The Week That Was, The Week That Will Be (3.31-4.6)

We shold go 3-0.

Honestly, we should.

If we go 3-0, and are 7-1 for the last eight games with a single loss to San Antonio. It'll do wonders for the confidence of this team.

Suddenly Sasha, Luke, Kwame and Cook will start playing like All-Stars!

(I can dream, can't I? Nothing wrong with dreaming.)

Seriously though, I'm saying 3-0.

GO TEAM!

GO LAKERS!

All I know is that I better see a Yao-Bynum match-up for at least three minutes on Sunday or they'll be blog to pay!

Hear my petition and know fear, O Phil Jackson!

I demand to see Bynum playing (briefly) against Yao Ming!

Demand it!

Lakers will lose to Seattle tonight because if Back-to-Back games and Inconsistency.

3rd Quarter is their Achille's Heal.

Bynum physically and style matches very well with Yao. He should get his minutes.

The curse of the 3rd Quarter is Back! Remove it and we would have beat SA. We'll see what happens the next 3 games.

"Ludicrously methodical" is as apt a description of the Spurs as I've heard. The number of mistakes they make in a game is proportionate to what is necessary, not, to lose a game; boring. Although Sasha and John Boy had some impressive moments last night, the Spurs were never, repeat, never in any real trouble, and they knew it.

At at least a couple of positions, the Brokebacks are less certain about player ability than, let's say, the Queens, but neither team has gained enough confidence or experience together to consistently play their best ball.

When they do play their best ball, both are playoff teams and can give anyone trouble. The Brokebacks have Kobe and some emerging talent. The Queens have a roster of savvy, though relatively young veterans. Success will come with patience and time, or not, depending on how one measures success. The Spurs have the confidence to turn it on at will to get the job done now.

The Queens may not be doing the Brokebacks any favor if they slide into the 7th spot, which is entirely possible.

3 and 0 would put us right back up on the horse. One game at a time and all those time honored cliches...

First: Seattle must die a horrible double digit death.
GO LAKERS!

Tonight's game should tell us wether our guys can bounce back to claim the 7th spot (or better). If not, we are looking at the 8th.

I don't see much upside for Smush. He is good in spurts but I don't agree with any of you that claim he will do better with experience.

Well, if we use Michael T's reasoning Kobe should play about 30 minutes a game, make sure we take him out anytime he decides to create his own shot and every trip down the court should be a pass to Kwame Brown, who, if Phil Jackson just gets out of his way, will be the Greatest Basketball Player of All Time.

Don't worry Lakers fans. I know the loss to SA hurt, but you can take comfort that the Pistons will take care of them in the finals

Bynum would get worked by Yao.

We've got Phoenix on the 2nd of a back to back coming up.
No time like the present to work on that. It's not like last night was any more physically draining than usual.
Kobe got his rest in the 2nd and 4th and it's Ray Allen for God's sake. It's on. Let's ball!

Yo Curt from Detroit,

When the Laker season ends, the basketball season ends.

"Let's ball?" Vman, haven't heard that since the 70's. Let's not.

Sonny,

Go up north and just reside there!!!

You may do some good there...

First, the Queens try to act like Champs and then go and try to copy Lakers colors (which by the way looks horribe) and now you want to give your two cents on this blog. Mmm, how many rings did you win or oops how many conferenence titles first??

Go live with the small boys

Vman,

Here, here!

If the Lakers can take care of business againt Seattle (tonight) and Houston (Sunday) that might take some of pain out the loss against the Spurs.

Next week's match-ups against Denver and Phoenix (back to back) don't make things any easier. Remember that the Lakers are still just above a .500 ballclub. 7-1 would be nice!!! Gyeah

Anrew Z, have you ever seen anyone really get worked by Yao? I haven't.

jon,
very positive comments about demanding a coach who should he play. very nice.

Andrew Z.

F off bi*ch!

mike

You know, I would hate to play the Spurs in the first round, but getting in the playoffs anywhere would be great.

