Some might argue with me, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the Lakers now have the toughest team in the NBA.  Few would argue that last year they had the most talented team headlined by Kobe and Pau, but now they have enhanced their 2nd unit with very good defenders.  We added Matt Barnes and Steve Blake who are two gritty players who play solid defense and neither is afraid to shoot the 3, when called upon.  According to Ron Artest, “Barnes is tougher than nails Tougher than a penguin on steroids Tougher than Richard Simmons trying to take off his spandex.” Theo Ratliff certainly has had his day in the sun, but the 15-year veteran can still block shots and be counted on for 10-15 minutes if needed to. 

With Lakers draft picks, Derek Caracter and Devin Ebanks shining brightly in the summer league, it looks like the Lakers have their roster.  Laker’s free agent Shannon Brown is still a question mark for the Lakers, but it isstill  possible as Ebanks or Character could spend some time in the D-league. 

Let’s review the tough lineup the Lakers look to feature in the 2010-2011 season

1. Kobe Bryant -- Do I need to explain?

2. Ron Artest -- Ruthless lock-down defender who enjoys challenging opponents in every game.

3. Derek Fisher -- He proved in the playoff he still has something left in the tank.  Ask Ray Allen or Rajan Rondo if Fisher is still tough! Still pound for pound, he is one of the toughest guys in the league.

4. Pau Gasol - Ask Kevin Garnett why he was only able get 3 rebounds in game 7 of the Finals.  Ask Garnett if he still thinks Gasol is Soft…

5. Lamar Odom- Very underrated defender and great rebounder. When the game gets edgy, Odom usually wakes up and steps up.

6. Andrew Bynum -- His dedication was questioned in the past, but his willingness to play injured in the playoffs this year speaks volumes.

7. Luke Walton -- When is not injured he likes to tangle with oponents.

8. Steve Blake -- Gritty and unselfish point guard who plays solid defense and like to set up his team-mates to score.

9. Matt Barnes -- Very good defender who gets tougher every year. Not too many players have the balls to throw the basketball at Kobe Bryant’s face.

10. Sasha Vujacic -- Ever wonder why most opponents dislike Sasha?  This annoying international hoopster is not affraid to get in his competitors face.

11. Theo Ratliff -- This guy was once one of  league leaders in shot blocks and he has always put defense first.  Another guy who doesn’t back down to opponents

It is clear to me that the lakers have focused on solidifying their defense and 2nd unit this summer.  At this point, the Lakers are more focused on maintaining chemistry than adding talent.  With the Lakers overlooking free agents like Tracy McGrady and Larry Hughes saying they will play for the league minimum, it’s obvious the Lakers are more concerned with complimenting their roster on the court and inthe locker room.  The only question I have is -- - Are you ready for a 3-Peat Los Angeles?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm3H6Sck_PI

I grew up idolizing Magic Johnson. Before he even got to the league, he stole my heart from Dr. J with alley-oop passes to Greg Kelser and by foiling Larry Bird in the historic 1979 NCAA title game  He also put together the greatest single-game performance in NBA history. Not only did he stack up 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in Game 6 of the 1980 Finals to lead the Lakers to the championship over Philadelphia, but there’s so much else to consider: the stakes, his youth and inexperience, his switch from point guard to center, the quality and star power of the opponent (The Doctor), the quality and star power of his injured teammate (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). And he did it all as a 20-year-old rookie.

Although I believe Michael Jordan is the best to ever play the game, I’ve often stated that Magic is the one player you could argue was better because he’s the only player in league history who could have played each of the five positions at an All-Star level.  Time to pass the torch. Title No. 5 sealed Kobe’s place atop L.A. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxBM3dTPc_k

Magic, along with Bird, saved the NBA. Magic’s charisma, Magic’s smile, Magic’s style made him so cool, so awesome, that you couldn’t help but love him. To this day, he’ll charm your socks off.  But I’ve got to be objective. I can’t let my personal feelings get in the way. I can’t let the fact that I watched Magic as a wide-eyed kid rather than as an adult who no longer idolizes basketball players affect the argument. I can’t romanticize the past, making the heroes of my childhood larger than life, as we all have a tendency to do. And when you take away those factors and subtract the off-the-court stuff — the personalities, the cultural impact, the front-office brilliance (Jerry West) — I’m faced with this conclusion: Kobe Bryant is the greatest Laker of them all.

