The argument's pretty much played out... but you did mention something that makes me curious. Kobe's 3pt % has seriously declined the last couple of years. For someone who actually does train very hard, this is strange. Part of it, I'm sure... is that nobody doubles Shaq off of Bryant anymore. But he actually does seem worse than he used to be from afar... while every other facet of his game is improved. Have any explanations for this? Makes no sense to me...
Well, I can tell someone hates Hughes, but it's not Larry Brown. Brown's comments before trading Hughes were not nearly as harsh as you characterize them. And he has said repeatedly over the past two years that he wished he had Hughes back: "I'm sick to my stomach about Larry. . . . I wish we still had him. But these young kids see other young kids playing, and they want to play, too." (Oakland Tribune, Dec. 28, 2000) "Brown has said over and over that he's 'sick that Larry's not here.' ... 'I'd love to have him on my team,' Brown said. 'I told all of you...you know how I feel about Larry.'" (Philadelphia Daily News, June 26, 2002) Given how much you "trust" Larry Brown, I'm sure this will cause you to reappraise your opinion of Hughes.
Hmmm. The only thing I can think of is that he normally doesn't shoot the 3 unless the Lakers really need the points late in the game. He's much more likely to step inside the line and drain one of those jumpers he practiced a 1000 a day or whatever, or go strong inside than pop a 3. Could be that waiting most of the game to open those up has decreased his % (as opposed to shooting evenly per quarter). Or it could be that in those games late there is more help on Kobe pushing him out a little farther than (as you said) when they were leaving him to double Shaq.
Hey, that's hitting below the belt! It's more an issue of the options available. When GS decided to give Hughes the shaft, they were already sliding toward having a top lottery pick -- and benching Hughes accelerated that process. So they didn't choose Gilbert Arenas over Hughes ... they chose whoever they could get with a top-3 draft pick (be it Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, or Andre Miller/Baron Davis in a trade) over Hughes. And Dunleavy, IMO, will be groomed to become a "point forward" (i.e., he'll initiate the halfcourt offense more often than Arenas does). If the Wizards somehow had drafted #3 and the Warriors had drafted at #11 instead, I think you'd probably have seen the Wizards drafting Dunleavy and the Warriors re-signing Hughes.
The Wizards must have signed Hughes for next year because if Jordan comes back they have Dixon Hughes Davis Jordan and Hamilton who can play the 2 also have Whitney at one. I think we might have seen the last of hughes's bad years, and jordan will mentor him (hughes) into their 2 of the future.
