the lakers have just pooped their big-boy pants: 2012-2013 NBA regular season thread (part 2)

I'd rather have Redick

I don't fully buy the whole contract year JR thing

omg are u tryna kill karl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP8My4CQduA

oops

yeah redick would be great too

lol @ dwight swat right to gallo, what a cool dude

http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradechecker/saved_trade/6196959

finally seems like things are starting to fall into place for the lakers, doesn't it?

Kobe Bryant ‏@kobebryant
"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will" Gandhi On to the next one. Keep focus.

*metta world peace bricks a corner 3*

I really love the idea of the Lakers missing the playoffs completely. Wut if

Unstable bond: Lakers fall to Nuggets
A loss to Denver is L.A.'s third straight and brings up questions about team unity.

~questions~

c'mon guys be fair to the lakers, they're 2.5 games ahead of the kings!

... YET?

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/1/7/3845920/kobe-bryant-dwight-howard-lakers-fight-dwightmare

:D

i never understood how one could physically fight someone of dwight's height

he's only 4" or 5" taller than Kobe. It's not like Muggsy & Manute or something.

oh he's got half a foot on kobe

dwight's like 6-9 dude

you fucking kidding me?

c'mon guys be fair to the lakers, they're 2.5 games ahead of the kings!
― Clay, Monday, January 7, 2013 2:03 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ö Can't get total 100% pleasure from this while Nash / Gasol are still on the team. Guess it's not surprising that both teams are basically the bottom of the West. Pretty strong evidence to those of you who still don't believe that team chemistry / chemistry players don't matter much!

Celtics would be the perfect fit for Cousins; if they can manage to land him w/o giving up Bradley. Some combo of usable / upside players (Lee, Sullinger, Melo, Terry) with junk might get them there since the asking price for Cousins will be low. Surprised to read that most of the trade rumors involve both Cousins and Thornton; feel like a team can support one or the other, but not both (guess Tyreke falls under Decent Vibe, Decent Scorer, Don't Ask Too Much of Him). If they can turn Cousins & Thornton into one legit star + role players, they'll be a muuuuuch better team.

Dwight is 6'10" tops. Or otherwise Pau is 7'5".

*breaking* pau gasol is actually 7'5"

http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=truehoop&id=34789

you ever seen him stand next to pau? pau's got a couple inches on him easily

we've been over the inflation of nba heights before

xps Would like to point out that yall are getting testy over whether Dwight is 6'9'' or 6'11''. Dwight could shorter than Kobe, wouldn't matter since Howard would have the major reach / sw0le advantage.

Would die if Lakers hate-traded Dwight.

thornton is mad underrated no?

haha howard would get the shit beat out of him by kobe

well in any event i wouldn't want to fight dwight howard

Dwight's reach advantage is about the same as his height advantage: 4-5". Though he is undoubtedly stronger but way, way slower.

yeah he's a big dude for sure

Not really sure who Thornton compares to; always kinda tough w/ players who have exclusively played for shitty teams since they tend to have poorer shot selection since nobody gives a fuck and someone's gotta score.

Feel like he's a smaller, saner version of Antoine Walker, or maybe mid-career Baron Davis w/o the dunking? Think he'd make a perfect instant-offense bench player for a top contender. But he really needs to be on a team heading in the right direction more than anything.

BTW the difference between Kobe/Dwight's standing reach is about three inches, so Dwight gets that and is also + 60-70lbs on Kobebean. Not that it matters since Fisher would show up to the fight + throw brass knuckles to Kobe once Dwight knocks him down.

BTW the difference between Kobe/Dwight's standing reach is about three inches, so Dwight gets that and is also + 60-70lbs on Kobebean. Not that it matters since Fisher StanVan would show up to the fight + throw brass knuckles to Kobe once Dwight knocks him down.

Kobe would eat dwight's still beating heart.

lol xp

Zach Lowe ‏@ZachLowe_NBA
Just finished Lakers-DEN. LA was not committed enough to transition defense against the team that demands the greatest such commitment.

BTW the difference between Kobe/Dwight's standing reach is about three inches, so Dwight gets that and is also + 60-70lbs on Kobebean. Not that it matters since Fisher StanVan would show up to the fight + throw brass knuckles to Kobe once Dwight knocks him down.

― pandemic, Monday, January 7, 2013 9:46 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3 <3 <3

If u guys accept the, v rough, prediction that the Lakers need to go 31-18 the rest of the way to make the play-offs, do you think they'll do it?

I've been kinda gleeful about their shoddiness all season but this last week is the first time I've actually thought that they won't somehow make it in.

granted the west is always very deep but where would the lakers not making the playoffs -- or even getting bounced in the first round -- fall in history in terms of most disappointing seasons in sports history? i mean there were some people all but handing the lakers the title, or at least the conference title

i'd still bet that they make the playoffs before getting housed. at this point though any injury to one of their four players might be fatal

hollinger's playoff odds have the lakers at ninth most likely to make it in the west but i think that stuff is still pretty finicky this time of year

btw hollinger's power rankings have the rockets as the no. 5 team in the league, one spot ahead of the heat

Yeah the needing to go 31-18 is something I picked up from ESPN but I haven't looked at the schedule etc, it's all p speculative. But even if they don't have to go 13 games over .500 from here but say 10 games over, that still looks a stretch. Their defense is just so horrid, plus not many teams in the lge these days are gonna accommodate them by playing a slow half court offense against them.

xp

Haven't seen Houston since they beat the Knicks at MSG. Has Lin been more like that subsequently or is he still settling for jump shots and shooting them horridly?

Bron's possibly the only guy on the Heat who's giving them a full season, the others are just sporadically napping until the play-offs.

Last 10 games Lin is averaging 14 pts, 7 assists & 2 steals, and shooting 49%.

xpost

Thanks EZ.

Near-historic disappointment, but if you want to be fair, Nash has been out for most of it, and Dwight has been playing hurt. Plus, Kobe has played well above expectation.

THAT SAID. If you have Dwight, Kobe, Nash, Gasol, Metta and Jamison, not sure you're allowed to have injury excuses, esp. when only one of them has missed significant time. Like, all of the other Most Disappointing NBA Teams of All Time at least made it to the Conference Finals, lost to the eventual Finals team/champs, or made it to the Finals themselves only to lose. To not even make the playoffs would be kinda unprecedented. Kinda feel like they deserve to miss the playoffs for building such an old, top-heavy team.

On top of all this, Buss also has to deal w/ Phil Jackson getting his marital relations on w/ his daughter. ;_; year for Buss.

theyre really pushing the ball and playing up tempo, lin is playing better and staying on floor without harden