I've been watching Lakers' games closely for the past month, and every time two glaring weaknesses show up: Derek Fisher and Luke "Fluke" Walton.
Derek Fisher
Not to take anything from away from Fish, he is a great leader (and everybody knows that), but it looks like age has caught up with him.
Derek Fisher routinely gets worked by opposing point guards. His offense used to offset that weakness a little bit, but as of late, even that has been pretty much non-existent.
He's missing open shot after open shot. I know people would like me soften up on him a bit because of the situation with his daughter, but there is no excuse for poor play.
It would be generous to call Fisher's ball handling skills average. He routinely drives to the basket and turns the ball over as he did last night in a crucial moment in the last minute of the fourth quarter.
Luckily for him, Lamar Odom was there to grab the offensive rebound. I could go on even further about his court vision, but I'll just leave it be for now.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Luke Walton
Luke Walton has some of the best court vision in the NBA, but nothing else to offer.
He has become Kwame Brown 2.0: whenever he gets the ball, you cross your fingers, praying he doesn't turn the ball over or hoist up a bad shot.
Last night with Kobe on the bench, Luke nearly won the game for the Mavericks. He continually made bad decisions.
It took the Mavericks shrinking the Lakers' lead from 25 points to five, for Phil Jackson to substitute Radmanovich for Luke.
I don't see him sticking around much longer since he has fallen out of favor with Phil, who said the only reason Luke is playing so many minutes is because Ariza is out.
He said that Luke is not capable of playing over 25 minutes per game. I say the Lakers trade him for a second round pick during the draft.
Memo to Phil Jackson
Stop waiting until opposing teams considerably shrink your lead to call a timeout.
You don't have veterans guys like Grant, Harper, Fox, and Horry out there. You have a bunch of young kids whose confidence can go from high to all-time low in the blink of an eye.
Stop teaching your guards to leave their man open and telling them to double any driving player. That's the reason why you lost to the Houston Rockets.
It was atrocious watching Kobe shut down T-Mac and seeing your point guards repeatedly leave Rockets wide open for threes.
Upgrades and Downgrades
Fisher as PG is an upgrade over Smush Parker, but with the Lakers knocking on the "elite door," it has become apparent the Lakers need a better point guard.
Fisher cannot play over 25 minutes anymore.
Kwame Brown sucked so badly that he made other Lakers' weaknesses look minimal. But with him out, Luke Walton is now the Lakers worst player.
Who would have thought that Sasha "the machine" Vujacic would have surpassed Walton as a better defensive and offensive player?
Vladdy is a deadly three-point shooter, Ariza is our second-best perimeter defender and vicious slasher, Turiaf is a valuable post defender and underrated scorer.
Heck, even Coby Karl might be better than Luke.
No, I'm not being greedy.
But championship teams cannot have blatant chinks in their armor. It's best Mitch Kupchak hashes them out before it's too late.
-Ralph Isaac, bleacherreport.com
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8 months ago
You're judging the entire team and the entire season based on ONE game? Fish is no All Star, but combined with Farmar they form a solid PG combo, and Fish is having a career year, and has hit plenty of big shots for us this season.
And you're being way too harsh on Luke, who signed a long-term deal with the Lakers last summer. He's a perfect fit in Phil's triangle and makes the right pass. And him and Kwame are polar opposites. One is hyper athletic with no hands and no basketball IQ, and the other is not athletic at all but makes his living with good hands and high basketball IQ.
And if Luke is your worst player, that's a pretty darn good team.
from 8 months ago
Chad, have you watched Lakers game all season?? I have watched most of them and Walton has been horrible. Did you see how Ariza moved ahead of Luke walton in the rotation??? I'm not the only one who has commented on this, PJ has said similar comment about Luke(although not as harsh.) as for Fisher, He hasn't been right since the all=star break. I dont mean it as a knock on him, I just think that he can't be a starter, he's good for 25mns.
8 months ago
I'm somewhere in between on this. I can't begin to rip on Derek Fisher's defense because of how much an upgrade he is over what we had last year (see: Parker, Smush or the way Nash dribbled circles around Farmar in the playoff series). However, I am concerned at what streaky shooters both Fisher and Walton are. With Kobe Bryant drawing double-teams, all we really need around the arc are people that are guaranteed to hit open shots. Vujacic has fit that bill lately; Fisher sometimes...Walton hardly ever.
8 months ago
I agree wholeheartedly with this article. One point you didn't mention is how many layups Fish misses, and his ridicuous drives to the hole, when he hoists up contested shots thinking he is Kobe Bryant. His selfishness is starting to become a concern, in my opinion. As far as Puke Walton is concerned, yes, he needs to be traded ASAP. The only thing he brings to the team is high basketball IQ, and that's where it stops. I am so sick of listening to Joel or Stu say "Luke, wide open for a three! Oh, way off"
8 months ago
Luke Walton should send some scratch in Kwame Brown and Smush Parker's ways for getting him that huge contract. Luke Walton is obviously not an NBA-caliber player. He's at most a third-string small forward. He can't shoot, defend, rebound, fast break, etc. The only thing he contributes is his half-court passing, and he hasn't been utilizing that skill. But because he was playing alongside the likes of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown, he looked like the Lakers' second or third best player behind Bryant and Odom. The impacts of Kwame Brown and Smush Parker are still with the Lakers even after they're gone. That's what I call "Impact Players".
8 months ago
yeah luke just sucks flat out!
8 months ago
whenever Luke Walton is on the court, Lakers get outscored.
7 months ago
Jeez, leave Luke alone. He's had some great games, especially before all the injuries. Even recently, he's had a ton of high scoring games and at the least he's always contributing a handful of points. The Lakers have shooters, they're good in that department, but what they do need is people like Luke to create those shots. Everyone remembers all the great dunks and shots made but let's not forget who got the shooters the ball in the first place.
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