Shaq in game last night against Portland -

8 points and 10 boards... now that's domination!!!

Since we're on the topic of "kid stuff"...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=E4TRvYAyt3k

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0yvHWyvexZA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zSJc72OC7Dg

Oh, wait... I think I may have misunderstood the topic.

G1, nice to see you posting again.
You, too, JJ.

Generic-

That Rita Moreno clip is awesome.

BK

Our Lakers are right there in the thick of things in the Bestern Conference. I agree with Wondahbap that our Lakers need to win games that they should win and string together some wins. We've got GS twice and the Spurs this week. The game against GS should be fun to watch, we just need to play strong transition defense like we did in Denver. We have to limit their fast breaks and three point shooting. I hope our guys get the ball into Andrew more against the Warriors. We'll see how Bynum does against Duncan on Thursday, should be great.

I read articles in the Miami papers and Shaq is not happy at all in Miami. He's frustrated with his coaches and teammates. He responded to the criticism of Wade and Riley by saying he's going to do things his (expletive)way. He's not happy with the number of touches he's getting(still more than what Andrew gets and Shaq is playing fewer minutes)and that his teammates can't get him the ball. He's also angry that his mates don't attack the basket more since his presence in the paint opens things up for them. He's criticizing the coach and management for his weak supporting cast and is lashing out at those who say he's getting too old. He's frustrating that he's getting so few touches since his field goal percentage is at 60%(same argument I make in favor of Andrew over and over on this blog). As much as Kobe desires to leave(possible change of heart?), at least he's not in Shaq's or Smush's situation.

Sounds like Shaq cant accept his decline.

IMPORTANT REMINDER.. ONLY 44 DAYS LEFT TO VOTE
VOTE NOW AND VOTE DAILY!!
VOTING STARTED ON NOVEMBER 15 AND YOU CAN VOTE EVERY DAY!
MAKE SURE TO VOTE FOR LAMAR, LUKE AND KOBE FOR THE ALLSTAR @ LAKERS.COM AND MAKE SURE TO VOTE DAILY!!
EVERY BLOGGER GO VOTE NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY AT NBA.COM OR LAKERS.COM (DAILY!!)
REMIND EVERYBODY YOU KNOW TO VOTE DAILY EVERYDAY FOR THE NEXT 44 DAYS!
LET THE VOTES STACK UP!!!

**ALSO**
SIDE NOTE FROM "TIM-4-SHOW":
"You should add that no one should vote for anyone EXCEPT a Laker. With the All-Star voting, competing players who get votes too would essentially take away the votes we cast for Lamar. In other words, Lakers only + Eastern conference where the votes don't compete against our guys"
VERY GOOD POINT BY TM-4-SHOW.... NOT NECESSARY TO VOTE FOR ALL 5 POSITIONS, JUST SELECT KOBE, LAMAR, AND LUKE AND CLICK TO FINISH UNLESS YOU WOULD LIKE TO VOTE FOR SHAQ ON THE EAST LIKE I DO

**ALSO**
SIDE NOTE BY "LONG TIME LAKER FAN":
"you're leaving out a CRUCIAL part of the voting process. There's a box at the bottom of the voting page where you can WRITE IN one vote.
Don't just vote for Kobe, Lamar, and Luke. Write in Bynum or Farmar as well. I don't think they'll win, but it would be good to at least see their names in the list of top 10 vote getters."
GOOD POINT, ALSO PICK A PLAYER (LAKER) THAT’S NOT ON THE BALLOT

SO….

****WHEN VOTING*****

FOR THE WEST... VOTE FOR ONLY LUKE, LAMAR AND KOBE (LEAVE THE REMAINING 2 POSITIONS (GUARD & CENTER) BLANK.

FOR THE EAST... VOTE ONLY FOR SHAQ (CENTER) AND LEAVE THE REST BLANK.

PICK A PLAYER (AT THE BOTTOM): DEREK FISHER

DO THIS DAILY!

IMPORTANT REMINDER.. ONLY 44 DAYS LEFT TO VOTE
VOTE NOW AND VOTE DAILY!!
VOTING STARTED ON NOVEMBER 15 AND YOU CAN VOTE EVERY DAY!
MAKE SURE TO VOTE FOR LAMAR, LUKE AND KOBE FOR THE ALLSTAR @ LAKERS.COM AND MAKE SURE TO VOTE DAILY!!
EVERY BLOGGER GO VOTE NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY AT NBA.COM OR LAKERS.COM (DAILY!!)
REMIND EVERYBODY YOU KNOW TO VOTE DAILY EVERYDAY FOR THE NEXT 44 DAYS!
LET THE VOTES STACK UP!!!

