Expanding on an earlier post from Silver Screen and Roll, do the additions of Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks make the Los Angles Lakers the clear-cut favorites to win the Western Conference?
In a word, no. But let’s go a bit further.
The two horses in this race are clearly the Lakers and the defending Western Conference champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s easy to see why anyone would see this more like a lopsided Usain Bolt sprint rather than an actual fair competition: the Lakers imported two players who are one of the five best at their position and heavily fortified their biggest weakness in bench scoring. However, Lakers fans have to temper their expectations. Why? There’s just so many variables:
Nash’s age, Kobe’s age, Jamison’s age, Metta’s age: Out of these four players, Metta World Peace is the youngster of the group at age 33 in November. Kobe will be 34 later this month, Jamison just turned 36 and Nash is of course 38 years old. Each of these men are still highly effective, competitive players, but are all on the downsides of their careers. I’m not so much worried about their skill level depreciating, as they all still are goodato excellent major league NBAers, but with advancing age, so increaess the risks for injury.
Dwight’s back: Unbeknownst to many before his press conference last Friday, Howard admitted that he might not be ready for the beginning of the 2012-2013 season in November (even if he were to be cleared by the doctor today, he’s looking at a two to three month rehabilitation period). His injury, originally thought to be a relatively minor hernia surgery, could keep him out of action for up to six months. Obviously back surgeries are a very serious matter, but if the Lakers were willing to give up a major piece like Andrew Bynum (albeit a piece who has injury concerns of his own), Dwight’s injury can’t be that serious. Right? Either way, it’s going to be hard to tell how and at what strength he comes back at.
Jordan Hill’s continued development: With the pipe dreams of Lamar Odom’s return passing the Lakers by, and the trade of Josh McRoberts to Orlando, Jordan Hill is left as the primary big man back-up. Hill will be called on primarily to rebound the ball, provide defense in the post and generallly fight hard for hustle points. In the last month or so of the season, Jordan finally began to live up to his lofty draft spot as the 8th overall pick in 2009, elevating himself into Mike Brown’s rotation–as well as earned himself a two-year, $8 million dollar deal this offseason–by dropping 14 points and 15 rebounds in a season-high 35 minutes versus Oklahoma City on April 22nd. The question is, will Hill continue to shine and morph into a reliable big who will be able to give the Lakers the rebounding and toughness they need? Or will be revert back into the draft bust that MAMBINO contributor El Miz proclaimed him just a year into his NBA career?
Mike Brown’s offense: Over his six seasons as head coach, Mike Brown’s six teams have excelled at their defensive prowess. Very few people have had the opportunity to criticize Brown in regards of his teams locking down, and rightly so. However, the coach’s offense leaves a lot to be desired. Many have justifiably knocked Brown for his lack of creativeness in his team’s scoring, despite coaching two of the greatest talents of the last 15 years in Bryant and LeBron James. To Brown’s credit, on the Caval… Read more...
