VI

There's only one name that universally comes up as the greatest of all time.  Love him or hate him, he is the standard that all current NBA players want to surpass but how realistic is the thought.  Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, and even Dwyane Wade have been compared to him.  A former teammate of his even proclaimed that one day LeBron James could be better than his Airness but there's only one player that can compare to the greatness that was Michael Jordan.  On April 16th 2003, Jordan scored the last 13 points of his career total 32,292 points.  Jordan spent the last two years of his career with the Wizards but that's not what he's remembered for.  Michael Jordan was and will always be a Chicago Bull and will always be remembered for one number......VI.

For the past 17 NBA seasons we have witnessed the closest incarnation of Michael Jordan that perhaps we'll ever see and sadly he's nearing the end.  Still effective on certain nights, he is considered a relic in this new era blooming in the NBA.  His career blossomed during the time of relics and now he's become one his self.  It's funny because I once heard that as humans we all begin in diapers and most end their lives in them as.  It's a sad but cruel truth that afflicts us all too often and thus the career of an NBA player is no different.  There comes a time when it all ends, the mind wanting to soldier on but the body slowly betraying the wishes of its true master.  It's the moment that every athlete fears, the moment where one question is asked....."What do I have left to give?"  That one singular question has dethroned the greatest athletes, the most fierce champions and now facing his own mortality stand Kobe  Bean Bryant.

What does he have left to Give?

Over 30,000 points scored, 5 MVP Championships, 1 Gold Medal, and 1 NBA MVP.  Kobe Bryant has seen and done it all.  From the moment he entered the league he knew what his destiny would be, there was only one thing that he wanted.  Jordan was the measuring stick and Kobe wanted to surpass his idol at all costs.  The obsession eventually transformed "media friendly" Kobe into the Kobe that most of the NBA world loves to hate, The Black Mamba.  Demanding, foul mouthed, in your face Kobe but I forgot another label........multi-time champion.  With that being said isn't odd that the Mamba has been virtually absent this season?  The production is there, the foul mouth is there but something is missing.  Is it possible that Kobe has given us all that he has?  The endgame is upon us has Bryant himself has already stated that he may walk away from the game in two years once his current contract expires.  When I look at Bryant I see a great player that's 34 years young but in NBA years he's closer to 38 years old, having lived through countless deep playoff runs and multiple knee injuries. At this stage in his career what does Kobe have left to give?

Obsession:  The dominations of one's thoughts or feelings by persistent idea, image, desire, etc

It's no secret that Kobe Bryant is seemingly "obsessed" with becoming the best player that the NBA has ever seen and he has stopped at nothing to achieve it.  There's been feuds with coaches and teammates and some say that Bryant is even responsible to single handed breaking up the last true dynasty in the NBA, the Lakers team that began the millennium.  In his mind Bryant can do no wrong i.e. the departure of Shaquille O'Neal from the Lakers.  During the summer of 2004 Bryant had threatened to leave the Lakers for the Clippers and seemed serious about it.  The relationship between he and O'Neal was fractured beyond repair and once the Lakers moved O'Neal to the Miami Heat, Kobe Bryant signed a 7 year contract with the Lakers the next day.  The timing of Bryant's new contract spoke volumes.  The Lakers had made their choice and good or bad they had to live with it.  Kobe's profile skyrocketed and the "Black Mamba" was born but it was at the cost of several disastrous seasons for the franchise.

Kobe's move to run O'Neal out of town was finally validated 5 years later as Bryant began a string of 3 straight NBA Finals appearances, losing the first and winning the final two.  Not without the help of Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant had once again returned to the throne that he had grown obsessed with; capturing 4 and 5.  The Los Angeles Lakers are used to winning championships in bunches but in the NBA Championship teams/contenders usually only have a shelf life of about 3 years....the kings have their reign and then they die.......

A Thunderous End..............

