Articolo un p? lungo, ma a mio avviso interessante sui Lakers da parte di Peter Vecsey…
LAKERS HAVE HAD THEIR PHIL OF KOBE L.A. GORY:
November 7, 2006 —
FOLLOWING two straight Kobe Bryant-short successes to launch the season, Lakers fans were freakin’ feverish! Temperatures were off the thermometer! Episodes of delirium reached epidemic proportion.
All on account of a stirring about-face at Staples Center against those same trend-setting Suns who expelled the Lakers from last year’s playoffs, and an opus in Oakland so resounding, Warriors coach Don Nelson was impelled to admit it was one of the first times in his coaching career “I just didn’t know what to do.”
Lamar Odom (56 points, 22 rebounds, 15 assists) was looking like Scottie Pippen the year Michael Jordan retired for the first time.
Barely 19 and rarely dressed as a rookie, Andrew Bynum was showing solid fundamentals under Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, giving every indication he could be a better passing version of James Edwards if everything works out.
Luke Walton, now a starter who quietly turned the culture last season because he was the one player Phil Jackson could count on to run the triangle offense, was becoming almost indispensable; with him carrying more sway, everybody was running the offense. For example, Jordan Farmar, pound-for-pound, one of UCLA’s all-time over-dribblers, was well on his way to being programmed.
Free agent recruit Maurice Evans, already hearing his play called in the huddle for last second clock shots, was getting every loose ball and creating others. Having had graduated with honors two years ago from a great Gonzaga system and shrugged off the panicky after-affects of open heart surgery, Ronny Turiaf was demonstrating how easy it is to fit into Phil Jackson’s triangle offense if you’re blessed with sufficient intelligence and intensity.
“They could win it all,” an L.A. friend, who, I suspect, has done his share of hallucinating over the years, e-mailed me after the Lakers soared to 2-0. “Seriously! If Kobe buys in, they could win it all.
“They have depth at every position, lots of young bigs (Bynum, Turiaf and Odom, as well as Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm when they return from injuries), all near seven feet, and Phil is on the verge of signing an extension.
“The Buss family (Jeanie actually always got it) now, finally understand the organization hinges on one person, Phil, not Kobe. Don’t think that wasn’t the talk all summer out here, how the system wins games, not players.”
Sound familiar? Toward the end of his Bulls’ administrate, GM Jerry Krause declared organizations win championships, not players. It wasn’t a very popular stance to take. “The mystique that the Lakers were Kobe’s team, I think, at least from the franchise’s point of view, was changed forever by the playoff loss to the Suns. Just as the Heat are now Dwyane Wade’s team, the Lakers are now Phil’s,” maintained my friend.
“If Jerry and Jim had only realized how valuable Phil was at the All-Star break a few years ago and sealed it with an extension, they probably would’ve won two more rings after losing to the Pistons. The fact Phil’s around makes up for all the major mistakes.”
Like Jim Buss telling daddy (Jerry gave him enough rope to almost hang the franchise) just over two years ago that the Lakers needed to: Dump Phil; hire Rudy Tomjanovich (that turned the team into an afterthought in its own building); dump Shaq. Drafting Bynum might pay off after all.
“So now that Phil’s influence is what it is, as usual, how the Lakers finish will be up to how Kobe wants it to work and if he’s healthy,” bold-lettered and upper-cased my L.A. friend.
Again, this all when the Lakers are undefeated after two games. “The one problem is, they may have as big an adjustment when Kobe comes back as the Suns are having fitting in Amare Stoudemire.
“At this point, Kobe has not had to play real defense for almost four years. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is playing team defense (not a Kobe forte; he likes to gamble and he was spoiled by Shaq’s presence). And this is before we talk about the offense. Lamar is unbelievable right now. For the offense to be at its best, he can’t submit or defer to Kobe, he must continue being aggressive.
Last Friday, Kobe returned against the Sonics at home and the Lakers scarcely hung on to win “despite him,” according to perhaps Jackson’s biggest booster and Bryant’s biggest detractors. They then suffered their first loss in Sunday’s Seattle rematch.
“The offense was stagnant,” my friend e-mailed yesterday, his fantasy of a title summarily steamrolled . . . that is, until the Lakers launch a legit winning streak, anyway; 14 of their next 16, if you can believe it, take place in L.A. “Kobe is back playing the triangle as he sees it, which means it’s all about him.
“Kobe strangles the offense and more importantly the defense, which is not what it was just a few days ago. He’s slow (granted, he’s hurting) but his stranglehold makes the joy and excitement of the first two games a distant memory. It’s like the way the ball moved the first two games was Holzman-esque, and now, they have put Bob McAdoo in for Willis Reed.
“In the triangle, it only takes a split second of a guy holding onto the ball for it all to fall apart. It’s a rhythm offense. The captivating thing Sunday was it was like the end of the Phoenix series. Kobe knows he has to play within the offense, but his teammates are watching him . . . just enough so there is no flow (or trust).”
No, the name of my L.A. friend is not Tex Winter, but you’re getting warm.
peter.vecsey@nypost.com
😉 😉