The Greatest Season Ever: Post 1

Been a long time since I last posted something. No time like the present to start it up again. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about an NBA season before. So many changes, so many exciting storylines: the Superfriends, the Lakers 3peat aspirations, the maturation of young teams like the Bucks and Thunder, the refusal to concede of veteran championship squads like the Celtics and Spurs, vindication mixed with a pinch of revenge for the Cavs, and of course Blake Griffin.

Here’s an interesting thought. If Andrew Bynum really will be out until December, a Lakers squad sans the soon-to-be 23-year-old is not nearly “faraway best in the west.” In fact, without Bynum, Dallas has a much deeper, bigger team and suddenly Portland has the size advantage and the Thunder no longer is too small.

On a quick side note, I honestly think expectations are too high for OKC. First of all, while the team has extremely talented bigs, all of them are really power-forwards, except for Cole Aldrich who’s big, but also a rookie. In addition, the Thunder have never won a playoff series and they’re a young team (average age was 24 last season). The last Finals team whose best players had never won a playoff series before that season was the Shaq/Penny Magic in 94-95. And as good as Durant is going to be this year, not sure he’s at 94-95 Shaq level. Shaq, because of his sheer size, caused massive adjustments on both ends of the floor. Durant’s awesome, but he still lacks defensively, and in three seasons he’s never averaged three assists. Even Melo averages more than three assists. Hell, a third-year Shaq only had 16 less assists (in three less games) than a third-year Durant. So, yeah, Durant’s got a ways to go before he impacts entire games like young Shaq. End, somewhat long “quick side note.”

All that to say, if Bynum is out? Yeah, definitely I can see the Thunder beating the Lakers.

And, I really, really like a healthy San Antonio team. Especially if Richard Jefferson learned anything at all from Greg Popovich over the past month in their one-on-one time. A Jefferson closer to his 08 self, a healthy Tony Parker (who, for whatever odd reason a lot of people seem to be overlooking), and 2010 MVP of the Spanish League Tiago Splitter, along with Duncan, Ginobili and Pop—that team is Lakers-with-Bynum good.

So, I’m not convinced that the Lakers are far and away favorites in the West. On a similar line of thinking, I don’t understand how people believe the Heat are going to automatically roll to the finals. Could they win 70 plus games? Absolutely. In fact, if they don’t, it’s going to be somewhat disappointing. I mean, come on. They’ve got arguably the Association’s top two talents and arguably the league’s best power-forward. I know Pau Gasol is widely considered the best power forward. And I think he’s a wonderful player. Top-15 for sure. But he’s playing with Kobe Bryant! Who’s Nowitzki played with? (Okay, Nash, but he’s no Bryant). How about Chris Bosh?

Forget Bynum, Artest, Odom, and Phil’s HOF coaching, Bosh has never even played with one other great player. I mean, Vince Carter…Sure, VC had MJ talent, but without the MJ drive to go with it, the former Tar Heel high water marked at all-star/best dunker of all time—which is sadly poetic considering VC stopped doing the dunk contest because he didn’t want to be known as a dunker.

But, I again digress. Back to Bosh. While he never has played with much talent, he’s also never been coached by the best. No offense to Kevin O’Neil, Sam Mitchell, and Jay Triano. O’Neil has an NBA record of 33-49 to go along with his 187-194 career college record. Mitchell won coach of the year, but in four full seasons, his teams only had one season over .500, a 41-41 season, a 33-win club and a 27-win club. Triano’s 65-82 for his career.

I know Spoelestra (career 90-74 record) is no veteran coach, but he did a phenomenal job with last season’s team that finished second in opponent FG%, second in opponent points per game, and seventh in defensive rating according to basketball-reference.com while ESPN’s John Hollinger had them rated as the fourth best defense. That’s all the physical evidence I need to accept that he truly is Pat Riley’s disciple. Whatever you may think of Pat Riley, there’s no denying his ability to win. And in terms of quality of NBA coaches, Riles walks closest to Red Aurbach.

