Silk D

this thread can go on forever. It boils down to what you think we need more; experience or athleticism/penetration, with defense being pretty equally bad.

I'm not buying that Fish will stunt the growth of our young guys. He won't play more than 25-30 minutes a game, and he can do nothing but help them in practice and in the locker room. If they take the job from him, so be it; who cares? But I'd rather have them take the job from an experienced vet versus letting them learn on the fly and possibly costing us a couple games. They'll be fine, and Fish will help with their development.

N jazzy, com'on man. you one of my favorite posters, but you seriously think our team would be better off w/o Luke and Fish so long as we added some athletes? what do you want? another mo evans that can jump out the gym, put some points on the board, but can't make smart basketball plays to save his life? The dip in the teams chemistry was painfully obvious when luke went to the bench and mo replaced him. Not everything that Luke and Fish will do to help us win games is going to show up on the stat sheet, and no, they're not great (or even good) defenders. But they're smart players, they make the most of what they have, and they'll help us win games, period.

Wilt_The_Stilt

Unless we bring in a player like KG, this team is going nowhere, so there is no point in using the mle to sign an aging vet who isn't very good to begin with.

If by some miracle we do bring in a star player, then it makes a little more sense to bring in Fish, but even then I don't think the difference would be all that huge between Fisher and Farmar/Javaris or some vet minimium point guard

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Sean

I love Fisher. Great guy, class act, good teammate, an integral part of the great teams of 1996-2004. Hit some big shots at critical times. I cried while researching his daughter's cancer issue. Being a father in my rookie season, it broke my heart.

Having said that, my problem is not that he's back, but the $$$ that he's getting. Giving him most of the MLE was not a good idea. Does he deserve it? Sure, but the teams needs that $$$ for other purposes right now. Had they brought him back for half the MLE or less, then I could really support the signing. His leadership is untouchable, but his defense has never been good and that was always been a problem. His missing of layups is a problem.

The Lakers need to give their young PG's a chance. Other teams are forced to do it all of the time and eventually those guys learn their way. In this offense it is not so critical to have a superb ball handler. But what the Lakers have been lacking for a decade is the defensive stopper at the 1. The Lakers were able to get around that with Shaq here, but now there is no swatter in the middle and other teams are having a field day with it. Put a defender in that position (could it be Javaris?) and things will change.

Who knows, maybe this is all part of another plan...

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CubanLaker

what do you know???!

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Sean

I know absolutely nothing. Just ask my wife.

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jazzy1

Let me make clear my postion with Luke and Fisher because it might come off that I'm hating on them.

Luke can play we all know that he has great feel for the game.

He FITS with our offensive design because he can initiate the offense.

But his negatives have been glossed over and they cost us an awful lot.

His nagatives lack of mental toughness, lack of physical toughness, and lack of athleticism.

he couldn't play for us in the dynasty because he was getting smoked defensively now he's our stalwart. Come on.

Every season he seems to go through a stretch for a month or so where he simply can't hit a perimeter shot he did last season right before he sprained the ankle he was playing terrible.

Thats real mental weakness, then he gets the injury bug.

We have a team full of guys like this mentally weak and injury prone physically in kwame, odom, Sasha, Mo Evans, Luke Walton, Bynum, Radman and farmar to a small degree.

Of course I'm not saying just go out and get an athlete with no brains for the game But I want guys who are alitte more mentally sturdy guys who have toughness to get that stop, guys who can get that rebound.

Desmond Mason I think was or is out there to me I wouldn't have minded adding him instead of Luke.

I get why Kobe is so frustrated because he doesn't have teammates with his sorta toughness mentally. He see's us stockpiling the same types of personalities to the mix and its pissing him off.

Now Fisher does give us that I admit he's tough as nails and will help us I just think Critt is gonna be the one who takes us to the next place at pg.

And the idea of adding Mihm back to this mix made me throw up in my mouth alittle to even say this.

He is another in the long line of mentally weak and physically frail.

Jamel Irief

So much for the belief that signing Luke meant the Lakers were going to split the MLE on two players.

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CDRacingZX6R

Well with the left over cash theres always the option of bringing back Smush.

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The One

Agreed with most you said except one thing. (IMO) besides Kwame and Odom, the teams is just physically frail; not mentally weak.

