2003-2004 NBA Season (1 Viewer)

[Walter Kittel]

Hey, never underestimate the fun of rooting against a team, or a player; even if your teams ( Houston and San Antonio for me ) couldn't get the job done.

While I don't have any strong feelings one way or the other about the Lakers, I sincerely hope that Karl Malone does not get a championship ring. I consider him the dirtiest player in the NBA, and following the Houston Rockets I saw plenty of the cheap shots he delivered while playing for Utah. ( I loved Bernie Mac's NBA Minute before game 1. )

- Walter.

 

[Johnny_M]

I just hate the Lakers because kobe and shaq are such a$$holes. but what i hate MORE is Laker fans who have never even been to LA. Gimme a break! and our (sacramentos) biggest problem is they refuse to dump the over rated and over paid webber. so we have a few more years i think before we win a championship.


Johnny

 

[Rob Tomlin]

I just hate the Lakers because kobe and shaq are such a$$holes

Isn't it amazing how great players with competitive spirit who play for your biggest rival are always assholes!

 

[Carlo_M]

Actually Rob, it's just seems that way for some fans, especially on teams that are always coming out on the bottom end of things [like the Kings]. I have nothing but respect for Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and am now gaining a lot of respect for the Pistons. Would I love the Lakers to win? Of course. But if they don't, then I tip my hat to the Pistons who are playing great basketball right now. No need to call anyone the A-word unless they really earn it. Maybe he's still smarting from Shaq's "Sacramento will NEVER be the capital of California!" remark from a couple of years back...

Sincerely,
A 13-year Los Angeles resident.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Actually Rob, it's just seems that way for some fans, especially on teams that are always coming out on the bottom end of things [like the Kings].

Exactly Carlo!

That was my point entirely.

 

[Johnny_M]

Isn't it amazing how great players with competitive spirit who play for your biggest rival are always assholes!

No, its just the lakers. I've been a kings fan for years, back when the bulls dominated I had alot of respect for that team. Michael Jordan was a well liked person. When the kings played him, I rooted for the kings, but when I watched the bulls play someone else I rooted for Jordan, like the rest of the world. Why? because he was a great person on and off the court. You cannot tell me that kobe and shaq are well liked people. neither one of them have personalities. kobe acts like a spoiled brat, and shaq acts like hes god, forgetting that his only success is owed to nature for giving him his size. i really don't see him making the nba if he were a foot smaller and 100 lbs lighter. there are many non-Kings that I respect. Alan Iverson is actually my favorite player in the league. Too bad they can't build a team around him. But even Iverson doesn't act like the spoiled rich kids that kobe and shaq portray.


Johnny

 

[Carlo_M]

Why? because he was a great person on and off the court.

Actually, he too had an affair that was made public. He was accused of being selfish and standoffish by some of his teammates. He gambled, with whispers that it was a problem, and even a conspiracy theory that may have involved the death of his father and the gambling (though nothing was ever substantiated). Oh, and how's this for conspiracy theory advocates: the woman with whom Jordan had an affair was introduced to him by Eddie F. Rush...the basketball referee. Think there was impartiality when he ref'd the Bulls games?

[PS - I too was a Jordan admirer, though my glasses were not rose colored when I viewed him or any other athlete/celeb]

And would Jordan have made the league were he a foot smaller and 100 lbs lighter?

AI is your favorite player in the league? The consensus All-Ballhog player in the NBA? AI who served jailtime before coming to Georgetown? And you have a problem w/ Shaq and Kobe's attitudes?

Seriously, you're being real selective with how you apply your criteria. These are BBall players, they're human too. MJ wasn't a role model.

I guess I can understand your animosity towards Shaq and Kobe, as Jordan & AI didn't make a habit out of pounding the Kings out of the playoffs like Shaq and Kobe have...well except recently where the Kings have decided to bow out before even running into the Lakers...

You're right about one thing though: they gotta dump CWeb and his salary. Wonder if he'd take a pay cut to play for the purple and gold next year.