So, it will be interesting to see how the storyline concerning Bosh’s status in the NBA goes and how people’s view of Gasol as the best power forward will change now that Bosh is playing with Kobe-Bryant-level talent, under the direction of a Hall of Famer.

Remember, Bosh shot 77 percent during the 2008 Olympics. He also led the team in rebounding and as a roleplayer, he was free to play tenacious defense. With Lebron and Wade this season, I could easily see a healthy Bosh shooting over 60 percent from the field and averaging 11 plus rebounds while leading the team in scoring and being a beast on defense.

K-O-B-E

Kobe Bryant won that game last night. (You can check out his miracle three here.)

Look, I don’t mean to belittle Pau Gasol’s tip back that tied the game with a minute to go or his pair of clutch freethrows to bring the game within two with nine seconds to go. I especially don’t want to overlook Derek Fisher’s step back three that put the Lakers within a point with four seconds left in the game. All of those plays were critical, vital even.

I’m also not going to argue that Dwyane Wade missed a freethrow after Fisher’s triple that would have ensured the Heat at least overtime. Hell, the guy went 12-18 from the stripe last night (a side note, Wade’s freethrow total nearly matched that of Bryant, Gasol, and Andrew Bynum combined (21), who, as noted in ESPN’s Weekend Dime make up three of the top five players in the NBA in scoring in the paint).

But I will say it again. Kobe won that game. He put the team on his back going into the fourth quarter and turned a 76-76 tie into a six-point Laker advantage a minute and ten seconds into it. The boxscore indicates he only had three assists, but he fed several wide-open looks to Ron Artest, Fisher and Shannon Brown (a combined 9-32) that they just didn’t hit. He was moving the ball around in the first half and only took six shots.

And because of his last second game winner, nobody is even talking about him slicing between three defenders and fading away to a hit running-bank to end the first half.

Kobe also helped to limit Wade to 2-9 from the field in the first half.

In fact, Bryant seemed to make it his mission to harass Wade and outside of about six times a high pick came and Wade made something happen via scoring himself or assisting on a bucket or getting to the line, Bryant accomplished his mission. Wade did a lot of his damage when matched up against Brown and Artest. Brown, while energetic and athletic, doesn’t possess the savvy necessary and Artest, who is a brute and can hang with bigger small forwards, doesn’t have the speed to hang with Wade.

The Black Mamba put full body pressure on Flash and forced him into tough shots or giving up the ball (though I’m still not sure why Bryant picked him up at half court and beyond).

Offensively, Kobe put on a show as well. He hit a now standard fake left, turnaround fadeway jumper, a running, left-handed baby sky hook, as well as a couple of different and ones, including a scoop shot off a drive into JO (which could have been a charge…)

And of course, he hit this shot. Watch it again. Staples Center…Where Kobe happens.

Oh, it’s also where Sasha Vujacic can put up a statline of zeros across the board and yet still manage to have a +6 in the +/- department. (Hint, he was in during the last few seconds of the game when Fish and Kobe both hit their improbable threes.)

What Worst Trade Ever?

So people still think the Pau Gasol trade is the worst heist in the history of the NBA? Still scratching your head about why the Grizzlies swapped the elder Gasol for Kwame Brown, Aaron Mckie, Marc Gasol, Javaris Crittenton and what basically became the draft rights to Darrell Arthur?

Please stop.

First off, Kwame and Mckie were pure salary dumps that helped put the Grizzlies in the position to get…well, they went out and got Zach Randolph. While I question that choice, in some respects I understand it, especially considering the Grizzlies drafting of Hasheem Thabeet.

You can denigrate the Thabeet selection all you want. But that was a Heisley move. So Chris Wallace, like he’s done for quite some time now, tried to make the best of it.

Yeah, Pau Gasol is a stud. He was a key component in getting the Lakers their 15^th championship last season. The Lakers are a ridiculous 120-35 with the elder Gasol in the lineup. But this year has been a coming out party for the younger Gasol who is turning into a monster himself.

If you look at the trade now, you can see that despite Heisley’s best efforts it has turned out rather nicely thus far. Marc Gasol is a 25-year-old banger averaging 16 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists on 64.3 percent shooting. He’s one of only two centers (the other being Marcus Camby) in the League that is averaging at least 1.5 blocks and over a steal per game.

