Sessions in Fisher out

Sessions Joins Lakers

The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and the lakers ended up making two deals on this final day.  The first deal brought the lakers Ramon Sessions in exchange for Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, and a draft pick.  This deal made a lot of sense, Sessions seams to be a very good upgrade at the point guard position, which was by far the lakers most obvious weakness.  The second deal landed the lakers Jordan Hill from Houston in exchange for Derek Fisher.  The lakers clearly had too many PGs, but I would have rather started Sessions and had Fisher coming off of the bench for his clutch factor.  It's sad to see Fisher go, but I guess this was an issue of money.  The lakers worked pretty hard to try and land Michael Beasley from Minnesota in a 3-team deal that also included the Blazers, but that ultimately fell through.  I was really hoping that that deal would happen.  I think Beasley would have fit a lot better with LA than he does with the timberwolves.  All in all, I think the Lakers did make a good move in getting Sessions, but I'm very conflicted with the fact that they traded Fisher, and I wish they could have landed Beasley as well.  It will be interesting to see if the lakers consider adding Gilbert Arenas and/or Rasheed Wallace now that the deadline has passed.  The lakers play the wolves tomorrow, so we won't have to wait too long to see how these changes effect the team.

The Kobe System

This has been out a while, still funny though

Lakers Trade Talk

Feeling Like Waldo

Let me start off by saying that ONLY the lakers would get robbed of a perfectly legit trade by the NBA.  The trade that the lakers tried to make for chris paul was just as fair and maybe even better than the trade that was allowed with the clippers.  The commissioner was just afraid that he would look as though he had a laker bias but whatever.  What's done is done, but that mishap has led to the loss of a disgruntled Lamar Odom, and started the ball rolling on Gasol's ever descending confidence.  Now that's all done, it is what it is, but David Stern single handedly put the lakers in a hole this year!!!!   Now, on to Dwight Howard.  I still feel like the lakers have a shot at him but I honestly don't think he is worth giving up both Gasol and Bynum for unless we get Jameer Nelson in the Deal.  The size of Gasol and Bynum is still a huge advantage, I'd rather see them move some other pieces to at least get a decent point guard.  One of the more recent rumors is that the lakers are looking at bringing in Michael Beasley from the wolves.  I live in Minnesota so I watch almost every game that beasley is a part of.  I will not argue his talent for one second, but he is inconsistant and often seems to wreck the wolves chemistry all by himself.  If the lakers can get him for a pick or a couple of out bench players fine, but if they end up getting gasol out of LA, the lakers are in deep shit!!!!  My basic philosophy around trades for the lakers is that they don't move gasol unless they can make a significant upgrade at point guard.  The trade idea that I like the most is Carl Landry and Luis Scola for Gasol, I think that would be a decent trade for both teams!!!!  I guess we still have a few weeks to see what happens, I'm just praying that the lakers do SOMETHING!!!!!

Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers argue whether or not Kobe should play overseas!

Should Kobe take his Talents overseas?

As everyone I'm sure has noticed, there is a lot of talk about different players, including Kobe, possibly playing overseas if there is a shortened season due to a lockout.  I understand the thinking for many of the players, but is it really something that one of the NBA's greatest players of all time should do? I'm not so sure.....

There are definitely many pros and cons about playing in a foreign land.  The first positive is obvious, practice! What better way to stay sharp than to keep playing "competitive" basketball. While this is very important for many of the young players in the league, I'm not convinced that Kobe really needs to do this to stay in a groove. With all of his injuries the last few years, I think the time would prove most valuable if he can get his body as close to 100% as possible for when the season does begin.  Another positive, would be from a purely marketing stand point.  Playing overseas in front of different markets, especially in China (where there are 1 billion people) could be great for the careers of many of the up and comers in the League.   Once again though, does Kobe really need that? I'm sure it would turn him into even more of an international superstar, but how much could it possibly do for a guy that already sells the most jerseys in China.  The risks could be huge! Kobe would be less likely to be at 100% when the NBA season begins, and the risk for further injuries really might not be worth the risk!  I've pretty much made up my mind on the idea and my opinion is that he should stay home in the USA, unless

1. Several of the NBAs top stars sign on in teams that are in the league so that the competition is high
2. Kobe would definitely need a clause in his contract, allowing him to join the lakers whenever the season returns.
3. He get's offered a mountain of $$$$, not 1 million, I'm talking $10 million plus
4. He promises that the lakers will win the 2012  NBA title
5. If I can review all of the information presented in his offer, and allow Mr. Bryant to proceed.

That's It, so Kobe, let's  make a decision here soon!

#KOBEINTHECLUTCH

King James? Let's not get ahead of ourselves!

Back in 2001 I was reading an issue of Slam Magazine and I was looking through the names on their annual Slam High School All-Americans list.  I noticed there was a sophomore on the second team, and  I was like DAMN that's kinda crazy.  The name was Lebron James from St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio.  There was a nice article on him an issue or two later and soon after that the hype surrounding him spread to the main stream.  His high school played games in a college arena and a few of his games were shown on ESPN. As soon as I saw him play I knew he was the real deal! He already had an NBA body at age 17 and his athleticism was out of this world.  He could fly! and his passing skills blew me away for someone of his size.  I was a big Lebron fan back then, even had a poster of him up there next to Kobe and MJ.  

