| 2009-10 Season Preview: Los Angeles Lakers Authored by Christopher Reina - October 30, 2009 - 8:51 pm
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
A Melo Behind The SuperstarsCarmelo Anthony has never been one of the league's most efficient offensive players.
 |
Maynor Using Utah’s Resources
Eric Maynor is an increasingly rare four-year, small college rookie. He sat down with RealGM to discuss how his first few weeks of NBA life has gone and what he has learned from Deron Williams and Jerry Sloan.
|
 |
Why LeBron To The Clippers Makes Sense
LeBron James already plays for a perennial underdog in Cleveland, but moving to the Clippers would allow him to do so in a huge market and with a core that will immediately compete for championships while also having an encouraging long term outlook.
|
 |
‘Home-Heavy Schedule’ Brings Question Marks
The Heat have been plagued by inconsistencies, making it difficult to determine how good they really are this season.
|
|
More from RealGM's Columnists
|
| |
Last Season’s FIC Rank: 3rd, +13.1
Key Additions: Ron Artest
Key Subtractions: Trevor Ariza
Key Rookies: None
Probable Starters: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Point Guard: The point guard has been the Lakers clear area of relative weakness throughout Phil Jackson's tenure, but at least some of that is due to the Triangle and also the presence of Kobe Bryant. Jackson has never needed an All-Star, or even an average starter at point guard because he's always had Kobe or Michael.
The Lakers now have a three-headed monster at the position, with Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown doing very different things and playing very different roles.
Fisher gives the Lakers remarkable stability both on the floor and in the locker room. He is getting incredibly long in the tooth and isn't as good defensively because of his declining quickness, but he is shrewd enough to be competent against any other point guard in the league. He also continues to be one of the most fearless big shot shooters in the NBA.
I've always thought Farmar would become a solid starting point guard for the Lakers once his apprenticeship under Fisher was completed, but it doesn't appear the club is too eager to keep him in the long term. He has a high basketball IQ with plenty of athleticism and a promising jumper, but his True Shooting Percentage dropped from .563 in his second season to .466 during the Lakers' title year. He will be an RFA this summer and I could see him flourishing in another system, most notably New York.
Brown gives the Lakers an aerial element that they haven't really had since Kobe has begun to slow down. He's a pace changer and has vastly improved his perimeter shot. I like the idea of pairing Farmar and Brown together in the backcourt very much and I hope to see more of that as the season progresses.
Swingmen: Ron Artest becomes Kobe Bryant's best running mate on the wing since Caron Butler's lone year in Los Angeles. For as much as he's maligned, this couldn't be a better situation for Artest and it is an incredibly safe move as far as the Lakers are concerned. Trevor Ariza has developed into a fine player in his own right, but his outstanding 08-09 was largely a product of playing on an excellent team. Artest can still create his own offense and defend the perimeter at a high level, though not nearly as well as two or three seasons ago. He also puts a level unease in the head of the opponents that neither Ariza nor especially Luke Walton and Sasha Vujacic are capable of. That component was sorely missing when the Lakers lost to the Celtics in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals and will be needed if there is a rematch because the Lakers were undeniably soft in that series. This Celtics team, with a more fully formed Rajon Rondo and a veteran Rasheed Wallace will be even badder than they were then.
As far as I can tell, Kobe remains largely the Kobe of old. He's just a hair slower and less vertical, but he should give tutorials for how to maintain one's peak physical condition with those type of miles. A freak injury could certainly happen, but barring that, he is aging with so much grace that he could conceivably remain one of the game's top-five players into his mid-30s.
The depth here is clearly weak, as the aforementioned Vujacic and Walton are the best options. Adam Morrison is also on this roster, but the only comeback I see him making now is in Europe.
Frontcourt: As strong as the Lakers are on the wing, having enough high end big man depth to bring a player of Lamar Odom's depth off the bench is extraordinary in today's NBA. John Havlicek is the best sixth man of all-time and always will be, but this is a different era and we've seen a lot of fairly mediocre winners of that award and Odom wouldn't be one this season. The Lakers can't possibly play any better as they do when Odom is at the height of his game in that point forward role. He is plagued by a frustrating inconsistency that the Lakers have seemingly come to accept as part of his game.
Pau Gasol was ranked 12th in PER during the 2008-09 season and couldn't be a better complementary All-Star to a scoring wing like Kobe. He shattered his previous career high in TS% with a mark of .617 and though this wasn't his best season on the glass overall, it was easily his best on the offensive glass. Gasol also was a much better playoff performer in his second go-round with the Lakers, shedding much of the soft level and being far more productive overall.
As much as Odom is the question mark from game to game, Andrew Bynum is the question mark of the season. His run during the middle of the 07-08 season has not been forgotten, but we have yet to see him truly approach that level of play since his injury. The Lakers were evolving into a title contender again, even before the Gasol trade given how dominant he was becoming in terms of scoring efficiency (.659 TS%), on the glass (19.6 rebound percentage) and as a shotblocker that could stay out of foul trouble. The future of the Lakers will look absolutely scary for the remainder of the NBA if Bynum can approach even 90% of that production again, because then Kobe could have a chance to eclipse Michael's six rings.
Forecast: The Lakers have the best team in the NBA by a fairly wide margin and are the prohibitive favorites to repeat. Even with an injury to one of their top players, they have enough firepower to secure the best record in basketball and therefore homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, especially because they play in the now weak Pacific Division. Their biggest problem last season, even during the playoffs, will probably be the same this season, remaining interested for 100+ games. |
