ESPN: Howard to Lakers - Done Deal

[casmith07]

Yeah, because real fans want to root for losers at an impressionable age.

Give the kid a break. He likes who he likes.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Yeah, because real fans want to root for losers at an impressionable age.

Give the kid a break. He likes who he likes.

Good point.

 

[juck]

Yeah, because real fans want to root for losers at an impressionable age.

Give the kid a break. He likes who he likes.

I rooted for the Mavs and the Rangers through since the early 80s and all thru the dreaded 90s. Thats what makes winning a ring so special. Just sayin. Its easy to jump on the pop teams.

 

[casmith07]

I rooted for the Mavs and the Rangers through since the early 80s and all thru the dreaded 90s. Thats what makes winning a ring so special. Just sayin. Its easy to jump on the pop teams.

And? He's been rooting for the Lakers since he started watching basketball and I'm sure he continued to root for them during the Phil-less years when Kobe's main big man was Kwame Brown.

Just like he rooted for the Lakers this year when they got their butts kicked by OKC.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I wasn't. It's called a joke. His name is now World Peace.

And I'll never call him that or acknowledge that stupidity.

Yeah, because real fans want to root for losers at an impressionable age.

Give the kid a break. He likes who he likes.

Good point.


Luckily for me the Cowboys were awful when I got into football. 3-13 and 1-15. I got to learn early to appreciate winning because they couldn't win squat when I first started watching.

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Yeah, because real fans want to root for losers at an impressionable age.

Give the kid a break. He likes who he likes.

Thank you.

 

[casmith07]

And I'll never call him that or acknowledge that stupidity.




Good point.


Luckily for me the Cowboys were awful when I got into football. 3-13 and 1-15. I got to learn early to appreciate winning because they couldn't win squat when I first started watching.

When I first started watching the Cowboys I was 7 years old and we were kicking the Bills butts en route to our Super Bowl victory.

I then watched them beat the Steelers in SB XXX.

After that, we entered the dark ages and I first really started playing/understanding football during the Campo years. When people accuse me of being a bandwagon fan, I usually want to punch them in the face. I actually had someone try to tell me that because I was a fan during the Campo years, that made me a bandwagon fan

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Lakers signed Jodie Meeks and re-signed Devin Ebanks today.

In Meeks, you have a big rangy scoring Guard, shoots 41% from the field, 37% from 3 and 88% from the strip. He's younger at 23 so he should be able to give some nice minutes to the Lakers that will help save Kobe's legs for the playoffs.

In Ebanks, you have a gifted 6'9" 215 lbs. athlete who can defend well, run the floor and finish. 41% FG shooter, 70% FT shooter. Can play either 2 or 3 and he's only 22.

Both of these guys give young legs and plenty of youth off the bench.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

Lakers signed Jodie Meeks and re-signed Devin Ebanks today.

In Meeks, you have a big rangy scoring Guard, shoots 41% from the field, 37% from 3 and 88% from the strip. He's younger at 23 so he should be able to give some nice minutes to the Lakers that will help save Kobe's legs for the playoffs.

In Ebanks, you have a gifted 6'9" 215 lbs. athlete who can defend well, run the floor and finish. 41% FG shooter, 70% FT shooter. Can play either 2 or 3 and he's only 22.

Both of these guys give young legs and plenty of youth off the bench.

Meeks is awful. "Big, rangy, scoring guard", my butt. He shoots the 3 decently, but 41 percent from the field is not good. Don't expect him to be a part of the regular wing rotation.

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Meeks is awful. "Big, rangy, scoring guard", my butt. He shoots the 3 decently, but 41 percent from the field is not good. Don't expect him to be a part of the regular wing rotation.

Look who he was playing with in Philly though. Now he'll be playing with Dwight, Kobe, Pau, and Nash. He'll be getting open looks all day.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Meeks is awful. "Big, rangy, scoring guard", my butt. He shoots the 3 decently, but 41 percent from the field is not good. Don't expect him to be a part of the regular wing rotation.