As they always seem to do, the Los Angeles Lakers have regrouped and added star power but the one constant for the last 17 seasons has been Bryant or what is left of the Bryant that we once knew.  The additions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash were supposed to propel the Lakers to the top and they still might, these things often take time but that's the very problem that the Lakers are faced with.....time.  Howard and Nash are not 100% and the Lakers are a bunch that are long in the tooth.  They've already endured a coaching change this season and question still remain about their defense but yet Bryant is that constant, trying to will the franchise for his own gain, that elusive number six.  If championship were won on will alone, all great NBA players would have one but sadly that's not the case.  The West's franchises growing in strength as the Lakers are seemingly in decline is no coincidence as the last two seasons the Lakers have been eliminated from the playoffs in embarrassing fashion.  The Lakers currently face great threats from the Grizzlies, Spurs, and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

If the Lakers are to overcome the challengers that were mentioned above will the Black Mamba be able to lead them to victory or will it be a new Bryant, an incarnation of Bryant that we haven't seen before.  Known for being aggressive at all times on the court, Bryant has never come across a shot that he doesn't like but now in the twilight of his career Bryant must do something that he was forced to do early in his career.......he has to become the second option.  Kobe Bryant will have to accept the role of being selfless and defer to the Lakers prized off season acquisition Dwight Howard.  VI is not even feasible if Dwight Howard isn't allowed to take his place among the Lakers greatest centers, Mikan, Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, and O'Neal.

Acquiring IV would be a great Christmas gift for Bryant and perhaps the final milestone that'll be reached in his career but it's a gift that he'll have to wait until June to capture.  In the eyes of many, IV would be a coronation for Bryant and the cementing of his greatness next to the standard bearer, MJ.  Once his career is over, Bryant will have more points scored, more assists dished out, and more rebounds grabbed than MJ but it is the elusive IV that will truly make the defining statement and bring finality to a Hall of Fame career, one that will leave Bryant on a list of the top 5 players to ever play the game.  What does he have left to give.............................................VI

  

Read More

We can all exhale now: Dwight Howard is a Laker

       Well that didn't take long or did it?  The feeling is that this could have been completed months ago but alas it's finally done; Dwight Howard is a Los Angeles Laker and it's the right choice.  Lets forget about all of the posturing it took from the Magic and other franchises to get to this point and lets focus on the future which is now much brighter for the Lakers and Howard.  Simply put, the Lakers needed Howard to be relative again because we all know that Kobe is slowing down and the Lakers would have simply faded away if they'd stay on the current course that they were on.  This trade will give the Lakers life for years to come and eventually LA
will become Howard's town but he must embrace the greatness and not run from it.

Why run from legacy, face it, own it, add to it, that's the task that Dwight Howard faces now.  Mikan, Wilt, Kareem, and Shaq all made their names and won championships as members of the Los Angeles Lakers and now it's Howard's turn to add championships to his resume'.  For the longest time it seemed as if Howard was running away from his "destiny", not wanting to be called a follower of Shaq but all of that ill will can be erased.  It is said that in order to lead one must learn how to follow and that's another task ahead for Howard now as he must learn what he can from Kobe because soon Kobe will be no more and Howard will have the opportunity to be the dominant force that he's meant to be.

Howard has to understand that the time for excuses is over and that he needs to be what the league needs right now, a dominant big man.  Some may say that Howard is already a dominant big man but the truth is that he has no competition at the position.  If coached right, Dwight Howard has a chance to be far superior to what Shaq ever was on offense and defense but it's a huge if.  Simply put, the pieces are in place and the Lakers will only go as far as Dwight Howard takes them.  This is not the time to make any predictions but I will say this.....those who follow the NBA closely should know what the "money matchup" will be for the NBA Finals.  Will it happen, maybe but there will be a learning a curve.  The Lakers will be a factor in the west again just based on the matchup problems that they'll create but it is entirely too early to pick them as the favorites to win the 2012/13 NBA Championship.

