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[kvsm23vs24]

Dwight gets it a lot. Dude just can't hold onto the rock

 

[Rockabilly Zombie]

For Pau, but not for Dwight.

Guys, Dwight for Love is a lateral move.

I agree. Unless other pieces are thrown in.

Chris Vernon
Chris Verson Show, Radio Host
BREAKING: Grizzlies are going to sign former Knick Bill Walker and former Celtic Delonte West. Also will sign Sasha Vujacic.

 

[CP1708]

Not Sasha. He can't come over til the offseason. That report is wrong.

 

[grandtheftbike]

welp there goes delonte

 

[thegoldenchild]

I agree. Unless other pieces are thrown in.

Chris Vernon
Chris Verson Show, Radio Host
BREAKING: Grizzlies are going to sign former Knick Bill Walker and former Celtic Delonte West. Also will sign Sasha Vujacic.

I still dont get why the lakers dont pull the trigger on delonte... is it cause the coach is too weak minded to deal with him?? Phil would tak3 him in a heartbeat

 

[kvsm23vs24]

Give me Pau in the post 15 and 12 in less minutes then Dwight

 

[ryda421]

For Pau, but not for Dwight.

Guys, Dwight for Love is a lateral move.

yeah but dwight is too much of a kid. doesn't take the basketball serious. he plays like a small forward with the strength of a center

 

[Coupé It]

For Pau, but not for Dwight.

Guys, Dwight for Love is a lateral move.

Completely agree. Won't make the team much better or worse but do you expect to get? LeBron James?

Not many moves out there that will make the Lakers a better team if they trade Dwight, but at this point its better than nothing.

 

[freeze]

The blame is not on any one person, player, coach, or front office nerd. It's everywhere.


Fittingly, Mitch does TREMENDOUS work in the offseason, what he pulled off was unreal, and he was the HANDS DOWN Exec of the year til all this. Then, who hired the coach? Jim. Who didn't want to suck up to Phil anymore, and everyone followed his lead. Thas how it goes.

Dwight is not 100%. Period. It should be clear to everyone. You can tell when he feels good, he explodes everywhere. When he doesn't, he shuffles his feet all the way down court, he doesn't run like a dear. That's not anger, or lazy, or any of that, that's he can't. That's why you see 25-17 one night, 7-4 the next. His injury comes and goes.

What I have said about Nash forever has been shown out this year. "Nash makes everyone around him better". Oh? What it really was was a bunch of athletic guys he played with could get from one side of the court to the other in 3 steps and shoot when they were wide open. Now Nash plays with slower guys, don't get as open, and don't knock down wide open shots anymore. He doesn't make them, they make him. Now what his skill was was vision, and keeping his dribble alive searching and probing for the best open shot. You don't magically pass the ball to a player, and he's so great that the teammate makes a 27 footer cuz he loves you Steve. Those players make the shots, Nash just gives them the ball.

Pau is caught in the middle of everything. Down low, up top, slow footed, not fully healthy, aged as well.

Kobe is now wasting away. He came out in ridiculous good health, great shape, etc. He was really excited about this season I'm sure. Now, it's a disaster and we've asked him to play PG, defend PG's lately, AND carry the offense since Nash has been out, Pau been out, Dwight not 100%, all while playing 40 minutes a night. We're killing him. Blaming him is beyond stupid. Surely he takes bad shots and should save that ****, but he's also the only guy on the planet that has put the work in. You guys think Dwight in the gym workin on his game right now? You heard TNT last night, Kobe loses in Toronto, tired legs, old man, in the Bulls stadium at 10 o clock at night shooting. Working out. The guy is going to die within Staples center, and be buried underneath center court.

Mike D.......is there a law why you have to sit 3 of your stars at once? WHY IN THE **** WOULD YOU SEND PAU OUT ALONE TO START THE SECOND QUARTER? What purpose does that serve, you ******g idiot? Good God, what does Pau, Morris, Duhon, Ron, and Clark do? Take one of those idiots out, and give him Nash or Kobe. A guard, to balance what he does. WHY DO YOU REFUSE TO DO THAT?


