Hey fellow hoops fans! So, who all out there is excited that the
NBA preseason is finally underway, and our favorite teams and players are now loosening up the strings on the nearest nets?! Good to be back...
Of course, being a rabid
Laker fan, I'm more than "a little" excited to see
Dream Team 2 in action, but of course that excitement is being tempered somewhat by the whole damned
Kobe saga... What a shame that the dumbass couldn't keep his pants zipped, and is now overshadowing all the should-be fun and anticipation of an incredible season because of it...
I won't get into whether or not I think he did what he was accused of, but either way, it's certainly taking a HUGE toll on the guy, way more than I ever thought it would. He's finally been doing some interviews the last couple days, and he is
DOWN, like manicly depressed and totally dejected down. He's lost a TON of weight, is totally out of shape (especially following his offseason knee surgery), showed up several days late to training camp, and won't even be playing in any preseason games for a while due to his lack of conditioning. And we thought
Shaq was bad last year!
And to top everything off, the once choir boy, clean as a whistle Kobe, has finally gone out and gotten himself a couple bigass tats on one arm.
Some big ol' crown that has something to do with his wife Vanessa, and something else that I couldn't quite decipher. So the seeminly very last guy in the NBA with "non-tarnished" skin, has finally up and joined the rest of the NBA and inked himself all up...
Not that I think there's anything wrong with tattoos, but it was always refreshing to see Kobe being different from everyone else in that respect, and not taking part in all that... Oh well. The guy just seems
completely ruined right now - both mentally and physically. A shell of his former self. He said that up until just recently he was strongly considering taking the entire season off, but that his wife finally talked him out of it.
Looks like he's even going to make the cover of
Newsweek magazine next week, under the title "
The Kobe You Never Knew", or something to that effect. Even talks about him seeking a divorce lawyer several months prior to his affair.
WTF...
Well, I still think that even without Kobe, or with him only playing part time due to the trial, the Lakers are still going to be the team to beat.
Spurs lost the Admiral, but made some other good pickups.
Sacto made some strong moves as well. And of course, one
OCB will come charging in here shortly to tell us all about his dreaded
T-Pups, and the strong push they made during the offseason. If Latrell can keep his noggin screwed on properly, they'll be tough, I'll admit!
Still nothin' going out on
East though. That conference hardly even matters anymore. Grant Hill's already out for the season again, so the Magic won't be improving much as they had hoped. Pacers, Sixers, etc. Same ol', same ol'. No worries there. Gonna be another massive showdown from the big dogs in the West again.
So, who are you folks all rooting for, and what crazy reasons do you have for them possibly beating
my Lakers?! 
