Bill Simmons is right again.....

[bobdelt]

Bingo!!!!!


"My theory: because of the economy, nobody improved their team at the trading deadline and strengthened whatever holes they had, so we just ended up with a bunch of flawed contenders. Just one of those years. Opened the door for ... this."

That and the defending champs were missing their anchor. The only cvomplete teams had injuries - including the Spurs.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090612&sportCat=nba

[footey]

Yeah just like his prediction that the Lakers would beat the Celtics last year. He's right all the time.

[Moranis]

The Lakers are a complete team and probably the best team in basketball this year.

Orlando is a pretty complete team as well and they made a move at the deadline to fill in the hole at PG that was opened when Nelson got hurt.

[bobdelt]

I could not disagree more. Any other year these teams dont have a chance. The Rockets without Mao and McGrady could have been here. Denver is more of a complete team.

Bynum starting, and an aging fisher (who did come up big, but when Orlando actually guards him, he does nothing).

[PosImpos]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

There were other teams with a more solid, even more talented lineup.  But those teams got eliminated earlier largely due to injuries or bad luck. 

That said, the Lakers were definitely one of the best teams this year, but I don't think it's at all easy to say that they were the best team in the league or that they would have won the Championship if every other team had not suffered from any major injuries.

[Moranis]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

There were other teams with a more solid, even more talented lineup.  But those teams got eliminated earlier largely due to injuries or bad luck. 

That said, the Lakers were definitely one of the best teams this year, but I don't think it's at all easy to say that they were the best team in the league or that they would have won the Championship if every other team had not suffered from any major injuries.

Come on.  The Lakers were 2 wins away from the title last year (and destroyed a healthy Spurs team to get to the finals) and are 1 win away from the title this year.  You don't do that if you are not a complete team.  Anyone that thinks otherwise is just quite simply being a hater.

[jambr380]

They are the only complete team- that's why they really didn't face any adversity along the way...It's totally annoying and I wish they would lose, but Orlando was never going to be the team to knock them out...I still think they are only the 3rd best team in the east...

[Hoops]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

There were other teams with a more solid, even more talented lineup.  But those teams got eliminated earlier largely due to injuries or bad luck. 

That said, the Lakers were definitely one of the best teams this year, but I don't think it's at all easy to say that they were the best team in the league or that they would have won the Championship if every other team had not suffered from any major injuries.

Come on.  The Lakers were 2 wins away from the title last year (and destroyed a healthy Spurs team to get to the finals) and are 1 win away from the title this year.  You don't do that if you are not a complete team.  Anyone that thinks otherwise is just quite simply being a hater.

Uh, the Spurs weren't healthy last year.

[BballTim]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

There were other teams with a more solid, even more talented lineup.  But those teams got eliminated earlier largely due to injuries or bad luck. 

That said, the Lakers were definitely one of the best teams this year, but I don't think it's at all easy to say that they were the best team in the league or that they would have won the Championship if every other team had not suffered from any major injuries.

Come on.  The Lakers were 2 wins away from the title last year (and destroyed a healthy Spurs team to get to the finals) and are 1 win away from the title this year.  You don't do that if you are not a complete team.  Anyone that thinks otherwise is just quite simply being a hater.

  A healthy Spurs team with a not-very-healthy Manu?

[bobdelt]

They are the only complete team- that's why they really didn't face any adversity along the way...It's totally annoying and I wish they would lose, but Orlando was never going to be the team to knock them out...I still think they are only the 3rd best team in the east...

Really? Rockets Game 7... Denver took them to 6 before they self imploded if I remember correctly.

[Roy Hobbs]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

It's hard for me to call Bynum a stiff.  He was averaging something like 15 points per game prior to his most recent injury, and he's shown good fundamentals in terms of defense and rebounding.  He's a legitimate starting center in this league.

Over-hyped?  Definitely.  Injury prone?  Possibly.  A stiff?  No way.

[Fafnir]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

There were other teams with a more solid, even more talented lineup.  But those teams got eliminated earlier largely due to injuries or bad luck. 

That said, the Lakers were definitely one of the best teams this year, but I don't think it's at all easy to say that they were the best team in the league or that they would have won the Championship if every other team had not suffered from any major injuries.