And he hits free throws at a 76 percent clip.

Remember, this guy was the reigning MVP of the ACB League, the second best league in the world, before coming over to the States last season.

Of those players who have played at least ten games, Marc has the highest true shooting percentage (68.8) in the NBA after Chris Paul. He’s got more double-doubles than David Lee, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki. And in his last game against the Clips Sunday, Gasol dropped this statline: 26 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 steals on 13-18 shots.

Gasol’s PER of 22.57 ranks him 21^st in the entire league and sixth amongst centers behind his brother Pau (who has only played five games), Duncan, Dwight Howard, Nazr Mohammed, and Greg Oden. Outside of the anomaly of Mohammed (we’ve seen his stud for two weeks routine before) that’s some pretty lofty company. And while Mohammed only plays 14 minutes a night, Gasol is tied for second amongst centers with Brook Lopez in minutes per game at 35.9 (the injury-prone Chris Kaman leads all centers at 36.9, just another reason why Dunleavy should be fired).

So, a Gasol for Gasol swap all by its lonesome would have been looking pretty decent now. But add to Marc the services of 28-year-old Randolph, who, despite the horrific rep, is averaging 19 points and 9 boards and 2 assists and shooting over 50 percent for the first time since his sophomore season, and we begin to see the real value of the trade.

While history tells us that Randolph’s good behavior probably won’t last, it has to be noted that he’s having the second best season of his career and the team is actually winning too.

With the Gasol/Randolph duo, Rudy Gay’s matured game and the surprising run of Jamal Tinsley (who knew?), the Grizz find themselves with a 4-1 record over their past five, which really should be a 5-game winning streak after blowing a 22-point lead against the Clips.

And this is without seeing what Arthur, who had a pretty decent rookie season but is out with a torn pectoral muscle, can bring to the table as well as who the Grizzlies will draft with the pick they had returned to them when they traded away Crittenton to the Wizards.

In five years, we could be saying that the Grizzlies got the better end of the deal, even if the Lakers win three more championships, seeing as how Pau couldn’t carry a team all by his lonesome (no one can).

So please, please, please. Let’s stop with this most lopsided trade of all time talk. That’s so, 2008…

Skill Versus Talent

Charles Barkley on last night’s TNT telecast when discussing this year’s MVP said that if you substituted Lebron for Kobe on the Lakers, that the Lakers would win 70 games because the Lakers have far superior talent.

Chuck speaks from his heart, which can be funny at times, bold at others. In this instance, it’s just ill-informed. Kobe and Lebron have different games. Kobe’s really changed his game this year with Gasol, Odom and Bynum clogging the middle. He’s become primarily a jumpshooter which accounts for nearly 80 percent of his shots.

The Lakers really only have three players who can hit from beyond the arc outside of Kobe, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Derek Fisher. That’s why the subtraction of Vladimir Radmanovic has hurt their offense whether people want to admit it or not. Luke Walton is horrible from outside of five feet, as I’ll show in a second, and Ariza is a streak shooter at the absolute very best.

82Games.com sheds some stats on the matter showing the percentage of jump shots taken by each player and their subsequent effective field goal percentage from that area.

Fisher: 86 percent jump shots, 55.6 percent EFG
Odom: 41 percent jump shots, 37.8 percent EFG
Gasol: 42 percent jump shots, 47.6 percent EFG
Bynum: 35 percent jump shots, 41.5 percent EFG
Ariza: 57 percent jump shots, 42.5 percent EFG
Walton: 69 percent jump shots, 37.4 percent EFG
Vujacic: 90 percent jump shots, 48.6 percent EFG
Farmar: 65 percent jump shots, 44 percent EFG
Powell: 60 percent jump shots, 41 percent EFG

Only three of the Lakers regular rotation players shoot better than 45 percent as jump shooters: Fisher, Vujacic and Gasol. Everyone else, especially Odom and Walton (starters), shoot a pretty bad percentage as jump shooters. Walton is especially horrible considering that 70 percent of his shots are jumpers. Vlad Rad was at a blistering 57 percent EFG. The Lakers dip in offensive efficiency of late and their lack of bench production can directly be tied to Luke moving into the starting spot and Vlad Rad moving to Charlotte.

