Kobe to stay with Lakers
 

Kobe will be staying with the LA Lakers.

http://www.latimes.com/

I am not shocked by this.... Go Miami Heat!!! :)

This is up there with "LeBron James declares for draft" as a 'news' story that conveys absolutely no information whatsoever.

Kenyon Martin traded to Denver for 3 #1 picks.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns

blasphemy

Which means Q. will see his offer matched by the Clippers

holy shit, k-mart to the nugs?

Nene and K-Mart both going to start??

Possibly. Coming off the bench would greatly increase Camby's chances to play more than 50 games a year.

EDIT: imcrease is not a word

I know. But would Nene (or can he) play center? Martin is only.. 6-9.

Nene would play center. For all the pundits bemoaning the lack of centers in the east in the wake of the Shaq deal, who exactly are the centers in the West who are so scary right now?

And Nene is much stronger and more physical than Camby anyway (so is Martin, probably). That is actually more important than height in defending postup centers. Nene would often defend the oppsositions post up centers/forwards anyway.

Name the last 7 footer that averaged over 20 points in the East.

probably Shaq.

Mourning.

Name the last center other than Shaq who did so in the west?

Point being, in the last few years, when they were talking about great centers in the West, they meant Shaq.

How long ago was that? I can think of one other guy in recent memory outside of Patrick Ewing. You can throw up 6-9 centers all you want at Shaq, but it's just bodies at 7 foot that slow him down.

Alonzo Mourning

Don't misunderstand. I am not talking about ability to guard Shaq. Nobody in either league can do that. I was talking about Nene's ability to play center in the Western conference. It does not look so scary without Shaq. When analysts talk about the great centers in the west, who OTHER THAN SHAQ have they been talking about? Nene will do fine.

Four years.

Not everyteam in the West has a true center, but the size is so much greater at the true post spots in the West.

other than Shaq it doesn't matter. Nobody really plays a post game anyway. Maybe Duncan but that's it.

Again.

Name the last center other than Shaq to average 20 in the west (hint, it was longer ago than in the east).

Name the centers that are going to strike fear in the hearts of the Nuggets at the thought of Nene guarding them?

But he's not a center.

No but he's a guy that will take a power forward or center into the blocks and consistently score.

I guess if you are going by strict definition of center it's David Robinson.

Of course. The west is loaded with power forwards, some of whom are good post players (and Nene had to guard them last year). My point was that for years people who discuss the NBA in the media have been saying how much better CENTERS were in the west than the east. My question is, who were they talking about?

Take a look at the division he's in. That's 4 games vs the likes of what, Atlanta, Orlando, Charlotte, the Bobcats?

nobody really. it's just they had better overall guys that you could consider interior players even if not strictly a center. center is kind of a dying postion. more and more teams go with a spread out, motion game.

It's weird because Shaq is such a freak and dominating it distorts other's view of other centers.

I'm pretty sure Mourning was only 6'10". But the original point remains... for all the talk of the East having no centers the league as a whole doesn't really have any. How does the rank go now for true centers?

Shaq
Yao
Brad Miller?
Eric Dampier?
??

Vlade Divac

Vlade is supposedly going to come back to the Lakers. I'd much rather ship butler for Chandler than get Vlade back...

That depends on how much the Lakers spend on him. If it's more than $2 million a season, then, yeah, he's a Laker... but I think the Kings will match anything under that.

I really wished Sacramento had sent Peja and Webber to LA for Shaq... that would have been a better deal than what Miami sent them, and would have gotten rid of our two biggest choke artists. Miller and Songalia could easily fill in for Webber, and ... ahh, what do I care... it's not happening.

I think the Sports Guy got this one right... Angry Shaq is probably going to win a good team a conference championship... maybe a title...

Lakers didn't want Peja or Webber. We've choked twice in the last two years in the plyaoffs and those two wouldn't have helped. Now if it were a Jackson, Miller, and Bibby deal, I'd do it in a second...

Bah. That's all the real talent we have on this team. I'd throw in one of those guys along with Peja and Webber... but never all three... or even two... in fact, I'd probably make Miller off limits entirely... at least until we know if Songalia is the real deal.

That's why they never really considered the Kings as a partner

That, and the Lakers would never want Shaq playing for a division rival...

Well, they thought about the Mavs and the Mavs are still in the West, just not the same division.

My fantasy trade wouldhave been Shaq for jerry West stright up.

Sacramento could have offered all 11 of their players for Shaq and the Lakers still would have turned them down.

You are not going to get Chandler for just Butler. That deal simply does not make sense for the Bulls, Tyson's value is as low as its ever going to be right now and the Bulls will definetly give him and EC another shot at earning the big money after next year when they are both RFAs.

Brad Miller and baby Bibby? I think the Lakers would have considered it. Imagine how ruined Sac-town would have been with Shaq and Webber's contract on the books?

Didn't you claim that they'd be dominating the league for years to come? Makes my 72-10 prediction look minor.... :D

Lakers would not have traded with Sacramento because they're division rivals, not because of lack of a talent available to be put into an offer.

Absolutely shocking that Kobe agrees to resign with the Lakers after the Shaq deal was finalized.

I must say he played the Clippers very well. They gave up Ely for nothing in hopes of landing him.

It's about par for the course in this team's history. I wouldn't sweat too much over losing Ely and House for just second rounder, though. Neither had established the ability to be a starter on a good team (or even a mediocre one), and although they had their uses as backups, the second rounders the Clips got weill be very high ones--it's the Bobcats, you know.

I'm disappointed for the Clips not that we lost Kobe (whom I would have enjoyed being on the team but who I am iffy on with regards to his attitude toward his teammates and his egotistical approach to things), but that Kobe coming aboard would have forced that deadbeat owner Donald Sterling to finally do something.

For instance, the move to the Pond, even for just part of the season, would have done wonders for this franchise, as the Clips have always been well-supported when they came out here. But Sterling is locked into the "being in LA" thing. I admit the Staples Center deal is pretty sweet, but a move to the Pond would have allowed the Clips to build somewhat of their own fanbase. That in the end gets them more loyalty and fan revenue in the long run, rather than playing little bro to the Lakers, with no real fans except for few-and-far-between sad sacks like me.

CR

And a sad sack you are. Almost a Sackattack


*crickets*

July 20 Los Angeles Lakers sign Vlade Divac

I was right !

Heh, it wasn't out of the blue