NBA 2K13: Why did the Lakers disappoint?

[RaychelSnr]

I’ve built a lot of Associations in NBA 2K13 that would never work in real life. Yes, it’s partly because I’ve abused the trade logic to get what I wanted, but even disregarding that, the teams I like to make tend to be heavy on talent and light on experience. I’ve won the Larry O’Brien Trophy before with a team of players all under 24, and that’s not something you see very often. (The youngest team to win an NBA Championship was the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers, whose median age was 24.)

In their own perverse way, the real life Los Angeles Lakers tried to do something similar this year. Instead of a team of young up-and-comers, though, they put together a roster that was heavy on talent and experience, but old, injury-prone, and without a clear direction.

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[LakersForLife]

No Kobe= No Way

[ffaacc03]

Maybe due to language limitations, but I dont think I grasp the point or maybe I did, lets see ...

The 2k13 Lakers did not met expectations as they outdid (by far) their real life counterpart.

If that is the point, then yes, due to how the roster and updates have been handled, there is a great discrepancy between the virtual LAL and their real life counterpart ... but this isnt solely related to LAL, this affects many teams on both ends of the expectre, as there are teams that dont do justice to the real life ones.

There is no denyal that a skilled user could take the worst of all teams and make them play marvellously, but each virtual team should at least try and reflect flashes of the weaknesses and strengths that are found within the real ones ... unlike now, were most dont.

Here is to hope for 2ks subsecuent versions to finally realize that a change is needed, that a frequent automathed approach, mostly based on meassurable data of the ongoing season, is the key to have a more accurate representation of the teams and players.

[Don Daekwon]

Lakers were actually a 7th seed, but at this point who is keeping track.

[LD2k]

Re: NBA 2K13: Why did the Lakers disappoint?

Lakers were actually a 7th seed, but at this point who is keeping track.

My Lakers were in the playoffs?

[Eaglerock562]

Coming from a coach, the one thing you never can prepare for is injuries. You have to make on the fly adjustments when the situation comes up, but outside of Jack Nicholson you won't find any bigger Laker fan or supporter in Los Angeles then me, but also I'm very critical of them as well. One reason I don't tend to celebrate wins during the regular season or for that matter in the playoffs is because I expect them win. When I met Kobe back in 2006 when he invited my team up to Hollywood for the release of the Kobe 2's and was holding a 24 hour event at the Nike building it was between games 3 and 4 of the first round playoff series against the Suns and the Lakers had just won Game 2 to tie the series up 1-1. In the few minutes I got to speak to Kobe my players asked do I think the Lakers will win game 3 and 4, and I looked and told Kobe that much like himself I expect them to win and they did. At any point this season when Nash, Howard, Gasol, Blake, Hill, World Peace, Jamison went down to an injury the Lakers could've easily had taken the easy way out and waived the white flag, but it was Kobe and his will and determination that wasn't going to stand for that. One thing that separates Kobe from any other player in the league and possibly separates him from Jordan is that his passion and his determination to win is at a level that no other player in the league can contend with. Remember, this is a man who five years ago in New Jersey, had suffered a full blown tear on his radial collateral ligament in his right finger. This would be the finger that when he shoots is one of the fingers that players use to get rotation on their shot and shoot. He continued to play with this injury, and he put up numbers beyond imagination and in doing so avoided surgery but now has the finger of an 83 year old man, but what other player is going to stay on the floor in great pain and still continue to produce and play at that high level? When Kobe's season ended that fateful night against the Warriors, the first thing through my mind was that not only will he recover for next season, but he'll probably be so pissed at the timing of this injury that losing the opportunity at his sixth ring this year might just have gave him a reason to return for the 2014-15 season. We all know that Kobe wants that sixth ring and he can very well get it, but in order to do that he needs his teammates to take on his attention to detail and his attitude, especially Dwight Howard. Howard can goof and laugh in the locker room after the games and on his own time, but when he steps onto that court he needs to put on his Mamba face and channel Kobe's aggression so that he is fueled from the opening tip to dominate defensively and in the post for the next 48 minutes (2-3 hours) against whoever the opponent is. Mike D'Antoni is not the answer and quite frankly unless your bringing in Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich or Jerry Sloan, as a coach you have no way of getting Kobe to go along with your plan and the only reason why I put Sloan in there with those other three is because while Sloan might not have championship ring, he wouldn't hesitate knocking Kobe the f*ck out with a jab. The Lakers season was doomed the minute they hired D'Antoni, why they couldn't wait 6 more hours for Phil to say "let's do it" is another reason why Jeanne Buss and not Jim Buss needs to run the organization. Jim Buss must not understand the whole point behind their new tv deal. Their new tv deal was orchestrated to pay for their luxury tax penalty while maintaining a competitive and contending team on the floor, but if they aren't playing til late May or mid June, well Jim Buss isn't going to be making much of a profit and thus will start seeing him become oh say Donald Stearling. The Lakers problems can be solved very simply for next season. You re-sign Howard, you delete the bench except for Blake, Hill and Clark and you go out and you entice a few free agents, more importantly, some athletic players that can play the 2-3 spots and can shoot (Kyle Korver, J.J. Redick, Gary Neal) but load your bench with assets that when put into the game will either extend your lead or maintain your lead while your starters get their rest. You take each damn regular season game seriously and if you have the game won and your up by twenty in the fourth quarter no matter if they like it or not you take your starters out and sit them on the bench, Kobe included.

