of course if i could throw in slava too…

i thought phil jackson would set out to change this. in a sense he has, but it does appear that his vision of what lamar can do is a shade less than what many fans and others think his potential is.

those stretch of games where l.o. was more dominant, it didn’t seem so unnatural for him the way he was playing, or awkward. it looks like it just needs to be engrained into him to develop that into his new habit, a stronger one than the one that always takes over and leaves him safe in the backround, under the guise that he’s ‘a team player’. he was still every bit the team player when he was going for 20+.

but for all the reasons kurt listed, if that transformation doesn’t happen, you still don’t trade him. the guy is still too valuable.

If they are accurate then the Lakers have had 19 back to backs in each of the last 4 seasons. The average for all teams is 20.4, so the lakers have been relatively lucky.

Of course this does not take into account the length of road trips and other schedule issues.

even i for the past couple days have considered l.o. for artest. for about a second combined. that’s not a whole lot due to his clutch 3pt bricks [which i don't have much confidence of them going in even when they're launched in non-clutch situations], but more due to starting to really wonder if his personality is going to keep him from becoming truly great. that this disappearing act could very well be something that shows up in the playoffs.

and also his aghast reaction to whatever g.p. said to him. geez.

That said, trade LO for Artest and the Lakers pick up another swing man and I’m not sure Artest (6-6) is going to cover all the 6-10+ fours in the league a whole lot better than Odom. Plus, Odom is the best Laker rebounder, we become a lot weaker on the boards without him.

Plus, Artest has the maturity of a third grader.

while kobe’s going off on lamar looks in large part due to frustration with his flubbing the ball on the last play [and the thumb/wrist injury he had to struggle through during the game], i’m glad he said something.

it’s frustrating that lamar’s becoming old lamar again, all the while with his coach’s endorsement. it’s as if both of them feel that kwame and luke’s return means hey, they no longer need his scoring as much. uh, think again.

phil always makes his players BETTER– and you know, if l.o. had the same stats of old with that newfound aggressiveness he showed for a stretch, i’d be okay with that. i still believe he should score 20+ a game though. he may not be shaq, but the mismatches he usually sees on defense… geez, why wouldn’t you exploit them for all they’re worth? those are some damn high percentage shots we’re missing out on. some nights you REALLY need some high percentage shots to fall back on.

so far he’s been horrible in the clutch, and since he’s been passive lamar and hasn’t seen many opportunities like that in the past couple years, that should be expected.

looking at kwame last night, geez, it sure looks like kareem isn’t working with him on his post game. i’m also a little surprised that phil’s so happy with him defensively– he was fabulous man-to-man on shaq, but he also seems to be a major culprit in missing rotations and guarding the lane.

oh well, maybe a head pat is good for him. it is progress.