Sky

Depth is in the east, but the best team in the league is in the west.

Maggette needs to go but at that contract no one wants him. Riley can't be Houdini twice, he's not getting out of this one. Everyone works the mark of the league (Charlotte) but the Dubs have already gone to that well. Yes Corey needs to go, but nooooooo one wants a one-way me-only stat hog making that much long term. You can't take the approach of you got rid of one mistake now dump the other, doesn't work that way. The only way they can deal Maggette is by taking on an even worse contract, which Cohan and Rowell will refuse to do. A GM is only trading for Maggette at gunpoint.

Pau is hoping to return on thursday, we'll see.

What they are missing most, an intelligent decision maker. No Pau + Kobe vortex + no 1 = idiots on parade. They are playing stupid basketball. This is the price you pay for having no point guard Phil.

Kobe's athleticism has waned over the past two years. Splitting the double used to be a staple and now it's rare for him. So far he's adjusted well with the post work, but once Gasol and Bynum are both back we'll be seeing less of Bryant inside. He'll need to go back to creating off the dribble and hitting pullup jumpers, something that's also been missing so far this year.

If you get to cheat on positions if the player has the ability to play well there: 1 Magic 2 Kobe 3 Baylor 4 Wilt 5 Kareem If you don't cheat on positions then Gasol at 4 instead. Shaq's inability to defend pick and roll forces him to the bench. The full 12 1 Magic, Nixon 2 Kobe, West, Cooper 3 Baylor, Worthy, Wilkes 4 Wilt, Gasol 5 Kareem, Shaq Deepest all-time team in the league.

Gasol was reported to play in the Memphis game but now he's out for that too. So it's Daco time vs. the Grizz.

Testing today indicates a minor strain and thankfully Pau is expected back for the Memphis game.

If offense and stats are all you care about Yugo then sure. If you are actually interested in winning playoff series and getting a ring then enough is Artest playing man up defense against physical 3's that overpower Ariza. Learning the triangle takes time but he's making good reads and passes, Ron doesn't need to be a scorer on this team.

Ariza > Artest against every opponent except Boston, Cleveland and Denver. Three of the five contenders in getting through the west and the finals. The Lakers lucked into Orlando in the finals, was the best matchup for them. They aren't anticipating the same luck this year. Doesn't matter anyway. Lee made sure that re-signing Ariza was not an option. All LA could do was Artest and he'll do enough to get them a ring.

Lee is Ariza's idiot agent. Bomb thrower.

A false choice is implied. General Lee refused to sign at the start of free agency for MLE money. "No hometown discounts!" and all that. Fool wanted 7-8M per so Kupchak brought Artest in. If Lee was willing to sign for MLE money then Ariza would have remained a Laker. There was no choice. At the time Lee refused to take what LA was willing to pay. Artest can still work out well, particularly on D against bigger 3's like LeBron, Pierce and Melo. Ariza was great in the playoffs but he didn't have defensive success against the big three while Artest has a much better chance of containing them. That's Ron's primary value, matching up defensively against the top opponents with a ring on the line.

Don't misunderstand me, I think it IS true. My position is that the league will manipulate ref assignments to nudge the outcome in the direction they seek, to extend a series for greater owner profit and higher ratings. The key distinction though, that's a double-edged sword that can benefit both teams in a series. As it did in the 2002 WCF. Bernie Fryer to ensure Sac won game 2 and LA didn't take the first two on the road to end the series. Blown call decides game 5, all of the game 6 travesty is a makeup under Knick Bavetta. Laker haters like to think that all these machinations solely benefit LA, they don't. The intended beneficiaries are the owners and the networks. Which can and has included causing LA losses to extend a series (Fryer in 2), Chicago losses to extend a series (Hue Hollins as the designated bag man), etc. Donaghy says as much, the league will look to extend a series via ref assignments. Game 2 series extension against LA. Game 6 series extension for LA. Cuts both ways.

Jack and Turiaf for Z, but Ferry refuses to part with Ilgauskas. Maggette is untradable. Black hole with a bad contract.

Paul above Williams. Both Lakers shouldn't even be on the list since neither are point guards. Monta too high his 1 skills are also minimal.

Possible but unlikely. Injuries, letdowns, four high quality opponents and being based on the west coast can all combine to keep them from 70. I give them a shot at it but they'd have to get lucky in a few wins and avoiding injury. Wrong mountaintop anyway. Rings are all that matters.

Diesel - Still decided the outcome. I get the theory that any bad call changes a close game, but final possession is more important. LA won the game and had it taken from them by the refs.

Diesel - One final bad call in 5 that decided the game. Bad calls on Shaq that decided the game. I agree the volume of game 6 bad calls was inexcusable and higher than the rest combined but like the others it decided one game. Horrendous reffing, 6 was clearly worst but what truly matters is refs deciding games and that scoreboard is LA 2 Sac 2.

