THANKS SHAQ FOR THE 3 TITLES AND 3 FINALS MVPS!

THANK YOU SHAQ FOR WINNING US 3 TITLES!

@hobbitmage just thought I would finish with what the great Chris Berman would say when hearing the Old Man Kobe say, "I Eat First" C'MON MAN!

@hobbitmage "1st. You have been missing in action since the Lakers started winning with Kobe as the lead man and Pau as #2. Why? Is it because all of your venom was irrelevant because the Lakers were winning?" YAWN..........AS CHARLIE MURPHY QUOTED WHEN TALKING ABOUT HIS ENCOUNTER WITH RICK JAMES, "WRONG!, WRONG!" GO BACK AND LOOK AT MY POSTS OVER THOSE 3 YEARS WHEN ONE PRIME KOBE WAS PLAYING SOMEWHAT LIKE A LEADER. I GAVE HIM HIS PROPS. I THINK IT WAS YOUR WIPERS THAT HAD YOU BLINDED BY ALL YOUR APOLOGISTS POSTS. 2nd. re: management winning. Um ... no. Why management doesn't win? They're on the hook for ~ 30 million dollars. If you had been paying attention you'd know this. Let me go one step further because you can't reason your way out of a paper bag. The Lakers have *THE MOST EXPENSIVE PAYROLL IN THE NBA." I BLAME THAT ON THE NOW, OLD MAN KOBE. HOW ABOUT KOBE SAYING, LET ME RESTRUCTURE MY CONTRACT BEFORE SIGNING AN EXTENSION BECAUSE I'M NOT PLAYING LIKE A PLAYER WHO MAKES $24 MILLION AT THIS STAGE IN MY CAREER. $24 MILLION IS WHAT GOT THE LAKERS IN CAP HELL. "4th. If management doesn't put a good product out on the floor, nobody goes to the games and then the Lakers won't be making any money. See #2." HAVE YOU SEEN THE PRICES OF TICKETS THESE DAYS? CAN YOU CLEARLY SAY THE LAKERS GAVE A GOOD PRODUCT ON THE FLOOR THIS PAST SEASON. NOT EVEN COUNTING THE PLAYOFFS? I DON'T THINK SO. "Here's $$ on the table: I guarantee if the Lakers do well next year and win, you'll disappear just like you did 3 years ago. Because you're not a Lakers' fan. You're just a sorry clown who wants to bash Kobe." HERE'S $$ ON THE TABLE: I GUARANTEE YOU WHEN THE AGING KOBE RETIRES YOU'LL DISAPPEAR LIKE ALL THE OTHER APOLOGISTS BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT A LAKER FAN. YOU'RE A KOBE APOLOGISTS. AND BELIEVE ME ALL THIS HYPE ABOUT GETTING STRONGER THIS OFFSEASON IS ASININE. JUST LIKE TREVOR BERBICK SAYING HE'S OK WHILE STAGGERING ALL OVER THE RING FROM A TYSON KNOCKOUT. NICE CHAT AND KEEP UP THE ATTACKS. GET YOUR POPCORN READY TO WATCH THE KING!

@hobbitmage "if you piss of your prime talent and he decides not to perform, who wins?" MANAGEMENT WINS BECAUSE THEY SHOW OTHER PLAYERS THAT NO ONE (EVEN OLD MAN KOBE) IS ABOVE THE MANAGEMENT. PLUS, KOBE IS PASS PRIME. THIS IS BYNUM TIME TO SHOW. ROLE REVERSAL (ala Shaq force out by Kobe 2004) @hobbitmage "You can talk about more perogatives/imperatives all you want. However, at the end of the game you want your coach & players on the same page. What do you get by forcing Kobe to do something he doesn't like with someone who can't win." RIGHT, COACH & PLAYERS. NOT COACH & KOBE. MOST OF THE TIME ALL PLAYERS BUT KOBE IS ON THE SAME PAGE. THE PROBLEM IS KOBE VEER TO HIS OWN ASSIGNMENT IS WHAT CAUSES THE PROBLEMS. FORCING KOBE TO DO SOMETHING HE DOESN'T LIKE? HE EITHER COMPLY OR ACCEPT ANOTHER 4-0 SWEEP NEXT YEAR. @hobbitmage "Already you have a ton of bozos [ Gunner & Island Priest ] who blame Kobe for Drew not getting enough touches" ONCE AGAIN, WHEN ONE CAN'T ARGUE FACTS, ONE TRIES TO ATTACK.

@Mclyne1 "I too am excited that there will actually be multiple plays set for Kobe to run his man through screens so he can get open jumpers or drives to the rack. " YEAH THAT'S ALL FINE BUT WHAT BROWN WILL EVENTUALLY REALIZED THAT HE'S NOT DEALING WITH A YOUNG LEBRON BUT AN AGING KOBE. RUNNING SETS FOR AN ATHLETE WITH NO LIFT IN HIS SHOT BECAUSE OF A BAD KNEE, FINGER INJURIES THAT HE IS REFUSING TO GET SURGERY, AND SHOT FIRST ASK QUESTIONS LATER, BROWN JUST MIGHT CHANGE THOSE SETS VERY QUICKLY. JUST HOPE BROWN'S SETS ARE JUST SECONDARY OPTIONS IN HIS OFFENSE INSTEAD OF THE PRIMARY OPTIONS.

I JUST HEARD THAT LBJ WAS PUSHING WADE TO WATCH HIS 2006 FINALS TAPES FOR ADDED MOTIVATION. EVEN THOUGH WADE IS REFUSING IT GOES TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH OF A LEADER LEBRON HAS BECOME NOT ONLY ON THE COURT BUT OFF THE COURT WITH HIS TEAMMATES.

