I realize this is a Lakers blog, but the utter collapse of the Suns due to the addition of the biggest Laker to ever don the purple and gold has got me thinking Suns. In today's second part, I examine some possible trades that could help put the Suns and their trade partners back into the big picture.   

Here’s some other ideas that could potentially work to help fix the Suns. Trade Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa to the Nuggets for Allen Iverson and Linas Kleiza.

I remember hearing Kobe haters question what Iverson could have done if he had been the one to play with Shaq instead of Bryant. Well, this would give him his shot. Sure, Shaq’s past his prime, but Amare’s the next big thing. This doesn’t fix the Suns’ defensive shortcomings, but as long as they have Shaq and Amare, those shortcomings will never be fixed. AI gives the Suns a go-to clutch performer who can get his own shot in any and every situation. Something Nash couldn’t do. Plus, Iverson is great at lobs, and would have plenty of opportunities in this offense. Plus, they’d get Kleiza, who could work to spell Grant Hill and could also spread the floor with his outside shooting.

Continue reading "Suns Part 2: Trade Nash"

It's been three days now, and I still can’t get them out of my head. I was so angry when Marion got traded. And now, I feel so hopeless that all the fun and joy the Run-and-Gun Suns brought back to the league, has been destroyed with the happy-go-lucky crybaby D’Antoni probably going elsewhere and the burden that is Shaq sits clogging up all that freeflowing Nashty-ness.

My cousin guarantees me that the Suns won’t be trading Steve Nash and that they will be fine with an offseason of working together. I tried to remind him of Shaq’s usual offseason regimen, or the fact that he will be 37 next year, or the fact that Nash is pushing 35, or how D’Antoni looks like he’s out of town, how Nash has never functioned well within a halfcourt set. None of that seemed to deter him though. And he felt confident that if the Suns just added one more piece, they’d be contenders once more (assuming, that they even were contenders this year).

Continue reading "Suns Part 3: Trying to Trade Diaw"

It was a pretty masterful performance, despite the 4 horribly missed shots in the fourth quarter, but MVP-to-be Kobe Bryant made the Utah Jazz pay for their roughshod defense.

He missed those four shots by a wide margin, almost as if reliving that fateful game 11 years ago against the same team at the Lakers then home—the Forum. 

What a difference a decade makes. I mean, what a difference a year makes for that matter.

Kobe, yesterday, went to the line 23 times and buried a cool 21, the two misses coming when the game was pretty much over with. That’s how you make teams pay for fouling you. Ice cold blood. Red hot stroke. Anti-Shaq (I couldn’t resist).   

It was eleven years ago during the 1997 conference semifinals when Kobe faced the Jazz in his first meaningful playoff game, one that I will always remember because he air-balled four shots to end the Lakers playoff hopes that year.

Continue reading "What a Difference a Decade Makes"

Got a chance to attend the Most Valuable Player trophy presentation of a one Mr. Kobe Bryant yesterday. A whole host of media were there and after Stu Lanz introduced everyone, Phil spoke, followed by Alex Fedorak the KIA Motors public relations director (who presented the trophy to Kobe) and then Mr. Bryant himself. After Kobe said his piece, the media was allowed to ask some questions. The most refreshing part about the whole thing was how much he gushed over the camaraderie he shares with his teammates. Some of the highlights of the question and answer included a question by yours truly as well as one by Luke Walton, Kobe busting out a little Spanish, and his mention of Shaq and Mitch Kupchak.

On a quick side note, during the beginning of the press conference, Phil Jackson had this to say about his star guard: “Let me tell you that I don’t know anyone who deserves it more, who’s ever deserved this trophy more, anybody who has ever worked this hard to accomplish what he’s accomplished in this game as Kobe has.”

Continue reading "Accepting the MVP"

The Lakers put another impressive, yet still somehow shaky victory over the Utah Jazz into the books and now sit on a cool 6-0 record in the 2007-08 playoffs. Not much to write about in their victory, because, well, they’re cruising but with rabid intensity. 

-Remember back in 2004, during that tumultuous season (what Lakers season isn’t?) of 4 hall of famers and Kobe’s Colorado scandal, there was a not-so-big story about how Malone said he was hunting for “little Mexican girls.” That comment being directed at Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s wife. I remember people jumped to defend the Mailman, him being such a good father and upstanding citizen and all. Well, check out this Jamele Hill article about Karl Malone http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/080507

Continue reading "Some Random Lakers Thoughts"

It really pains me to knock a guy who delivered a near triple double with a back that had him, on several occasions, grimacing hands and knees on the floor of the court, but, I just have to knock the guy.

33, 10 and 8 boards with only 3 turnovers is a pretty special game, even if you shoot 13-33 and 1-10 from the three-point line. Especially considering that 5 of those assists came in the last 4 minutes of regulation.

But, what I can’t understand, is why the passing stopped? Kobe should’ve had 14-15 assists, not 10. He should have kept the passing going and kept the Lakers surge, that included 10 points each from Fish and Odom (Odom hitting both game-tying shots) in the fourth quarter—helping to lift a visibly hurting Byrant during a quarter that has usually been his to close. 

Continue reading "Passing up Passing?"

Utah fans, please sit down and be quiet concerning the supposed discrepancy in foul calls. You, above all other fans, have no right to complain. Since the beginning of this decade, your team has finished in the top 3 teams of free throws attempted six times. That’s 1st in 01-02, second in 02-03, 06-07 and this year, and third 00-01 and 05-06. You can also throw in the year you finished fourth in 03-04.

Excluding this year when you finished fourth in favorable foul calls, for the past 7 years, you haven’t finished any lower than second. That happened twice. Every other year, you’ve finished first. Betcha didn't know that...

Flip that over to how many fouls you give up and you have finished first an astounding 6 times. Everyone who watches basketball knows how Jerry Sloan teams play. They are physical and impose their will through hard fouls. If you are a true fan, you would know this about your own team.

Continue reading "Jazz Fans Shut Up!"

Yeah, everyone out there is going to complain, criticize, lament, bitch and moan, and theorize about all the freethrows that weren’t shot last night.

The most notable (and rightfully so) by Spurs fans and Lakers haters alike, are the two, or three, freethrows that Brent Barry didn’t get.

Of course, on the flipside, Lakers fans will note the 0 freethrows that Kobe Bryant shot despite his 29 field goal attempts.

Either way, you can look at it as a conspiracy. I mean, from a Spurs standpoint, despite winning 4 of the past 9 championships, despite making it to at least the Western Conference Finals 6 of those 9 years, Spurs fans will tell you that the NBA has it in for “small market teams” and wants to premiere its big market teams. That’s why Fisher’s 0.4-second shot counted four years ago. That’s why Kobe shot 96 freebies against the Jazz. Etc. Etc.

Continue reading "The Freebies That WERE Shot"