It's Offical, Lakers Sign Karl Malone and Gary Payton

Like if u just break it down to individual success

yeah, exactly, individual success. they havent prove anything together, how can they be the best?

That and neither Shaq nor Malone are in their primes...like someone said, Kandiman and Garnett, anyone? Duncan and Rasho? What Kandi and Rasho don't have, their counterparts more than make up for it...

I'll give you KG and Kandi, but Duncan and Rasho??? You have to be kidding, Duncan is good but not good enough to make Rasho look good.

duncan was 'good enough' to carry his team to the championship, making Rasho 'look good' should be no sweat

making Rasho 'look good' should be no sweat

Yeah, right....

clinton- at least back up your sarcastic remark with some valid points.

i'm not saying TD/Rasho will be the best c/pf combo next year or that Rasho will be an all star. i just think he'll have a solid season. And now with mercer and hedo on the team, i don't think the team is asking this guy to do to much...

i'm guessing blindly here, but playing with one of the game's top big men should benefit him. making rasho look good isn't such a hard task considering how duncan was able to carry an entire team to a championship. offensively, rasho's high post game should mesh well with TD's strong low post and great all around game. Perhaps this duo can be like Brad Miller & Jermaine O'Neal of this past season. Most teams the spurs will face will not have two 7ftrs so one of them will have a mismatch to exploit.

defensively, he should be more then fine taking over admiral's role. while he is nowhere close to being the defender robinson was, he is a capable shot blocker. also add to the fact he is coming to a very good defensive team (with 2 all nba defenders).

About Malone in the Lakers...which number is going to be in his jersey??
He was nº 32 in Utah, but that's Magic's retired number.
(sorry if i wrote something wrong)

(sorry if i wrote something wrong)

Stop being sorry, you don't have to.

He was nº 32 in Utah, but that's Magic's retired number.

True, Magic offered his jersey number to Malone who decided not to use it for respect to Magic but also decided to keep that Jersey with the 32 and his L-name on it. I believe he might just want to use #23

clinton- at least back up your sarcastic remark with some valid points.

i'm not saying TD/Rasho will be the best c/pf combo next year or that Rasho will be an all star. i just think he'll have a solid season. And now with mercer and hedo on the team, i don't think the team is asking this guy to do to much...

i'm guessing blindly here, but playing with one of the game's top big men should benefit him. making rasho look good isn't such a hard task considering how duncan was able to carry an entire team to a championship. offensively, rasho's high post game should mesh well with TD's strong low post and great all around game. Perhaps this duo can be like Brad Miller & Jermaine O'Neal of this past season. Most teams the spurs will face will not have two 7ftrs so one of them will have a mismatch to exploit.

defensively, he should be more then fine taking over admiral's role. while he is nowhere close to being the defender robinson was, he is a capable shot blocker. also add to the fact he is coming to a very good defensive team (with 2 all nba defenders).

I agree, I mean come on how hard could it be for Rasho to look better on a team with Duncan? Duncan gets all the double teams so that will leave Rasho 1-1 or wide open on some plays plus Since the entire defense will be focused on Duncan that will leave Rasho free to get the Orebs....it is common knowledge(atleast for intellegent ppl) that when an average player plays with a Superstar they automaticly become better.
This is why the Lakers tandem of Shaq & Kobe worked so well, because each one took attention away from the other thus making it harder to focus on one player. Kandi should blossom in Minny as well since he will not be the target of the other team in the post, Garnett will.

Stop being sorry, you don't have to.

OK.

I believe he might just want to use #23

Like Mike. (lol)

I think the starting team that the Lakers had assembled is pretty impressive. (duhh... who didn't notice?) but I'm not so certain that it will work.

I know that basketball isn't soccer but here in Brazil it happened a lot:
a team hired many superstars and didn't won anything because of
ego clashes, no depth benches and no tactics apropriated to fully use the skills of the players... so it could happen with L.A..

Besides Kobe, all the others are past their prime and GP and Karl are aging faster . Unless the Lakers get a good bench and avoid injuries, they're beatable.

clinton- at least back up your sarcastic remark with some valid points.

Kevin Garnett couldn't make Nesterovic look good, don't think Duncan will. Players can only be made to look good by their teammates to a certain extent. If Rasho wants to get the most advantage from playing with Duncan he has to improve his shooting and his movement on offence. He is going to get plenty of open looks like Robinson used to, he has to be able to hit consistently. I think the Spurs should have made a run at Miller, he is a better shooter and has a better understanding of the game.

i'm not saying TD/Rasho will be the best c/pf combo next year

I know you didn't, Shane did. I was talking to him, I don't really understand why you answered like I was talking to you.

i'm guessing blindly here, but playing with one of the game's top big men should benefit him.

