If Derek Fisher decided to hang it up after the Lakers attended their own funeral the other night, you couldn’t be mad at him. He’ll turn 37 this August, has played 15 years in the League, and oh yeah, he’s won five NBA Championships. Not bad. But apparently none of that matters. Once the president of the National Basketball Players Association handles his business off the court this summer, he wants to handle his business back on it.
“(Retirement’s) not even a thought,” Fisher told Kevin Ding of The Orange County Register. And why should it be, when he thinks that he and the Lakers can come back and compete for a third title in four years.
“I’d take the same exact group of guys and line ’em up and lace ’em up and we’d get the job done,” said Fisher. “That’s what I believe can and will happen.”
The general thought in Los Angeles though is that this “same exact group of guys” can’t get it done, and that a shakeup is in the works. Andrew Bynum will be suspended for the first five games of the 2011-12 NBA regular season for which he is eligible and physically able to play, and could be shipped out before that. The same could be said for either Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom or Ron Artest. But the real question mark hanging over Laker Nation this summer is who will be roaming the sidelines. At this point, that’s still anyone’s guess.
What do you think the Lakers’ chances are at another title next season?
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