Results tagged “caronbutler”

Now that the Lakers have been eliminated from the playoffs after last night’s 119-110 loss to the Phoenix Suns, local sports writers weighed in this morning about where to place the blame. columnist J.A. Adande joins a growing number of people who are looking to coach Phil Jackson for some answers. Jackson is a Hall of Famer and is considered by many to be one of the best coaches in NBA history, but lately some have been questioning the efficacy of his triangle offense with the current Lakers team. Adande thinks the Lakers certainly have the right players, but proposes that Jackson rethink his coaching style. “Something different than the erratic, three-point jacking under former coach Rudy Tomjanovich, but not as limited as what they’re doing now,” he suggests.

LAist has trouble believing this is for real. We have no problems with the Lakers trading Caron Butler. He's a one-dimensional scorer with little interest in defending, plays a position where the Lakers are stocked, and he's LA's most tradable commodity because his salary is low. We get that. We're also fine with the Lakers adding in a Chucky Atkins or a Devean George to match salaries in a trade. And we'd love to see the Lakers add a decent big man.

LAist will be regularly chyming with our advice throughout the offseason. We've already suggested the Lakers hold on to Kobe Bryant, trade Lamar Odom and Caron Butler if they can (made more difficult by Odom's shoulder surgery), and bring in a new head coach to replace Frank Hamblen.

"I ain't the GM of this team," Atkins said. "Kobe's the GM of this team. Ask Kobe. You've been watching this [stuff] all year. You've been watching it and I've been playing in it."

The fact of the matter is that the Shaq trade has been a total disaster. While we never pretended that it was possible to get equal value for Shaq, LAist did think that Lamar Odom and Caron Butler would play better.

LAist is not too crazy about that idea. Boozer is an above-average NBA power forward, but what does that deal leave the Lakers with? Kobe and Boozer? That pales in comparison to Shaq and Kobe. Yes, the Lakers need a big man. But at least Lamar Odom is an all-around player who in theory could be Pippen to Kobe's Jordan. Additionally, Boozer is tied up through 2010.

In a conversation with Kobe Bryant, Tomjanovich suggested the Lakers switch to the triangle (out of freakin' nowhere) after Rudy wasn't down with Kobe's suggestion of the Princeton offense (thank goodness).

Kobe Bryant was impressive, not with his 25 points, but with his seven assists. Many of those passes allowed Chris Mihm to score 23 points. Lamar Odom also added 13 rebounds.

The truth is that "The Glove" never fit in LA. Despite coming to the Lakers knowing they ran the triangle and that he'd be the third or fourth option, he complained relentlessly about the triangle and being the third or fourth option, once saying "I didn't sign up for this s---." But by the time the NBA Finals rolled around even he admitted a lack of confidence as his uncharacteristically porous defense led to Chauncey Billups picking up a Finals MVP Award.

It's still almost impossible to believe.