Greg Anthony Has Lost His Damn Mind . . .

(imagine post title spoken in a Charles Barkley voice, now watch the clip below)

Anthony towards the end of the clip says the current LA Lakers are the, "best passing team I've seen since the early 70s Knicks".

Sorry, I love the way the Lakers are playing right now, but nah-ah.

Magic era Lakers. Bird era Celtics, mid career Stockton-Malone Jazz, even the Divacs-Webber Sacramento Kings could be placed ahead of the current Lakers team with regards to passing.

Where the Kobe-Odom-Gasol Lakers excel is that the decent passing goes 10 deep. When 2 out of the 3 stars are sitting down (rarely does Jackson sit all three at the same time, usually one of those guys is out with 3 or 4 subs at the beginning of the 2nd and 4th quarters, and the end of the 3rd quarter), the "bench mob" all know how to play well within the triangle and move the ball. Sometimes Walton gets a bit too creative with his passing, Vujacic gets a bit too frenetic and frantic, and Farmar gambles a bit too much defensively, but overall you will not find a better non-starting 4 to combine with one starter than Turiaf, Walton, Vujacic and Farmar. All can pass, all know how to fill the lanes on fastbreaks (which didn't used to be so unusual, but nowadays seems like a miracle), and all can hit a jump shot when needed.

I can buy that this Lakers team is one of the best 9 man rotations the NBA has seen since the 80s or 70s, I can buy that this team has the best non-starting 4 the NBA has seen in awhile, but I'm not buying this as the best passing team since Phil Jackson was a player.

If the Lakers can pay everyone, and getting a healthy Ariza and Bynum next year, the Lakers are a team that has quality players 11 deep, with at least 2 players who can back up the starter at all 5 positions. That's just ridiculous.