May 16th, 2010 by Chase

Here we go again. It’s the middle of May and Kobe and co. are in the mix again for another NBA championship. 8 more wins and Kobe Bryant wins ring number 5, placing him near the top of the all time greats with the most championships.

Up next are the Phoenix Suns who just finished a surprising sweep of Tim Duncan and the Spurs. The Phoenix Suns come into this series hot, shooting over 40% from 3-point land. The Lakers took 3 out of 4 regular season games from the Suns this season. And this didn’t happen by chance or luck. There are some specific things they did in those 4 regular season match-ups that, if they do in this series should have no problem finishing the Suns off in 5 or 6 games.

1. Control Amare Stoudamire

Much like the Lakers were able to control Carlos Boozer with their length inside, the Lakers need to be able to control Amare. And they can. With their 3 7 Footers in Gasol, Bynum, and Odom the Lakers can prevent many of the buckets in the paint that Amare lives off of. Keeping Amare out of the paint offensively is the number 1 key to the Lakers success in this series.

2. No Answer For Gasol

Just like in the last series, there is no answer for Pau Gasol inside. The Suns throw around names like Robin Lopez, Jaron Collins, and that Amundsen guy. But come on now! Expect Pau Gasol to have a huge series yet again and to pretty much get whatever he wants inside the paint.

3. Offense Against the Zone

During the Lakers 4 match-ups with Phoenix this season, the Lakers had some trouble scoring against the Suns when Phoenix would break into a zone defense. Sometimes the Lakers have a lack of outside shooting on the floor and this can hurt them against a zone. This is where Sasha Vuyacic is important in this series. If he can shoot the ball well from the outside, he can help eliminate the effects of any zone defensive strategy.

4. Fronting of the Post

Much like the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Phoenix Suns like to try and take away your inside game by constantly fronting the post and placing a help defender right behind. It will be interesting to see what the ref’s do in this series. Kobe Bryant when in the post, likes to keep his elbows up high (good fundamentals by the way) and use great body position in order to shield off the defender when he’s trying to front. Consequently Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, and Jared Dudley are going to get many elbows in the grill. While these are not offensive fouls, it will be critical to the game as to how exactly the ref’s call this situation.

5. The Bench Play

This one as it stands (before the series) is a clear advantage to the Phoenix Suns. The Suns throw at you 5 guys. Dragic, Barbosa, Dudley, Amundson, and Frye. All 5 of these guys are major contributors. The Lakers really throw 3 guys at you in Odom, Brown, and Farmar with 2 extra guys who you are not sure what you will get from in Walton and Vuyacic. Can the Lakers 3 main bench guys outplay the Suns 5? This will be the biggest key to this series.

If you want to read a very detailed and insightful breakdown of the Bench match-up, read what Darius over at Forum Blue & Gold wrote.

6. Defending the Screen Roll

The screen roll is flat out tough to defend in the NBA. Now add Steve Nash to the mix. The guy is probably the greatest of all-time at running it. How the Lakers defend this will be critical. In the last series the Spurs would try and simply switch every screen roll and it worked against them. Tim Duncan’s foot speed just couldn’t keep up. This is where I think Gasol and Odom will be critical in this series. Darius at FB&G wrote another great piece breaking down the Lakers defense of the Suns.

7. The Play of Artest and Odom

Ok here’s the deal. The Suns have nobody, and I mean nobody who can compete with these 2 players on either side of the floor. These 2 guys have their opportunity in this series to put a huge stamp of this years championship run for the Lakers. Artest can help and roam as a defender in this series. It will be critical for him to chase off 3 point shooters and go from defending a big guy like Frye on a few plays, to defending Barbosa on another.

Odom had to beef it out with Paul Milsap (who is a BEAST by the way) all of last series. That is a challenge. But Amundsen and Frye should not be. They are good players yes. But nothing compared to Milsap of the Utah Jazz. Odom should completely dominate these 2 big man bench players for the Suns . If he does it could shorten the series for the Lakers.

8. Kobe, Kobe, and More Kobe

I keep hearing all this talk about Grant Hill and Jared Dudley and how they are going to defend and bother Kobe. Let’s not be ridiculous people. The Phoenix Suns have no match-up for Kobe Bryant whatsoever. In the last series you saw what a good defender like Wesley Mathews get torched game after game. The older legs of Grant Hill and slower legs of Jared Dudley are in huge trouble. Kobe will have his way in this series! Mark my words.

If the Lakers can hold strong in these 8 areas, the Lakers will win the series in 5 games. If they struggle in these areas it could go 7. All in all expect PJ to have the Lakers fine tuned and to win this series in 6.

November 19th, 2009 by Chase

It’s clear that the Lakers are not getting as much help off the bench as they did a year ago. Although as of late, guards Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown have stepped up their play, other players such as Sasha Vuyacic & Luke Walton have not. And now with the recent injury news of Walton with a bad back, it appears that the Lakers are going to have to make a move. And that is what leads me to this very appealing trade scenario. Here we go!

Adam Morrison to New Jersey for Keyon Dooling & Sean Williams

Okay here is how this breaks down. Adam Morrison is terrible. Everybody knows this. But he has something that many teams, including the New Jersey Nets want. An EXPIRING CONTRACT! Morrison has only this year left on a contract that is worth $5.2 million. So as terrible as he is, that contract frees up some serious cash for interested teams.

Why Keyon Dooling?

Keyon Dooling is fiesty defensive/athletic guard. He’s 6-3 and he can play the point guard position. In fact that is what the Nets and his last team the Orlando Magic have played him at. Phil Jackson loves tall point guards. Keyon fits that profile. And the Lakers are in desperate need of an athletic defensive presence at the point guard position, to come off the bench for Derek Fisher. Keyon Dooling would fit this role perfectly.

Keyon has 2 years left on his contract worth about $3.5 million. Remember the contract total amounts have to be equal in order to make a trade. So the remaining ammount of cash would equal out by throwing PF Sean Williams into the trade. He has 1 year $1.6 million left on his contract. So yet, he too is an expiring contract. But by making this trade the New Jersey Nets would clear $3.5 Million off their salary going into next season, giving them even more room to make some big free-agent signings this off-season.

A Little About Sean Williams

Sean Williams could be a helpful contributor off the bench for the Lakers similar to how D.J Mbenga is. He’s a big at 6-10 and is very athletic. The guy has ups and can blocks shots and finish around the rim. I couldn’t see him getting very much playing time for the Lakers, but he could get some garbage time to give bigs Gasol and Bynum some rest.

This trade makes sense for both teams. The Nets need cap room so they can sign Lebron James, one other star like Chris Bosh, and any other key contributer to their squad to help Lebron win. The Lakers want to win now! And they have a contract in Adam Morrison who they are getting absolutely nothing out of. A win win for everybody!