His role will be as a spot up jumper for the three. When Kobe is not on the floor, the offense will be Nash with the Pick and role to either Howard or Gasol with the 2 guard spotted up, the off big man on the swing side of the pick and roll and the 3 slashing to the basket. He's perfect for what the Lakers will use him for. On the break, he will run the floor well and spot up.

 

[casmith07]

His role will be as a spot up jumper for the three. When Kobe is not on the floor, the offense will be Nash with the Pick and role to either Howard or Gasol with the 2 guard spotted up, the off big man on the swing side of the pick and roll and the 3 slashing to the basket. He's perfect for what the Lakers will use him for. On the break, he will run the floor well and spot up.

Spoken like a coach.

 

[juck]

And? He's been rooting for the Lakers since he started watching basketball and I'm sure he continued to root for them during the Phil-less years when Kobe's main big man was Kwame Brown.

Just like he rooted for the Lakers this year when they got their butts kicked by OKC.

Dude watching the Mavs thru the 90s is not even comparable to one or two mediocre seasons. Mavs and Rangers were god awful.This kid picks the most popular teams when he was whatever age. U cannot deny that. Lil Wayne does that stuff. lol. Yankees,Lakers and Cowboys? Cmon. In my time I remember seeing the Bulls,Yankees,Cowboys fans. Same deal. Its easy to root for the winners.Im noticing now the kids like Heat,Yankees and Steelers. Theres a Steeler bar in every part of the darn country now.I was talking to my friend in Louisville Sunday and she said all the kids love the Steelers in Kentucky. Kentucky??? lol Younger peeps always wanna root for a team that is winning.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

His role will be as a spot up jumper for the three. When Kobe is not on the floor, the offense will be Nash with the Pick and role to either Howard or Gasol with the 2 guard spotted up, the off big man on the swing side of the pick and roll and the 3 slashing to the basket. He's perfect for what the Lakers will use him for. On the break, he will run the floor well and spot up.

Exactly. You'll get 10 minutes a night from him. Expect anything more, and you're going to be sadly mistaken.

 

[juck]

His role will be as a spot up jumper for the three. When Kobe is not on the floor, the offense will be Nash with the Pick and role to either Howard or Gasol with the 2 guard spotted up, the off big man on the swing side of the pick and roll and the 3 slashing to the basket. He's perfect for what the Lakers will use him for. On the break, he will run the floor well and spot up.

And you are assuming this? You forget that Mike Brown is the coach of the Lakers. lol:laugh2:

 

[casmith07]

Dude watching the Mavs thru the 90s is not even comparable to one or two mediocre seasons. Mavs and Rangers were god awful.This kid picks the most popular teams when he was whatever age. U cannot deny that. Lil Wayne does that stuff. lol. Yankees,Lakers and Cowboys? Cmon. In my time I remember seeing the Bulls,Yankees,Cowboys fans. Same deal. Its easy to root for the winners.Im noticing now the kids like Heat,Yankees and Steelers. Theres a Steeler bar in every part of the darn country now.I was talking to my friend in Louisville Sunday and she said all the kids love the Steelers in Kentucky. Kentucky??? lol Younger peeps always wanna root for a team that is winning.

I didn't say they were comparable.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I'm a Cowboys, Rangers, Thunder fan.

Now of course there's only been a Thunder for a short time so before that I wasn't really much of a basketball fan.

When I was younger I was a Bulls fan by default because I was a Michael Jordan fan.

When he retired for baseball I didn't watch a single basketball game until he returned and then I started watching every Bulls game they showed.

After he retired for good I didn't watch hardly any basketball until the Thunder came about in OKC.


I became a Rangers fan because that's my wifes favorite team and sport. I was never really into baseball all that much growing up. In fact I never watched a full game of it on TV until about 3 or 4 years ago. When I was younger I was a default Mariners fan because my absolute favorite play was Ken Griffey Jr.




I hate the Lakers and the Yankees.

 

[jterrell]

That means nothing. If Nash doesn't feel like he is going to be in it for a Championship in L.A., he will either force a trade or retire. That is not hard to figure out. No Huh factor in it.



