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      Kobe doesn’t think the Lakers are hungry enough

      January 22, 2010 /

      “[The Cavaliers] were the hungrier team and I think that they sense that they want to win a championship, they want to go after it, so they’re playing with a sense of urgency that we played with last year. We have to make some adjustments, we have to make some improvements. Our mentality has to change a little bit playing against these teams. These teams are physical, tough-minded and hard-nosed type of teams and we need to make some decisions.”

      — Kobe Bryant, via ESPN Los Angeles

      Dave McMenamin titled this post, “Bryant Lashes Out At His Teammates,” but I have no problem with anything that Kobe said. It’s 100% true. The Cavs are hungrier and there is no getting around it. It will be very difficult for the Lakers to match that hunger since they just won the title last year. So to beat the Cavs, they have to play tougher and execute better. Pau Gasol looked like a big white bedsheet on a clothesline, flapping around in the wind. And Lamar Odom is not known for his toughness either. Both players have to finish their shots inside and rebound well to offset the Cavs’ hunger (or any other opponent for that matter).

      That said, let’s not forget that Kobe missed 19 shots last night and went just 1-5 in the fourth quarter. If he shoots 45-50%, the Lakers probably win that game.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Chris Kaman doesn’t think Pau Gasol should make the All-Star Game

      January 22, 2010 /

      “I don’t think Gasol should be in it at all. He’s only played like 20 games (he played Thursday in his 25th out of 42 Lakers games) this year. I think there should be a number of games you should play. I think you should have to play like 80 percent of the games. It shouldn’t be 50 percent over a guy who plays 90 percent and who has better numbers. Not just me. Zach Randolph, a power forward, he has better numbers (than Gasol). But he’s not on the Lakers.”

      — Chris Kaman, via FanHouse

      Players don’t usually comment about whether or not another player deserves to play in the All-Star Game, so there might be some blowback on Kaman.

      He is averaging 20-9-2 with 1.4 blocks per game and 50% shooting from the field. But it’s hardly Gasol’s fault that he got injured, and he’s played well when healthy (17-11 with 54% shooting). He has played in almost 60% of his team’s games, and if he plays in the 10 games before the All-Star break, then he would have appeared in 67% of his team’s games. Is that enough? Seems to me that 60% or two-thirds would be enough. We are talking about the team with the best record in basketball.

      Kaman goes on to say that he realizes it’s the Lakers, but if the Clippers had Kobe Bryant they’d have a better record. But it works both ways. If the Clippers had Kobe, Kaman wouldn’t be averaging 20-9. He can’t have it both ways.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Should the Cardinals trade Anquan Boldin?

      January 22, 2010 /

      If beat writer Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic is right when he says that the Cardinals will try to shop receiver Anquan Boldin this offseason, then the team would be making a wise decision.

      Boldin is a quality playmaker with excellent size, good speed and solid hands. But talent isn’t something the Cardinals are desperate for at the wideout position. They have plenty of youth and depth at receiver with Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Breaston and Early Doucet, which makes Boldin expendable.

      Boldin will be 30 in early October and is set to make $3 million in his final year. Mind you, that’s not a ton of money to pay a receiver of his caliber, but if he reaches free agency after the 2010 season then Arizona will get nothing for him in return. If they trade him now, they might be able to get a third round pick and another player, which was what teams were offering last offseason.

      A trade makes even more sense if Kurt Warner retires this offseason. When Matt Leinart takes over under center, the Cardinals will switch from an offense that attacks opponents through the air to one that tries to beat teams on the ground. The focus will come off the quarterback and receivers and onto young running back Beanie Wells.

      Continue reading »

      Barstool Debates, NFL

      Phil Jackson gives Kobe the gift of reading

      January 22, 2010 /

      Per the Los Angeles Times, every season, Phil Jackson gives his teams books to read during extended road trips…

      Kobe Bryant, who rolls his eyes whenever Jackson gives him a book, probably won’t be perusing what Jackson handed him: “Montana 1948,” a Larry Watson novel about a middle-class Montana family torn apart by a scandal in the late 1940s.

      “He never reads my books so I got him a book about Montana,” Jackson said Thursday. “I’m not looking forward to having a review from him. It was about a part of the country I grew up in, so it was something special for me to give it to him.”

      I don’t know why, but this story really cracks me up. As much as I dislike the Lakers as a franchise, I do like Jackson’s style. I find it hilarious that he would give Kobe a book that he knows he won’t read, and that somehow the exchange is “special” for him.

      Humor, NBA

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