WRITE ON: THE SWEET 16.

BRACKET 1

JANUARY 1ST

STOCK VS. WOOD

ROBERT STOCK

52

Calabasas

Business tax specialist

The NBA: Too Many Expansion Slots

Primoz Brezac. Johan Petro. Francisco Elson. Unless you're a NBA rotisserie freak, you probably don't recognize these names. Who are they? Each of these no-names started at center for NBA teams on November 17. Point is, the talent in The League is spread as thin as the list of NBA teams that Larry Brown hasn't coached, and it's obvious what's at fault: Overexpansion.

In 1980, even with the addition of four teams after the merger with the ABA, the NBA had just 22 teams - eight fewer than today. The better teams had several good or even great players. The Lakers, Sixers, Celtics had excellent players at almost every position. Even Houston, a .500 team, had Moses Malone, Calvin Murphy, Rudy Tomjanovich and Rick Barry in their lineup. By contrast, last year's champion Spurs had just one real star - Tim Duncan. The Detroit Pistons won the title in '04 with terrific chemistry but no great players. In fact, since 1988, when Kareem, Magic, and Worthy led the Lakers to the title, no team has had real depth of talent. Why does this matter? If you're a purist, maybe it doesn't. But most fans watch the NBA to see greatness - and the synergy that comes from the great ones playing together.

Imagine Kobe running a pick-and-roll with Duncan. Or Dwyane Wade leading the fast break with LeBron James and Tracy McGrady filling lanes. With a 16-team league, it could happen. But, of course, it won't. The owners' greed and a strong player's union would put the kibosh on any talk of franchise reduction. But before David Stern and company begin expanding to Mexico, Spain, and Slovenia (Primoz Brezac's birthplace), they should ask themselves whether NBA fans really want to see 6-6 centers and point guards who can't dribble with their left hands.

THOMAS WOOD 

21

Woodland Hills

Student at LMU 

Did Lakers choose the wrong ``Pippen?''

Now introducing, your Chicago Bulls--er, Los Angeles Lakers. As much as Phil Jackson wishes it to be so (and he really wishes it to be so), this isn't a mistake any of us are going to making anytime soon. Kobe did his best #23 impression for the first week of the season, but since then, his only Jordanesque stat has been his shots per game. But, he looks a lot more like his 72-win counterpart than another crucial member of the purple and gold.

Lamar Odom, praised by his new coach all off-season, has been nothing short of disappointing through 14 games this season; more Scott Padgett than Scottie Pippen. So why, I ask, did the current administration (the one that makes FEMA look like the New England Patriots in efficiency) pick Odom over the recently departed Caron Butler? Butler's stats stack up very well against his former teammate's. They are nearly even in points and assists, while Butler's FG% is better. Take into account Odom's 12 extra minutes of playing time every game, and the mistake becomes clearer.

Since I'm no stat geek, I'll also point out that Wizards' mainstays Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison called Butler the reason for their early success. Let's face it, Butler has ``it,'' and Lamar Odom clearly doesn't. He didn't have it Miami, and he definitely didn't have it playing for a certain red, white, and blue clad team a few years ago. Now, don't get me wrong; even with Butler, the Lakers were only going to be playoff-bound if every team in the Southwest division went on strike, and even then, they were looking at the eighth seed. So, on second thought, where's Ron Harper when you need him.

KAGEYAMA VS. LICCARDO

MARK KAGEYAMA

47

Sylmar

Plant nursery manager

Mirror, Mirror

After another Laker loss, owner Jerry Buss went to his room, distraught, and looked at his beautiful mirror. ``Mirror, mirror, on the wall, how is my team so far this fall????'' The mirror replied, ``Jerry, to be honest, you can`t handle the truth.'' ``We`ve been down before, and we'll be back at the top again very shortly...,'' Buss replied. ``You can`t handle the truth,'' the mirror replied again. Buss said, ``If you can`t tell me what is wrong, then please, please, show me'' At that point the mirror agreed. The mirror became cloudy, but slowly a picture of a man became evident. In horror, Jerry Buss began staring at a picture of ... his general manager Mitch Kupchak 

This year`s Laker team is poorly constructed, and almost unwatchable. With Phil Jackson, the defense is better, however, they still can`t stop dribble penetration, and without a bonafide big man to clog the middle, other teams waltz right through the heart of the defense. Everyone is blaming Kobe Bryant, however, without a second or third reliable scorer, he is like the captain of the Titanic. Long gone are the days of Showtime, or even the Shaq-Kobe era. Watching one superstar go one on three is just not enjoyable to watch. What the Lakers are are a team that has one superstar, and some mismatched inferior parts.