Nash gave up much more then that just to play in L.A. He could have played for much more elsewhere but he wanted to be in L.A. because of the proximity of his children. Nash is not in it for the money IMO.



I don't think their depth is all that terrible. I think they need more outside shooting but other then that, they are OK IMO.



I agree with this. He is the key because he is going to be the defensive stopper for this team. Kobe is an excellent defensive player. Gasol is a pretty good defensive player. World Piece is probably the best defensive player at his position in the league. Nash is not a very good defensive player and if Howard comes back in shape, well, clearly he is the best defensive big man in the league. The Lakers could be a very strong defensive team this year but you are right, it all depends on DH coming back healthy.



They are not a Dynasty because they haven't won with this group. Then again, nobody has said they are. Certainly not I. However, the age of this group may or may not be a factor. That remains to be seen.



No. This is the Lakers and while I understand what you are saying, if the Lakers believe they can win, they will pay the Luxury Tax penalty. I am surprised that anybody would even question that having seen it happen so many times over the years. There is no hard cap in the NBA so I am not entirely sure what you mean by "the way the cap works".

Kobe is not going to play much longer. He may play 2 years or he may play 4 but either way, he is only going to play for as long as he can play at a high level and can be in contention for a championship. Once he retires, money is going to come off the books and that means that a significant amount of cap will not be ON the books.




That can be said for about 70% of all players in any major sport. That's nothing new to any Pro Team anywhere in sports. However, I agree, they have to do that but so do all the teams in the NBA.

where to begin...

Nash did take less money to go to LA, but just ask him; he isn't giving out discounts. he played in PHX on terrible teams of late, he'll definitely ride out a final season in LA. Would he accept a trade? Sure, but what team will pay 9m for a 41 year old Nash? Nash is there for 3 years.

age matters. this group has a short window because literally every decent player is old. dh is in his prime but injured. the rest of the guys are old. old guys get hurt. old guys need rest. the lakers have no bench and a need for health.

kobe will play until he doesn't. will he retire in 2 years? i doubt it considering he loves basketball as much now as he ever has. but again even if he does the lakers arent all of a sudden in great cap space.

actually it is a hard cap now in many ways. but to clarify how much cap comes off the books means absolutely zero. how much you have on the books matter. and having over 30m in just dh and nash will tie up the cap. even if you renounce rights and jettison other guys you get charged for roster spots.

no one cares whether the lakers pay luxury taxes or not accept their owner. being over the cap limits how you can add players or how you can make trades starting this year however. for instance they can't sign and trade dh if they want to. they get 1 exception to add players but after that are stuck at vet minimums. so they'll have no way to add a player making over 4m next year.

the lakers are clearly built to win now. they are also built to strip down in a couple years. they may pay luxury taxes but we'll see if any owners really want to pay those penalties for being over 4 years a row. paying 250m in luxury taxes is not going to be much fun for any owner.

also i mistakenly listed nash as an amnesty possibility. he is not because he signed after the agreement. there are no players the lakers can amnesty to free up cap space in 2 years. so they really just won't have any. they are stuck with this core and any vet min free agents they can attract.

 

[jterrell]

Spoken like a coach.

a bad coach, lol. meeks will actually be used ot space the floor most often when NASH is out of the game.

Meeks is a 3 point specialist on a team with 5 guys wanting to score. Meeks might get a couple shots a game if he's lucky.

Nash is the 3 point shooter in LA. Kobe is still the main offensive weapon. Meeks is never going to be more than a 4th offensive option unless the team is in a blow out. meeks took 7 shots a game last year to avg 8 points. he'll get half the minutes and shots in la if he is lucky. he started 115 games the past two seasons and avg'd ~9 PPG. that isn't good in any sense of the word.

the lakers were adding guys at the minimum and taking what they could get.

anyone fawning over this lakers roster after the starting 5 is completely lost with regards to basketball.

 

[RastaRocket]

Ya simply saying the Lakers will "pay the tax" is stupid. Read up on the new CBA my brother. You can "pay the tax" for scrubs if you'd like.