At the very least twice a game, Kobe will drive and kick out to a wide open Walton who will clank the three or the 15-17 footer. That’s two dimes a game, without exaggeration. In fact, if you look at the games or even the quarters the Lakers do well, it’s when Walton is a factor on offensive and hits those shots.

Bottom line, especially with Bynum, the Lakers score the majority of their points in the paint. As the team’s best perimeter player, Kobe’s job is to hit jump shots. And considering he’s the number one option who takes the most difficult shots, his 46 percent EFG is pretty amazing.

On the flipside, Lebron’s 42 percent EFG from jump shooting is rather pedestrian. His bread and butter is taking it to the hole where he takes nearly 40 percent of his shots and is shooting 70 percent. That’s better than most centers, and is equally amazing.

His team is designed to shoot jumpers. Here are their stats.

Williams: 87 percent jump shots, 54.5 percent EFG
West: 79 percent jump shots, 53 percent EFG
Szczerbiak: 88 percent jump shots, 52 percent EFG
Ilgauskus: 65 percent jump shots, 46 percent EFG
Gibson: 89 percent jump shots, 48 percent EFG
Pavlovic: 70 percent jump shots, 56 percent EFG
Varejao: 41 percent jump shots, 34.6 percent EFG
Hickson: 40 percent jump shots, 31 percent EFG
Wallace: 25 percent jump shots, 18 percent EFG

Outside of the power forward spot, this team is a deadly jump shooting team with four players well over 50 percent EFG and one who is close at 48 percent. And while Ilgauskus is not quite as effective as Pau Gasol (46 to 48), he takes nearly 20 percent more jumpers than Pau and for the most part is just as deadly.

My point in all of this is that replacing Kobe with Lebron would most likely make the Lakers worse. Even if Lebron is a better talent than Kobe (not saying he is) or can do more for a team (he does), his presence on the Lakers would probably do more harm than good.

First and foremost, with Bynum and Gasol clogging the lanes, he’d have a much harder time driving to the hoop and getting his bread and butter shots. His outside shooting runs hot and cold, whereas Kobe is far more consistent, and would lead to a lot more 5-25 games like the one he threw up against the Lakers who forced him to take midrange shots and threes and effectively kept him away from the basket.

He’d also make Odom completely irrelevant. Odom’s best weapons are his abilities to drive, finish and pass, and Lebron’s a stronger, better and vastly more consistent version of the long, ball handling savy wing player.

Without Odom, the statement that the Lakers have more talent than the Cavs is completely untrue.

Also, instead of kicking it out to West, Williams, Gibson, Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, Lebron would be dishing to Walton, Ariza, Vujacic, Farmar and Fisher.

In fact, the opposite of what Barkley said might be more true.

On the flipside, if Kobe were on the Cavs, he’d be forced to take it to the hole, where he’s shooting inside shots at a 66 percent clip. Not Lebron-esque, but not shabby to say the least. It should go without saying, but just to make it crystal clear, it’s far easier to make closer shots than to make farther shots…

Kobe is also a much better freethrow shooter than James, so while he might not finish as many drives, he’d make up for it with his proficiency behind the line. He’d also get more assists kicking it out to actual shooters that can actually shoot.

Of course, because Bron Bron and Kobe play different positions, he’d also eliminate one of the perimeter players, either Szczerbiak or Pavlovic, but that just means the team would be better on defense.

As for Barkley’s comment, this isn’t fantasy basketball. If you added Lebron and subtracted Kobe from a Lakers fantasy basketball squad, then sure, you’d be the hands down favorite to win your league. In real basketball, floor spacing, coaching, style of play and maximizing the talents on your squad are vital for success.

Kobe’s ability to create space for his bigs, while remaining highly efficient for someone who is asked to shoot 80 percent of his shots from the perimeter, is why GMs, coaches and players around the league still believe him to be the best player in the league. Lebron is the best at what he can do, but he can’t do everything.

