Steve Nash's thoughts on the current state of the Lakers

KB24 wrote:Every thing about this team sucks starting with the coach and ending with the chemistry.

every player except Clark, Nash and Kobe has under-delivered.

This completely, 100%, sums up our season.

I would argue Nash hasn't delivered either. He has been a decent SG for us since going with Kobe as a facilitator. He doesn't play a lot, can't create and turns the ball over in big moments. He just doesn't have chemistry or confidence with this group.

So we gave up future flexibility and 4 1st round picks for a player that is conceding to throw in the towel and tell the fans not to expect any championships?

What was the point of actually giving up 4 1st round picks which would have been very valuable with our cap-room in 14/15?

Yep, I always thought that the NaSh signing had Jimmy's fingerprints all over it. Too much money for a 38 year old pg. heck, Mitch only paid vets min for Malone in 03.

I want to like Nash, and the signing overal, but...

He has produced so precious little this season. On or off the court. This is THE Steve Nash we've been watching? Where are the passes, the BBall IQ, the leadership? Maybe they missed the flight over from PHX.

He's old. This is what you get.

Why is he not running the offense at the end of then games? Kobe is running it. Nash should be considered capable enough to do so.

lotus wrote:He's old. This is what you get.

Why is he not running the offense at the end of then games? Kobe is running it. Nash should be considered capable enough to do so.

Nash isn't running the offense in any critical situations, especially the 4th quarter. That's because Kobe is incapable of playing off the ball. Kobe can't lose his man, he can't get open looks, he can't wrap baseline and lose a defender. Kobe only knows how to operate with the ball and use a majority of the shot clock doing it. That doesn't leave much for Nash to do. To top it off our bigs are hurt and D12 is worthless because he can't even hit a free throw and doesn't seem to be able to convert often enough for 'and 1' situations to make it worth while to even go inside to him regularly.

All Kobe wants to do is back his butt into his defenders 2 foot inside the 3pt line and try to launch flat shots or run inside and dish off to someone. Doesn't work well enough on tired legs in the 4th quarter. It's been going on since the playoff exit to Dallas in Phils last season.

Kobe's still great, but he's not the best finisher in the game anymore and it's absolutely killing the team because he still wants to be that person even though it's just plain not working.

You surround Nash with a bunch of skilled, fast, and athletic players, and let them run. Nash will look really good. But you can't surround him with a bunch of nonathletic guys that don't want to run, and expect him to produce. You don't see any slashers on this team for Nash to pass to. You don't see any big guys that can consistently knock down the 3pter that Nash can hit when he drives in. Nash is very containable when he is not surrounded by guys who play fast.

None of our big men know how to set a pick. In order for a pick and roll to work well, the pick has to be hard and solid. Then you seal and roll to the basket. Nash will make that perfect pass every time. But now, you see Pau slinking his way up for a high screen. It's a garbage screen and flimsy. The defender easily avoids the screen, and the 2 man game is dead in the water. D12 does a better job at screening, but it is still not a hard hard screen. So many times, our big man just goes for a weak screen, and try to slip it too quick. No bueno!

BDG wrote:

KB24 wrote:Every thing about this team sucks starting with the coach and ending with the chemistry.

every player except Clark, Nash and Kobe has under-delivered.

This completely, 100%, sums up our season.

and the greatly missed Jordan Hill ...

Every thing about this team sucks starting with the owner, coach and ending with the chemistry.

jimbo327 wrote:You surround Nash with a bunch of skilled, fast, and athletic players, and let them run. Nash will look really good. But you can't surround him with a bunch of nonathletic guys that don't want to run, and expect him to produce. You don't see any slashers on this team for Nash to pass to. You don't see any big guys that can consistently knock down the 3pter that Nash can hit when he drives in. Nash is very containable when he is not surrounded by guys who play fast.

None of our big men know how to set a pick. In order for a pick and roll to work well, the pick has to be hard and solid. Then you seal and roll to the basket. Nash will make that perfect pass every time. But now, you see Pau slinking his way up for a high screen. It's a garbage screen and flimsy. The defender easily avoids the screen, and the 2 man game is dead in the water. D12 does a better job at screening, but it is still not a hard hard screen. So many times, our big man just goes for a weak screen, and try to slip it too quick. No bueno!