The best we have been this year, Bernie came in, and let them play, WITHOUT Nash. And they were fine. They played the Spurs to the final second, again, without Nash. Just be basic, and play your games. Dwight wasn't even close to 100%, neither was Pau. Now MDA is trying to force them to run, play heavy minutes, out of position, bad rotation mixes, and the whole team has that what's gonna happen next vibe. 90-90 vs the Heat. Lose. 75-75 vs the Bulls, fall apart. They have it in them, they know how to play, they just can't put it all together. And the rest of the league is now giddy to play us, rather than fearful. They play out of their minds.


In the end, they can't panic. They could look at flipping Pau. They could even flip Dwight. They could cut ties with Clark, Jamison, Meeks, Hill, watch Pau and Blake go next year, maybe even flip Nash at some point. Watch Dwight walk, Kobe rot. And then start ALL over in 2014. We could be an expansion team next year. Or, they play the middle ground, hold on, wait it out in the .500 range, and still gear up for 2014.

If they stick with MDA, he will kill everything. Players are going to lose it with him, but they gave him 3 years, MB has like 3 years left, Buss is going to take a lot of heat for this. Mitch did his job, and did it well. Buss didn't follow it up. And for that, it will cost us. Possibly 2 seasons. Then we have to gamble that players will want to be here in 2014, with a new coach I would imagine by then.

Either way, in the next 30 days, I expect contracts/bodies to start getting flipped. Jamison, Blake, Clark, Duhon, Ebanks, Meeks, anybody that someone wants, will probably get sold. Pretty unreal it's got to this point, but here we are. 2005 all over again. Just remember, 3 years later, we were back. This time, we should be right within 2 years. Unless something drastic happens, like Minny panic trading us Kevin Love for Pau.

I was in full agreement until this part. Difference between now and then is that in '05, we were just getting a 26yo Kobe going into his prime. Had no problem playing 48 minutes, dropping huge points and checking whomever for 94 feet. He could do it all and he brought it every night. He was our hidden gem after we tossed Shaq. Better than we ever could've imagined. Plus even in losing, he was incredibly fun to watch. He helped lighten the blow in those dead years. Doing whatever was needed to survive, kept us afloat and relevant until pau came in 08. He was the silver lining, our upside. But we don't have that now. No future superstars to look forward to. Not to mention we had Dr. Buss & Mitch & Phil running the show. And that to me is why we are really going to be worse off this time. And it's going to hurt more this time around.

Had we had gotten CP3, our upside would be great. He's young and crazy talented. And he has the right mindframe to be given the keys to a franchise like this. Dwight, much like bynum mentally, doesn't.

I'm really...reallllllly not looking forward to the dark days this time. Our coaching is awful, FO is awful considering jimmy has all the power, and our personnel is either awful or uninterested/unmotivated/old.

 

[duba169]

NO NO NO. IT'S D'ANTONI'S FAULT!

a good amount lot of the laughter at dantoni comes from Knicks fans but....

Don't pretend like he doesn't have a lot to do with the problems. Saying he was gonna put Kobe on the tough defensive assignment while he needs to be the main scorer. I mean at this age, that was ******ed

no accountability and always laughing, deflecting blame. No attention to detail from what we can see

Coming back from deficits only to lose at the end because of poor execution. This is classic dantoni and was all predicted. He wasn't gonna be able to handle post players like Dwight and pau. Injured or not


I know we not gonna pretend like Pau would be taking 3's with another coach rite

Fredo buss made a decision based on personal reasons and now these are the consequences. You guys are lucky that most of your competition been slacking

 

[htg designs]

Even tho mathematically they can still hit 5-8th seed by winning more than they lose, not gonna happen. SEASON OVER.

 

[mrdieselfuel09]

Maybe Dwight is tanking to get himself out of L.A

 

[pmatic]

NO NO NO. IT'S D'ANTONI'S FAULT!

a good amount lot of the laughter at dantoni comes from Knicks fans but....

