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Laker Fan wins the championship, and is still obsessing over the Spurs.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
I agree.
Laker Fan wins the championship, and is still obsessing over the Spurs.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Good lord, you're pathetic.
Here is a fun fact, the last time the Spurs have even had to face a championship level DEFENSE and prevailed was back in 2005 against the Pistons. In 2006, epic failure to a defenseless Mavs team, 2007 they beat enver, run n fun suns, jazz, and cavs. Not a single stalwart on defense on that list. In 2008, they lose to an average at best defensive team in the WCF 4-1 against the Lakers. 2009 was the worst losing to a putrid defensive squad in the Mavs in the first round. The Spurs haven't played championship caliber defense since freaking 2005 and that is a fact.
Kwamay, pickin' 'em up||||layin' 'em down. Thanks, Kwam.
4-1 gots!
Quiet, I hear Laker fans talking about Bynum's health in the summer of 2008 ....
2007 Cavs didn't play good defense?
You forgot to mention the Spurs lost to the Mavs 1-4 in the last year's playoffs.
Not I. I don't do injuries. It's my religion.
We got our ass kicked pillar to postPERIOD
Anyway back on topic...Any more news?
I read somewhere over on ESPN this morning it's supposed to be resolved yet this week.
http://twitter.com/RicBucherRic Bucher - "Relief! LO will make his decision in next 48 hours, source says. Wants to stay in LA, Lakers making it hard."
Latest chatter: Odom, Boozer and more
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By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Archive
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty ImagesAfter weeks of talks and rumors, will Lamar Odom or Carlos Boozer be playing elsewhere in 2009-10?
Our latest serving of summertime chatter culled from conversations with a variety of knowledgeable sources -- team officials, coaches, players and agents -- plugged into the NBA grapevine:
Odom
I continue to hear in the strongest possible terms, from sources with knowledge of the talks, that the Lamar Odom saga will not drag beyond this week. Yet you can't ignore the fact that the saga has lasted longer than anyone imagined, so we'll have to see if we are indeed finally inching to the finish line.
Odom's choices, as of lunchtime Thursday, were the same choices he's been mulling all week. Informed sources say the Lakers' latest offer is in the area of $25 million over three years, down from the $27 million over three years that was taken off the table earlier this month by Lakers owner Jerry Buss.
If Odom can't get the Lakers to move that number any farther north, which clearly is what he's been trying to do while delaying his decision in the face of Miami's monthlong hard sell, he will have to either accept L.A.'s new best offer to stay with the Lakers as he prefers or choose between two deals from the Heat.
As ESPN.com reported Monday, should the 29-year-old decide to reunite with Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley after haggling with the Lakers for so long, Odom likely will be deciding between a five-year, $34 million deal that includes a provision to return to free agency after the fourth season or a four-year deal with an opt-out clause after three years.
Numerous sidebar angles in this saga -- some of which, like how all this might affect L.A.'s efforts to convince Kobe Bryant to sign a contract extension this summer, we've addressed in recent columns and news stories -- are covered in Part 1 of the latest books-on-tape-length installment of the B.S. Report
Boozer
The hottest Carlos Boozer tale to blip onto the radar this week: Sources say Memphis had the option of trading for Boozer instead of Zach Randolph earlier this month.
Yet the Grizz decided, apparently with considerable input from coach Lionel Hollins, that Boozer would have been less than thrilled to play out the final season of his contract in Graceland, thus convincing them that Randolph -- starting over for the third time -- would be more productive.
As difficult as it remains for many league observers to digest the idea that Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley felt he could no longer afford Pau Gasol but now is willing to give the combustible Randolph some $33 million over the next two seasons, there's little doubt that Randolph will feature hugely for the Grizz next season.
Given how far away Hasheem Thabeet looked in summer league, Memphis needs a big man who can shoulder a big load. Perhaps Thabeet will be presented as a starter for the Grizz, since he's the No. 2 overall pick, but they will have to put him third on the crunch-time depth chart behind Randolph and Marc Gasol. At best.
Tinsley
Next up for Jamaal Tinsley, after his Wednesday meeting with the Knicks and former boss Donnie Walsh, is a weekend sitdown with Riley in either Miami or Los Angeles.
"I gave my word to Pat Riley that he could meet with Jamaal before we made any commitment," Tinsley's agent, Raymond Brothers, told ESPN.com.
Brothers said Memphis is the third team currently in the Tinsley hunt after his buyout from Indiana last week. It's believed that if Tinsley ends up in Miami, the Heat will use their $1.9 million biannual exception to sign him.