Honestly , He should have known this team not his style when signing the lakers ,
how can you expect them to run and gun (execpt him )



hopefully , gets more from this fast break point

jimbo327 wrote:
None of our big men know how to set a pick. In order for a pick and roll to work well, the pick has to be hard and solid. Then you seal and roll to the basket. Nash will make that perfect pass every time. But now, you see Pau slinking his way up for a high screen. It's a garbage screen and flimsy. The defender easily avoids the screen, and the 2 man game is dead in the water. D12 does a better job at screening, but it is still not a hard hard screen. So many times, our big man just goes for a weak screen, and try to slip it too quick. No bueno!

Agreed ... it has been said many times here ... JVG said that D12 had to set better screens during yesterday's game too ... not sure why there has been no adjustment yet

wcsoldier81 wrote:

BDG wrote:

KB24 wrote:Every thing about this team sucks starting with the coach and ending with the chemistry.

every player except Clark, Nash and Kobe has under-delivered.

This completely, 100%, sums up our season.

and the greatly missed Jordan Hill ...

thats 100% accurate. Too bad really.

Its not just inability. We have also really had some poor luck. Gasol all season was having some itches, Hill hurt for the year, now Gasol again hurt for extended time, Howard never getting healthy, Nash missing 20+ games right at the start of the season, Blake although useless getting hurt for a long time. The losing also certainly contributed to the terrible locker room atmosphere where all people are fighting each other, the coach change right at the beginning of the season once again throwing our camp under the bus and so forth...things really didn't come the way they should.

All of that said...they still have enough talent to be way way better than what they are so no excuses. No reason why this team ever got to 17-25...thats unheared of. Everybody is worried about himself, IMO Kobe this year failed at leadership with all the issues going on in the locker room and the coach isn't able to handle the egos obviously, Fisher is greatly missed at this department. Nor is any player in the locker room to calm others down to work for eachother like Fisher would have. Defense is mostly companionship and effort and has been non-existent. The 3 point shooting has been awful, the lack of inside game glaring, the poor rebounding a result of lack of mentality. Also blowing leads all year and an inability to close games out in the 4th. The bench has been widely inconsistent and simply not good enough. Jamison has some offense but is putrid on D and Meeks is a hit or miss (although mostly miss). The rest is dead weight except for Hill who got hurt and Gasol.

The only real positive was Clark and his incredible story. Also I can say Kobe's efficiency was higher than expected, so also his recent adjustments. Nash's shooting is still there but age clearly takes away from the dominance. Hill came into the season in great shape and really was one of the best players, let alone bench players.

Most disappointing are Dwight and Gasol for various reason although mainly because neither embraced his new role within the club. Gasol wants to be under the rim, Howard too...and both want lots of touches. Its obvious that cannot work. Then we hired D'Antoni to rejuvenate Nash (who was useless under Brown) and fail so bad that we are now playing half-court basketball with ISOs and post ups but for this offense, D'Antoni is NOT the right coach so its a double fail.

i wouldn't go so far as to blame nash's problems on kobe (who i think plays pretty well off the ball, but prefers to play with it). nash looks like the same guy i saw in phx last year. he's old, folks. he's a defensive liability. but he can still play and was worth trading for. as mentioned, nobody sets a good screen for him, and the off-ball movement has been pretty week (save earl clark). kobe's recent shooting woes have further shrunk the court for him, too. his pick and roll looked better when kobe was a legit long-range threat. teams are simply leaving everyone but nash open out there now (even kobe in some games). this is why meeks has been helping out more lately.

if nash was the same guy from five years ago, the lakers wouldn't have had a shot at him. as it stands, the lakers gave up a late lotto pick (this year), a second rounder, someone else's late first, and maybe one other pick that projects to be a late 1st. the latter three have a very low success rate (especially lately for the lakers), and the first one projects to be pretty weak this year. there wasn't a better pg on the market, and they weren't going to get under the cap enough to get one soon.

the only issue i see is that in his last year, he's cutting into the cap and won't be worth his salary. overall, i do that trade again, no question.

the only moves i'm second guessing from management at this point are the coaching choices. each has been more disastrous than the last, and many of us said it even before seeing just how bad it would be (i hated both the brown and dantoni signings from day 1).

but their other moves: the pau deal that got nixed, the sessions deal, the hill deal, the nash deal, and the howard deal: not just good, many of these are amazing.