So while Kobe is not quite as good at being Lebron, he’s vastly better than Lebron is at being Kobe.

Finally, the Lakers are said to have a lot of talent although this reputation is based on the performances of four kids under 25 who had breakout seasons last year. So far, Bynum has failed to stay healthy and only started to play like he did last year for less than ten games. Farmar and Vujacic have grossly regressed. Only Ariza has started living up to his potential.

Of course, the prime example of talent not yet realized is Mr. Lamar Odom. Mr. Unfulfilled Potential. And even Lebron James can’t make Lamar consistent.

On the other side, the Cavs have a very specialized, skillful team. So while the talent might not be better, the skill level most certainly is. Wallace and Varejao are defensive bigs who grab boards and are good on the screen and roll. Both have very limited offensive talent, but their presence makes the Cavs a great defensive team.

As pointed out above, the Cavs also have a bevy of shooters. Shooting is a skill that takes years of practice. So while Wally world isn’t more talented than Odom, he’s definitely more skillful. The Lakers have a bunch of talented athletes, Ariza, Farmar, and Bynum, but no one can say that they are skillful. And, the one skillful rotation player outside of Fish and Gasol is Walton. And Walton is skillful at everything but shooting.

So, sure, maybe Kobe has more talent on the Lakers, but the Cavs have more skill.

Which is better?

The standings say they’re about even…

Christmas Day Notes

CELTICS vs LAKERS

-The Celtics had as much to do with giving that game to the Lakers as the Purple and Gold had to do with taking it. Making only 5 of 22 threes, committing 22 turnovers, openly bickering with each other, and foul trouble from the Celtics “all-star” point guard were major culprits in the 19-game streak ending.

-Kobe played brilliantly in the last 3 minutes of the game. Instead of forcing it and trying to be the hero, the Lakers got the win. Bryant amassed four assists, three defensive rebounds and hit two buckets. The first, perhaps quietly the biggest of the game, came 20 seconds after KG had just given the Cs the lead 81-79 after the Green men had been trailing all night. Kobe brought the ball down and hit a fadeaway 18-foot jumper from the right corner to tie the game back up. If the Lakers don’t have that bucket, Mr. Mo (momentum) would have swung completely in the Celtics favor, and the Cs, instead of bickering and forcing quick/tough shots, probably pull this one out and everyone today would be talking about the end-of-the-world for the Lakers and who needs to be traded and Phil needing to be fired, etc. etc.

-After that big bucket though, the double team started to come and Kobe just kept giving the ball up to Pau. Pau gets credit for being the key to the Lakers win and while he did shoot 3-3 from the field and 3-3 from the line, his looks were all directly related to the wizardry of 24.

-I’m almost at a point where I want the Lakers to scrap the triangle offense at different points during games. Especially against tough defensive teams. Blasphemous? Perhaps. But, when Kobe and Pau, or Kobe and Bynum play pick and roll, there’s not much teams can do to stop it. Well, that is unless Bryant decides to force things. If he keeps the ball moving, then no team, the Celtics included, can keep up with the excellent passing or the wide open looks Walton or Radmanovic (who barely played), or Vujacic are going to be getting. Odom and Pau are excellent passers and Bynum is a willing passer. This team should average 25-30 assists a game.

-I love D-Fish, but there is never a time in a Celtics/Lakers game where he needs to square up his defender, dribble back and forth for several seconds and then chuck up a shot without passing the ball (I counted three times he did this). With the talent and shooting prowess and creative ability of his other teammates, there’s never really a situation where Fish needs to run this play.

-Odom played confident. He needs to play with that swag in every single game. He’s the man on that second unit. He’s the go to guy, the focal point who makes everything happen. He played a great game. Solid defense. He put up numbers across the board with 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 3s, 2 assists and 7 boards to go along with 10 points. As always, he’s the Lakers X-Factor. When he’s on, the Lakers are unbeatable.

-Gasol got nasty. He pushed back K.G. letting him know that he ain’t no Jose Calderon. He also gave a hard body check to Rondo. Poor kid was crumpled on the floor, feeling that blow last night, and I’m sure he's feeling it today. Oh yeah, and Pau sealed the game for the Lakers by hitting all of his shots in the last three minutes. Que fuerte!

