Currently which lineup is better? Lakers or Celtics

[RRNoLookPass]

Celtics = 30-35 win team
Lakers = 20-25 win team

Boston won 25 games last year.  We added some players on our bench this year like Smart and Zeller... now you think we're going to win 10 more games than last year?

Lakers won 27 games last year.  They replaced Pau Gasol with Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Julius Randle and Ed Davis... You think they'll going to win 7 less games than last year?

I don't think people are grasping just how bad this Celtic team is.   We were 6-24 in the games Rondo played.  That's a 16 win pace.  We didn't improve on any of our major needs.  Smart should be a nice player, but at the moment he's redundant with one of our few strengths.

* Rondo was fairly awful last season when he returned from injury. I am expecting him to play better next season.
* I thought Boston underachieved very badly last season. In large part due to Rondo's late return and poor performance after coming back from injury.
* Celtics have a bit more depth and balance with Zeller and Smart on board.
* Kobe Bryant is coming off one of the worst injuries an NBA player can suffer with a torn achilles. I am expecting him to play very badly next season. I do not think Bryant is a player who will handle his diminished capacities well and I expect him to cause problems for LAL.
* I don't think Randle is an NBA ready player. I think he needs to redefine his entire game to succeed in the NBA. Thus, I expect him to struggle (similar to Thomas Robinson).
* Ed Davis is a journeyman PF who would be a 4th string PF on the Celtics behind Bass, Sully and Olynyk. Good defender but not offensive game.
* Sully and Boozer are pretty much equal players at this junction in their respective careers.
* I do like Jeremy Lin. He is an improvement for LAL.

Edit: Actually, I think I have LAL too low. I had them pegged at 20-25 wins a few days before they added Boozer. I should have bumped them up a bit higher after adding Boozer. So I'll go 25-30 wins now. Still behind Boston.

yes, well, he may very well play better. but it still doesn't address the interesting, and under discussed, point that for the past two year REGARDLESS OF WHETHER RONDO WAS INJURED OR NOT the celtics won more game without rondo than with rondo. and not just total game, their actual winning percentage was better without rondo even the season he was injured.

discuss.

Yeah but rondo once scored 44 pts vs the miami heat in the playoffs. Nothing else matters.

Honestly though what you said is the truth. No more excuses, Rondo has to play out of his mind this upcoming season. He needs a 40 pt game

So you sarcastically reference Rondo's 44pt game, as if that is the only evidence that Rondo fans have to prove he is good?? ....Yet then you go on to say "Rondo has to play out of his mind this upcoming season. He needs a 40 pt game." I think you just contradicted yourself a bit there buddy.

How would one 40 pt game constitute Rondo playing out of his mind? You act like a single 40 pt game is all it takes for a player to be elite. That makes no sense. Even scrubs like Brandon Jennings go off for a 40 pt game once in a while...that doesn't mean Jennings plays "out of his mind", does it? (Unless playing "out of his mind" means jacking up wayy too many contested jumpshots.)

I would rather see Rondo play a solid all-around season and do whatever it takes to carry his team to as many wins as possible. If he drops 40 pts at some point, cool. But a 40 pt game is in no way, shape, or form a measure of success.

[BballTim]

I think the Lakers lineup is better. If they are healthy they will probably kick our butts 

The Lakers might end with a worse record because the west is still far better than the east. Now that Miami is dismantled, the top 7 teams are all in the West.

Kobe  >> Bradley
Lin / Nash << Rondo / Smart
Boozer / Randle >> Sullinger / Bass
Hill / Sacre > Zeller / Olynyk
Young / Jack Nicholson   < Green / Wallace

lakers have a small edge, and are also not done filling their roster. They are more experienced, have much better shooting, are better up front, have go to guys in the last 4 minutes of a close game, and Kobe will get more calls than the Celtics best scorer.

  I think if Sully and  Olynyk are healthy and show reasonable development the arrows on the bigs could easily be reversed. Boozer hasn't really been getting better with age.

[Eja117]

Did someone really say AB is better than Kobe ? I'm done.

I'd take AB before Kobe in 2014.

Obviously it isn't even a comparison if we're talking historical anything.

In the words of my dear friend Stephen A. Smith, that is blasphemous. AB won't better than Kobe until Kobe is like 50 yrs old. Idc if Kobe is 35 and coming of surgery. Avery isn't even in Kobes league

I think lots and lots of players will be better than Kobe this year. I think players in Europe will be better than Kobe this year.