**ALSO**
SIDE NOTE FROM "TIM-4-SHOW":
"You should add that no one should vote for anyone EXCEPT a Laker. With the All-Star voting, competing players who get votes too would essentially take away the votes we cast for Lamar. In other words, Lakers only + Eastern conference where the votes don't compete against our guys"
VERY GOOD POINT BY TM-4-SHOW.... NOT NECESSARY TO VOTE FOR ALL 5 POSITIONS, JUST SELECT KOBE, LAMAR, AND LUKE AND CLICK TO FINISH UNLESS YOU WOULD LIKE TO VOTE FOR SHAQ ON THE EAST LIKE I DO

**ALSO**
SIDE NOTE BY "LONG TIME LAKER FAN":
"you're leaving out a CRUCIAL part of the voting process. There's a box at the bottom of the voting page where you can WRITE IN one vote.
Don't just vote for Kobe, Lamar, and Luke. Write in Bynum or Farmar as well. I don't think they'll win, but it would be good to at least see their names in the list of top 10 vote getters."
GOOD POINT, ALSO PICK A PLAYER (LAKER) THAT’S NOT ON THE BALLOT

SO….

****WHEN VOTING*****

FOR THE WEST... VOTE FOR ONLY LUKE, LAMAR AND KOBE (LEAVE THE REMAINING 2 POSITIONS (GUARD & CENTER) BLANK.

FOR THE EAST... VOTE ONLY FOR SHAQ (CENTER) AND LEAVE THE REST BLANK.

PICK A PLAYER (AT THE BOTTOM): DEREK FISHER

DO THIS DAILY!

Miami is living the dream that some people want to have happen here, about 1 1/2 to 2 years of glory and then the fallout for years after...

Miami's in a pinch, Mourning is going to retire after this season, he can't be traded for anything, all those other turds? Ricky Davis? Ahahaha! Whaddaya think he's worth on the open market? Yeah...

Shaq is declining and still making a truckload of money. Wade is finding those lanes aren't so wide open now that Shaq is less dominant. Haslem is ok but he'll probably want way more money than he's worth. The rest is a team filled with turds, there to support the Shaq of 2-3 years ago, not the Shaq of today. Everybody saw this coming but hey, they had their 2 years of glory, now it's time to pay the piper.

and I forgot about their young prospects! Oh... wait a minute... THEY DON'T HAVE ANY! Their only real option is to trade Wade for a bunch of young prospects but they won't be able to bite that bullet until probably next year around this time... otherwise, it'll be time to bring in more turds to surround an aging Shaq which they will have to do to fend off their dwindling fan base...

Hey... that could have been us! But the Buss bashers can't think more than one season ahead so... there you are... once again, the tale of 2 franchises, one that sacrificed probably the next 5-10 years for the previous 2 and the other building a young core for the next 5-10 years...

The upcoming week should be telling for the Lakers. Two games against
Golden State and one against San Antonio.

If they go 2-1 or better then they're looking like the 51+ win 4/5 seed team
that Hollinger's playoff predictor predicts. And barring injuries or sophomores
hitting the rookie wall, they could conceivably make some noise in the
playoffs.

OTOH, if they go 0-3, then they're sliding back toward being a first round
exit team like the last couple of years.

I'm thinking it'll be 2-1, including a victory over San Antonio. Kwame will
play a few minutes in the game, so Mike T will of course give him full
credit for the win. And the Golden State games will both be high-scoring
affairs with each team winning at home.

Say what you want about Buss deciding to choose Kobe over Shaq...
It was the right choice in the long term.

Shaq is having a hard time accepting his decline, as all the great ones do I suppose.
If he could have passed the torch to Kobe like Kareem did with Magic, the end of his career would have been a much happier one.
The Heat are stuck but the did get their one championship.

I wonder after all is said and done, who will Shaq like to have played for the most...My guess is Stan Van Gundy!

damn damn damn ... can we redo the kwame for caron trade ... wtf where we thinking ... seriously anyone that watched the lakers the first season after the shaq trade, the major takeaway was that the main positive for the season was kobe and butler seemed to be playing well together at the end of the season ...