Don't pretend like he doesn't have a lot to do with the problems. Saying he was gonna put Kobe on the tough defensive assignment while he needs to be the main scorer. I mean at this age, that was ******ed

no accountability and always laughing, deflecting blame. No attention to detail from what we can see

Coming back from deficits only to lose at the end because of poor execution. This is classic dantoni and was all predicted. He wasn't gonna be able to handle post players like Dwight and pau. Injured or not


I know we not gonna pretend like Pau would be taking 3's with another coach rite

Fredo buss made a decision based on personal reasons and now these are the consequences. You guys are lucky that most of your competition been slacking

D'Antoni isn't innocent himself, but it's not all on him either.

It's on everyone at this point. All the problems you alluded to about the offense and defense crapping at the worst possible time(s) dates back to 2011 when Phil was still at the helm. It has just occurred more often with a weaker, slower and older roster.

 

[duba169]

It's never all on the coach. Players play. But dantoni was teeeeerrrible at handling ego's and personalities in NYC. And it looks like he's just as much as a **** up with that on the lakers

I'd take Phil the shrink who could get everybody to play nice with the biggest prick and psycho out there in MJ. Got Kobe and shaq to those rings until the mutiny against the pistons.

Nash needs the ball. He needs to be the main coordinator. Kobe probably won't allow that. But the coach needs to man up and make that happen. Because I don't see any other way to change the situation if the roster stays put. That won't help the D, but maybe Kobe at least won't expend as much energy. And it will get the rest of the team involved. Kobe has some of the worst tunnel vision I've ever seen. He's making melo look like rondo

 

[pr0phecy718]

p matic- D'Antoni sucks, man. Just admit it lol

The lakers roster does need an overhaul but they shouldn't be playing this way either.

 

[pr0phecy718]

Btw I had the most strangest dream that the Lakers cut Dwight Howard and the knicks picked him up LOL

 

[essential1]

Jarrod Rudolph's report is basically this: Billy King screwed up in the offseason, realized he could have had Dwight had he not given Brook a bonehead deal. Wants Dwight. Went to the ESPN Trade Machine... Said how about the Timberwolves? And thinks the Wolves want Brook Lopez for Kevin Love, and we want Kevin Love for Dwight Howard.

Kevin Love for Dwight is not even a lateral move. It's the worse kind of move. It's a move that serves no purpose. Even when we try to trade Pau, it's to actually serve a purpose. Whether to return a Starting PF, or fill out the roles we actually need filled.

And why trade Dwight for Kev? Does no one remember Kevin saying I'm tired of losing, I don't want to lose, if we don't make it to the playoffs I want out of Minnesota.. Does everyone forget the ticking time bomb opt out he has before the 2014 season?

Does anyone remember the player that the Wolves have been trying to get to pair with Rubio? Because I sure remember the player that they want.

Trading Love for Howard is absolute nonsense.

We'd be better off just waiting.

 

[pmatic]

It's never all on the coach. Players play. But dantoni was teeeeerrrible at handling ego's and personalities in NYC. And it looks like he's just as much as a **** up with that on the lakers

I'd take Phil the shrink who could get everybody to play nice with the biggest prick and psycho out there in MJ. Got Kobe and shaq to those rings until the mutiny against the pistons.

Nash needs the ball. He needs to be the main coordinator. Kobe probably won't allow that. But the coach needs to man up and make that happen. Because I don't see any other way to change the situation if the roster stays put. That won't help the D, but maybe Kobe at least won't expend as much energy. And it will get the rest of the team involved. Kobe has some of the worst tunnel vision I've ever seen. He's making melo look like rondo

Phil can do all the Zen and Kumbaya he wants, the team is old and slow. Unless he had the fountain of youth in a Gatorade bottle, he wasn't changing a thing. It reared it's ugly head at the end of 2011, showcased itself in 2012 and is full blown in 2013.

Nash is looking slower than ever, he can't turn the corner, is allowing himself to get trapped more often and forcing bad passes.

 

[pmatic]

Time to hold Dwight Howard accountable

You can feel some sympathy for Dwight Howard, who again had an ice pack strapped to his back after the Lakers' latest loss Monday night.

You can acknowledge that he holds the power to act however he wants, because he can leave the Lakers with nothing at season's end as a free agent.

You just can't let him get away with the subpar effort, lack of responsibility and ongoing immaturity that has prevented the Lakers from ever truly uniting this season.