[OhioGreen]

If Rondo is the superstar most C's fans seem to believe, and he's healthy, he needs to AVERAGE close to a triple double this year, and PROVE IT!
A 6-24 W/L record in games he played last year is horrible, but give him a pass coming back from injury.  But now recovered, he's got to prove he can carry a team by himself!  Take a team that's not expected to make the playoffs, and get them maybe a 3/4 seed!
Once and for all, show he deserves the same accolades as other stars in this league!

[mgent]

Did someone really say AB is better than Kobe ? I'm done.

I'd take AB before Kobe in 2014.

Obviously it isn't even a comparison if we're talking historical anything.

In the words of my dear friend Stephen A. Smith, that is blasphemous. AB won't better than Kobe until Kobe is like 50 yrs old. Idc if Kobe is 35 and coming of surgery. Avery isn't even in Kobes league

I think lots and lots of players will be better than Kobe this year. I think players in Europe will be better than Kobe this year.

Yeah, I would be extremely surprised if post-injury Kobe does better than the 14 points and 6 TOs he had in the games he played last year.

You do realize a 26 year old Kobe couldn't even make the playoffs without Gasol?  How can anybody think he'd be anything other than ugly when he's 36 and ticked off because Nick Young won't pass to him?

Maybe he can break 14 points if his teammates don't mind him shooting 40% (I think that is why it's taking them so long to find a coach).

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

sucks to say this but, Lakers

Kobe coming back from injury, Lin/Nash, Hill, Boozer

yep

[Tr1boy]

Celtics = 30-35 win team
Lakers = 20-25 win team

Boston won 25 games last year.  We added some players on our bench this year like Smart and Zeller... now you think we're going to win 10 more games than last year?

Lakers won 27 games last year.  They replaced Pau Gasol with Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Julius Randle and Ed Davis... You think they'll going to win 7 less games than last year?

I don't think people are grasping just how bad this Celtic team is.   We were 6-24 in the games Rondo played.  That's a 16 win pace.  We didn't improve on any of our major needs.  Smart should be a nice player, but at the moment he's redundant with one of our few strengths.

* Rondo was fairly awful last season when he returned from injury. I am expecting him to play better next season.
* I thought Boston underachieved very badly last season. In large part due to Rondo's late return and poor performance after coming back from injury.
* Celtics have a bit more depth and balance with Zeller and Smart on board.
* Kobe Bryant is coming off one of the worst injuries an NBA player can suffer with a torn achilles. I am expecting him to play very badly next season. I do not think Bryant is a player who will handle his diminished capacities well and I expect him to cause problems for LAL.
* I don't think Randle is an NBA ready player. I think he needs to redefine his entire game to succeed in the NBA. Thus, I expect him to struggle (similar to Thomas Robinson).
* Ed Davis is a journeyman PF who would be a 4th string PF on the Celtics behind Bass, Sully and Olynyk. Good defender but not offensive game.
* Sully and Boozer are pretty much equal players at this junction in their respective careers.
* I do like Jeremy Lin. He is an improvement for LAL.

Edit: Actually, I think I have LAL too low. I had them pegged at 20-25 wins a few days before they added Boozer. I should have bumped them up a bit higher after adding Boozer. So I'll go 25-30 wins now. Still behind Boston.

yes, well, he may very well play better. but it still doesn't address the interesting, and under discussed, point that for the past two year REGARDLESS OF WHETHER RONDO WAS INJURED OR NOT the celtics won more game without rondo than with rondo. and not just total game, their actual winning percentage was better without rondo even the season he was injured.

discuss.

Yeah but rondo once scored 44 pts vs the miami heat in the playoffs. Nothing else matters.

Honestly though what you said is the truth. No more excuses, Rondo has to play out of his mind this upcoming season. He needs a 40 pt game

So you sarcastically reference Rondo's 44pt game, as if that is the only evidence that Rondo fans have to prove he is good?? ....Yet then you go on to say "Rondo has to play out of his mind this upcoming season. He needs a 40 pt game." I think you just contradicted yourself a bit there buddy.

How would one 40 pt game constitute Rondo playing out of his mind? You act like a single 40 pt game is all it takes for a player to be elite. That makes no sense. Even scrubs like Brandon Jennings go off for a 40 pt game once in a while...that doesn't mean Jennings plays "out of his mind", does it? (Unless playing "out of his mind" means jacking up wayy too many contested jumpshots.)

I would rather see Rondo play a solid all-around season and do whatever it takes to carry his team to as many wins as possible. If he drops 40 pts at some point, cool. But a 40 pt game is in no way, shape, or form a measure of success.

Right now a big slam dunk in a real game by rondo would be a big deal. A 40 pt game performance is just a dream

[cltc5]

Lakers.  Come on they have Kobe

[CM0]

I think the Lakers lineup is better. If they are healthy they will probably kick our butts 

The Lakers might end with a worse record because the west is still far better than the east. Now that Miami is dismantled, the top 7 teams are all in the West.

