I used to hate the Lakers growing up in SoCal during the Showtime era, as their bandwagon fans and Chick Hearn's homerism were insufferable. Of course after moving to NYC I learned that hometown fans just piss me off wherever I go. Either that or LA and NY are asshole magnets.

Despite all of these horrific formative fan experiences I never got psycho enough to root for the Red Sox or the Celtics, though.

All this being said, why would anyone presume the Lakers would lose this year? What has fundamentally changed from the last three years? Are they gonna face Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling 5 times in a 7 game series or something? Or maybe the Kings will get a rally monkey of their own? Repeat after me: 'I think I can, I think I can...'

I have a simple solution for the Kings to win it all.

Hire Phil Jackson as their head coach.

Or pass out ThunderStix
But I think fans sitting under the basket already have them for opponent free-throw attempts.

Or... the Kings would have won it all last year except for an injury to ... PEJA STOYAJOVICH ... that kept him out for nearly the entire 7 games versus Lakers.

Good point - and he was a total liability when he returned all covered in rust. True to the sports macho ethic, the Kings disregarded his obvious limitations and looked to him as if he could be an effective go-to guy when the chips were down. His critical shot attempts looked like they were put up by my sister. Made me sick to my stomach to look at it...and I was in an excellent Oaxacan restaurant at the time. All around waste of talent and great food.

This morning my son lost a soccer game by one point that he and his friends thought they should have won. Maybe, maybe not. There was also some added controversy because the ref was the son of the coach of the opposing team. One thing for sure though, is that by this time next week, my son and his friends will be focused on their next opponent and this weekend's game will simply be a loss. Get over it. Obviously Superman and all the other diehard Sac crybabies didn't benefit from this good advice as they were growing up.

I almost hope that Sac wins something pretty soon just so I won't have to hear the Sac fans whinning about how they were robbed two or three years ago. I'll have some respect for all the Sac fans that talk about how their team was strenthened in the off season, about how good they'll be if they can avoid injury, and how they're going to match up much better this season. But how can you have any respect for someone who's still crying about last year's loss. Do we see this in any other sport? No, the Sac fans are unique in thier distinction as the biggest cry-babies in professional sports. Not really surprising given the choice they've made in supporting Vlade Divac's antics.

Scarus

I am a big Sac fan, i dont whine. The Kings had every chance in the world to win the title last year, and they just blew it. Championship teams are supposed to overcome injuries and bad call fouls, find ways to win. You can blow a 25 point lead in game 4 in the lakers home court.. You cant miss over 50% of your free throws in game 7...You can throw up bricks in the last two minutes of game 7 and expect to win.. Well i hope they learned something in the off season, and with the pickup of Keon Clark, they should be the team to beat.

Gentlemen, this is gonna be a great thread this year. The magnitude of Phil Jackson's accomplishment since '91 is immense. Is there really anybody out there who wants to minimize it (besides the amazing shrinking Red Auerbach)? The constant chorus of if, if, if...

Phil's mindful approach, and the fact that he's been able to sell it to players, is one of his greatest strengths. No other coach has mastered the "Zen" approach to coaching. The fact that his players are developing a mindful, alert maturity is one of the team's strongest weapons against Sacramento and everyone else.

Phil also has the most sophisticated offense (The Triangle), as well as constant access to Tex Winter. The fact that his team has growing familiarity with each other and this system will make them tougher. Phil digs on the times that Shaq or Kobe isn't present because it means that he can further develop his team under "adversity." As long as the S&K index is healthy come playoff time, all is well.

The Laker's mission this year is to stay close, stay healthy, stay creative and diverse, and then get hot. If they win their division, it'll be frosting on the cake -- don't bet on it. Sacramento will likely improve, especially if Bibby's superhuman talents surface as they did in the playoffs. Bet on the Lakers to win it all again, though...

Laker fans, enjoy this season. Enjoy the likely Battle Royale with Sac. And definitely enjoy Jackson's accomplishment. This year or next is likely to be his last year coaching.

Scarus,

So nice to see you back on the board again. How's everything going? What happened to your inbox did you let your upgrade lapse?

Lakers 2-5. Kobe is proving to be more Scottie Pippen than Michael Jordan ...

Sixers 4-1. They finally have a second shooter ...

-Superman-

I agree on Kobe.

I laugh my ass off when I hear on sports talk radio that some Laker fan will call in and say something like 'We'll trade Kobe for Garnett maybe' Get real.