If the Lakers played the last nine games 4-5, Utah would have to go 9-2 and NO/OK would have to go 10-2 the rest of the way to pass them and get into the playoffs. Call me crazy but I don't see that happening.

That being said, I would love to see the Lakers finish 6-3 and build some momentum going into the postseason.

I can see wins tonight (they will be coming out hungry) and against Houston so that gets me 1/3 of the way to my win total. Oh, I picked 6 more wins because that puts them at 44 wins for the season and I win a bet if that happens. Go 6-3!!

what do you guys think about adding steve nash to this line up?

I heard he also bought a house in LA and he can be had for cheap. we should trade george for nash straight up. I know you guys are thinking that's one sided traded and why sould we get rid of george who is much younger. that's the only reason why mitch may not make this deal. I know suns would love to george in their line up. just a thought.

espn is reporting that kwame may not play due to being arrested for making love with michael T in public. I hope michael is ok?

I like Sunny's nickname for the Lakers, because they will 'Break the Backs' of any opposition they encounter in the playoffs, and although we no longer have 'the mountain' in Shaquille, we've got our own developing twin-peaks in Kwame and Bynum.

The Queens is also still equally fitting for the light-loafered Sactown rednecks, not even warrior-boy Ron Ron can provide enough machismo to overcome Mike Bibby and his little fairy dance, which making sure that moniker stays permanently affixed to the franchise.

BTW, everyone that wants to see Bynum on Sunday... are you not aware that Drew is injured? He's out for a few weeks, so Socks will have to wait until next time for another chance at Yao.

JP,

You're just a tad confused. It is not me who adds but a mere two cents to these forums. Quit projecting.

As far as copying colors go, I'm not really certain. What the Brokebacks call gold looks more like bright yellor to me.

As for the Kings wearing it, well, glad you noticed. Is it sufficiently irritating to you? Overwhelmingly, comments about the pissy colors from Kings fans have not been happy ones.

Do you think we want to be mistaken for Brokebacks?

Are you out of your mind? The Suns probably wouldn't trade Nash straight up for Kobe, much less, who was it, George? Typical Brokeback fantasy worthy of Hollywood. You could be the star.

Gerry B

Yao's been on a fire lately. I think in March... 28 pts 11 boards a game. Trust me, plenty of guys got worked by Yao.

HERE’S A TRUTH THAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN

If Kobe Bryant does wake up and smell the coffee and play within the offense, he will be the discussion of a major trade by this time next year. If Lamar, Kwame, Bynum, and even Smush improve as expected, we will have a very strong team. If Kobe doesn’t want to be part of that process but keep on insisting to force the action, the Lakers will have no choice but to move Bryant for the likes of Rip Hamilton and Billups.
The Lakers are doing everything to get Bryant to see the light. It isn’t a coincidence that Brian Shaw brought up the issue of standing to Kobe in a public form, my goodness, the Los Angeles Times. They are trying to be subtle in addressing this issue with Bryant, but if he doesn’t become aware of it by this time next year there will be some very serious Kobe Bryant trade speculation. The Lakers are a young good team. Lamar, Brown, and Bynum with whatever Bryant can bring in a trade will contend for a Championship if Bryant forces the issue with his individual play. I hope it doesn't happen because I'm a huge Bryant fan, but his play can't continue if we're to develop into a contending team. He will be traded if it continues. He ran Shaq out of town, he will not be allowed to run anyone else out with his style of play. And that is the truth.

mike

get the F off you mother F ing F. F you and F your mother you F er. Eat S and suck my D. Thats right no one talks more S better than me you mother F ing F. F you. F the F ing Sonics and F Ray and that P mother F er Lewis. Those two can F themselves in the F ing ass.

wow, now i got that off my chest.... GO LAKERS!! ;)

Gerry B,

Dude's been kind of unstoppable lately. He doesn't work anyone in a Shaq kind of way, but the guy is turning into the best center in the league. I like Bynum but he still seems most unsure of himself on the defensive end. Maybe worked was a bad word but I think Bynum would have a tough time against Yao.

