Monday, July 20, 2009
NBA Offseason
Does anyone agree that Vince Carter on the magic is easily the most underrated off season move in my lifetime?? I mean, ppl are saying Ron Artest to the Lakers is a much more influencial move even though he is just a a small upgrade over Ariza. If they lose Lamar then they actually downgraded. Shaq to the Cavs for pretty much nothing is about as much of a game changer but giving the magic a guy who can actually drive instead of Hedo?? HUGE UPGRADE.
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Dude, Lakers are anything but f'ed.
ReplyDeleteThink about this:
Kobe and Artest would be unquestionably the best defensive backcourt in the NBA.
Kobe and Artest would be probably be the best offensive backcourt in the NBA.
They would still have Gasol and Bynum, who make a pretty damn good PF-C combination. And they still have a very good/ deep bench.
I think losing Odom would hurt, but it wouldn't f them completely. Artest is huge (he single-handedly pushed the Lakers to Game 7 this year without Yao and T-Mac). He's very good and very underrated in my opinion.
for kobe artest will be like rodman when he came to the bulls. mj hated him before he came to the bulls but loved him once he got there. BUT he is turning 31 this year, is past his prime, and has a 3.2% chance of punching the zenmaster because the towel boy standing in front of phil threw a waterbottle at ron. why do u think shane was guarding kobe that series and not artest? aaron brooks' offense, phil still attempting to make bynum useful, and shane's D had more to do with that game than artest. shane and ariza will be a very solid defensive backcourt this year and will be better than kobe and artest within 2 years.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYhzhiM-F9Q&feature=related
artest is also a rapper and failing to keep up with the nickname masterpiece that is the lakers(they have/had the zenmaster, black mamba, and shaq fu). more info to make him feel like failure
when the lakers had ariza and odom, it was the perfect balance of odom getting old and ariza coming of age so they could gain/lose minutes every year. odom is the perfect triangle guy and will come cheapish. artest is past his prime and now instead of ariza and bynum as the future, they only have bynum(whos terrible).
(1) Ariza played "okay" even when 100% of the defenders were worried about (1) Kobe, (2) Gasol -->2 of the best players in the NBA. Ariza averaged 9 points and 3 Rebounds a game during the season, which is just that, "okay." Now imagine Artest (who is VERY hungry to win a championship) getting to play with Kobe/Gasol. I mean, have the shots he took were wide-open threes/jumpers with the occasional dunk. Even I could make threes when kobe is triple teamed (i probably couldn't, but you get my point)
ReplyDeleteArtest is a much better player than Ariza right now (look at the numbers(, and that's what the lakers care about because...
(2) Artest is about as old as Kobe (who is also past his prime). The lakers want to win as many championships before Kobe gets old and leaves (5 or 6 years). The smart move is to invest in winning championships NOW, while Kobe is still here, because that is what is right in front of them. IE, the smart move is to go with Artest (better offense, better defense right now) over Ariza.
(3) If the zenmaster can tame Dennis Rodman, he can tame Ron Artest.
(4) I do agree that losing Odom will hurt, but Odom became known as a choke-artist in the playoffs. All I'm saying is, Artest is gonna be huge in the next couple years, and he will only play better on the lakers (DEFENDING CHAMPIONS) alongside arguably the greatest ever and.
Whatever, we'll see just how F'ed the lakers are next year. I just wish the Cavs could have made a move at Vince, that woulda been sweet.
(1) You are pulling out stats from when he was getting 20 minutes a game and coming off the bench. Look at what happens once he got 30 minutes a game and started in the playoff:
ReplyDelete11.3 pts on 49.6%(47.6% for 3), 4 boards, and the most clutch defensive play since tayshaun blocking reggie's layup http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoTW9T8Erng
not to mention 1.6spg
Artest:
17.1 ppg 40%(39.9% for 3) 5rpg and 1.5spg in way more minutes per game
look at the percentages, he was taking offensive advantage of not being covered insanely well. You can't expect anyone to score more than 15ppg on a team with kobe and pau, and that would only be if they were an offensive specialist(which ariza isn't). he was also getting just as many steals as artest.
(2) prelakers ariza was 4-28 for 3 and now is a 40 to 50 percent 3 point shooter, the zenmaster was doing good things to him and who knows what another year would have done.
thats said, fair point.
(3) also true, but artest is even more of a project than rodman was. within the next 2 years i imagine artest whipping out freestyles like rabbit from 8 mile and making baby face bynum go home, cry, and stunt his development as a player. seriously though, this will be the first time since shaq that kobe has someone on the team that will talk back to him. U see kobe doin work? if he tries to teach artest how to ball, artest might punch gasol in the face. might be good for kobe, might be bad...
(4) artest also is a choke artist in the playoffs. over his career his fg% goes from 42% to 38% and his 3pfg% goes from 34% to a wonderful 27%. odom also got fewer minutes and is getting over his addiction http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/01/sports/sp-random1
shaq will help with the 1 thing that kept the cavs from the finals...Defending Mr. Howard
also think about this: The most underrated allstar jameer nelson and dwight would have already been the best traditional PG-C combo in the league(Duncan/KG not centers). Rashard Lewis and Dwight were probably the only frontcourt that were both allstars. now add in vinsanity who only tries when his team is in contention and was already scoring 20ppg without any kind of bigman on his team. vince makes this team unfair.
PS the year before the cavs had boobie gibson they needed a pg really badly and passed on jameer nelson for luke jackson for his 3 point shooting. fml