I think there are at least 30 players in the NBA you could substitute Kobe for and the Lakers would have won the last three championships (although they were given one of the biggest giftd in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals I've ever seen).

There is no defense for Shaq. I don't like the guy but you put him on any team and they would be my pick for NBA Champs.

LAKERS HATERS, THEY SEEM TO BE EVERYWHERE

GO LAKERS LET'S GET NUMBER 4 IN A ROW SO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL HATE US ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,


KidCisco

LAKERS HATERS, THEY SEEM TO BE EVERYWHERE

GO LAKERS LET'S GET NUMBER 4 IN A ROW SO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL HATE US ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,

Ditto,
Dogster

Hint: Any Laker-bashing, Kobe-bashing, Phil-bashing at this point is based on fundamental ignorance. Adversity at this point in the season isn't harmful to the Lakers.

LAKERS HATERS, THEY SEEM TO BE EVERYWHERE

GO LAKERS LET'S GET NUMBER 4 IN A ROW SO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WILL HATE US ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,


Lakers can lose 20 in a row and will still make the playoffs with a healthy Shaq and his big toe.
I am a huge Celtics and Lakers fan So lets hope for an 80's showdown.

How Bout Stackhouse ? He is the leader for the Wizards. Nobody beats the Wiz !

This will be a fun season to Watch

Sluffy

Damnit milky, you can't be a fan of both the Lakers and Celtics. It's not natural.

-Superman-

Milky, whattsa matta you? You want it both ways. You FUCKING bi-coastal.

NO ONE'S GONNA STOP THE LAKERS- KOBE IS AMAZING AND SHAQ IS UNSTOPPABLE, ADD BIG GAME HORRY AND THE REST OF THE CAST AND YOU MIGHT AS WELL SHIP THIS YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY TO STAPLE'S CENTER NOW AND SAVE EVERYONE THE TIME!!!!!1

NO ONE'S GONNA STOP THE LAKERS- KOBE IS AMAZING AND SHAQ IS UNSTOPPABLE, ADD BIG GAME HORRY AND THE REST OF THE CAST AND YOU MIGHT AS WELL SHIP THIS YEAR'S CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY TO STAPLE'S CENTER NOW AND SAVE EVERYONE THE TIME!!!!!1

The NBA will make sure that the Lakers win it again this year...just ask the Kings..they were robbed.

IF THE KINGS WOULD STOP PLAYING LIKE QUEENS AND STOP CRYING MAYBE THEY WILL WIN AND STOP LOOKING FOR THE REF'S TO HELP THEM OUT JUST GET OFF THE FLOOR AND PLAY SHAQ LIKE A MAN, YOU WILL GET MORE RESPECT THAT WAY AND STOP ALL THE CRYING PLEASE!!!!!

GO LAKERS LET'S GET THAT 4TH RING OH YEAHHHHHHH

KidCisco

Dear Shaq,

Please hurry back!! I thought I was an elite player who could carry a team, but I was wrong. I now realize I'm no Shaqille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan or Tracy McGrady. Please come back soon so I can once again start looking better than I really am!

Forever your bitch,

Kobe Pippen

P.S. I hope the big toe injury does not end your career like it did Deion's ...

Dear Shaq,

Please hurry back!! I have never won shit without having the best player in the NBA on my roster! I know I'm really just an average coach with a kooky philosophy, but thanks to you and MJ, people actually think I'm good!

Faithfully yours,

Zenmaster

Great post Kobe!!

Great post Phil!!

-Superman-

Dear Milky

Before Shaq cums back Please keep taking the dogs in the Laker games and you will have money in your pocket for extravagant things such as food and electricity in your casa
And if things really go well enuff for parking at the border too !!

Good Luck
Sam

OK, very funny ha,ha,ha, you all should get your licks in now because once the real season start (playoff) and yes the Lakers will be in the playoff they could be the number 8 spot don't care and it don't matter and, you all will see what the real deal is.

4 Peat likes go LAKERS !!!!!!

KidCisco

Lakers and Celtics this year por favor what a series that would be.
Lakers will be on top before the year ends unless Shaq gets a hangnail.

Likes Go Lakers Likes Go Celtics !!

Milkman

My favorite teams are the Yankees, Angels, Diamondbacks, Giants, Twins, Athletics.

benwhojumpsonbandwagons

Some interesting Kobe stuff via ESPN:

"Truth is, after six games, Kobe has 1.6-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, is shooting 44 percent from the floor and 31 percent on 3-pointers. While playing three positions. I believe you can get stats to say anything, but just for comparison's sake, the season Michael Jordan turned 24, he shot 18 percent from the arc and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.4:1. Not for six games, mind you, but for an entire season."

