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I'm sitting here, smirking. I can't understand how people think the Lakers are sunk. Sure, we're done with Shaq, but we stole the core of a team that exceeded EVERYONE'S expectations and came to within a game of the ECF. We replaced him with the best passing (and flopping) center in the game and the rest of our core is coming back for more. Aside from that, we have a rookie point guard who could be the next Ginobili (it's possible).
I watched all these games last year... and I don't think Shaq is so great. I saw many times where the second unit came into the game and completely tore shit up. We have a lot of talent. Now that we have a coach who embraces the skills of our younger team, I don't expect to skip many beats.
You can rave all you want about how much Shaq meant to the Lakers and how they're doomed without him, but something inside me tells me that it's just the haters looking for a crack in the armor.
I read a nice article today about how a baseball team owner used charts of where players hit the ball on the field to tell if they were in their prime or if they were starting to decline. None of the other owners used this method, and so they made seemingly lopsided trades with this owner, only to find out that they had received an aging player on his downfall.
Shaq is on his downfall. Commentary about how Luke Walton, one of the best to get the ball to Shaq in the post, had to lower the trajectory on his passes because Shaq could no longer get up high enough to catch some of them, outlined the same points that the baseball team owner's hitting charts highlighted. While he may be putting up numbers, he's on his way down.
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