Read More

Were you all had? The NBA Lockout of 2011

If I told you that you could be reincarnated and earn $50 million but and all you had to do was kill yourself today, would you do it?  What if you told me that you couldn't swim but I told you that if you tried to swim across the Atlantic Ocean, you wouldn't drown, would you believe me?  I'm having a hard time figuring out why so many "fans" are disappointed by today's news that the Lakers have made an agreement with the Hornets to acquire All-Star guard Chris Paul.  The Miami Heat upgraded their bench by adding Shane Battier and a reborn Eddy Curry and the Knicks are close to acquiring NBA Champion center Tyson Chandler.  These are examples of big market teams making a splash 24 hours before training camp is to begin.  Surprised?

If you were surprised by the agreements today and/or disappointed by the fact that the big market teams are still able to sign whomever they would like then you were a victim of the owners lies plain and simple.  The NBA Lockout of 2011 was promoted by the owners as a chance
for there to be competitive balance across the league, the Pacers would be able to compete with the Knicks for talent as an example.  It was all fabricated to cover up the truth, the real reason the owners locked out the players, the owners wanted more money and in the end they received a giveback from the players of over 1 billion dollars.  You've been had!  You've been took!  Hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led Astray!  Run amok!  Simply put you were lied to.

The big market teams will continue to grow stronger as long as the NBA is in existence because the NBA needs the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, and Heat more than the Spurs, Pacers, Hawks or Bucks.  It's the reason only 9 different franchises have won the NBA championship since 1979.  The facts were all over the Internet throughout the summer, The Closer, Jason Whitlock, and myself tried to educated as many "fans" as we could about the real reason the owners had locked the players out, but we could only do so much as Commissioner Stern could jump on his mouth piece known as ESPN and spins "fans" at his leisure.  If the Lakers acquire Paul it will no doubt signal the final days for Dwight Howard in Orlando as he desires to be paired with an All-Star caliber point guard not named Jameer Nelson, but would the owners really allow their reputations to be tarnished in the eyes of the fans if the big market teams continue to grow stronger?

As I began this post 15 minutes ago, Adrian Wojnarwski of Yahoo sports reported via twitter that the owners were irate in a Board of Governors meeting with Stern that the Hornets who are currently league owned would be allowed to trade Chris Paul away and now the news has just broke that the NBA has killed the trade agreement between the Lakers and Hornets.....can someone tell us why?  It seems as if the owners grew wise to the fact that this proposed trade if culminated would have exposed them as liars and David Stern has now not allowed the trade to take place.

All of this is breaking as I typed and I just finished a phone call with The Closer and I must say that I am in a state of shock that this has happened.  What else do the owners want from the players at this point in time?  This is an absolute abuse of power and these words that are being typed are coming from a place of raw emotion, reports are that Chris Paul is devastated by the recent developments of tonight and this is perhaps the worst thing that I've ever witnessed in my almost 20 years of following the NBA.  Reports are also stating that due to a conflict of interest is why the Hornets were order to rescind the trade, but keep in mind that a conflict of interest works both ways because it is a conflict of interest to block the trade as well.  I leave you with one question, if the Hornets were going to trade Chris Paul to the Pacers, Timberwolves or Hawks, do you think the league would have imposed its will the way it did this evening?

Chris Broussard of ESPN has just reported that Chris Paul will explore legal action against the league with NBPA Director Billy Hunter to fight the blocked trade.

Read More

A Public Announcement from Balla Commish: Bandwagoners you're not wanted!

A funny thing has happened in the NBA during the last week of the playoffs; now that the Lakers are seemingly at the end of their championship run and the Boston Celtics are in a 0-2 hole which could change for the good or bad tonight, the sexy pick for the NBA Championship now has become the Miami Heat and fans all around are touting the Heat as the next it team.  Let me get this straight, we go from the most hated team in the NBA since July 8th 2010 to every one's sexy pick now?  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I get it but this new found love is kind of sickening and insulting since I've been a Heat fan since 1995.  I caught wind of the shift earlier in the week on my facebook feed and I ignored it mainly because I took it as a joke, didn't believe what I was reading but again I'm seeing this new found love and I'm starting to shake my head.

Fans I understand, either your team has been eliminated from the playoffs at this point or are on the verge of elimination and you just want to feel good about yourselves, feel like you were right in your picks...again I get it, but your new found love for the Miami Heat is simply not wanted.  This new fake love has even gotten so strong that it was a topic at the Heat's practice on Thursday, here a quote from Lebron James on this new, fake love.


