Answering Some Questions about the Lakers and Magic

With the Lakers wrapping up their 15th NBA title, the season might be officially over, but we're far from done with the NBA. The June 25th draft is just 10 days away, and free agency begins July 1. There's a lot of questions as we enter the offseason, and because I'm just that helpful, I thought I'd provide some answers. You might be sick of them already, but there's plenty to talk about just with our two NBA Finals participants...

IS KOBE BRYANT ONE OF THE FIVE BEST PLAYERS OF ALL-TIME?
Nope, he's not but he has now cemented himself as one of the 10 best player ever. Currently I'd put him at 9th, with a chance to move up with a few more years of dominance and another title or two. Who's ahead of Kobe, you ask? Obviously Michael Jordan as the clear #1, then in some order Russell, Magic, Bird, Wilt, Jerry West, Kareem and Shaq. Yes, Shaq. Both he and Kobe now have four titles, but the big difference for me is that Shaq was the best player on his team for three of four championships- with those three coming when he was with Kobe.

IS PHIL JACKSON THE GREATEST COACH IN NBA HISTORY?
He has to be, doesn't he? Red Auerbach did win nine, and an incredible eight in a row, and was a pioneer both as a coach and GM, but to me Phil winning ten titles with two different teams in a 30-team league with a salary cap and free agency is more impressive than what Auerbach did as a coach. And don't give me this crap about "well Phil always had great players." OF COURSE HE HAD GREAT PLAYERS!!! You have to in order to win a championship! And yes, he's had some epic talents like MJ, Shaq, Kobe, Pippen etc, but he earned the right and respect to coach those guys because he was able to take Jordan and company to their first title. Doug Collins is/was a good NBA coach and a VERY knowledgable basketball guy, but he couldn't get Jordan and his teammates to play together and get them a title. But Phil did- then a second, then a third. Once he had those he had the thing that is seemingly impossible to earn from NBA players- respect. Guys would take less to play for him and players who might not have listened to others (Rodman, Kobe, and Shaq to name three), respected and listened to him. Phil Jackson EARNED that by what he did in Chicago. And yes, he's had some uber-talened teams, but especially his Lakers clubs, it's not like they've steamrolled their way to titles. Yeah you might fluke your way to one title (say, if the Magic had won this year), but 10 titles? You can't win and not be a good coach.

WILL KOBE OPT OUT OF HIS CONTRACT?
Only if he's an idiot. He is in the PERFECT situation and if he ever even thinks of leaving he's an idiot. LA is the only town in America that loves him, and he's clearly the best player on what will clearly be the best team next season, and one of the best the year after. What else could he possibly want? All season, and really since he forced the Shaq trade back in 2004, Kobe has lied to us that winning a title with O'Neal meant nothing. Then he wins it last night and yeah, I'd say he cares just a little. The man obviously cares about his legacy and his standing in history, and if he wants to add to it, he's going to stay in LA through the end of his current contract in the summer of 2011.

WHO IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR THE LAKERS TO RESIGN- TREVOR ARIZA OR LAMAR ODOM?
Lamar Odom. No really, he is. Yes, Ariza is a nice young player at 24 who does a lot of things the Lakers need- defense, rebounding, and hitting the occassional shot. He's athletic with an improving stroke and COULD develop into a solid third option on this team. But you have to emphasize the "COULD" part here, because he's not a finished product. Yes, Odom turns 30, but they do not win the title without him, and their chances drop if he doesn't resign. He averaged close to a double-double, and is capable of scoring on anybody when he has to, yet seems comfortable being the third wheel on this team behind Kobe and Pau Gasol. While Ariza could be a nice player, I think they can find other guys to fill the things he does, whereas Odom is PERFECT for this team for the next couple of years. The beauty for the Lakers (or disgusting for anybody outside of LA?) is that it sounds like they're going to get both guys back because Odom loves LA so much that he's willing to take less than $10 million a year to resign (played for $11.4 million this year), giving the team room to resign Ariza too.

WHAT ARE ORLANDO'S CHANCES TO RETURN TO THE FINALS IN 2010?
Slim to none, and if you think it's more you're kidding yourself. They're going to lose Turkoglu to free agency because somebody will overpay for him. The Magic can't match without going well into the luxury tax (expected to be somewhere around $65 million. And yes that's more than this year's $58 million cap number. You won't see the cap drop because of the economy until the 2010-11 season)- something they're just not going to do. According to hoopshype.com's salary index, Orlando's cap number will be somewhere around $63 million, which gives them no wiggle room to not only resign Turkoglu- but find someone to replace him. The Magic are clearly not the same team without him, even with a healthy Jameer Nelson back, and there's nobody on that roster- not Pietrius, Courtney Lee or anybody else- who's can do the things Turkoglu did that made Orlando so good this season. They don't have a small forward with his size and shooting ability or a power forward with size and any ability. With KG hurt, this was Orlando's one shot at a title and they blew it. They'll make the playoffs next year, but I'm not even sure they win their division, let alone make it back it to the Finals or conference finals.

SHOULD THE LAKERS SEND KEVIN GARNETT A THANK YOU CARD FOR THEIR 2009 TITLE?
Absolutely. So should Orlando just for getting to the Finals. After what we saw during these playoffs, Boston with a healthy KG and a much-improved Rajan Rondo would have stormed through the Eastern Conference and knocked off the Lakers yet again. The Celtics could had the muscle down low to handle Howard, and with KG and others the defenders to guard Lewis and Turkoglu. On offense, Pierce and KG give Turkoglu and Lewis fits and Rondo destroys- I repeat DESTROYS- Rafer Alston and Anthony Johnson. Boston wins that series in five. Against Cleveland we'd actually get a better series because the Cavs match up much better (aka Mike Brown doesn't have to adjust his lineup to be successful), but the Celtics would still be the better team and win in six or seven. And against the Lakers, nothing's changed from last year except Rondo is substantially better, and like against Orlando he would have destroyed Derek Fisher, Shannon Brown, Jordan Farmar and anybody else. He also would have fouled Fisher before he crossed half-court at the end of game four instead of allowing him to saunter up to the three-point line and bury the game-tying three. And besides Rondo, it would have been the same recipe as the 2008 Finals- beat the crap out of the Euro- and Euro-styled- Lakers team and they walk away with the title. Honestly, both Kobe and Phil better thank KG in their hall-of-fame induction speeches, because if he's healthy, they both don't get this title which took their careers and reputations to another level historically.