Lakers Trade Payton

[DaytonBuck]

Lakers trade Gary Payton, 1st Round Pick, Cash and Rick Fox for Marcus Banks, Chucky Atkins, 2nd Round Pick and Chris Mihm. I hope Kobe is happy being the man in LA.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1853576

[antosu]

This was a great move by the Lakers.

They may lose rookie big man Douthit to felony fraud charges, and they only had one pg, Payton who is on a fast decline. They get rid of Fox and Payton for two pg's and a true center. Atkins, Banks, and Chris Mihm. They just became bigger and deeper which are big needs in the west. But if they lose Douthit, they will still have 17 names on there roster. They need to get rid of a few guy's and try to get Peja from Sac.

[Jaxbuck]

They just became deeper, faster, younger, better defensively and now only have 1 superstar ego. IMO, Mitch Kup is doing a fine job of converting this team over to a passible facsimile of the Bulls that surrounded Jordan. (no one freak out, I didn't say they were anywhere near that good just built along the same lines)

Also now it looks like Douthit is going to get probation and a fine if he rats out some big fish.

All in all I don't think we have seen the last move from the Lake show and while they probably won't be a title threat this year they certainly appear to be a playoff caliber team on paper.

[antosu]

I think they will be a contender. 4th or 5th best in the west

[jenkinswoody]

God..... How I miss my '80's Showtime Lakers.

[antosu]

The 80's Lakers were fun to watch. I have a feeling about this team they are patching together. They are deep and have only 1 alpha male now. (kobe) So chemistry should be there. Tey have obtained the size they need to compete out west and they have guards hangin out of there butt. But the difference maker will be Odom. He causes so many mismatches. It will be hard to double Kobe when Odom is on the floor.

[osugrad21]

Originally Posted by antosu

It will be hard to double Kobe when Odom is on the floor.

Harder than when Shaq was in the post?

[antosu]

osugrad,

I think that it is a misconception that Shaq made it easy for kobe. When you are a sg, the man who double teams you comes from the man who is defending the pg or the sf most of the time. No big man is leaving Shaq open to go stick kobe on the perimeter. Detroit was able to double and tripple team kobe with their pg and sf because Payton and Fox/George were not a threat at all. But with the talent spread out instead of having only two effective scorers, folks better think twice about doubling kobe. If they continue to try it, Kobe will average 8 or 9 assist per game.

The Lakers will beat the Heat on Christmas and will be a better team and Look for Kobe to fill up the stat sheet in every category.