Reply With QuoteKidd wants to play with Mourning next season.
The Spurs might be able to get that done.
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We'll see once you take your foot out of your mouth.
Kidd wants to play with Mourning next season.
The Spurs might be able to get that done.
That very well may be enough for Brown or Mourning. Not Nesterovic. But WGAF.That should be more than enough to attract Brown or Nesterovic or Mourning.
Oh no the Spurs might be able to add Kidd & PJ Brown or Kidd & Mourning. Dammit that's not good enough! Give me Kandi!
I hate Spurs fans so much sometimes.
:brotha
The day any of you lilliputians know more about hoops(especially Whott) that Pop is the day you get paid as a consultant to a NBA team.
Small thinkers.... in A' its not that hard to visualize. Parker can work at the 2. Its not like he'll have to continue being the primary ball-handler, the spacing will be fine and on many sets, he will bring the ball up. He'll get the same amount of minutes he gets now. Just split between 1 & 2. Lets not even call them Points, lets call them Lead Guards because thats what they are and as such, it forces a defense to choose their poison accordingly. You stop Kidd's vision, you have to deal with TP's speed. You stop TP's speed, you have to deal with Kidd's vision. Couple that with Manu's all-around skills, an improved SJax-less turnovers and a deadly jumper plus finishing skills, a Bruce's on-ball D. At Center you get Zo or PJ. People say can that stop Shaq? The Spurs D has never been about stopping him, its always been about just commiting a single resource on him thus preventing him from employing the other guys on the team. Spurs need to bring in a Rookie FA or young FA that wants to BANG. In the limited minutes that this guy gets, he needs to play the most physical defense he can on Shaq. We need a banger to a)piss him off & b)not back away when he is pissed off. One guy comes to mind and he worked out for the Spurs before draft day. I'm saving his name in hopes of seeing it on the Summer League Team. The stifling D will be the same. 4 Superstars, its like the All-stars but a GOOD TEAM will beat a good on-paper team any day of the week. I'd liken it to the Ol' Detroit Piston Bad Boys who physically whipped on the greatness that was the Showtime Lakers.
Let me give you this from a Detroit Piston fans history page.
So what do we gain from looking at the past. Defense still wins championships and PG's are just as pivotal as bigs.The Pistons were the league's best team all season. They had a guard-oriented offense featuring Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, a solid work ethic, and they lived up to their Bad Boys image with tough, physical play. (When Bill Laimbeer missed a game on January 29 to serve a fighting suspension, it interrupted a string of 685 consecutive games played that dated back to 1982.)
The Pistons were led by Thomas, whose angelic smile belied a fiercely compe ive nature. He could shoot from the outside or drive to the basket and was always among the league leaders in assists. Backcourtmate Dumars had many of the same offensive skills as Thomas, though he wasn't expected to pass as much, and he was a formidable defender. Laimbeer was a bruising inside player but not a traditional center; his shot from long range became a trademark of the Pistons' offense. In addition, Laimbeer developed his persona as a villain, becoming a player opposing fans loved to hate.
These star-quality players were augmented by a cast of role players and specialists. Aguirre possessed as inventive an offensive repertoire as any NBA player. Vinnie Johnson was capable of torrid shooting streaks. Dennis Rodman, Rick Mahorn, James Edwards, and John Salley each brought different assets to the front line while sharing playing time.
Dumars and Rodman were named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team at season's end, starting a long string of selections for Rodman. Thomas led the club in scoring with 18.2 points per game, but the scoring burden was well distributed-five players averaged more than 13.7 points. Rodman displayed an unerring nose for the ball, led the team in rebounding (9.4 rpg), and, unexpectedly, led the league in shooting percentage (.595), mostly by declining to shoot anything but point-blank layups.
The Pistons fashioned the NBA's best regular-season record at 63-19 and shredded opposing teams in the playoffs. They cruised through the first two rounds of the postseason, eliminating Boston and Milwaukee without suffering a loss. The Chicago Bulls provided a little more resistance before falling in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In a rematch of the previous year's NBA Finals, the Pistons demolished a Lakers team by sweeping the defending champs in four straight games. A new star was born as Dumars averaged 27.3 points in the series and was named Finals MVP. In 17 playoff games Detroit held the opposition to only 92.9 points per game, the stingiest defense of any NBA champion since the advent of the 24-second shot clock in 1954-55.