After Kobe won his fifth title Thursday, Magic said on ESPN that Kobe deserves a statue next to his outside Staples Center. Later that night, Magic told me Kobe is now his equal, although not yet his superior. “The great thing about the Lakers is that we judge by championships,” said Magic, who — along with Kareem, Kobe and crucial role player Derek Fisher — has won a handful of rings with the Lakers. “So when Kobe gets that next one, then he’ll be The Man; he’ll be the greatest Laker. And I’ll have no problem giving him that.”

In my heart, I agree with Magic, the starting point guard on my all-time first five. But when I judge Magic by the same standard that everyone in the post-MJ period is judged by, I have to, albeit grudgingly, put Kobe atop the Lakers pantheon.  Since Michael, superstars are judged by not only how many championships they win, but with whom they win them. One of the greatest arguments for Michael’s supremacy is that, outside of Scottie Pippen, he built a dynasty with a roster full of role players (Dennis Rodman was a terrific one, to be sure, but still a role player). While guys like Ron Harper, Steve Kerr and Bill Cartwright deserve respect, they weren’t in the same class as the championship teammates of Magic and Bird.  So since Kobe came after Michael, he had to hear the “he’s never won it without Shaq” refrain earlier in his career. But Magic never heard “he never won it without Kareem.” Bird never heard “he never won it without Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.”

In each of Magic’s five championship seasons, he had a top-50 player of all time (Kareem). Granted, Kareem, although still a big-time scorer, was 38, 40 and 41 years old for the final three titles. But by then, Magic had been joined by another top-50 teammate in James Worthy, who played on the Lakers’ 1985, 1987 and 1988 title teams. That’s not to mention other great Magic teammates such as Byron Scott, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon and Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo.

Kobe obviously had an all-time superstar for his first three titles in Shaq. But for his past two rings, he’s had nothing close. Pau Gasol is a perennial All-Star, but he’s not going to make anyone’s top 50. If he and Kobe continue winning rings together, though, he’s got a shot at the Hall of Fame. The significance of Kobe’s ability to start from scratch and build a second mini-dynasty with the Lakers can’t be overstated, and gives him an advantage over many all-time greats.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRikrksH8es

Magic could do a lot of spectacular things, but he couldn’t play defense like Kobe.  As for the other Lakers greats, Wilt Chamberlain and West won only one ring apiece, despite playing together for four full seasons. Elgin Baylor never won a championship despite playing most of his career with West. Shaq, of course, won three rings in his eight Lakers seasons. And Kareem falls prey to the same argument as Magic (his team was stacked much higher than Kobe’s); Kareem never won a ring without Magic or Oscar Robertson.  On top of the quality-of-teammates argument, Kobe beats Magic decisively on defense. Kobe has been a great defender, earning first-team All-Defensive honors eight times and second-team twice. Magic was never an all-league defender.

Personally, for all his scoring prowess, I don’t think Kobe’s offensive numbers stack up to Magic’s. Magic averaged 19.5 points, 11.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 52 percent from the field and 85 percent from the foul line. Kobe is a career 25-point scorer, but he’s averaged only 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 45 percent shooting. But when you factor in the defensive end, Kobe — the better shooter and scorer — comes out ahead of Magic as an all-around player.

While some might hold Kobe’s subpar performance in Thursday’s Game 7 against him, he still had 15 rebounds and found a way to score 23 points, mainly by hitting 11 of 15 foul shots. Plus, other immortals have struggled in big moments. Magic had so many flubs in the Lakers’ 1984 loss to Boston, including dribbling out the clock at the end of regulation in Game 2, that he was being called “Tragic” Johnson. And Michael shot 6-for-19 and 5-for-19 in two of Chicago’s Finals games against Seattle in 1996.

Of course, Magic and his terrific teammates faced stiffer competition than Kobe has. The Celtics teams they battled were heavy in Hall of Famers, too. But in 1989, Magic’s Lakers were swept by a Detroit Pistons team that featured only one top-50 player, 6-foot-1 Isiah Thomas, and had no great big men. I’d also argue the Celtics teams Kobe lost to in 2008 and defeated in 2010 were better than any of the clubs Jordan defeated in the Finals. But that’s the only thing I’m giving Kobe over Jordan. He’s not Jordan’s equal, and I don’t think he ever can be, let alone overtake him as the G.O.A.T. Michael averaged 33.6 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists on 48 percent shooting while never losing a Finals series. He dominated every Finals he played in ways Kobe has not come close to doing.

