Bucks game was the last straw!!!!

[Diesel]

The only thing that Kept the Kings from beating the [censored] out of the spurs was that Webber got hurt.

The Kings have reloaded, Stronger than before. It's really scary when you think about it...

Peeler is the best Shooter in the nba.

Peja is second best.

Bibby is rated the best PG in the nBA.

Jackson is the best 6th man.

Christie is definitely in decline but he's still grabbing 1.63 steals per...

And They're awaiting 24/12 from Webber in a few days!

[censored].

As a team, they're already averaging 105 ppg, shooting 48 percent from the field....

Yeah, just wait til the playoffs....

IF you thought San Antonio beat the Lakers, wait til the Kings get them in the playoffs. It might end up 4-1. Hopefully, there won't be any of those phantom calls and no Horry to save them this time...

[chillzatl]

THe lakers have no bench? Where have you been?

Fisher, Medvendenko, russel and Grant is a pretty nice bunch to have on your bench. [censored], they were just commenting on TNT last night at how good their bench is. I didn't need to hear it last night to know it either. They've got some good, veteren players on their bench. Players with lots of finals and playoff experience. Their bench is good enough that they could suffer the loss of ANY ONE of their starters and not fall off that much.

Once again the finals will be decided in the western conference playoffs. The only team that stands a chance of beating them is the Spurs. The spurs aren't anywhere near their full potential yet. By the end of the season, they will be clicking and then we'll see what happens.

[macdaddy]

Chillzatl your dreaming. Players in the 80s may have been more disciplined, better coached or play better as a team, but just like all sports players just get more talented as time goes by. How could they be getting worse?

Watch a game from the 80s. Open 15 foot jumpers are there for the taking. Players take position on the low post without 300 pound guys pushing them out to the 3 point line.

The game is so much more intense so much more difficult to score nowadays. These Lakers would run over any team from the 80s. And I hate the Lakers.

[Plainview1981]

I'm saying

PG:Nick Van Exel

SG:Kobe Bryant

SF:Eddie Jones

PF:Elden Campbell

C:Shaq

Fisher

Rick Fox

Jon Barry

Robert Horry

Sean Rooks

Shouls be better than:

Payton

Kobe

George

Malone

Shaq

Fisher

Russell

Walton

Grant

Remember Payton and Malone are passed their primes

i guess it's a matter of

Gary Payton/Malone/Grant vs. Van Exel/Jones Campbell/Horry

[Plainview1981]

hillzatl your dreaming. Players in the 80s may have been more disciplined, better coached or play better as a team, but just like all sports players just get more talented as time goes by. How could they be getting worse?

Watch a game from the 80s. Open 15 foot jumpers are there for the taking. Players take position on the low post without 300 pound guys pushing them out to the 3 point line.

The game is so much more intense so much more difficult to score nowadays. These Lakers would run over any team from the 80s. And I hate the Lakers."

There isn't many current NBA players that have much basketball talent...Most are just trackstars wearing a

NBA jersey.

Today's team would compete with the top 80's team

about like the "Dream Team" did two years ago againest

the forgien teams. Don't you guys learn? That tournament

exposed USA's lack of talent.

[chillzatl]

See, I used to be one of tohse people that thought just like you do.

THe players today are in better shape, they are more athletic, etc. They would dominate players from past eras...

But tha'ts a buncha BS. In the best years the NBA ever had, athletecism was pretty damned far down the list of importance when it came to a players ability. SHooting, passing, knowledge of the game. Those things were what mattered and the game was better.

Now all you hear about is athleticism and hops and potential. Players in the past got a good 3-4 years of apprenticeship before coming to the nba. When they got here they knew how to shoot, knew how to run of screens, knew how to play defense.

Why do you think all the euro prospects are getting so much notice these days? For that very reason. They know how to shoot, they know how to play the game. They are more complete players because they've spent 3-4 years of their lives playing high quality organized ball.

Wake up and smell the coffee. The nba isn't intense anymore. It's slow and boring and full of players that can't shoot and teams that don't know how to play.

You want to talk about intense, watch the Pistons and Celtics play on ESPN classic. That's [censored] intense, good basketball. Todays lakers would be a very good team in that era. Simply because they have players that play the same way those players did. But they would not dominate the good teams of the 80s, they would simply be one of them.

[TheDude]

the thing is guys, i like hearing that as well as anyone from JT, but think of this....

Stephen Jackson calls out his team after a blowout loss, he plays hard, the rest don't play well, they lose.

Reef says he's going to "man up" and he does but the rest of the team doesn't play well, they lose.

JT does the same thing and I have to honestly say I don't see that being a turnaround point.

