Should have been finals MVP, as much as I hate his guts. ------------------ Protrolls.com! Soon to be ProPorn.com!
I thoroughly despise the Lakers. Even among NBA teams, they're a uniquely artificial and opportunistic assembly of top talent -- never mind their egos and their laughable ignorance of their ignorance. But their role players -- even the execrable Rick Fox -- did everything you could ask of role players. Need a steal? You got it. Need a block? You got it. Need a cutter? You got it. Need a third big scorer? You got it. Need a rally-killing three? You got it. Need an acrobatic offensive board and put-back? You got it. Break 'em up. Or we won't see a championship banner in this town for another 10 years.
Ten is way too much. I say about 8. Want to hear something sickening? Shaq is 28 years young. Kobe is 22 years young. Fisher is 26 years young. Horry is 29 years young. The core is an average age of about 26. Damn, maybe 10 is about right. ------------------ Sleepless in the Bronx [This message has been edited by Almu (edited June 16, 2001).]
The only things that can break up this team are injury and age. I too underrated Derek Fisher. I thought at first that the he was just the beneficiary of Shaq and Kobe's playmaking ability, but he's just as clutch as anyone on that Laker's team. He's not just hitting wide open shots either. He's draining them with players right up on him. When he got the 5 year 25 million dollar deal a while back I was shocked. I thought they were overpaying the guy in a big way, but he's justified that contract and then some.It just goes to show you how important role players really are. More than anything, this finals just furthered the respect I already had for Jerry West. He did one hell of a job of putting the right kind of role players around his stars, and was responsible for the drafting of Derek Fisher and the trade for Kobe. Hell, he was even a big part of the reason that Shaq came to LA, but I bet Phil Jackass won't give him one iota of respect in regards to the assembly of this team and will continue to believe that he was the reason this team went to the next level. Reality check Phil, a championship was inevitable for this squad. ------------------ "Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchange and property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorceror, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells."