Re: Bulpett: Lakers Champs; C's Mediocre

["Jim Meninno" <jim_meninno@hotmail.com>]

>From: Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>

>by Steve Bulpett
>Thursday, June 22, 2000

>``The bottom line is, if you have players that nobody else wants, then
>you can't get anybody else,'' Kupchak said. ``You can't make room and
>you can't make trades.

No, the bottom line is that LA is damn lucky that the most dominant player 
in the league is so shallow that he decided where to play based on where he 
could make rap records and bad movies.  Anyone think he'd have signed with 
the Minneapolis Lakers, no matter how much room they had?  Anybody think 
that if they were forced to plan B, Dale Davis, they'd be where they are 
today?  Hell, they barely got by Portland WITH Shaq.  Anybody think they'd 
be better off with Eddie Jones and Elden Cambell instead of Glen Rice, if it 
hadn't taken them years to figure out the problem was their coaching, not 
their talent.

And, comparing losing Magic at the end of his career to losing Bias before 
he ever played a game and Reggie in his prime, is just disgusting.  Hell, 
Bird's back cost him as much basketball as Magic's HIV.

Oh, and Nick Van Excel was a super second round pick, but wasn't Reggie a 
second round pick, too?  And, what did they end up getting for Nick anyway?

I'm not saying that the Lakers haven't made good moves.  They undeniably 
have drafted very well for a long time.  But the Celtics drafted two all NBA 
type players in the last 15 years who are dead now.  Meanwhile, the Lakers 
are handed the league MVP because he wants to be a movie star.  Take away 
those facts, and the teams are a lot closer together than they are now.

Jim
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