Lakerstime

The process of chosing the NBA MVP is ineffective. At least for the past 3 years and this year. How can anyone possibly think that Lebron or Garnett is the MVP? Lebron is on pace to win 45-46 wins with the Cavs, the same as what Kobe did two years ago on the Lakers. When Kobe was a one man show like Lebron, the MVP went to the best player on the best team. Kobe literally took a team with a bunch of D-leaguers to the seventh game in the playoffs. Let me break down the lineup:
Smush, enough said
Kobe, the should-have been MVP
Devean George, coming off the bench and averaging only four points for the Mavs
Lamar Odom, the only real starter besides Kobe in the starting lineup
Kwame “Butterfingers” Brown, who is struggling to find minutes in a big man rotation that consists of Jarron Collins, Darko Milicic, and Hakim Warrik

None of those players (Odom excluded) can play on the bench efficiently, let alone stay in the NBA (Smush). How can you say Lebron’s carried his Cavs more than Kobe carried his Lakers? I don’t even have to mention his 81 point game, 62 in 3 quarters, 35 point average, All-NBA defensive first team, etc.

Even if Kobe did not win MVP that year, then the voter should be consistent of what type of player they chose. When Kobe was carrying his Lakers, everyone said that the Lakers did not have as good a record as Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, and others. They gave it to the best player on one of the top teams. Hmm, let me think, what is Kobe now? The best player on the best team! Even this season, votes were a landslide in the favor of Garnett. But as soon as it becomes imminent that Garnett is not worthy (He supposedly held their defense together; however, the Celts played great defense without him and went 8-2 and beat teams like the Spurs and Mavs) and Kobe becomes the favorite, the criteria of MVP changes all of a sudden and Lebron becomes ahead.

What’s going on? Is it that the NBA is trying to make their poster boy Lebron the next Jordan like they attempted to do with Wade by fixing the 06 finals? Or does the league just against Kobe and his supposedly “bad” image? If Bill Walton, one of Kobe’s main criticizers admits Kobe is the MVP, then I’m pretty sure he deserves it. The only player that stands in his way is Chris Paul.

Now lets look at the Kobe vs. Paul debate. Chris Paul has had a better supporting cast for the greater part of the season. David West, and All-star, Tyson Chandler, more or less the equivalent of Bynum, Peja Stojakovic, averaging 16 points, and Mo Peterson, who averaged merely 17 points two years ago, have all been a part of the Hornets team throughout the season. The Lakers team is pretty much the same as the Hornets team without either Bynum or Gasol. Over the past ten games, sure Gasol has been in the lineup and has helped the Lakers probably more than Bynum would have, but you have to take into account that Kwame Brown started the first few games until his injury. That leaves the Lakers average lineup as Fisher, Kobe, Luke, Lamar, Bynum. That lineup is not as good as the Hornets starting five. The Lakers are only better in one aspect (Kobe obviously), because Paul>Fisher, Peja>Luke, West>Lamar, and Chandler ~ Bynum. Now answer the question, who helps their team more, Kobe or Paul? Did I forget to mention that Kobe is an excellent defender, the best scorer in the game, shoots 3s like layups, has the best work ethic the league has ever seen, is a true leader, the best clutch player, and a good rebounder? Paul’s steal average (# 1 in the league) is decieving. The steals stat does not represent a player’s defensive ability, players that get a lot of steals typically gamble the passing lanes a lot. Besides, Kobe isn’t far behind at number 9. The one aspect that Paul has over Kobe is passing. Then again, Paul is a point guard and he pretty much has to be better at passing. There are probably at least 25 point guards in the league better than Kobe at passing. And in spite of having good poing guards and playmakers on the team (Fisher, Lamar, Luke, Farmar), there is one more thing that will really prove Kobe the MVP: Kobe leads all true shooting guards in assists.

That leaves the conclusion: It would be a crime if Kobe does not win the MVP.

As the trade deadline approaches, there can be more trades. The Spurs just got Kurt Thomas from the Sonics for Barry, Elson, and a 2009 first rounder. Barry and Elson were just expiring contracts and will likely be on the market this summer, but won’t be that valuable. That eliminates all of the Artest to the Spurs rumors (thank god, I was getting scared).

There were some other rumors that Caron Butler would come back to the Lakers for Lamar Odom, but that seems unlikely because the Wizards already have Antawon Jamison. The Lakers don’t want to mess with their chemistry in the middle of the season. We already have enough scoring anyways so we don’t really need Caron. What we do need is the rebounding, defense, playmaking, and leadership of Lamar.