"It's just us. What we do in the locker room, what do on the road as a team are the only words we need," "We understand that, as we win games, people will try to crown us," "That's bizarre. We just have to go out there and continue to play our game."


Translation:  The fake love that we're receiving right now is weird and unwanted, all we're focused on is each other's encouragement during our championship path.  We're just trying to win, nothing more, nothing less.

May God Bless Him 

Could the Heat win the this years Championship?  The answer is yes but I've been very quiet during the playoffs for a reason.  They could lose as well and where is the fake love going to go at that point....it will go back to its original state of hate....it's a thin line folks.  There's no secret I've been making my picks round by round and posting them here and so far I'm doing quite well overall, but only two people know at this point in time who I picked to play in the NBA Finals months ago.  I'll give you a hint, both of my picks are very much alive and doing quite well.....that's all you get!  I don't make my picks to allow myself to feel as if I'm right all of the time because I'm not, I mean I have picked the wrong finals match up 3 times in the last 10 years but I do not appreciate those who change their pick week by week in order to feel right.  If you're wrong, deal with it and move on, accept it and pick better next year.  Changing your picks week by week, game by game is a sign of weakness and it shows that you just want to be liked or dare I say give yourself a false sense of confidence....can you say insecurity?  I saw one of my basketball brothers last week on facebook pick a Heat-Thunder Finals after his Orlando Magic were eliminated and today he's changed it to Heat-Mavericks.  My question would be why the change?  So the Mavs are beating the Lakers, maybe the Lakers time is over as I predicted months ago; that doesn't make the Mavs look that much stronger...if I'm not mistaken the Mavs were down late in all three of those games and the Lakers just blew it or maybe someone's lucky.


The door swung open on July 8th for any fan to join the Heat and it closed the very next day...no exceptions.  If you didn't support the Heat all year, please remain silent now.  We don't need your fake love nor do we want it, I'm sorry that you're so disappointed at your "home" team that you'd rather support my team to make yourselves feel better because you don't want to feel like losers.  Please take these words of encouragement from the Balla Commish to heart....go fuck yourselves...you'll feel much better!  Someone has to be the bad guy, it might as well be me!         

Read More

2010/11 NBA Playoffs: The Western Conference 2nd Round

The Power of Belief struck again as the Memphis Grizzlies, the 8th seed, knocked out the top seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round.  Lurking in the second round as Grizzlies opponents is the Oklahoma City Thunder whom the Grizzlies defeated 3 times out of 4 games played in the regular season.  The Thunder defeated a Nuggets team that lacked the superstar "Anthony" needed to make a deep playoff run.  Both teams have a great defensive mindset and they both share young up and coming point guards in Mike Conley Jr. and Russell Westbrook.  The x-factor in the series will be Serge Ibaka; how well he plays defense on Zach Randolph "Z-Bo" will be key.  The Spurs couldn't handle the size of the Grizzlies front court but with the additions of Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed the Thunder should be able to contain the opposing bigs.  Tony Allen is a great defender for the Grizzlies but he will have a hard time guarding the taller and more elusive Kevin Durant.  In the playoffs teams need talent as talent trumps all, the Thunder have two of the most talented players in the league in Durant and Westbrook and those two will power the Thunder into the conference finals for the first time since their Sonics days in six games.

For the first time in their long careers, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki will face each other in the playoffs.  I'll admit, I was wrong in my choice to pick the Blazers to move past Dallas but I'm not guilty of hating on the Mavs, the Cowboys yes, but not the Mavs.  What I am guilty of is not trusting the Mavs period.  They're like those numbers that you play every week in the lottery and despite a few teases here and there you never win the jackpot...ladies and gentlemen, your Dallas Mavericks!  For all of the talent and all of the regular season success year after year, the Mavs have not been able to win the NBA championship because year after year some team always find a way to punk them.  From the Heat to the Warriors, Hornets, and Spurs, it happens every year and this year will be the Lakers turn to punk the Mavs.  Lets get one thing very clear, there's no rivalry between the Lakers and Mavs as TV land will likely lead you to believe.  In order to create a rivalry you must have lengthy playoff battles, the franchise player moving from one team to another, and being in the same division helps.  Again there's no rivalry here, the Lakers have been relevant forever and the Mavs are an after thought outside of Dallas. Do you already know where I'm going with this?  The Lakers will win this series in six games and move on to face to team destined since last season's playoffs to face them, the Thunder in the western conference finals.  