Michael T,

How harsh, maybe a switch to decaf would do you well. Or a nap, you seem testy.

nahk why would we trade for nash when Jordan, Magic and Bird are all retired and not making anything?

you think it would be hard to sell them on the greatest franchise in history? Ok maybe bird.

Screw nash. Your proposal is so off the wall, you must be trying to get crucified.

If the legends can't be had, then I think we should draft Martin Lawrence. I think he owns a house in l.a. and he's already made a basketball movie.

nahk, are you sober? Nash - George?? can you explain.

What do all you people think is being said here:

BS: It is, and we don't have any. I don't think we have one guy on the team who will stand up to him and say, if they were open and he shot the ball with three guys on him, "Hey, pass me the ball." You should have done this, or you should have done that. We don't have those types of personalities on this team. But the same thing that makes Kobe great as a player, it's like a blessing and a curse, or a gift and a curse or whatever you want to call it. He honestly in his mind feels like he can beat five people by himself. So he's always in attack mode. And you want to have that. You want to have someone that's always in attack mode, and he has that. And that's what makes him great. When you're in the foxhole with somebody, you want somebody to have your back that has that type of mentality.

The tough part is balancing it to the point that you can elevate your teammate's level of play and feel comfortable enough where you show them that you have confidence in them that, "Hey, he's open, I'm gonna make the right pass, he's gonna take the right shot, and it's gonna go in. If it doesn't we're in position to rebound." And he doesn't always do that. So you have to take the bad with the good. It's the same thing that makes him great, but at the same time it's the same thing that makes people say that he's selfish. But as a two guard in this league- the point guard is going to be unselfish, he's going to run the team- the two guard you need to be kind of greedy and selfish because you need him to score, and that's what he is, in attack mode, and he always needs to stay in that because he's probably the only guy on our team that can actually go and get his points and go and get shots. Everybody else needs a little bit of assistance.

BK: Is he getting better at it?

BS: He is. He is, actually. And what he normally does is at the beginning of games he will come out and be a little bit more passive and move the ball around. But if we start getting in a hole, in a double digit deficit, then that's when he says, "Okay, now I've got to just go ahead and do what I've got to do."

BK: All bets are off.

BS: So you know, he gives everybody a chance. I remember a game in Boston, I think it was 2002, 2001, I can't remember the season. Shaq was out, and Kobe shot 17-47 from the field. We were winning the game by a lot early on, and we ended up losing by a lot. So after the game reporters asked him, "Did you feel like you needed to take that volume of shots because Shaq was out of the lineup?" And he said, "No, I felt like I needed to take that amount of shots because the guys on my team weren't hitting shots." So then somebody said that if you look at the film, there were a lot of guys open in a lot of situations where you shot the ball. And he said "I still feel like with three or four people on me, I have a better chance of making it than one of my teammates that's wide open." And he said it with a straight face, and it hurt some of the feelings of some of the guys on the team. But I couldn't be mad at that because that's really, really how he feels.

You see this sequence?

But the same thing that makes Kobe great as a player, it's like a blessing and a curse, or a gift and a curse or whatever you want to call it.

It should have been said like this:

But the same thing that makes Kobe great as a player is the thing which make him horrible.

Look at the statement carefully, Shaw changed it so he wasn't so blunt, but he covered it with Blessing and a curse comparision. Is that not trying to communicate to Bryant? This is Brain Shaw, an basketball expert on the Lakers staff. If he is saying it, how long will it be until the Lakers run out of patience with Bryant.

mike

nahk, we got about as much of a chance to get Wilt, MJ, and Magic next season. If we're gonna dream, dream big!

Yo,
Sonny,
not that "let's ball" ... your age is showing, among other things.

nahk

who in the right mind would trade steve nash straight up for d george?

stay of the juice man...

lol!
Khan's getting good at anagrams and all..But 'nahk 'wasnt all that creative.

nahk are you khan spelled backwards?

