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AboveLegit

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Posts posted by AboveLegit

  1. PF edge goes to L.A. obviously? How does it obviously go to L.A.? Lakers fans are ALWAYS crying about Gasol, and Bosh played very well in the playoffs last year.

    Finally something I can agree with you on.

     

    Not sure why this board is so quick in saying Gasol > Bosh.

     

    But I'll also never understand why people place so much stock into positional match ups. I guess it's just a shortcut in analysis.

  2. The 4 out 1 in offense had more to do with Otis Smith than anything else. Stan is the one who turned every boneheaded acquisition made by Otis into semi passable working parts. It was Otis who brought in one dimensional shooters to space the floor for Howard, Stan just made the logical decision in implementing that strategy. Honestly, even I could have made that decision.

     

    I'm not trying to discredit Howard, I've always supported him as a player and I think he's a top 3 player in this league. But some forget that Orlando always ranked near the end of the spectrum in fouls per game, which is an added advantage to an already great defensive team. Dwight can't force players not to foul, and that's where Van Gundy's brilliance comes into play. He turned sub optimal defensive players into positive contributors on that side of the floor.

     

    Sure, Dwight Howard helped, but it takes way more than one guy to make a defense. Van Gundy's coaching made all the difference.

     

    And if you want to discredit for Van Gundy for having good defensive players, just look at the '04 Heat... that team ranked in the top 10 despite being just 2 games over .500. That team scratched and clawed it's way to the 2nd round, while taking a great Pacers team to 6 games (and they barely lost that final game too).

  3. No way you can compare the Orlando Magic with the Lakers defensively. At the end of the day Lebron is still at his best when he's getting to the rim, and that going to be awfully tough with Dwight and Pau in the paint. Teams will live with Lebron shooting jump shots, he's still average at best.

    Why aren't they comparable? Orlando was #1 in defense that season... Stop looking at personnel for a change.

     

    One thing I can't stand... People saying Dwight made Orlando the best defense in the league. Sure there's a lot of truth to that, but don't act as if Stan Van Gundy had nothing to do with it. He's a phenomenal coach that knows how to teach his players defensive positioning despite their obvious flaws.

  4. Even at LA's best, I think Miami is better, and a large part of this rests on LeBron getting better next season. He's coming off a picture perfect year, and I think he's going to crank it up another notch the way Jordan did after winning his first title. Not to mention, Wade has had a full offseason of rest.

     

    People (not on this board) are acting as if Dwight in the paint will neutralize LeBron. I don't see it, just a few years ago LBJ had one of the greatest statistical series ever against Dwight.

     

    I don't trust LA's defense at the wings, and I can definitely see Spo rolling with Bron at the 4 and having Chalmers, Allen, Wade, and Bosh out there with him. You can't have Gasol out there on LBJ, that would spell trouble for LA in that instance.

     

    The argument can definitely be made for LA (RD just did it), but I still like Miami over them.

  5. What a joke this new CBA is. Did Stern really think he could bring competitive balance to this league by fixating the cap and stressing the importance of a luxury tax? Lakers payroll will probably exceed $100mill, which puts them $30mill above the luxury tax line according to Zach Lowe. These are the same penalties that completely frightened another big market team, Chicago, and forced them to make "money based moves" this offseason.

     

    Lakers gonna Lake.

    • Like 1
  6. Philly did a great job bringing in Young and Wright as floor spacers, but in order for them to be successful (especially Young), Bynum will need to develop as a passer. He's going to be seeing a lot of double teams, if he's unable to make the pass out of the paint, this offense won't be as good as expected. Turner and Holiday will also need to step up as shooters.

     

    This was an elite defensive unit last year, and while they lost some of that with the departure of Iguodala, the front office definitely made the smart decision realizing you can't win without a sound halfcourt offense.

  7. I'm sure we'll shuffle the roster around a bit throughout the season and at the same time maintain the flexibility of acquiring a big name, but everything else seems to point to Houston finally giving in and rebuilding. The draft really was the turning point for Daryl Morey, given he and the front office are so high on the rookies and loaded on draft picks that it would be utterly stupid to not rebuild.

     

    If Morey really did want to contend this year then he would have gone all in for Dwight. Instead the Houston's willingness to go through such a deal has been heavily overstated due to rebuilding suddenly appearing to be a very appealing option for the Rockets (or Dwight and his agent continuing to threaten Houston significantly hurt their offer with the chances of him skipping town).

     

    Basically we're rebuilding with the option to contend if the opportunity arises, but in order for Morey to break away from rebuild mode he wants a star player bigger than Pau Gasol. More than likely that opportunity won't come up so I'm prepped for a tanking year.

    Good stuff, thanks for clearing that up.

  8. Better for Howard than Bynum, and it FINALLY solves our problems defending the pick and roll.

     

    Plus, LA will pull out of that Princeton many times, and run the pick and roll...and that's going to be scary with Nash and Dwight/Gasol.

    Very true, I really can't think of a better PG-big pairing than Nash and Dwight. Complement each other perfectly, and when I say perfectly, I mean there's absolutely no flaws in that duo.

  9. Now it looks like the picks Orlando receives are protected. Hennigan seems to be going down the same path Washington went down a few years ago. I think his target year is 2014, by that time Gilbert Arenas, Hedo, and Duhon come off the books, and your rookies (Harkless, Nicholson) develop while receiving major playing time. Not to mention their 2013 pick will probably be in the top 5, as well as 2014. Pair that with their cap flexibility (which I'm sure they'll convert into some solid young free agents) and I think they'll finally look promising.

     

    But I'm having a hard time understanding where Afflalo fits into this perceived plan. He's 27 already and plays a game more suited for a contender. It's going to take at least 3 years before Orlando smells the playoffs.

     

    And firing Stan Van Gundy looks terrible now. He's the ideal teacher for all this young talent Hennigan is attempting to rake in, to get rid of him when this trade was inevitable is beyond stupid. He was never the problem to begin with.

     

    At the very least, Orlando could have received Pau and flipped him to Houston for more young talent.

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