But this isn’t about Michael and Kobe; it’s about Kobe and Magic, the two greatest Lakers ever. We can call them 1 and 1A. Just make sure Kobe is mentioned first.  Read the original article on ESPN.

Let’s break down the statistics between Garnett and Gasol for the series. 

• Gasol edges KG by averaged 18.5 points a game to Garnett’s 15.2. 
• Gasol wins over KG for blocked shots 18 to 9.
• Gasol Wins over KG for Assists 26 to 21
• Gasol Wins over KG the Rebounds 81 to 39
• Gasol Wins over KG Offensive Rebounds 35-8

KG is clearly on his way to the Hall of Fame, but for the “Big Ticket” to get less than half as many rebounds as Gasol underlines the dominance that Pau demonstrated over Garnett in the 2010 NBA Finals.  Let’s consider that this future Hall of Fame power forward for the Celtics came up with 3 rebounds in a Game 7 NBA Finals versus the Lakers when their starting center was out.  If ever there was a night that KG needed to come up with 15 boards it was last night’s game 7.  Kobe Bryant came up with 15 rebounds—But I forgot we were comparing Garnett to Gasol.  Oh yeah, Pau Gasol had 19 rebounds last night. 

Pau Gasol is NOT SOFT!  Gasol clearly dismissed the “Soft” tag and now it’s KG’s turn to wear the soft sign for the summer.  Gatorade is going to have to get pretty creative on their TV ads in the future.  I can’t wait to see how Gatorade spins  the soft play of “Big Ticket.”  KG pounding his chest with 3 rebounds…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6lr--V0mWw

He was the only one on the floor who played without the weight of the world or at least the city on his shoulders. He was the only one who bought into the cliché that it was simply another game, because maybe in Ron Artest’s mind it was.  Maybe he thought there would be a Game 8. Maybe he forgot he was playing in the NBA Finals. Maybe he thought it was a regular-season game in November. With Artest you just never know. Whatever it was, the Lakers’ mercurial forward was the only player on the court for much of the Lakers’ 83-79 win against the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals who wasn’t wound tighter than a spring coil.

He allowed the Lakers to remain within reach of a game they trailed by 13 points in the third quarter. In the process, he cemented his place in Lakers history. Artest was all over the court, finishing with 20 points, five rebounds and five steals, and making key play after key play while changing the momentum of a game that was seemingly slipping away from the Lakers from the opening tip.  History will remember Kobe Bryant as the Finals MVP, but there is no way he celebrates the honor and a fifth championship without the help of Artest, who scored 12 points in the first half (all in the second quarter) while the triumvirate of Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum went 7-for-31 for 16 points and the team shot a collective 25.5 percent from the field.  It was Artest who kept the team within striking distance with his defense on Paul Pierce, who finished with 18 points, and his hustle on both ends of the floor. He was responsible for two of the game’s signature moments and ultimately was the reason why the Lakers won their 16th championship.  He converted a three-point play when he hit a six-footer while getting fouled by Pierce in the paint to tie the score at 61-61 with 7:28 left after the Celtics had led for much of the game. He then essentially put the game away when he made a 3-pointer to give the Lakers a 79-73 lead with less than a minute to play.  This was the moment Artest had dreamed about when he signed with the Lakers in the offseason. After his childhood friend Lamar Odom — who told Artest he would win a championship if he signed with the Lakers — tossed the ball into the air as the clock expired, Artest ran around the court as mindlessly as he did while dribbling the ball during the Lakers’ loss in Game 2 of the Finals.  As much as the players on the Lakers admire Bryant, look up to Derek Fisher and confide in Odom, there isn’t a player on the team more liked than Artest. He’s essentially the lost puppy who simply wants to please everyone but more often than not trips over himself in the process. The reason everyone on the team ran to the other end of the court when Artest hit the winning layup in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals against the Phoenix Suns wasn’t only because it was a big shot but because it was Artest who made it.