Isiah Thomas had yearned for recognition, not as one of the NBA's top guards, or top little men, but as one of the game's top players. He had entered the league with Detroit after the Pistons had suffered through a 21-61 campaign. By Thomas' fourth season, the Pistons had a head coach, Chuck Daly, had finally figured out how to maximize his superstar's strengths, so that a team built around a point guard could contend.
They would go on to win back-to-back les.
If the Lakers throw lead guards at us, we throw lead guards back. Add Kerr & Manu and we beat their Fisher, Pargo backup scenario.
Thank you for that post, MIB. Now if only the inmates will get it.
I don't think Pop wants Kidd other than the fact that Duncan wants Kidd.
I think everything done on the Kidd side of things is because Duncan was pushing for it.
I'll never be convinced that if Pop had a choice of Kidd, Brand or O'Neal that he would pick Kidd first.
Let's see, does Pop go with the transition guard who gambles for steals that has a checkered past? Or does Pop go for the beast interior defenders and shotblockers with clean PR slates? Hmmmm.
And Pop is not infallible when it comes to decisions...if he had left Kerr on the bench we are probably still trying to win the le. Luckily for us the media busted his ass about it and he went with it. But as for me and others, we knew Kerr could close those games out.
Oh and most of us knew Danny Ferry was gonna suck ass going up against Nowitzki.
Pop may know more about coaching but there is no way in he has sat on his ass second guessing coaching decisions while getting drunk, more than I have. Trust me, I am better at it.
Take your meds, 'Whottt'. Seriously.
How don't we beat the Lakers now is the real question. Running, posting up Malone. The possibilities are endless.
Leave it to an LA writer to better explain why sometimes you go for the best player even if he "DOESN'T EXACTLY FIT"
Although, I don't agree with his final stance as to who is better, he forgets that Payton was EXCUSED from the playoffs by Kidd, I can tell that he can see the "big picture".
Yet you still doubt Pop & RC....IDIOTS.
J.A. ADANDE
The Best Man Has One Job: Bring the Ring
J.A. Adande
July 9, 2003
It fits right in with Gary Payton's career that his decision to come to Los Angeles is only the second-biggest story in Lakerland this week.
The organization and the city are in no mood to rejoice, not after the stunning news that Kobe Bryant was arrested in connection with a sexual assault complaint in Colorado.
That's the way it always has been for Payton, who spent his college and pro career behind a curtain of raindrops in the Pacific Northwest. He's the least-acclaimed great player of his time.
So if the cir stances prevent the popping of champagne, the least we can do is break out a pair of words that don't get used often enough to describe Payton.
The best.
As in: the best free agent the Lakers had any realistic chance to acquire this summer.
At this moment, and with their limited financial options, point guard Payton was the top guy. And his agent says Payton will sign with them July 16.
No, he doesn't address their primary need. Luring a power forward such as P.J. Brown or Juwan Howard with the mid-level exception would have been the best move if the Lakers' main priority was finding someone to counter the Tim Duncans, Chris Webbers and Kevin Garnetts of the Western Conference.
But Mitch Kupchak went the aggressive route. Go get the best player and force the rest of the league to counter that.
Think about it in the abstract: Who's the best, Payton, Brown or Howard?
Payton.
I'll go one step further: Who's better between Payton and the other high-profile point guard on the market, Jason Kidd?
Yep. It's Payton again.
(I disagree but then again, he is writing for the hometown paper)
Kidd is a better rebounder and he led the league in assists. But as I watched New Jersey go corpse-cold in the fourth quarter of Game 6 of the NBA Finals — with Kidd and Kenyon Martin taking most of the shots — I thought there was no way Payton would let that happen.
(Yeah like any team that Payton has been in has beaten this version of the Spurs, also funny is that JA talked the same stuff about his team ...SWEEPING THE SPURS)
If my team needed a basket I'd rather give the ball to Payton than Kidd.
Plus, I doubt you'd see Tony Parker run right around Payton the way he did around Kidd in the NBA Finals.