By Ric Bucher
ESPN the Magazine

And: More Michael vs. Kobe at 24

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/sportsnation/story?page=resumes/021108

Yours in whoring

Dogster

Give Michael Shaq and he gets 11 rings and his stats improve tremendously

Kobe just scored 45 (nearly half the Lakers' points) last night, as the Lakers won without Shaq.

Your views of the world ARE highly entertaining. Please don't let the facts confuse you or discourage you from posting.

Yours in whoring

Dogster

I watched the Lakers game and Kobe was unbelievable, but he was guarded by Arenas(sp?) de Arizona and Kobe bitch slapped him all night.

By the way with like a minute and half left and the Lakers ahead by 6(?) he takes a jump shot instead of letting the clock run down. Granted he made it, but really stupid.

Speaking of slapped, did anyone see Horrey get nailled in the face as he as going up for a layup. Made the shot.They called it flagrant, but I think that was close to getting kicked out of the game. Horrey just got up and made his free throws. Never even showed that it bothered him. What a pro.

That was a great game last night.
The refferees were watching another game i think.
By the way I bet against the Lakers last noche and won - yippy !!
Too bad i lost my other 56 bets
No heat for my casa this month I guess

Milky

You've got that right. Can you imagine if Jordan had come into the league on a team with the best center in the game!? Who was it at the time, Hakeem? Jordan would have won 11 titles is right! He was the best player in the league almost from the jump. When he returned from the broken leg, he was the best no question.

Jordan did not go to a team with the best center in the game, so if you're trying to say Kobe is better than MJ at 24, comparing their stats makes no sense. Besides, it's a team game. MJ never won a title without Jordan and Shaq never won one without Kobe ...

Now, nobody said Kobe was not good. The question has always been what could he do without Shaq ... 3-6 with a World Championship roster is what. One game out of the division cellar is what.

Hell, what's to worry about anyway? So what if L.A. is 3-6 with two OT wins (a hair from 1-8) ... so what if Dallas is 9-0 ... It's only November!

This adversity does not hurt them ... Shaq will be back ... I'm sure his toe will not bother him all season ... I'm positive Kobe will have no trouble handing the reigns back over to the big guy and slink back into his "2nd best player on the team" role (Kobe's never had an ego problem in the past, has he?) ...

I like this article about Kobe:

Kobe Causes Trouble In Paradise

“You played stupidly.”
— Lakers assistant coach Tex Winter to Kobe Bryant after L.A.'s season-opening loss to the Spurs

“You coached stupidly.”
— Bryant's retort to Winter

Nah, there's nothing wrong with L.A.

-Superman-

I meant MJ never won a title without Pippen. I like that board that let's you edit the mistakes from your posts ...

-Superman-

I think it is great that you are reading Charlie Rosen. Let me encourage you here. It's amusing and ironic that you are quoting him. Anyway, keep reading what that dude has to say. You might actually learn something. Peace, love and understanding,

Yours in whoring

Dogster

Super,

I think you are pissing in the wind putting down Kobe. I do agree he is a long way from being Michael Jordan, hell who is as good or even close to MJ, but Kobe is the real deal in my opinion.

I can't imagine any team that would not want Kobe on their team.

Ben,

I'm not really putting Kobe down. He's a very good player ... I'm just saying he's more Scottie Pippen than Michael Jordan. There are a lot of guys in the league who would look really damn good playing next to Shaq! How about Penny Hardaway ... superstar with Shaq, average player without.

There is an elite level of superstars in the league, and then there are the second-tier players. Kobe is second-tier. When you're not the best player on your own team, you can't be the best in the NBA, and certainly not the next coming of Michael Jordan (probably the second best player of all time behind Wilt).

I like watching Kobe and I like watching Shaq, but BS is BS. Even old Michael Jordan worked Kobe last week ... that says it all.

-Superman-

The only people that are always putting KOBE next to Micheal Jordan are the reporters or the so called Fans OR LAKER HATERS, Kobe Never said, or want to be like MJ he is just trying to go out there on the court and play basketball for his team and win games and Rings.