Michael T,

I personally like the fact that Kwame Brown has career averages of 6 points and 6 boards and after 5 good games you're willing to trade Kobe if he doesn't start involving him more. I know that Kwame dropping every pass thrown to him for 85% of the season, and his shocklingly low rebound and blocked shot total were all just a ruse so the rest of the league wouldn't be ready for him come playoff time, but I wouldn't go trading Kobe just yet. Of course, you are on to something with keeping Bynum, a kid who probably wouldn't have started on the college team he was going to, and Lamar Odom who could be a go to guy in this league, what with dropping those six point games on us every once in awhile. The icing on the cake is including Smush, who probably wakes up every morning pinching himself to make sure he isn't dreaming and playing in some crappy European league.

Without Kobe this team is the worst in the NBA.

I disagree with your evaluation of the talent of these guys.

Andrew Z, color me stupid! Just read about Yao's tear lately - what happened to him? Maybe he finally realized he's 7'4" (or whatever). Good for Yao.

Mike T,
"Lamar, Kwame, Bynum, and even Smush improve as expected"

There is no "expected" about that improvement. It is a "hoped for". Huge difference, which you don't seem to appreciate.

As disappinted as I was last night's poor defense, I know the Lakers will bounce back for revenge against the lowly Sonics. I'd rather have the Lakers lose to Spurs than the Sonics. Same games different results. Win against then lost to Sonics last time around. This week. Lose to the Spurs then win over the Sonics. GO LAKERS and less shots but more assists for Kobe = Better team chemistry and WINS. No more Old BAD frickin habits.

I can't wait till they play the Nuggs.I hope the Lakers beat the $hiet out of Denver. I hate Carmelo and George Carl. They're both Kobe Haters. But, of course, since the Lakers are a young team, they won't look forward to the match because they have beaten the Nuggs twice this season.

Hey "V" man,

Depending on what the "V" stands for, you are an oxymoron. Or is it just moron?

Basically there were a couple of plays/games this season.

1.That play by Lamar in the Sac game when we were leading and going on to lose the game, basically shook Kobe's confidence in the team coz Lamar was the second best player. And Lamar was actually playing with low IQ during that stretch. That play in that game sealed it.
2.Kobe's 62 pt game and 81 pt effort basically sealed the deal for the rest of the team. They basically wanted to know if it was ok to shoot the ball when Kobe was in the game, even if they had a better look.

Kobe's to blame a bit for not easing his teammates anxieties regarding taking shots and being more assertive since he's supposed to be the leader. But at this level, you dont need a leader to tell you when to shoot and make decision. Last season, Caron Butler played well at the offensive end and Kobe was never a problem for him. Hence, if the rest of the Lakers arent asserting themselves offensively, they are more to blame than Kobe himself.

Also, if the rest of the team wants to shoot, shoot. Dont keep passing and dribbling and then passing to Kobe with 4 seconds left. He's not Peja or Damon Jones. He needs a feel of the ball. Be decisive during offensive plays and we'll be fine.

M.T.

It means that Kobe won't pass the ball if he feels like his teammates have a worse chance of making the shot than he does. And he feels like that a lot.

If I'm wrong, he won't pass the rock on Olympic team. But from watching him play, I doubt that.

And he said "I still feel like with three or four people on me, I have a better chance of making it than one of my teammates that's wide open." And he said it with a straight face..."

That's our Kobe, which every NBA commentor has been saying all season long. The radio crew said it last night, Spiro Dedas kept on saying, Kobe is shooting with 3 and 4 people on him. Mychael Thompson said it, Guy has his head down tonight, He doesn't see anyone.

EVERYONE KNOWS IT!

mike

WOW!! Scottie Pippen just said that to him Kobe is the MVP. I am really surprised that he picked him. Greg Anthony also said that Kobe or Nash, I mean Greg is always in favor of Kobe and the Lakers, after all he said the Lakers had a chance to be in the Western Conference Finals, but for Scottie to say that Kobe is the MVP really shocked me.

