The Laker Kool-Aid is Strong, Ubiquitous

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The Los Angeles Lakers, 11-1, eeked out a 10-point home victory over the now 5-10 Sacramento Kings, still missing talisman Kevin Martin and sixth man Francisco Garcia. The Lakers led by 19 early in the fourth, but the Kings stormed back against L.A.'s second string to pull with four points before Phil Jackson reinserted Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher to finish the game. All of this caused Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register to ... argue that the Lakers' second unit is better than the Kings' first team.

There's plenty to guffaw, but Ding's description of a hypothetical Sasha Vujacic-John Salmons face-off shows the most promise.

Vujacic or John Salmons? Close one, because with the playing time and opportunities Salmons is getting on his weak team, Vujacic would put up fantasy-worthy numbers, too. But based on Salmons' 24 points Sunday night, we'll give this one to the Kings.

Vujacic is shooting 37% from the field. Don't be shocked: Vujacic is 39% for his career. John Salmons has had exactly one pro season (2003-04) under 39%. This year, he's at 50% shooting. Vujacic can't hit the few shots he gets ... and we're supposed to believe he'd see a massive jump if he become the Lakers' top option?

And that's just the shooting, which is supposed to be Vujacic's strength. Historically, Salmons is the better per-minute rebounder, defender (ask Kobe), playmaker and scorer. And over the next three years, Salmons will only make a total of $1.4 million more than Vujacic.

Yet Ding is somehow being charitable by granting the Kings the advantage here? Give me a break. (Ding's commentary on the Trevor Ariza-Jason Thompson pairing -- he suggests Ariza is so much better it's not worth discussing -- also ignores reality, considering J.T. putting up better per-minute numbers than Ariza in his first month as an NBA player.)

(And in case you're curious: no, the play shown in the photo at the top of this post did not result in a foul on Kobe. Of course not.)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-24-2008 @ 4:34PM

MC Welk said...

Preach it, brother.

11-24-2008 @ 5:02PM

giff said...

yup...it's easy for the 'faithful' to get excited over this start and the hyperboles will be flying left and right about this that or the other player...however, I trust Phil to keep people's head in check and it's a looong season. Injuries can derail anyone's fantasy team and the Lakers are no different...look at their struggle last year with Drew and Ariza out for the playoffs...without the coup of Gasol...the Lakers are squeaking into the playoffs at best....as a Lakers fan, if they're doing this well by Game 80 of the season, then I'll be hopeful for the playoffs...until then, every game is a must win and practice for avoiding mental lapses like last night...keep it real and keep the talk of the ring off the court until game 6 of the finals with 3 in hand and the final at home...

11-24-2008 @ 5:24PM

la all day said...

kevin ding is has an obsession with the lakers that is borderline homosexual. he looks like harold from harold and kumar

11-24-2008 @ 5:25PM

MVPrez said...

Difference between Tom Ziller and Kevin Ding: Kevin Ding does his research and isn't a twat.

Sasha Vujacic: .500 eFG%
John Salmons: .480 eFG%

That's effective field goal percentage, which is what you use to take into account the fact that 3 point field goals are worth more than 2 point field goals, something Ziller obviously is not aware of. And anyone with an ounce of knowledge could see Ariza is better than Jason Thompson, who's played all of 15 games in his professional career. So much for sample size.

11-24-2008 @ 5:29PM

Ziller said...

Right, I have no clue about these new-fangled advanced stats. http://nba.fanhouse.com/2008/09/11/nba-top-50-tracy-mcgrady-no-29/

This season, eFG: Vujacic, .460. Salmons: .533.

11-24-2008 @ 7:39PM

Bryan said...

Ha Ha Ha these arguments are ludicrous.

you need to actually WATCH the games. the only reason this game was that close was because of the lakers' own turnovers.

Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, Trevor Ariza, Sasha Vujacic, and the center who stays on the floor are miles above whoever The kings had on the floor last night. Especially with Kevin Martin and Mikki Moore out.

Pit the Lakers bench and the Kings bench against all the other benches int the league and the Lakers will come back with more wins than the kings' bench

Sasha Vujacic missed all but a few days of training camp sohe IS having trouble starting up. Other than that, your points don't make any sense.

Maybe It's time to stop spewing Laker hate

11-24-2008 @ 11:53PM

henryclemente said...

So, the Laker bench is "miles above whoever the Kings had on the floor"? Hmmm...I wonder then why the bench lost a 19 pt lead, and Jackson had to put the starters back in to finish the game? I suppose Ding is right and they were just "overconfident". Hey, maybe OKC is 1-13 because they are overconfident too!

11-24-2008 @ 11:16PM

Bushka said...

ummm...TZ is making the point that salmons vs Sasha is not a close nod to salmons its a massive spanking gtfo win for salmons.

This is pretty obvious to all but the most blatant lakers homer.

Ariza is playing pretty well at present in spurts but he has never shown near the potential of thompson.

That ones debatable but the salmons vs sasha thing is ridiculous. Thats an nba role player who can't create his own shot or get open looks for his team mates vs a slashing SF who shoots a better percentage and is across the board head and shoulders above "the machine"...

11-24-2008 @ 11:57PM

Haha, do Laker fans wonder why the rest of the country hates them? They are like a rich asshole that says "oh my poolhouse is probably bigger than your apartment", without ever having been to your apartment. Arrogant, ignorant, and petty all at the same time. And no, it's not sour grapes or sore losing. The Spurs win a lot, and nobody hates Spurs fans. Look in the mirror, my friends.

11-25-2008 @ 1:27AM

mole said...

lol at henryclementes my pool house is bigger than your apt......

very true the only thing i hate more than the lakers are the laker fan.

for example

http://jonesonthenba.com/2008/10/video-proof-celtics-did-kobe-dirty.html

proof the celtics did kobe dirty?

its called defense.

11-25-2008 @ 1:38PM

TJ said...

They hate us because we win, and they dont.

11-25-2008 @ 6:06PM

sean d said...

oh come on ziller... you're a paid nba analyst and you're gonna use regular FG%? you know both TS% and eFG% are better indicators... lets look at the numbers from last year:

2007-08
salmons: TS% .556 eFG% .501
vujacic: TS% .605 eFG% .577

ok. now lets not just focus on shooting, how about a good all-around stat, let's say PER

2007-08
salmons: 13.9
vujacic: 15.1

true, salmons has better numbers this season; however, its not even the end of november, plus vujacic missed almost the entire training camp.

lets take a look at some percentages when it really counts... playoffs (career #s).

salmons: oops not enough data! only played 20 minutes in his entire career. 0-1 fg, 0-2 ft, 3 reb, 2 to. TOTAL

vujacic: TS% .580 eFG% .529

i understand the world is mighty bleek over your way in sactown, but c'mon, who's really drinking the kool-aid? or should i say haterade?

11-29-2008 @ 4:46AM

knowledge said...

The bottom line about these stats is very simple. THE LAKERS ARE 12-1 AT THIS TIME!! It doesnt matter who they struggled against or who came back from a million points down in the 4th quarter. The Lakers have beaten everyone they've played so far this season (sans Detroit). I'll repeat for the haters...THE LAKERS ARE 12-1 AT THIS TIME!!