Kobe…The Passer?

How long will the passing last?

Things are just so crazy right now in my life that I barely have time for anything. I feel like I’m getting so busy that I need to have Siri remind me to eat at least once a day. Living in Los Angeles is so fast-paced but laid back at the same time. Weird I know, but trust me, if you lived here you'd get it. It’s really unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. 

Being an aspiring screenwriter means I’m always busy doing five things. 1) Writing a screenplay, 2) reading a screenplay, 3) making calls to sell a screenplay,  4) researching a screenplay or  5) talking to someone about a screenplay, theirs or mine. That’s pretty much become my life. I can’t remember the last time I watched SportsCenter or PTI or Around the Horn in the pass few weeks. I’ve been almost completely out of the sports loop, save for one thing. I’ve found a way to carve out time for my beloved Los Angeles Lakers. So I wanted to take a moment to give you a few of my thoughts on their “mini” resurgence.

Pau Gasol, The 20 Million Dollar 6-Man

Earl Clark is giving LA a spark.

Weeks back, I wrote a piece on them and gave my thoughts on their struggles at the time. It got REALLY REALLY bad between then and now but I held off on killing them, writing about them because the team was basically the walking wounded. A lot of what I wrote back in December is still true. Mike D’Antoni still isn’t the right fit at head coach. He keeps trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. His style of play will not work with this team but damn if he isn’t trying to force it to. That’s why one of the leagues best low-post players, Pau Gasol, is on the bench and the "Immortal" Earl Clark, is in the starting line up. Clark fits what D’Antoni wants to do, so he’d rather play him than find a way to play a guy that’s a better player with a much higher basketball IQ. Anyway back to other things that's wrong with them, Dwight Howard still doesn’t look healthy, (A HUGE FACTOR RIGHT NOW. The guy just doesn’t look right. He did return to playing earlier than he was suppose to and maybe that wasn’t the best move after all. That being said, I’d STILL take him over Andrew Bynum any day.) and their defense is “shaky” at best. With a record of 20-25, the Lakers still have a hole to climb out of just to make the playoffs, but they can finally see the light. 

Nash's MVP/All-Star days are long gone.

It’s not because of Steve Nash’s presence, (Wow, I’d really like to have Chris Paul over him right now. I’m sorry, but Nash is looking really old this season. Oh wait, maybe it's because he’s been in the league 17 years, he’s about to turn 39 in a week and he’s no longer in Phoenix with the NBA’s best medical staff. A place where I’m totally convinced they have a freaking witch doctor on staff. There’s no way a team like the Lakers shouldn't have a better medical staff than them. More money = better doctors. And he has TWO YEARS LEFT ON HIS CONTRACT. I NEED A DRINK!) or Earl Clark’s “meteoric” rise. (AGAIN, SOMEONE THAT SHOULDN'T BE GETTING MORE PLAYING TIME THAN PAU GASOL.) The Lakers recent and future success is all about Kobe Bean Bryant and him NOT scoring 30 plus points a game.

Looking back at the last nine games, the Lakers are only 5-4 but going inside the numbers you can see the effect that the change in Kobe’s playing style is having on the team. Kobe has become more of a presence on the defensive end of the court which has led to the team only allowing over 100 points twice in the last nine games. A big deal considering they’re allowing 101.1 ppg, good for 26^th in the NBA. In the five games before these last nine, they allowed at least 103 points. And yes, they lost all five of those games, which was part of a six game losing streak. (And they ONLY allowed 99 in that sixth lost.)  If it weren't for a late surge by New Orleans last night, the Lakers would have held them under 100 points as well.

With Kobe using so much energy on the defensive end, it’s forced him to become a passer. Nash is still the best facilitator on the team but in the end, Kobe can do anything on the court he puts his mind to. Even pass. Kobe has only averaged over 6 assist in a game during a season once in his career and that was only because he DIDN'T WANT to average more. He’s a scorer and he’s done that better than almost anyone in the history of the game. But what Kobe is above all things even above being a scorer, and a winner, is he’s a HYPER COMPETITIVE PSYCHO and I say that with love and respect for him as a basketball fan and a Kobe fan. It took him a while to figure it out but even he realizes going all “Kobe” was going to fix this team’s problem. (Webster’s Defines going “Kobe” as  going into a state of mind in which you feel like your team/partner can’t possibly help you "win" anymore. You feel the need to do whatever JOINT activity you're participating in by yourself, in order to have team success. While going "Kobe", you perform at new personal heights of unseen selfishness for the greater good of your team. However, most times going “Kobe” leads to greater individual success than it does to overall team success. If you’re married, going all “Kobe” in the bedroom could get you divorced.)

Howard is all smiles as long as Kobe shares.

