Are the Lakers good, bad or mediocre at his point?

November 21st, 2009, 3:59 pm · 8 Comments · posted by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM

EL SEGUNDO
After 12 games, the Lakers are 9-3 and trail Phoenix by a half game. Is that good, is it bad?

Compared to last season, the record is respectable but nothing to get excited about. Last season’s squad opened with seven consecutive victories and didn’t lose its third game until Dec. 9.

Of course, Pau Gasol missed out on the first 11 games, so there’s no telling what the Lakers’ record might be if the power forward had been playing instead of sitting with a sore hamstring.

Phil Jackson said Saturday that it’s too early to judge the team, although he did have some nitpicks about what has been working well and what hasn’t in the first dozen games.

“I’m not real happy with our defense, that’s what I’m not real happy about,” Jackson said. “We can be a better defensive team.”

The Lakers are giving up 98 points a game, but limiting teams to 42.8 field goal shooting.

Jackson also is bothered by his team’s inconsistency with turnovers. There are some games, the Lakers can handle the ball well, yet other times the ball appears as slippery as butter. They are averaging 14.6 turnovers a game.

“Turnovers are another area that I’m always focused on,” Jackson said. “We’ll have a game, where we will have some turnovers like we did the other night in the first quarter and end up with three the rest of the way. I think we have to balance ourselves that way, with the speed that we attempt to play.”

Jackson said check back in mid-December, when he will have a better feel for how well the Lakers are performing.

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J-Dizzle says:

November 21, 2009 at 4:13 pm

With Gasol being back and how easy the Lakers made things look against Chicago, I think they’re great. Not so much without Gasol. They needed to find their niche though. Seems Gasol is just that.

Jon C says:

November 21, 2009 at 9:29 pm

Gasol sure makes the difference. With him back, they should trade Bynum to get his inflated salary off their books and oft-injured body off their roster. He might be worth it if he were a nice guy, but he’s a whiner, to boot.

J-Dizzle says:

November 21, 2009 at 9:40 pm

Ummm how bout we take advantage of the size that we have instead of trading it off? Most teams don’t have it and it’s a huge advantage for us. What happens if Gasol gets hurt again mid season? Then what? After the past couple years and his hammy goin on, Gasol is someone to keep an eye on and his minutes need to be kept down. For that to happen… guess who still needs to be on the team? The 20/10 Bynum. I wouldn’t call his salary inflated yet. Thus far he’s justifying his contract.
- J-Dizzle says:
  
  November 21, 2009 at 9:44 pm
  
  Oh Jon… I posted this recently but I can’t remember who it was in response to. I’ve cut out the first paragraph as it isn’t relevant to this, but it puts the salaries into perspective. At 12.5 mil (when looking at it in monopoly money), Bynum is perfectly justified in his money.
  
  Shaq 11.1pts 7.4rebs $21 mil
  Zydrunas Ilgauskas 7pts 5.9rebs $11.5 mil
  Emeka Okafor 12.1pts 11.1reb $10.8 mil
  Tyson Chandler 7.5pts 7.7rebs $11.7 mil
  Brad Miller 9.2pts 4.3rebs $12.25 mil
  Andrew Bogut 13.8pts 9rebs $10 mil
  Eddy Curry 1.7pts 1.3rebs $10.5 mil
  Erick Dampier 8.8pts 9.7rebs $12.1 mil
  Nene Hilario 13.7pts 9rebs $10.5 mil
  
  Now compared to Bynum at 20pts 10.6 rebs 1.2 blks 2.2 ast and making 76% of his Free Throws I wouldn’t call “overpaid” Compared to all those injury prone overpaid busts up there, Bynum is in fact a STEAL. The beauty about Bynum… He’s 22!! 4 years in the league! While all those guys up there are either in their prime and already peaking, or they are just getting older and are going to get WORSE. Kinda puts things into perspective huh? Shaq, Big Z, Chandler, Okafor… they have an injury history and it’s not because of a foot under his when he’s landing or someone falling into his knees. He’s in excellent shape unlike Shaq or Eddy Curry. Those guys up there are either injury prone, lazy or both. None of them possess Bynum’s potential or athletic ability. None of them can do what he’s doing right now. All of them making nearly what Bynum is making and the #1 there is making $8.5 mil more. Now let’s put the “overrated” and “overpaid” Bynum crap to rest? We could very well have one of those guys on our roster and thank heaven we don’t.
  
  Course, Yao Ming put up 19.7pts and 9.9rebs last season and is due to make $16.4 mil this season and wont even suit up! He can’t land on his own 2 feet without breaking them.

Aaron says:

November 22, 2009 at 1:43 am

Anyone that wants to trade Bynum (the only true Center on the team) is not Lakers fan. Because not only is he the best Center in the west but he is also 22 years old. Even if you trade Andrew for a great PG which will be easy to do since Drew is the 2nd best Center in the NBA… now you have to play Gasol at Center when he is more comfortable at PF. I mean Gasol couldn’t score against an average Center in Perkins in the Finals two years ago.

November 22, 2009 at 4:20 am

Gasol was dealing with an injury at that time and was often doubled. It wasn’t Perkins by himself. The Celts were often also able to get away with being overphysical and Gasol wasn’t manning up a well. Last season on the other hand, he took some fouls during the first meeting and raged up and finally decided he wasn’t going to take crap anymore and started getting physical back. It’s when I knew the Lakers were going to win the championship. Gasol though doesn’t belong at center though. It would be too taxing on him over the course of the rest of his career. He needs to be at that PF spot.

vish sherman says:

November 22, 2009 at 8:01 am

Lakers as of to-day are a mediocre team having lost to the top western conference teams like Dallas, Houston and Denver. They have to work on their defence and minimize turnovers. They are very careless with ball handling. Lakers will be fine with more practise now that Gasol is back in the line up. You see, Lakers now have good defensive starting line up in Kobe, Gasol, Bynum,Artest and Fisher. All of them are good in defense. They will be fine after a long road trip when they will be spending more time together. Go Lakers-

seyhey says:

November 22, 2009 at 1:07 pm

PLEASE STOP with the the Bynum trades.He in NOT going anywhere nor should he. Lakers are comitted to him for a few years. He is young still (no college) and it showes at times. He will be an asset come playoff time. Health is a factor for all teams (Boston last year) so if we have a healthy 8-9 and Kobe I like our chances.As Chick would say … Turn out the lights :>)

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