Yo Vman- You said:

"When the Laker season ends, the basketball season ends"

Then, I ask, what happens next in la la land? Football season begins? Go Niners! Go OAKLAND Raiders!

Michael T!!!!!!

I thought I was the only that read between the lines on the B-Shaw interview. See, I don't care how Kobe is off the court. I will only praise and criticize him on the court. But, I read B-Shaw's opinion overall. It doesn't sound good at all but he still had to sugar coat that statement. Like I said before, Kobe is definitely not the best teammate. He will never play with you, YOu will always have to play with him. This is why I think those guys the best teammates to surround Kobe. Simply because they're just yes man players to Kobe. That interview changed my view on Kobe,not as player, but as a teammate. We can only sit and wait for his progress as a Laker franchise player. We've seen the potential of this team when they play together. They've beaten top contender team. But, I feel that Kobe only wants to win games because of him. I know he listens to the media a lot. Especially after what I he said after the Boston shooting 17-49 fg. He said, "the team has a better chance of winning with him than the other players." See to me, that statement really came from us and the media. I can go on forever with this subject.

Nahk is using sarcasm my friends. He is being funny. Read his post again and don't take it so literally. :)

Andrew Z.

I don't know what you don't understand about Shaw's comments. I don't want Bryant traded, but he's going to get himself traded if he contiues with his style of play. That has nothing to do with me wanting him traded.

mike

exhelodrvr

Why do you always take the littlest thing of my posts and make them the issue? It's about Kobe shooting, playing team ball, and possibly being traded if he doesn't wake up despite the "expected" or "hoped" for status of his teammates.

mike

WOW...Scottie Pippen and Greg Anthony said Kobe was MVP over Nash! Well, Greg said Kobe/Nash, but it's about time someone promotes Kobe's name out there.

Thank God the SPURS are off my television set!! I guess the next time I will see them (assuming the Kobe's don't play them in round 1) is in the Finals against the 2ND MOST BORING TEAM IN NBA HISTORY, THE PISTONS!!! These teams are killing the NBA, maybe Phoenix is going overborad with there, Run n' Shoot offense, but the Spurs and Pistons, make for an awful finals showing. It's like watching baseball. Or soccer for that matter, ooooohhhh, 81-79!!!, exciting!!! And people wonder why Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Greg Poppovich don't get more credit. There suffocating defense is suffocating the league. Go Lakers, Go Phil, Go Kobe, not Shaq though, he's a douche bag.

Kobe needs to be traded alright. Although I doubt that any decent team would take the little guy without first submitting him to a "blanket party", just on G.P., or anyone else who had spent any amount time in la la land for that matter.

Apparentley every Laker Fan assumed that Phil, Kobe, Lamar, Smush and Kwame meant NBA Championship in year 1. RELAX GUY'S. This is going to take time, they are building a new team, Kobe and his teammates will gel, but not instantly. Anybody that really watches the games knows that alot of the time, Kobe's teammates are inconsistent, passive, and scared. These guy's need to STEP UP, Kobe does not need to STEP DOWN. The Lakers are doing better than I expected, and I'm happy with that. For all the teams short comings, KOBE BRYANT IS NOT A PROBLEM. In fact 81 pts, scoring title, 7th playoff seed, with a mediocre and inexperienced supporting cast, KOBE IS THE MVP.

Talking about trading Kobe Bryant is stupid. In fact even allowing those posts ruins the integrity of this forum.

Alright, Game time!

LETS ROCK!

GO LAKERS!

mike

THE ONLY WAY TO TRADE KOBE IT TO TRADE HIM WITH KOBE.....GUYS AROUND HIM SHOULD NOT PASS TO HIM AND SHOOT INSTEAD.....IF KOBE IS READING THIS BLOG, HE SHOULD TRY TO LIMIT HIS SHOTS TO 15 & LET EVERYBODY SHARE THE NEXT 15 OR SO.....WOULD YOU THINK THEY CAN WIN???? NO ONE KNOWS......AT THIS POINT IN TIME, CHANCES WERE GIVEN TO EVERYBODY FOR THE LAST 73 GAMES....THIS HAS BEEN THE DEBATE, WILL KOBE SHOOT OR NOT???.....I GUESS, PHIL KNOWS.....PHIL, DO YOUR THING....