Defense is all about effort because playing defense isn’t fun and the effort given relates to the amount of “fun” you get to have, i.e. shooting the ball. It’s not fun playing basketball with someone who shoots thirty times a game. In fact, it sucks. When Kobe is hogging the ball and the shots, the other players feel left out and like they’re not involved in the game. And where's the first place it shows when a player doesn’t feel involved?  Their effort on the defensive end. When Kobe is looking to pass first, it makes his teammates more willing to go “balls to the wall” on the other end of the court because they know going back down the court they actually have a chance to score. Ron Artest Metta World Peace always plays great when Kobe shares the ball. Howard looks like he's having fun again and the team "vibe" is a million times better. Kobe’s always been a very gifted passer because he’s a very gifted basketball player. He' the hardest worker in the league while also being the league's smartest player. No way THAT guy, hardest working/smartest guy, couldn't pass the ball, and pass it beautifully and effectively no less, if he didn’t want to.

Kobe looks to do whatever it takes to push LA into the postseason.

 Earlier in the season, Kobe was too busy chasing points when he should’ve been chasing wins. I don’t know how many points Kareem scored and I don’t care. I do know how many rings Kareem has and how many rings Jordan has. Kobe knows that he can score a million points this season but if THIS team doesn't make the playoffs it's going to be a huge stain on his legacy. Too much talent for this team to flame out and the captain will ALWAYS, fairly or unfairly as it may be, get the blame. It’s all about winning and for the Lakers to win, Kobe has to keep doing what he’s doing. Keep passing the ball, keep making his teammates happy and keep playing killer defense. I still think the Lakers have more than a few problems, mainly a coaching one, but I always go back to this. There's too much top-end talent on this team for them to miss the playoffs. And if THIS team figures it out, no one wants to play them.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe and share the blog. Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below. Follow me on twitter @ParisLay. Until next time... Enjoy the View!

I STILL Love LA

     Los Angeles, California is a great place to live. I love this city! There are so many things to love about it. The weather is great! Seriously it’s like 80 degrees everyday and the sun is always shining. The women are beautiful. Like flat out, knock down, “make you wanna slap yo momma” good looking! And although I don’t smoke, I’ve been told the weed here is amazing. The great weather and beautiful women alone was enough to hook me, but you know the one thing I love the most about LA? EVERYONE LOVES THE LAKERS HERE! It’s so weird living in a place where I’m not the only Laker fan. It’s like being in a sports Twilight Zone. I’ve lived in Flint, MI, Shreveport, LA, Fayetteville, NC, Orlando, FL, Forest, MS, Chicago, IL and a few other places I can’t remember right now, but all of those places had/have one thing in common. EVERYONE THERE HATED THE LAKERS.

     Finding a Laker fan in those places was like trying to find a black person in Beverly Hills.(Still haven’t seen one but apparently Kanye West lives there. Or so he says in “To The World”) But in LA seeing a Laker fan is like seeing a roach in the projects. They’re EVERYWHERE. The bus driver, the guy at Starbucks, the weirdos, the cable guy, the neighbors, the kids, EVERYBODY! It’s so nice to always have someone to talk POSITIVE Laker basketball with. It’s something I’ve never experienced before. The common bond between the city, its inhabitants and its team. I’ve never been around so many Lakers fans in all my life. It’s great but it’s strange at the same time. I always felt “special” being a Laker fan alone in my quest to cheer on my team in the bar or at work. It was nice when they were winning and I could soak it all in by myself but when they lose I got all the clowning and trash talking by myself. (Strange but even that was “special” to me.) Everywhere I lived it was always me and my team against the world and I loved it. And those rare times I’d spot someone in Lakers gear and I’d run to them and they’d think I was about to talk smack but then I complement them. Then we’d talk about the team, how they were doing, where we thought they were going and how Kobe was doing. (I have learned something about the Laker Hate over the years. I don’t think it’s about the Lakers per say. Shaq was loveable and likeable. And Magic was all time loveable and likeable. I think the Laker Hate is all about Kobe Bryant. “In the 80’s everyone loved the Lakers” my dad tells me. “Since Kobe’s Colorado “run in” and since he was perceived to have run Shaq outta town people just ain’t been on they’re side anymore.”)

Why can't THIS group of players win together?!

While it’s nice to be around so many fans it does come with a cost. That gloomy feeling I get when the Lakers aren’t doing so good, well lets just say it’s been magnified by about 17 million. The whole city is in the same mood I’m usually in by myself. People keep saying that the Lakers suck. I’m sorry but the Lakers DON’T SUCK. They’re playing like shit. That’s different than sucking. When you have a team with 35 combined All-Star appearances, 48 All-NBA Team/ALL-NBA Defense, 4 combined Defensive Player of the Year awards and 3 MVPs, I’m sorry THAT TEAM DOESN’T SUCK. For all of the noise LA made for firing Brown(Although it was unfair because he never got a real shot at coaching the team, I’m still 100% sure it was the right choice. Mike Brown just ain’t winning you a title. Plus the first guy after Phil was ALWAYS DOOMED.) after a 1-4 start for “poor offensive execution”, that was not LA’s biggest problem. They’re biggest problem (And it has been their problem for a while now going back to the 2010-11 season) has been their defense. It seems so clear to everyone now, but I’ve been saying it all year and all last year. 