I was all about Lebron until maybe his second year in the league.  It's really kinda funny to me the way that I started to dislike him, because at the beginning it really wasn't his fault.  In my opinion, Kobe was the best player in the NBA starting somewhere around 2001.  You have no idea how many times I had to hear that players like Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson were better. It was such a joke! Bryant had to be the best there was for literally 7 years before people would actually acknowledge that it was true!  Now Lebron on the other hand was seemingly anointed "King" almost the second that he stepped on to the floor!  For whatever reason Kobe had to do so much to get credit, and then Lebron marches in and overnight he's the best? Really?  I've never ever ever denied that Lebron could one day go down as the greatest player of all time, but I'm not gonna give him the crown based on his potential! I'm sorry! So it was really seeing him get all of the credit and glorification before he's actually put in the work that kinda started my Lebron hatred up to begin with.  It started more as a hatred of the people that put him up on the pedestal before he deserved it, more than anything!  Luckily for me, he has gone on to do more than enough to justify my disliking of him.

Imagine if they pulled some shit like this!

#FRESH

MJ KNOWS WHAT'S UP!

My reasons for being a Kobe Bryant fan

I feel like it might be a good idea to take a look back at how and why I became a fan of Kobe Bryant.  I really began paying attention to the NBA in the 90s. Living in Minnesota, we didn't have a team until 1989 and it was many years before Kevin Garnett showed up and made them relevant.  I admit that I did what the rest of the country did, and hopped on the Bulls bandwagon.  I was born in 1984 so I'm saying I was a child when I started liking MJ and the Bulls, I didn't even know what the term bandwagon meant.  Watching Jordan play was a blast and I was at the time as much of a Jordan fan as I am a Kobe fan today.  But I knew that Jordan's career was coming to a close and I wanted to find the next Jordan as many others did.  I knew of Kobe, but I started really paying attention when he won the dunk contest in his rookie year. He had many similarities to MJ and overall he was just an exciting young player.  I can in fact remember telling a friend that I was looking forward to Jordan's retirement so that I could see Kobe and Shaq win some rings.  I've always view Kobe a little bit differently than I view a lot of NBA stars.  He's well spoken,  he speaks Italian, and actually did well enough on his SAT to actually get into college (unlike KG).  So many NBA frustrate the hell out of me because they can barely even speak ENGLISH as their first language.  I've always just thought he was more intelligent and well rounded person than most of the stars in the league.  Now, on to the more present day.  It's no secret that Kobe's drive is second to none.  He is on a mission to be the greatest nba player of all time.  Whether he's already there, or he's on his way, or if he has no shot whatsoever, none of those statements will effect the effort that he will continue to put in on his quest.  He famously only takes a couple weeks off after the season before he starts his training again which usually has him up working before 5 o'clock in the morning.  In contrast you have guys like Shaq that make shitty movies, video games, rap albums, and visit Disney World during there down time.  Love him or Hate him, Kobe works hard!  I don't see how people can hate the fact that someone wants to be the best at what they do?  Kobe has 5 rings, been to the finals 7 times, but I have no doubt in my mind that he wants to win more championships more than any other player in the league.  There's been times when Kobe's tried to take the game into his hands and failed, I'll admit that, but you're never gonna see him shy away from the moment like Lebron did against Dallas.  Kobe won't go down without a fight period!  That pretty much sums it up for now, I'm sure I'll probably come back to this later and add more.

What's Beef?

 I decided to start off writing about something that has been making me ANGRY for a few years now.  People constantly attack Kobe for running Shaq out of Los Angeles, because he wanted to be the man.  First of all, I think it’s bullshit, second of all even if it was true, I could perfectly understand why he might want to. When Shaq came into the league, he was instantly one of my favorite players.  He was breaking backboards left and right and his personality was just as big as his game.  He was fun to watch and clearly he was enjoying life.  He owned Orlando, and then he owned LA.  The thing with Shaq is, he’s a complete freak of nature.  Over 300 pounds, and extremely athletic, like nothing the NBA had ever seen before.  The problem is, the fame was more important to him than the game itself.  With his amazing God-given abilities, he was gonna win championships without having to put his whole heart into it and he did.  He was content to be a great player, but I really think that if he had the work ethic of Kobe, he would have shattered records, and stacked the championship trophies to the ceiling.  Shaq liked to spend his off seasons hanging out at Disney world, and filming shitty movies about genies.  He loves having fun, and he loves the attention that comes with the fame.  I completely understand the way he is, but when you compare him to Kobe it’s obvious why they had issues. 

for the record, this is not me!

INTRODUCTION

I decided to start this blog for a couple of reasons. Number 1, I love basketball, I can watch any NBA game and find something that makes it worth watching. Whether I’m watching my Lakers(which needs no justification), or I’m watching the Wolves to see K Love get another double double, I’m gonna watch it and enjoy. So, my plan is to write about all kinds of basketball/nba related stuff. Number 2, I’m a huge Lakers/Kobe Bryant fan. I feel I might as well let it be known right away that I’m probably gonna be a little biased, I’d rather get that out of the way right now! I plan to do a lot of comparing Kobe to all the other great players, and shedding light on how I feel about many of the Kobe/Lakers developments both new and old. I know I’m not always right, and I’m more than happy to make some people mad! That’s all for now, check back, there should be some content soon!