There is rumor that the Hornets are trying to improve their bench; Byron Scott said there is a 50% chance of the Hornets making a trade. There are a bunch of Artest and Mike Miller rumors, with Artest linked to Denver and Miller linked to Indiana. If Artest goes to Denver, that would be pretty scary: AI, Artest, Melo, Camby. Same goes for Mike Miller with any other west power.

Only time will tell what will happen, and all of the anxiety will be gone after Thrusday.

The Lakers are playing the Hawks tomorrow and the Suns on Wednesday. The game against the Hawks will mark Mike Bibby’s debut and Pau Gasol’s home debut. I am looking to get revenge on the Hawks for beating us last time. It will be interesting to watch Kobe play with his finger and see how well he will play for the rest of the season. The Hawks might be a first round surprise now with Bibby, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Al Horford, but I predict the Lakers will win because they will just be too good with Kobe, Lamar, and Gasol.

The game I’m looking forward to is the Lakers Suns match up. The Lakers lead the series 2-1, but both teams have changed since their last game. The Lakers Suns rivalry is already one of the biggest in the league, adding to the fact that it is Shaqs debut and a worn out Shaq-Kobe rivalry. Shaq and Kobe have yet to play against eachother this year, the Suns Lakers game will be the first. Honestly, this game is a toss up because I don’t really know how Shaq will play with Phoenix or how Kobe will play with his injury.

First Marion’s debut, than Bibby’s and Gasol’s home debut, and finally Shaq. Who next? It seems that the Lakers are the first game of almost ever blockbuster trade debut, so going by this logic, the Clippers will make a deal because we play them this Saturday, which would be the debut of a new player on a blockbuster trade deadline trade.

Trade deadline is this Thursday, and I am expecting a lot of trades. This has been a season of NBA trades, and it is not over yet. With Boston getting Garnett and Allen, Portland getting rid of Randolf, the Lakers getting Ariza and Gasol, the Suns getting Shaq, the Spurs getting Damon Stoudemire, Golden State getting Webber, Utah getting Korver, and Atlanta getting Bibby, and Dallas about to get Kidd, this season has been full of trades.

One of the main reasons an all-star gets traded is because the team that he is on is in rebuilding mode, wanting young players and expiring contracts. For those of you who are new to this concept, expiring contracts are players that are on the last year of their contract, allowing the team that has that player to cut their salary the next season. This is what Kwame was in the Gasol trade and what Keith Van Horn will become in the Kidd trade. Kwame Brown gets about 9 million this season but is a free agent next season cutting 9 million dollars from Atlanta’s payroll allowing them to go under the cap and sign a top free agent this summer.

The team that I am scared of that has expiring contracts is San Antonio, who have Brent Barry, Robert Horry, Francisco Elson, Michael Finley, Fabricio Oberto, all which are expiring contracts. They could package Barry, Horry, and Elson which would total about about 12 million. Add in Finely or Oberto and you get another 3-4 million. The position I believe San Antonio needs to improve in is the center/power forward position, Duncan can switch depending on the new players native position. Parker, the Finals MVP, is a lock at the PG. Ginobili is a lock at the SG, he is probably the second option behind Duncan. Bowen isn’t an star, but there are only a few SF’s that can replace him in my opinion. His defense is very valuable to the Spurs, he always locks down the oppositions perimeter threat. He will guard Kobe, Josh Howard, Iverson, Nash, and Paul in the fourth quarters of playoff games. Also, his three point shooting is needed with all of the other Spurs creating shots for teammates. I think the only players that could replace Bowen (none of them are realistic or worth it for the Spurs) are Kobe, Artest, Raja Bell, and Tayshaun Prince. Maybe the Spurs target Artest, but he will mess up their chemistry and is not as good a shooter as Bowen although he is better at almost every other aspect. That leaves Duncan as an obvious lock at the PF/C, leaving only one spot open: the other post player. Now browsing the teams in rebuilding mode, it seems as if there are a few players that could be targeted. The first that comes to mind is Jermaine O’neal, whose Pacers are clearly in rebuilding. The Knicks Curry and Randolf have not worked out, but I am not sure if San Antonio wants those types of players. Lastly, there is Elton Brand, but the Clippers are not in full rebuilding yet and I doubt they would ever trade Brand who was an MVP candidate in 05-06. A trade of Barry, Horry, Elson, Oberto, Jacque Vaughn, cash, and two draft picks might lure Indiana to trade O’neal. If they dont want to do that, they can do what the Lakers did with Mckie and use Nick Van Exel or Glen Robinson to fill the salaries. That would leave San Antonio’s roster to be:

Parker/Stoudemire
Ginobili/Finley
Bowen/Udoka
O’neal/Bonner
Duncan/Mahinmi

That would be pretty scary for the west.

