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Author Topic: New Orleans vs Lakers  (Read 3338 times)

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New Orleans vs Lakers
« on: August 27, 2008, 08:34:24 PM »

Offline JR Giddens

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Okay it seems these are the top 2 teams from people's previous posts!
Matchups are sometimes useless to compare but this is all I have:

C- Andrew Bynum(29 min 13 pts 10 reb) vs Tyson Chandler
PF- Pau Gasol vs David West
SF- Lamar Odom vs Peja Stoyakovic(however you spell it)
SG- Kobe vs Morris Peterson
PG- Derek Fisher vs Chris Paul

First of all I think Andrew Bynum is better than Tyson Chandler because of his rebounding and defense. David West is better that Pau. Lamar and Peja couldn't guard each other. Kobe would eat up Peterson but that what they signed James Posey for. LA has no one to guard Chris Paul!

LA can't guard the pick and roll but CP3 would have to tear up Farmar and Fisher like he did to Jason Kidd to advance to the finals!

LA has a ton of length too!

The Hornets are trying to mold into a young Spurs team and that helps them a lot.

Both benches don't know how to play defense(except for posey). I mean LA's bench is Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan farmar, and Radmanovich. Garbage!

Hornets bench is James Posey, Bonzi Wells I think, and nothing else really.

Also keep in mind the Lakers had more injuries than the Hornets last year. Hornets were like 98% in the Reg season as far as i know!

Hornets are better than the Spurs but they didn't have the expereince to close out that series!
« Last Edit: August 27, 2008, 08:48:48 PM by JR Giddens »

Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2008, 08:55:50 PM »

Offline fairweatherfan06

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First I think Houston (on paper) is possibly better than both these teams.


Second.  Bynum is not better than Chandler (yet) at this stage of his career.  I like West over Gasol.  I think Odom is a better overall player than Peja but their offensive outfit is comparable.
The clear advantage for the Lakers is (obviously) Kobe Bryant, but more so than that SG is a GLARING weakness for the Hornets on what is an otherwise completely scary team.  Mo Pete is not a starting SG and definitely not the answer on a team vying for a title.  The Hornets obvious advantage is at STARTING PG, but that is not as much as a weakness for the Lakers as shooting guard is for the Hornets.  I think the Lakers bench (with Sun Yue, Walton and company) will prove to be better than the Hornets bench, even with the addition of Posey (and they lost Pargo.  So in answer to your question the Lakers are the better team IMO.

Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2008, 09:01:43 PM »

Offline JR Giddens

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First I think Houston (on paper) is possibly better than both these teams.


Second.  Bynum is not better than Chandler (yet) at this stage of his career.  I like West over Gasol.  I think Odom is a better overall player than Peja but their offensive outfit is comparable.
The clear advantage for the Lakers is (obviously) Kobe Bryant, but more so than that SG is a GLARING weakness for the Hornets on what is an otherwise completely scary team.  Mo Pete is not a starting SG and definitely not the answer on a team vying for a title.  The Hornets obvious advantage is at STARTING PG, but that is not as much as a weakness for the Lakers as shooting guard is for the Hornets.  I think the Lakers bench (with Sun Yue, Walton and company) will prove to be better than the Hornets bench, even with the addition of Posey (and they lost Pargo.  So in answer to your question the Lakers are the better team IMO.

What? Lakers bench is garbage maine! Sasha is a product of Kobe getting double teamed. Sun Yu what has he done?
Vladimir, Farmar, and Ariza have no idea what their doing on the court.

Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2008, 09:04:51 PM »

Offline Steve Weinman

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Okay it seems these are the top 2 teams from people's previous posts!
Matchups are sometimes useless to compare but this is all I have:

C- Andrew Bynum(29 min 13 pts 10 reb) vs Tyson Chandler
PF- Pau Gasol vs David West
SF- Lamar Odom vs Peja Stoyakovic(however you spell it)
SG- Kobe vs Morris Peterson
PG- Derek Fisher vs Chris Paul

First of all I think Andrew Bynum is better than Tyson Chandler because of his rebounding and defense. David West is better that Pau. Lamar and Peja couldn't guard each other. Kobe would eat up Peterson but that what they signed James Posey for. LA has no one to guard Chris Paul!

LA can't guard the pick and roll but CP3 would have to tear up Farmar and Fisher like he did to Jason Kidd to advance to the finals!

LA has a ton of length too!

The Hornets are trying to mold into a young Spurs team and that helps them a lot.

Both benches don't know how to play defense(except for posey). I mean LA's bench is Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan farmar, and Radmanovich. Garbage!

Hornets bench is James Posey, Bonzi Wells I think, and nothing else really.

Also keep in mind the Lakers had more injuries than the Hornets last year. Hornets were like 98% in the Reg season as far as i know!

Hornets are better than the Spurs but they didn't have the expereince to close out that series!

Interesting post, JR.  A few notes...

Quote
Okay it seems these are the top 2 teams from people's previous posts!

Do you mean in the West?  Or in basketball as a whole?

Quote
First of all I think Andrew Bynum is better than Tyson Chandler because of his rebounding and defense.

