Comments on: Preview & Chat: The Utah Jazz

By: Antwonomous

Antwonomous — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:51:26 +0000

Oh sorry about that, Bernie, I meant Aaron. And Aaron I guess you weren’t talking to me and anyways, we’re all part of the same Lakers family. Peace.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:22:39 +0000

Bernie,
I am sorry… I wasn’t trying to be demeaning. I was seriously just thinking maybe you were too young to be a fan back then. Sorry for the confusion.

By: PJ

PJ — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:05:08 +0000

The funny thing about Samaki Walker is that he dominates on NBALive 2002.

By: alex v.

alex v. — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:54:00 +0000

I don’t think Samaki Walker was that bad. He certainly wasn’t a turnover waiting to happen. He usually put up decent numbers and stayed out of Shaq’s way (a non-trivial skill). And it’s worth noting that he almost always played well against the Spurs (in part due to the fact that he had played with the Spurs before coming to the Lakers).

All of those championship teams had Horry finishing at PF, so I don’t think it’s quite right to portray them as a team in flux at that position.

It will never show up in the stats, but I always thought one of the things that stood out about guys like Fish, Fox, Horry (not to mention Shaw and Harper) was that they always played well under pressure. Not just hitting the big shots (though obviously that stood out), but that fact that these guys didn’t make many mistakes. I remember a lot of big runs fueled because the Lakers were getting quality looks every time while not giving up anything easy at the other end.

By: Not Charlie Rosen

Not Charlie Rosen — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:05:30 +0000

I’ll put it this way:

Samaki Walker < Kwame/Travis Knight/Medvedenko/slightly-off-balance-folding-chair

It would be hard for a line-up of all-time greats to compensate for him, let alone a team with 2 greats and two beloved-if-somewhat-average (Fox and Fisher) players.

Thank god for Big Shot Rob.

By: Mimsy

Mimsy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:00:12 +0000

Also, Kelly Dwyer on last night's win: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Behind-the-Box-Score-where-the-champs-skunked-t?urn=nba,207897#remaining-content

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:59:30 +0000

New post up.

By: Mimsy

Mimsy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:54:32 +0000

Wouldn’t anyone find it amazing to win a championship with Samaki Walker in the starting lineup?

Wouldn’t that depend on who the other starters were?

I wasn’t following NBA basketball at all until fall of 2004, but I’ve been led to believe that the other four starters on the 2001 Laker team were fairly good.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:45:48 +0000

Antwonomous,

I think there’s some confusion with the comments. I never have or ever will question anyone’s fandom or their love for the Lakers. Aaron was directing those comments to me.

My point was that for all the clamor about the Lakers PG situation, it was nothing like back then with the PFs. At least now, there’s some stability with Fisher but it was truely amazing in those championship years to win with 3 different and frankly, below average starting PFs. Wouldn’t anyone find it amazing to win a championship with Samaki Walker in the starting lineup?

@Aaron, yes I was a Laker fan back then and still am a Laker fan today. I even owned and treasured a basketball signed by Tony Smith of all people. There’s no need to demean comments.

By: sbdunks

sbdunks — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:45:15 +0000

Woohoo, pop the bubbly! Dude was right, we are now number 1 on Hollinger’s Power Rankings.

/sarcasm

Actually, the thing I see that I like most on Hollinger’s rankings is our strength of schedule ranking; we are tied for 5th (with Detroit) at .536, while the east contenders (cough, pretenders) are as follows:
Cleveland – 25th – .466
Orlando – 26th – .466
Boston – 27th – .460

Rounding out the list is our old friends, the Thuggets (.411), those big bad junior high bullys who beat up elementary school kids for their milk money. Yes, yes we were one of those kids earlier this season, but as Pop said before, back to back @Den is a scheduled loss