Kobe  >> Bradley
Lin / Nash << Rondo / Smart
Boozer / Randle >> Sullinger / Bass
Hill / Sacre > Zeller / Olynyk
Young / Jack Nicholson   < Green / Wallace

lakers have a small edge, and are also not done filling their roster. They are more experienced, have much better shooting, are better up front, have go to guys in the last 4 minutes of a close game, and Kobe will get more calls than the Celtics best scorer.

  I think if Sully and  Olynyk are healthy and show reasonable development the arrows on the bigs could easily be reversed. Boozer hasn't really been getting better with age.

Sully and  Boozer were comparable last year though Sully was statistically more efficient. Their careers are obviously moving in opposite directions.

Randle is not an NBA-level defender at this point and will his development will be hampered somewhat by injuries. Questions remain about his offensive game translating.

Celtics clearly have the edge at PF.

[Celtics4ever]

Sully and  Boozer were comparable last year though Sully was statistically more efficient. Their careers are obviously moving in opposite directions.

I call BS on this one.  Boozer shot  better than Sully.  While it is true, Boozer is getting up their in age and in decline,  Sully is getting up there in weight.   They played within one MPG of each other.   Boozer shot better and outrebounded Sully and outscored him.   What did you based " statistically more efficient."on. because it sure as heck was not actual stats.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/1703/carlos-boozer

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/6624/jared-sullinger

You must have used PER alone.   But calling a PF that shoots .43% efficient is a total joke.

Randle is not an NBA-level defender at this point and will his development will be hampered somewhat by injuries. Questions remain about his offensive game translating.

Sullinger has a history of back injuries and is battling (and losing the battle of the bulge) which exacerbates back problems.  Sully is not really a good NBA defender either.  Randle is more athletic and took his team further in college than Sully did.  With Sully shooting .43% would you say that his offensive game has translated to the NBA?    I know people blame it on the three he took this year.   He took 208 threes and made .27% of them.  Do you really that he took 203 FTA's?   That is less than he took threes.   At some point you have to question his basketball IQ taking a shot that hurts the team like his threes.   Randle knows his limitations at least and won't shoot a shot he won't make.

I think Kobe is in decline but if he even shows up halfways then he is better than our guards.    But I think their bigs can give ours a run for their money.     That being said BEAT LA.

[twistedrico]

I think The Celtics are better. They need Rondo and Bradley to stay healthy and they could 40-45 games, unless an upgrade happens between now and NOV 1 then it could be a different story.

[Eja117]

Lakers.  Come on they have Kobe

I know. It's a serious weakness for them.

Gotta wonder how Kobe will handle not even being a top 100 player this year

[Evantime34]

There are three battles that would determine which team is better:
Kobe recovering from injury vs Rondo recovering from injury

Smart vs Randle

Remaining guys (Ko, Sully, Bradley, Bass, Green) vs their signings (Hill, Davis, Swaggy, boozer)

[Mr October]

I think the Lakers lineup is better. If they are healthy they will probably kick our butts 

The Lakers might end with a worse record because the west is still far better than the east. Now that Miami is dismantled, the top 7 teams are all in the West.

Kobe  >> Bradley
Lin / Nash << Rondo / Smart
Boozer / Randle >> Sullinger / Bass
Hill / Sacre > Zeller / Olynyk
Young / Jack Nicholson   < Green / Wallace

lakers have a small edge, and are also not done filling their roster. They are more experienced, have much better shooting, are better up front, have go to guys in the last 4 minutes of a close game, and Kobe will get more calls than the Celtics best scorer.

  I think if Sully and  Olynyk are healthy and show reasonable development the arrows on the bigs could easily be reversed. Boozer hasn't really been getting better with age.

Boozer is on the decline for sure. I still trust him with more minutes than i do any of our bigs. And i hope Sully, Olynyk, Zeller bring improved bodies to camp and take their games to the next level next season. Until i see it i wont believe it though.

[CM0]

because it sure as heck was not actual stats.

You must have used PER alone.

LOL PER is an actual stat last tmie I checked- one that expressly ranks "efficiency". Sully was slightly more efficient according to PER. They had comparable seasons.

Sully is not really a good NBA defender either.

Randle is a very BAD defender right now. There's a difference.

With Sully shooting .43% would you say that his offensive game has translated to the NBA?

Yes.

 Randle knows his limitations at least and won't shoot a shot he won't make.

That's fascinating. Tell me more about this young prospect that will shoot 100% from the floor.