The New Lakers, and 10 Reasons they won't beat the Heat.

[AvengerRam]

Well hopefully that Dwight's fans in Orlando have no hard feelings. As this was a business decision.

What do Magic fans have to do with this?

[Rambos]

My Lakers will get it together, its going to take some time. Maybe next year we they add Chris Paul for the second time.

[bruce4life]

Lakers as a squad are beat up going into the season. Nash, Kobe, Howard are all injured.

@ avenger ram- how in the world can you say haslem is better than Jordan hill? Hill is 8 years younger and just coming into his own. Antwan Jamison is a great 6th man who does not need high volume of shots to be successful.

I hate the offense the lakers are running due to Having Nash at point. It's like keeping him locked in a cage.

[AvengerRam]

@ avenger ram- how in the world can you say haslem is better than Jordan hill? Hill is 8 years younger and just coming into his own.

Because I'm rating what they have done, not what they might do in the future. Haslem is a guy who's played on 2 championship teams, and has averaged 9.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. Hill has averages of 5.3 and 4.2.

Antwan Jamison is a great 6th man who does not need high volume of shots to be successful.

His shooting % of .427 and .403 in the last two seasons strongly suggests otherwise.

[bruce4life]

Because I'm rating what they have done, not what they might do in the future. Haslem is a guy who's played on 2 championship teams, and has averaged 9.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. Hill has averages of 5.3 and 4.2.



His shooting % of .427 and .403 in the last two seasons strongly suggests otherwise.

Look at his only season I'm Dallas back in 05-06 I think. He had his lowest scoring total but one of his highest shooting % when he came off mavs bench...

[AvengerRam]

Well... I don't presume to know how good the Lakers will be in April, but right now, if they played the Heat in a 7 game series, they'd get blown off the court in 4 games. They have a looooong way to go.

[r8rh8rmike]

They have a looooong way to go.

Lakers fans should know this, after all, Kobe told them to "SHUT UP!" and be patient.

[laram0]

This is very frustrating....1-4...UGH!

[AvengerRam]

Let's review, shall we?

Here are 10 reasons why they won't.

1. The Oklahoma City Thunder
I don't think the Lakers will be able to get past OKC. Look at the match-ups. Howard and Gasol can be kept in check by Perkins and Ibaka. Durant will torch MWP or whoever else has the burden of trying to guard him. Kobe will score, but he'll have to work for it matching up with Sefolosha and Harden. And does anyone want to rely on Steve Nash to guard Russell Westbrook? I'd put good money on a Thunder vs. Heat rematch.

The Thunder is looking pretty darn good so far, are they not?

2. Teams are not made overnight.
When Miami signed their big 3, everyone thought they had the best team "on paper." But it takes a while for players to learn to play together. It will be no different for the Lakers.

Nailed that one.

3. Kobe and Nash are not a good combination.
Steve Nash is at his best when he has the ball in his hand and runs the pick-and-roll. Does anyone think Kobe Bryant is just going to wait around on the wing while Nash runs the show? Mark my words. Kobe will be the primary ballhandler, and Nash will be relegated to the role of a spot-up shooter. While Nash can be effective in that role, that's not what made him a 2 time MVP.

I could not have been more correct. Even though Nash is getting his assists, Kobe is dominating the ball, and the pick-and-roll in nearly nonexistent.

4. Age matters.
With the exception of Howard, all of the Lakers best 6 players (including Antawn Jamison) are North of 32 years of age. If you don't think that matters, look at what happened to the Spurs in each of the last two years in the playoffs.

Kobe just called the Lakers an "old damned team."

5. Howard's foul shooting.
When the Lakers had Shaq, his foul shooting issues didn't hurt them because they were so much better than any team in the league. This Lakers team, on the other hand, can't afford to rely on a 50% foul shooter in crunch time.

Bingo!

6. The bench.
The Lakers bench, apart from Jamison, is made up primarily of journeymen. Compare that to a Heat bench that has Udonis Haslem, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Mike Miller.

If anything, the Lakers' bench is worse than I projected.

7. Three point shooting.
The Lakers three point options are limited. Kobe is inconsistent. So is MWP. The bench does not have any prolific shooters. Nash is their only consistent option.

MWP has been better at the 3 point shot than expected, but their options are still limited from the outside.

8. Foul Trouble.
The Heat are very good at getting opposing big men in foul trouble. With Steve Nash offering little resistance to quicker players like Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole (not to mention the big 3 attacking the basket), Howard could find himself sitting through a lot of a Heat/Lakers series.

The Lakers found a solution to this problem - don't play defense.

9. Dwyane Wade.
Wade fought through injuries throughout the playoffs last year, and still put up very solid numbers. At the same time, because he was not 100%, some people seem to have forgotten just how good he is. When healthy - and Wade should be healthy this year after sitting out the Olympics to have a clean-up procedure on his knee - Wade is one of the top 5 players in the game.

Wade is still working his way back to 100% but, in the meantime, he still averages 20 points on better than 50% shooting.

10. LeBron James
He's the best player on the planet. Those are not my words, those came from Coach K. Now that he has the monkey off his back, look out.

Is there any doubt that LeBron is the best player in the NBA?