2011-12 NBA Season

[Still MIGHTY]

Until we do something like that, the Lakers will be an above average team, but not elite.

I said it when he was hired, Mike Brown is not a good coach.

EVERYBODY said that, or at least the people who actually pay attention. Mike Brown is basically a slightly better version of Mike Woodson: Great defensive head coach, horrible offensive coach. His plays resemble you'd see at the Run-&-Shoot.

Exactly. We have absolutely no offense flow. We should have kept the triangle, or brought in an assistant coach who knows offense at the very least. Like in the NFL when the head coach runs the defense, he'll bring in a coordinator to run the offense. We should have done something like this.

They had that coach on their staff last year. He wanted the job. The Lakers let him go. Should've hired Brian Shaw. Believed it then, believe it even more now.

[NJTank]

Shaw deserved the job.

[Rockstar Matt]

Until we do something like that, the Lakers will be an above average team, but not elite.

I said it when he was hired, Mike Brown is not a good coach.

EVERYBODY said that, or at least the people who actually pay attention. Mike Brown is basically a slightly better version of Mike Woodson: Great defensive head coach, horrible offensive coach. His plays resemble you'd see at the Run-&-Shoot.

Exactly. We have absolutely no offense flow. We should have kept the triangle, or brought in an assistant coach who knows offense at the very least. Like in the NFL when the head coach runs the defense, he'll bring in a coordinator to run the offense. We should have done something like this.

They had that coach on their staff last year. He wanted the job. The Lakers let him go. Should've hired Brian Shaw. Believed it then, believe it even more now.

It's all Jim Buss and his HUMONGOUS ego. He wants to put his stamp on the Lakers, and well, he's done so, it's just not a very good one. I hated hearing the reports of how he treated Phil and Shaw as they departed. Disgusts me. I agree with you Mighty. Should have kept Shaw.

[pmoehrin]

Have heard alot of the infighting stories with upper Laker management.

Problem I see with the Lakers is that they have zero depth and are a really old team. Half their team is over 30 years old. When you have 4 guys on your team 30 or older I would say your an old team. When half your roster is 30 or older, your ancient.

What I think is going on with the Lakers is that they mortgaged their future to win in the Phil Jackson years and now its catching up to them. If they wanted to trade Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol I would say now is the time to do, unless they think they can land somebody like Dwight Howard because I don't think they are going to win with them, they need to start building for the future at some point and they can get alot for them.

What the Lakers are trying to do is both win now and build for the future, but that only works when you have a young team that can already win. If that's not you and you try to do that, your going to end up doing neither.

[Lights Out]

If they wanted to trade Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol I would say now is the time to do

Maybe Pau, but Kobe is untradeable due to his contract. You'd be hard pressed to find an organization willing to give up young talent and picks for the "privilege" of paying almost $60 million dollars to an aging Kobe in the twilight of his career.

[pmoehrin]

If they wanted to trade Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol I would say now is the time to do

Maybe Pau, but Kobe is untradeable due to his contract. You'd be hard pressed to find an organization willing to give up young talent and picks for the "privilege" of paying almost $60 million dollars to an aging Kobe in the twilight of his career.

The contract is not terrible. Its only two years left after this one.

He would be the highest paid player in the league but he's still also arguably the best shooting guard in the NBA, and you know he's going to bring you alot in terms of notoriety and title experience, so I think you could definitely find more then a couple teams out there with the cap space willing to make a move for him if the price is right. Memphis strikes me as a team that could do it. Do O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay for Kobe straight up. I'd make that deal if I'm both teams. Gives you two solid pieces to build on if your the Lakers and for a team that got as far as it did in the playoffs last year, I don't think Memphis can sit at 12-13 this year and not make any changes to the roster, injury issues or not. They also only have one guy on the roster to my knowledge (Tony Allen) that's ever been past the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Whether or not Kobe would want to go to Memphis is another story, but from a logistics standpoint that move could work.

[Saint Zephyr III]

If they wanted to trade Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol I would say now is the time to do

Maybe Pau, but Kobe is untradeable due to his contract. You'd be hard pressed to find an organization willing to give up young talent and picks for the "privilege" of paying almost $60 million dollars to an aging Kobe in the twilight of his career.

The contract is not terrible. Its only two years left after this one.

He would be the highest paid player in the league but he's still also arguably the best shooting guard in the NBA, and you know he's going to bring you alot in terms of notoriety and title experience, so I think you could definitely find more then a couple teams out there with the cap space willing to make a move for him if the price is right. Memphis strikes me as a team that could do it. Do O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay for Kobe straight up. I'd make that deal if I'm both teams. Gives you two solid pieces to build on if your the Lakers and for a team that got as far as it did in the playoffs last year, I don't think Memphis can sit at 12-13 this year and not make any changes to the roster, injury issues or not. They also only have one guy on the roster to my knowledge (Tony Allen) that's ever been past the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Whether or not Kobe would want to go to Memphis is another story, but from a logistics standpoint that move could work.

There's no way in hell that Kobe would even THINK of going to Memphis. However, one quirky scenario could happen.

I remember back when he signed the original contract, he made an absurd request from the Clippers to move to Anaheim if they wanted to sign him. Well, if Sacramento ends up moving to Anaheim...obviously this is total fantasy but it'd be so weird to see a Kobe-led Anaheim NBA team against the Clippers and the Lakers.

Kobe is already in his "f*** everyone I'm playing so get out of my way!!" mood like he was in the 2004-05 season. This is NOT going to end well.

[pmoehrin]

If they wanted to trade Kobe Bryant or Pau Gasol I would say now is the time to do

Maybe Pau, but Kobe is untradeable due to his contract. You'd be hard pressed to find an organization willing to give up young talent and picks for the "privilege" of paying almost $60 million dollars to an aging Kobe in the twilight of his career.