Gasol

I know this sounds crazy. I've had some crazy ideas on here before...like, for the Suns to bring Steve Nash off the bench. Well, here's another crazy idea. How about instead of benching Odom, who is really good at help defense, how about bring Gasol off the bench. Gasol, much like Odom, is a selfless player. That's how he's been able to co-exist with Kobe so well. What he's not so good at, is well, tough defense. Bynum's struggled a bit, but bringing him off the bench would just add to his mounting frustration. Pau Gasol is the perfect facilitator type that the second unit, now without Jordan Farmar, can rely on to keep the offense flowing. Think Boris Diaw in 06. Plus, he's legit down low. Surround him with Vladimir Radmanovic, Trevor Ariza, and Sasha Vujacic, and that's a great bench unit. Odom plus Bynum plus Kobe plus Walton plus Fish makes for a tougher, more help happy defense that is also a bit more versatile than with Pau and Bynum. Just a thought.

Master Deceiver

I bit. I believed the dude. I’ve hated on him for quite some time, but this year, I said, “Jordan, you are going to be as unbiased as you possibly can be in your writing, and you are going to take the dude at his word.”

Well, Amare and Shaq came up with Amare’s new nickname, Sun Tzu, and, you know what? He’s lived up to that name perfectly. Amare has used deception, or, more blatantly, lies, to try and make me believe that he has become something that he is not. Here are some examples of his art of war…

"I want to be Ron Artest,” he said all the way back in September. “I want to be that guy you fear when you see him guarding you."

"My goal is to become a phenomenal defensive player,'' he said in November. "That's my goal, to be a phenomenal defensive player night in, night out, no nights off. And ultimately to win a championship.'

So far, the Suns are 21st in points allowed, 24th in defensive rating and 22nd in defensive rebounding. This from a team who with Shawn Marion, sported the best offense (SSOL) last year while also maintaining a ranking of 16th in defensive rating.

And speaking of D’Antoni’s offense…

"I couldn't be more ecstatic about the decision,” he said in September about the hiring of Terry Porter and the leaving of Mike D’Antoni. “[Terry Porter] is very organized. He knows what it takes to win. He wants to be the champion. That falls into the category of the Stoudemire brand and also the Phoenix Suns brand. We want to be champions, whatever it takes to do it."

"A lot of defensive drills,'' he said of his coach’s practices at the beginning of November. "We're going over the different tactics of defense. It's very important from my standpoint, being a young player. I never really had long practices on defense. It was never really forced. We talked about it, but as far as practicing it and really going through the preparation, it is the first of my career.''

Just last week, that tune has hit a sour note. He’s openly been questioning Porter’s coaching. After getting beat down by the Lakers in their first meeting two weeks ago, he said the Lakers "were fluid, flowing,” and added, “I remember when we looked like that."

So now, he misses his old style of play after he threw D'Antoni under the bus with his "this is hte first time I've ever been taught how to play defense..." quotes. Throwing former teammates and coaches under the bus while complaining and never taking any blame...Sounds very…uh, Shaq-like.

Way back in September, Sun Tzu oozed enthusiasm, and yes, quite a bit of cockiness as well. "Expectations are higher than they've ever been. As I improve and I get better, we get better. I have no problem putting the total weight and everything we have on my shoulders. If we lose, I have no problem taking that burden. If we win, just make sure you guys give props where props are due. We're ready."

At the end of November and into December, his enthusiasm has lost all of its shine instead weathering down to a harsh, loud glare.

He’s suddenly “absolutely” looking at free agency in 2010. "As a player,” he said, “You should look at the teams you might want to play for. The city you may want to live in. The system you may want to play in. The economy. The cost of living. Everything. It's about what's best for you."

Always what’s best for himself…

“Right now,” Sun Tzu said, “I’m a little frustrated."

