Well former Laker Derek Fisher has been dangerously tip-toeing that line since being unceremoniously dumped at the 2012 trade deadline for Jordan Hill and cap relief.
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Lakers Nation felt empathetic towards Fisher when he signed for Oklahoma City the first time around; he never asked to go from the declining Western Conference powerhouse, the Lakers, to the emerging powerhouse in the West, Oklahoma City. Though he did ask to be released from the Houston Rockets, whom the Lakers dealt him to.
Things always tend to work out for Derek Fisher.
Since being drafted by the Lakers in 1996 he was never an elite point guard in the NBA, heck he barely cracked the top 20, but with him at the point the Lakers won five championships.
From 2004 to 2007, Fisher had brief stints with the Golden State Warriors and the Utah Jazz, before returning to the Lakers to seek the best treatment possible to deal with his daughter’s rare eye illness. It just so happens the Lakers missed the playoffs in the 2004-05, the season after Fisher signed with the Warriors. His return to the Lakers in 2007 sparked the Purple and Gold to make the Finals in a losing effort to the Boston Celtics, although the acquisition of Pau Gasol and the development of Andrew Bynum probably had something to do with that as well.
Two championships later, Fisher cemented his legacy as one of most consistent role players to ever slip on a Laker uniform.
In 2012, Fisher rode the coattails of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to eliminate the team that traded him away three months earlier, as the Thunder defeated the Lakers in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.
This season, he signed with the Dallas Mavericks at the end of November. Somehow Rick Carlisle, head coach of the Mavs, decided to start Fisher over the younger, and probably better, Darren Collison. The 38-year-old went down with a minor knee injury, and was granted a release from Dallas to receive treatment closer to his family.
Two months after that he signed with Thunder for the rest of the season, as they looked primed to run the gauntlet on the West again before Westbrook went down. With Westbrook’s injury, Fisher had found himself in a prominent role in Oklahoma City’s rotation once more.
So if you’re keeping track at home, Fisher’s been on four teams in the past two years. He has also asked to be released twice under dubious circumstances over his illustrious career (I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on his first release with his daughter’s surgery), only to latch onto a title contender not too long after.
I still respect D-Fish, as he’s provided me with endless memories in a Laker uniform. But if you’re a fan of any other team in the league besides the Lakers of the Thunder, Fisher has progressively tainted his reputation with each ring-chasing expedition. Some might say he’s already a villain. Mark Cuban certainly does, when he urged the Dallas crowd to boo him when the Thunder visited the Mavericks in mid-March.
I’m less interested in the motives behind Fisher’s tour around the league over the past two years, and more interested in why he continues to remain relevant.
Next Page: Bouncing Around the League or Ring-Chasing?
It’s like Scott Brooks reads all the negative comments directed at Fisher logging heavy minutes on various forms of social media and plays him exclusively to troll everyone. To Fisher’s credit, he’s been an ATM machine from the corner three and played very serviceable on-ball defense on James Harden to close out the first round against Houston.
Fisher’s career has always been defined by moments rather than excellence over 48 minutes. The irrevocable moments Fisher has gifted us with have masked his shortcomings by coming through when it matters most, when people remember it most. The 0.4 shot. The big three at the end of regulation to send the game to overtime in Game 4 of the 2009 finals. Just last week, he stripped Mike Conley to set up Kevin Durant hitting the game winner in Game 1 of the Memphis/OKC series.
However, the NBA is slowly shifting towards advanced analytics. From 29 of the 30 teams sending a representative to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference this past March to the Memphis Grizzlies hiring John Hollinger, ESPN’s stat guru, as their Vice President of Basketball Operations, I’m afraid analytics aren’t merely a fad but the future.
Side note: ironically the Lakers, Fisher’s longest employer, were the only team not present at the 2013 Sloan Conference. General Manager Mitch Kupchak has said he will send someone next year.
The one player that might affect the most is Fisher. Whenever Fisher would have a lackluster game statistically, Laker fans would defend him by saying he did things to contribute to the win that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. The intangibles that Fish brings to a team, buzz words such as leadership, hustle and veteran savvy, could all be rendered obsolete soon.
Once the NBA’s front-offices are all run by math wizards in the next five years or so, they could uncover that Fish might’ve ultimately been more of a detriment than a benefit to every team he’s been on, even in his younger and more productive years; something we’ve all suspected but never wanted to face the reality of.
For example: did you know Derek Fisher is the only player not to register a single point, assist or rebound in 30 or more minutes of play since 1985?
Fish has come through time after time on the plays that come up on the highlights reel, but in Game 4 he was on the wrong side of that for the first time in his career, seemingly (okay fine , second time, he was dunked on pretty hard by Corey Brewer a couple of years back). He threw up a couple air-balls as well as being responsible for the turnover that put Oklahoma City in a 3-1 hole that even the great Kevin Durant couldn’t dig them out of.
Knowing when to let go is the hardest part of professional sports.
As a player, you never want to the guy too old to be at the nightclub, metaphorically speaking.
As fans, we tend to romanticize the players we grew up with.
I used to be the biggest advocate of Derek Fisher two years ago. When he was traded to Houston, I didn’t want to talk to anyone for a whole day. Now my only wish is that now that his season with the Thunder is over, he signs a one-day contract with the Lakers to retire as one; just as Mike Modano did with the Dallas Stars.
His time as a hero is coming to an abrupt end, let’s hope he realizes that as well before becomes a ring-chasing villain that lingers well beyond his time.
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