He has failed in that central way that everyone who has ever played on any team can understand: You get a feel for the other personalities, you make real efforts to serve in the best way for the team to win, and you earn your standing in the group by playing hard.

None among the cast of Lakers characters are blameless in a tragedy that has reached the season's midpoint and grows more epic by the day, but Howard has fallen short even of living up to his promise of a fresh start after that diva act in Orlando.

He has been more Shaquillian than he would ever admit – just without the one key element that can redeem a whole lot of everything: the utterly dominant play.

Despite Kobe Bryant shooting at a career-high level, Howard has mocked Bryant's shooting stats behind his back when he hasn't shot well, leaving Lakers teammates feeling awfully uncomfortable. Bryant has tried to connect with Howard, tried to support his free-throw failures with glowing words about how great Howard can be and tried most recently to accommodate that "inside-out" insistence by rising up to shoot and half-looking at the rim, half-looking for Howard.

Yet the only way Howard knows and wants is for him to be the go-to guy at both ends, and he made that clear again Monday night.

He said specifically after the Dec. 13 loss in New York that he likes the ball in the post, not via pick-and-roll plays – a logical reason he was so interested in the Lakers hiring Phil Jackson, the man who made Shaquille O'Neal a champion. On Monday night, Howard dwelled again on the individual negative after not getting many inside touches early on while Mike D'Antoni made an honest attempt to coach from the heart – benching Pau Gasol and investing anew in the pick-and-roll game the Lakers hired him to teach, however misguided that might be with the personnel as is.

Howard was already in a bad mood Monday from his unjust ejection in Toronto the day before. (The NBA rescinded his second technical foul, but replays do show Howard initiating the incident by locking up the arm of Toronto's Alan Anderson before Anderson jerked it free with a forearm raised toward Howard.)

Instead of channeling his frustrations into energy on the court in Chicago – remember that D'Antoni's mantra is: "Ball finds energy" – Howard settled for slow and didn't understand why that didn't work. Then he got annoyed with some Bulls who were playing harder than he was, committed some fourth-quarter frustration fouls and finished with eight points and a team-high four turnovers.

After the game he brought a stat sheet around the locker room to show some teammates and reporters how he got only five field-goal attempts ... a few minutes before the demoted Gasol spoke gracefully across the room about "not pointing fingers, owning up to our responsibilities, wanting to get out of this and having the pride necessary that it takes to utilize our talents and go beat the opponent – no matter who it is, no matter where we are."

If Howard was – as we all expected him to be – one of the top three players in the NBA, then you don't care so much who is the better team guy. The Lakers used to be good enough to win titles with Shaq and Kobe not getting along.

But Howard hasn't been that good – and hasn't updated his self-image to reflect the current state of his game or figure out how to help the team win. He had a reputation in Orlando for always blaming others, and his comments after this game about his shot total showed he's still operating from the same manual – even as he also spouted clichés about how "we've just got to find a way to stick together."

Gasol would never say so, but he has been banished to the bench also because Howard hasn't lived up to his end of the deal. The original concept for the twin towers finally working was that Howard was a far more athletic, active big man than Andrew Bynum, meaning Gasol's lesser athleticism and activity wouldn't be as problematic. As Howard has failed to be the above-the-rim freak – or even the high-motor defensive presence – that he was before April back surgery, a sore-legged Gasol has been left exposed and ridiculed.
O'Neal used to complain that the big dog had to fed if you wanted him to guard the yard. O'Neal used to offer cryptic complaints to reporters about the team needing "to play the right way" – the very same words Howard used late Monday night.

And O'Neal eventually got sent away from the Lakers because all the selfishness just didn't work anymore with Bryant, who certainly can be a handful himself but at least inspires teammates through his work ethic and will to win.

Both Bryant and Steve Nash have tried without success to sell Howard on just going hard – letting his limitations reveal themselves instead of conceding in advance. And the coach? Whereas Jackson has the stature and confidence to call out any player at any time, D'Antoni has been unwilling to criticize Howard – painfully aware that when D'Antoni tried to make Carmelo Anthony modify his attitude in New York last year, the Knicks swiftly chose the player over the coach. (As did the Orlando Magic, with Howard over Stan Van Gundy.)

