"Increased L.A." (January 6, 1998)

I was told yesterday that I didn't have enough L.A. in Hoop-LA. Since the Clippers are the most inept team in the NBA, even though I do love them, and since my favorite Clipper, Loy Vaught, is outwith an injury, I don't even want to write about them. Ok, here it is about the Clips, ok? The Clips suck. Lorenzen Wright looks like a keeper. As an undersized center, he is playing great, but hisfuture is at power forward. Let's be realistic. If Vaught is gone after the season, which I think it a definite possibility, than Wright moves to power forward and Keith Cross moves to center. LamondMurray is showing the skills he displayed in his rookie season. It's about time. He only took two years off and has proven he is the best Murray in his family, with all due regards to my man TracyMurray. Brent Barry. We hardly knew you. Did you ever unpack your bags? He is so gone it's not even funny. I don't know where he'll end up or how much he'll make, since he's never shown histrue potential for a long period of time, but you got to like a white guy who can dunk. No point guard. I love Pooh since UCLA, but between him and Darrick Martin, another UCLA grad (get TyusEdney, Cameron Dollar and Gerald Madkins and you got the last five UCLA point guards playing in the USC arena) they got no real point guard. It's funny, but at least Gary Grant gave them stability. Maybe Maurice Taylor is not a bust. I thought he was. The Clips were due for another draft day bust. Rodney Rogers. What a man. He can bench press the Clip Joint, but I don't think he'll ever liveup to his college rep. He's a good pro. I think he can be better, but needs to learn how to use his body as a power forward, and not play so much outside.

Now that the Clips are out of the way, let's talk Lakers. Damn, are they good. Damn, are they deep. At center, it's Shaq. Need I say more. Sean Rooks is the backup, but he's a 10 minute chumpworth 6 fouls. Besides, Elden Campbell rolls to center to backup Shaq for serious minutes. Elden has got some skills when he's allowed to show them. How about that for a draft pick, Elden at high20s (26 or something like that). At power forward, they got the aforementioned Elden Campbell. The other forward spot is Robert Horry backed up by Rick Fox. Lately, Horry has been starting atpower forward and Fox at 3, with Den at center, before Shaq came back. But in all realism, I see Shaq at center, with Den at 4 and Horry at 3. But when Den moves to 5, Horry rolls to 4. Nice. Givesthem an option of power or speed, but both with height. Horry is 6'10". Damn, him at small forward. Nice. Fox can move to two guard as well, but with Eddie Jones (who is the best shooting guard inthe western conference, with all due respect to Mitch Richmond and Clyde Drexler) he ain't playing there too long. Eddie can roll to 3, so give Kobe Bryant some time at 2 guard as well. Kobe isaveraging 17 ppg in under 27 minutes. That's a pretty good points per 48 mins. That's over 30 a game. If he shot better, and he will, he'd be crazy good. Kobe can play some point as well. Jerry Westthought he might be the point guard of the future, but I think, like Penny Hardaway or Jordan before him, he's best at 2 where he can play off someone. Does anyone remember when Jordan playedpoint guard during Doug Collins last season? Jordan had like 5 triple doubles in 6 games in the last week of the season. But it puts too much pressure on the star when he has to score, rebound anddish the ball. Look at Grant Hill, he's over burdened. Some guys like Bird and Magic revel in it. Some guys have it thrust upon them, but have someone else who is the real scorer, like Pippen. Hillmight be like Pippen with Stackhouse. The Lakers have a point guard, who is really good, in Nick Van Exel. Nick has been great since Cincy. As a Bearcat, with his former and present teammateCorie Blount, he was a scourge. He could score and run the team. He still can and seems to have expanded his shooting range. I'd say he's gotten better with the better team. He doesn't have to be thesole outside shooter especially with a team that includes outside gunners, Horry, Jones, Bryant and Fox. I do feel sorry for Derek Fisher. Fisher has skills. He's a good player. He just got screwed thathe was drafted by a team with such good players. This team is so scary for so many reasons. They are very flexible, where everyone, with the exception of Shaq can play two or positions. Elden is 4or 5. Horry is 3 or 4. Fox is 2 or 3. Jones is 2 or 3. Bryant is 1 or 2. Even Nick can move to two when Bryant is in the game, so Nick can get some open jumpers off screens. Damn. We saw howgood this team is without Shaq. When Diesel gets his game in gear and starts averaging 35 minutes a game, with his 25 ppg and 10 boards, they'll be unstoppable. I can't wait to see the Lakers vs. theBulls in the finals. Jones is one the finest young players in the NBA. He has no attitude. He is just a great player with no real hole in his game. He can do it all and moves from 2 to 3 withoutcomplaint. In fact, as the trade rumors grew, he got better. Bryant is a star waiting to happen. As he gets older, hell, as the season progresses, he'll grow into one the best at his position. He hasathletic skills that few men have. The question regarding this team is a) chemistry b) attitude. Will this talented team have enough balls to spread around? I think so. Everyone on the team knows it'sShaq's team. So even a ball hog like Nick knows that it's give the ball to Shaq and look out. The team seems to revel in the fact that all of the NBA thinks they will self-destruct because they have toomuch talent. Rick Fox took only a million for a year for a chance to play for a contender. He'll take some bench if necessary. Kobe is a youngster and will sit when necessary. I think the starting fiveis as strong as any in the NBA and their bench, especially the first three off the bench is stronger than any other. Besides, any team with Jon Barry has to do well. If anyone questions how good JonBarry is, he beat out Dejuan Wheat from Louisville for a spot on the team. Wheat was a star at Louisville. Barry is a white guy. Of course, without Travis Knight, maybe the Lakers needed to fill theirwhite guy quota. Who knows.