This Ariza guy...

Ken Cheng wrote:
>
> Fisher's main value to the Lakers has never been his game. It's the
> stabilizing influence that he brings to the court and the locker
> room. That Kobe is still a Laker is possibly at least the result of
> Derek Fisher returning to the team. Of course, Bynum's improvement
> and acquiring Gasol and Ariza were very important to that, but if
> Fisher hadn't returned to buy some time for Dr. Buss and Kupchak to
> get to work, we might have lost Kobe before those developments came
> up.

With the current team, I think Fish's charisma is overrated and has
little current need. They get along fine with/without him.

$Bill wrote:
> Ken Cheng wrote:
>>
>> Fisher's main value to the Lakers has never been his game. It's the
>> stabilizing influence that he brings to the court and the locker
>> room. That Kobe is still a Laker is possibly at least the result of
>> Derek Fisher returning to the team. Of course, Bynum's improvement
>> and acquiring Gasol and Ariza were very important to that, but if
>> Fisher hadn't returned to buy some time for Dr. Buss and Kupchak to
>> get to work, we might have lost Kobe before those developments came
>> up.
>
> With the current team, I think Fish's charisma is overrated and has
> little current need. They get along fine with/without him.

Mostly agreed... Kobe's matured into a good leader and Gasol seems to be a
good, steady influence on the team as well. On the other hand, Kobe can
be... well, Kobe and Gasol seems to be a little passive at times. I think
Fisher provides a steadier kind of influence which is good.

But it's still not as important as his on-court performance, which has been
wanting. It's not like a total disaster or anything, I thought he did a
good job of leveling off Harris tonight... Harris put up good numbers on
some tough shots (and questionable foul calls).

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