Do you predict a breakout year for Smush Parker or Kwame Brown(finally) or perhaps even Andrew Bynum? And I'm not saying Any of these players can be a as good as Kobe next year so don't blast me for that.
214529
Break-Out year for Kwame next year whilst Mihm gets traded. Kwame Brown has improved over the second half of the season or when Mihm got injured, either way he improved. The Lakers already look better without Mihm and should trade him. Kwame's numbers next year: 10-15 pts, 10-12 boards.
171428
I don't think they per se blew that pick with Darko, he just needed some time to develop.  I think the problem more lies with Larry Brown, as he's notorious for having zero patience with developing young talent (look at this year's Knicks, for chrissake!).  The Pistons are also a really deep team, so there's not much of a chance for anyone (except maybe for a player like LeBron) to show what they can do.  I honestly think Carmello Anthony or Dwayne Wade would also have been buried at the bottom of the lineup and wouldn't become breakout players until they went from Detroit to another team.
638198
Hey, Ive got some OCEANFRONT property in Arizona if you believe that they buried the hatchet... Come on now, SHAQ disses Kobe every chance he gets, it is subtle, but there. The only REUNION will be KOBE standing in SHAQS house watching the BIG MAN get his ring for the first game of the season.... and seeing SHAQ smile and flash the ring at KOBE. Lakers SUCK for doing Shaq like they did, hell Phil came back for  10 MILLION, NOT KOBE, hell, he talked shit about him in his book!!!
299941
Jackson is a very good coah and kobe is a good player and I am sure they will get some more good players for next year.\n\nI think the supporting players of the lakers where under hyped this year.\n\nYou have to remember that they took phoenix to seven games
600815
Hmm.. next year they're looking at getting Hardigan, possibly Platt, Tollefsen, Picard, and Fritsche from Syracuse (I'm from Syracuse and only missed 3 home game this season... I can tell you these guys can play!), their chances keep getting better and better.  I think as the organization matures, CBJ will be getting more and more talented players, and their chances will keep getting better and better... let's hope for a playoff run next season!
323317
Kobe shouldn't have made it. I think that Prince deserved to be on there for sure. But Billups is a stretch.
424158
I'm a Kobe fan, but I didn't expect him to light the scoreboard up like he did last year. First, he's coming off knee surgery and just getting back into the swing of things. Second, he's making a conscious effort to get his teammates more involved. Honestly, I'm surprised he's already 14th in scoring. Trust me, the numbers will slowly go up. We're not even 20 games into the season. There's alot of games to be played. Be patient.
90748
I think this means that there are signs of the playoffs for the Lakers. I always knew they could do it- it just takes team effort. If Lamar Odom posts numbers like those every night, the Lakers are going to be contenders, no matter what. Look at the stats- we shot .506 from the field, and we held Detroit to shooting .432 from the field. So what if Smush didn't score double-digits. So what if the Lakers had more turnovers, fouls? Kwame Brown did a great job on Rasheed in the second-half, and Kobe did a great job fending off Tayshaun and limiting Chauncey to only 4 second-half points. We had our rebounder- 12 from Kwame. Our assister- 10 from Odom, and our 2 scorers- 40 from none other than Kobe, and 24 from Odom. We outplayed them and outdid them in the second half. Now this is nothing to celebrate about. It's a big win for the Lake-show, but if they obsess over it, tonight's game vs. the Spurs is going to kill us. We need to play the same way we did against the Pistons in our game against the Spurs. People like Brian Cook and Devean George chipping in, they may not make a big difference, but enough to show some flashes of brilliance. The Lakers need teamwork to win- and once we have that, I'm sure that they can win the Finals. Give it some time- they'll do it. Go Lakers, and keep up the good work.
289305
I definitely think Steve Nash deserved it this year. It was stupid that the LA fans was chanting MVP for Kobe Bryant. He's not the greatest player in the league, because Steve Nash is one of the few guards that truly make everyone around him better (the other guys are probably Kidd and James). But Nash also has the record and determination as well as the lack of height and atheleticism to show for it.
428845
Miami's failing to show up to play in the season opener (though the Bulls didn't look nearly as good this evening in a loss to Orlando). Also, the Lakers starting out the season 2-0 without Kobe. Actually, maybe I shouldn't be that surprised. They seem to play more like a TEAM, when Kobe isn't on the floor.\nThe rest of the guys step up there games (in particular Odom), and seem to play with much more confidence, and purpose. I really think the Lakers should consider trading Bryant for two or three "above average" players. They aren't going to come close to winning a championship again with him, unless they can find away to reel in a big name free agent next off-season. But the majority of "stars" around the league, are already locked up with long term deals. It would increase their overall depth, and give the franchise a fresh start. I think the Celtics should consider doing the same thing with Paul Pierce. What good does it do to have a "star", if you don't have the personnel around them to be much better then a .500 team at best. Same goes for the T'Wolves with Garnett, and the Sixers with Iverson.
367915
Neither is outstanding from beyond the arc, but stats give the nod to T-Mac (barely)...He has hit 34.3% of his 3's for his career, and is just under 30% this year...Kobe has hit 33.5% for his career, and is a little under 27% this season
241647
LeBron is going to develop into an even better player than he already is. Anderson Varejao showed some real promise in the postseason. Flip was the biggest steal of this season, We only traded away Mike Wilks for him. Larry Hughes missed 40+ games, he'll be healthy next season. Our big men are still solid, Z, Gooden, and Marshal. Our biggest need this season is a good point guard. I don't care how much experience Eric Snow has, he sucks. Maybe we could trade up in the draft, and get another great shooter like J.J. Providing that they get a good seed next year for the playoffs. They could easily make the Eastern Conference Finals, and possibly the NBA Finals. Go Cavs!
651591
I think Dee Brown will turn out to be the steal of the draft...  he's the guy you want if you want a true point guard...  there's nothing that he can't do, he'll be a gem for the Jazz...
158560
I'm a person who doesn't like Kobe and it is not because of the Colorado incident. That has no bearing for me on what kind of player he is. To me he is not a team player. To me he is a ball hog.
189528
good game??? i am tired of watching the lakers, no... wait kobe play. i dont see a team effort in the lakers team. they have no chance if the keep playing for one player. every guy in that team as soon as he gets the ball checks out where kobe is. when he is on the bench they dont know who to give the ball to. suns in the other hand oh my got.. what a wonderful team. i like the spurs but i would have loved if the suns had amare this year and have gone all the way. tooo  bad maybe next year. this seems like it is going to be detroits year. lakers need kobe to start all the plays not finish all of them. he needs to look at his teammates and pass the ball more. enogh with the record brakings kobe; this is not a one man sport it is a team sport.
529006
Yes the Lakers are going just like they did last year and they will go past the 1st round. Thats an obvious statement.......\n\n\nTo the guy who said the last good Laker team was in Minneapolis...are u @#$%^*! Magic...Kareem, Worthy, SHOWTIME.......or did u forget......
273777
I don't know about draft picks but I've believed that many NBA games are fixed for quite some time now and this year's playoffs are a good example.  The Lakers had no business taking the Suns to 7 just as the Cavs shouldn't have taken the Pistons to 7 (Don't get me wrong, I love the Cavs, but no talent outside of the King).  Who is on those teams?  Arguably the most engaging personality off the court (Kobe) and the most exciting player to watch on the court (LeBron).  those two guys = ratings = higher revenues for the NBA