And what about Orlando? I think they are a lot better than Laker-guy wants to admit.

Are the Lakers even confident that they’ll make it out of the first round? Afterall, they do face OKC. Should be very interesting.

Just wondering what ever happened to the Lakers going through the league like the Globe-Trotters go through the Generals… and you were so sure it’d be sooooo easy. See what you get for writing yourself into a corner?

You can come out east… to the championship parade we’ll be having… looks like the Generals beat up the Trotters.

I’ll grant you that the NBA is a matchup league, thats why the lakers are going to dominate, especially utilizing the triangle which gives a number of different players opportunities to play in the post, flanked by shooters, thus creating a matchup. That sounds like a good fit for the lakers since Gasol, Kobe, Artest, Bynum, and Odom can all play with their back to the baskets quite effectively, and more importantly create a myriad of matchup problems. This will force double teams, and the lakers have plenty of shooting (farmar, brown, artest, kobe, vujacic) to make any team pay for doubling any one of their many stars. Defensively the Lakers have the two of the best and most physical one on one defenders in the leage with kobe and artest. They will not stop Lebron James because nobody can stop him, but it will make him work harder, and limit him more than any other team is capable of doing.

The Cavs have one player (Lebron) that will consistently demand a double team against the Lakers. Many teams were playing shaq straight up last year, he put up solid numbers, but he’s nowhere near the force he used to be. Mo williams is a good offensive player but nothing more, and other than that they dont have a single offensive option that keeps you up at night. Gasol is a much better second option than anybody on the cavs, and Artest Odom and Bynum represent more than the cavs can deal with.

The cavs needed a miracle shot against the magic last year just to force that series to six games. The lakers then took care of the magic in 5. You are telling me that Shaq and a couple of role players can bridge this gap? I dont buy it, especially since the lakers werent stagnant in the offseason, they added a defensive force and all star in artest.

Lebron is a great player that cant be gameplanned for one night in a regular season game. Once in a series though, he will have to rely on his teammates at least some to get past the elite teams, he doesnt have enough help on this team, and Shaq has to prove it all over again this year. He had a good year last year, but has been only slightly above average over the previous 3 years. Also Shaq and Z are going to be a huge liability defensively trying to defend the pick and roll agains the like of rondo/garnett, nelson/dwight howard, parker/duncan, kobe/gasol. This team is a mismatch of parts, what you call being a student of the game is a misguided formula where you look at raw numbers of what guys did on bad teams (anthony parker, jamario moon). By elevating these players as good you make it appear like you know what you are talking about because these are relatively obscure role players, but the real fact is that these are average players, that produced decent numbers on a bad team. Moon and Parker are not going to come up in a key playoff series.

Also Kobe’s Lakers struggled when his team was terrible largely because he was playing in a western conference that was widely regarded as the strongest and deepest conference the league had seen in years, maybe ever. While Lebron carried an albeit terrible team to the finals, he did it in the at that time terrible eastern conference.

“mind numbingly average players” – Mo Williams (All-Star) is far from average. Delonte West is above average. He is a complete player. Great defender, good shooter, can create his own shot, dish the rock. Can play PG or SG, very versatile. Anderson Varejao, as goofy as he is, is better than ‘average.’ ‘Average’ players don’t get $50 million dollar deals.

And my final point: WE HAVE LEBRON JAMES. LeBron DOESN’T NEED a supporting cast like Kobe has. The offense revolves around him. Play LBJ 1 on 1, he’ll take it to the tin. Double team him, and he’s got a plethora of good shooters to kick it to or Shaq, and after the acquisitions of Parker and Moon (I know, LOOK OUT NBA!), they can match up defensively with any team.

Don’t be fooled by the names on the back of the jersey, there’s a lot more to it than that.

To wrap this up briefly: LeBron simply doesn’t need a roster comprised of big names, just good role players. He’s that good.

Apparently you didn’t read my comment. Yes, they looked terrible against the Magic, that is because they couldn’t match up. So what did they do this offseason? Went out and got Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon (also picked up Leon Powe for verrrry cheap, who will be a valuable body to bring off the bench come playoff time). Sure, these aren’t big names, but these acquisitions were crucial. Both players are good defenders and have the size they lacked last postseason. If we had Parker and Moon against the Magic, that series would have been completely different. Great perimeter defenders with length (and Moon is a freak athletically, can’t wait to see some of the dunks he and LeBron will be throwing down this season), and they can both knock down the open 3 pointer (Parker is a 40% 3 pt shooter).

Shaq is definitely not too old to contribute, did you watch him with the Suns last season? If you did, you would know that he is still very capable (led the league in FG%). He certainly won’t play 40 minutes a game, but that is neither here nor there. Contrary to Big Z, Shaq can D up opposing big men. This too was exposed in the series vs the Magic…I’m not sure any human is capable of completely canceling out a force such as Dwight Howard, but he could certainly give him some problems, or any other big for that matter.

Basically, last postseason was a learning experience. The Cavs’ weaknesses were exposed, and as a result, they went out and fixed those problems.

Sure, the Lakers roster has some sexier names than the Cavs roster, but as a true fan and student of the game of basketball, that really means nothing to me. We have LeBron James, the best player in the league. He turned Mo Williams into an All Star. He doesn’t need extraordinary talent around him, just role players who do what they’re supposed to do, and the Cavs now have that.

Bottom line is this: NO team is going to make it look easy come playoff time. Cleveland, LA, San Antonio and Boston are all extremely talented, and not one of those teams will go away quietly, not to mention Denver and Orlando.

If any knowledgeable person thinks LA is just going to breeze by these other great teams, well, frankly, you don’t know shit. That, or you’re extremely biased.

As for the Cavs… well they looked terrible against the Magic and Shaq is too old to truly contribute.

Andrew Bynum is a bum. He did absolutely nothing in the postseason.

If healthy, the Celtics are not going to go away easily. After picking up ‘Sheed, they are legitimate contenders.

And then there’s the Cavs. Although I disagree that players like Varejao and Delonte are average, I will say that they don’t really need a handful of superstars to contend. They have the best player in the game, and all the Diesel does is win championships. Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon were crucial acquisitions, great defenders with length who can knock down the trey ball. Call them ‘average,’ but they are the perfect role players. The Cavs lack of size was exposed against the Magic when they couldn’t matchup with Shard and Hedo, so we went out and fixed that problem.

The King is hungry, and he’s gonna eat. Shaq’s motto “win a ring for the King.” What happened when he promised a title in Miami? Wait for it…….