Again, there are some matchup that are not reciprocal.
ie : prince will guard kobe, kobe will guard rip, rip will guard georges, georges will guard prince.
I think this series could be hard for kobe, cause prince is a long defender, whose only task will be to bother him. At the same time, he'll have to run after rip through numerous screens. Rip is also a guy that is dangerous from all over the floor.
you're right about payton, he'll be embarrassed this time again. not only by billups but also by lindsey hunter.
Meanwhile in the paint, they still have both wallaces and okur + campbell (still there i think) to man the basket. a lot of big bodies. At he very last, they could use milicic.