You're right, but that said, Payton (and Malone) still had better assist numbers than Fisher, either per 48 or per game. And that doesn't change the fact that, even though he got plenty of open looks, he was a terrible shooter this season. Couple that with the prospects of a 5 million per season (or more) asking price, and I would avoid him like the plague. Like I said, I'd have no problem paying him backup money to be a backup, but if we're going to spend money and get a starter, if the prices are anywhere close, I'd take Barry over Fisher.
Again, in that offense, Fisher does not get assist opportunities. PLayers like Malone do. Look at his previous 3 seasons where he shot close to or over 40% from 3 pt range. Look at his A/TO ratio. We can easily say that last year was a down year for Fisher. Id love to have Barry, but not at double the price of what we would pay Fisher.
maybe we should get Phil Jackson too. So we have our own dynamic duo + Derek Fisher. Phil can at least get other three rings. How sweet is that?
Wanted to chime in on Barry. I lean towards Kim's position. Here's an excerpt from Supersonics.com, not unbiased, of course, but gives some good info on the guy: What is there that remains to be said about Brent Barry? Unless you've been ignoring the media the last three seasons, you know that Barry is the "glue" that holds the Sonics together. You know that the team's record goes south when he doesn't play (7-16 this season). You know that Barry is one of the league's most phenomenally gifted outside shooters, finishing second in the NBA in three-point percentage. He has now hit 42.8% of his triples in five years with the Sonics, a mark which tops all players in franchise history. Hopefully, Barry's campaign ended for good the debate about whether he is indeed a point guard. Barry's 5.8 assists per game were more than the amount averaged by Tony Parker (5.5), Gary Payton (5.5) and Mike Bibby (5.4), just to name three players. http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/playbacksir.html And this from the same source: Season: 10.8 ppg, 5.8 apg, 3.5 rpg, 1.4 spg, 50.4% fgs, 45.2% threes, 82.7% fts Second half: 10.8 ppg, 6.3 apg, 3.2 rpg, 1.5 spg, 52.0% fgs, 46.7% threes, 80.6% fts Pretty amazing, no? Yes, his age is a factor, and I'm wondering why he missed the 23 games, but he would be an awesome weapon. Fish would be nice to have, but his shooting % worries me. The guy is streaky, no doubt about it. As we've seen, when he's on, look out, but the stats say he's off more often than not. I think he's making about $3 million a season now... wouldn't he expect a significant bump in salary? The difference in contracts between the two may not be as much as we might imagine. Food for thought. (and hell yes, we need somebody good at the point!)
Trade Mo Taylor to Seattle for a re-signed Brent Barry and a throw-in, like Richie Frahm. Reward Seattle by using part of the TE to get Jerome James or Vitaly Potepenko, as backup center and pf. Use the MCE to get whatever else. IMHO, Fish wouldn't deserve a starting spot over Barry, because he's not as tall or as good a shooter. Pick up Tmo and Collie for bench depth. Yao/J. James Howard/Spoon Boki/JJ TMac/AG Barry/Ollie/Lue + Mr. MCE. TMac is best at the two, where he can shoot over people. Here's what I like - If we run a triangle, or even a UCLA high post attack, Tmac and Howard work the pick and roll on the left side, and Yao + shooters work the right side. That splits the attack and makes the best use of the skills. Yao , being very tall , can swing the ball to the Tmac/Howard attack whenever the defense overloads on his side. It's a very good balance, and easy to set up.
but Payton was essentially in the same position as Fisher, yet out-assisted him easily. Look, as far as this point goes, I can say "he's never averaged more than 4.4 assists a game, and his assist numbers last year were terrible". You can say "but he might be better in a different system". I see where you're coming from, but I wouldn't bet a substantial amount on him showing significant improvement. He will be 30 years old at the start of next season. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It is definitely posisble that last year was a down year, but it's also possible that he's seen his best days. I tend to think that you're right, his shooting might improve if he were a starter again. But I would just prefer going with someone who has shown consistent excellence to someone we have to count on rebounding from a terrible year (and improving over his career high numbers at the age of 30). It depends on what "double the price of Fisher" means. Is it 2 million per vs 4 million per? I'd take Barry. It also depends on the length of the contract. There was also a lot of talk on the lakers forum about Fisher asking for 6-7 million per season. I know, it's from a Forum, so take it as you will. All that said, I'd overpay slightly (in dollars or in length of contract) for Barry before overpaying slightly for Fisher. How much more would you pay for Barry? Or, how much less is enough to get you to "settle" for Fisher?
Sam, I watch a lot of Lakers games. Fisher is not worse than Francis as a defender. He is very quick and he moves his feet. Everybody knows he can flop, but I observe that he does have a knack to plant his feet in front of the moving opponent. Lakers have always bothered by the PnR. I think it's not an accident that Payton's defense dropped so much after coming to LA. I don't think it's all Fisher's problem. Fisher had a bad season because of the coming of Payton. He has always been their steady PG.
Easy, Exactly. In a PNR situation Shaq has to flash out and force the PG wide, since Shaq has gotten lazy about this the lakers PnR defense has gotten horrible. DD
Sorry to inform you guys, but Derek Fisher will probably get a max deal according to Richard Justice of the Chronicle. What f'n idiot. Does he really get paid to write this garbage? Answer: I personally think Derek Fisher is a longshot just because he might be good enough to get a maxed out deal. I agree he'd be a terrific addition. I think the trade is a good one because in Yao and McGrady you have a really tough inside-outside combination to defend. Now the job is to fill in around them. The bench still needs work. It's probably won't all be completed in one offseason. Richard Justice Q&A
That guy should be out of a job for that piss poor speculation. Hell if that's all the journalistic info you need to hand out I could be a sports writer.