What if the Nuggets get Artest, or Morris Almond becomes a good SG for the Jazz, or if New Jersey unloads Jefferson or Carter to the west? That would make the west one scary conference.

The use of Keith Van Horn and Aaron Mckie in trades exposes a loop hole in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Players who have unofficially retired can be signed for a year to a large 1-season deal with the team that possesses their bird rights and then be traded as an expiring contract. Dallas had bird rights to Keith Van Horn allowing them to sign him for over $10 million for just one season which would cut the salary of New Jersey. Aaron Mckie was only &750,000, but was still a necessary piece in the Gasol trade that allowed the salaries to work (the incoming trade value in a trade must be less than 125% of the outgoing trade value). The players that can be used in this situation are:

High Salary
Chicago P.J. Brown ($8,560,000)
Dallas Keith Van Horn ($15,694,250)
Indiana Rik Smits ($12,250,000)
Minnesota Latrell Sprewell ($14,625,000)

Medium Salary
Boston Roshown McLeod
Chicago Michael Sweetney
Detroit Victor Alexander, Dale Davis, Don Reid
Golden State Calbert Cheaney
Houston Maciej Lampe, Jake Tsakalidis
Indiana Zan Tabak
LA Lakers Ron Harper, Karl Malone, Shammond Williams
New Orleans Marc Jackson
Philadelphia Rodney Rogers
Phoenix Jalen Rose
Portland Voshon Leonard, Detlef Schrempf
Sacramento Vitaly Potapenko, Brent Price, Corliss Williamson
Seattle Danny Fortson
Utah Greg Ostertag
Washington Anthony Peeler

Minimum Salary
Boston Dana Barros, Grant Long
Dallas Vernon Maxwell, Johnny Newman, Walt Williams, Kevin Willis
Denver Wesley Person
Detroit Tony Delk, Danny Manning
Indiana Tyus Edney, Tim Hardaway, Terry Mills, LaSalle Thompson
LA Lakers Horace Grant, Mitch Richmond, John Salley, Brian Shaw
Miami Shandon Anderson, Christian Laettner, Gary Payton, John Wallace, Zhi-zhi Wang
Minnesota Oliver Miller, Sam Mitchell
New Jersey Travis Best, Hubert Davis, Sherman Douglas, Gheorghe Muresan
New York Kelvin Cato, Andrew Lang, Felton Spencer, Bruno Sundov
Philadelphia Rick Mahorn, Derrick McKey
Portland Chris Dudley
San Antonio Glenn Robinson, Nick Van Exel
Washington Chris Whitney

To me the one that stands out is Chicago’s PJ Brown. Indiana and Minnesota are in rebuilding mode so they don’t need these types of players, and Dallas is about to use Keith Van Horn. Chicago can trade PJ Brown and one of their young prospects (Gordon, Hinrich, Deng) and get back a star, although I doubt it would put Chicago on a contending level.

Well watch out this Thursday, the trade deadline, for more NBA trades, and don’t be surprised if you see another blockbuster. In the meantime, you can use ESPN’s trade machine or RealGM’s Trade Checker to make up some more trades.

League sources are claiming that the Mavs and Nets have agreed to a deal which will send Jason Kidd and Malik Allen to the Mavs for Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, DeSagana Diop, Devean George, Maurice Ager, two first round draft picks, and 3 million dollars cash.

That’s not that a deal for Dallas. Devin Harris and Jerry Stackhouse were pretty good contributers, and Diop was pretty good at defense. Also, they gave up two first round draft picks, which pretty much kills their future. Kidd is 34, Terry is 30, and the Mavs will have no good future draft picks.

They have just narrowed their window just like Phoenix did. Both teams along with San Antonio and Boston have pretty much no future after three years, which will make the Lakers a powerhouse over the next few years. Portland might be good with Greg Oden, but the kid hasn’t even played a game yet and he’s not an automatic superstar as his offense is still sub-par. Houston, Utah, and Golden State could be threats with one more deal.