My thoughts on the offseason:

1. Walton Resigning. We all know that Walton has his downs but that did not seem to change his usefulness to the Lakers eyes. As far as they are concern, whatever Walton is doing on the court works. The best chemistry was when Walton was on the team and healthy. Right after Walton got injured, the team set a personal record to Phil Jackson for losing streaks. Of course there are other factors to the downfall, but the organization still chose the road of simply putting 2 and 2 together - With Walton: Team won. Without Walton: Team losed: Solution: Keep Walton.
I don't have that much problem with this resigning mainly because the Lakersresigned him without the MLE (thanks to the Bird Rights). When healthy, Walton made the team better somehow through his defensive lapses and bonehead plays. Right now there is nobody on the market that the Lakers could pay to replace Walton's knowledge of the offense and (when focused) basketabll IQ. Who ever is still hating on Walton, Too Bad - you're stuck with him for six more years......ohh, I can just here the moans right now

2. The Signing of Fish: Ahh, The Beloved Point Gaurd of the Shaq era returns. His journey back? - Drama..... After going from the Warriors (who renigged on the plan of starting Fisher by trading for Baron Davis) to Utah, life gave Fisher a rude slap to the face when he found out his daughter was diagnosed with cancer. With his daughter's health on his mind, Fisher talks Utah into setting him free from his contract showing also that he isn't as lucky as Steve Francis who received a 30 million dollar check as a departure gift. With no guaranteed money coming from the NBA in the future and his daughter needing special care, nobody should be surprised that shortly after comtemplating retirement, Fisher agreed to sign with The Lakers. Having his daughter's health as top priority means he needs the best medical attention near by while he can still do what he does best and make money for it....Los Angeles provides both of these things along with the fact that the Fans love him here and he'll be right at home. So I feel I speak for everyone (almost everyone) when I say, " Welcome Back D' Fish!!!!!!!! "

Now that I got my emotions out, here what I think. This is a very good short term investment; if of course they gave him 'short term' money - Fisher cost a bundle. But the money would not have been spent better either way; any other signing would have been either worse than Fisher (Francis - I'll explain later*) or simply unsignable since the player would want more money (Mo Williams). Those who feel that Fisher will stunt the Lakers young PG growth doesn't understand proper player developement. 1. Fisher is in his 30, he's only going to be starting for one season guaranteed. 2. Fisher will not take playing time from Farmar and were not even sure if Phil was going to play Critt that often anyway. 3. Fisher is a tough, classy, and very influencial veteran so all that a young player can do while near him is learn. This could be the best thing that ever happens Farmar.
*Francis offensive style would not fit with how the Lakers play now and for what has been said about Fisher, Francis defense is even worse. Plus the Lakers get no future value since he will be useless off the bench and I can't imagine him having nearly as much of positive impact on the Lakers young guards than Fisher would.

So the signing work wells for both now and the future of the Lakers; Fisher is a durable and triangle knowledged veteran that the Lakers never had since....well when Fisher first left. He will help the Lakers' PGs of the future while also helping the Lakers win right now.

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jazzy1

Lets clear up this media spin about what Luke did for chemistry and this phantom notion that the teams record of being pretty good with Walton in the line-up. The record dove tailed because of the injuries to the OTHER players not because of Walton's absence. odom being out was the reason his record was bad, as well as not having kwame's interior and post deense, not because of Walton's great chemistry.

Walton always fits in whomever he plays with because of the way he plays.

We had a good record earlier in the season with him in the line-up because EVERYONE was healthy and we had the unbalanced home schedule.

Not simply because Walton was there.

We would be no worse for wear if Walton was gone. I think we'd be better with desmond mason.

PauloCatarino

So, let's see...

So far, the off-season where Kobe's threatning to jump ship has resulted, so far, in:

1- drafting 2 guards who have no chance to be imediate contributers and 1 center who won't play for the Lakers next year;

2- Resigning Luke Walton;

3- Signing Derek Fisher (another guard).

Yup, the Lakers are in fine shape, indeed.

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hollywood476

well at least Derek Fisher knows the Triangle Offense, is another leader, has great defense. So if you get stuck with Phoenix again Fisher can actually guard Steve Nash instead of Parker or Farmar.

Luke Walton is all around a good player, not great at anything but not bad at anything either.

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