On the contrary, I'd think the difference here is more Bynum's potential to become a major scoring threat.  While it's my belief that Bynum will develop into a better player in all facets of the game if he stays healthy, his current strengths are similar to Chandler's right now.  While he's more of a shot-blocker, Chandler is a defensive presence in his own right, and the two players are less than one rebound apart per 36 minutes.

Quote
David West is better that Pau

Why?  I'm not saying Gasol is definitively better either, but it seems to tough to simply dismiss the guy here.  People rip on him for being soft a lot (which may or may not be entirely fair), but when it's all said and done, he's been extremely productive throughout his career and highly efficient from the field.

Quote
LA can't guard the pick and roll but CP3 would have to tear up Farmar and Fisher like he did to Jason Kidd to advance to the finals!

Just for the sake of curiosity, I checked CP3's splits, and in four games against the Lakers this year, he averaged 23 points and 15 boards per game, though he was less efficient from the field than normal.  Pretty impressive nonetheless.  That said, the Hornets went just 2-2 in those games (1-1 both pre-and-post-Pau-trade), and it's the regular season, so I'm not sure how much it tells us.  But it's an interesting stat.

Quote
I mean LA's bench is Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan farmar, and Radmanovich. Garbage!

I'm not sure whether you only mean this from a defensive standpoint, but I'm not sure I agree regardless.  Farmar is very quick and isn't a bad defender at the one.  While Vujacic isn't a great defender by any means, he is a scrappier player who plays a tougher game than he credits for.  On the offensive end, Farmar and VladRad both shoot the ball well from the outside, and Farmar has the potential to become a dynamic player overall.  Vujacic became one of the league's best instant offense providers off the bench last year, putting up a criminally good true shooting of 60.5 percent.

You also omitted Walton and Ariza, two key parts to that bench.

I think there's still a lot more to learn about both of these teams (the Lakers with Bynum...and how Lamar Odom adjusts at the three and if he's still around; the Hornets a year more developed and with Posey), and we've got a ways to go before we have a real clear idea on either of them.  That said, thanks for starting the topic, JR.

-sw

« Last Edit: August 27, 2008, 09:10:32 PM by Steve Weinman »


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Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2008, 09:11:46 PM »

Offline celticmaestro

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Right now I say Lakers.

Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2008, 09:45:05 PM »

Offline SportsCapNative

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This is a tough one. Im going to go with the Lakers though. They were the better team last year. Posey will give the Hornets a real boost off the bench, but the Lakers are pretty much already where they need to be. If they improve on defense (which Bynum will surely improve on), and keep their offense as good as it was last year, I think they'll make it to, and win the WCF (if the Rockets don't get in their way).

Between these two, I'm going with the Lakers, but if the Rockets gel and manage to stay healthy, they will probably beat both of these two. Just my two cents


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Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #6 on: August 27, 2008, 10:43:22 PM »

Offline fairweatherfan06

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First I think Houston (on paper) is possibly better than both these teams.


Second.  Bynum is not better than Chandler (yet) at this stage of his career.  I like West over Gasol.  I think Odom is a better overall player than Peja but their offensive outfit is comparable.
The clear advantage for the Lakers is (obviously) Kobe Bryant, but more so than that SG is a GLARING weakness for the Hornets on what is an otherwise completely scary team.  Mo Pete is not a starting SG and definitely not the answer on a team vying for a title.  The Hornets obvious advantage is at STARTING PG, but that is not as much as a weakness for the Lakers as shooting guard is for the Hornets.  I think the Lakers bench (with Sun Yue, Walton and company) will prove to be better than the Hornets bench, even with the addition of Posey (and they lost Pargo.  So in answer to your question the Lakers are the better team IMO.

What? Lakers bench is garbage maine! Sasha is a product of Kobe getting double teamed. Sun Yu what has he done?
Vladimir, Farmar, and Ariza have no idea what their doing on the court.


The Hornets bench is  a big question mark, they lost a lot of scoring losing Pargo, have yet to resign Bonzi, who is to score for them now Mike James?, Wright? even Posey is only as good as the amount of open looks at threes he gets a look at (offensively). 

Sun Yue was just the name I remembered off top he's done nada in the league yet but I was sufficiently impressed enough watching him in the Olympics to believe he's gonna take minutes from Farmar and/or Karl in the near future.  Vujacic will burn you if left open, and now that Radmonvic doesn't have the pressure of starting he's 6 fouls and a lot of open threes coming off the bench.  Plus Walton is very efficient as well.  Throw in Ariza and the Lakers 1-3 have nothing to sneeze at on the bench.  I think they are weaker at the 4-5 (especially losing Turiaf) but there bench looks much more imposing than the Hornets (on paper) right now FAR from gobEdited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline..

Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2008, 12:14:36 AM »

Offline cordobes

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On paper I favor the Spurs and the Rockets to beat the Lakers. But I don't give the edge to the Hornets.

I think Pau is better than West. Gasol is very effective playing as a PF. I can see Odom being the 6th man or, at least, playing many of his minutes at the 4, whenever Gasol or Bynum are taking rests.

