If you’re expecting a fan — blind in love or blind in hate — to be anything other than a fanatic, you’re wasting your time. By definition, true fans surrender all perspective. They turn the streets of their community, like the streets of Green Bay, into Night Of The Living Cheeseheads. Zombies on the loose, [...]
Thirty minutes, 28 seconds.
Twelve rebounds.
Four blocks. Four blocks!
Thirteen points on six of 10 shooting.
Two fouls. Two fouls!
Then there’s the sheer size. Somehow you can never quite fit Andrew Bynum’s size into a box score. His long reach and anchoring presence were so obviously, stupendously important Sunday.
The big cat of a Lakers center came right off [...]
A reader named Brian left the following post/question today.
“Roland, I have a general NBA question that I would love to hear your opinion on. It seems most pundits this year feel that the Cavs are the favorite to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy. Their rationale is they have the best team and best player [...]
Yes, they don’t even tip their first round series off until Sunday afternoon, but Kevin Durant and his Oklahoma City Thunder have already lost round one to the Phil Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers. And even the $35,000 fine that the NBA levied against Jackson for his comments won’t blunt the effect.
That’s because Durant, [...]
An excerpt from my book, Jerry West, The Life And Legend Of A Basketball Icon, recently released by ESPN Books.
It was 50 years ago this month, in April of 1960, that Jerry West was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers. The draft wasn’t a big deal back then. Al Attles, who would be taken in the [...]
Wow.
When Jerry Buss lays his cards on the table, you have little choice but to sit back in awe.
The Lakers owner has re-signed Kobe Bryant for Jordan-level money. MJ made $30 mil per season over his final campaigns with the Chicago Bulls.
Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports report that Bryant today signed for [...]
Of all the situations spawned by the internal division of the Los Angeles Lakers, the dealings with Andrew Bynum seem the weirdest.
That was Tex Winter’s description of the coaching staff’s relationship with Bynum. Not mine. And that was almost two years ago, well before Winter suffered a debilitating stroke.
At the time, the Lakers were nursing [...]
Lord knows I don’t want to saddle Luke Walton with any sort of “savior” label as he prepares to return to the Los Angeles Lakers bench after weeks of nursing a back injury.
After all, it’s going to take time and patience for Walton to work his way back in. He’s only played two dozen games [...]
