Kilroy wrote:I hated Nick Van Excel and Cedric Ceballos... Thought they sucked balls and stopped watching the Lakers because of them... But I really didn't understand at the time how hard it was to follow Magic and Kareem... Just how unique that talent was... So it wasn't fair but I thought Nick the Quick had one of the most punchable faces ever at the time...
In retrospect, he was one of the best Guards the Lakers have had...
Calling Nick and even Eddie even real lakers seems crazy to me now that I’m older and look back. I remember watching them and loving them and being amazed totally compared to Fish and Fox.
Now that I go back and watch their playoff games and moments over as lakers and their play with not just Shaq and Kobe but with Magic too I just don’t think they were special. I mean I watch Eddie glide around, be flashy, and then go ghost and be scared when hit in the face. I watch Nick mug everyone, talk, be flashy, and then see Stockton and be scared to throw a stone in a river without permission.
Then I watch Fish and Fox without half the natural born talent but 10x the nuts and hearts they ever had. I go back and watch Fisher in 01 hit shot after shot vs people more talented than him, play in the finals on a foot that needs surgery, chase Ray Allen, hit the shot in Orlando and go damn that’s a general and it’s easy to see why you go in battle with him. I watch Fox dunk on Pippen, chase Peja, hit Christie, glue Rice to the bench, and bark at Shaq and Kobe. Those two literally in 00 had their starter spots taken from them and didn’t bitch, didn’t cry, they just out worked who was in front of them and got it back and always came up big and I can’t think Nick or Eddie ever had that in them