It is questionable to whether or not he used his daughter's illness to get back to LA. He asked for his release from the Jazz to be closer to the doctors his daughter needed. Her doctors at the time were in NYC.
Every time there is a free agent of any kind, I assume they are headed to Miami. From now on I will be surprised if they aren't.
If a team needs Fisher's leadership and/or professionalism to put them over the top, then they weren't contender to begin with. The only thing that a contender should need is a little more help from a reserve player. Fisher sucks to much now to bring much to the table basketball wise.
The fact that the Lakers let him go speaks volumes about his worth. LA only kept him because of all his time on the team and hie relationship with Kobe. Also, the fact that other, more skilled veteran point guards like Gilbert Arenas and that most teams have a solid option at point guard make it look like Fish will be working in a front office somewhere soon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>On Derek Fisher front, sources close to him expect him to sign w/ OKC if he clears waivers,but we shall see. Thunder need depth & leadership</p>— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) <a href="https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/182195173814579201" data-datetime="2012-03-20T20:01:29+00:00">March 20, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Interesting. I thought Fisher would go to Miami. The way Reggie Jackson has improved recently, this is disappointing. But the playoffs are a different story and maybe they think Fisher could give them 8-10 mins/game.
OKC would be a good fit for him too I guess in terms of having a veteran who has had championship experience. I wonder how him and Perkins would get along with the Lakers and Celtics history the last few years.
I wonder if he kind of wants the chance to stick it to the Lakers? That might explain OKC instead of the Heat. That and, of course, the Heat usually play basketball with the passion of a funeral procession.
That would be truly incredible if the Thunder decide to give him anything above the vet-min; for every $1 they spend above that threshold, the Rockets will save about $0.125 on Fisher's buyout this year.
Watch us sneak into the playoffs as the 8th seed and play the Thunder close for 7 games but ultimately get defeated because of clutch shots/plays from Fisher.
I always thought teams should write in a clause upon buyout that states the released player cannot play against the team that bought them out in the playoffs. The first time it came to mind was when the Jazz did Fisher a favor and let him sign with LA. He shouldn't have been able to play the Jazz that year in the playoffs.
Or we could've just kept him.... Not like we don't need depth/leadership from a clutch player who's won multiple rings. When we're scraping at the bottom of the barrel and contemplating on signing guys like Conroy.
Fisher is a traffic cone on D. He'll get his ass handed to him by CP3, Tony Parker, Conley, Lowry, Dragic, Sessions, RoddyB, Ty Lawson, Nash. Whoever they end up matched up against.