10 Reasons Why The Lakers Will Repeat in 09-10
1. Ron Artest
The addition of small forward Ron Artest is the most obvious one here. Artest gives the Lakers a solid one on one defender at the small forward position to help them deal with matchups such as Lebron James and Paul Pierce. While Ariza did a good job at this, Artest is certainly an upgrade defensively and offensively at this position and he makes the Lakers a much tougher team overall. You can expect Artest to have his best years of his career playing under coach Phil Jackson.
2. Only 1 Piece Missing From Last Season
Typically teams will lose several pieces to their championship squad the next season, but the Lakers have not. Trevor Ariza is the only missing piece from last years team, and he has been replaced by an even better piece. If the Lakers had lost say another 1 or 2 pieces such as a Lamar Odom, then a repeat for the Lakers would be merely an exaggeration. But with all key pieces and role pieces in place, the Lakers are poised for yet another championship.
3. Return of the Zen Master
Coach Phil Jackson’s return to the Lakers means everything. It means ensuring that Ron Artest will play well. It means the Lakers playing well offensively under the Triangle offense. It also means getting players like Lamar Odom to cooperate with the team by coming off the bench instead of starting. The Zen Master as he is called holds the keys to success for the Lakers this next season.
4. Return of Lamar Odom
Lamar Odom leaving Los Angeles could have been the most damaging thing to happen to the Lakers this offseason. Instead, he is back and the Lakers are as strong as ever because of it. Of all the big pieces to the Lakers squad, I think Lamar Odom benefited from the experience of winning a championship the most. Expect Lamar Odom to have a fantastic season this year and to win the 6th man of the year award.
5. Development of Andrew Bynum
Andrew Bynum is still very young. 21 years old to be exact! Only with time will Andrew Bynum’s game develop into a dominating center. Back that up with some real championship experience, Bynum should have another break out season surpassing everything else he has done statistically. This is of course assuming that he can stay healthy.
6. Experience
This one is huge especially for the role players including Jordan Farmar, Andrew Bynum, Sasha Vuyacic, and Shannon Brown. All of whom play key roles on the team. You can expect all 4 of these players and a few others such as Luke Walton and Josh Powell to have an improved impact on the team. Kobe and Fisher don’t really fall into this category because of their 3 previous championships. But Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol do and will likely be even better players because of it.
7. Celtics Lack Lakers Depth
The Boston Celtics are still one of the best teams in all of the NBA. You can’t argue that. And with a healthy big 4 of Garnett, Pierce, Allen and Wallace the Celtics to me are the best team in the Eastern conference. However, they do lack the depth that the Lakers have which will hurt them in the end. Other than the big 4 I just mentioned, the Celtics have 3 other key contributors. Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis. That’s basically it!
8. Shaq Will Fail King James
As promising as the whole Shaq & Lebron thing looks on paper, Shaquille is prone to do the same thing he did with Kobe, D-wade, and Nash. Ruin it! When he is on the floor and not ruining team chemistry, he makes the Cavs a better team. But he can’t play back-to-backs. He can’t get along with other superstars. And he can’t make his free throws.
9. Spurs Will Have Health Issues
Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli just cannot seem to stay healthy. Period. Not much else to say here. If they do they are definitely a major contender for the title after adding Richard Jefferson to their squad. But Timmy is getting too old and there is something terribly wrong with Ginobli’s ankle.
10. Kobe Fully Rested!
This is last and biggest one in my opinion. After coming off a trip to the finals in 08′, a long summer in China ending in a Gold Medal, Kobe then had to revamp himself physically and mentally to get his team back to the finals and win a championship. Amazing! How he has accomplished all this nobody really knows. But this upcoming season Kobe will be fully rested after taking the entire summer off! A fully rested & healthy Kobe Bryant can only mean one thing, MVP!!!
I think the Lakers can be one of contenders to the crown but hopefully the acquisition of Ron-Ron would do only good and the loss of Trevor Ariza and Kurt Rambis would not be a liability in the end considering Jackson’s troubled knee and Artest’s Attitude problems, the departure of Ariza could also lead to the development of Draft bust Adam Morrison but only if he can learn to rebound,defend,pass and adopt to the triangle offense.
“Shaquille is prone to do the same thing he did with Kobe, D-wade, and Nash. Ruin it!”
I agree, in Phoenix and Miami Shaq was a chemistry problem (although he did win a ring in Miami, at least). But to say that he ruined it in LA? C’mon, Shaq was a major reason they won those 3 titles.
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5-time champion!!
Oct 2nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
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