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"Kobe's team'' underwent still more changes Friday when the Los Angeles Lakers sent Gary Payton and Rick Fox to the Boston Celtics in a five-player deal.
The Lakers, putting perhaps the final touches on an extensive overhaul, got Chuck Atkins, Marcus Banks and Chris Mihm from Boston.
"We got a true backup center (Mihm) who can probably play a little bit of power forward, and we got much younger in the backcourt,'' Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said.
The Celtics also received a conditional first-round draft pick and cash in the deal and sent a second-round pick to the Western Conference champions.
"As you know, we have made some dramatic changes,'' Kupchak said in understatement.
Three days after the Lakers lost to the underdog Pistons in the NBA Finals, the shakeup began. Coach Phil Jackson was let go and Shaquille O'Neal demanded a trade.
Rudy Tomjanovich was hired as coach, O'Neal was dealt to Miami for Lamar Odom, Brian Grant and Caron Butler; Derek Fisher left for Golden State; and free agent Bryant signed a seven-year, $136.4 million contract.
Later, Los Angeles signed free agent Vlade Divac, who was the Lakers' center in the early 1990s.
Marcus Banks will get a chance to take over the point guard duties for the new-look Lakers.
"We're hopeful, with the changes and the younger players, that we put ourselves in the position where we don't have to experience four or five years of mediocrity,'' Kupchak said.
"Hopefully, we'll be in a position to make the playoffs right away, advance in the playoffs, and at the same time have a good mix of young players who may be with us the next 10 years.''
Payton and Karl Malone took large pay cuts to join the Lakers as free agents last summer, each All-Star hoping to win his first championship.
Malone, recovering from knee surgery, has not said whether he will return to the team.
Fox played with the Lakers for seven years, spending six previous seasons with the Celtics.
Kupchak said he had spoken with Payton's agent earlier Friday, and had a phone conversation with Fox.
"As you would expect, they (the players) were both disappointed to be in a position where they have to move on,'' Kupchak said. "This is the business part of what we do.
"It was an opportunity to pick up three players, all of whom are younger than the other two players in the deal.''
Kupchak said the Lakers hadn't set out to trade Payton.
"We did not try to move Gary Payton. This was an opportunity that was brought to us. Had we been uncomfortable with Gary, we would not have protected him in the expansion draft,'' the GM said.
Despite struggling through his first year with Los Angeles, the 36-year-old Payton exercised a $5.4 million option to return for another season.
A nine-time All-Star who averaged 18.3 points over his first 13 seasons, Payton averaged 14.6 points -- his lowest since the 1992-93 season -- and a career-low 4.2 assists in the regular season last year. He averaged 7.8 points and 5.3 assists in the playoffs.
Payton was selected to the NBA's all-defensive team eight times and was voted the defensive player of the year in 1996. He is fifth on the league's career list with 2,243 steals and sixth with 8,039 assists; he needs 44 points to become the 29th player in NBA history to score 20,000 points.
Payton won Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. He has missed just six games in his 15-year career.
The 35-year-old Fox, who won three NBA championship rings with the Lakers, has career averages of 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists.
The 7-foot Mihm, 25, averaged 6.3 points and 5.4 rebounds last year for Boston and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Atkins, 29, acquired from the Pistons midway through last season, averaged 8.4 points and 3.5 assists last year.
Banks, 22, a first-round draft pick out of UNLV in 2003, started two games for the Celtics as a rookie.
Source: AP
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