The Lakers entered the season with zero intention of parting ways with Howard, but they would be fools not to be rethinking at this point. You can't ignore half a season of hard proof that Howard hasn't learned a thing about being a winner from all the very accomplished people around him in Lakerland.

As far as his free-agency power goes, Howard might not even know if he's coming or going – the same uncertainty and insecurity that enveloped Orlando.
He has indicated publicly he likes it here.

But leaving would jibe much more with the gimme-my-toy attitude where he only wants a team that will play his game, his way ... with his excuses.

Link

 

[wings90]

Beat me to that Kevin Ding article. I feel like it's right on the money. Pau gets the brunt of the criticism but Dwight's the one who has really disappointed.

 

[essential1]

Nash is looking slower than ever, he can't turn the corner, is allowing himself to get trapped more often and forcing bad passes.

Someone call up the Raptors... And get Lowry for Nash....

Shrugs

 

[CP1708]

Dwight is not going to like that article.

 

[Coupé It]

Jarrod Rudolph's report is basically this: Billy King screwed up in the offseason, realized he could have had Dwight had he not given Brook a bonehead deal. Wants Dwight. Went to the ESPN Trade Machine... Said how about the Timberwolves? And thinks the Wolves want Brook Lopez for Kevin Love, and we want Kevin Love for Dwight Howard.

Kevin Love for Dwight is not even a lateral move. It's the worse kind of move. It's a move that serves no purpose. Even when we try to trade Pau, it's to actually serve a purpose. Whether to return a Starting PF, or fill out the roles we actually need filled.

And why trade Dwight for Kev? Does no one remember Kevin saying I'm tired of losing, I don't want to lose, if we don't make it to the playoffs I want out of Minnesota.. Does everyone forget the ticking time bomb opt out he has before the 2014 season?

Does anyone remember the player that the Wolves have been trying to get to pair with Rubio? Because I sure remember the player that they want.

Trading Love for Howard is absolute nonsense.

We'd be better off just waiting.

Hypothetically speaking, and I do mean hypothetically speaking because you're 100% certain Dwight's not leaving. It'd be worse to have Dwight leave for nothing this summer.

Regardless the Dwightmare 2.0 has started today, last night was the breaking point.

 

[essential1]

Jarrod Rudolph's report is basically this: Billy King screwed up in the offseason, realized he could have had Dwight had he not given Brook a bonehead deal. Wants Dwight. Went to the ESPN Trade Machine... Said how about the Timberwolves? And thinks the Wolves want Brook Lopez for Kevin Love, and we want Kevin Love for Dwight Howard.

Kevin Love for Dwight is not even a lateral move. It's the worse kind of move. It's a move that serves no purpose. Even when we try to trade Pau, it's to actually serve a purpose. Whether to return a Starting PF, or fill out the roles we actually need filled.

And why trade Dwight for Kev? Does no one remember Kevin saying I'm tired of losing, I don't want to lose, if we don't make it to the playoffs I want out of Minnesota.. Does everyone forget the ticking time bomb opt out he has before the 2014 season?

Does anyone remember the player that the Wolves have been trying to get to pair with Rubio? Because I sure remember the player that they want.

Trading Love for Howard is absolute nonsense.

We'd be better off just waiting.

Hypothetically speaking, and I do mean hypothetically speaking because you're 100% certain Dwight's not leaving. It'd be worse to have Dwight leave for nothing this summer.

Regardless the Dwightmare 2.0 has started today, last night was the breaking point.

Let's say he does leave... I think this is the 1 out of 100 case where getting nothing in return is a good alternative....

 

[darthska]

[quote name="CP"]The blame is not on any one person, player, coach, or front office nerd. It's everywhere.[/quote] [quote name="CP"]Kobe is now wasting away. Blaming him is beyond stupid.[/quote] I just... I don't get it.

"Blame goes everywhere... *points to Kobe*... except there! He's immune. *tears being shed* That's my shooting guard."

And I'm not even talking about just you, CP, even though I'm quoting you. I just don't understand this mentality with so many millions.