To all Lakers haters and doubters

[M Dogg™]

This year is the perfect example of the Shaq trade. When it happened, people said it was the worst trade in basketball history, worst trade since Hershall Walker for the whole Minnesota draft that lead to building the Dallas championship teams, but in the end, the Lakers are proving why the trade. I did not agree with trading Bulter, but that lead to Brown joining the team, and his starting to become a proven center in the NBA, Grant had to be part of the deal to match Shaq's contract, and the most important part is Odom. The Lakers are better with him, as the stats prove, and now that his injuried, they still are doing well. The bottom line, once Odom returns, it's a b-line to the playoffs. And after winning the title last year, Miami is now old, and Shaq is injuried, and the Heat are looking like a lottery team. The Lakers have been building championship squads for decades, and now are 2 titles shy of breaking the Celtics record for NBA titles. Once they break that record, they will go down as the best basketball franchise, as their titles have come in many eras, like the 50's in Minnesota, the 70's, 80's and 2000's, along with challenging the Celtics in the 60's, and being a highly competative team in the 90's. This is why they traded Shaq, I am a Shaq fan, I like Shaq over Kobe, but I knew why it had to be done. I usually have kept quite since the Shaq trade, out of respect for Shaq, but his career is ending, and the Lakers gamble payed off. I still pray for a Miami/Lakers final, but it doesn't look like the Heat will be there.

[Bay Area Jat]

So lemme get this str8. In your opinion the Lakers are going to be representing the West in the NBA Finals this year?

[M Dogg™]

I'm saying they have a better chance of reppin the west than Miami does of reppin the east, which is why they traded Shaq. The short term, that trade looked bad, but long term, that trade is looking ingenious. Both teams got what they wanted, the Heat, a title within 2 years, the Lakers, a team to build on for the next 7-10.

[rik]

So lemme get this str8. In your opinion the Lakers are going to be representing the West in the NBA Finals this year?

Yes they are.

[Bay Area Jat]

So lemme get this str8. In your opinion the Lakers are going to be representing the West in the NBA Finals this year?

Yes they are.

wow thats a bold statement.

[wcsoldier]

Well, with these shitty losses to weak teams , I see it this way (though there are lots of games left) : we're probably gonna finish 4th or 5th of the Conf, beat Utah, then we'll face Dallas with a shot to beat them.. but the lack of Xperience and focus in games against weak teams cost us a top seed

[swangin and bangin]

i hate the lakers but i admit there pretty good.

[GangstaBoogy]

2008 & 2009 NBA Champions.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

I agree...See Jake, you should really take Mdogg as an example, he loves Shaq, yet he's still true to the Lakers=REAL FAN. Props...PeACe

[Don Jacob]

 jewsylvania you said that it's not possible to 'love shaq' and 'love' the lakers,lol hypocrit
::dissmissing jewsylvania::

mdogg that was a very well thought out argument , one in which i almost agree with 95% of . In a perspective, the lakers ARE in a better position (and lets remember that word position)  to be NBA champions....the past few years(not only in basketball) have proven that any team can win it all.
 no dominant teams ,and teams that should have won, have won. the no offense pistons win the championship over a hall of fame (granted beat up) laker squad that should have won it. the Steelers a wildcard team beats the division champion bengles then beats the nfls best team the colts then goes on to beat the nfc's best team the seakhawks, the boston red sox, historically the greatest no.2/3 finisher of all time, runs through the AL first round, then comes from behind to beat the arch nemesis that 'cursed' them, then goes on to beat a team that they easily could have gotten served by, the miami heat a very old relatively NEW team comes from behind to beat the mavericks a team that was hot off wins VS pheonix and the nba's best team the spurs.
so the lakers , who you said will most likely finish fourth or fifth, and for all intensive purposes would have finished at 3rd if the team was healthy, could be in a better (here's that word again) position  to be nba champions , considering they're goign to the playoffs, the heat might not. but who's to say pheonix won't beat them again, who's to say the mavericks might get better and beat them, and oh shit there's still the spurs .....they just sleep eat and shit playoff mode all through out the season, so they could always win too. but again they're in good POSITION to overcome all that, and win it all, in which i hope they do.
but that's what COULD happen if everything goes right......but things really havn't gone right since shaq got traded. we don't make the playoffs one year, we get embarassed the next. while shaq's over there in miami sitting on another championship ,almost 2,  in the same time it took the lakers to go to being in the finals to getting embarrassed. and granted one of the key players  that couldn't do it in miami is now on our team. HISTORY right now is favoring the HEAT in this trade, you don't think if managment wouldn't have been more responsive to that petty kobe shaq shit that we would'nt have at least ONE MORE championship. odds are, considering what has happened in the last two years if the lakers and shaq find a happy medium, the lakers' last memory of the finals is not the piston loss, and the last memory of the playoffs is not an embarressment.
sure though yes the lakers are in a better POSITION to help balance history, but  until they DO IT in the next 10 years or so, shaq is still sitting over there with the last laugh, primetime sanders c/o 95'  style. even if the heat miss the playoffs. and the lakers make it the next 10 years. History is measured in how many championship banners you have up in your arena, not how consistant you were over the years. until my team proves me wrong,  IMO we would have had a deeper richer history if management would have kept shaq and worked things out. but i'm still waiting to be proved wrong. 

