The Millennium NBA Preview: Lakers

Tweet With NBA previews and predictions up seemingly everywhere, it seems redundant to rehash the same old questions: Who will be the MVP, who will win the title, who will make the playoffs etc. There is a lot more to an NBA season's stories than just numbers, awards, and predictions. So in the coming weeks, as the NBA picture begins to unfold, we will examine some of the more interesting teams and story lines associated with them.In the first part of what will be many features about the 2012/2013 NBA season, we will examine the overhauled Los Angeles Lakers and a potential change in mentality of Kobe Bryant.

When the news that Kobe plans to retire at the end of the 2014 season came out, I was genuinely surprised. Like many, I thought that Kobe would attempt to break the all-time scoring record before he hung it up, but it seems that he wants to try and accomplish what so few in the NBA have done: go out both as the leader of your team and as a winner (Bill Russell is the only one I can think of that did this, Jordan did too until he ruined the perfect end to a career by playing with the Wizards). Think about it, Magic, Bird, Shaq, Isiah, Hakeem, Barkley, Miller, Stockton, Malone, Payton, Ewing, and many others, how did their careers end? Some said "F*ck it, I gave it my all, I am happy with what I've accomplished and wont resort to latching onto a contender to try and win a ring" - Stockton, Reggie, Barkley, Ewing. Some just realized that their run was over and that they would never be the main guy on a title team, so they too called it quits - Bird, Magic, Isiah, Hakeem, Shaq (who actually managed to try and latch on to every contender he could in a sad attempt to tie Kobe). While the rest shamelessly pursued a ring, regardless of their role on the team and in some cases succeeded (Gary Payton) or failed (Malone). If the Lakers manage to capture the title in Kobe's last season, it would be a truly unique accomplishment that very few NBA players can say they achieved. You can make the argument that Kobe wont be the best player on the team, but this is still very much 'his' team as far as anyone is concerned. You don't associate Dwight Howard with the Lakers, you do associate Kobe Bryant with them.

The State of the NBA Playoffs

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With the first round of the NBA playoffs coming to an end and my finals pick obliterated (they still haven't found all the pieces); it seems like a good time to see where we stand so far. To make myself feel better about the horrible predictions I made, I have decided to hand out some fake awards; because nothing cheers me up more than this gimmick. The 'Requiem for a Dream' award is a prestigious honour given to a team that has endured the most painful and hard-to-watch ending to a season in any sport in quite some time. The Gladiator Award is specific to the NBA, and is given to a player who has had the best single-game performance of the first round. Lastly, the '2004 New York Yankees' Award, is again NBA specific, and as you can tell from its name, is awarded to the biggest choke (both team and coach) of the first round. Once I am finished dishing out awards, I will proceed to hopefully put up some better predictions for round two. 

Both of these guys won an award, find out which ones.

The 'Requiem for a Dream' award goes to: Manchester United! (In case you missed the weekend’s final EPL match-day action, Man U lost their all-but-won 13^th Premier League title when Man City came back from 2-1 down to QPR, scoring twice in stoppage time to win the game and the title). Here is the video, feel free to fast-forward to the 4:00 mark for the good stuff.

 

Yes, I am fully aware that the incredible finish to the EPL season has nothing to do with the NBA playoffs, but do yourself a favor and just watch the video linked above. The NBA equivalent to what happened to Manchester United, would be losing an eight-point lead with 15 seconds to play in a game 7. Had Liverpool lost the title the way that United did, I would still be missing. We would not be able to call ourselves a sports blog without, at the very least, mentioning the miracle of Manchester. The last day this year's EPL season will forever hold the honor of this award.

The NBA, Liverpool, and School

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Pictured above: A man who finally decided to stand up to the bullshit Liverpool has faced.

I have to be honest, after a whole day of studying, the notes I am reading are starting to blend and I am beginning to see things. Perfect time to take a break from studying. I could not think of a better way to take a mental break then to post my thoughts about a ridiculous day in the sports world. First of all the NBA, WOW! We all knew that free agency would be crazy, but none of us thought it would be this crazy. Earlier in the week NBA fans were both amazed and horrified at the Lakers proclaiming that they would get both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. Everyone's thought process probably went from "no way" to "wait a second..." to "Fuck! they might actually do it". The Lakers have missed the playoffs less then 6 times in their Franchise history, they always have stars somehow. The Lakers fan's dreams and the nightmares of all other fans looked to be true when Paul was traded to LA with Bunym still available as a trade piece for Howard. However, the NBA (who owns the Hornets) decided to veto the trade hours later. This does not make sense. By all accounts the Hornets got a really good deal (a solid base on which to re-build), the Rockets and Lakers both got stars. If anything the Lakers were actually worse-off from losing both Odom and Gasol. Basically, if the Lakers failed to get Howard after the trade they would have been the same or worse as before acquiring Paul. Of course if the NBA did this just to make sure the Lakers get Howard and somehow keep Gasol or Odom well then. I wont go much more into this as Igor will have an excellent running-diary of what is sure to be a crazy day tomorrow, so check that when you get a chance.

The other reason I wanted to post something has to do with my history as a sports fan. It is well documented how NBA referees screwed the 02 Kings out of a title so I will resist the urge to write 100,000 words about it. What I am trying to say is that its not fun when the refs treat your team unfairly, and sadly this is now happening to Liverpool. Before you think I am just saying this as a Liverpool homer, please just examine the facts presented and try to look at it objectively. Today Kenny Dalglish did something few managers did at Liverpool before; he stood up for the club. Dalglish made a DVD of all of the 'injustices' that are happening to Liverpool that others are not being punished for. The content of the DVD will only be displayed if the FA proceeds to foolishly charge both Liverpool and Suarez for the incident that occurred Monday against Fulham. Why foolish? because as this and this show, the people attacking Liverpool can not hide from the fact that they are being unfair and uneducated in their attacks. In one link it is pointed out how various players have done what Suarez did and did not even receive a slap on the wrist. The other article (written by a brilliant Liverpool blogger) points out how 18 months after his departure, the English press still refuses to stop talking about Rafa Benitez, and also refuses to check their facts before writing idiocy about Liverpool. Believe me, if I had time I would write more about this and even provide examples, but the blog above will do a better job then I will. Also, if you are a fan of Liverpool and somehow have not ran into the above blogs I highly recommend them. It's not about mistakes (referees are only human after all) but it is about consistency and respect, something Liverpool is not getting at this time.

Millennium S&E now has a twitter feed: @MillenniumSandE