl clark and metta which is kind of messed up but thats all on dantoni in which he NEEDS to fix that.

The reason we're losing (and not just with the Miami game) has a lot to do with the fact that Earl Clark is often times the second best player for us. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Earl Clark ok.

But we didn't invest $100M in this roster to have Earl Clark carrying the team offensively. He should be like icing on the cake for us, not a main ingredient.

Too much hate for Metta.

I cringe like anyone else when he tries to iso, but Ron is a fighter. He is ice cold right now, but his shots will start to fall again. I think if he plays a little smarter and moves the ball, we can win with him. Definitely not some huge problem that needs to be benched or traded. The comparison to Lebron's stats is dumb. They have vastly different skill sets and games, and official treatment. Ron's job is to create havok on defense, and drain an open shot if it's there. That's it.

He is the least of our problems right now.

If Metta is the least of our problems I'm scared and we're freakin screwed.

injuries. metta poor play. dwight uninspired play.

hillbilly MDA didn't use the most effective lineup tonight that put charlotte away.
nash
meeks
24
D12
Earl

Weezy wrote:If Metta is the least of our problems I'm scared and we're freakin screwed.

I don't disagree. More than Metta, I look at the hilarious failure of the Nash/Howard 2 man game. Crunch time in Miami and we saw that result in prompt turnovers. Kobe had to step in and go to work iso, where at least a shot goes up.

I just think fundamentally, Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard don't make a great "big 3". Even when the team has played better, it's because Kobe stepped up and played like a superstar. Dishing, scoring, rebounding, Ding up, etc. Whatever has been needed, he has done. Nash can't create and turns the ball over way too much. Dwight has such a janky post game, and that's if you can actually get the ball in to him.

It's a nightmare, no doubt about it. 4 All Stars and only one of them playing like it.

SpencerHarrison wrote:Too much hate for Metta.

I cringe like anyone else when he tries to iso, but Ron is a fighter. He is ice cold right now, but his shots will start to fall again. I think if he plays a little smarter and moves the ball, we can win with him. Definitely not some huge problem that needs to be benched or traded. The comparison to Lebron's stats is dumb. They have vastly different skill sets and games, and official treatment. Ron's job is to create havok on defense, and drain an open shot if it's there. That's it.

He is the least of our problems right now.

Youre kidding right? Metta is the worst player on this team, maybe in the league.

His job is to create havok on defense? Did you watch the game? He was nowhere to be found on defense, Lebron ate him up every single time he guarded him. Metta cant play D anymore, its a fact. Hes almost as bad as Nash at this point.

TheOp wrote:

SpencerHarrison wrote:Too much hate for Metta.

I cringe like anyone else when he tries to iso, but Ron is a fighter. He is ice cold right now, but his shots will start to fall again. I think if he plays a little smarter and moves the ball, we can win with him. Definitely not some huge problem that needs to be benched or traded. The comparison to Lebron's stats is dumb. They have vastly different skill sets and games, and official treatment. Ron's job is to create havok on defense, and drain an open shot if it's there. That's it.

He is the least of our problems right now.

Youre kidding right? Metta is the worst player on this team, maybe in the league.

His job is to create havok on defense? Did you watch the game? He was nowhere to be found on defense, Lebron ate him up every single time he guarded him. Metta cant play D anymore, its a fact. Hes almost as bad as Nash at this point.

Big reach to say worst player on the team/league. Being fair, he isn't the defender he once was, but still has good hands. I know we all want him to magically stop Lebron 1 on 1, but it won't happen. Lebron is going to get a hoop, whistle or both almost every time he gets spacing and Iso at the top of the key. It's the James Harden offensive system. It's nonsense, but it's what those players get to work with.

SpencerHarrison wrote:

TheOp wrote:

SpencerHarrison wrote:Too much hate for Metta.

I cringe like anyone else when he tries to iso, but Ron is a fighter. He is ice cold right now, but his shots will start to fall again. I think if he plays a little smarter and moves the ball, we can win with him. Definitely not some huge problem that needs to be benched or traded. The comparison to Lebron's stats is dumb. They have vastly different skill sets and games, and official treatment. Ron's job is to create havok on defense, and drain an open shot if it's there. That's it.

He is the least of our problems right now.

Youre kidding right? Metta is the worst player on this team, maybe in the league.

