Speed Round - Return of Phil

This will be a recurring feature. The three of us basically email each other all day about sports. Here's the first look:

TJ:

this is incredible. you laker fans have to be in such a state of limbo. we all know kobe missed the playoffs this year. we can suspect he's worked his butt off all summer and changed his approach to ensure it doesn't happen again. he could come out next season and play like an all world guard, the lakers could make the playoffs and guess who gets the credit...? guess who's gonna get rubbed the wrong way when he hears that WO phil, he didn't make the playoffs. W phil, he's a superstar that willed his team to the> playoffs. oh, the irony...

Waldini:

Spoken like a true hater...but couldnt' we say the same thing about MJ while he was in Washington. Post-Phil he didn't get to the playoffs at all as well.

TJ:

it doesn't matter what we three say about michael(although he did make the playoffs before phil withdoug collins and stan albeck). what's going to matterto you is what the media is gonna say about kobe.look, we all know the media is not itching to givekobe any credit. phil has played this perfectly. ifthe lakers lose, the media will say it's because thelakers were hopeless to begin with. if the lakerswin, the media will portray him as the sole reason.

Waldini:

I'll give you that on the media but I already told you those guys (in thewords of Nas) like to build and destroy. Plus I already told you, I onlyhalfway listen to a few of the media types anymore (Dupree comes to mind)b/c a good number have strayed away from rational thinking. I mean theseare the same people who said the following on Shaq BEFORE the trade rumors began

- If I were Jerry Buss, I take Kobe. He's younger, he hasn't reached hisprime, can create his own shot, hits free throws, is more motivated, blahblah blah blah
- Shaq has clearly lost a step. He's slow to defend the pick and roll, hedoesn't dominate like he used to, he needs to let Kobe be option #1, blahblah blah blah

Now what happens when he gets traded

- Shaq is the Most Dominant Big Man. EVER. If I had the first pick on whoto build my team around, I choose Shaq first b/c he makes everyone aroundhim so much better. He creates mismatches at both ends of the floor andblah blah blah blah
- Kobe is going to realize how sorry he was to let Shaq go. I hope you likeleading the league in scoring and not making the playoffs. He doesnt makeanyone better, he shoots too much, too much one-on-one blah blah blah blah

It's enough crazy talk to make your head spin. Of course if Kobe gets inthe playoffs it will not exonerate him from the press. They will just sayit's all b/c Phil was there. But this is the world we live in particularlythe US. They don't ever give a person full credit for anything. If a blackperson succeeds in corporate America then its the "well he was abeneficiary of affirmative action". It doesn't register in the brain thatmaybe he was just that good. See boy you got me preachin' 2day :-)