CBS.SportsLine.com - NBA Heat won’t know if Shaq can play opener until game time
Normally, this blog will not contain information that doesn’t directly affect the Lakers. HOWEVER, after all the talk about Shaquille O’Neal being in shape etc etc and so on, turns out he is STILL questionable at the beginning of the NBA season….surprise there?!?!
Life without the Big Fundamentaless starts tonite. No more slowing down the game so Shaquille O’Neal can clog the middle. No more having the biggest guy on the court not being the leading rebounder. No more defense when he feels like it….
It is a new era. The offense goes through Kobe and I don’t mind that. This Lakers team is deeper than last year’s team and there is no power struggle. And despite the offense flowing through Kobe, this will be a team oriented Lakers squad.
Basketball is about roles and despite what your traditional pundits like to think, one of those roles is scorer. Kobe is the primary scorer. The fact that along with scoring he brings defense as well as passing is just KY on the virgin! As long as the other players play to their roles and potential, there’s no reason this team can’t win the Pacific…again.
I know, a lot of folks have us in the lower half of the Playoff seeding and the haters have us missing the playoffs altogether. But let’s think about this, Sacramento is the prohibitive favorite to win the division. They are no longer as deep as they once were. Couple that with Peja’s desire to be traded and Chris Webber’s inability to take it to the next level (and he wouldn’t have taken it to the next level regardless of his injury last year, it’s just not in him) and Sacramento is not so formidable. Golden State and Portland will definitely be better but there’s no way you can say either of those teams are going to beat out both the Lakers and the Kings (at least not until you start playing some games). And the Clips…well let’s not taint this blog with the Clips.
Keys to tonite’s game. Match Denver’s intensity. Denver is a hungry team, playoffs last year after season after season of depressing futility means they want it even more. Kobe does need to get everyone else involved, particularly Odom who has struggled somewhat shooting in the preseason. I also think Caron Butler plays a big part in this game as a tempo changer off the bench.
ESPN NBA 2K5 simulation: Nuggets 98 - Lakers 87. I knew I should have gotten NBA Live 2005…..
I don’t want to offend the mothers out there. I really don’t. But I am having trouble finishing my lunch because of all these mommy blogs. It’s really getting sickening.
I sincerely hope that when I do (God willing) have children, that I am able to sustain some form of my original personality. I don’t want to become one of those parents that is nothing but a parent now…their entire personality, their entire being, is being a parent. I want to love my kids and raise them right but I sincerely hope I can find something else to talk about. I’m sure I will be proud of the little mulattos when I have them and want to talk about them….but I hope I will know when enough is enough….
I was just perusing CBS Sportsline. I go there now on account that I won a 2 month subscription to their VIP service thanks to McDonald’s Monopoly game. Previous posts will let yall know how I feel about Monopoly at McDonald’s.
But I digress. Perusing CBS Sportsline, I realized that I rarely agree with any of their expert reporters…you know the ones assigned to cover just the NFL or just the NBA. In fact, I find that they usually just jump on the nearest bandwagon and ride that through every one of their articles.
That got me to thinking….and it hurt. But I did it anyway. I thought, how exactly does one become an expert in say the NBA. What could he have possibly put on his resume that allowed his employer to ascertain that this reporter was an NBA expert. I sincerely believe that most of these “experts”, or dare I say pundit since this is an electionally charged day and we’ll hear that several times throughout the day, really just say stuff like I’m an expert because I watch a lot of basketball.
I mean what else could make you an expert? I watch a lot of sports, with an emphasis on Basketball and Football, so am I too an expert or pundit???
L.A. Daily News - More Sports Headlines
Kareem Rush will be given the opportunity to test the free agent market and see what life in the NBA is like not backing up Kobe Bryant. I understand his desire to see what he is worth but I feel he may be following the footsteps of Tyrone Lue. Remember that name, he had a couple good games during our championship years a few back and thought he should start. So he left and joined the Wizards….and well that’s the last we’ve heard of him.
Caron Butler will remain through 05-06 and get to build some new chemistry with his new team. I like this kid thoguh I haven’t seen a lot of him. He’s been a little injury prone which is something I hope can be avoided this year. We’ll see how this pans out….
