The Arrogant, Entitltled World Champion Los Angeles Lakers

[sotola]

Yeah, when looking at those two, and their respective desire, it reminds me of the old adage..... "find something you are passionate about and you will never work a day in your life".

Kobe hasn't worked during his tenure in the NBA. Bynum's put in a lot of overtime.

[Bklyn]

Basically.

[Simitar]

Was discussing with a buddy today if Kobe can break Kareem's record.

He basically needs to average 20 PPG until he's 40. He could make it in just over 3.5 years if he averaged 30 (and didn't miss any games) - but he hasn't done that in 6 years.

My buddy thinks he has a shot, I think that even if the mind is still willing the body won't be.

[Bklyn]

I think next year will tell the story. If he averages another 26 - 28ppg, then he can get it.

I see him easily averaging 20ppg up to 38 years old. The hard thing will be keeping him on the floor for defense. This year he only played D about 70% of the time.

[sotola]

I don't see him chasing records for records sake. I think once he feels that he can't play at a high level that he won't want to play again... and that high level might mean contending for a championship. If the Lakes don't find a gullible fool like they did for Pau (I mean, trading partner), I don't think Kobe will want to stick around. The only negative thing about MJ's career was those lousy years at the tail end in Washington.... I think Kobe would want to avoid going out like that.

[Bklyn]

I fall a little different. Firstly, I think Memphis made a good trade. That Pau for Marc trade is not a viable laughingstock trade anymore. Memphis is more economically sound and a better team today because of that trade.

I also think that if Kobe is farther from Ring 6 than he is from Cap, then he'll shoot for Cap. Tying and surpassing Jordan is his main goal, but if he can't get it I think he'd "settle" for the scoring title.

You don't see players (relatively young men) leave basketball when they can still compete, but not dominate, in the L. Only Bison Dele did it...& that was due to mental illness.

[Johnette's Daddy]

http://www.tmz.com/2012/06/11/kobe-brya ... -together/

Vanessa Bryant will NOT sign documents to make her divorce final ... at least for now ... because TMZ has learned, she and Kobe are working on a full reconciliation.

We've learned Kobe and Vanessa are trying to work out the issues that caused her to file for divorce back in December. They spend a lot of time together but he has not officially moved back in with her.

Under California law, Vanessa has to wait 6 months before she can file final docs making the divorce official. The 6-month mark hits this weekend, so Vanessa could end the marriage as early as Monday ... but we know she won't.

Now here's the deal. We're told Kobe and Vanessa have had their ups and downs since she filed for divorce ... and there's nothing stopping her from filing final divorce papers at some point in the future if things don't work out.

One more thing. If Kobe and Vanessa end up living together ... it will be in one of her 3 mansions, because he signed over all the deeds to her while they were working out divorce details.

Advantage Vanessa.

[Bklyn]

Well, one of those properties Vanessa's mother lives in. Kobe was not going to touch that issue. He's a cold-hearted bastard, but he ain't that foolish.

She ain't going to do it, though. It's a hard life to walk away from...and considering they both became famous at 17, it's the only life she's really known.

[Johnette's Daddy]

Well, one of those properties Vanessa's mother lives in. Kobe was not going to touch that issue. He's a cold-hearted bastard, but he ain't that foolish.

She ain't going to do it, though. It's a hard life to walk away from...and considering they both became famous at 17, it's the only life she's really known.

They pretty much reconciled before he signed the houses away. He drew the paperwork up as a sign of good faith, but if she wanted to divorce him, she would have;

1) lost the rest of the baby weight,

2) had a makeover/installed a new rack,

3) publicly started dating some Hollywood badboys,

4) gone on a talk show to show off the new body/boobs/boytoy and let the world know that not only was she surviving the ordeal in style, but also was chronicling her struggle in her new book/reality show/1-woman play.

In Cali, divorce is a blood sport.