Come on.  The Lakers were 2 wins away from the title last year (and destroyed a healthy Spurs team to get to the finals) and are 1 win away from the title this year.  You don't do that if you are not a complete team.  Anyone that thinks otherwise is just quite simply being a hater.

  A healthy Spurs team with a not-very-healthy Manu?

Manu only played one good game that series. The Spurs won that game naturally. He was a shell of himself for that series.

I hope he can get healthy this next year.

[PosImpos]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

It's hard for me to call Bynum a stiff.  He was averaging something like 15 points per game prior to his most recent injury, and he's shown good fundamentals in terms of defense and rebounding.  He's a legitimate starting center in this league.

Over-hyped?  Definitely.  Injury prone?  Possibly.  A stiff?  No way.

He's way overpaid, overhyped...he's a stiff compared to what he ought to be the way he gets so much praise...he's worse than pretty much any of the Centers the Lakers have faced in the post-season.  In fact, I think I'd probably take any of the centers we faced in the post season rather than Bynum, as well.

The only thing he's done with consistency is foul.

[Moranis]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

There were other teams with a more solid, even more talented lineup.  But those teams got eliminated earlier largely due to injuries or bad luck. 

That said, the Lakers were definitely one of the best teams this year, but I don't think it's at all easy to say that they were the best team in the league or that they would have won the Championship if every other team had not suffered from any major injuries.

Come on.  The Lakers were 2 wins away from the title last year (and destroyed a healthy Spurs team to get to the finals) and are 1 win away from the title this year.  You don't do that if you are not a complete team.  Anyone that thinks otherwise is just quite simply being a hater.

  A healthy Spurs team with a not-very-healthy Manu?

Manu averaged 32.9 mpg in the playoffs last year (which is pretty similar to his regular season minutes).  And yes I realize he had some minor injuries, but the reality is, you are healthy if you are playing that many minutes.  He just flat out stunk and was completely shut down by Vujacic's defense in all but game 3.  Manu torched the Suns and Hornets, with these same "injuries".

And it isn't like the Lakers weren't without their starting center.  And while Bynum's importance to the Lakers is not the same as Manu's importance to the Spurs, the Spurs were getting 33 minutes from their guy and the Lakers were getting squat.

[Fafnir]

Yeah, it's hard to call the Lakers complete when they don't have a real starting Center (I consider Pau more of a PF, and Bynum is a stiff) and they have a 3 point guard rotation - and they are very lucky when one of them happens to play well (as Fisher did in Game 4).

There were other teams with a more solid, even more talented lineup.  But those teams got eliminated earlier largely due to injuries or bad luck. 

That said, the Lakers were definitely one of the best teams this year, but I don't think it's at all easy to say that they were the best team in the league or that they would have won the Championship if every other team had not suffered from any major injuries.

Come on.  The Lakers were 2 wins away from the title last year (and destroyed a healthy Spurs team to get to the finals) and are 1 win away from the title this year.  You don't do that if you are not a complete team.  Anyone that thinks otherwise is just quite simply being a hater.

  A healthy Spurs team with a not-very-healthy Manu?

Manu averaged 32.9 mpg in the playoffs last year (which is pretty similar to his regular season minutes).  And yes I realize he had some minor injuries, but the reality is, you are healthy if you are playing that many minutes.  He just flat out stunk and was completely shut down by Vujacic's defense in all but game 3.  Manu torched the Suns and Hornets, with these same "injuries".

And it isn't like the Lakers weren't without their starting center.  And while Bynum's importance to the Lakers is not the same as Manu's importance to the Spurs, the Spurs were getting 33 minutes from their guy and the Lakers were getting squat.

Did you watch the games of last year's WCF? Manu played but he was ineffective due to the injury which he aggravated earlier in the playoffs. You could see it in the way he limped around, didn't have his quickness, and couldn't elevate properly.

Just because you are on the court doesn't mean your healthy. Take a look at this year's first round. Tim Duncan played near his season average of 32 minutes a game. Would you say Tim Duncan was healthy during the series against the Mavericks?