His job is to create havok on defense? Did you watch the game? He was nowhere to be found on defense, Lebron ate him up every single time he guarded him. Metta cant play D anymore, its a fact. Hes almost as bad as Nash at this point.

Big reach to say worst player on the team/league. Being fair, he isn't the defender he once was, but still has good hands. I know we all want him to magically stop Lebron 1 on 1, but it won't happen. Lebron is going to get a hoop, whistle or both almost every time he gets spacing and Iso at the top of the key. It's the James Harden offensive system. It's nonsense, but it's what those players get to work with.

Magically stop Lebron? No I just wish he could at least make him earn his points. He basically let Lebron past him every single time he wanted, no resistance whatsoever, and also committed a horrendously stupid foul to give him an easy and 1. Even JVG was calling him out for his poor defensive stance, he basically just conceded hes way too slow and let Lebron go right past him.

I know Lebrons a great player, you cant let him beat you that easily though. We should have won this game, everyone stepped up and contributed, except Metta. Im not surprised by the 3-11, hes anemic offensively every game. But the fact that he got absolutely destroyed by Lebron again, its a huge mistake to have Metta on the court to face any elite team let alone guarding the best player. What we should have done is put Clark on him the whole game, at least Lebron wouldnt be able to get past him to easily.

So if you look up and down te lineup, youll see that if he even contained Lebron a little bit, say 27 points on 11-22 FG (which is still a great game), we win this game. Instead, he let Lebron dominate him and made him look like a scrub once again. Hes WAY TOO FREAKING SLOW!!!!

Zone. Play zone and LeBron and Wade become chuckers.

TheOp wrote:

SpencerHarrison wrote:

TheOp wrote:

SpencerHarrison wrote:Too much hate for Metta.

I cringe like anyone else when he tries to iso, but Ron is a fighter. He is ice cold right now, but his shots will start to fall again. I think if he plays a little smarter and moves the ball, we can win with him. Definitely not some huge problem that needs to be benched or traded. The comparison to Lebron's stats is dumb. They have vastly different skill sets and games, and official treatment. Ron's job is to create havok on defense, and drain an open shot if it's there. That's it.

He is the least of our problems right now.

Youre kidding right? Metta is the worst player on this team, maybe in the league.

His job is to create havok on defense? Did you watch the game? He was nowhere to be found on defense, Lebron ate him up every single time he guarded him. Metta cant play D anymore, its a fact. Hes almost as bad as Nash at this point.

Big reach to say worst player on the team/league. Being fair, he isn't the defender he once was, but still has good hands. I know we all want him to magically stop Lebron 1 on 1, but it won't happen. Lebron is going to get a hoop, whistle or both almost every time he gets spacing and Iso at the top of the key. It's the James Harden offensive system. It's nonsense, but it's what those players get to work with.

Magically stop Lebron? No I just wish he could at least make him earn his points. He basically let Lebron past him every single time he wanted, no resistance whatsoever, and also committed a horrendously stupid foul to give him an easy and 1. Even JVG was calling him out for his poor defensive stance, he basically just conceded hes way too slow and let Lebron go right past him.

I know Lebrons a great player, you cant let him beat you that easily though. We should have won this game, everyone stepped up and contributed, except Metta. Im not surprised by the 3-11, hes anemic offensively every game. But the fact that he got absolutely destroyed by Lebron again, its a huge mistake to have Metta on the court to face any elite team let alone guarding the best player. What we should have done is put Clark on him the whole game, at least Lebron wouldnt be able to get past him to easily.

So if you look up and down te lineup, youll see that if he even contained Lebron a little bit, say 27 points on 11-22 FG (which is still a great game), we win this game. Instead, he let Lebron dominate him and made him look like a scrub once again. Hes WAY TOO FREAKING SLOW!!!!

We lost the game in a few areas, Metta certainly didn't help. But he is not just the one glaring weak link you're characterizing here. Nash threw away a couple lazy entry passes in crunch time, ball movement was slow, we were slow in transition, etc. This team is just inconsistent, injured, old, slow and entitled. But I'll say it again, Ron isn't your patient zero.

Love what he gave us early in the season but he's just too inconsistent to be relied on in this big of a role. I wouldn't mind keeping him if we land a starting SF somehow.

Problem is that no other team wants him. They're all afraid of him, aside from the fact that he can't hit the side of a barn these days.