Didn't he just leave Minnesota were he played with Kevin Garnett one of the game's top big men?

making rasho look good isn't such a hard task considering how duncan was able to carry an entire team to a championship.

Yeah,cause all those other Spurs were chumps....

Quote:
i'm guessing blindly here, but playing with one of the game's top big men should benefit him.


Didn't he just leave Minnesota were he played with Kevin Garnett one of the game's top big men?

Quote:
clinton- at least back up your sarcastic remark with some valid points.


Kevin Garnett couldn't make Nesterovic look good, don't think Duncan will.

Quote:
making rasho look good isn't such a hard task considering how duncan was able to carry an entire team to a championship.


Yeah,cause all those other Spurs were chumps....

I think comparing KG and TD in this specific discussion supports my argument even more. KG talentwise may be just as talented or maybe even more talented then TD, but he is not the dominant force that Duncan. true, KG is one of the games best big men. but KG has never brought a team past the first round, while Duncan has a better track record. also- his team's talent was arguably just as good the twolves this past season and he was able to lead them to finals.

i do agree that rasho needs to improve his movement on offense. in terms of his shooting, he did have a pretty good year (52.5 fg%).

on a side note- TD said that rasho was the player he wanted the spurs to bring in all along. while Duncan's no expert in scouting or talent evaluating, rasho's signing should make TD happy

and finally. prolly irrelevant but i'll comment on it anyway

Quote:
i'm not saying TD/Rasho will be the best c/pf combo next year


I know you didn't, Shane did. I was talking to him, I don't really understand why you answered like I was talking to you.

i guess next time i want to join in on a discussion in a public forum that involves you, i'll ask your permission first

Besides Kobe, all the others are past their prime and GP and Karl are aging faster . Unless the Lakers get a good bench and avoid injuries, they're beatable.

You make it sound like Shaq, Malone, and Payton are washed up vets. They're past their prime but they're still all-stars. You can barely tell the decline in their stats. Payton and Malone rarely if never miss games or injure themselves.

I think Malone's number is supposed to be #11. That's what I heard. He wore it on the Dream Team and in high school or something.

Kevin Garnett couldn't make Nesterovic look good, don't think Duncan will. Players can only be made to look good by their teammates to a certain extent. If Rasho wants to get the most advantage from playing with Duncan he has to improve his shooting and his movement on offence. He is going to get plenty of open looks like Robinson used to, he has to be able to hit consistently. I think the Spurs should have made a run at Miller, he is a better shooter and has a better understanding of the game.

I live in Iowa, as you know, about 4 hours from Minneapolis and the Target Center. I went to four Twolves games last year, and I've seen a fair amount on TV. One of the games was against Detroit, and Rasho had a double-double, if I remember right. Now tell me, just how many Twolves games have you seen? I doubt you've even seen him play, so you can't say anything about his shooting and movement on offense without seeing him play. If you did see him play, it was against Shaq in the playoffs...and Shaq makes almost everyone look bad.

Rasho's considered one of the up and coming centers in the league and Minnesota main goal in the offseason (well, before the Cassell trade) was to resign Rasho, but the Spurs got him. He has range out to almost 20 feet and moves very well without the ball, and he's a pretty good offensive rebounder. He's developing very well and I think he gained some muscle from the first game I went to to the last one (then again, I had better seats at the last game).

for me it's strange to see malone wearing #11...all most 20 years he wears #32 and then #11...just imagine him wearing number 11!

KG talentwise may be just as talented or maybe even more talented then TD, but he is not the dominant force that Duncan. true, KG is one of the games best big men. but KG has never brought a team past the first round, while Duncan has a better track record. also- his team's talent was arguably just as good the twolves this past season and he was able to lead them to finals.

I don't think comparing their playoff records is very fair for Garnett. The Spurs were a more talented team than the Wolves this past season.

i guess next time i want to join in on a discussion in a public forum that involves you, i'll ask your permission first

Again, read my post properly. I did not tell you not to add to the discussion, I told you not to reply to one of my posts when I am addressing someone else's quote.

I live in Iowa, as you know, about 4 hours from Minneapolis and the Target Center. I went to four Twolves games last year, and I've seen a fair amount on TV. One of the games was against Detroit, and Rasho had a double-double, if I remember right.

