2013 Power Rankings

[J.E.]

Oh I completely forgot about the SVG-Howard relationship. Maybe SVG is not such a good choice

[mystic]

The Lakers have been quite good on offense (probably the best-fitting starting lineup in a while), but bad on D. Who could help that the most?

Actually, the Lakers offense was partly responsible for the weaker defense. The issue was that the offense produced many turnovers, while the overall distribution of the players made it tough to defend well in transition. If the Lakers just had produced less turnovers, they would have had a better defense. Also, a different offensive setting might had allowed better transition defense. If we combine both things and assume that the Lakers could have limited their turnovers to have league average transition opportunities for their opponents, while being able to have a league average transition defense, the Lakers would have had 18 points less scored against, while at the same time they could also have 18 points scored more. Overall, a league average level in terms of turnovers and transition defense would have lead to 109.8 vs. 103.7 per 100 possessions. That also means, the Lakers would now be at 3 to 4 wins instead of 1.

There S5 with Nash-Bryant-Artest-Gasol-Howard produced 109.9 ORtg, that is hardly a value you expect from " the best-fitting starting lineup in a while".

[J.E.]

D'Antoni it is. Probably makes them more watchable, but I don't know if it increases their chances to win a title.

Chris Andersen and Kenyon Martin are jobless and would probably play for the minimum. If I'm the Lakers I'm taking the gamble. They'd instantly be the team with most neck tattoos, too.