Jerry West Sandbagging the Lakers???

[mavs777]

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angele...ory?id=6053767

Phil Jackson doesn't disagree when former Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West says the current team has problems consistently clamping down on defense.

Late last week, West, a Hall of Fame player, said the Lakers are "getting long in the tooth" and drew a correlation between the team's age -- 10 players on the roster are 30 or older -- and a lack of defensive consistency.

"If there's a loose ball now, how often do they get to it? The reason you can't play defense is because you can't," West said.

Jackson's reaction?

"He's right. We have to do a lot of things right to be able to play defense the way we want to, and most of it is about controlling the tempo of a game," Jackson said.

"There's something about just speed. Outright speed. We're not the fastest team on the boards here in the NBA, but we can do it if we control things in the right way."

West, speaking at a luncheon for car dealers in Orange County, Calif., predicted the Lakers' age will catch up to them.

"I don't think the Lakers will be good for much longer. You can keep a car running for a long time by changing the tires, etc. But you can't change a player's tires," he said