For KOBE to have not went to school or be coach by a real coach until Phil came to LA, when MJ had the likes of Dean Smith and others, I think KOBE have came a long ways to come into the NBA at 17, I can't wait until the world will just give KOBE a break but, I am sure KOBE could care less what I think or anyone else besides he have 3 rings and working on his 4th and a beauiful wife a baby on the way he came from a good home with a mother and father that also played in the NBA, travel the world can speak different langauges and have $$$$$ in the bank, a rookie AllStar not to bad for a young guy his age not to many people can make that claim.

KidCisco

At this time the Lakers are undoubtedly Shaq's team the triangle is built around him..One day though Shaq will retire then it's Kobe's moment to shine -then all the haters who say MJ won his titles without a dominant center will see what a great player Kobe truly is...that asshole Pippen thought he could win titles without MJ even with that powerhouse of a team Portland had in the 99-00' season but even after it went to game 7 he still couldn't do it...GO LAKERS!!!!!!

Yikes. Did anybody see Yao Ming tonight? Freakish. Guy looks like he might be a player though ... he did not miss a shot leading the Rockets over the 3-7 Fakers.

Speaking of missed shots, Kobe misses a wide open shot with 10 seconds left that would have given them the lead ... I guess he was tired from scoring 46. I wonder if Jordan would have drained it? Poor guy ... I doubt the rest of the Lakers could beat the UCLA Bruins ...

10-0 Mavericks and another freakish center up next ...

-Superman-

Superman

I doubt the Lakers could beat the Boston Bruins !

Lol
lechero

Epikone, Kobe will never be able to win another ring without Shaq, unless he changes teams. Remember, Pippen was second in the MVP balloting the first year Mike tried to play baseball. In addition, the Bulls were one obvious bullshit call away from going to the conference finals without Mike....Kobe is a more complete player than Pippen but give Pippen his due.....Kobe might eventually be better than Mike...time will tell

Shaq was quoted in the paper Sunday as saying the party is almost over. Not his exact words, but he was referring to the fact he will be back in about a week.

I think Yao Ming will be Chop Suey when he finally meets Shaq.

All I remember about that season was Pippen throwing a fit in the playoffs when Jackson called the final shot for somebody else ... he cried like a bitch(ster). "I'm the star, I'm the star!" No dude, the star was playing minor-league baseball!

Pippen was a better all around player than Kobe currently is.

-Superman-

The Lakers certainly do suck in their present configuration. Granted, they don't want to change too much because they're holding everything in place until Shaq returns, but I think that both Kobe and Jackson deserve to take a few hits for the Lakers inability to win a game. I love Kobe but I'd be the first to agree that its unreasonable to compare him to MJ at this point but I think mentioning Pippen in the same breath as Kobe is bitch slapping the kid a little too hard.

Scarus

All I know is I'd vote Shaq for MVP right now if I could ... I mean friggin Shawn Bradley tore the Lakers up last night! SHAWN BRADLEY! Shaq is obviously worlds better than anyone imagined ....

-Superman-

I agree - I'd vote Shaq for MVP as well.

Phil Jackson is starting to remind me of Mike Holgram and George Seifert. Without a superstar like Favre or Young and Rice, Phil seems like a pedestrian coach.

I remember in an interview last year Phil was asked if he'd like to take over an expansion team and start from scratch and he said no.

I think Jackson is a very good coach, has excellent long time assistant coaches, but this whole 'Zen-Master' stuff is over rated. Bottom line is he's had the luxury of MJ or Shaq and without them he'd have zero championships not nine.

I don't know if Jackson would have any championship rings without MJ or Shaq, but he has proven that if given the stars he can win the championship, which is more than a lot of other coaches can say. If you're Jerry Buss you've already got the stars, what you want is a guy that can close the deal, and Jackson has proven he's that guy.

Come to think of it, I don't recall too many teams that won the title without a superstar so to say that Jackson couldn't have done it without MJ or Shaq is not saying too much.

I'm rethinking my Kobe bitchslapping comment. After all the bricks he threw up last night he needs to go home and glare at the mirror. He shot L.A. out of a game that was there for them to take in the second half.

I don't know about Shaq for MVP, who knows how durable he'll be? But one thing for sure, it promises to be a season full of drama for L.A.

Scarus

Shaq looked ok on his return. I was worried that the toe surgery didn't help. I'm still a bit worried, but at least we know he can still play well.

It is beginning to look like Yao Ming is for real. I was wondering if he was going to be a flash in the pan.

"I think Yao Ming will be Chop Suey when he finally meets Shaq".


ben would like to make a retarction regarding all 7' 5" chinese basketball players.