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Phil Jackson has agreed to two-year contract extension to remain in Los Angeles through 2010. Who'd of thought?

All the signs were pointing against this one. Kobe wants out. The Lakers blow (sorta), and tensions have been high with just about everyone in the Lakers front office. Buss got a DUI, and no one likes the way Kupchak handles things.

So why does Phil stay?

Rewind about a month. It looked like everything was about the blow up in La-La land. Kobe was on a tirade, and about to be moved any second. Phil was friends with Kobe, then mad at Kobe. And Phil said he'd revisit the extension issue around Thanksgiving time.

Fast forward to now. The Lakers are a modest, yet decent 8-6, good for 2nd place in the Pacific Division. No one expected the Lakers to be here at this point in time--probably especially not Phil. They've knocked off some high-quality opponents, including Phoenix, Houston, and Detroit. Kobe's shut his mouth for the time being, and the bench is playing much better than anyone expected.

In other words, Phil's worked some of his magic to calm everyone down, and now he's even made Kobe realize, it seems, that L.A.'s not so bad.

Plus, it probably helps that he's still dating the boss' girlfriend. I'm sure that had a bit of an impact.

Either way, great news for Lakers fans, and he'll make between $11 and $12 million over the next couple years.

Can we get a solid free agent to come to LA in the offseason to appease Kobe and get back into title contention? Perhaps this is the first step.

Labels: basketball, Jerry Buss, Kevdog, Kobe, Lakers, NBA, Phil Jackson

Today might well be my favorite day of the year. Aside from schoolwork and other obligations, the NBA season starts tonight. That means free trials of NBA League Pass and Stat-tracker, but als a beloved 9 months of knowing that I can turn on the TV virtually every night and see some good solid NBA basketball. I'm looking forward to it.


This season is quite an interesting one with a lot of questions. Many stars are demanding/have demanded trades, some have backed down. The Spurs are quietly still the league's best team. The Celtics may be threatening them, though. Young teams like the Bulls, Jazz, Rockets, and Cavs all may have a shot, and the run-and-gun Mavs and Suns in the West could also challenge the NBA champs.

That said, let's make some predictions before the season kicks off tonight.

1.Will Kobe be traded? - You heard it here, first. NO. Kobe will be a Laker at the end of the year. I'm 95% sure of this for 2 reasons. First, it's practically impossible to pull off a deal of this sort in the NBA, especially with Kobe's "no-trade clause" which allows him to veto whatever deal he wants. Read: Kobe doesn't want to go to anyone but a contender, and doesn't want to go to any contender that has to gut their team in order to get him. Who does that leave as his options? Nobody. The Bulls seem to have the best chance, but the package they would have to offer would include Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Joakim Noah, and likely more--too much to get rid of by Kobe's or anyone else's estimate. Second, Phil Jackson will lobby hard to keep him around. His comments this past week are simply motivating words to get him to perk up. Why would Jackson want to be around a team of scrubs after accomplishing so much in his career? He doesn't, and if Kobe goes, there's no question Phil will be gone soon after. Jerry Buss will get over his tantrum, Kobe will learn to deal with it, and Derek Fisher will make things at least a little happy in LA. No deal.

2. Will the Spurs Repeat? - Again, likely against the grain of what everyone else is saying, but I say NO. I think the league is more wide open than ever this year. The Mavs, the Suns, the Jazz, and the Rockets all have the chance at winning the west and knocking off the reigning champs. Then, you can go even further and say the east has gotten that much better. The Celtics will certainly compete, the Pistons are always there, and the Bulls (with or without KB24) also have a shot. This doesn't even include LeBron and the Eastern Conference Champion Cavaliers. I think the Spurs are great, but they've got an uphill battle in their quest to repeat. My prediction for the NBA finals: Suns over Celtics. That'd be a fun series to watch.

3. Who will win the MVP? - I got to go with Kevin Garnett here. He's going to rejuvenate the Boston lineup, the city of Boston, and the eastern conference in general. Duncan may play as good as ever, Nash and Dirk, too. But, KG will be the most valuable player, not just to the team, but to the city and the entire eastern conference.

4. Rookie of the Year? - Hard to not say Kevin Durant here, and I will. When Oden went down, everyone knew this was the consensus. His injured ankle in the preseason wasn't good, but I think he'll bounce back quickly and perform.

