Kupchak: Lakers Are Tough Enough

OAKLAND -- Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak keeps hearing about how his team might not be tough enough, physical enough or gritty enough to win an NBA title. He's not the only one.

If you've been following the NBA playoffs at all, you know the Lakers have been dogged by these issues. Whether it was late in the Houston series or early in the Denver series, whether or not the Lakers are soft or not is getting a lot of play.

Kupchak thinks it might be time to put that to bed.

"I don't know if toughness is the word," Kupchak said while attending draft workouts at the Golden State Warriors practice facility on Tuesday. "I think physicality, maybe. But I'm not sure that's accurate anymore.

"I thought Denver was a very physical team. Their frontcourt ... I'm not sure if any of those guys are under 260 pounds and that includes Carmelo Anthony. Then you add [Chris] Andersen into the mix -- a big, strong, physical player -- and I'd say that was a physical team."

Kupchak made a distinction about toughness and physicality, saying that the Lakers might not be the most physical team in the league, but that they're certainly tough enough to play against physical teams and beat physical teams.

After all, they were tough enough to hold Denver to 102 points per game, including holding the Nuggets under 100 in three of the series' last four games. Not bad considering they entered the Lakers' series averaging 112 points in the postseason.

"I thought [the Nuggets' big men] had an impact up until Game 5 in the second half, when we seemed to come to life a little bit. I thought we responded to a physically tough team. We do have toughness. And we don't have to prove that we can physically play with teams anymore. I think we proved that in the Denver series."

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-02-2009 @ 4:06PM

marylulu325 said...

I think the Lakers are tough enough. Thats why they are in the NBA finals after playing some tough teams in the Western Conference.
They are tough and theyve got the experience.
Go Kobe, Go Lakers

6-02-2009 @ 8:10PM

Janice said...

Lakers are a very tough team and they proved it through out the western conf play offs..

We know how to close out a game..We have been here before,this year we will take care of business..
Go Lakers!!!!

6-02-2009 @ 9:20PM

Martin said...

It isn't a case of toughness. The reason the Lakers gave up the big leads was because they went into offensive dry spells, largely the result of relying on jump shots (coupled with the poor outside shooting of Fisher, Farmar and Sasha) and the failure of the Lakers to use their inside game.

6-02-2009 @ 10:21PM

Giles said...

Kupchak`s talk does nothing to defend the Lakers, though is does evaluate them. The Lakers need to defend on the court. Bynum often does not. Perhaps he is just too slow to pair with Gasol, perhaps they need a smaller, quicker guy with him. That was the problem the Lakers had when Mel Counts tried to play forward against the current Laker head coach, Phil Jackson. Reasonably good finesse role playing big man. Too slow to exploit his height advantage against Jackson. Bryant, Ariza, though a marginal starter, and Gasol, have been playing reasonably consistently well, but Bynum is inconsistent on defense, Odom is inconsistent on offense, especially ghosting when Bryant is on the court, and Fisher is getting old, and inconsistent on both ends of the court. Below that, the other guys don`t play alot to be able to be consistent. The Lakers will easily will the two guard match up. It remains doubt, with Howard, the defensive player of the year, likely to guard Gasol, the other Lakers all star, whether the Lakers will win another match up. Will possibly only winning Bryant`s match up be enough to carry the entire team? Should be a fun series, and we`ll see who wins, on the court, not merely in the press.

6-03-2009 @ 11:21AM

Ed Fielding said...

There at least two kinds of tough. Mental and Physical. They were not as tough physically as Denver, but much tougher mentally. I would contend that the mental aspect is what separates guys like Tiger Woods from the rest of the field. Kobe has that kind of toughness, as did Jordan. I haven't seen that kind of toughness from LeBron yet, but it certainly may happen in the future.

6-03-2009 @ 6:13PM

RASlater said...

LET ME MAKE ONE THING CLEAR: Andrew Bynum defends very well. He stays with his man, shows above-average footwork and position, blocks and defends high. Almost all of his foul trouble comes early and comes from his teammates blowing their own defensive assignments, forcing him to leave his man to help out at the basket.

When Bynum gets into foul trouble, coldly stare at Odom, Walton, Vujovich, Farmar, and sometimes our superstars.

This has been clear throughout the whole season and really clear in the playoffs. Watch the replays. Look at the types of fouls. He rarely fouls his own man; in fact, he usually forces or tips a pass.

You'll notice that Bynum's fouls come early in the game, not coincidentally the same part of the game when his Laker teammates aren't defensively sharp and when the Lakers are into trading baskets.

6-03-2009 @ 6:16PM

Denver-Lakers series.

Least mentally tough: Kenyon Martin, J.D. Smith.

Sometimes Lamar Odom forgets what he's doing and what he's supposed to be doing.

6-03-2009 @ 6:19PM

Lakers get Howard into foul trouble by relentlessly attacking the basket. Series over in 4 games.

Okay, Mr. Buss, please pay me.