To me, the Lakers are still the frontrunners. There are 7 things that a team must have in order to be a champion: Depth, Defense, a low post threat, an additional star, veteran leadership (experience), energy, and chemistry.

If you look at any of the past champions you will see that almost all of them have met these requirements. Every champion since Jordan retired had either Shaq or Duncan on their team with the exception of the Pistons in 04 who had Ben Wallace. The one exception to this rule is the Jordan Bulls, but they had Jordan, the greatest of all time.

The only reason the Lakers never won a championship after 2002 was because of chemistry. They got beat by the Pistons, a huge underdog, who were playing as a team. Why has Phoenix or Dallas never won a championship? Phoenix never had defense, and Dallas never had a low post threat. Phoenix just recently got a low post threat but still lacks defense. Dallas has improved in defense but still has no low post threat. Boston has no depth, their only good players are the big 3, KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce.

The Lakers have fulfilled all of the requirements. They definitely have depth in their starting lineup and their bench. Their defense is very good now that there are five good defensive players in the starting 5. Gasol and Bynum are both good low post threats, and Kobe is obviously a good perimeter player. Fisher and Kobe provide the playoff experience and leadership in order to guide the younger players. There is tons of energy coming off the bench with Farmar, Ariza, Sasha, Radman, and Luke coming off the bench. Kobe has gotten to trust his teammates and with someone with as good a character as Derek Fisher there is definitely chemistry in this team. Thats not even accounting for Gasol and Luke’s basketball IQs, or Lamars likable personality, or the fact that most of this team has been playing together for about 3-4 years. Kwame might have been the chemistry killer but we got rid of him.

To me, the only threats to the Lakers are San Antonio and Detroit, although I believe the Lakers can beat them both.

It seems like every year he gets robbed. People are saying Lebron deserves MVP because he is carrying a poor Cleveland team on pace to win 47 games.

Kobe took a bunch of D-leaguers to 46 wins in 05-06 yet he still does not get consideration. Kwame at C? Smush at the PG? Devean George at SF? You’ve got to be kidding me. Lebron has Big Z, Daniel Gibson and Pavlovic who can shoot the 3, Drew Gooden who’s averaging 11 & 8, Larry Hughes who is getting 12 ppg, and Varejao who’s averaging 9 rebounds.

The Gasol trade if anything hurt Kobe’s MVP contention, because now the media is going to say that he has a bunch of all stars, anyone could take that team to a good record. The Lakers were first place before Bynum got injured and before the Gasol trade. Also, Nash in 04-05 had Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, and Quentin Richardson (15 ppg and three point champion).

The media will always find ways to make Kobe not be the MVP. I honestly think that the awards at the end of the season should not be in the hands of the biased media. It should be decided by the coaches, players, and other staff members who actually know what’s going on. How much more does an ESPN commentator know than a fan? If you ask anyone in the NBA on who is the best player, the answer is almost always Kobe.

Take a look at this video:

As you know, Kobe Bryant has been selected to participate in the three point shootout this Saturday night along with Daniel Gibson, Rip Hamilton, Peja Stojakovic, Steve Nash, or Jason Kapono.

Kobe does hold the single game record for three point makes in a game (12, in 2003), and is swishing them from far beyond the line even today. Anybody who watches basketball knows that Kobe is the best player in the NBA, and one of the main reasons is because of his ability to shoot.

Kobe might not try hard like he did last year in the skills challenge, and his finger might affect him, but I think he can win it all if he tries.

The reason Kobe’s 3-point percentage numbers and field-goal percantage numbers are down is because he shoots 95% of his shots contested.

Take a look at this video which shows Kobe making 2 left handed shots from half-court in 7 tries.

Everyone is going crazy with the new trade when the Suns got Shaq. Shaq is a liability on defense. The Suns were already excellent at offense, both their half-court game and their fast break game. The executed well with Nash creating a lot of buckets.

With the trade, they just lost their best defender, probably one of the best in the league, and got back a fat, slow, and out-of-shape Shaq. Marion was their hustle player, their rebounder, and so much more. He was averaging 16 and 10, more than Shaq.

Now Phoenix just got worst at defense and a little better at offense, what they didn’t need at all. They already was among the league leaders in offense for the past three years!

