Lakers end of a dynasty or retooling to begin another?

I think the same too. Shaq's and Kobe's egos are not going to be able to coexist when they are not winning.

If I pick one to go, I would pick Shaq, NO-BRAINER. Kobe's much younger, rising and on a much cheaper contract (compared to Shaq's) while Shaq's old and declining and his contract kills the Lakers' cap room.

 

I think Kidd will DEFINTELY stay at New Jersey. We will see.

 

Yeah, that's what I think will happen too but you never know!!Jason Kidd really wants to win a ring.

 

That would be a tough team to play against!!

 

i wont count on the rockets doing any damage in the playoffs for a while but id love to watch a retooled lakers battle a retooled spurs next season. the lakers are gonna be cheap and get a bunch of new talent based on their popularity and the spurs with whoever they get thats awesome (theyre good at getting role-players too for some reason). itll be fun to watch but im goin with the spurs as the lesser of two evils.

and if the spurs get someone else either o'neil or kidd, why wouldnt robinson come back for another season to win some more titles?? hes playing great

 

I think you could blame a lot of this on Jerry Buss, the cheap owner who refused to sign anyone worth a damn in the offseason. With the Lakers eeking out a win over the Kings, I would have expected LA to try and improve on their roster.

Instead, Buss stands pat, and the Lakers get surpassed by the Spurs, who did major changes to their roster.

Credit the Spurs and Kings for retooling their rosters, while Jerry Buss pinched pennies.

If Buss opens up his wallet and gets a decent FA via MCE or adds some much needed depth, then LA will be a contender again.

I think it would be premature to break up Kobe and Shaq. They aren't the problem. The problem is having guys like Madsen, Medvedenko, Pargo, etc playing in crunch time, when they should be 12th men.

 

Why do people think LA lost because of Kobe and Shaq not being able to co-exist?

Hello, they won 3 rings together... And they aren't over the hill...

The main problem is that LA relied WAY too much on those 2 guys, and eventually it caught up to them. LA has the worst depth in the NBA. After Kobe and Shaq, only Fox would start on half of the NBA teams, if that many at all. They just lack guys who can create shots, other than Kobe. Pippen would be just what the Dr. ordered, if they can land him. They just need him to step up for a 5-10 min or so stretch a game, whenever Kobe or Shaq are out of hte game, or when they aren't clicking.

Clearly, a 3rd wheel is needed for LA.

 

Good, they should get Pippen and Malone, and maybe get Stockton out of retirement too. So we can focus all our hatred on just one team.

Sorry, I'm too excited with the Lakers loss.

 

You know what I suspect? (If someone posted this, sorry if I missed it.)

Charlotte's new team. First African-American NBA owner (Robert JOhnson? Is that his name?)

Michael Jordan, likely to be Director of basketball ops, GM, something.

Kobe's contract up in one year. Kobe = very competitive. MJ? Same.

They can sign Kobe, maybe Elton Brand (Duke alumni), etc. Charlotte might be the team to watch; and it isn't even a team yet.

 

KG for Shaq is crazy if you are Minn [unless u get a bunch of draft picks too ]

I would trade a star for Shaq but not a young superstar

I probably would not trade Yao for Shaq . . .
I would pause. . but i would not do it.

it is not so much Shaq . .. as that CONTRACT!
and the future

Rocket River

 

I agree. It would be scary if they did this.

 

I bet that there WILL BE a power struggle between Kobe and Shaq at LA this summer. It happened EVERY TIME when Lakers were not winning.

Besides, no matter who they add with their MLE this summer if this current Shaq and Kobe Lakers don't get past the Spurs this year, well obviously they won't next year, the year after or in the near future either.

For this year, Spurs > Lakers.
For the next few years, Spurs + a max player/2 mid salary players > Lakers + a MLE player + Shaq getting 1 year older.

Why can't anyone see this? Hoping some MLE guys and some late draft picks help you get over the haul is like hoping for miracle.

Most sports fans are like that. They are afraid of CHANGES. They always talk about "next year", don't realize that next year is not automatically equal to better. They think players will automatically get better every year and their teams will automatically get better every year. They conveniently ignored that while young players get 1 more year of experience, old players get 1 year older too (and older = worse + more injury prone). And if your teams have more old players than young players, well you will only get WORSE every year, NOT BETTER.

Lakers are like that. They are an old team. Things won't get dramatically better WITHOUT MAJOR CHANGES.

Also, 1 more point. If they keep the current team, I highly doubt that Lakers are able to get Gary Payton, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone and alike.

It's obvious last summer that Lakers owner WERE NOT INTERESTED in adding payroll and paying luxury tax. So I doubt that he will suddenly be interested this summer either.

So the only way of making major change without adding payroll points to the one and only solution, i.e. TRADE one of their superstars = Shaq.

No, Lakers WON'T let Kobe go. Kobe is the present and the future of the LA Lakers franchise and they know it.

You know what? I think this "Kobe to Memphis" and "Kobe to Charlotte" rumours were actually CREATED by Kobe and Kobe's agent.

