by Vasashi17 on Sat Jul 26, 2003 1:11 pm
What's your point....the Lakers depend on their role players especially Fox, Devean, Fisher and Horry because they have been with the Lakers ever since Phil, Tex, and the triangle offense came to LA. The role players new all the defensive and offensive sets and that is what made them so important to our team. Talent wise, they will get killed by the Spurs players you name off, but in our system, their role was absolutely critical. Fox was an awesome defender, knew the triangle inside out, and knew what to do to compliment Shaq and Kobe's game and that is what made him so important to us. With Fox out, and a hobbled Devean, who beside Horry and Fisher do we have left....just rookies, players that don't know the system (which is why they got limited playing time in the first place) and white boys (no offense). This is the reason everybody made such a big fuss about Horry leaving. Not only for his great clutch shooting, but because his role would be hard to fill. This is why when Malone and Payton came aboard, people still held on to their suspitions. LA does well with role players who know the system well and until Payton and Malone prove that, they will just be like JR Rider, Tracy Murray, Mitch Richmond and to some extent Glen Rice. So injuries that happen to our key role players are just as damaging to us as the players that went down for the Spurs over the years. How else could you explain that we got away with three straight championships without an even decent bench. Our role players during that championship stretch did not ever have significant injuries even though Shaq was hobbled with an arthritic pinkie toe and slashed wrist and Kobe with flus, food poisining and knee and ankle injuries...We still won because our role players were okay.
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