Well, he should be. Despite being a freak of nature athlete, Stoudemire is 23rd in the league in rebounding with a paltry 8.3 per contest. He’s sitting behind his own teammate Shaq, who plays 11 minutes less then him; Andrew Bynum and Drew Gooden who both play nearly 8 minutes less; and David Lee who averages 2 more boards but plays nearly 5 minutes less.

Spin his per 48-minute rebounding numbers and he comes in at 68th in the entire league. While I don’t put too much stock in per-48 minute numbers (because, they aren’t real) any big man who thinks of himself as a superstar can in no way shape or form average in any stat form, less boards than Darko Milicic (59th) and Ryan Anderson (63). Or maybe that’s why he gave up his nickname, STAT, cuz he couldn’t live up to it.

I read an article
(http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/2008/12/09/20081209suns1209.html) that tries to make it sound like Amare’s very body is the reason for his inability to rebound. Ha Ha. He’s blamed everyone from his former coach to his present coach’s style, to the lack of another big man, to, now, finally, his small frame…

You telling me that Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol are stronger and more athletic than Tzu? Or that all 6-foot 5-inches of Chuck Hayes who averages half of Amare’s rebounding in less than half the time (4.4 boards in 15 minutes) is better equipped to rebound despite being 4-5 inches shorter? Or that David Lee’s body is more blessed.

Dude…just man up and get the rebound.

As it stands now, Suns Fu has utilized his new name quite well. He's mastered the art of deception...of deceiving himself.

You know, that new haircut he’s sporting got me thinking about who he looks like. And then it hit me. To borrow a line from the always eloquent Mr. T,

“I pity the Foo…”

Lebron's Got Great Teammates

I can’t get away from it because it has inundated our basketball news and the blogosphere and will continue to do so for the next two seasons. So, what the hell, I’ll just roll with this Lebron wanting out business.

Because he is not quick to stomp out the rumors, and in fact adds fuel to the media’s fire about wanting to leave, today, Westcoast Slant would like to dispel the myth that Lebron James does not play with good players.

Article after article, blog after blog talks about how Lebron’s team is nowhere near the talent-level of Kobe’s team and due to his out-of-this-world stats and inherent ability to “make his teammates better,” Lebron James is hands down the best player in the L.

We’ll skip his defensive shortcomings…huge blocks, like I’m sure you’ve seen on SportsCenter or something (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUQxRptIPvM) are great fun to look at, but let’s not get confused with those kinds of blocks being signs of great defense. Sean Williams of the Nets was second in the league last year in blocks per 48 minutes and had some monster blocks due to his athleticism and length. This season, however, he can’t dislodge his butt from the end of the bench because of fouls and horrible defensive fundamentals.

Blocks are an overrated stat. It’s really an image thing and that goes back to the “image” of the Lakers being better than the Cavs.

Taking a charge is definitely not as pretty or exciting to watch as sending the opposition’s shot into the 8th row, but it’s always better than a blocked shot because it punishes the offender with a personal foul and a turnover. Blocks have their place (mostly the intimidation/embarrassment factor) and shot blockers definitely can act as deterrents (Mutumbo, Hakeem, etc.) that act as huge game changers…but blocks, in general, are not as valuable as taking charges. That’s why Anderson Varejao, though not flashy, is every bit as good a defender as Andrew Bynum. Just in a different way. But we’ll get to that in a second.

Now, I’m not saying the Lakers don’t have more upside talent (they are younger), but as far as production goes, this battle is closer than some might imagine.

Let’s dissect the two teams. Because Kobe and Lebron play different positions, it’s hard to exactly match up, player-for-player, position-by-position. However, there are certain skill sets that individuals bring to a team: shooting, defense, ball-movement, energy, etc. That’s how I’ve paired the players off.

