...and looking pissed. 17 points in 21 minutes tonight. I just saw the highlights on ESPN and I thought he was gonna tear the freakin' rim down. He keeps this up and he'll be as good as Yao in no time.
Yeah, the Lakers are definitely gonna start winning again, but I think this stretch they just went through proved that they're nothing without Shaq.
Well, you do realize that if LA didn't have Shaq to begin with, they would have a completely roster right? Judging from your previous posts, that thought probably didn't occur to you in advance.
Shaq is such a fat ass that when he walks down the street people go "Gdamn it, that's a big fat ass ! "
Yes, I meant completely DIFFERENT roster. I don't think you can blame Kobe for losing, when the 4 other starters were backup-caliber players.
He means if Shaq weren't on the Lakers his salary slot could be used on other players, presumably pretty good players. Hence the Lakers would be much better than their current record if Shaq weren't on the team at all rather than if he were just on the injured list. Plus, they wouldn't have some of the role players they have either because they're ineffective without a Shaq like presence.
Lets revisit the team, circa 1996, the year Shaq was signed: 5- O'neal, Campbell, Knight 4- Campbell 3- Horry, Jones, Ceballos 2- Jones, Bryant 1- Van Exel, Fisher By any modicum of standards, that roster is stacked. Lets see why it didn't win and how it was gutted to mediocrity: Elden Campbell was the anti-Shaq in LA's frontcourt; since he wasn't much of a rebounder, he could use his mobility to fill the lanes on fast breaks, right? Wrong; he was overpaid, about as consistent as Jerome Moiso and couldn't play with Shaq in the lineup so out he went. They both occupied the left low-block and couldn't be in at the same time (Horace Grant was added later.) Jones couldn't adjust to half-court offense in the playoffs, and couldn't get a shot off against the likes of Shandon Anderson. A few years later the two are packaged for Glen Rice. No need to comment there... Van Exel, before his max-contract, was a good finisher on the break with Eddie Jones and knew to feed the ball into the low post. Still, he brought down his team's record with his streak-shooting and was traded virtually straight-up for Travis Knight... Ceballos put up all-star numbers in LA, but his defensive lapses and water-skiing made him unpopular with the team brass. Out he went; now he's languishing on the globe-trotters with Oliver Miller. That leaves Shaq, Bryant, Horry and Fisher who are hold-overs from that era; the only other starting-caliber player on today's roster is Rick Fox. The organization had a lot of good, young players with high trade value (just, perhaps, in poor situations) and got garbage in return for them. Player much better than Bryant who, at the time, was no better than someone like Todd Day; he forced stupid one-on-one matchups, never read screens, couldn't draw contact and was a very poor team-defender. The Lakers played much better without him. Even with Shaq, I think that the Lakers are a mediocre team. Shaq should be called for more fouls than anyone in the league; if "forced" to be a finesse player instead of shoving away post-defenders so that he can shuffle his feet and dunk, he can have off-nights. Don't get me wrong though; he is still the best player in the league.
