Results tagged “garypayton”

At the heart of the swirling vortex of NBA trade rumors this week is a whopper involving the Lakers -- the chance to bring in All-Star point guard Jason Kidd. It’s the big topic on local and national sports talk radio, basketball message boards and barstool conversations. It’s the sports talk equivalent of Anna Nicole this week. You probably don’t want to be Kidd’s wife, but being his teammate makes a lot of sense for...

Dear LAist,

You made Shaq leave LA. You made Payton leave LA. You even made Coach Jackson leave LA (temporarily, as life is an ebb and flow, etc.)

Malone redefined his position after years of perfecting the pick-and-roll with John Stockton, but when he came to LA, he redefined himself. LAist is still convinced that if Malone were healthy, the Lakers would have beaten Detroit for the title. With Kobe and Shaq squabbling all season, and Gary Payton looking dead, Malone handled the West's best power forwards defensively, while doing every little thing that the rest of the team seemed incapable of. Without Malone, the Lakers had no answer for Rasheed and Ben Wallace, and could not prevent the Pistons from running the floor.

Now even as an ex-Laker, Payton is wreaking havoc. After demanding a trade out of LA, Payton rescinded it, and now refuses to play for the Celtics. His failure to take a physical has cost the Lakers Marcus Banks and a second round draft pick.

The truth is that "The Glove" never fit in LA. Despite coming to the Lakers knowing they ran the triangle and that he'd be the third or fourth option, he complained relentlessly about the triangle and being the third or fourth option, once saying "I didn't sign up for this s---." But by the time the NBA Finals rolled around even he admitted a lack of confidence as his uncharacteristically porous defense led to Chauncey Billups picking up a Finals MVP Award.

So now let's recap everything for you: 1.) Gary Payton takes less money to play for the Lakers knowing full well they run the triangle offense, that in all likelihood he'll be 4th (or at best 3rd) option, and that he's expected to play the great defense which earned him the nickname "The Glove."

After turning the basketball world upside down for the past few days, Mike Krzyzewski has calmed everything down, by opting to remain at Duke. Perhaps Coach K really does want to go to the NBA, but has little interest in being a part of the Lakers psychodrama. Perhaps, he's just happy ruling over college basketball. But whatever the reason, this is probably not great news for the Lakers.

While Tomjanovich is no Phil Jackson, this is good news for Lakers fans. In today's NBA, there is no coaching job more strenuous and complex than the Lakers', and Jerry Buss could not get away with handing the keys to the franchise over to a less-experienced coach like Jim Cleamons, Kurt Rambis, or Brian Shaw.