As Artest sat in front of his locker after the game, surrounded by his family, he began showing them around like a school kid showing his parents his classroom. “This is where I do my interviews after games,” he said as he held a bottle of champagne. When he was asked about the toughness he brought to the Lakers, he looked up at his father standing above him and pointed to him.  “When you talk about tough Ron, that’s my dad,” he said. “My dad threw me on the floor, roughed me up real bad and used to make me real mad. He prepared me for this moment right here. That’s why when you see me I can’t control it. That’s my dad. I played hard because my dad did. Don’t blame it on the alcohol, blame it on my dad.”  As Artest spoke, his brother Daniel, gave Artest the Larry O’Brien Trophy, which he cradled in his arm like a baby before looking at his 7-year-old daughter, Diamond.  “You want to kiss the ball,” he asked her as she laughed and put her right hand over her face.  Before Artest could answer another question, he screamed he was losing his voice, prompting Diamond to whisper to him, “If you talk low, it comes back.” Artest smiled and nodded his head, “OK, I will.”

Artest’s carefree demeanor in the locker room mirrored his attitude on the court for much of the game, which he credited to a sports psychologist he has been seeing. In fact, after the game when he was being interviewed on the court he made it a point to thank his psychologist and mention the release of his new single, which he recorded last year.  “I was nervous as a mama, but I have to thank my doctor,” he said. “She came and saw me last night, and she’d come follow me on the road because there’s so much going on on the road and I know myself. I know in these situations I don’t think the right way and I need help to think the right way and focus and stay relaxed. All I did was relax at the moment I took the 3-pointer. I settled in and trusted in myself.”

Later pressed about the shot, Artest said God told him to shoot it when he wasn’t so sure. “A voice came down and told me to shoot the ball,” he said. ” ‘Shoot the ball,’ he said. God told me to shoot the ball and I shot the ball.”  If it all sounds a little crazy, it’s because you’d expect nothing less from Artest, who clutched the trophy in his arms after the game and admitted he didn’t fully realize he was playing for the championship until he was handed a championship cap after the game.  “I really couldn’t feel where I was at,” Artest said. “I couldn’t feel the Finals. I was more in the game and what my coach wanted me to do. When we won, I didn’t even know we won. I honestly didn’t know we won. I actually cried before the game. How stupid is that? How dumb is that? How do you cry before the game and then you don’t cry after you win? Daddy, you raised a dumb child.”  He then smiled at his parents, standing above him and laughing, then kissed the trophy again.  “Hey, Daddy. Hey, Mommy. Look at me now!” he screamed. “Look at me now!”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3YnnAo8NlM

Lakers and Celtics.

The NBA’s two most storied franchises, two of the most famous organizations in sports history, with 32 titles between them, more than half of the 63 that the NBA has bestowed, meeting in the NBA Finals for the second time in three years and 12th time overall. This amazing, heated rivalry goes back 51 years, to 1959, Elgin Baylor’s rookie year; that was the first time they met in the Finals with Bob Cousy’s Celtics beating the Minneapolis Lakers, two years before the Lakers moved to L.A.  As a tribute to half a century of antagonism, antipathy, jealousy, mutual animosity and maybe, just maybe, the most grudging kind of respect that will never be acknowledged, but mostly because the Lakers’ record in these colossal championship confrontations is an astoundingly embarrassing 2-9, we present today, as a public service to Lakers’ fans the world over . . . 

A Guide to Hating the Celtics!

We begin with two storylines, premises, really, that you must understand up front:

1)  The Celtics cry. They cry more than Best Actress winners at the Oscars. They cry like every game is a wedding. Every time a call goes against them, there will be more tears than Kleenex can handle. They cry even after they have to dial 911 to mop up some fallen opponent who’s been mugged and beaten within an inch of his life.

2)  The Celtics also foul. They foul on every play. They foul everyone, from stars to scrubs. They foul as a strategy. They foul as a style. They foul as a tradition. They foul hard and they foul incessantly. They foul just for the fun of fouling. They probably foul their own bus driver on the way to the arena.