@Island Priest "In la we have a black mamba who is selfish, ball hog, bad teammate, engenders poor chemistry etc plus he is old and battling injuries. in miami they have the new sleek model who loves to pass more than he has to score. Plus he is a great teammate and fosters great team chemistry. In game 1 against dallas kobe took 28 shots with 0 assists. LBJ is averaging about 7 assists in the playoffs." THIS IS WHAT THE KOBE APOLOGISTS DON'T SEE. IT'S LIKE ARGUING TO A BRICK WALL. THERE'S PLAYERS & FANS ALREADY COMPARING LBJ TO MJ WITHOUT LBJ WINNING A RING YET. AND ON THE OTHER SHOE, KOBE DIDN'T GET ANY COMPARISONS TO MJ UNTIL HE STARTED WINNING RINGS WITHOUT SHAQ TELLS YOU HOW MUCH MORE OF A GREATER PLAYER LEBRON IS TO OLD MAN KOBE.

@Tim "Still, he DID make a fairly large mistake by NOT involving Kobe on any level. He didn't have to run this or any other decision by Kobe first or anything, only involve a little more in the process, even if it was just courtesy. By not doing this, it made the front office look really out of touch and made Jim Buss look like a loose cannon." I SAID IT ONCE AND I WILL SAY IT AGAIN, DID BUSS RUN IT BY SHAQ WHEN THEY CHOSE KOBE OVER SHAQ? I THINK WE ARE SEEING WHAT HAPPENED IN 2004 GOING FULL CIRCLE AGAIN. I BELIEVE THIS IS NOT ONLY THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN MANAGEMENT BUT CHANGING OF THE GUARD IN THE TEAM. KOBE MADE A BAD STATEMENT SAYING "HE EAT FIRST". THAT'S THE MAIN REASON WHY THE TEAM GOT SWEPT. I BELIEVE THIS IS SHOWING IN COMES THE BYNUM ERA AND OUT GOES KOBE. I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISE IF KOBE IS TRADED BEFORE HIS CONTRACT IS UP.

@LRob2 "How strange is it for the NBA not to have any games Memorial weekend? I can't ever remember that happening in the last 30 years." IT SHOWS HOW WEAK THE LEAGUE HAS BECOME. TEAMS GETTING SWEPT, SERIES ONLY GOING 5 GAMES NOW. PLAYOFFS NOT AS TOUGH AS IT USE TO BE.

@LRob2 "@Tech - Scottie also said MJ was probably the greatest scorer to ever play...totally ignoring Kareem. Anyway Pip cleaned up his Lebron statement later by tweeting that Lebron has the potential to reach MJ's level." THERE'S NO WAY KAREEM IS IN THE DISCUSSION OF GREATEST SCORER WITH MJ. HANDS DOWN THERE'S NO ONE ELSE BETTER SCORER THAN MJ. EVEN KOBE NEVER WILL BE AT THAT LEVEL. PEOPLE TEND TO FORGET MJ PLAYED THROUGH THE "HAND-CHECKING" ERA. IF MJ PLAYED IN THIS ERA NOW, 40PTS WOULD BE LIKE SHOOTING FREE THROWS.

@GMoney "I read a comment was posted to trade Kobe while he still has some value. Maybe that's what Jim is looking to do, listen up. Kobe's bent out of shape because he feel's disrespected...RIGHT? He gets in a confrontation with Brown, Jim steps in Kobe demands a trade. A smart move, you unload that BIG contract, get some great players and some high draft picks. That Jim is a SMART MAN, There is nothing as bad as a FADING star that still thinks he's the SUN." AMEN BROTHER! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE DAY THAT HAPPENS. THERE WILL BE A PARTY AT MY HOUSE. EVERYONE IS INVITED. BECAUSE "THE SUN", MR "I EAT FIRST" STILL AFTER 15 YEARS DON'T UNDERSTAND TEAM BASKETBALL.

@KL Beast "Anybody remember Kobe calling Jerry Buss a dumba** ?" YEP, AND JERRY REMEMBERS KOBE TALKING IN HIS EXIT INTERVIEW ABOUT EATING FIRST. WE'LL SEE IF HE'S EATING FIRST NEXT SEASON. PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT BYNUM OR GASOL GETTING TRADED. IT LOOKS MORE AND MORE LIKE KOBE MIGHT BE THE ONE ON THE TRADING BLOCK. LMAO!!!

"Based on my analysis, Dallas should be the Heat in 5 games." Your Hate for the Heat shows. Heat has the home court advantage is much quicker and much more experience on defense. There's no way the Mavs give the Heat any beatdown like the Lakers took. As for the discussion of how Brown will work with Kobe. MM, you need to stop reflecting so much on the offensive side of the ball and look at how Kobe is going to work with Brown on the defensive side of the ball. We all know Kobe plays defense only when he wants to. He will not get that same slack that he had with PJ. He will have to play defense. For those who think Kobe is first team all defensive team. I want you to take a look at how Lebron played Rose in that series and tell me when have you ever seen Kobe be that intense on the defensive side. NEVER!

MM, 1. It's good to give a courtesy heads up on who they're hiring so Bryant can then tell his teammates before they find out through the media. I'll ask you this. Did the Lakers consult with Shaq when they chose Kobe over him? Kobe is never above the team.

Yo Kobe, payback's a biatch isn't it? Remember when you were a young whippersnapper in 2004 driving out Shaq so you can be the man in LA? How does it feel being the "old guy now"? LOL...LMAO KL, I COULDNT HAVE SAID IT BETTER.