The Los Angeles Lakers have been well represented in #NBARank with four players making the top 50. Indeed, Lamar Odom was rated as the 44th best player in the league, Andrew Bynum as the 30th and Pau Gasol as the 11th. It was clear from the start that Kobe Bryant would be the last player […]
Archives for October 2011
Around The World (Wide Web): Lockout Talk
From Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: As Stern has recounted a dozen times since, not long after what was supposed to have been the hallway conversation that saved the season, something odd and wholly unexpected happened. There was a knock on the door where Stern was selling his owners on the idea. The players wanted to talk. When […]
Pau Gasol’s #NBARank
The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated in the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks for a multitude of reasons. The one that most chose to focus on was the subpar play of Lakers starting power forward Pau Gasol. And really, it would have been impossible not to direct some blame […]
Around The World (Wide Web)
Kobe’s potential deal in Italy keeps changing in an effort to get him to come over and play at all. First it was a full season with an opt out. Then it was a 10 game in 40 day whirlwind tour. Now, it’s a single game reportedly valued at (up to) $2 million. Like I said […]
Out In The Cold
The first two weeks of the NBA season are gone. David Stern and the owners – the ones that possess the power to make such a decision – decreed it so last night after another bargaining session that did nothing to bridge the gulf that exists between the players and the owners. Those who’ve followed my […]
Drew v. Goodman Rematch: Lots o’ Offense
(h/t Ball Is Life) On Sunday night, the Drew League hosted the Goodman League in a rematch between the Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. based pro-am leagues. After losing by a point in D.C., the Drew league were able to even the summer series against the Goodman league with a 151-144 win featuring over a […]
Career Parallels: Kareem and Kobe
Basketball as we know it today is heavily influenced by the contributions and memories of whom I like to call The Three Wise Men: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. And in truth, how could it not? Between their combined 28 All-NBA 1st team selections, 20 NBA Finals appearances, 14 championship rings, 11 Finals […]
#NBARank: Lamar Odom
With #NBARank now in the midst of announcing the top 50 players in the NBA, Laker fans have probably noticed that some of their favorite players have yet to show up on the board. It stands to reason that the purple and gold will be very well represented in the top 50 given the amount […]
Welcome To The Slaughterhouse
As you’ve likely heard by now, yesterday’s meetings between players and owners did not yield even a tentative agreement. Both sides described the talks as productive but not impactful enough to provide the needed breakthrough. “Today was not the day to get this done. We were not able to get close enough to close the […]
Raising The Floor
Competitive balance is the new buzzword of the lockout. It’s so important, it’s become a sticking point in the CBA negotiations. The owners want to limit team by team spending in order to preserve it. Whether through a hard cap or through a luxury tax system so punitive to curb spending, the thought is that if […]