Now, so you can hate them properly and profoundly, here they are, the Boston Celtics:

No. 34, Paul Pierce: He is their best scorer and a load for anyone to guard, including Ron Artest. But the Celtics’ captain flops more than a large-mouthed bass taking his last breath while dangling from a fishing line at the end of a pier. Every time Pierce shoots, he acts like he’s been hit by a train. Usually, he hasn’t been touched. Two years ago, he fell during the Finals against the Lakers and went off in a wheelchair. An actual wheelchair! Five minutes later, he was dropping three-pointers all over TD Banknorth Garden. He actually came back into the game with the music from “Rocky” blaring over the public-address system. Yo, Paulie, that was such a bad con job, Sylvester Stallone is a better actor than your are.  If you’ll be seeing him for the first time, you’ll hate him before the first quarter of Game 1 is even close to over, guaranteed. And by the way, Pablo, your headband is usually crooked. [For the record: An earlier version of this post contained an inappropriate comment about Pierce relating to an incident in 2000 in which he was stabbed repeatedly. That comment should not have been published and has been removed.]

No. 5, Kevin Garnett: Last you may have seen him, he was goin’ all Karate Kid upside the arms of Dwight Howard in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. Hey, K.G., who’s your instructor, Mr. Miyagi? Garnett is, or maybe was, a great player, Hall of Fame caliber, but once he joined the Celtics, he officially became annoying, arrogant and insufferable, like the rest of them. He is now impossible to root for in any manner. His emotional tearfest in the immediate aftermath of the Celtics’ ’08 Finals win over the Lakers remains today one of the truly legendary and awkward postgame microphone meltdowns. One more good cry, which is what you always expect from a Celtic. 

No. 20, Ray Allen: This guy is one of the greatest jump shooters in basketball history. Totally clutch. And he may have the prettiest stroke ever. Money when it matters. He’s also a heckuva nice guy, even though his momma stands up too much and looks like she’s even cockier than K.G. I know I’m not giving you any reason to hate him, but never forget the overriding issue: that damn green uniform.

No. 43, Kendrick Perkins: This guy looks meaner than Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the gates of Hades. You get scared just looking at his picture on Google images. He looks like he would shove his grandma in the middle of the back if it meant getting a rebound. Perkins has the offensive skill set of your average blacksmith or lumberjack. Instead, he does what can euphemistically be called a lot of the dirtywork for the Celtics, dirty being the operative word. He’ll have six fouls by the second quarter, two of which are called. He is also a human moving screen. He sets the only pick in the NBA where the player is actually running full-speed into the man he’s screening. This is very often not called a foul, just because he’s a Celtic. He is prone to getting technical fouls, usually immediately after waking up in the morning.

No. 9, Rajon Rondo. This is the point guard who is faster than any Laker. He’s an emerging star and acts like it, too. If he were any more conceited, he’d dribble with his left hand and carry a hand-mirror with his right. He preens more than TV news anchors. If he has a weakness, other than the villainous franchise he suits up for, it’s his shooting. He has trouble making open five-footers in empty gyms, much less full arenas. Just remember this kid is, like, 8 years old and already as arrogant as the rest of them.

No. 30, Rasheed Wallace. This old grump has been an unmitigated pain since he came into the league.   He has two emotions: angry and mad. The technical fine money he’s paid could fund many third World countries. He’s also at least 52 years old. In every game, bar none, he will a) commit the most obvious foul ever; b) cry to the ref and then, c) act like the whole world is against him. Which, in fact, it is.

No. 11, Glen Davis. They call this one Big Baby. Right on both counts. Right now he’s about two Krispy Kremes shy of Stanley Roberts, who ate himself out of the league. If he and Perkins and ‘Sheed and KG have 24 fouls between them, trust me on this, they will use all 72.

And now, in the names of Rondo and Hondo, plus the Jones boys, that hatchet, Tommy Heinsohn, the butcher Dave Cowens, that Rambis killer McHale and even Larry Legend and the infernal Cigar, Red Auerbach himself, the NBA Finals are still five days away and I already hate every one of them to pieces.  The article was written by Ted Green for the LA Times.

2.  Nate is tough.  The lakers could always use another gritty player come playoff time.  Nate Robinson is cut from the same mold as Derek Fisher and I believe Fisher would be a significant role model for him.