Read More

2010/11 NBA Playoffs: The Western Conference 1st Round

The wild wild west will be even more wild during this years playoffs.  Over the last ten season teams from the Western Conference have won 7 NBA titles, with only Detroit, Miami, and Boston winning titles for the East during that 10 year span.  The last three years the Western Conference Champion have been the LA Lakers and they've brought the title back to Los Angeles the last two seasons.  The biggest question of the year out west it:  Can the Lakers flip the switch and win a 3rd straight title?  No one will truly know until the end of June but it's all about the journey to the ring.  

Grizzlies vs Spurs
8-1

The Grizzlies were one of the hottest teams before the season ended and some say that they cooled off intentionally because they didn't want to move up in the standings and play the Lakers; instead they opted to play the Spurs whom they split the season series with 2-2 with the Grizzlies winning the last two meetings.  Should the Spurs feel disrespected by the Grizzlies?  Perhaps they should but they have a generations worth of playoff experience and the Grizzlies haven't been to the playoffs since 2006.  The Spurs, in the regular season depended on Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili more than they did Tim Duncan and they play a more up-tempo style of play than in years past.  Tim Duncan has been monitored all year and he should give the Spurs and boost in the playoffs but will he be able to contend with Zach Randolph?  How healthy is Manu?  Word is he may not play in game 1 which is a colossal loss to the Spurs but with the Grizzlies being without Rudy Gay the losses cancel each other out.  The Spurs will move on to the second round in six close hard games.

Nuggets vs Thunder
5-4

Nuggets you did it, you can exhale.  You guys came together and made the playoffs without Carmelo Anthony in the second half of the season.  Denver went on a roll post the Anthony trade and instead of falling out of the playoff race they made an incredible run and they did it by improving their defense.  Since the trade the Nuggets have allowed 10 less points per game to the opposing team...that's an astounding statistic.  Having said that the same thing that helped the Nuggets in the regular season will hurt them in the playoffs, superstars win in the playoffs when the game slows down and individuality is rewarded.  The Nuggets lack of star power will be their downfall when they face Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook of the Thunder.  This will be the most exciting series in the 1st round of the western conference and it will also be one of the quickest.  Westbrook will continue his maturation process and help Durant lead the Thunder into the second round in five games.

Hornets vs Lakers
7-2

No home court, no David West, no chance.  The Lakers are just too big for the Hornets to deal with and even with Bynum hurt, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are enough to push the Hornets around and grab every rebound.  Outside of leaving his heart all on the court, there is nothing that Chris Paul can do to dethrone the 3 time defending Western Conference Champions.  For those wondering why I didn't mention Kobe, Kobe is Kobe, his game will speak for itself as the Lakers move on in four games.

Upset Special

Blazers vs Mavericks
6-3

There's a reason teams wanted to avoid the Blazers, they play with an intense passion that's hard to match and now the Mavericks are tasked with taming the Blazers...yeah the very soft Mavs.  Brandon Roy has been a shell of himself after having knee surgery but the addition of Gerald Wallace at the all star break added a new dimension to the already loaded Blazers.  Lamarcus Aldridge is the real deal and he will give Dirk fits on the defensive end.  Simple put, the Blazers are a terrible match up for the Mavericks and they will win this series in 6 games.  3 of the last 4 years the Mavericks have been eliminated out of the playoffs in the first round; why would it be different now?

Now the first round is set and as you can see the second rounds east and west will be very interesting.  Some fans will be excited to move on and others will be crushed.  The NBA will crown a real champion because barring injury the best teams always win during best of 7 series.  The two month odyssey begins today and we are all in for a long and exciting ride, especially if the playoffs are just as dramatic as the regular season was.

