From: robert@aero.org (R. S. Statsinger)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Laker thoughts
Date: 28 Jan 1993 18:40:42 GMT
Organization: Your Guess Is As Good As Mine...
NNTP-Posting-Host: pagoda.aero.org

In article <1993Jan28.092042.61@pasadena-dc.bofa.com> centeno@pasadena-dc.bofa.com (R. CENTENO) writes:
|In article <1k6sm3$cj5@agate.berkeley.edu>, Gary Cheng writes...
|
|	I hate to say this, but the lackluster performances is a DIRECT
|	reflection on the coaching.  I guess that Pfund did not learn 
|	enough about motivation from Riley.  

I agree than Pfund is not doing the best job in the world, but I think
it's too early to consider replacing him. I'm not sure how much better
the team would be with any coach right now. The team needs some new
blood; Divac and Campbell are useless, and Anthony Peeler should
be starting with Sedale.

|	The other thing that is a
|	factor, IMHO, is that two of the three captains, Worthy and Scott,
|	do NOT get the team up like Magic did.  Magic would lay into players
|	that were not giving 100%, and usually they would respond, ie.
|	how he would get Vlade to play.  Worthy and Scott need to do that as
|	captains.  

Indeed. Unfortunately it's not reasonable to expect them to be part of
the solution when they're in fact part of the problem.

|	did last year when they had a crappy season also.  Last year they
|	sould have just given up and taken their chances on the Lottery,

Can't believe you are still espousing that kind of crap. I hope the
team never finds out that you claim to be a Laker fan.

|	could you imagine what would have happened if they got the #1 pick?

Oh, will you puh-LEEEEEZE cease and desist from this garbage? How the
HELL can you indulge this kind of wet-dream nonsense? If the Lakers
were the "last" team in the lottery, their odds of getting first
pick would be something like 1 in 64, and this Laker-centric thinking
that somehow The Gods will deliver unto the Lakers "The Top Pick" by
Divine Province is nauseating and embarrassing.

|	I think maybe they would have selected...well..let me think...
|	perhaps Shaq.  Maybe they sould go for the lottery this year, and
|	do some extensive dealing.

Maybe you should become a Maverick fan.

|	Keep...	
|		Peeler    (Superstar someday)
|		Campbell  (Could be really good with PT)
|		Threat    (Major asset to team)
|		Cooper    (Too bad its not Michael...Cccoooooopppp!)
|	    	Edwards   (Good Backup!!!)
|                Green     (if not traded to clippers)
|		*Manning  (if trade rumor goes)
|		*Norman   (if trade rumor goes)
|
|	Trade/Waive/Lose to Free Agency...
|
|		Vlade     (Project gone BAD!!!!)
|		Scott     (Don't let the door hit you in the ass!!!)
|		Worthy    (Sorry, but just not the same after surgery.
|			   Still love you, but for the good of the team.
|			   Your Jersy will be retired someday!)
|		Perkins	  (Great trade bait, will bring somebody good in
|			   return.  Again, Sorry.)

This seems to be just about right on, except I don't think that Campbell's
gonna make it, no matter how much PT he gets. He apparently has no
work ethic, practices long-rang jump shots instead of post-up moves during
practise, and has "bad hands" (ie doesn't catch/hold the ball very well).

I'm not sure if I like the rumored trade with the Clippers. I think
Manning is a headcase and a crybaby. Shit, one of the best up-front
selling points about Larry Brown when the Clips went and got him was
that he & Manning had such a good historical relationship. I think it
was a brilliant move by the Clips (one of the few they've ever made in
their entire history, along with trading away Scott), and now Manning 
has decided that he doesn't even like Brown anymore. What a jerk. If I 
were the Clips, I'd find the name of the team to which Manning would LEAST 
like to be traded, and dump him there. Also, the Clipper deal would force 
Vlade to again be the Lakers' "Center of the Future", and I don't think any
of us are ready for that. If blood has to be let, let's at least 
get a center out of the deal.

The other side of the coin is, of course, the painful decision that
the Lakers have to make: who among Worthy, Perkins, and Green do you
trade? It's gonna hurt anyway you look at it. Whoever has to be
sacrificed, I hope West just throws in Byron Scott for the helluvit.
Green's gonna be a free agent soon - I think after this season.
I guess all we can do is hang on and see where the chips fall.

					R.S.