3.  Hollywood loves Nate’s story.  Don’t kid yourself, the fans will love the 3 time Slam Dunk Champ!

4.  Nate is Available! According to industry insiders, Nate will only waive his “no trade” clause to the Celtics or the Lakers.

5.  If the Lakers don’t get him, the Celtics will…

Watch Nate Win the 2010 NBA Dunk Contest

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P4qyqRPYgE

The Lakers superstar discovered that his guys are a whole lot better, and more cohesive and together and on the same page, than they are when he, Kobe, is dribbling out the clock, holding the ball and trying to beat three guys off the dribble while hoisting up 20 to 35 shots a game.

And let’s face it, some of those shots, the 25-foot corkscrew fade-aways with the 24 winding down, they seem to be at least partially intended either for Kobe’s own amusement, the game within the game where he tries to outdo even himself, entertain the crowd and TV guys, or enhance his rep as the craziest shot-maker in captivity. Or maybe it’s that whole enchilada.

I say these last three games have been so revealing, they should serve as a full-on wake-up call to the great Bryant himself.
Your teammates sent you a message, Kobe, and it couldn’t be any louder or more clear. Are you listening? Are you mature enough to learn from it, or is actually being Bryant the bigger priority?

I mean, even if you’ve got a full-on bromance going with 24, if you’re, like me, the biggest Kobe fan in the whole wide world, ask yourself honestly: When this season have the Lakers played three prettier, more dominating games against quality opponents than these last three?

Answer: They haven’t.  Just think: How good could they be if Kobe fit in with THEM instead of demanding that they fit in with HIM?  No, I’m not saying they’re a better team without Kobe, certainly not over the long haul and definitely not in tough playoff series against, say, Denver and then Cleveland. And, no, I’m not suggesting they trade him for Dwyane Wade, who’s got the same annoying penchant for I’m-the-Showitis as Kobe does.  I’m saying that if Kobe is the keen student of the game he claims to be, he should at least be considering that some or all of the following conclusions might be valid:

1. It’s now up to him to figure out how HE can best intersperse his offense into this perfectly symmetrical Triangle they’re playing, rather than the other way around.

2. The Lakers would be at their penultimate best if Kobe averaged 18 points a game instead of having that compulsive need to average 28. Dispensing those 10 points among his teammates would mean, by definition, a better brand of team ball. (And if you don’t believe me, check the stats during the Magic Showtime era.)

3. Although it has been incredibly entertaining for years, the Black Mamba act, seen in a different context now, seems a bit more like Kevin McHale’s old Black Hole. Throw the ball to Kobe and never see it again.

4. And why, in the last four minutes of every single close Laker game, must Kobe seemingly take 80% of the shots in crunch time? Or is it 90%? Is it written sacredly on a wall or tablet somewhere in ancient Egypt? Trust somebody else now and then, Kob, you might be pleasantly surprised.  Like you were, say, these last five days?  Kobe, did you see Lamar’s comment after he scored 25 in Utah? “I’m decent.” How dripping with pathos was THAT remark? Lamar in effect saying: I know the press is fixated on Kobe, but me and the other Lakers, we aren’t chopped liver, either.

Indeed, this is what Laker fans should want to see from Kobe when he rejoins the lineup after the All-Star game:  Don’t just throw the ball into the post to appease Pau Gasol and (less frequently) Andrew Bynum; don’t just throw the two Big Dogs a bone; initiate the offense through them, the way the team is doing now.

What I would say to Kobe if I had his ear and trust is this: Dude, we already KNOW you’re great. We KNOW you can get 40 almost whenever you want. Fifty or 60 even. But even if you stay around long enough to pass Kareem and score more than anyone ever, even if they build a statue for you next to Magic’s in front of Staples, that’s STILL not you’re legacy, how you’re going to be judged by history. You’re going to be judged by championships, four of which you have already.

Five and you tie Magic.

Six, you tie Jordan and you’re right in the conversation as the greatest player ever.

Seven, you might BE the conversation.

So stop Mamba’ing so much. Let the other guys work. Let them get their touches and points too. It’ll preserve your body so you don’t have to spend so much time in the training room.  You’ll have to pass the torch to LeBron James and it’ll hurt for a minute or three, but I’m pretty sure letting the old Kobe go and reinventing a new, more efficient model is the best and fastest way to reaching the magic title number.  So here it is, finally, in a nutshell. You can ease off on being 24 now, and focus on that other, far more important number:  Seven.

