If Fisher opts out of his contract, should we make a run for him? I think he would be a good PG on the Rox: can hit the 3, pretty intense on D (minus the flops), can make a post entry pass (playing with Shaq) and can defer to a star teammate (Kobe) and is clutch. Don't get me wrong, I still hate him, just think it'd be good for th eteam.
OK, the latest developments: 1. GP will do the smart thing and stay. He would tell you its because Phil is gone, reality is its because he wouldn't draw better offers than his current 5.5M deal. 2. Fisher is still hesitating on opting out. Strange, I though he had good playoffs and he could do better than $3M. It's true though that his season wasn't all that good, and he may feel that one lucky 0.4s shot may not neceseraly translate into additional milions of $$. I still think he should opt out. He is probably the best backup PG in the L. Consider that CD (aka the Moron) was paying that much to Moochie Norris. If he opts out Lakers will be hard pressed to find a replacement, considering that they will have cost issues, Jerry Buss is not exactly Les Alexander (aka the Cheap b*stard), but he's no Mark Cuban either. 3. This whole Shaq to ORL deal makes sense and may just as well happen. A team built around Kobe and Okafor has future. I think the key is Grant Hill. If the Lakers are certain that he will not play, they would be very compelled to do a deal. It looks like Buss would be happy to have the contract be picked by insurance and slash his costs a bit. He would have to pay for Kobe's $140M new deal and wouldn't mind some breathing room while waiting for the rebuilt around Kobe/Okafor. The problem is if Hill gets clearance, the Lakers won't be able to stop him from playing if he wants to. Shaq for Okafor may not look like a fair deal at first glance, but reality is that Shaq is definetely not worth the extension he wants and the Lakers are likely better without all the friction between him and Kobe and him and the organization in the next couple of years. I wouldn't be surprised to see Lakers get another first rounder from ORL to oil the deal, though. The deal would also allow the Lakers to let Fisher go and welcome back Tyrone Lue. If I am Kupchak, trading Shaq would be my priority in the offseason. Shaq can still dominate, but he is definetely on the decline. He showed endurance problems, the free throws are getting worse and a bit of the intimidation factor is gone. It all started with that game against Yao, when Yao went one-on-one on him on national TV. I said it back then, that was the begining of the end of the Shaq era. ORL would be smart to do the deal, but stupid to give him the extension.
I disagree. I would love to see Yao and Phil on the same team. This way Yao can finally call Phil on his fortune cookie zen BS. Good call there. Fisher is a great point guard. A lot of guys would've disappeared once the team brings in another "Hall of Famer" to take his starting spot. Not only did Fisher outplay GP the entire season, not once did I hear Fisher b**** about getting more minutes or getting the starting spot. That's the kind of unselfish player I like seeing around Yao.
