2011-2012 NBA Thread: The Chris Paul and Dwight Howard sweepstakes

[Dimmauk]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/73...ris-paul-trade

Who do the Lakers want more? Paul? How would it look if the league trades their best player to a big market team?

[Gredival]

Who do the Lakers want more? Paul? How would it look if the league trades their best player to a big market team?

I'm guessing Howard if it came down to it. Smarter money considering he's an android and Paul's had knee troubles before.

[Dimmauk]

I'm guessing Howard if it came down to it. Smarter money considering he's an android and Paul's had knee troubles before.

LOL, how will the Lakers stop PGs?

[Rhinox]

They wouldn't even with cp3

[Azull]

Get a cheaper younger PG who will cost less?

With Howard and Kobe they just need someone really to get them the ball and not be slower then Fisher at the PG spot. An ability to hit open shots wouldnt hurt either.

[kisada]

any team with d-ho on it could just get any shmuck off the street as long as he knows how to shoot the 3 and funnel his man towards the paint.

[Azull]

BTW.. the nba clearly needs to drop a few teams.... why not drop New Orleans and admit that Orlando is a farm system team for LA and move them to the D-League

[Dimmauk]

They should just have the same teams as the WNBA. 12 team league playing 34 games lol

[Gredival]

LOL, how will the Lakers stop PGs?

How did the Heat and the Mavs get past Rose/Rondo/Westbrook last year?

How did the Lakers move through Paul last year and Deron/Rondo two years ago? (Fisher has been questionable for at least the last three years)

Don't need to win every match-up.

[Valisk]

How did the Lakers move through Paul last year and Deron/Rondo two years ago?

A younger Kobe.

[Gredival]

A younger Kobe.

Kobe didn't guard any PGs except Westbrook two years ago, nor was his age the big reason they failed last year.

As Kisada said, just don't allow three point shots and let them get into the paint so Dwight can do the rest.

[Rhinox]

So when is the press conference?

[Valisk]

Kobe didn't guard any PGs except Westbrook two years ago, nor was his age the big reason they failed last year.

As Kisada said, just don't allow three point shots and let them get into the paint so Dwight can do the rest.

Oh I was just answering how the Lakers managed to get past those teams. They didn't exactly shut those PGers down. A younger, more athletic Kobe carried the team and made up for any defensive shortcomings.

They failed last year simply because the Mavs caught fire at just the right time. The 3 pt shooting in that series was historically good.

[kisada]

again, elite defenses mean you can play someone who will get burned EVERY single time by another team's star PG and still end up winning. the defense the lakers had when won their championship a couple years ago was as good as i've seen in the past several years.

edit: and i should add which is pretty much what happened. got killed by pg's and it was np.

[Dimmauk]

How did the Heat and the Mavs get past Rose/Rondo/Westbrook last year?

How did the Lakers move through Paul last year and Deron/Rondo two years ago? (Fisher has been questionable for at least the last three years)

Don't need to win every match-up.

How did they stop barea? LOL

[Rhinox]

How did the Heat and the Mavs get past Rose/Rondo/Westbrook last year?

How did the Lakers move through Paul last year and Deron/Rondo two years ago? (Fisher has been questionable for at least the last three years)
Don't need to win every match-up.

Paul disappeared in the elimination game and the heat had trouble with rose. Bulls were in every game but lack of scoring outside of point god was costly.

[Dimmauk]

again, elite defenses mean you can play someone who will get burned EVERY single time by another team's star PG and still end up winning. the defense the lakers had when won their championship a couple years ago was as good as i've seen in the past several years.

edit: and i should add which is pretty much what happened. got killed by pg's and it was np.

[Man0warr]

Mavs beat Westbrook same way they beat LeBron and Wade - try to keep them out of the paint with Chandler (Westbrook killed the Mavs when Haywood was on the floor) and forced them to take jumpers, which were their lowest percentage plays.

Mavs/Lakers (Dirk/Kobe editions) have never faced each other in the playoffs until last year, but Cuban has been building his team to beat them for years - it was no surprise to me that they won that series, just the dominating way they did it. Instead the last 5 years they have been running into Tony Parker/CP3 in the playoffs before ever getting to exploit Derek Fisher.

The biggest change the Mavs made in camp from 2010 season to 2011 was instead of everyone except Dirk taking a bunch of long 2s, instead they backed up a couple feet and turned them into 3s. Almost every player on the Mavs except Dirk, Marion, Chandler and JET (still took a lot of 3s) were only shooting 3s, and hitting them at a very good rate - this was true almost the entire year. Stevenson, Cardinal, Peja all lead the league at different points of the year in 3pt fg%.

Funny record that will probably never be broken - Brian Cardinal was assisted on 100% of his field goals - all corner 3s.

[kisada]

t-mac signed with the hawks.

wat?

[Gredival]

How did they stop barea? LOL

Same way Spurs stopped the Grizzlies.

http://images.bluegartr.com/images/s...HCHHFFFTTT.png

Mavs beat Westbrook same way they beat LeBron and Wade - try to keep them out of the paint with Chandler (Westbrook killed the Mavs when Haywood was on the floor) and forced them to take jumpers, which were their lowest percentage plays.

This is my point. A star PG can burn almost everyone except another star PG. But losing one position match-up doesn't lose you a series, or the season.

As we saw with Lakers vs. Hornets, Mavs vs. Thunder, Heat vs. Bulls, dominating the PG position that doesn't carry you through a series. Teams can have trouble guarding star PGs and still ultimately win. Look at the PGs of the Heat and Mavs. I love Kidd, but he's not a dominant athletic PG in the style of Paul/Rose/Williams/Westbrook

More than constructing a team where your player beats the opposing team's player in that position, it's about synergy and pieces that compliment each other. The whole "greater than the sum of its parts" thing. So if I were the Lakers and I had to choose between Paul/Howard, I can't imagine going for Paul over Howard.

Paul would make the offense incredible and can guard other PGs, but in the paint you're left with Gasol playing C as defense and second-stringers as backup. I see that team doing well but losing in a grind out defense intensive playoff series (say, the '10 Finals with Boston).

I'd much rather take Dwight for his defensive presence. Even with a shitty PG, so long as you aren't giving up 3's, Dwight's presence hurts penetration based offense. His offensive game complements Gasol's pretty well too. Remember that you don't need a defense collapsing on a star PG to make things happen with a team that features the offensive weapons of Howard/Gasol/Bryant.