I'm not trying to blame mitch, buss or phil for the trade either. I just can't help but wonder what would have happened if the bulls traded pippen early on, did we let our missing piece go? ...

and wtf, I can't help but feeling like we got suckered by washington ... like can't we go kick the crap out of them or something, and force them to take kwame back ... you know ala suge night hanging music execs upside down from their 18th floor balcony to get them to sign a contract ... lets do the same to the washington gm, we want a recount, revote, doover, wtf you want to call it. Give us butler back. Like I'm so madd now that we gave up one of the few valuable nuggets we got for shaq

and oh will y'all stop wondering why lamar dissapears on us during games. It's called mary jane folks ... look it up!!!!!

Mike T ... Kwame sucks ... especially when I think of what we gave up to get him ... and please don't bring up the defense he plays cuz last time i checked you don't play defense with your ass glued to the pine because of injuries ... seriously does this dude even play up to 50 games a season?

You know what kills me about Miami? Dwayne Wade is supposed to be a premier player in this League. All this so called Jordan talk, and what do we have? A team that is 4-10? They still have no less than 3-4 other players who were there during that bogus championship run. Slowed down Shaq or not. Isn;t he alone supposed to be good enough. Kobe would get roasted. Absolutely roasted. How do they let Posey get away? Why do they trade for Ricky Davis? Pat Riley lost it. No, Shaq isn;t the same, but it does SEEM like his teammates aren't giving him the ball like they should. Half of Shaq is still better then most. Doesn't Jerry Buss look so smart now. Miami mortgaged the future for one season. True, the goal is to win a championship, but what now? They gave him too much money. Although, they are in Miami, right? the fans are used to it. The Marlins win a World Series, then suck for 8 years.

generic-

That would be money well spent, for sure. No question about that.

BK

SBPimp,
"Would you really trade Vlad (who has been providing 12-15 points off the bench every night pretty consistently), "

Which Vlad are you referring to? The Lakers Vlad has scored 12 or more points in only 4 of 19 games, while getting less than 10 points in 11 of those games. (Note - DNP-CD in one game.)

I know I know ... can we tie Kwame down and have the kids throw pie at him during the half time show ... I think it'd give the crowd some laughs, build team chemistry, and finally make kwame a valuable addition to the team

can you have cake thrown at you when you're injured ... cuz if not, kwame still won't be much use

Maybe we should just have a Mike T bashing day ... like he's Kwame's biggest advocate ... Hey Mike T, can you come up with your top 5 reasons why Kwame trade was s good one ... that way I can respond with a witty post that makes u look retarded ... i think that would make me feel good

omg ... someone put me out of my misery ... let's fire phil jackson ... i think i read somewhere that trading for kwame was his idea

And oh who's idea was it to give luke walton an extension, frankly speaking I think it'd be additon by subtraction ... yeah he can pass but having a defensive liability like him get so many minutes just sucks.

Kwame and Walton for Butler? Fair trade if you ask me, they're getting back one more player than what they gave us. Hey can we do the same trade but with sacremento instead for Artest ... darn it when will artest should go kill a cow in sacremento just so the kings will be forced to trade him

MJCMAN,
"Say what you want about Buss deciding to choose Kobe over Shaq...
It was the right choice in the long term."

One of the big criticisms of Kobe has been that he didn't try to talk the F.O. isn't keeping Shaq. Think if Kobe had done that ... Consider the fact that Shaq almost certainly wouldn't have been inspired to get into shape like he was with Miami, and thus the Lakers probably wouldn't have won a championship anyway (especially coming out of the Western Conference) ... So to all those who blame Kobe for Shaq leaving, think again.

Taliq

Knowing all the Artest's antics killing cow in SAC would not be something impossible.

On the subject of Kobe vs Shaq. Well, Shaq not a Kareem to pass a torch to Kobe and keep rolling here like Kareem to Magic type thing. Well, he was smart enough when he got to Miami to recognize Wade already 'a man' over there. However if you remember they championship game after the game it was all about him... Shaq is Shaq and nothing will change it.

While Shaq may be declining, he's not finished. His mates are just not getting him the ball enough. The two games that they got him involved he had solid numbers(1 point loss at Boston and a win over Houston in Miami). They really miss Jason Kapono, James Posey and even Twoine(although they probably won't admit it). They have the Eastern Conference version of JR Smith in Ricky Davis, a less than 100% Wade, former Laker starting point guard Smush as their valet. The only young player showing any potential is Daequan Cook(a rookie). Kobe definitely has much more in front of him in terms of talent and possible years of contending for a ring than Wade and Shaq do. Adding Trevor Ariza is an addition that slips under the radar, but he adds athleticism and perimeter defense not to mention that he's only 22(tremendous upside). He'll definitely spell Kobe at times by guarding the 1, 2 and 3 spot. He could eventually be a lock down defender and something special if he develops any type of outside shot. I'd like to see Ariza guard Stephen Jackson when we play GS because he's the same height and size as Jackson. Kobe vs Baron should be a fun matchup to watch as well. There should be no excuse not to get the ball into Bynum more against Biedrins(I'll be watching LO, Rad and Fisher to see if they pass the ball inside to Drew). We still have to do better on our home floor, especially Sunday games.