Who’s going to guard Carmelo? Who’s going to guard Kobe when he gets Raja in foul trouble? Who’s going to guard Dirk? Duncan? T-Mac? Boozer?

And did I mention the Suns run a fast pace game which would be impossible for Shaq to keep up with for more than 5 minutes? How is he going to get up and down the floor at the pace of the Suns? Tell me which player stands out: Marion, Stoudemire, Barbosa, Raja Bell, Diaw, Shaq? Of course its Shaq, everyone else is either young or a freak of nature, and Shaq is none. The Suns will have to change their style of play for Shaq, and how many people love doing that mid season?

The Suns better pull of a miracle now ‘cus this is probably their only season they have to win a championship with Shaq and Nash just growing older. Maybe the Phoenix staff can get Shaq in shape like how Grant Hill got in shape. Only time will tell.

The Gasol trade is stirring up many more trades in the west. Phoenix just acquired Shaq from Miami for Marion and Marcus Banks. Although it seems like a bad trade for Phoenix because Shaq is old and can’t keep up with their pace, it does benefit them. Having Shaq will allow Phoenix to have an alternate style of play. Before, they were only fastbreak, now they will also have a half-court game. The Suns have improved, but still not in the same league as the Lakers and Spurs in my opinion.

The Suns aren’t the only team that has panicked, Dallas is looking to acquire Kidd! It seems as if the team just out of the elite is always looking to make a trade that will put them up on top. I think the Lakers have made the best trade so far because they haven’t sacrificed their future. The Suns after three years will pretty much have only Amare. Also, the Lakers really didn’t give up any of their talent unlike Phoenix who gave up Marion or Dallas who might give up Harris, Stackhouse, or maybe even Josh Howard.

My Rankings for the West come playoff time are (regardless of record, based on talent)

1. Lakers
2. Spurs
3. Suns
4. Mavericks
5-t. Hornets
5-t. Jazz
5-t. Nuggets
8. Warriors

It seems like teams like New Orleans who had a chance of being among the west’s elite pretty much are out of the radar for the west. Portland and Houston will miss the playoffs if not the Warriors, Jazz, or Nuggets. All of these teams are on pace to win at least 47 games!

We will just have to see what happens in the west. I think the east actually has an advantage over the West in the playoffs because the east will only have to play one tough round before the finals, while the west will have to pretty much play three long series. Boston or Detroit could have the luxury of cruising past the Nets, Raptors, Magic, Wizards or Hawks and just have a tough series against eachother and still have energy for the Finals. The Lakers however, if they were to go to the Finals, could play Utah, Phoenix, then San Antonio and be wiped out by the finals.

Remember when Shaq was traded? It was what, 4 years ago? He got traded to the Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, Brian Grant, and a 2006 first round draft pick (Jordan Farmar).

Looking at the trade, it seems a pretty good deal for the Lakers. The Lakers would lose a dominant Shaq for about 2 years, but their future is excellent. Lamar Odom, although a bit inconsistent, is great for the Lakers with his all around play. Caron Butler was traded for Kwame Brown who was then traded for Gasol. Jordan Farmar has been great off the bench, one of the main reasons that our second unit is so deep. And as a result of trading Shaq, the Lakers had a sub-par 04-05 season, which led to the draft pick of Andrew Bynum. Essentially, we traded Shaq for Lamar, Gasol, Bynum, and Farmar.

How can anybody say that was a bad deal for the Lakers? If they kept Shaq, they would have been contenders for about 2 years and thats only if Kobe stays, which was unlikely if Shaq stayed. Now the Lakers are serious contenders for the next five years (their projected lineup in five years is: Farmar, 26; Kobe, 34; Lamar, 33; Gasol, 32; and Bynum, 25).

Some think that there was a better deal for the Lakers if they took Amare and Marion from the Suns. They wouldn’t have gotten Bynum, Farmar, or Gasol if they took this deal. In my opinion, Lamar is just about equivalent to Marion, and Bynum is more valuable than Amare. Bynum is 5 years younger (Amare is 25). In five years, will Bynum be better than Amare? Heck yes! Our lineup with Amare and Marion would not be close to our current lineup which could remain dominant for 5 years. The Lakers would have Kobe, Marion, and Stoudemire, as opposed to Farmar, Kobe, Lamar, Gasol, and Bynum. Its up to you: Which lineup would you take?

With Shaq to be traded to Phoenix with little gas left on the tank, it seems that the Lakers actually pulled off a good one in the trade.