What has to happen is this..they all need to play hard every single game. even if we are way out of contention to make the playoffs, they should be playing hardcore every night and make the other team work. They also need to play smart and confident which isn't happening...

basically, talk is cheap..not only should they have already been playing that way to win, but even if they keep losing, they need to play that way.

[Plainview1981]

Agreed 100% with Chillz. That's why it's so hard to

watch this flawed team the Hawks have. I've never

seen a worse display of "pro basketball" since I started

watching.

[Diesel]

You're right...

And the funny thing is that neither team are going to the championship game.

That team with Jones, Shaq, and all those were vandalized by one team...

The Jazz.

Utah met the Lakers everytime in the playoffs... ANd this is what happened.

Stockton got Very Physical with NVE... NVE couldn't play well when he felt that he was being mistreated by the Refs and he was... Stockton would push NVE off a Pick and get a foul called on NVE.

Malone took advantage of Lazy Shaq. Lazy Shaq would not step out and defend Malone on the pick and Roll and Malone brutalized the Lakers.

There were side things that was happening too:

1. Elden's heartless play.

2. Kobe's sabatoge... It was like Kobe would sabatoge a game so that he could come in and save it.

3. Jone's disappearing act when he was being played by Russell. This also surprised me. Jones was faster, better defender, better shooter.. BUT would totally disappear.

This team's problem will be:

Bench. They have none.

Once you go past Shaq, Kobe, Payton, and Malone... What's next... That's going to mean alot. The Kings are coming. They will run run run... They will be Physical. They will also sub. I don't know if the Lakers can stop the Kings from attacking.... And once the starters are winded, Phil has not really set up a second team that can play long stretches...

[Plainview1981]

The Kings aren't talented enough and they are always

soft. You've blah blah blah that the Kings would beat

the Lakers every year and they haven't done it. THe

Spurs got lucky last year and met a bunch of injuried

teams. Nobody should even take the Spurs championship

last year seriousally.

It isn't like the Kings are deep. They have Bobby Jackson

and nothing else. THe Lakers starting lineup is FAR better

than the Kings.

Payton/Bibby=Payton

Kobe/Peja=Kobe

George/Christie=Christie by a small margin

Malone/Webber=Webber by a small margin

Shaq/Brad Miller-Please

Both benches are weak now.

Fisher and Bobby Jackson aren't that much difference...

[Weez]

Part of the "popularity" problem is with all the power being out west as well.

it's a known dogma, like it or not, that the media is east coast biased. I can't watch/finish most west coast games, even living in central time. Most casual fans are trained to think that a) Western teams are where it's at b) if they're playing eastern teams, the eastern team won't be able to compete (even if it's on their on court).

this leads to decreased interest. LeBron would have helped...and did for a bit...but then his team never won a game and the thrill died.

[Traceman]

was when he's 60! When is the last time Campbell had a triple double?

As for NVE vs. GP, NVE is a good offensive PG but Payton is still better and defensively, GP will be better at 60 than NVE has ever been. Malone and GP are FOR SURE first ballot HOF players and neither Cambell or NVE will ever be in the HOF.

Eddie Jones is definitely better than George but Malone and GP are so much better than Campbell and Van Exel that he wouldn't make up for the difference.

[Plainview1981]

Payton is not that good of a defender anymore. Remember

just two years ago when Tony Parker slaughtered Payton?

That part of his game has declined. And what did Payton

do for the Bucks last year? He surely didn';t improve them

once he got there.

The otherteam should be better because you have 5 really

good players starting and not just 4. And that bench was

stronger with a younger Fox/Horry coming off the bench

as opposed to scrubs like Luke Walton/Bryon Russell and

Horce Grant. Depth counts for something.

[Weez]

Walton's a perfect fit for that team really...and Fox (who I loathe) will be back before too too long...

the thing about the Lakers...they can lose any one player and not miss a BEAT. The worst one to lose is GP, but when you can trot out that lineup...it just doesn't matter...

[Plainview1981]

Well Fox was a decent player with Boston and his first

two years with the Lakers. But he really isn't that good

anymore...I take a crap on Luke Waltons skills. He's LA's

new Mark Madsen.

[Traceman]

As for Payton not improving the Bucks, George Karl destroyed that team with his ego not to mention that Ray Allen, Milwaukee's best player, went to SEA in the GP trade.

Who said that Elden Campbell was a "really good" player? More like "really inconsistent." As for Horry, was he there when NVE and Eddie Jones were in LA?

[Plainview1981]

Whatever excuses you got to throw out...The Bucks where

still a mediocre team IN THE EAST even with the all great

Gary Payton. Campbell was a good player......

As for Horry...

http://www.nba.com/lakers/stats/stats_1996.html

http://www.nba.com/lakers/stats/stats_1997.html

Btw, that team averaged 105PPG on 48% shooting..Lets

seem if this years Lakers do that...