     They’re a HORRIBLE defensive team. They’re only 15th in points allowed but it’s a kind of “false” stat. As of December 9, 2012 the Lakers are 9-12. Of the 12 losses, they allowed 100+ in 8 of them (95 and 99 in two others) and in 9 of those losses, the opponent scored well over their season average. Ouch! 113 to both the Kings and Magic is completely inexcusable. Super ouch! Even under Mike Brown, someone known for his defense (and his amazing talent of being the only person to ever stop LeBron James) the Lakers sucked on the defensive end. Mike D’Antoni ain’t changing that folks. The Phoenix Suns never finished higher than 25th under him and the Lakers seem to be getting worse. Now its not all him. The Lakers are old. Like really, really old. While Kobe is playing lights out on the offensive end, (He’s leading the NBA in scoring and IF he wanted to, he could have led the NBA in it last year. I’m really starting to think Kobe Bryant is a machine sent back in time to play basketball and destroy the world. No way he keeps it up but he’s a freaking warrior. ) he’s slipped defensively. He was ALL-NBA defense last year but it was 2nd team, first time he’s been 2nd team in six years, and it was mostly given to him out of respect. He’s not even close to being the lock down perimeter defender he use to be and he’s not getting any younger. Nash was/is/will always be a complete liability on that side of the court and the idiot formally known, as Ron Artest, has been a shell of himself for years now. Quick side note, last year I was in Orlando and saw the Magic versus the Bulls live in person. I took two things from that game: Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard were like super humans on the court with mortals and neither one could be stopped. Howard flew all over the court. He was blocking shots, getting rebounds, causing all around havoc and just being a force of nature in the middle. He seemed to be a one-man defensive team. He’s not that guy right now. I say right now because he is coming off back surgery and I guess that takes time. (I mean come on, the first reports had him coming back around Christmas and he hasn’t missed a single game so kudos for that. You trade Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard everyday of the week.)

     Long story short, LA’s problems were not getting fixed when they fired Mike Brown and they damn sure ain’t getting fixed with Mike D’Antoni. Bill Simmons said it best in his column on December 7, 2012 it’s no coincidence that the only coach that ever worked with Kobe just so happens to be THE GREATEST COACH OF ALL TIME. I’m not saying it works 100% with Phil but I like his chances better than D’Antoni. You needed a coach that A) had championship experience and B) cared about defense or at least understood its importance as it relates to winning a title. Two things, D’Antoni has NO TRACK RECORD OFF AT ALL. Phil wasn’t a defensive guru but he never got enough credit for his efforts on that side of the court. Jeff Van Gundy was quoted as saying that he never worried about those Chicago Bull teams of the 90’s scoring. More of how was he going to score on them. Coaches get fired it’s what happens. I can only remember a few of them walking way on THEIR terms. So like Brown before him, D’Antoni will be fired and the Lakers will be second-guessed and criticized. When the basketball version of Vince Lombardi wants to coach your team you let him tell you no, not the other way around. I’m not a GM but I’m sure I can only think of one team in the NBA that FLATOUT turns down Phil Jackson. (The San Antonio Spurs seem to be happy with the guy they got.)

You have a team ready to win, which coach do you hire?

The Lakers said all they had to say about winning the championship this year when they hired Mike D’Antoni. The Clippers are the Clippers so the Lakers stranglehold on LA is safe.(An all-time winning percentage of .363, 8 playoff berths in 40 years and one was with a LOSING RECORD, 30 years between playoff victories, zero titles and Donald Sterling as an owner insures that. Really I mean come on son! A couple of nice seasons ain’t fooling anyone. The Clipper logo makes me think losers the same way white and red on a soda can makes me think Coca-Cola. It’s branded loserness. (And yes, that is not a word!)) In the end, I still like LA’s chances to get it together. I say wait till Nash is healthy to judge them on offense. (This is also when you can find out whether or not to trade Pau. He's a great pick and roll player and you would have to assume Nash help him look a lot better than he has.) Wait till Dwight is healthy to judge them on defense. (I still think he’s going to cover up most of their holes when he’s 100% because he covered up a lot more on those Orlando teams. He’s basically going from being the nice butt on an ugly chick, (what he was to Orlando) to being the make-up on a cute chick with light acne scars (What he can be for LA)) This team doesn’t suck. They got too much talent to suck. What’s the other thing that’s good about being in LA and being around all these Laker fans? I’m not alone in my suffering. You know what they say, misery loves company and like sunshine and beautiful women, I got plenty of that in Southern California these days.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to subscribe and share the blog. Join in the discussion by leaving a comment below. Follow me on twitter @ParisLay. Until next time... Enjoy the View!