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kobe does take some stupoid shots sometimes, and yes he should feed bynum and gasol more. But you can't blaqme him though i'll live and die with the ball in his hand if i'm da lakrez. and they got a winnin record so i'm not tripppin

Its giving us a winning record. What team do you go 4?

Im from OKC....Thunder fan of course.

So Lakers and Clippers are tied. How is that eye test working out for you?

In my opinion the Clippers are still better, but its much closer then it was before after they Lost C. Billups.

Yeah. Clippers are a young team. They have a future. The Kobe days are gone in 2-3 seasons. Gasol will be about 33 at that time,and be the new leader. After he retires,Bynum and the rookies are taking over,and I garuntee they wont be bright. Clippers. 2 potential MVP's. Griffing,a young PF/C that takes the ball to the rim,and scores,with rebounding skills. CP3,a gaurd who shoots when he wants to score,and he scores. In my opinion,the clipers are good in the gaurd position,but have one some of the worst backup PF/C's.

They have Kenyon Martin. He was a starter for Denver last year and can still ball. Plus you dont need that much depth if your team is good enough. OKC proves that.

^True^ thats why Clipps are getting better,and are already better than the lakes.

First of all the Thunder have more depth than anyone in the league...Best 10 man rotation in the league, even without Maynor. Sefalosha is a big hit, but once he gets back you won't find a deeper team. Does that mean they will win the 'ship? Maybe/Maybe not.

@Hoosier, LAC is a game up as I type this, but I will admit the Clippers are hurting without Billups. I would say it's a toss-up at this point after the last month has gone by. The Lakers seem to have gotten past the trade rumors and their D was paramount in their win against the Heat today. At the time, the Clippers were clearly the better team, hence LAL going 4-6 in a 10 game stretch. Right now, not so much. Will be interesting to see who wins that division.

I will be the first to point out that an elite PG hasn't won a championship since the Pistons in 89-'90. Cassell was decent for the rockets and Parker was decent for the spurs, but he was not the PG he is today when they won championships. Last year J-Kidd won, but he is not elite anymore either. When the Celtics won, Rondo was definitely not even close to what he is today and was not elite at the time. The only one I have considered is Billups with the Pistons. He was an all-star that season if I'm not mistaken and was in his prime. He also hit big shots. You get my point though. In my opinion this bodes well for the Lakers, but I still don't think they have enough to even get to the finals.

I'm surprised Stauder, usually i agree with all your posts, but this one i felt was BS.

OKC has no depth what so ever. They only have 3 players who can score (Durant, Westbrook and Harden) and only 4 players who are actually good enough and consistent enough to make a presence (Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka).

Sefolosha stinks so much that it doesn't even make that much of a difference if he is there or not. He has averaged 5.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG and less then one assist per game this season. He almost does more hurt then help in my opinion.

PLUS OKC only has 4 people who average more then 6 points per game, which i feel is very sad and shows no depth at all. I could list off at least 20-25 teams that have better depth then that. We can agree to disagree though.

Last edited by E.B.W. at 3/5/2012 12:38:42 AM

Don't take this the wrong way, but your post is very ignorant. The NBA is so much more than scoring.

Sefalosha is an all-nba caliber perimeter defender and has a good 3pt%. You ever heard of Bruce Bowen? I believe he was a key piece of the Spurs run and he didn't have to score very much. Sefalosha is a huge loss right now. Also, Perkins and Ibaka form a top 3 defensive big man tandem in the league. Sure Perk doesn't score, but the Thunder have given up 10 less points per game since the trade for Perk. You tell me he is worthless. Just ask the celtics in game 7 when he was hurt and they lost to the Lakers. Many people feel the Celts repeat if Perkins was healthy. Throw in the fact that Ibaka is the BEST shot blocker in the league and you have the best starting 5 when Sefalosha is healthy. You have plenty of scoring and defense. Where is the hole? You might say low post scoring, and that could be the only thing, but the thunder score plenty in the paint even if it isn't through their bigs.

Now you go to the bench. James Harden is a top 3 SG in the Western Conference and he is the 6th man of the year. He is also one of the top pick and roll players in the league. Kobe and Monte are better than him at SG in the West, then who? Again he is coming off of the bench! Daequan Cook is also a 3pt sharp shooter that every team needs and he has played well defensively in Sefalosha's absence. Not outstanding, but very good. Then you get to the backup front court. Collison and Mohammed are a GREAT big man tandem off the bench. Collison is one of the biggest glue guys in the league. Every single team in the league would LOVE to have him and he has received high praise from most coaches and gm's around the league. Mohammed is a guy you call a "wiley veteran" and gives good minutes. Throw in Aldrich and nobody has that luxury coming off of their bench.

To start the season they also had Eric Maynor who is one of the best backup PG's in the league as well. He tore his ACL and Reggie Jackson (rookie) has been getting his minutes. He is the one weak link and is the reason why the Thunder are shopping for a PG.

You look at most teams in the league last season and they had an 8 man and possibly 9 man rotation. Some played 10 but not regularly and only when necessary. The Thunder brought back their entire 10 man rotation from a season ago. The reason why everyone picked the Thunder in the West (nearly) is because they brought everyone back AND they were young. Plus everyone talked about how deep that rotation is and then you throw in Cole Aldrich and you have 11 deep. Sure not everyone averages a ton of points, but that's not their job. Another reason why the Thunder have been good this season is because every single guy knows his role and accepts it.

There is a reason why so many people believe in the Thunder, AND why they have been okay with injuries. They have a deep rotation, period. Will they win the title? Maybe not, but you are ignorant if you say they have no depth. Ridiculous really.

Last edited by Stauder at 3/5/2012 9:38:59 PM