Roles have to be defined and with Gasol and Howard in the lineup and Kobe, Nash and World Peace there, the Lakers seemingly ended the season 28-12 in the their last 40 games. That's half a season right there, so together they can compete and they can contend and I think they have the mental ability as veterans to put it together and make a run next year that is expected.

[jd@os]

...One thing that separates Kobe from any other player in the league and possibly separates him from Jordan is that his passion and his determination to win is at a level that no other player in the league can contend with.

I do want to apologize for getting off topic, but that is way off. One of the many things Jordan was known for was his passion and determination to win, and Kobe's doesn't separate him from Jordan. Jordan punched a teammate in practice because he wanted to win. This is not to say who was better between the two, but if you saw Jordan play while he played (none of these ESPN Classic replays, but I'm talking you lived through his playing days), you'd know that dude was so cutthroat he was almost a butthole--that's how passionate and determined Jordan was.



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[ncaafootball14markus]

coaching! obviously. phil jackson would not have stood for a 7th seed. antoni is a bum.

[MarvinOida]

Injuries, lack of chemistry through out the season, the usual Kobe does the work. You know.

Im not a coach, nor do I like the Lakers, but the Miami Heat had a rocky start and then a year later they won a championship with the Big Three actually focusing on a championship.

If the Lakers focus on team play, they will succeed with the Leader and scoring of Kobe, Passing of Nash, Post Present of Pau and Dwight, and crazy World Peace. They COULD be better.

Also, happy to see a mention of the Blazers

[turty11]

Re: NBA 2K13: Why did the Lakers disappoint?

im going to put the blame on 3 things

1. COACHING
2. injuries
3. strong conference

[TheManofSteel3kO]

Re: NBA 2K13: Why did the Lakers disappoint?

If we are speaking on the court, it was injuries & Mike D'Antoni. Injuries kept key players out for a while like Blake, Nash, Hill, Gasol, Howard, and most importantly Kobe at the end of the season was the ultimate death blow. D'Antoni deserves blame for not taking advantage of the biggest advantage they had and that was post play. Gasol should have been in the low post more often than Howard. Simply because Gasol is immensely better skilled & polished in the post than Howard. Howard should have focused more on defense & rebounding and getting his points from pick and roll action with Nash and/or Kobe and hustle points (offensive rebounding, etc.). To me a bit in part of injuries, D'Antoni didn't understand how to effectively use the talents on his roster. Those are the on-court problems.

If you want to blame one person fro the Lakers disappointing this season it lies with Jim Buss. Hiring a coach who has no success playoffs wise over a coach who is a proven champion, is absolutely an asinine offense.
Let's do the comparisons...

Times in the Conference Finals
Mike D'Antoni = 2
Phil Jackson = 14

Time won the Conference Finals/Time in the NBA Finals
Mike D'Antoni = 0
Phil Jackson = 13

Championships as a Coach
Mike D'Antoni = 0
Phil Jackson = 11

Some resume D'Antoni had to be thought to have success with this. And also the rumors suggesting that they wanted to bring back "Showtime" by bring in D'Antoni. With this old *ss roster yeah right. And he had trouble living up to expectation coaching the New York Knicks. What did anyone expect when the expectations of the Lakers organization and fans is championship or bust! Lakers expectations is way greater than those from the Knicks. You are criticized and scrutinized the worse than any media market and fans in Lakerland.

That is where the Lakers had problems. Injuries, D'Antoni, and Jim Buss. If any of those variables was different we'd probably be singing another song.

[cgalligan]

The Coach does not fit the players on the roster... In the long run they would have been better off with Mike Brown... A Defensive minded head coach... We all know "what" wins championships, and, its not "lob city" and up tempo offensive teams

[turty11]

Re: NBA 2K13: Why did the Lakers disappoint?

The Coach does not fit the players on the roster... In the long run they would have been better off with Mike Brown... A Defensive minded head coach... We all know "what" wins championships, and, its not "lob city" and up tempo offensive teams

lol lob city.

more like injury city with a 13 second or less offense

[hyphy1]

please leave articles like this to websites like grantland or espn. this was a painful read.

[turty11]

Re: NBA 2K13: Why did the Lakers disappoint?

please leave articles like this to websites like grantland or espn. this was a painful read.

nobody forced you to read it....