 

[Shane Martin]

shaq acts like hes god

And there is a better center where? Everyone he has played he has dominated. This guy is old but he is almost the best center ever. Having as many rings as he does, tends to help that out too.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

You cannot tell me that kobe and shaq are well liked people. neither one of them have personalities. kobe acts like a spoiled brat, and shaq acts like hes god, forgetting that his only success is owed to nature for giving him his size. i really don't see him making the nba if he were a foot smaller and 100 lbs lighter. there are many non-Kings that I respect. Alan Iverson is actually my favorite player in the league.

And with that quote, Johnny_M has lost any ounce of credibility he (may have) had regarding well respected and well liked players in the NBA.

BTW, I like Shaq a lot! He has a great, dry, witty sense of humor that many people just don't get.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

but what i hate MORE is Laker fans who have never even been to LA.

So you can't be a fan unless you've made a pilgramage to the holy city...this isn't Islam, its basketball. What kind of stupid criteria is that...by that definition their can be no true Dodger fans in Brooklyn rooting for the team because it is in the family to root for the team, unless you've actually made a trip to LA?

What's next, I hate Laker fans that don't have Jerry West tatooed across their foreheads? Ever been to all of those places that the Kings called home before Sacramento. If you're going to knock Laker fans that have never been to L.A. which I think is rediculous...then I can say that your only a true Kings fan unless you've been to all of their previous city, which is just as rediculous and has nothing to do with anything.

Shane, Carlo and Rob already did a good job with those other rediculous quotes. Holding up A.I as some paragon of virtue is laughable. Remember his I've never seen speech from earlier this year? I do, I remember him lementing that he's never seen a league MVP come off the bench when coming back from an injury, and yet Tim Duncan did exactly that.

I also like Shaq for the reasons Rob mentioned, I find him very funny.

Oh, and lets be honest here, if Shaq signed with the Kings I doubt you'd disassociate yourself from the team for life in response, which would be the only appropriate action if you hate him as much as you claim.

 

[george kaplan]

For Seth and everyone else who thought I was nuts complaining about the Lakers lack of effort, Magic Johnson has now come out and said that their lack of effort was so bad that it was 'disrepectful' of the Detroit Pistons.

-George "born & raised in Southern California" Kaplan, a lifelong Lakers fan, who would never root for another team (except the Clippers), but can still be disgusted and fed up with their "half-assed" effort.

Here's the link. The article is entitled. "Hall of Famer upset with effort" (emphasis mine). http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playof...ory?id=1820796

 

[Haggai]

George, I don't think Seth and others were saying that effort is irrelevant, or that teams sometimes don't play as hard as they could. I think most of us will agree that the Lakers didn't look that interested in the second half of Game 3, or of Game 1. But that's not necessarily the same thing as saying that effort is their only problem, that they'd be winning if only they were trying harder. The Pistons are really exposing the Lakers for being unathletic in most positions, regardless of how much effort they're putting in. Chauncey isn't getting to the bucket at will on Payton and Fisher because they're not trying hard enough. It's because he's a lot better than they are.

 

[Chris Farmer]

I'll be honest, I really strongly dislike the Lakers. In my mind they, as one team, represent many of the problems in current NBA basketball. They're selfish, don't play well as a team, and only play at all when they feel like it. There's no consistency to their effort, and the only reason they manage to win most of the time is despite their lack of collective focus and drive they overwhelm the other team with pure raw talent and ability. Yes, sometimes they manage to put up good, solid efforts. It took one of those efforts to rally from 0-2 against the Spurs. But the point remains that they're spoiled, selfish, pout, whine about shots, and only put that effort in when they really feel like it.

And quite frankly, as a Spurs fan, it drives me crazy. I look at how Shaq and Kobe feud over shots and who takes them, and then I look at the Spurs in 1997 and how David Robinson stepped aside instantly and giftwrapped that team for Tim Duncan. In the playoffs, when Parker was going nuts, Duncan then did the same thing. You never heard DUncan whine about not getting enough touches, all he said was that a W was a W, and it didn't matter who got the points as long as somebody did. The Pistons are the same way even more so. They play without any superstars at all. They have a few very good players, even all-stars, but nobody in the same league as Duncan, Garnett, Shaq, Kobe, or the other superstars. And looking at the Spurs or Pistons and similar, win or lose, I never doubt they're giving it everything they have. Yes, the come up short, but I never put that down to a lack of effort. And that's why, even if they win the championship, my respect for the Lakers and their manufactured team will pale in comparison to my respect for what the Pistons have already done.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

But the point remains that they're spoiled, selfish, pout, whine about shots, and only put that effort in when they really feel like it.