When this season finally end FO need to amnesty Ron or Nash....one of them need to go, I vote for Metta but i wouldnt mind if they move Nash also....with MDA we dont run any system, its obvious and in that case we dont need Nash ....bring some young PG with good defense and give better contract to Clark....If Nash cant play in system with PnR and be a true PG he need to go...

themasterphil wrote:When this season finally end FO need to amnesty Ron or Nash....one of them need to go, I vote for Metta but i wouldnt mind if they move Nash also....with MDA we dont run any system, its obvious and in that case we dont need Nash ....bring some young PG with good defense and give better contract to Clark....If Nash cant play in system with PnR and be a true PG he need to go...

How exactly do you plan to get a young PG with good defense here? Can't sign anyone beyond what, the veteran's minimum?

^you can't amnesty a player you signed after the CBA...so Nash won't get amnestied because its not even possible. As for Ron, you have a point. Get rid of him.

JGC wrote:

themasterphil wrote:When this season finally end FO need to amnesty Ron or Nash....one of them need to go, I vote for Metta but i wouldnt mind if they move Nash also....with MDA we dont run any system, its obvious and in that case we dont need Nash ....bring some young PG with good defense and give better contract to Clark....If Nash cant play in system with PnR and be a true PG he need to go...

How exactly do you plan to get a young PG with good defense here? Can't sign anyone beyond what, the veteran's minimum?

even aside from that, i dont think we're allowed to amnesty nash. we can only amnesty players we had on the roster when the new CBA was signed, as far as i know

Ok I didnt know about Nash and CBA, then the only hope is that he retire after this season. I pray for that....in that case amnesty Ron and trade Gasol for some SF and young PG who is ready to play defense

KB24 wrote:^you can't amnesty a player you signed after the CBA...so Nash won't get amnestied because its not even possible. As for Ron, you have a point. Get rid of him.

He expires next year though. Would just be better to let him walk if you're going to have to pay him anyway. Otherwise, amnestying him and getting someone else is going to cost you incrementally more.

We just need to start over in 2014, that's all. There is really no salvaging this and I wouldn't want to negatively impact the future, for the false hope of a ring next year.

This guy should do the right thing and retire at the end of the season and cut the Lakers a break on salary tax.

Wow, this whole Nash hate is a complete joke. Dude is the best shooter we've ever had in the history of this franchise. Look it up.

And the main reason Nash isn't passing "enough" is because Dwight can't handle a bounce pass while moving to save his life. That and of course Kobe is going to "ball hog" late in games. That doesn't mean Nash "sucks" or he's "not worth it."

So if Dwight (and sometimes Gasol, too) is too shy to cut to the hoop the way 'Twan and Clark do, Nash has to take the pull-up jumper. And he hits them. Consistently. Practically automatic. How many times has Jodie Meeks hit a wide-open jumper this season when we really needed him to? If Nash is hitting jumper after jumper, there's no pressing need to force passes. He's smart enough to go with what works.

Without Nash, we'd probably be at least 5 or 10 games under .500 right now.

We could even package him with Pau to the Raptors. Lowry/Amir/Derozan would be great fits.

I think the best is yet to come of Steve Nash....if we get into the playoffs, this guy will beast it, I'm sure of it. He is a different player in the post-season.

dj vitus wrote:Wow, this whole Nash hate is a complete joke. Dude is the best shooter we've ever had in the history of this franchise. Look it up.

And the main reason Nash isn't passing "enough" is because Dwight can't handle a bounce pass while moving to save his life. That and of course Kobe is going to "ball hog" late in games. That doesn't mean Nash "sucks" or he's "not worth it."

So if Dwight (and sometimes Gasol, too) is too shy to cut to the hoop the way 'Twan and Clark do, Nash has to take the pull-up jumper. And he hits them. Consistently. Practically automatic. How many times has Jodie Meeks hit a wide-open jumper this season when we really needed him to? If Nash is hitting jumper after jumper, there's no pressing need to force passes. He's smart enough to go with what works.

Without Nash, we'd probably be at least 5 or 10 games under .500 right now.

i don't hate Nash it's just plain and simple he is too old and eats up too much cap space. for the future we need a younger stud pg to pair with D12.