IF ANY ONE REPLACES KOBE ON THIS TEAM DURING THE PRE-SEASON OF 2005~2006, WOULD THE TEAM BE ON THE 7TH SPOT???? MAYBE WORSE.....

KOBE OR NOTHING......

I see the refs have returned to the Kobe hatin' so far in the 1st half vs. Seattle. In the midst of a 12-2 Seattle run, the officials have been directly responsible for 8 of Seattle's points.

Kobe only has 20 shot attempts this half. Why aren't his teammates passing him the ball?

Mikki Moore thinks he is all macho.. yeah right.. u r still a micky mouse foo!

To Mitch Kupchak,
Pls sign Antonio Davis to help out Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown, Ronnie Turiaf and Brian Cook in the paint. You still have a slot left in line-up and you need this veteran during your play-off run. Please don't let this oppurtunity pass. :)

OK... We just won the game.. yeah it's have to be 3-0... guaranteed.. GO LAKERS love the W

Mitch Kupchak,
Antonio Davis, a veteran power forward and center, has just been released by the Toronto Raptors. I know you still have one slot left in your line-up. Pls sign him up. He could be a big help to the Lakers during their play-off run. He could also be a big help in the paignt for Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown, Brian Cook, Ronnie Turiaf and Andrew Bynum. Pls don't let this oppurtunity pass. I know, Jerry West wouldn't. :)

Great win! Finally; making a team conform to our personal. Our 2nd half offensive sets slowed the game and allowed us to dictate the tempo. That's how you would be the Suns. Smush Parker taking it to the hoop makes a big difference. Kobe shot 38 times. I wasn't counting but I know most of them were within the offensive sets. He didn't look like he was forcing the action. That's all the Lakers want from him. Take as much shots as he want, just do it within the offense and not try to go solo. What more can we ask for? Great D for Cook: 3 blocks and 6 boards. Turiaf, nice energy with control.

mike

man I'm bombed I missed it....watch it on the replay at kcal...if there is one

3 blocks from Cookie? are we talking about the same guy?lol

Jackie Johnson.....yeah!

uhuh Sonny Belfast. So those 43 points by Kobe didn't win that game? Along with great defense and very good jumping back into form by Lamar and Kwame, I think Kobe shouldn't be traded. There will be some players even superstars can't get through. Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had Nate Thurmond cover him well. If Bruce Bowen was on Wade or Ron Artest, heck he'd be on them and shut them down, Kobe had skills to score 23 considering Bowen is a very top NBA defender. Great Game Lake Show.

RAY ALLEN SHOT LIKE VON WAFER IN THE SECOND HALF. Don't like this comparision? Well, just check out the score in the 2nd half with Allen. He made less 3 pointers and kept on missing more, just like Von.

Keven, on your prediction was like Ray Allen in the second half: WAY OFF THE MARK

Can't wait for the playoff... this team can only get better.. the LAKERS is going to rock... GO LAKERS. btw how much win that we have to get for at least 8 seed??
And thanks GOD we have KWAME and not butler... NICE REBOUND.. (turiaf, and luke too). NICE W.

A GREAT WIN....GOOD JOB LAKES!!!!!.....KUDOS TO KOBE......KUDOS TO LAKERS!!!!!.......I THINK IF THERE ARE OTHER LAKERS WHO CAN BE AN OFFENSIVE THREAT, KOBE WILL ONLY HAVE 1 GUY IN FRONT OF HIM ALL THE TIME....THEN HIS SHOT SELECTION WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH....HOWEVER, AT THIS POINT IN TIME, HIS TEAMMATES ARE ALL LOOKING FOR HIM.....BECAUSE THEY KNEW, KOBE CAN SHOOT IT THAN THEM.....YOU CAN SEE THAT MOST OF HIS SHOTS WERE WHEN TIME IS WINDING DOWN....KWAME, LAMAR, SMUSH, AND ALL THE GUYS, HAVE SOME GUTS.....HELP KOBE IN THE OFFENSIVE SET....