DO NOT underestimate Kobe's huge ego. He doesn't want to be in the shadow of Shaq. He wants to win AND be the main man by doing so. Especially when it's proved that the team with Shaq as the main man was NOT winning anymore.

So this kind of created rumour sent a message to the Lakers organization, "Do you want me to stay? If yes, you better build a team around me!".

So it's either Shaq OR Kobe at LA. And you can bet that if there is a power struggle between Kobe and Shaq (and I think it will happen this summer -- as I said, it always happened when the team was not winning), Lakers organization will DEFINITELY side by the younger guy with a cheaper contract, i.e. Kobe.

So the solution to all this is TRADE SHAQ. Keep Kobe happy by making the Kobe the main guy and surround him with players who are WILLING to defer to Kobe.

I agree that Shaq has an ENORMOUS contract, and he's not getting any younger. I actually think Lakers missed the boat LAST summer. The best time to trade Shaq was probably LAST summer, they could probably get a superstar AND another good player but THIS summer, you can still get a lot for him, he's still rated by many 1 of the best 5 players in the league, namely ONLY a superstar. Well KG who has an ENORMOUS contract too is very gettable.

Both Lakers and T-Wolves needed CHANGES. Both are not going anywhere with their current rosters. As I said earlier, hoping some MLE guys and some late draft picks help you get over the haul and hoping things dramatically improve is like well... hoping for miracle.

Do you remember Jason Kidd for Stephon Marbury? It has happened before. It can happen again.

I am not saying that it's something great. I am just saying that it's something having a CHANCE of happening. A very good chance.

 

Lakers have an interesting dilemna. Kobe is going to get the money for sure but beyond that what drives him is what will be his legacy. He wants to surplant MJ as the greatest player of all-time. He does that by being the dominant player in the league on the dominant team in the league for many seasons.

Kobe must be royally pissed at Shaq now for basically screwing up a chance at another ring and one more notch on his legacy. It may not have happened anyways but Shaq not taking care of business last summer, gettineg his surgery out of the way as soon as possible and coming into camp in good shape put them in a hole and made an old team work hard and wear out before the playu-offs even began. All this while Kobe was busting his hump all last summer getting ready for the 4-peat and busting his hump in the regular season and play-offs to give the Lakers what chance they had.

Now you have Kobe going into the '04 season with a player option and Shaq with a player option in '05. You have to figure Kobe is going to talking to Buss and asking "What are your plans for the future so if I re-up I know I'm going to be on a competitive team so I can build my legacy and not be stuck on a team like KG or TMac in a couple of years".

You know Kobe's got to be wondering "Which way is Shaq going? Is he continuing on the Kemp, Baker trajectory of physical fitness or is he willing to re-commit, lose weight and get in shape?" "Even if Shaq does re-commit if he re-ups in '05 will his salary hamstring the Lakers and leave us in the same postion with an inadequate bench and on top of that a declining Shaq/"

Buss and the front office is going to have work hard to come up with to a plan to make the Lakers competitive and Kobe happy. He might figure out a short term fix but if that fix jeopradizes the intermediate and long term, Kobe may look at the future and see that it's better elsewhere. Maybe West saw the writing on the wall.

 

You say "Duke Alumni" as if it means something here... It does, if you count that MJ went to CAROLINA, duke's #1 enemy..

 

The Lakers were playing without their starting 3, with the back up 3 Devean George playing on a bad ankle, with Phil Jackson struggling for his health, with Robert Horry shooting 0-18 for 3's but logged 30 minutes a game in this series. Luck swayed to the Spurs way and that's a fact. Luck is part of winning but not something that can be counted on into next year. Next year the Lakers may not be so unlucky. Injuries aren't excuses, judging a team's future based on a depleted roster is. The Lakers aren't over, they have a chance coming back. Although the odds is against them, the Lakers aren't gonna fall over and die. Off season moves on respective teams are the key here. The Spurs are definitely gonna to improve for their cap room abundancy, but if either PJ Brown or Karl Malone land on the Lakers laps. Game over.

 

I don't understand why some people think that adding Jermaine O'neal would turn the Spurs into a Dynasty. I mean Jermaine is good and all but is he really THAT GOOD? So you have Duncan move to center and O'neal as PF. Sounds nice but I think O'neal would fit a lot better on several other teams (i.e Magic) . Either Duncan or O'neals if not boths stats are going to decrease since theyre so repetitive ( both big men who nearly if not avg. double-doubles.)

 

If Kobe or Shaq were gonna leave, it would be too a large market. I think Chicago or NYC are the only cities left that are high-profile enough for either of them, hell, maybe only New York.

 

I really hope Jemaine O' Neal either stays with the Pacers or go to Orlando. I would like to see a dominante East team. I would hate the thought of him going to the Spurs. I mean enough already with the boring Spurs being with one star player with cap room and possibly winning the title..ugggh. i could see Jermaine go to Orlando. Indiana blew it to perform well with that much talent (doesn't that remind you of another team). Orlando is on the rise with Mcgrady.