NBA thread

[Bane of your existence]

Cavs are deeper than the Lakers?
I don't think so.

[DeadShotKeen]

Originally Posted by Bane of your existence

Cavs are deeper than the Lakers?
I don't think so.

Comfortably IMHO. Let's look at the Lakers v Cavs benches then and square off the positions, here's my thoughts.

PG Farmar (Lakers) v Gibson & West (Cavs)
Easy win for the Cavs. Farmar is streaky, Gibson shoots the 3 great and West is underrated generally. No other team in the league has such strength at PG as the Cavs (save maybe the Blazers), whereas it's unquestionably the Lakers weak spot.

SG Vujacic & Brown (Lakers) v Green (Cavs)
Lakers win but only by default really. Vujacic is in terrible form, Brown has done very well in spurts. Can't say I've seen much of Green.

SF Walton & Morrison (Lakers) v Moon & Jackson (Cavs)
Cavs purely on the basis of Moon, the only notable player of that bunch.

PF Odom & Powell (Lakers) v Varejao, Williams & Powe (Cavs)
Lakers by a whisker as Odom is fabulous offensively and a starter at almost any other team. Varejao is among the league's best defenders though and with Powe to come back you could make a case that they win on combined merit.

C Mbenga & Gaffney (Lakers) v Ilgauskas (Cavs)
Cavs hands down.

[Bane of your existence]

Here's how I score it

PG Farmar and Fisher v Gibson, West, Williams
I agree that Cavs take this, but dont sleep on Fish. Farmar is also developing into a great player.

SG Vujacic & Kobe v Parker, Green
Lakers win this easily

SF Walton & Morrison v Lebron, Moon
I'm dissapointed in Morrison as a pro. I thought he had a good story. Cavs dominate this pos.

PF
Artest, Odom, Gaffney v Williams, Powe, Verijao
Lakers take this easily. LA is just too big at this position not to dominate, and they D up a lot better.

C
Bynum, Mbenga, Gasol v Shaq, Ilgauskas
Lakers are better here too. Gasol is better than Il, and I'd take Bynum over an aged Shaq any day.

[DeadShotKeen]

Originally Posted by Bane of your existence

Here's how I score it

PG Farmar and Fisher v Gibson, West, Williams
I agree that Cavs take this, but dont sleep on Fish. Farmar is also developing into a great player.

SG Vujacic & Kobe v Parker, Green
Lakers win this easily

SF Walton & Morrison v Lebron, Moon
I'm dissapointed in Morrison as a pro. I thought he had a good story. Cavs dominate this pos.

PF
Artest, Odom, Gaffney v Williams, Powe, Verijao
Lakers take this easily. LA is just too big at this position not to dominate, and they D up a lot better.

C
Bynum, Mbenga, Gasol v Shaq, Ilgauskas
Lakers are better here too. Gasol is better than Il, and I'd take Bynum over an aged Shaq any day.

I agree the Lakers starting 5 is better than the Cavs. It's better than any in the league, without a doubt. But we were talking purely about depth so I think you're muddying the waters a bit there by including the big guns on both teams.

As a straight match-up, I like the Lakers offence better, also their inside defence. But the Cavs defend the perimeter better and have more depth. Also whereas the Cavs have improved slightly on last season (with essentially the same team), for the Lakers Artest has been a good addition but Fisher looks half a yard slower at both ends of the court so I put the Lakers back a tiny notch on last year.

So it's very close. But I take the Cavs....just.

[Bane of your existence]

Legit points. I was including the starters because I consider them part of the depth.
I look at it like this, Lakers sans Kobe beats Cavs sans lebron 4 times out of five. But I think you're right that bench vs bench Cavs win.

[debaserr]

Originally Posted by DeadShotKeen

PG Farmar (Lakers) v Gibson & West (Cavs)
Easy win for the Cavs. Farmar is streaky, Gibson shoots the 3 great and West is underrated generally. No other team in the league has such strength at PG as the Cavs (save maybe the Blazers), whereas it's unquestionably the Lakers weak spot.

LMAO @ this. Hornets anyone? The Cavs don't really have a PG at all, they have combo guards. Lebron and Kobe have the ball so much that this matters less than on most teams.

i keep hearing about fisher. he has been like the since he came back to the lakers at least. he is still solid.

[DeadShotKeen]

Originally Posted by trace87

LMAO @ this. Hornets anyone? The Cavs don't really have a PG at all, they have combo guards. Lebron and Kobe have the ball so much that this matters less than on most teams.

i keep hearing about fisher. he has been like the since he came back to the lakers at least. he is still solid.

Hornets? Beyond Paul they've Darren Collison and Jason Hart, ie nothing. I'm talking specifically about the PG group, where Williams, Gibson and West is terrific depth, however you look at it and whether you want to call them "shoot first" (Williams, Gibson) or "drive first" (West) point guards or whatever. They still play the 1, which was my point. I agree that none are a traditional ball distributor like Rondo or Nash but that wasn't my point.

Fisher was integral to the Lakers in their runner-up season of '08 but had a poor regular season last year before stepping up in the play-offs. I see a general downward slide with him at both ends of the floor, I just think time has caught up with him.

[debaserr]

i think of point guards as distributors. name any team with two PGs better than Paul and Collison. i dont consider gibson, williams, or west true PG's.

[DeadShotKeen]

Originally Posted by trace87

i think of point guards as distributors. name any team with two PGs better than Paul and Collison. i dont consider gibson, williams, or west true PG's.

Suns with Nash and Dragic maybe. But if you're taking that purist outlook then there are actually very few true distributing PGs in the league these days when you think about it - much less than 10/15 years ago. Look at Derrick Rose - technically a PG but you rarely see him make a pass. It seems to be a bit of a dying art, which is a shame as I like a PG to play that way too, Rajon Rondo being my favourite player in the league right now (hence the av).

Point is though that a team can be successful without a pass-first PG. In the last few years we've seen Parker at the Spurs (more of a slasher/dish-out PG) and Fisher last year (shoot first PG) win rings as starting 1s. I was just making the point that in terms of pure talent alone the Cavs have great depth at the position.

[ProggyMan]

Rose doesn't pass because no one on the Bulls can do ****.
Rose
Jennings
Parker
Nash
Paul
Davis
Kidd
Brooks
Billups
Westbrook
Williams
Rondo
Duhon
Conley
Nelson
Jack or Calderon
John Wall next year.