Read More

Trouble in La La Land? LA Lakers

April 29th of 2007, the Chicago Bulls completed a 4 game sweep of the world champion Miami Heat.  Looking back, the outcome could have been predicted on opening night of the 2006/07 season.  That night, which was supposed to be the night that the NBA champions would showcase their dominance turned into the worst championship performance in the history of Ring Ceremony Night.  The Miami Heat lost by 42 points to the "Baby" Bulls, a team that they defeated 4 games to 2 in the first round of the playoffs five months prior.  It was during that playoff series that the Bulls were arguably the Heat's toughest playoff opponent.  Some members of that Bulls team even thought they deserved to win the playoff series which they lost to the Heat, but the signs of change were obvious.

April 30th 2010, Pau Gasol tipped in a Kobe Bryant miss with a half a second left while the Lakers were down a point to the Oklahoma Thunder in the decisive game six to give the Lakers the series win.  The Lakers would go on to win their 15th NBA championship while the Thunder who felt as if it was their destiny to win spent the off season not fishing but reflecting.  When the 2010/11 NBA season started the Lakers jumped out to an 8-0 record but their opponents weren't proven, not championship calibre.  Thus far this season against teams .500 or better, the Lakers have a losing record of 2 wins and 5 losses.  To make matters worse they just hit a rough patch losing their last three games by more than 15 points each including their Christmas Day showdown with the Miami Heat.

The hype was there, the stars were out, but the Lakers put on a horrific performance.  Make no mistake about it, luck wasn't on the Heat's side on Christmas Day, Miami just went to Los Angeles and thoroughly defeated the Lakers and in the process demoralized the current team.  It was supposed to be the game that the Lakers hushed the NBA universe by defeating the hyped and hated Heat but it turned into a revelation, the coaches and the players knew what hit them.  Just like the 06/07 Heat team, the two time defending NBA champion Lakers are experiencing the championship hangover i.e. we've already won so we don't have to fight as hard to win another.

"It's like these games mean more to our opponents than they do to us," Bryant said. "I think we need to get that straight -- play with more focus, put more [emphasis] on these games. I don't like it. ... We know what we're capable of doing, and that's part of the problem."


"Individually, you have to make that decision on what's important," Bryant said. "The game has to be the most important thing. ... This is serious stuff. You don't just have two rings and say, 'That's enough. We're satisfied with what we've got.' I'm not going to let that slide."


Lamar Odom has said, “Part of our problem is we’re cocky and we feel like we shouldn’t lose, we can’t lose.”


As predicted, the next game against the Spurs Kobe Bryant tried to take matters into his own hands and reverted back to the Kobe of old, the Kobe who didn't trust his teammates and would rather count on his god given, yet diminishing talent to push his team to a win.  He did so by taking 27 shots and only converting 8 and during the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd quarter, Kobe missed 13 straight shots also for the entire game Kobe only had 2 free throw attempts and 1 assist.  His perimeter game just wasn't there nor was the team concept.  After the game Pau Gasol was at a loss for words while trying to identify what went wrong.

"I don't think we played the smartest game, put it that way," Gasol said. "I don't think we attacked smart out there. We've got to recognize what's going on and understand where our strengths are against certain opponents and try to exploit them.

"Whatever needs to be fixed, we've got to do it all together. It can't be an individual effort from nobody. It's got to be all together on a string, like a family."

Translation needed:  Kobe, stop shooting and pass the damn ball so we can run the offense that's won us the last two NBA titles!

If the playoffs were to start today the Lakers would end up playing the Thunder again in the first round.  How ironic?  Even though the Lakers didn't have to play the Thunder on opening night, they have yet to face off thus far this season.  Is it the Thunder's destiny to end the Lakers championship run?  Anything is possible but I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Lakers will NOT win this season's NBA championship!  In the current state that they're in, their fate will be the same as the 2006 championship Heat team, a questionable season of finger pointing and a possible first round exit.  

Read More