Fine game 2 and 5 weren't fixed they were just blown. Label it however you want. A horrible ref call decided game 5. Unless you believe Webber is slapping his palm on the floor in frustration for no apparent reason and Webber hitting the ball OB was just a magic trick and didn't really happen. Why do you think game 6 happened? The league reviewed the tapes on 5 and knew they literally handed the game to Sacramento on a completely blown call. The travesty of 5 created the even worse travesty of 6. Then you have game 2 where according to you in a highly rated series where LA won the first game on the road and can end the series with a win, in a game where Kobe is out and the Lakers must rely on Shaq it's mere coincidence that the league assigned known Shaq hater Bernie Fryer to the game. And it's just coincidence that he called two offensive fouls on Shaq in the first half and O'Neal sits and is in foul trouble all game long. And the series is back at 1-1 which by coincidence happens to serve the purposes of the league and NBC in a season where the tv contracts are up for renewal. Yeah ok. Six was horrendous. But what's the result? The refs hand a win to LA. What was the result of game two? The refs hand a win to Sac. Game 5? Refs hand a win to Sac. You can claim two and five weren't rigged and that six was worse but the end result is the same. Horrendous reffing and highly suspicious ref assignments led to wins. Game 6 LA. Game 2 and 5 Sacramento. Add the Samaki prayer answered 3 that shouldn't have counted before halftime in game four and you get this: Ref created wins for LA 2, ref created wins for Sacramento 2.

And that defense is totally justified when you look at all of the facts, not just select ones to fit an agenda.

I'm defensive because I'm sick and tired of Laker haters perpetuating half truths. All the focus on Sac game 6 while ignoring game 2 and 5 which were both complete hose jobs against LA. Claiming game 7 had to be biased when the facts of the game and fans of both teams say otherwise. The bigger picture is money guys, on a macro scale. You keep trying to make it fit an agenda, but the true agenda is the pursuit of money. Extending a series, not about LA, about money for ownership and the networks. Gasol trade, not about LA, about saving Heisley $50 million when no one else offered him more than $20 million. If the league wanted specific teams in the finals then San Antonio would never have made a final. TV market is too small. San Antonio-New Jersey yeah that'll rake in the viewers and the cash.

The league manipulates to extend a series. They get to game 7 then it's mission accomplished. If you contend game 7 was a screw job to get LA in then I'd say prove it. Free throw margin only favored LA by 3 and fans of both teams at the time considered game 7 to be called evenly favoring neither side. The point remains that if Sac hit just 60% of their free throws they would have won the game. The league doesn't fix games to help LA, but to help the owners and (at that time) NBC.

Sacramento had every opportunity to win game 7 and only have themselves to blame. They lost the game on the ft line shooting 53% to LA's 81%. Lakers had 33 fta's Sac had 30, no one who watched that game can say the reffing was biased, it wasn't. The Kings shot themselves in the foot, it was theirs to win and they choked.

Fixed both ways for Lakers-Kings 2002 is the point Yugo, two games each. Unless you want to be stubborn about picking which games to focus on while ignoring others. Intellectually dishonest to pick a single game in a series when refs decided the outcome in four of them. The larger point from Donaghy is one many have suspected for a long time, the NBA manipulates ref assignments to extend a series. This has been Cuban's point throughout and after he got hosed in 2006 he's right to do so. Ref assignments need to be transparent and they're not, it's the NBA black box. From Hue Hollins calling Bulls playoff games after they had three wins (could always count on Chicago losing with Hue) to Knick Bavetta to Bernie Fryer the league will play ref tendencies to get the outcome they want, longer series = higher ratings = more revenue = more profits. Stern has been shameless about this for nearly 20 years. What needs to come out of Donaghy's book is a call for complete transparency in ref playoff assignments. All assignments for all games with the if/then's all in advance. That and only that will take the card out of Stern's hand and restore at least some level of credibility to the league. It has to happen.

No excuses just facts. Game 5. Kings on what should have been their last possession. Webber knocks the ball out of bounds and slams his palm on the floor in frustration knowing he has just lost the game. Refs completely blow the call give it to Sac for a possession they never should have had. Bibby hits the game winner. Game 2. Kobe has food poisoning so LA has to rely on Shaq to carry them. LA has taken game one on the road. League has a high rated series and doesn't want it to end quickly so they assign Bernie Fryer to the game. The ref quoted to hate Shaq, the ref proven to call more offensive fouls on Shaq than any other. Calls two questionable offensive fouls on Shaq in the first half, he sits, Kings blowout. The league manipulated game 6 you will get no argument from me on that. But the league also manipulated game 2. And the refs literally handed Sac game 5. But all anyone ever focuses on is game 6, because they hate LA and because the other games disprove a long standing belief that LA is handed everything. For full disclosure game 4 included a lucky 3 before the halftime buzzer that replays proved was late. So Sac was handed two games, LA was handed two games. Game 7 winner take all, Sac had their chances, gagged at the line and airballed in the 4th with some howlingly bad shots from Christie and Peja. You want to whine about game 6 go ahead, but you don't get to choose just one game and ignore the rest. The refs handed Sac game 5 in a total screw job. The league handed Sac game 2 in a ref assignment manipulation to extend a series, one of Stern's favorite tricks.