Tinsley officially became an unrestricted free agent on Thursday at 10 a.m. when he cleared waivers.
Nowitzki
If you're thinking Dirk Nowitzki will have a problem with Dallas' recent signing of Tim Thomas because of the infamous kiss Thomas blew at Nowitzki during an on-court confrontation in the 2006 Western Conference finals, think again.
Nowitzki said he was disappointed to read from Germany that the Bulls pulled out of the original construction of the deal that landed Shawn Marion in Dallas and would have sent Thomas from the Bulls to the Mavericks. Nowitzki then was pleased to learn the Mavs were able to get Thomas anyway this week as a tall shooter off the bench for the veteran minimum of $1.3 million.
"That stuff is long gone," Nowitzki said this week. "We were in the bottom [six] in 3-point shooting and we needed to address that. I'm happy he's a Maverick."
The clash with Thomas isn't exactly a haunting memory. Nowitzki wound up scoring 50 points in that game, outscoring the Suns by himself in the fourth quarter (22-20) to put Dallas within one win of its eventual trip to the NBA Finals.
During our recent visit with him at the Vegas Summer League, Heisley confirmed that he remains open to selling the team but insisted the franchise won't be moved even if a prospective buyer does materialize.
"We've got nobody interested in buying the team," Heisley said. "[But] I've been so upfront on this. … Our situation is well do ented. I think Memphis deserves an owner who's there, whether he's from there or whether he moves there. And I said that when I first came to Memphis [from Chicago]. So there's nothing changed about my position.
"I don't foresee anybody buying the team in the near future. As I've said over a year ago, I've focused myself on rebuilding this team, and I think we've done a good job. Contrary to some opinions, I think we've done a very good job.
"If I'm going to change [that position], I'll come out and say: 'Hey, this team's not for sale.' … Our position is, if the right situation comes up, we'll sell it."
One more Grizzlies item: Memphis' deal with second-round pick Sam Young is a three-year contract worth $2,658,000. The third season, at $947,800, is a team option. Taken No. 36 overall in June's draft, Young averaged 13.6 points (a team high) and 4.2 rebounds on 51.9 percent shooting in summer league play, helping the Grizz go 5-0.
The Lakers did issue a news release earlier this week to announce a done deal, moving their Oct. 9 exhibition game against Golden State to their formerly fabulous Forum home and making me want to find a way to be J.A. Adande for a night so I could try to sneak into my old seat on the baseline. That's where I was stationed for two seasons in the mid-1990s as a Lakers beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News, grateful to occupy one of the great media-row spots in sportswriting history … and not just because of the proximity to the four (or so) Laker Girls rotating from corner to corner after every quarter.
The game will be part of the team's efforts to commemorate the Lakers' 50th anniversary in L.A. They played at the Forum from 1967 to 1999, winning six championships (1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988) during that span.
What wasn't announced, though, is that the Lakers seriously flirted with moving that exhibition to an outdoor venue.
In addition to the NBA's previously scheduled trip to the Palm Springs area to play on a hardwood floor laid down on center court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the second straight year -- Phoenix is playing host to the Warriors on Oct. 10 this time -- word is that the Lakers looked hard at scheduling this exhibition in front of what could have been a massive crowd at the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Lakers began to pursue the outdoor idea when they scrapped their plans to hold training camp in Hawaii, which forced them to move both their preseason dates (now Oct. 7 and Oct. 9) with Golden State. But because neither of those games was a weekend game, thus preventing L.A. from moving to an earlier hour to guard against a steep temperature drop like the Suns and Nuggets endured in the desert last October, league approval could not be secured.
The sense I get, though, is that the Lakers and other teams will continue to explore their outdoor options. Out-of-the-box ideas are encouraged these days, as evidenced by the NBA's decision to stage the 2010 All-Star Game at the glittering new Cowboys Stadium.
The game between Phoenix and Denver, in spite of the wind and cold, was the NBA's first sanctioned outdoor game since a Suns trip to Puerto Rico in 1972 and was widely considered a success.
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
You mean you don't act exactly like all the stereotypical Laker fans?
Wow, what a revelation!
Perhaps it's true that not all Spurs fans act alike as well.
rehab ginobli and bynum. we need 2 teams at full strength
Uh yeh hold that thought, homeboy. Matter o'fact, shove that thought back into ya asshole. The champs are here.If Odom leaves, it would be so apropo. Karma's a !
Gasol to the Lakers for Nothing! Odom to the Heat for Nothing! Priceless.
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