Deep Thought: What RevoL said there was right, but then again, I never really said otherwise. In fact, thats just a short summary of what I said in my first post. I never said in any way or implied that either SHAQ or KOBE would be an MVP candidate. I was just trying to tell you guys that just because they can win without each other; it doesnt mean they arent great players. Its funny after I posted that, I wake up today and visit espn.com only to find Kobe's picture covering the front with an article saying the same thing I did, what a coincidence. Now who's opinion is more creditable. A pack of people on an internet message board who hate the Lakers, and hate Kobe even more. Or a person who like the lakers and has espn.com and sports illustrated editors agreeing with him [this is not the first time I have used espn.com article's to back up my opinions] heres a clip from the article for your viewing pleasure...
Kobe can be and, in fact, will be one of those great team players, but as we have seen, there is only one other great player with him; the other Lakers are terribly limited or, like young Kareem Rush, too young to be of help now.
None of the current three-time world champion Lakers, not Bob Horry, not Derek Fisher, not Samaki Walker, not Rick Fox, can generate his own shot. Horry's shot takes too much time to get up, he shoots it in sections, and any good on-ball defender with enough size -- Keon Clark, let's say -- will close him out on a money look. He is not an all-court star or scorer, a point not lost on Horry when he tried to smother coach Danny Ainge with a towel on the Phoenix bench after Ainge unwisely demanded that he be one.
Samaki Walker ... we won't even discuss.
Rick Fox, great guy, terrific interview, Peja-stopper, but give him the ball, facing, with a Doug Christie in front of him, and the best option is to swing it ASAP.
So, if the ball comes into any other Laker player's hand, can he beat any defender he happens to run into, the way, say, Tracy McGrady can? Don't even take it to that high a level, just say the way an Allan Houston can, and did, when he dropped 53 points on the Lakers last Sunday?
Flatly, no. The other Lakers are utterly dependent on Kobe and Shaq to get their open shots for them. Not a one of them has the one-on-one offensive capabilities of a Dennis Johnson, a Kevin McHale, a Robert Parish, a James Worthy, a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a Byron Scott. They are limited.
