Steve Nash to Lakers (sources reporting)

[celtsfan84]

for 2 late first rounders and 2 late second rounders, aka probably nothing at all.

If the Lakers turn around and get Howard, I am DONE with the NBA!

If the Lakers turn around and get Dwight Howard, there will likely be millions of new fans to replace you. Bye.

[RyNye]

Anyone who thinks the Celtics should sign and trade for Nick Young probably have never seen that kid play. Seriously? Nick Young? He's a below average shooter (51% TS, where the league average for his position is 54%), who can't rebound the ball, pass the ball, or defend.

[celtsfan84]

Anyone who thinks the Celtics should sign and trade for Nick Young probably have never seen that kid play. Seriously? Nick Young? He's a below average shooter (51% TS, where the league average for his position is 54%), who can't rebound the ball, pass the ball, or defend.

Totally agree with this.  He is a one dimensional player (scoring) and that one dimension kind of sucks.  I don't see the appeal.

[Brendan]

On paper this should work, because even when Kobe goes ball hog, Nash can play shooting threat, ala Steve Kerr on the Bulls. I do think Kobe has to go ring hungry over point hungry though. For LAL they can try and cut Kobe's minutes so Nash or Kobe is always on the floor, but they are playing less minutes each individually.

So basically this ends up being similar to Lebron and Wade, in that things really clicked when Wade started playing very aggressively off the ball - crashing boards, back cutting, etc. In this situation, Kobe can keep alpha dog status, but I think he'll need to change his style a bit to allow Nash more ball handling than your normal Lakers PG of the last 15 years.

So given who Kobe is, I'd bet against this working as well as it could, but think in the end it will work OK. (Side note if they get an early grove where Kobe starts getting easy buckets, then it could really work well and create a virtuous circle.)

[MBunge]

I'm a little dubious about this move for the Lakers.  You're taking a very old point guard who can barely play half the game any more, was never good defensively to begin with and has been used to having the entire team orbit around him, and moving him to a completely different environment where he'll be lucky to get half the touches he's gotten his whole career.

I mean, how many times would you describe the Phoenix offense as Nash dribbles around for 20 seconds and makes a play?  Between Bynum post-ups and Kobe's 20+ shots a game, Nash is going to be playing a completely different role than he's used to.

Nash could supercharge Laker scoring but this also look like the sort of situation where a veteran player just falls off a cliff.

And giving up 2 firsts and two seconds for a 38 year old player?  Here is what Ainge has gotten from non-lottery draft picks.  Perk, Rondo, Tony Allen, Al Jefferson, Big Baby, Leon Powe, Ryan Gomes, Delonte West, Semih Erden, Avery Bradley, Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo.  That is a playoff caliber roster without one single lottery pick on it.

Mike

[Fafnir]

Yeah Nash/Kobe will have some big adjusting to do to make it work.

But just as a spot up shooter Nash is an impressive upgrade. I do think Bynum isn't a good fit for what Kobe/Nash/Gasol can do, which is why I think they'll explore the Howard swap yet again.

Hopefully Howard continues to be a putz and refuses to go there, I'd rather see him in Houston or Atlanta.

[Django]

Man, Nash looks weird in a Laker uniform...



http://instagram.com/p/Mssh66Shrm/

Looks like Sasha Vujachic (sp)

[celtsfan84]

I'm a little dubious about this move for the Lakers.  You're taking a very old point guard who can barely play half the game any more, was never good defensively to begin with and has been used to having the entire team orbit around him, and moving him to a completely different environment where he'll be lucky to get half the touches he's gotten his whole career.

I mean, how many times would you describe the Phoenix offense as Nash dribbles around for 20 seconds and makes a play?  Between Bynum post-ups and Kobe's 20+ shots a game, Nash is going to be playing a completely different role than he's used to.

Nash could supercharge Laker scoring but this also look like the sort of situation where a veteran player just falls off a cliff.

And giving up 2 firsts and two seconds for a 38 year old player?  Here is what Ainge has gotten from non-lottery draft picks.  Perk, Rondo, Tony Allen, Al Jefferson, Big Baby, Leon Powe, Ryan Gomes, Delonte West, Semih Erden, Avery Bradley, Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo.  That is a playoff caliber roster without one single lottery pick on it.

Mike

Nash played 32 minutes a game last year.  He can barely play half the game anymore?  Have you ever seen a Suns game?

And those are non-lottery picks, sure, but Bradley was 19th, Rondo was 21st, Jefferson was 15th and those are the three best players on that list.  Beyond that you just have role players or worse.  The Lakers won't be picking between 15 and 21.  And if they need 2nd Round picks so desparately, they can buy them.  They are the Lakers.

Both of your points are quite a stretch.

