Five Formidable Facts: Lakers vs. Magic (December 2nd, 2012)
1. Hack-A-Dwight is getting old for a multiple number of reasons
2. The Lakers look like they don’t give a f**k
3. When Pau Gasol plays well, the Lakers play well
4. Mike D’Antoni’s rotations are disgusting
5. The Lakers can’t keep doing things the way they are now and hope that Steve Nash’s comeback will solve all the problems. Something must be done.
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if pau gasol isnt trying, is it okay, then, to take him out or keep him out in the fourth? or is it making the lack of effort worse. Why do you think d’antoni kept dwight out there in the fourth?
Thanks for the comment Kev.
Yes, it was. You HAD to take him out in the 4th quarter of THIS game because the effort just wasn’t there (keyword “this”).
See, now THIS point about D’Antoni keeping Dwight out there is what makes Pau being benched so interesting. It seems that these are the following reasons WHY Dwight would even be staying out in a game, where the opponents intentionally fouling him AND he’s shooting horribly from the FT line (by the way, NBA rules have it so that if you intentionally foul someone who doesn’t have the ball in their hands under 2:00, it’s both a free throw AND a possession. If this was all about basketball, he’d just put him in at the 2:00 mark):
– The whole “it’s early in the season” concept, giving Dwight an opportunity to get through the rough patches to find his way to ultimately improving
– An unhappy Dwight would result in Mike D’Antoni being fired. I’m not even joking about this. The Lakers are all in on Dwight and everyone knows it. He’s in the last year of his contract, has already stated that he’s going to push off contract negotiations of any kind until the end of the year, and he’s obviously the future of the Lakers franchise. Taking Dwight out of the game in the fourth? That would just be negative attention all around, both to Dwight and from the media (who would, of course, blow the whole thing out of proportion).
– Sticking with his starters. Your best players are generally your starters, so why wouldn’t you have them out in the closing minutes of the game?
Take a good hard look at all of three most likely possibilities on WHY Dwight wasn’t taken out of the game during the fourth quarter…
All of those same reasons could apply directly to Pau Gasol… unless… they’re looking to move him. That’s why I’m so convinced that as every game goes by, we’re closer and closer to the day Pau Gasol is shipped out.
I’ll say this and get the fuck out: The Lakers’ roster is fundamentally flawed and this team as it’s currently constructed is not a title contender.
If your name is “Colt Shipley”, I don’t blame you for getting the fuck out.