V.V.V.V.V. wrote:Zone. Play zone and LeBron and Wade become chuckers.

Playing an effective zone in the NBA isn't easy, and with MDA coaching I don't really think we'd pull it off. Besides, you wanna play zone against a team with Chalmers, Allen & Battier? Even LeBron is over 40% from 3.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just saying they might light you up from 3.

They might, but it won't last all game, *probably*. I'd prefer that to LeBron driving all day to the rim.

we need to rest metta for 2-3 games. I think he's tired out. He was one of the better performers when the team was struggling. I think its just dead legs right now.

SpencerHarrison wrote:Too much hate for Metta.

I cringe like anyone else when he tries to iso, but Ron is a fighter. He is ice cold right now, but his shots will start to fall again. I think if he plays a little smarter and moves the ball, we can win with him. Definitely not some huge problem that needs to be benched or traded. The comparison to Lebron's stats is dumb. They have vastly different skill sets and games, and official treatment. Ron's job is to create havok on defense, and drain an open shot if it's there. That's it.

He is the least of our problems right now.

Metta is NOT a shooter, 1 game doesn't get him out of his funk, one good shooting game can easily give him the green light in his own head to chuck away as he pleases even when its not falling. He isn't the sole reason we're losing but he is far far away from being helpful towards our winning ways. Bk is not comparable to Mia but looking at the unit that closed out that Bk game, I sincerely doubt it would've been the same result had Metta been in there during crunch time of that game. During Sun game even the cry baby called him out on it to stop chucking and drive it in but even then thats bad advice cause when he drives it in, it usually a bad layup attempt or gets blocked and the opponents get a brakeaway dunk or easy shot off the miss.

Hes not a starting caliber player anymore

Why we lost yesterday? Too many 4th quarter turnovers and poor rebounding.

We we lost so many this season? Not enough offense and not enough defense.

Why not enough offense and defense? Metta is part of it. Howard is another part of it. The bench has been a little better of late, but they were a big part of it too.

Trying to place the blame on MWP for loosing is as bright as trying to blame Gasol.....

The problem is the COACH and the backwards philosophy relative to the roster........ people will eventually run out of scapegoats going with this thought process.

Who exactly in the NBA has been slowing down LBJ these days?

Why can't our superstar C dominate the post with the likes of Bosh and Haslem down low?

Look at our superstar production that is suppose to be our mismatches out there.....

Half of our stars are not being used properly in the first place while our opponents get their max playing to their stars strengths.

Fire the coach, get a real one that can work with bigger lineups THAN if there is still issues start blaming the personnel. Until then this all falls SQUARELY on the Coach and FO's choice in philosophy and style of play

Problem: Poor Defense, Turnovers, Terrible Coaching Decisions, Poor Chemistry...added onto... lackadaisical effort from Dwight Howard, Injuries to Pau/Hill, and subpar offensive play from our SF position... are the reasons this team is losing.

There were signs in DHoward's recent history that he doesn't take the game serious enough and therefore is incapable of leading a team to a Championship. He lacks Kobe's passion and Shaq's dominance. He is just a very athletic defender at a position in the NBA that is weak.

The Lakers need a couple of things to set this ship right. First, a coach to bring the players together and get the best out of each of them. Mike D'Antoni is not the answer. He is too focused on his system to see the bigger picture.

Secondly, they need to go all in now (while Kobe can still play and DHoward has not yet decided to leave LA) and trade Pau Gasol for an athletic SF who can (at least) make a player like LeBron have to spend energy on the defensive end of the court. We need to get our starting five set and then work on the bench.

If the Lakers are holding onto their cap space plan in the hopes of luring LeBron James...they've lost their minds. LeBron James is not leaving the Miami Heat where he was able to exorcize his demons by winning a Championship. It's simply not going to happen.

If the Lakers are ever planning to win another Championship in the next 2-3 years, they better have some type of answer for LeBron James, who has raised his game to Michael Jordan's level this year. This is why we need to solidify the SF position now.

The Lakers front office has shown they can acquire talent but, like the New York Yankees, it takes more than talent to win Championships. This seems to be lost on Jim Buss who, unfortunately, is making all the decisions.









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We are probably gonna be stuck with him anyway. Its funny too because he seems to be the one that kills MDA's style, he is really selfish and kills ball movement for dumb shots.