5. Any big moves before Christmas? - Neither Marion, Andrei Kirilenko, nor Kobe will be traded. I honestly believe that the Lakers are going to attempt to placate Kobe and bring somebody big in and get rid of Odom. Jermaine O'neal? Maybe. My guess is that no big trades happen before Christmas. The trade deadline in February, though, may be a different story.

6. What about the Mavs? - This is one of the most interesting (Read: saddest) stories in the NBA. After compiling the league's best record, the Mavs bowed out to the #8 seeded Warriors in round 1 of the playoffs. Then, we didn't hear much from that. Realize that this probably pissed them off, but also realize that the style they play just isn't conducive to playoff basketball. They call Dirk to "go-to-guy," but I can't think of any big situation where Dirk has, well, come up big. Even after going up 2-0 in the 2006 NBA Finals, what happened? Choke. The Mavs are a great team, but down the stretch, they tend to choke. Whether it be at the hands of the Suns, Spurs, Rockets, Jazz, Warriors (again), or, dare I say, Lakers, I predict another exit for the Mavs without making it to the Finals.

Comment and post your predictions. Tell me why I'm wrong, but let's check back in June, and we'll see what happens. I love this game!

Labels: basketball, Boston Celtics, Dirk, Durant, Kevdog, Kevin Garnett, Kobe, Lakers, Mavericks, NBA, Phil Jackson, predictions, San Antonio Spurs

Ever since Jerry Buss opened his mouth and said that the Lakers would still field offers for their superstar, the news has been abuzz. Perhaps I was wrong. I said that Kobe wouldn't be leaving and this was just Buss' rhetoric to appease the superstar. While I'll still hold to my opinion, despite just about every noteworthy sportswriter disagreeing with me, I think Kobe will still be around this season.

That said, Kobe apparently didn't take the news too lightly. He skipped 3 days of practice with the Lakers, citing sore knees, but it seems that the rumor mill simply claims that Bryant's just pissed. Then came reports yesterday, denied by Kobe, that he cleaned out his Laker locker. Kobe, rather, said he "reorganized" his locker. Crazy media.

That said, Kobe didn't sound too thrilled with the Lakers. When asked if he'd played his last game with the Lakers, Kobe said:

"I don't know, talk to Mitch and Mr. Buss about that."
"I'm just getting ready. If I'm here, I'm ready to strap it up."

Granted, this doesn't sound like a very happy man. But, in my opinion, the media has blown this way out of proportion for a couple of reasons.

First, as Buss stated in his original comments that pissed everyone off, you CAN'T get anything close to equal value for Kobe Bryant. And because of that, Buss won't pull the trigger on anything quickly. Buss is a Hollywood guy, and he knows the scene. He knows that the LA fans won't settle for a lineup of Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Kwame Brown, and Lamar Odom. Even the hottest rumor has a package from the Bulls centered around Luol Deng and/or Ben Gordon. Yes, they are good young players, but come on. Buss made this mistake once, getting back no superstars for that other superstar the Lakers traded to Miami in 2004. He won't make the same mistake twice.


Second, every thing Kobe does or doesn't say is being way too read into. Fox Sports released a great column today, mocking the situation. I was glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks that this has been pretty ridiculous.

So what does it all mean? I'm sticking to my opinion. Kobe's a Laker, and he will continue to be a Laker for a while. How long? Who knows? I think he'll remain all season, personally. The Lakers have no NEED to move him yet as he can't opt out until after next season. Come next summer, if things don't get better, they may want to move him so as not to risk him walking away for nothing. But, until then, the dust from this big game being played will settle, Kobe will play, and the Lakers will continue to be mediocre.

Best case scenario: the whole incident lights a spark in Kobe and he comes out and dominates and thrusts the Lakers up the standings. I'm not holding my breath, but I can dream, right?

One thing is for sure, we'll continue to monitor every move that Kobe makes, whether he plays in the preseason games, how he does, whether he high fives his teammates or yells at them. In any event, it's an interesting thing to watch it be Kobe and Phil vs. the world, as opposed to Kobe vs. Phil. Who would have ever thought that they would be allies? Stay tuned.

Labels: Bryant, Jerry Buss, Kevdog, Kobe, Lakers, NBA, Phil Jackson, stalemate, trade