BTW congrats to Kobe for just blew past his record high in points in his career. His last high was in the 02-03 season when he had 2461 points. Now he has 2499. Keep it Kobe. 2 more and another record broken.

That was bullcrap of a technical. Though he got to the free throw line eventually, what bullcrap of a call that was.

How about Lakers vs. Clippers in whatever round in the playoffs? COOL!

GO LAKERS!!!

A few points...I don't think that Jerry Buss will ever trade Kobe Bryant as long as he is one of the top players and box office draws in the league. The Lakers looked good tonight in the second half against Seattle. They only allowed 37 points after the halftime break. This shows that some good halftime adjustments were made. Luke Walton played well down the stretch of the ballgame and is devloping fourth quarter cojones. Kwame continues his strong interior play. This team is only one or two players away from being strong contenders in the Western Conference. And I'm not talking all stars. Just a couple of solid performers who can consistently contribute.

I saw the T on Kobe. The way he put the ball in the refs chest, I was thinking he might get a T for that. It was subtle but he did kinda put some pressure on it while pressing it to his chest. I waited a second, then there it came, he got T'd up. LOL

mike

The idea of getting Antonio Davis may be a little short sighted; Davis hasn't played much basketball all year. With the Knicks his minutes were limited and they waived him almost a month ago. There simply isn't enough time for him to regain his conditioning and to become comfortable with the team. Besides, at this point in his career, he simply is not that good. Wouldn't the team be better served by playing Turiaf more? At this point in time, Davis' only advantage over Turiaf is experience.

I love my Lakers, otherwise I would'nt blog here. Go Lakers! Beat Houston on Sunday!

BTW in boston he shot 19-47

Michael T-
Your "expected" theory is not a one-time occurrence. It is a consistent theme through your posts. Laker management should not be expecting this group of players to all improve to the level that is necessary to win a title, because it is not realistic. They need to be looking elsewhere for at least one, probably two additional players. If everyone on the team reaches their full potential, great. But that will be the first time in NBA history that that ever happens. So you don't expect it!

Kobe will not be traded. He is the reason Phil came back. At this stage, Lamar and Kobe are the only guys who could start for a contender. Kwame is knocking on the door.

The Lakers will not get past the first round this year.

The Lakers will add and develop players not afraid to shoot with Kobe on the court.

Smush and Mihm will not be starters in 3 years. Bynum has to develop and the Lakers need to go out and get a starting 1.

The Lakers bench will get more experienced and playoff tested, through experience of the guys we have today and personnel changes, before they win a title. Think Shaw, Horry, Fox type guys.

In year 3 Lakers are contenders.

Sorry about the misinformation about Antonio Davis in my previous post. I said that the Knicks waived him, when in fact Toronto waived him after acquiring him in the Jalen Rose trade. The rest of what I wrote still goes; Davis is over the hill.

exhelodrvr

Nobody pays millions of combined dollars "hoping" that something works out. When you put millions in the pot, it is with "expectation" not "hope" that the investments work out. The only people who hope are the fans. Do you honestly think Smush Parker hopes he works out for the Lakers? He may have a lot to learn but he expects to be playing a lot of minutes as the Lakers PG, and while he's in the game he's not hoping for anything. When he shoots he's not hoping it goes in, he expects it to go in. That's why he shot it in the first place. Everything is expectation. If it doesn't work out then go to our next expectation. Hope is for the weak of heart. Expectation is for the determine of heart.

mike

LAKER FAN IN SAN ANTONIO

ANYONE KNOW THE STATUS OF CHRIS MIHMS?