Besides, LeBron is a bigger ballhog and I’m sure Cleveland fans are satisfied with him so far…

reggie also said “when the lakers TRADED for Ron artest” when talking with mitch. oh please reggie. you fail.

I agree that the team that we’ll see this upcoming season will still run and will not play a slow down game at all costs. We have smart players that will pick their spots and run where it makes sense. No team can be successful without getting some easy buckets and we have the talent to take advantage of those chances.

Also, I agree that strong defense can fuel fast breaks, much like we saw with the 90′s Bulls and the early 2000′s Lakers. Stops lead to running opportunities and, hopefully, we’ll be getting plenty of stops. Speaking about those Bulls teams specifically, they had the type of team (from a personnel standpoint) that was built on running off of stops. In their first 3peat, they had Jordan and Pippen who were two of the best perimeter defenders in the league while also having Grant and some solid guards (Paxon, Armstrong) that were real pros and just knew how to play the game. All of that strength in the backcourt and wings will lead to a team that can run and control the pace in the manner that they see fit on any given possession. Our current roster is different than theirs (as you, P Ami describe) with the strength of our frontcourt and the shakiness of our guards outside of Kobe. But, as I said earlier, I do think that the overall talent and smarts of our team will lead to us making the most of all our opportunities – both in fast break, secondary break, and half court situations.

“Sometimes old things need to go away. That way, we have room for the new things that come into our lives.” – Randy K. Milholand

How many times did we see, during the Finals, Kobe catching the ball within 16 feet of the basket on the wing, waiting for the help defender to slide over and hit the open man for a pass? Not forgetting the pass that led to the assist on Fish’s game tying 3 and the assist to Fish for the overtime dagger? What about the beautiful drive past 4 defenders and the over the shoulder flip pass to a trailing Gasol? For Christ’s sake, people need to be open at least to the idea that a player can change!

*ahem* thats my whinging done =)

I wish people would stop making statements about Kobe and assume we all share the same negative view of his personality.

Outstanding champions will always rub some people the wrong way — that is the price you pay for an ego large enough to drive teams to difficult to reach heights.

KB is an intelligent dude and he knows that the only way he will stay ahead of LeBron as the best player in the league is to keep winning those rings. He cant do it by himself, he has to have the right pieces to supplement his game and make him look great in the process.