That is one game. I know Rasho has potential, but all I have been saying is he has to improve on a few aspects of his game and on his consistency.

Now tell me, just how many Twolves games have you seen? I doubt you've even seen him play, so you can't say anything about his shooting and movement on offense without seeing him play. If you did see him play, it was against Shaq in the playoffs...and Shaq makes almost everyone look bad.

I saw about 4 or 5 Wolves games on Austar this past season and that is why I am commenting on his shooting and movement on offence. He looked lost on offence many times and needed to improve the consistency on his short to mid range jumper. He has a pretty good grasp of defence and is a decent blocker. I don't comment on something or someone if i haven't seen it or them play...

Rasho's considered one of the up and coming centers in the league and Minnesota main goal in the offseason (well, before the Cassell trade) was to resign Rasho, but the Spurs got him. He has range out to almost 20 feet and moves very well without the ball, and he's a pretty good offensive rebounder.

Maybe you saw different games than I did.....

That is one game. I know Rasho has potential, but all I have been saying is he has to improve on a few aspects of his game and on his consistency.

Four games, plus the dozen or so I saw on TV...and that was just last year. He's improving consistantly.

I saw about 4 or 5 Wolves games on Austar this past season and that is why I am commenting on his shooting and movement on offence. He looked lost on offence many times and needed to improve the consistency on his short to mid range jumper. He has a pretty good grasp of defence and is a decent blocker. I don't comment on something or someone if i haven't seen it or them play...

Not everyone comments only after they've see someone play, plus I know you Aussies don't get too much NBA coverage.

As for his bball IQ, it's not great, but Rasho's a helluva lot better than most centers in the NBA not named Shaq...

Four games, plus the dozen or so I saw on TV...and that was just last year. He's improving consistantly.

I meant that is one game where he got a double-double. You just took my statement the wrong way.

Not everyone comments only after they've see someone play, plus I know you Aussies don't get too much NBA coverage.

That's true, but you can normally tell they don't know what they are talking about because they make stupid comments. I don't think my comments on his shot consistency or his basketball IQ were too far off the mark.

As for his bball IQ, it's not great, but Rasho's a helluva lot better than most centers in the NBA not named Shaq...

Agreed.

KG talentwise may be just as talented or maybe even more talented then TD, but he is not the dominant force that Duncan. true, KG is one of the games best big men. but KG has never brought a team past the first round, while Duncan has a better track record. also- his team's talent was arguably just as good the twolves this past season and he was able to lead them to finals.

I don't think comparing their playoff records is very fair for Garnett. The Spurs were a more talented team than the Wolves this past season.

fair game. if you feel that way, fine. but if you compare the teams, i think saying that the talent level is pretty close isn't far-fetched.

i guess next time i want to join in on a discussion in a public forum that involves you, i'll ask your permission first

I told you not to reply to one of my posts when I am addressing someone else's quote.

this also happens frequently on this forum. i don't see why this is such a big deal to you. again, i guess next time i'll ask your permission first

this also happens frequently on this forum. i don't see why this is such a big deal to you. again, i guess next time i'll ask your permission first

I didn't make a big deal about it. You just made a smart arse remark exactly like the one above. You don't have to ask for my permission on anything. It's a free world. It just gets a little confusing when someone tells you they didn't say something when you weren't even talking to them in the first place.

Since this has turned into somewhat of a Spurs thread.
The Spurs have really improved there bench depth, and if they can manage to re-sign Stephen Jackson................. Watch out. The playoffs are about fresher bench match-ups and which team is deeper; that was apparent this season. The Lakers while there starting line-up is very strong that bench looks like it will be even weaker than this past season.

I agree with the above poster (the Brazil comparison), just look at the Raiders in football, they added every older superstar looking for a ring, and still got run when the time came.



David

Spurz aint gonna sign Jackson, he wants a long term deal and they don't wanna give a long term, only short, so they have enough cap space to go after free agents next year and/or sign ginobli to an big extension, and now they have got turk and mercer so they don't really think it's necesarry to resign jackson(though they gonna miss his temperament and 3pt shooting)i believe

L.A. Lakers

C-Shaquille O'Neal
PF-Karl Malone
SF-Kobe Bryant
SG-Gary Payton
PG-Derek Fisher

----------------------------------------------------------------------

West All-Stars

Shaq
Mailman
Carmelo
Kobe
Payton

there's no way for Melo to be in the All-star team in his first year...he'll never make it..on the other line Bron Bron might make it cuz of his popularity...