One of the many things I cited in Artest as a positive was a) he is a much better career 3-point threat than Ariza and more importantly..

I’ve seen Kobe and Artest be interviewed together many, many times. The respect Artest has for Kobe is real, it’s not a gimmick or any type of hyperbole. He really does respect him.

Most importantly, I’ve always been a fan of Artest’s mentality. Those who have followed his career will tell you- he works extremely hard, almost Kobe-esque. And while is a hot head, it is largely seen through a 100x microscope because of ’04.

To be fair, he’s out there with the A squad. Most of those guys have high +/-. The bench was struggling at the start of the season. Artest may be doing well, but those numbers reflect playing with the starters vs playing with the bench.

Good to see he’s fitting in.

First of all because anyone who watched the play-offs last season should know the answer to that question, and second of all because it’s not relevant. If you go out and try to play 100% while injured, then you may be tough, but you’re also an idiot, and Pau Gasol certainly is not stupid. Nor is he immature or unprofessional, and any Laker fan that has been paying attention to him over the past year really should know that.

Watch his eyes when the camera passes him during the fourth quarter tonight. He wants to be out there and play, but if he can’t, he shouldn’t try. We can think whatever we want about that, but if we want to repeat last year’s trophy ceremony, the last thing we should want is for Pau to return as soon as possible. We should want him to fully heal, no matter how long it takes.

(Psst… don’t insult the Europeans. We might bicker and insult each other every chance we get, but we tend to stick together against outsiders. )

Plus I think the extra minutes is helping Bynum’s development.. the only place it hurts us is the bench cause Odom starts at PF instead..

I do agree about ESPN and STAR… they show Boston, Cleveland and Orlando alot…

Assuming you just translated “from day one” into Spanish… close but not quite correct.

You should have said, “I am one that wanted Ron desde el primer dia.”

Regarding what I said the other day about Pau, I have to stand behind it. Not that I pretend to chew out anybody. Sorry if that was the impression, Lakergirl. I was just being passionate about my fellow Spaniard. I could be wrong, sure, I am not Pau Gasol nor I know him personally.

But to think that he is taking revenge for not being allowed to rest more during training camp or pretending the injury to be worst than it actually is, for someone who has shown such dedication and commitment to the sport, always behaved with dignity and honesty wherever he has been, would be so shocking. I mean we are talking Pau Gasol here. He’s like a boy scout, a role model of professionality for the sport of basketball. I just can’t believe those allegations.

I’m just trying to look at it from a simpler perspective. OK. So, some at the Lakers camp, including Phil Jackson, are kind of hinting Pau should play through the pain and show he is not soft? Is this the issue being discussed here? About that, I don’t know. I mean, if Phil Jackson asked ME to jump on a court and play for the Lakers with severed bleeding limbs and paid me millions of dollars to do so I would be painting the Staples center red every night. You catch my drift.

Jokes aside, I believe Pau Gasol is truly injured, in pain, and scared of aggravating his injury as it already happened in the past weeks. In other words, he is placing his health, his mental confidence in his own body and with it the real interests of the Lakers (who need him healthy for 2010) ahead of any mind gaming fantasies or nonsense of the kind. In doing that, he is again proving to be a true professional. It is easy to be carried away and let our desire to see him now take the best of us. But it’s a long season. Playoff this year is going to be a battlefield. Boston is strong and so is Cleveland. We need all our weapons, including Pau.

For the time being, I’m loving Ron as a Laker. To me, he + our team standing is the most dominant force since the late 90s Bulls.

Anyways, GO Lakers – continue the streak. Slow the place, body Nash at will..Keep a steady eye on JRich and don’t let Hill spot up. Feed Bynum & Kobe appropriately and we should come out alright.