Buss: Lakers Unlikely To Make Big Moves

[The Regime]

Jim Buss said the chances of Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol opening the season with the Lakers are “very good.”

 

The prevailing opinion within NBA circles has been that the Lakers need to trade Gasol for two or three players who can bolster their rotation.

 

"I think changes are going to be made moving Pau lower to the basket,” Buss said. “We can improve that way with a change in coaching strategy rather than a change in personnel."

 

Buss indicated that Kobe Bryant is on board with the direction of the team.

 

"He's already had lunch with Mitch [Kupchak], and from what I'm hearing Kobe is pretty satisfied with this team,” Buss said. “If I heard differently from Kobe, it would put some doubt into what I was thinking.

 

"But I'm hearing he believes this team kept together can do something. And he's only got a short window of time remaining to win championships, so apparently he believes this group gives him the best chance to do so."

 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-simers-20120620,0,3727604.column

[Real Deal]

I'm pretty sure Mitch made a statement similar to this back in 2008, before the deadline, when we all thought we were getting Garnett or Jermaine.

[Warren2ThaG]

Pau is big enough, plus I want Bynums mindstate to change into something better.

[magicbalala245]

They made this same statement last year during the off season and we landed CP3 and then you know how that all went

[Nitro]

Besides the move for Sessions, which was a marginal move, the Lakers haven't made any strong moves to their roster in years, as they keep getting older and losing core players. Artest was a good pickup for a year, but his decline mixed with his awful contract has killed the Lakers in recent years.

[ChosenOne]

This is very hard for me to believe. I call bs. No way this Roster is going to be capable of beating OKC or who ever comes out of the east for Kobe's 6th ring. At the very least they need two solid players that can score off the bench, and to resign sessions.

 

IMO the best thing this team could do would be signing Steve Nash, and resigning Sessions to bring off the bench. Giving Session full control of the bench would be great for them, also it would help out the big thats normally on the floor with the bench whether that's Pau or Drew.

[Nitro]

This is very hard for me to believe. I call bs. No way this Roster is going to be capable of beating OKC or who ever comes out of the east for Kobe's 6th ring. At the very least they need two solid players that can score off the bench, and to resign sessions.

 

IMO the best thing this team could do would be signing Steve Nash, and resigning Sessions to bring off the bench. Giving Session full control of the bench would be great for them, also it would help out the big thats normally on the floor with the bench whether that's Pau or Drew.

 

Of course Nash would be an awesome addition for any team, but as I've said the last 2 years, they need to add youth and athleticism at the wing positions. When Ariza was on the team, they were so much more complete...he could take the difficult assignments like Artest, but he was also a killer on the fastbreaks, receiving passes from Kobe/Pau/Bynum out of the post when cutting to the rim, and also hitting the occasional 3. The Lakers are getting older, Kobe/Artest is one of the least athletic/explosive wing combo's in the entire league, Pau is a C playing PF, and Bynum is a lumbering big man. Odom used to give them a lot of the athleticism and explosiveness to help speed up the tempo and balance out the team, but without him or Ariza they desperately lack that aspect on the team.

 

Look at OKC and Miami in these Finals...no matter how much size and polished execution the Lakers can possess, those teams will always run laps around them and simply overwhelm them with their quickness. LA needs to get younger and more explosive.