[T Dot O Dot]

I would be honestly surprised if Rudy Gay is a Grizzly at the start of next season.... they're at it again, they will dump talent for draft picks & cap space without thinking twice about it

they were a perennial tough 1st round out when Pau was their star & that's about as far as they ever vaulted with Marc & Z-Bo and the bell has tolled agained

I still call it Grand Theft Ass-Rape, at best you can call it a treadmill move for Memphis (and that's a major stretch)

Marc was a 2nd round pick who never played a day in the NBA, good luck to them if they think they can trade another all-star for 2nd rounders who average 18 & 8, that's a very sustainable gameplan

teams like Memphis are exactly why fans in LA never have to worry about the window closing, it's a cyclical process over there

and I'm not even including the tampering with draft prospects & other teams free agents

[Bklyn]

Didn't Memphis make it to the 2nd Round last year, giving DAL all they could handle? I think they got a lot better than the Pau years. They did not win a single playoff game with Pau, they just made the Playoffs.

Getting from under that Pau contract was the best thing that happened to that franchise and getting Marc was the second best.

[sotola]

dot said it best... if you are making deals for all stars for rookies and 2nd round picks, you are dumping salary and nothing else.... you don't build viable franchises like that.... it was pure luck but a bad trade. Hindsight is 100% but no other GM would have made that deal.

[Bklyn]

The deal worked out for them. So, it was a gamble, but a good deal.

[sotola]

I don't really agree but I can understand how a team that fleeced another could try and rationalize it for them. : )

[Bklyn]

Memphis went from a team unable to win a single playoff game, to a team that many expected to be in the WCF this year (and they had a good chance to be if they didn't blow a 27 point lead against the Clips). That never would have happened if they still owed Pau Gasol $19M.

[sotola]

I don't agree... they didn't need to drastically overpay a marginally producing Rudy Gay.... the savings on Gay could have been used elsewhere (since the younger Gasol also got a decent raise since then).

yes, they would have had to been lucky to find a swing man that would take their money and go to Memphis but hoping a 2nd round pick flourishes is less likely. They made that trade more for Crittendon than they did for Gasol and yet get credit because he overachieved. They got brutally lucky.

its like me offering Soloman Alabi and Davis for Bynum. PERHAPS Alabi becomes an awesome center for LA and Davis also reaches the potential of a high first round pick but any GM that does that deal is dumb. Memphis got lucky ... I won't give credit for random luck.

As a complete aside, I don't like Stern but listening to him slap Jim Rome around was pure comedy. Rome doesn't have any legitimate credibility but Stern made him look absolutely foolish.... moreso.

[Bklyn]

The Rudy transaction had nothing to do with the Pau trade though. So, yes, Memphis made a contract deal with Rudy that may have overpaid him, but that was separate from the Pau for Marc deal...and separate from the Battier trade that got Rudy in the first place.

I don't know if they made that trade for Crit more than anything. I think they thought they were getting a solid guard and a very good center who needed to lose some weight for an unhappy big man who was taking them nowhere in the long or short term. They needed to get from under Pau's contract and they got better DIRECTLY due to that trade. I don't see what more Memphis could have done that would have been better.

Most execs were pissed because they grabbed their crotches and made the duck lip face whenever Wallace called to talk a Pau trade and then weren't given a chance to talk trade specs seriously after LA made their offer. So, MAYBE a team would have stepped up with a great offer if they knew MEM was finally dancing with a serious partner, but because no one did, I can't say if any deal would have been better. Pau was traded before the deadline, but it wasn't some December or preseason trade. MEM was working the phones since the Summer trying to find a good deal for Pau. This was the best offered. It wasn't like the Chris Paul deal where we KNOW what the better alternative deals were before the official deal was made. No one can tell me a better deal MEM could have gotten in lieu of the Lakers offer.

I'm not asking you to give credit to MEM for luck, that's your prerogative. I'm asking that you realize the deal was not the ass raping that many said it was. MEM made out okay, whatever the forces behind that "ok" is.

[hedge]

The duck lip face!

[T Dot O Dot]

Brook, seriously

You're putting Marc Gasol on a pedestal

He is all that represents what you believe, that your team competes on an even playing field & succeeds based on quality management & savvy scouting

Those lights & stars in LA have nothing to do with it, neither does Hollywood or Sunset Blvd

shyt... Buss could be the owner in Milwaukee & do the same thing

Shaq would have left Magic Land for Wisconsin... Kobe would have threatened John Calipari that he would go pro in Italy so he could play for Doctor Buss' Bucks

Marc Gasol equals redemption because one of the seeds of your franchises' evil consummations sprouted into a fruitful tree

[T Dot O Dot]

and I also recall Crit being the key ingredient in Sam's argument that the trade wasn't so bad

now he's just a footnote in the Arenas locker room gun story