Payton, who was on the NBA's All-Defensive first team for nine consecutive seasons, should shore up the Laker perimeter. That means no more point guards turning into max-contract guys at the Lakers' expense every postseason.
Because Kidd is five years younger than Payton (35 on July 23), Kidd would be the better choice for a long-term contract. But the Lakers can't think long-term anymore. Bryant can opt out of his contract next summer (and that's assuming legal troubles do not take him out of play before that). Shaquille O'Neal's body could break down under all that weight.
Their chance to win another championship is right now. And their chance gets a lot better with the addition of Payton.
He has averaged 18.3 points a game in his NBA career and has been good for at least 20 for most of the last nine years, including 20.4 last season.
When he isn't scoring he can pass with the best of them — and he's never had teammates like Shaq and Kobe to pass to. He averaged 8.8 assists last season with the Seattle SuperSonics — and that's when he was passing to the likes of Rashard Lewis, Vladimir Radmonovic and Brent Barry — and 7.3 after his trade to the Milwaukee Bucks.
But the best he ever finished in the most-valuable-player voting was third in 1998, behind Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.
If he had played in a larger market, or on a team that played into June more often, he would have generated the type of hype that nearly carried Kidd to the MVP award last year.
In a world free of salary-cap constraints, the ideal choice for the Lakers or the Spurs would have been Jermaine O'Neal. Put that athletic 6-11 frame on the same front line with O'Neal or Duncan and there would be zero layups for opponents. And the 24-year-old could fill that position for the rest of Shaq and Duncan's careers.
But the collective bargaining agreement gives an edge to the home team, which means O'Neal can make at least $30 million more by staying with Indiana than he could anywhere else. That's why it should come as no surprise that he canceled trips to San Antonio and Dallas and appears ready to re-sign with the Pacers.
So it appears the Lakers will settle for Karl Malone with their $1.4-million exception. For that money, they did just fine.
The real coup is getting Payton with the mid-level exception (which will be somewhere between $4.6 million and $4.9 million).
It helps that the Lakers are on the West Coast, where Payton spent all of his playing days until he was traded to Milwaukee on Feb. 20. Payton and his wife are from Oakland, he went to college at Oregon State and he spent the first 12 1/2 years of his NBA career in Seattle.
But primarily, this is about Payton's quest to win a ring.
Payton's heart has been here for a long time. He once attended a playoff game at Staples Center wearing a con uously shaded yellow T-shirt that he acknowledged was Laker gold. But I never thought he'd be willing to make the financial sacrifice it would take to get here.
He could have made more had he re-signed with Milwaukee. And there were sign-and-trade scenarios — including a late run by Indiana — that could have doubled the salary Payton would make with the Lakers next season.
He decided to come anyway, giving the mandate to his agent, Aaron Goodwin.
Plus, "Shaq came to me and said if I didn't get [Payton] to L.A. he was going to break my neck," Goodwin said. "I ain't afraid of Shaq, though."
It's the rest of the league that should be afraid — afraid of how good the Lakers will be with Payton.
J.A. Adande can be reached at [email protected].
WHOTT :gun
No, he doesn't address their primary need. Luring a power forward such as P.J. Brown or Juwan Howard with the mid-level exception would have been the best move if the Lakers' main priority was finding someone to counter the Tim Duncans, Chris Webbers and Kevin Garnetts of the Western Conference.
But Mitch Kupchak went the aggressive route. Go get the best player and force the rest of the league to counter that.
Think about it in the abstract: Who's the best, Payton, Brown or Howard?
Payton.
Exactly. Some geniuses here have yet to understand this.
When good players like Payton and Malone come knocking on your doorstep, willing to play for next to nothing, you take it, and ask questions later.
^^^^this is true, the chance for a ring speaks volume.
And like I said, getting a power forward was more integral to the Lakers' needs. And upgrading Fisher to be Payton is a no-brainer.
The Lakers are filling out a need and a want.
I hope the Spurs can do the same.
Back to beating this new-look Lakers team.
I think we have to hope:
• These guys have problems sharing the ball
• Age and attrition catches up to the vets leading to injuries
• We capitalize on our superior speed
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