didn't mesh well eh? i don't buy that excuse either. here's why.
They won 56 games that year, third best record in the league (more then they won this year too),
they survived a much more difficult western conference playoff schedule and made it all the way to the finals. i think you'd fall apart long before you made it that far if it was a chemistry/age problem.
you telling me those boys with 2 hungry players in payton and malone who had both made it to the finals but lost couldn't muster enough IN THE FINALS? They weren't worried about their legacies either?
i just find it amusing how we just throw away that season and forget about the horrible horrible failure that should not have happen. let's just sweep it under the rug so to speak