The guy has 11 rings (yeah, FJ, once for the penis!). Oddly enough, Pat Riley for the Lakers coined the term "threepeat" but the Lakers failed to achieve it. Then the PJax' Bulls did it twice. Then PJax' Lakers did it, and they were on the verge of doing it again this season until they ran into the Mavs. If the Lakers did win the championship this year, PJax would have 12 rings, 4 threepeats. The Lakers have a great owner who's gone into the LT (and still profited) to keep the team in contention. But the Lakers are really looking long in the tooth and will ultimately need a rebuild. The knock at one point on PJax was that he never had to do the rebuild thing. I think he's proven himself a great coach with the Lakers by doing the rebuild thing. Though the Lakers' idea of rebuilding is certainly more aggressive than a 13 year plan and hoping for the lotto gods to come through. What we saw with him as coach of the Bulls and to an extent with the Lakers is that there is a price that comes with winning as much as he has. The team gets older and doesn't have the chance to reload so much via the draft. The team doesn't get as long between the end of the finals and summer camp as other teams - multiply that by 3 in a threepeat. Kobe can still be a great player for 2-3 years (at least), but it's going to take some serious infusion of new and younger blood to keep the Lakers in real contention. The Lakers have ridden out the string, which is great for the fans. They've struck it rich with acquisitions of Gasol and even Artest, and maybe they can do it again with Dwight Howard? In any case, I think the Lakers are going to be swept by the Mavs and PJax is likely to retire. It's going to be interesting to see how the Lakers rebuild and who their next coach is.
I don't think the lakers can rebuild on the fly as they don't have anything to trade ( with what they would be prepared to trade ) that would make them better. The only chance they have got is maybe trading Bynum and Odom for Howard and Turkoglu As unthinkable as it might be the best chance they have to miss their pain of rebuilding to try and trade Kobe for either Chris Paul or Deron Williams
People want to play in LA and Gasol didn't get bad overnight. The Lakers will be back. I think it might to be tough for them to rebuild with Kobe. He's entering that dangerous portion of his career where he has to rework his game if he wasn't to continue to be conducive to winning. Jordan was never able to do that. As far as PJ, I don't think this loss changes his legacy, which is carved in granite. He's a brilliant coach and will be missed.
Jordan did change his game. a lot. he went from a play-making/slashing guard to a player shooting from mid range and backing up on people like a SF. Also, kobe has taken that into his game, as you can see him working up against people down low a lot more this season, and shooting a lot more mid range than under the basket as he used to. he is changing his game to continue to be productive but he proved he still has leadership issues this series, plus he is injured just about everywhere on his body. hard to do anything well when Pau literally fucked the Lakers in the ass this series, he is the main reason we lost. anyway, i agree with you denny on kobe still being able to produce well. the lakers have fallen apart and it will take a lot to put together a squad that will work instantly around kobe. dwight howard is a long shot. apparently iggy from the sixers is gonna get shipped out, the lakers have been interested in him in the past, and he and kobe are close friends, he may replace artest (artest actually sucks now). as for pau, i think we need to trade him for a good big man, OR, a good PG. he'll be hard to trade after this series but i think it needs to happen, he has fallen out with the team and hasnt really got any place within the lakers organization. im looking foward to seeing a new lakers squad out there next season. i love phil, he is a great coach, but i think his time is up. its a shame he has to end it on this series, but that isnt what its about is it.
