Some good points...

[MajicMan]

Brent Barry is better than all Lakers but kobe n Gasol, face

Better than Bynum? Fisher? Odom? I'd say he's on par with Sasha.

[Man In Black]

fixed!

Laker fans ridiculously overrate Pau Gasol. He's a great player no question, but he is not top 5 in the league. And there is absolutely no way he has more impact than TP does for the Spurs. That is orders of magnitude the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard here.

He is a prime example of a player who excels more because of the system he plays in. Without Kobe to draw defenders, Gasol is no different than say Shareef Abdur-Rahim in my opinion. Gasol lacks the toughness that great PF's in this league have, instead he relies far more on his outside game to create shots for himself and his teammates when he draws defenders towards him. We saw how ineffective he was when his back was stiff due to a muscle injury.

What TP provides is BALANCE. Since he's been out, Manu has had to be the primary ball handler so his TO's have gone up and because he has to spend more time on the ball, he hasn't had his finishing strength as much. Come playoffs, Manu will dig deep to get that expenditure. TP with Tony and Duncan form the League's best proven BIG 3 and for so many people to read that the Spurs are weak means the Spurs have got the league thinking exactly what they want, the the hand they are holding is a bluff when in actuality, they're about to flop a royal flush.

[remingtonbo2001]

Thing about TP is he thrives the best on our team. It's not so much that Tony's overrated, but the contribution he makes to this team is underrated. He puts the opposing bigs in foul trouble. His pentrations gives our shooters open looks, and our post players easy baskets. He is the fastest of the point guards mentioned. He consistanly gets to the line. He is capable of hitting the outside shot. Without TP it's hard for this offense to run effeciently. It's really no excuse for our defense, with the exception we're tiring ourselves out on the offense end.

[fyatuk]

Spur's fans ridiculously overrate Tony Parker. He's a great player no question, but he is not top 5 in the league. And there is absolutely no way he has more impact than KG does for the Celtics. That is orders of magnitude the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard here.

And have you seen the difference inthe Spurs from early season to the aftermath of him getting injured in December?

The Spurs need both Tim and Tony now. Without Tony in the lineup, the Spurs are pretty much Tim forcing something or the others taking jump shots. Without Tim, Tony doesn't get into the lane. Both of them are the cogs the make the Spurs offense go. If the Spurs are a bicycle, they have been riding on 1 wheel.

TP is certainly somewhere in the top 10 in PG. On other teams he would have more assists, but the Spurs system does not generate assists for the PG and Pop specifically wants him to be score-first. He's not as bad defensively as a couple other PGs rated ahead of him.

Of course, if I'm starting a team from scratch, I'm taking Deron.