Pau Gasol vs. Zydrunas Ilgauskus
Andrew Bynum vs. Anderson Verajao
Derek Fisher vs. Mo Williams
Vladimir Radmanovic vs. Wally Szczerbiak
Jordan Farmar vs. Delonte West
Sasha Vujacic vs. Daniel Gibson
Lamar Odom vs. Ben Wallace
Trevor Ariza vs. J.J. Hickson

Pau vs. Big Z
Basically, Big Z is the hairless, OG Pau (by like two years). He has a great 15-17 foot jump shot. He’s a face up, finesse-style 7-footer who can also play with his back to the basket. Great freethrow shooter for a big. An excellent offensive rebounder, but weaker on the D glass than you’d want from the tallest dude on the court. He gets a good number of blocks just because he’s so long. And he keeps his PER in the 18 to 22 range with a high water mark this season of 24.9. Pau’s a better passer and more athletic but he’s also lankier and doesn’t take up nearly the same amount of space. And he’s not quite perfected the offensive rebound like Big Z. Pau’s better, but it’s close. And, Lebron’s had Big Z for all six years. Kobe hasn’t even played a full season with Spaniard—it just seems like they’ve been balling together since they were kids.

AB vs. AV
Real talk. Anderson Varejao’s ceiling is the floor to Andrew Bynum’s two-story house, but in the here and now, they are both equally effective. Varejao is annually in the top 10 for offensive fouls drawn and is a beast on defense in ways that Bynum has not even begun to learn. He’s fantastic at showing on screens, making him great against the pick-and-roll, is the energizer bunny in the hustle department and controls the glass. Bynum’s got length and the intimidation factor going for him, but he’s 21, has never played a full season, and still seems to be a little bit too concerned with his scoring touches. Bynum’s got better box score numbers, but this is a tie.

Fish and Mo
Statistically, this one isn’t even close. Intangible-wise, it’s a wash. While last season, I would have argued that Fisher’s influence was worth at least 8 wins (6 in fact), this year, with everyone buying into Kobe’s leadership, that Fish intangible loses some of its luster. He’s putting up nearly identical numbers as last year, but shooting 2-point shots a whole lot worse. Mo’s playing worse than last year too (more on that tomorrow), but his presence is much like what Fish brought to the Lakers last year and his numbers are far and away superior.

Farmar and West
Again, this isn’t about upside. Farmar, at 22, would seem to have the brighter future. In the here and now, Delonte is playing out of his mind. He’s shooting an insane 51 percent from the field and 44 percent from beyond the arc for a whopping 64 percent TS% (true shooting). J-Far brings energy and floor leadership off the bench, but he’s shooting poorly. This one’s really close despite the stat disparity. Farmar’s importance as the second unit’s go-to scorer and floor general can’t be measured, and if they were getting equal minutes I’d sway to Farmar, but Delonte’s been HUGE this year. Edge has got to go to him.

Vlad Rad and Wally World
This comparison is pretty straightforward. The numbers are nearly identical across the board, so, we’ll have to go with more advanced stats. Wally’s PER 14.68 trumps Vladi’s 12.25. Wally’s 1.1 WS also trumps Vladi’s 0.6. Wally’s 105 and 124 offensive and defensive ratings are better than Vladi’s 97 and 100.

Machine and Boobie
They do the same thing, except one is a feisty defender while the other is a decent passer. Both signed to pretty decent money extensions this off-season. While both have struggled to live up to the money, no question the Machine has been better, though if Boobie could play against OKC, Golden State, and the Knicks every night, than he’d money.

LO and Big Ben
Both of these guys don’t necessarily fill up the box score to be effective. Their games are both predicated on things that box scores don’t show. Wallace is an aging defensive ace, who has regained some of his lost form from a year ago. He’s swatting nearly 2 shots a game (again, a bit overrated) but is rebounding much better than he has in two years. Odom has seen his minutes reduced and has taken on a sixth man role, but he’s been quietly putting together a stellar season. He gets the nod because he makes the Lakers second unit starter-quality, especially considering the starters OKC, Memphis, and Washington are throwing out there.

Riza and Hix
Trevor Ariza by a mile right now. But if Hickson can continue to improve on his game and bring energy off the bench, he could fill a very similar role that Ariza has on the Lakers. Right now, Trevor’s the Lakers MVP in my humble opinion.

The rest of the Lakers bench is better, but of the dudes that actually get PT, the talent disparity and the level of production is nearly equal. Tomorrow we’ll continue with this conversation and focus on how Kobe and Lebron do or do not “make their teams better.”