your right, malone and payton are prolly use to taking 12-20 shots a game. But u fail to understand that there they also contritube in other areas, Malone, is a great rebounder, decent defender and has the ability to pass. He is about as strong as they come, for his size. I think Payton has passed his prime and is on a downfall, however, he is still known as one of the top PGs who can defend, steal, rebound for his position, and take the basket to the hole.

With this said, it doesnt mean they will have this karma, but they surely have the defensive presence alone to scare many teams. The problem is, would they still be able to hit the shots with less defenders and keep a goood percentage with the limited shots compared to their careers. I think if they should they should go for a player like elden cambell once again. They have some young guys that are developing quite nice too, george, rush, pargo, and walton.

If anyone has watched last years game with lakers, they should acknowledge that lakers werent the defenders the x champions once were. Also having someone that has the ability to hit wide open shots wasnt always there. Fisher helped someitmes, sometimes it was george, horry didnt do much last year, and fox was wack after doug christie uppercutted him. generally those guys were never consistant on either ends of the court. One thing is sure, malone and payton is a great upgrade over their roster last year. I think they shoulda targeted another played rather than payton though, I see pargo and rush (although plays SG) can pick up the slack and perform if given the minutes with their shaq, kobe, malone, it really doesnt take much, just play defense and hit wide open shots....

One thing I believe is this , when guys are willing to give up cash to play somewhere else to win a title, you don't have to worry about them fitting in. The newcomers will do what ever kobe and Shaq and Jackson want them to do to help them win. Malone won't be griping and neither will Payton about shots they want and need a ring so bad all they want to do is win one title. But on the other hand the only one who might gripe about shots is Kobe, he is in his contract yr this yr.

Yeah yeah..good for them. I live here in L.A., so I hear enough Kobe-worship to last a lifetime...that's why I hang out in joints like these, where people actually know who Willis Reed is...


Now It's time to rebuild the reputation of Mecca-basketball. Let L.A. worry about L.A.


Cheers-