Kim - Supposedly Brent Barry is looking for close to $7 million per season. Fisher could be had for half that.
I hate Derek Fisher. I can't accept a guy like him who has been on our biggest rival the last couple years. He's not that special. Go away Fisher, we don't want your Laker kind here.
He's not special....that's why we NEED him. He's going to bring it up court, set up the offense and dish it to Yao or Tracy. When one of those gets double-teamed, guess who is sitting open for the three. Let's remember who our PG was during the last two championships...all he did was get it to our playmakers and wait for the open three. Fisher was a hated Laker, yes. But, he is a classy guy (or at least he seems like it). My respect for him went up when he was the only one to talk to the sideline reporter out of the locker room after the Pistons won it. Most importantly, Fisher is CLUTCH.
out of all the option available for the PG....Fisher is the best choice. knows how to work with a dominant big man and a superstar guard has championship experience can actually defend when asked to can knock down the outside shot doesnt think he is better than he really is if he isnt too exxpensive.........make the deal cd.
Fisher was torched in 2003, 2002, 2001, etc. Why do you think Francis would often go for 30-40 against the Lakers even pre-Yao? How do you think Bibby got that big contract?
SAm.... If VG can get SF to play D, and get Cat to cranck up his D....and get Boki to play better D than anyone expected.....dont you think maybe Fisher has the tools to do as well defensively as SF?
Also remember who Fisher had as a coach. Phil Jackson, aka "sit on the bench scrathcing my head and hope Shaq and Kobe can pull it out." Van Gundy is a defensive minded coach, all of his players will be in top shape defensively.
I wouldn't be unhappy with getting DFish in that situation, but I'd also hope they add quality depth with the money they don't spend on Barry. Again, I think y'all are overrating DFish. He is a good defender, but those flops don't always fly like in the finals. When he played straight up sans flops, his D was still very good. But to me, it's always back to the shooting. He had a good playoffs...I know that. But the stats are soooo important: Derek Fisher shot 29% from 3pt land for the season and 35% overall. Brent Barry shot 45% for 3's and 50% overall. And Barry doesn't get the benefit of having Kobe and Shaq forcing defenders to sag giving him wide open shots all the time. I'm not saying DFish won't do well, but I'm just concerned that the playoffs won't indicative of how he plays next year. I strongly believe that Barry would play better and be a better fit for the Rockets, because to me "a better fit" means shooter way better. It makes sense to me to take the better shooter.
Normally I would agree with this, but if it's true that he's asking for 6-7 million a year, then apparently he does think he's better than he really is. If the salaries are even close, I'd prefer Barry. As shown by Kim a few posts ago, Fisher's shooting was abysmal last year. Plus, he's never averaged more than 4.4 assists per game, and his career average looks to be about 3apg. And, 2.3 apg last year! Mark Jackson had more than that in about half the playing time, and MoT and Cato combined averaged 2.4apg (I know it's not fair to compare, but come on). No thank you to any point guard who can't average more assists than that playing with the teammates he has- and if he shoots 29% from 3 and 35% from 2, I'm confident we can get someone better. on the other hand, while Barry's assist/TO ratio is a little scary for me (better than Steve's though), at least he is a really good shooter, and his assists are likely to go up, since he'd be playing with better teammates than ever before.
How banged up is Fisher? Just needs time off? Operation? Or did 'age' catch up to him (at an 'early' age).
Lakers players who averaged more assists per game than Derek Fisher: Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, Karl Malone, Shaquille O'Neal. Lakers players who averaged more assists per 48 minutes than Derek Fisher: Jannero Pargo, Gary Payton, Luke Walton, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, Rick Fox. Again, unless it's for a backup being paid as a backup, no thanks.
Jebus, I think you need to look at Fisher's role in the offense, specifically the triangle offense. Unless you are a superstar, (Pippen, Jordan, Kobe or Shaq), then assists are hard to come buy. That type of system depends on the stars to make plays, not necessarily the PG. Why do you think Payton hated that system so much???
Maybe...but getting burned by quick point guards has been a concern in LA for a long time, well before Payton. It could be lack of effort, or it could be lack of skill.
i thought that was Barry looking for that much... I honestly didnt know what his stats were before now...I guess I expected more since the few times I saw him play....he seemed to do really well. Still. Barry is a possibility.....but...isnt his age a factor now?....Im not saying dont go after Barry...I just think that going after a PG that used to start for a championship team before the Mitten came along would at least guarantee we get a guard worthy of a starting position.
or it could be lack of a bigman who would get his ass out of the paint on the switchoff on PnRs... All things considered....the Triangle effect....who he is playing with...all these things combine to make him look less than he really is. The Rockets with Yao and Tm are kinda similar to the 95 Rockets with akeem and Clyde....all we need is a decent point who can dump the ball down and hit the open shot. I really do believe that Fisher can fit that role....if the price is right.
I agree with Codel about DFish's assist total in the Triangle. The triangle is not going to give the PG great assist totals. That said there is also no guarantee that he is going to improve by playing in another system. I think its all about the money, if he will come for 3 million or less for 4 years or less then I'm all for it. Otherwise we can get somebody else. Brent Barry would be great but I feel the same way about him you take him or leave him based on the contract.
Rebounding is not a problem? D'ing up against long 4s is not a problem? Instant offense? Not a problem (and he did start making some nice passes).