Article was written by Ted Green.

Watch Kobe Bryant Highlights

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNxPfsezN5o

LW: This company you’re doing the cards with, Panini, that’s an Italian company. Do you remember them from when you were a kid?
KB: Absolutely. I had a bunch of Panini cards. I was a big soccer buff as you know, man, and they did soccer cards, so I had a lot of those.

LW: Did they have basketball cards in Italy?
KB: Not in Italy. When I came back to the States, that’s when I really went nuts. I used to have a *bunch* of them, the basketball cards.

LW: Kids these days are so into video games, do you think this thing you’re doing with Panini will help get them back into collecting cards?
KB: That’s the hope, and we believe we have a strategy to be able to do that. We have to breathe new life and try to pump new energy into the industry, so kids nowadays can see the enjoyment or see the fun that you can get out of collecting cards.

LW: Do you collect anything now?
KB: I collect stuff from movies. Movie props, stuff like that. That’s the only kind of thing I collect right now.

LW: What kind of games do your kids play? They’re getting old enough now that they’re probably into some of that stuff, right?
KB: Yeah, they’re into, like, softball, soccer. My oldest one, she asked me to teach her how to play basketball the other day for the first time, and my mouth almost hit the floor. We play board games like Candyland, videogames like Princess Wii, stuff like that.

LW: When you’re on the road for that long, is it possible for you to keep up with like, TV shows you’re into, or movies that just came out, or whatever?
KB: it’s actually easier to do that on the road, because your schedule is pretty much set. At home if you have a lot of things to do, you have to do ‘em. On the road it’s easier to catch up on things.

LW: Do you watch “Lost”?
KB: No, I’m not a “Lost” guy at all.

LW: I’m not either, but I know it’s really popular.
KB: Most of my teammates are, they’re all really into “Lost.” I just haven’t started.

LW: Did you see Avatar?
KB: Not yet, it looks great, though.

LW: What have you heard about the iPad?
KB: I saw that on TV the other day, and that’s pretty phenomenal.

LW: I know Phil gave you guys the books the other day for your trip, and Phil said he doesn’t think you’ve ever read any of the books he’s given you.
KB: I definitely haven’t.

LW: Do you read books on the road?
KB: I’ll read a book. If it’s something I’m interested in, I’ll read it.

LW: And you’re not into Twitter.
KB: Not at all.

LW: Did you see the new SLAM cover yet?
KB: No, I haven’t.

LW: We posted it the other day on our site and people were leaving all sorts of comments on there, which made me wonder, Do you ever go on sites and secretly read up, just to see what people are saying about you?
KB: Not at all. What am I’m going sit there and do that for? I’ve got much better stuff to do.

LW: Today, the Lakers are 38-12. Did you think it was going to go this well, this fast, with Ron Ron coming in?
KB: The thing is, we actually think we should be playing better. We’re doing great, despite all the injuries that we’ve had the first half of the season. But we really think we should be playing better.

LW: How can you guys get better?
KB: I think defensively we can get a lot better. Get a little more consistency with our bench play, but that will shake itself out. But we believe that we have many areas to improve in.

LW: I’ve seen people throwing the Lakers around in trade talks. Do you think you guys will make a move? Are you good with what you guys have?
KB: I’m good with what we have. I mean, obviously the front office has to do their jobs, but I’m good with what we’ve got.

LW: You’ve been around long enough now, when do you know when your team is good enough to win a title?
KB: You never really know, because in the Playoffs, one wrong bounce can change a series completely. You never really know until you actually win a Championship.

LW: Do you think this year’s team can win a Championship?
KB: We’re playing very well, and we have a chance just like anybody else. Obviously, we’re the defending champions, and our stock holds a little bit more value. But at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding.

Article written by Lang Whitaker for Slam. Read the original interview online..

Let’s agree that Lamar Odom was worth a 5 year 50 million dollar contract, but the economy and existing bad contracts the Lakers were on the hook prevented the Champs from paying Odom more. Give Odom some credit for not taking it too personally and fleeing to the Blazers or Heat.  Lamar Odom is one of a kind and let’s celebrate his return to Purple and Gold.