Andrew Z.,

I agree. Howard's dunk was not only sick, but probably too creative for its own good. It took the judges too long to wrap their head around what he did.

AK

Before I go into my Kidd comments, I must reiterate that we need JO far more than JK. And any non-Bynum trade for him (Kwame & Lamar, Kwame & Rad & Farmar, etc) is well worth it!! Bynum and O'Neal up front with Kobe and Fish in the backcourt IMMEDIATELY makes us #3 in the West with a chance to go even higher.

As for JK, I like Bill Simmons' idea and would do that as well. Except I think he's reading our young PG situation incorrectly. Farmar may look better than rookie Critt right now, but Critt has WAY more potential to be a major force at the position. All the more reason to keep him and let the more attractive looking Farmar be our trade bait.

Oh and I JUST GOT TICKETS TO THE GAME UP HERE (Warriors/Lakers on the 14th). I'll be checking in afterwards with some feedback....

BK, HAB, Shaqfan and all DOUBTERS/ (not all you but most of you) HATERS:

KOBE is KING!
Remeber on the night we played at Utah. The CROWED where ready for us. They where ready for the Lakers, Kobe and they were ready for FISH. "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" was what Utans shoute devery time Kobe, FISH and the Lakers had the ball in their hands.

This was some thing new for FISH. Even kinda rare for the LAKERS. But nothing out of the ORDINARY for KING KOBE. He has been boooooed by almost everybody. From NY to Memphis, and from Phoenix to San Antonio and From PHILADELPHIA to COLORADO. shouting "BOOOOOOOOOOOO" is the only deffense the basketball fans have had to PROTECT and/or release thier Frustration on KING KOBE.

Now I take you back to Boston Garden, last year against a Celtics that were hoping for 1st pick on the DRAFT leaving the fans nothing to CHEER about. But they found KING KOBE. "MVP....MVP.....MVP....MVP" and Red was ROLLLLLLLLLIN in his grave. ROOOOLLLLLLLLIN.

Fast Forward to Wednesday, PEPSI center, LA-Denver game after KOBE showed the world who the KING is, and an interview with Lisa Sulters the ESPN sideline reporter, Kobe, slowly and UNSURELY, started walking towards the locker rooms. The locker rooms of the arena that he will forever be linked to, the arena in a city whose people once took him to the BRINK of DOOM. In a city the has BOOOOOED the KING more than they have boooed any thing or anybody all together. Then it happened instead of "RAPIST", "GET the (blip) out" and all thet the DENVER fans are accustome to in thier language towards KOBE this time it was the REQUEST for HIGH, LOW, MIDDLE, SIDE and just in the AIR FIVES.

They realized you can not, YOU CAN NOT, disrespect the KING. Yall better start from RIGHT now.

Taliq, if you acknowledge that the Kwame trade was a risk then you understand where I am coming from. It's just like buying a stock that blows up on you, the risk is there and sometimes... that one little risk actually happens, look at the stock PAY. How many of their shareholders expected or even considered the possibility they could lose HALF of their value in 15 minutes?

Look at Orlando with Grant Hill. Who could have possibly expected that?

If you remember, we needed a big man and we had really, 2 tradeable assets, Odom and Butler. Obviously the gamble was on Odom getting better and Kwame coming in and being a lesser version of Karl Malone at the PF. Who knew Kwame would never even learn the offense? How many years has it been and the guy STILL CAN'T PLAY PF???

I'm not happy with the outcome of the trade but you could understand the calculated gamble they took at the time. If Kwame had panned out and if Butler was even better than he is now that would still have been a tremendous trade for us because we would have a romping, stomping Kwame at PF, Bynum at Center and Odom's scoring problems wouldn't be the issue they are. Also, who knows if we go after Vlad Rad if Kwame had worked out at PF? We might have gotten a better guard or ???

PF has been a killer for us for a long time, I'd just like the Lakers to bite the bullet, trade for a young guy AGAIN! LOL! tell him the PF slot is his and that if he produces, he'll be rich beyond his wildest dreams. Surely there's someone out there who would embrace such a situation? Surely???

uh oh... here we go... try #2

Long Time Laker Fan - what makes you think the Lakers can beat San Antonio?