Lakers bench was one of the best in the league last season and I don't think losing Turiaf is going to change things so much. Farmar was good and he's probably going to be better this season; Vujacic can give you  top-notch PG defense in the league once he stops gambling and focusing on his hands so much and he's a terrific shooter; Walton, Rad and Ariza are solid bench players, with complementary skills (though it's a shame they basically play the same position); Sun Yue, Mihm and Powell are spare parts. They don't really need a backup C because Bynum and Gasol can carry the load. Will Ariza develop his perimeter defense? That could be big for the Lakers, Ariza becoming a truly effective defender, able to slow down the opponent best swingman for stretches.

The most important doubt I have is how good will Bynum be. Knee injuries can sometimes slow down a player.

On the other hand, who knows how good will the Hornets be? Sometimes young teams just make outstanding and unpredictable strides. I think nobody's quoted Julian Wright yet, but I've seen him playing in the SL and I was impressed. What if he becomes a factor?

Anyway, going with the Lakers right now.

p.s. - Excellent post Steve, but someone has to teach Fisher to block out. ;)

Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2008, 05:33:35 AM »

Offline ACF

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Re: New Orleans vs Lakers
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2008, 06:07:58 AM »

Offline Who

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I regard the Hornets as the fifth best team in the West. They have too many serious vulnerabilities that will cause them to lose in a tough series in similar fashion as they did against San Antonio.

That said ..... the Hornets are one of the scarier matchups for LA because of Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic but LA still ahead of the game just about. It would be a great spectacle to see these two sides go head-to-head and the Hornets would be capable of beating them, although I'd favour LA in the matchup.

Peja is someone to note in this series, the Lakers have nobody that can guard him, no wing defender that's disciplined enough to stick with him, and for that reason Peja lit them up last season. I just looked up his stats to help give an idea of how large a factor Peja is here .... he scored 21ppg on almost 60% shooting from three on almost 10 attempts from downtown a game. The Hornets are near-impossible to beat when they get that type of scoring production from Peja.

This wasn't some odd event, this was LA having nobody disciplined enough to guard him. Radmanovic isn't, Walton isn't, Kobe isn't. Ariza hasn't been in the past so I don't expect that to change, although he will do a better job than any of his predecessors here. Odom is an unknown, perhaps he can be an answer, he's been a disciplined defender on guys like Dirk Nowitzki, but guarding Peja is a different matter entirely (movement off the ball, lack of involvement offensively). The Lakers consistently left the best shooter (at least for my money) in the league wide open. They were never able to fix this problem and they don't have the personnel to fix it. Very big problem for them.

As for the Bynum-Chandler I think Bynum has already surpassed Chandler. Bynum outplayed him in both meetings (amongst many other players he outplayed) last season and caused Tyson huge problems. Bynum's size and athleticism limited Chandler's impact offensively, on the boards, and he also punished Tyson for straying away on help defense. Bynum is a tough matchup for Chandler.

I'd go with Gasol over West, by a small margin though, but definitely Gasol-Bynum over West-Chandler and by quite a large margin. I think they'll be a better combination. Having two seven footers who block shots is going to make LA much harder to score on and I do expect it to cause Paul more difficulties than he's had against the Lakers in the past. I also expect the Lakers screen and roll defense to get a lot better with Bynum back because they'll have more help defense away from the ball action coming from long shot blockers to effect the roll/penetration.

The Lakers screen and roll action will be just as deadly as the Hornets. Gasol and Bynum are two of the best finishers in the league off the pick and roll. I expect the Lakers to incorporate this more and more into their offense. Also as much as the Lakers struggled with the Hornets screen and rolls, the Hornets struggled with the Triangle's passing and movement.

The biggest factor for me is giving the best player in the league his personal whipping boy to beat up on.

How do you expect to win by putting Mo Pete on Kobe Bryant? Do you not remember those 81 points? Or the numerous other beatings Kobe has put down on Peterson? Kobe is far too comfortable against Mo Peterson for the Hornets good. Posey will help but Kobe has his number too, albeit to a lesser degree which is why Posey will help.

The Hornets bench is also quite weak. No backup bigs. Uncertainty at the point, with Mike James the likely successor. Excellent backup wings but the minutes squeeze removes too many minutes from their best perimeter defender - Julian Wright. If New Orleans starting Wright and played him Bryant I'd have a lot more faith in their chances of winning this series.

The Lakers definitely have a better bench than that, they have two very good backup guards in Farmer and Vujacic, some talent on the wings with three solid small forwards ....  no backup big but Odom can switch there with Ariza/Radmanovic taking over the SF minutes if they need him to, so they're not vulnerable there, they have a very good answer if needed.

I'd expect LA to win out on the boards. Be better defensively and to be able to match NO's offense.

If the Lakers had someone to defend Peja I'd say it's their series by a large margin. But they don't so it will be very close, I expect it will come down to the waning moments of a seventh game, but the Lakers to prevail, they just have that little bit more than Hornets.

If New Orleans are healthy again next season I expect they'll be the 2nd or 3rd seed. In doing so they wouldn't meet LA until the conference finals, and I think someone will beat them in the second round before this series has the opportunity to happen .... which kind of unfortunate because it would be beautiful to watch.