And quite frankly, as a Spurs fan, it drives me crazy. I look at how Shaq and Kobe feud over shots and who takes them, and then I look at the Spurs in 1997 and how David Robinson stepped aside instantly and giftwrapped that team for Tim Duncan.

This makes no sense. You are not a Lakers fan. Why would it bother you one rats ass that (and I am not admitting this is even an issue) Shaq and Kobe "feud" over shots and who takes them? The fact David Robinson "stepped aside" and "gift wrapped" the team for Duncan makes you like the Spurs more because why?? Hell, that makes it sound like Robinson wasn't much of a competitor, realized he wasn't as good as Duncan, so he should just "step aside". Not something I want to see in players on my favorite team!

And your tirade about the Lakers being "selfish, pout, and whine about shots" truly sounds like nothing more than sour grapes. Get over it Chris. The Lakers beat the Spurs. It's OK. Life goes on. I mean if you are going to try and criticize the Lakers, at least list something that can be taken seriously, like Shaq doesn't run the court as hard as he should, or something like that, and maybe your arguments for not liking the Lakers would be given a little more credit.

Also, you state the Lakers "are selfish and don't play well as a team". If true, how did they win three rings in four years? I guess you don't need to play well as a team to win rings?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Alan Iverson is actually my favorite player in the league. Too bad they can't build a team around him. But even Iverson doesn't act like the spoiled rich kids that kobe and shaq portray.

I've never been a Laker fan, either Johnny, but that statement is silly. Iverson is one of the most spoiled, egotistical, selfish players in the league. You need look no further than his refusals to practice with the team and his tirade about coming off the bench for one game when returning from injury as evidence of his piss-poor attitude.

BTW... GO PISTONS!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

One thing I do find interesting in this series is the contrasting attitudes of two players -- Rasheed Wallace and Gary Payton. Rasheed came to Detroit with a horrible reputation, but he's been a great team player since joining the Pistons. He's one of the biggest cheerleaders when sitting on the bench, and has never complained about not getting enough playing time or the way he's being used on the floor. Meanwhile, Payton wanted to come to LA to win a ring, and all he does is pout when taken out of the game or when the offense doesn't revolve around him. Did he think that he would become the team focal point instead of Kobe or Shaq?

 

[Haggai]

Not to mention the rumors that Jordan's first "retirement" was really an unofficial suspension by the NBA because of his gambling. After all, does anyone really believe that MJ wanted to ride a bus in the minor leagues?

But that was obviously a tin-foil-hat level conspiracy theory. Jordan was the biggest superstar the NBA had ever had, and he was at the height of his career, with the Bulls having won three titles in a row. He was the best financial asset in league history, and since that's obviously always their #1 concern, it would have made no sense at all for them to push (or even gently nudge) the guy who was far and away their biggest money-maker out of the league.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

But that was obviously a tin-foil-hat level conspiracy theory. Jordan was the biggest superstar the NBA had ever had, and he was at the height of his career, with the Bulls having won three titles in a row. He was the best financial asset in league history, and since that's obviously always their #1 concern, it would have made no sense at all for them to push (or even gently nudge) the guy who was far and away their biggest money-maker out of the league.

True. However, what would have been worse for both Jordan's image and the league -- a short "retirement" and some bus rides in the minor leagues of baseball, or a real suspension for gambling?

 

[Haggai]

I don't remember any gambling related things with Jordan that were really grounds for suspension. When he would go to Atlantic City and blow huge amounts of money on off-days during a Bulls/Knicks series, the league certainly wasn't thrilled about it, but I don't recall that being against any rules they had.

 

[Steve_Tk]

If you pull up last years NBA thread you will find the same arguments about AI and Jordan.