The City of Los Angeles is spoiled with back-to-back-to-back
Lakers championships.
Yet it was only fitting that a fourth parade never took
place.
What began as a season that saw one of its greats, Chick Hearn,
forever silenced and ended with a Robert Horry three-pointer that
should’ve gone in but didn’t, the Lakers were never
prepared last season.
The refrigerator remained opened, the lights never turned off,
the eggs went bad, and the JELLO never jiggled.
Instead of watching the NBA finals, I was thinking about how the
Lakers would rebuild their dilapidated roster.
You would think that Lakers would be trying to find a supporting
cast that is younger and more athletic, but once again I ““
one of the biggest Lakers fans ever ““ was wrong.
This off-season Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak went to the
market.
With what did he return?
On July 16, Kupchak officially signed an old glove and a mailman
who hasn’t delivered once in 18 years.
We picked up a bunch of old has-beens.
Granted Gary “the glove” Payton was once one of the
premier guards, but he has a lost a step or two.
The only thing that hasn’t slowed down is his verbal
drivel. Payton’s arrogant, in-your-face manner sure
won’t help the atmosphere in the Lakers’ locker room
where a sensitive O’Neal and a childish Bryant have yet to
settle their on-going differences.
I’ll bet that Payton and Bryant will mix it up at least
once.
Any takers?
I’d put my money on Bryant; he’s been practicing in
the ring in those Sprite commercials.
As for the starting power forward position, the Lakers have seen
that position in the past few years change more often than Dennis
Rodman’s hairdo.
A.C. Green, 38, Horace Grant, 37, Samaki Walker, 27, and now
40-year-old Karl Malone.
I thought the Lakers were supposed to get younger.
Though Malone may be in the best shape of his life, his flexing
days to opposing benches are over ““ that’s why he
signed with the Lakers for $1.8 million to have a decent shot at
winning a championship.
I’m also not totally sold on Malone’s defensive
abilities, especially against the top power forwards in the league.
I’m even more skeptical of how he’ll do now that
he’s without John Stockton, his trusty sidekick.
It has always been Stockton-to-Malone and that’s how they
have been so successful in their careers.
Payton-to-Malone? Nah, doesn’t have a nice ring to it.
Bryant-to-Malone? Won’t work, Bryant will shoot it about
nine times out of 10 before thinking about passing it.
O’Neal-to-Malone? That would be something interesting to
see.
I still think that the purple and gold on both Payton and Malone
will clash.
Let’s do a little calculation here of last season’s
numbers: With Milwaukee, Payton tallied 20.4 points per game,
Malone averaged 20.6, Bryant was the second leading scorer in the
league with 30, and O’Neal finished with 27.5.
That’s a combined total of 98.5 points scored by these
four individuals.
Here’s the catch: all four of these players have basically
been the go-to guy on their respective teams.
Put them all on one team and it will be a dysfunctional,
high-powered offense.
Something along the lines of a team like the Portland Trail
Blazers.
I’m a strong advocate of too much is a bad thing.
Who now becomes the first scoring option, especially in the
waning seconds of a close game?
O’Neal will be complaining that he doesn’t get the
ball, Bryant will still have something to prove that he indeed can
lead a championship team, Malone is on the hunt for Kareem Abdul
Jabbar’s all-time record for points (he needs to average a
little over 12 points per game for the next two seasons to achieve
this), and Payton is a natural ball-hog.
Who’s going to give in? Who’s going to be the go-to
guy?
Maybe they’ll be nice little boys and just take turns.
Unlikely. Sharing is definitely not caring in this
situation.
All I know is that before all you Lakers fans begin to jump up
and down in joy over our newly acquired Lakers players, you have to
think.
It’s called the triangle offense for a reason, not the
square offense.