Kobe Bryant. This is a given, so I figured I’d get it out of the way. The man is a winner. Unlike Lebron, though, he’s a winner surrounded by other winners. That makes for a winning team.

Lamar Odom. Lamar is one of those guys who is not built like the average player. His abilities don’t make sense for his body type, and he uses that to exploit defenses in ways they’ve never seen from someone who can also cover a 7 footer on defense.

Orlando lives AND dies by the three-pointer. L.A. has been [...]

I hate to be a premature prognosticator, but David Stern should just go ahead and crown our ass; the Los Angeles Lakers will be your 2009 NBA Champions.
How do I figure?
1. The Magic have the Cavs on the ropes. The Magic. A team that struggled against a depleted Celtics team that needed seven games and 129 overtime periods to sneak by the 41-41 Bulls. I think it’s safe to say that either the Lakers or Nuggets would handle Dwight Howard and Co. with relative ease.
2. If the Magic do win the Eastern Conference Finals, and they lead the series 3-1, [...]

10 Things That Need to Happen for the Lakers to Win Tonight:
10. No Sasha Vujacic.
9. Less Luke Walton.
8. More Shannon Brown.
7. Did I mention less Sasha Vujacic?
6. Derek Fisher must play less, shoot less.
5. Lamar Odom must play more, handle the ball more, be more aggressive.
4. L.O. and Trevor Ariza must continue to make the Nuggets pay for putting Carmelo Anthony on Kobe Bryant.
3. No more uncontested Kenyon Martin and Nene dunks. That’s mainly on Pau Gasol. On the other end, Pau must make them and the Birdman pay by hitting his free throws.
2. No Socialist Kobe. No spreading the [...]

I love when Google trends effectively mirror real life. Check out how Shannon Brown has trended past Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic of late on Google Trends. Kind of resembles the guard rotation. Well, at least until Farmar starting earning minutes back. Expect Shannon to see bug minutes against the bigger Chauncey Billups against the Nuggets, kind of like he did against Deron Williams.