The contract is not terrible. Its only two years left after this one.

He would be the highest paid player in the league but he's still also arguably the best shooting guard in the NBA, and you know he's going to bring you alot in terms of notoriety and title experience, so I think you could definitely find more then a couple teams out there with the cap space willing to make a move for him if the price is right. Memphis strikes me as a team that could do it. Do O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay for Kobe straight up. I'd make that deal if I'm both teams. Gives you two solid pieces to build on if your the Lakers and for a team that got as far as it did in the playoffs last year, I don't think Memphis can sit at 12-13 this year and not make any changes to the roster, injury issues or not. They also only have one guy on the roster to my knowledge (Tony Allen) that's ever been past the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Whether or not Kobe would want to go to Memphis is another story, but from a logistics standpoint that move could work.

There's no way in hell that Kobe would even THINK of going to Memphis.

I think he would quit basketball before playing in Memphis myself, which is why I don't think that move will happen. I think he's going to be a Laker for life, but his contract has nothing to do with why he won't or can't leave LA. There's plenty of moves I could come up with that would make sense for both sides to do that would be possible under the salary cap rules.

So that leaves you with just Pau who's still pretty damn good trade bait. I know he gets knocked for being soft, but if that's soft I'll take 12 of those on my team. Solid scorer, very good rebounder, a great ball handler for his position, and a far better defender then he gets credit for. His asking price won't be as high as Kobe's but again I think you could find alot of takers for him as well. You may piss off Kobe in the process but at the same time at some point you have to ask yourself what are we trying to do here? What's best for the team or what's best for our best player? The two aren't always the same.

[LeGooo]

Chauncey Billups is out for the rest of the season. Time to update that sig LO

[pmoehrin]

Chauncey Billups is out for the rest of the season. Time to update that sig LO

That's probably it for his career as well. He's looking at at least a year before he could come back and does he really want to go through that kind of rehab at his age to do it?

[LeGooo]

He'll be 36 by the start of next season, it would be tough to come back from a big injury at that age (if he's even ready to play by that time, I have no medical knowledge so I dnt know how long it takes to come back from an achilles injury). I hope this isnt the end for Chauncey, cause I've always been a fan of his

[pmoehrin]

He'll be 36 by the start of next season, it would be tough to come back from a big injury at that age (if he's even ready to play by that time, I have no medical knowledge so I dnt know how long it takes to come back from an achilles injury). I hope this isnt the end for Chauncey, cause I've always been a fan of his

For basketball its a year plus.

The other three major sports you can find ways of hiding leg injuries. You won't be as good but you can play through it. If your wheels aren't close to 100% in basketball, you can't go, and an Achilles tear I would say is without question the worst leg injury you can get. There's not much you can do to isolate the tendon so your rehab options are pretty limited compared to other injuries. Its an injury you never fully recover from. And with injury the older you get the longer it takes to get back. Shaq had an injury much less severe then this in his Achilles and it ended his career, so this is definitely a career threatening injury.

[LeGooo]

Man thats too bad. I hope to see Chauncey back on the court at some point.

It will be interesting to see how the Clippers respond to this

[Lights Out]

Chauncey Billups is out for the rest of the season. Time to update that sig LO

Yeah, this sucks. I always liked Chauncey even before he was a Clipper, so it's sad to see him go out like this.

On the bright side, EBled can get some burn now, and perhaps the front office can redouble their efforts at getting JR Smith?

[The Six]

This is like in movies where the mentor dies halfway through, and it's up to the hero to take everything he's learned and finish it himself. He doesn't think he can do it alone at first, but the mentor convinces him in his dying speech that what he's learned is enough. You've taught us well, Chauncey. We're ready. Los Angeles needs a basketball championship.

[LeGooo]

Do the Clipers have the money to get JR?

[Punch]

The Wolves are.....*gasp*......above .500. And even more astonishing - they are only 2 games behind Denver for 4th in the West. I'm glad they can win games without Kevin Love, but tomorrow will be a tougher test on the road against Memphis.

[pmoehrin]

The Wolves are.....*gasp*......above .500. And even more astonishing - they are only 2 games behind Denver for 4th in the West. I'm glad they can win games without Kevin Love, but tomorrow will be a tougher test on the road against Memphis.

They aren't a bad team.

Even last year I thought they were alot better then their record indicated they were.

I still there's going to be alot of changes this offseason coming in Minnesota. Adelman is the first decent head coach they've had since Flip Saundes, which I think has been the biggest thing in getting them over the hump. But I also know this is not how a Rick Adelman team plays and beyond Love, Beasley and Rubio, I don't think anyone on that roster is safe. They have alot of young players and the ability to win now. I don't think they are going to be waiting around too long for every single one of those guys to develop. If Adelman doesn't think they can start, they'll probably be gone by season's end if not sooner.

It might be a little hard convincing players to come up to Minnesota, but this is a team with a very bright future. Right now they strike me as a team that just needs one more piece to bring it all together. If I'm them I'm throwing my name in the hat for any big time free agent or soon to be free agent that's out there. They have the pieces to pull off a sign and trade and not lose much in the process because of how many young guys they can afford to part ways with.

Also another team that would make sense to make a trade for Kobe and would be near perfect trading partners for the Lakers, but another trade that won't happen because of the TWolves location.

[Fox]

Celtics beginning to play some very good basketball. Now 9 out of 10 for Boston.

Also Paul Pierce passes Larry Bird for second on the Celtics all-time points scored list.

[NJTank]

I cant believe the NBA All Star Game in 2013 is going to Houston, why is the NBA putting the game in the same cities year after year, when places like Portland and Toronto don't get a shot?