[Chelm]

Ray Allen would be a great fit there with Kobe shifting to small forward. Dump Artest's butt onto the bench. Improve LA's jump-shooting and floor spacing. Get their bigs more room to operate and Nash more room to create with.

I can't imagine Ray signing with the Lakers though. Still, if I were LA, that is something I'd strongly pursue just in case they can talk him round.

I'm not sure.  They obviously need shooters to space the floor, but defensively, a Ray/Nash backcourt doesn't really... intimidate.

[Django]

Who they going to replace him with? Surely not Grant Hill...

Maybe. And dont call me Shirley.

[cman88]

The scary thing is that nash might utilize gasol ALOT better than kobe and brown knew how to.

[MBunge]

I'm a little dubious about this move for the Lakers.  You're taking a very old point guard who can barely play half the game any more, was never good defensively to begin with and has been used to having the entire team orbit around him, and moving him to a completely different environment where he'll be lucky to get half the touches he's gotten his whole career.

I mean, how many times would you describe the Phoenix offense as Nash dribbles around for 20 seconds and makes a play?  Between Bynum post-ups and Kobe's 20+ shots a game, Nash is going to be playing a completely different role than he's used to.

Nash could supercharge Laker scoring but this also look like the sort of situation where a veteran player just falls off a cliff.

And giving up 2 firsts and two seconds for a 38 year old player?  Here is what Ainge has gotten from non-lottery draft picks.  Perk, Rondo, Tony Allen, Al Jefferson, Big Baby, Leon Powe, Ryan Gomes, Delonte West, Semih Erden, Avery Bradley, Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo.  That is a playoff caliber roster without one single lottery pick on it.

Mike

Nash played 32 minutes a game last year.  He can barely play half the game anymore?  Have you ever seen a Suns game?

And those are non-lottery picks, sure, but Bradley was 19th, Rondo was 21st, Jefferson was 15th and those are the three best players on that list.  Beyond that you just have role players or worse.  The Lakers won't be picking between 15 and 21.  And if they need 2nd Round picks so desparately, they can buy them.  They are the Lakers.

Both of your points are quite a stretch.

1.  Rondo averaged 36.9 minutes a games last year.  Know how many times Nash played more than 36.9 minutes a game last year?  4.  Know how many minutes Rondo averaged these past playoffs?  Over 42.  How many minutes is Nash going to average in next year's playoffs.

2.  What is the Lakers biggest weakness?  Their role players suck.  What is the easiest and cheapest way to get decent role players?  The draft.  Where will the Lakers be if ANY of their top four players suffers a serious injury next season?  Fighting to make the playoffs and getting a draft pick in the low 20s, except they won't have it.  And not having any draft picks is a very big deal for LA because that may make the difference between getting Howard or not.  Which do you think Orlando is more likely to take in trade, Andrew Bynum alone or Lopez/Humphries/Brooks and two #1s?

Again, maybe this will make the Lakers' offense so powerful that nothing else will matter, but it's not like the potential problems aren't staring us all in the face.

Mike

[RMO]

This hurts more in a I'll hate seeing Steve Nash in a laker uniform kind of way.  No doubt they improved at that position but then again, he's replacing Ramon Sessions.  

I'll wait and see what Mike Brown can do with this before getting too worked up.  He's always been hailed as a defensive minded coach and this move does nothing for them in that department.  Obviously Nash is a great player but he seemed to be at his best when he was in D'Antoni's seven seconds or less style offense (and don't read that as a knock on his play in the half court which it is not).  The lakers aren't running that.

I don't know.  The national media will say this makes them an immediate contender because that's what they do with the lakers.  I think they were a bit further away than "a better point guard than Ramon Sessions" from going from a near sweep in the second round to champions.

[jgod213]

I still don't understand what the suns are doing.

Why aren't they all-out in rebuild mode? All those draft picks coming up, kendall marshall as the future PG, Hill/Brown/Redd/Telfair/Price off the books, why not just blow it up?  Gortat and Dudley are 2 great vets to use to usher in a new era in Pheonix or to use as tradable assets.

It just seems like the Suns are due to be stuck in mediocrity for several more years with all this money tied up in Beas and Dragic when they already have Dudley & Marshall.

[Fafnir]

I still don't understand what the suns are doing.

Why aren't they all-out in rebuild mode? All those draft picks coming up, kendall marshall as the future PG, Hill/Brown/Redd/Telfair/Price off the books, why not just blow it up?  Gortat and Dudley are 2 great vets to use to usher in a new era in Pheonix or to use as tradable assets.

It just seems like the Suns are due to be stuck in mediocrity for several more years with all this money tied up in Beas and Dragic when they already have Dudley & Marshall.

Beasley is still young enough and the price isn't that high for his potential, Dragic is also only 26 but I do agree that he doesn't make much sense if you think Marshall is your starting PG for sure.