["THE" MoSav]

could have done without the racist comment  but +1 for the onpoint response about the crazy world of sports..

Shit im scared to bet anymore, cuz things are more hectic and unpredictable in sports then i can ever remember.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

jewsylvania you said that it's not possible to 'love shaq' and 'love' the lakers,lol hypocrit
::dissmissing jewsylvania::

^^Only a Heat fan would make some shit like that up...

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

mdogg that was a very well thought out argument , one in which i almost agree with 95% of . In a perspective, the lakers ARE in a better position (and lets remember that word position)  to be NBA champions....the past few years(not only in basketball) have proven that any team can win it all.
 no dominant teams ,and teams that should have won, have won. the no offense pistons win the championship over a hall of fame (granted beat up) laker squad that should have won it. the Steelers a wildcard team beats the division champion bengles then beats the nfls best team the colts then goes on to beat the nfc's best team the seakhawks, the boston red sox, historically the greatest no.2/3 finisher of all time, runs through the AL first round, then comes from behind to beat the arch nemesis that 'cursed' them, then goes on to beat a team that they easily could have gotten served by, the miami heat a very old relatively NEW team comes from behind to beat the mavericks a team that was hot off wins VS pheonix and the nba's best team the spurs.
so the lakers , who you said will most likely finish fourth or fifth, and for all intensive purposes would have finished at 3rd if the team was healthy, could be in a better (here's that word again) position  to be nba champions , considering they're goign to the playoffs, the heat might not. but who's to say pheonix won't beat them again, who's to say the mavericks might get better and beat them, and oh shit there's still the spurs .....they just sleep eat and shit playoff mode all through out the season, so they could always win too. but again they're in good POSITION to overcome all that, and win it all, in which i hope they do.
but that's what COULD happen if everything goes right......but things really havn't gone right since shaq got traded. we don't make the playoffs one year, we get embarassed the next. while shaq's over there in miami sitting on another championship ,almost 2,  in the same time it took the lakers to go to being in the finals to getting embarrassed. and granted one of the key players  that couldn't do it in miami is now on our team. HISTORY right now is favoring the HEAT in this trade, you don't think if managment wouldn't have been more responsive to that petty kobe shaq shit that we would'nt have at least ONE MORE championship. odds are, considering what has happened in the last two years if the lakers and shaq find a happy medium, the lakers' last memory of the finals is not the piston loss, and the last memory of the playoffs is not an embarressment.
sure though yes the lakers are in a better POSITION to help balance history, but  until they DO IT in the next 10 years or so, shaq is still sitting over there with the last laugh, primetime sanders c/o 95'  style. even if the heat miss the playoffs. and the lakers make it the next 10 years. History is measured in how many championship banners you have up in your arena, not how consistant you were over the years. until my team proves me wrong,  IMO we would have had a deeper richer history if management would have kept shaq and worked things out. but i'm still waiting to be proved wrong. 

Do you realize how ridiculous that last quote is? Shaq was asking 30 MILL A YEAR THROUGH 2010, THAT MEANS WE COULDNT AFFORD KOBE AND WE'D BE STUCK WITH A FAT, UNCONDITIONED SHAQ ON OUR PAYROLL FOR YEARS TO COME. Man, honestly, I'm not tryna degrade you or anything, but some of the stuff you say is flat out absurd, especially for a Laker fan to be saying it...That's why you make people wonder if you have more love for Shaq than you do for the Lakers. LMAO@Lakers getting embarassed last season, they almost upset a number 2 seed when they were predicted by most analysts to finish in the bottom of the league. We are taking steps to becoming a dynasty, we are not the Heat, we don't settle for 1 championship and retire Michael Jordan jerseys, we are the LAKERS...Shaq didn't win the Heat a championship, the league did, and even if you don't believe that the refs favored the Heat in the finals (<LMAO if you don't), the most you can say was Wade won it for them...Bottom line is, the trade was terrible for Miami, maybe they got what they wanted, but we all know how much better shape they'd be in right now if the trade never went down, and just IMAGINE how awful the Heat management would be looking right now if the league never handed the Heat the trophy last season (making them the worst champions of all time)...See, I can talk about this all day, but it's when you start with your childish "Jewselvaynia" remarks that it starts getting pathetic to have these discussions...PeACe

[rik]

So lemme get this str8. In your opinion the Lakers are going to be representing the West in the NBA Finals this year?

Yes they are.

wow thats a bold statement.

I said this before the season began and the way they've been playing makes me more of a believer. Mark my words and remember where you heard it first.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

So lemme get this str8. In your opinion the Lakers are going to be representing the West in the NBA Finals this year?

Yes they are.

wow thats a bold statement.

I said this before the season began