Must Be Nice to Be a Lakers Fan

Damn. The Lakers did something smart this season. I'm stoked.

Crap - as a Suns fan this sucks.

Originally Posted by Bradford

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Crap - as a Suns fan this sucks.

Yup. And---not to get too ahead of ourselves here, because there are always chemistry issues to sort out on the court---the Spurs and Mavs have to be a little worried.

Originally Posted by Baron

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...Turiaf is a great role player on a good team. He's a good shot blocker, good shooter and a super high enery guy on both ends, plus he 's the best cheerleader in the league since Mark Madsen.

Yeah, I've been really impressed with how good Turiaf ended up being. Not only a very positive influence but also an actual player who can brings intensity, defends, and sticks the open midrange jumper. Not like Mark Madsen, who I loved but really at times seemed like a human victory cigar.

I guess Kup's not such a bad GM after all, eh? But I knew things were going well when he drafted Walton in the second years ago and especially when he refused to budge on Bynum.

He definitely can draft. Farmar, Walton, Crittendon, Turiaf...even Sasha Vujacik is a nice player.

Originally Posted by Baron

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He definitely can draft. Farmar, Walton, Crittendon, Turiaf...even Sasha Vujacik is a nice player.

Yeah--I keep forgetting about Sasha

Kup just got a bad rep because he was following in West's shoes, but I honestly haven't been this excited about the Lakers since Phil Jackson came.

Lakers have been on the verge of getting through to the conference finals, but the Suns have always stood in their way. This will most def put them over the hump as far as the Suns are concerned.

3-way deal going down?

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3223513

Seems like Portland would get the short end of the stick on that one.

Originally Posted by 76classic

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Seems like Portland would get the short end of the stick on that one.

Harris/Jack is a wash, imo. Does seem a bit strange that they would want to mess with the chemistry of the team when they're playing so well, though.

Originally Posted by Thracozaag

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Harris/Jack is a wash, imo. Does seem a bit strange that they would want to mess with the chemistry of the team when they're playing so well, though.

Harris is a definite upgrade over Jarret Jack. I don't think I'd give up Frye and/or Outlaw as well for him, though, and I wouldn't mess with the chemistry either.

If you look at the standings, you'll see that Portland has actually fallen to the ninth seed in the West. Utah's the team with the hot hand now, having won nine of their last ten.

I don't think Portland will make the playoffs this year. Spots one through five in the West are pretty much locked up, and so you have Utah, Denver, Houston, and Golden State, and Portland fighting over the last three spots. Even then I'm being generous, as I don't really see Utah or Denver not making it, which leaves it a three-way race for the eighth seed. Portland is easily the worst of these teams, and I don't think there will be more thirteen-win teams to save them.

Devin Harris would be a definite upgrade over Jack. Most importantly, it would allow Brandon Roy to slide over to his natural two-guard position. So for the couple of years, the Blazer starting five would (theoretically) be Harris, Roy, Webster, Aldridge, and Oden. Sounds pretty good to me, especially since Kevin Pritchard has shown a knack for drafting talent, which pretty much ensures that whatever bench depth that would be lost from making this trade will be replenished.

Now, the team for whom this trade doesn't make any sense is Dallas. Keep in mind that this is a team coming off of a 67-win season last year and in fact (IMO) would have beaten any team in the league last year except for Golden State (and maybe Detroit, strangely enough, but that's mainly because of Rasheed Wallace). Golden State was able to win because of a very strange style of play and because Don Nelson was the coach. Period. Dallas just ran into a silver bullet last year. Bad luck. So if you look at Dallas's nucleus--Dirk, Josh Howard, and Devin Harris--and think about that with regard to Cuban's willingness to spend money and management's insight and good work, this team should be in contention for the foreseeable future. But if the Mavs were to trade for Kidd, well--he's 35 and has had microfracture surgery. That's a red flag to me right there. It's true that he seems ageless, playing at an incredibly high level at that age, but how much longer can it last? Two more years tops? And what does he bring to the table there? Keep in mind that he's primarily a fast-break point guard and that Dallas's supporting cast is built for halfcourt offenses (Stackhouse, Eddie Jones, Devean George, Dampier, Diop, Brandon Bass). So while Kidd is obviously great, I just don't think he is a great fit in Dallas.

On a related note, remember when Detroit won 64 games two years ago and then suddenly lost to Miami in the conference finals? There was a lot of clamor then, too, for Dumars to do something drastic, but he resisted those pleas. Detroit's still in contention; I think they're the best team in the East.

(One place where he would be a great fit is Orlando, but how the hell would that happen?)

As for the Nets, well, I think they are SOL. They get what they deserve, though--treating Byron Scott the way they did, rewarding Vince Carter with a bajillion-dollar extension, and being convinced that they could win a title building on the small side of the ball. It'll be interesting to see whether anyone overpays for Kidd.

Very cogent analysis; at this point I'm definitely giving Pritch the benefit of the doubt when it comes to assembling talent (plus he's a KU guy)
They should be scary next season if Oden is even half as good as advertised.

At this point I'm wondering if Oden will be as good as Bynum. I think Bynum is bigger and has better offensive skills, though I wonder if I've ever seen the real Oden considering his wrist injury at OSU.