Kobe calls Lakers his most talented team ever

[clifborder4fm]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--ko...team-ever.html

At first I was a little shocked but then I though about it and I think if this team faced the 3 peat team, this current one would win it. Howard and Gasol would shut Shaq down and MWP would create problems for the young kobe (assuming he is what Jamison says he is now)..

thoughts?

[PrinceSimba]

This is the most talented team since Kobe's been on the Lakers but Howard and Gasol would not shut Shaq down and MWP would be dominated by "young Kobe". As far as who would win? I think if Steve Nash and Pau Gasol play like they can, this squad would win. Unless Shaq and young Kobe get extremely hot like they did so often.

[Avenged24]

If they were all on their primes, maybe.

But Metta kills any chance of that. I mean, people want to gloat about our bench but it's not anything special.

[C-Style]

Would be a nice match up vs Showtime Lakers

Kareem vs Dwight

Worthy vs Artest

Cooper vs Kobe

Magic vs Nash

A lot of great matchups

[C-Style]

I think defensive, Kobe will be on Worthy and a
Artest on Magic

[Tymathee]

I think this team vs the 01-02 lakers would be a good match up, hard to say who'd win, especially since this bench would completely scorch that bench, I think that's where the edge might be.

also, fish would give nash fits defensively, so might be a wash there, Kobe on Kobe would be athleticism vs savvy, MWP and Fox, I'm goin with MWP, they wouldn't even be guarding each other, they'd be guarding the other Kobe.

gasol on....Samake Walker? lmao!

Dwight and Shaq is where it would get real interesting.
Dwight would out athletic Shaq but shaq would out strength dwight and thats both their weaknesses. Shaq had issues vs athletic centers and dwight against strong centers, might see a battle for the ages there.

So, one of these teams
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2001.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2002.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2003.html

vs this team.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/LAL.html (only page to see current roster)

I like our chances

edit: anybody notice the cap hit section? interesting who we're still paying....

[Cimos21]

uh something is wrong with that, we arent paying Karl Malone and Ron Harper

[Hellcrooner]

Shaq would be a bit slowed down by howard
howard would be able to put his numbers agaisnt shaqs lazy defense.

Pau could be molested by ac or Grant, but he would still put some numbers and of course if they go hard at him, well he knows HOW to pass and has WHO to pass.
He has nothing to fear of them in defense too.

Fox vs artest, artest would suck the life out of fox on defense, on offense artest doesnt need to score much.

Young kobe vs Old kobe? i think being wiser , old kobe would know how to take himself out of the game.

nash vs Fisher? no one can deffend their shadow, so its nash by a mile.

Jamison vs Horry? horry cant deffend jamison at all.

So, yes this team is better ( on paper, not counting possible lockerrom trouble) than 00-02 lakers.


the real test is how woudl this lakers fare vs the early 80s and late 80s

Howard vs Late Prime Kareem
Pau vs Old Mcadoo
artest vs Wilkes
Kobe vs Nixon
Nash vs Magic
Jamison vs Kutchap
Meeks vs Cooper


Howard vs Old Kareem
Pau vs Ac Green
artest vs PRIME Worhty
Kobe vs B Scott
Nash vs Prime Magic
Jamison vs Rambis
Meeks vs Cooper

I think this team would lose against both 80s formations, basically because appart of the starters to 7th men, the rest of their benchs were CRAZY with people Like Mike Mgee, Orlando Woolrige, Steve Mix, Mark landsberger etc etc.
Whilst the rest of our teams now is......

[Cimos21]

lol how did this thread turn into a 2012 vs showtime matchup thread...i hate making comparisons that can never be proven

[GailGoodrich]

Kobe's correct here, for one very simple reason. Steve Nash.

The dude changes everything. He's better than any point guard the Lakers have ever had except Magic. Nobody in the league has ever, ever solved Steve Nash, and that includes last year when Nash turned 162 years old.

The game of basketball is a pretty simple one. Put the ball in the basket. The better a team is at moving the ball around and getting each player easy shots then the better that team will be. Nobody is better at moving the ball around and getting other players easy shots than Steve Nash. Not CP3, not Westbrook, not Rose, nobody. And while all those other guys are zipping around using boost-burst, Nash makes it look so easy it's sick.

[Showtime Steve]

Duh

[clifborder4fm]

uh something is wrong with that, we arent paying Karl Malone and Ron Harper

the 04 Lakers Dream team is more of a mirror image of the current roster than the 3 peat team..

Shaq - Howard
Malone - Gasol
Kobe - Kobe
Gary - Nash

If Malone wasn't so old I would give the Dream team the edge...

[mekedubs]

Interesting... Because we're talking talent here, not coaching, not championships, but talent... 96 Lakers with Kobe (rookie) Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, Horry and of course Shaq.... 2000 Lakers with Harper, Shaw, Fisher, Fox, Horry , AC Green, Glen Rice, Kobe and of course Shaq... Consider the age as well people... People seem to talk about Steve Nash like he's 20 years old or something, the dude's 38 and Van Exel would torch Nash, period. I don't give a damn about what ya'll think about Howard but Shaq back then would absolutely DOMINATE Howard, no question about it... Gasol would fold under ANY contact from Horry, AC Green or Blount (Blount would be very, very physical with Pau if anyone remembers how he played)... Fox and Metta would cancel each other out because they were/are great defenders and were/are very physical players, but the edge goes to Fox because he's a much SMARTER ball player than Metta and could definitely shoot better.... Now old Kobe vs. young Kobe is the mystery only because Kobe now is definitely more smarter while younger Kobe is more athletic... 2004 Lakers Shaq would STILL dominate Howard, Fox and Metta would cancel each other out, Karl Malone would kill Gasol (litereally), Gary Payton, aka The Glove would give Steve Nash fits, then 2004 Kobe vs Kobe now, not much difference...

So Kobe might just be saying this for team morale or just to make headlines, but the most talented team he's been on??!! That's a stretch there Mr. "Bean" Bryant....

[LaLa_Land]

This is not a test of whether or not this current team with beat a past team, it's just whether or not they are the most talented in relation to their era.

This one is by far the best, first legit "big four" the league has seen in almost two decades.

4 perrenial allstars. 4 internationally known stars. a bench that features a 17 ppg scorer last year (jamison), and a 10&10 guy from the playoffs (hill), along with a 40% 3 pt shooter on the bench (meeks).

Kobe, best sg in the league. Dwight, the best center. Pau, the 4th best pf. Nash the 5th best pg.

The heat and okc are gonna need a change of drawers after this season.

[s3antana5757]

uh something is wrong with that, we arent paying Karl Malone and Ron Harper

This has been discussed some other places. We never renounced those players rights(mainly because the Lakers haven't been anywhere near having cap room for a long time). So we're not still paying them, but their cap holds are still active. Not sure why they wouldn't just renounce them, but I guess there's never been a purpose. Those guys also never signed with another team so they're cap holds we're never taken off by having signed another contract.