In five years, in my opinion, Mitch Kupchak has done absolutely nothing of significance that is positive for the franchise. His best deal was bringing in Karl Malone and Gary Payton. However, Magic Johnson was mainly responsible for this. He engineered one of the worst trades in NBA history with the Shaquille to Miami deal. His best draft pick is ... Luke Walton? Without Jerry West, Mitch Kupchak is helpless, and useless to the franchise

ROBERT LICCARDO

36

Huntington Beach 

Software developer

Are the Lakers Still LA's Team?

There's a buzz at the Staples Center tonight. The Cavs are in town for a game on Saturday night. King LeBron and the King's men are here to showcase that they are a new force in the revitalized Eastern Conference. L.A. fans are excited to see the Cavs play their team. ... The Clippers? Yes the Clippers.

What happened to the Lake Show? It's become the Kobe show. What fans are treated to today is Kobe taking - or more of the Lakers shots (some of them worthy of the highlight reel) with the Lakers coming up short on most occasions. Lamar Odom is a nice complementary player but he has never reached the brilliance on a consistent basis that he often shows flashes of now and then. Kobe is an exciting player and Lamar could play the Scottie Pippen role in Phil's triangle offense. But the Lamar And Kobe Experience is far from the LAKE show that started this decade with 3 NBA Championships.

This past off-season the Clippers made two moves that went a long way to gaining credibility. They signed free agent guard Cuttino Mobley and traded Marko Jaric to Minnesota for PG Sam Cassell. Mobley has been known as a scorer. Cassell, ever since his rookie year with the champion Rockets, has been known as a playmaker. What the Clippers also got was a floor leader that they so desperately needed. Sam is an extra coach at practice and on the floor. He talks a big game and so far he's backed it up. The Clippers are off to their best start in franchise history and Cassell is among the leaders in assists. The Clippers walk on to the floor expecting to win. Their fans fill the Staples Center expecting the same--something that Laker fans no longer expect.

BRACKET 2

JANUARY 8th

BOXKMAN VS. YANG

BRUCE BOCKMAN

44

Los Angeles

Editor/Television

Laker Luv

It's never too early to ask the Big Question for this Laker Team - Can the Lakers get some love?

Sure this team is young, new to playing together, needs time to grow as a team. But do they have to be so dull?

The Lakers that unified this City, who drew an estimated 1 million people of all ages and from all walks of life to Downtown to celebrate their Championship, were more than just basketball players.

Everyone could laugh at Mark Madsen's White Boy Boogie. We collectively rolled our eyes at Shaq and his D.J. impression-can you dig it? And all who heard his voice could bask in the warmth of the Grandfather to all Angelinos, Chick Hearn.

The `70's teams had Wilt the Stilt and Zeke from Cabin Creek. The Showtime Lakers of the 80's had Kareem and Magic, men whose personalities matched their basketball skill. Guys you wanted to hear from, who were funny and passionate about the game, the Team, and the City in which they toiled.

This is Los Angeles, the Entertainment Capitol of the World. We need some style with our substance. Today's Lakers hand out quotes like Nuke LaLoosh quoting from the Crash Davis handbook of sports cliches. This team not only lacks character, it lacks characters. Even Kobe feuding with Shaq was as entertaining as it was frustrating.

Or is it really all a function of winning?

Like a really attractive person whose jokes are funnier and ideas more intriguing, can winning actually make you more attractive? Can winning make you funnier, more interesting? Are The Lakers merely a winning season away from building character, forging an identity? Earning our love?

Unfortunately, based on their early play, that appears to be a question that won't be answered anytime soon. ...

ALLEN YANG

29

Northridge

Actuary/Health Insurance

A Surprising Twist to the Lakers' Drama

The Lakers' whodunit has been solved.

And like any good mystery, the key to the solution was asking the right questions.

Instead of asking whether Lamar Odom could fill the ``Scottie Pippen'' role in the Lakers' triangle offense, we all should have been asking WHO could fill that role.

Ladies and germs, meet Smush Parker.

It turns out that Lamar Odom is just Toni Kukoc, Lakers-style.

Now, Odom brings more to the table than his 90's Bulls counterpart, but it seems that Parker is the second banana to Kobe Bryant that the Lakers expected Odom to be. It's only four games into the season, but if, and it's a big if, Parker can carry his early season brilliance throughout the rest of the season, he will be recognized as number 8's ``Number 2.''

While Odom regularly fills the box score up with rebounds and assists, it is Parker's hustling defense that gives the Lakers the spark that complements their star player. Even if Parker 3/8s offensive output drops (he's currently averaging 17.8 ppg), it is unlikely that his defensive intensity will wane anytime soon.

Diving for loose balls at Jack Nicholson's feet, stripping opposing guards to create fast breaks, closing out three point shot attempts - these are all a part of Parker's repertoire, things that can remain constant each game, even through the shooting slumps and offensive lapses that will invariably occur at some point in the long NBA season.

Parker's big test will be facing teams later in the season. Teams will make adjustments for him, and he won't be able to surprise anyone. Against Denver the second time around, he scored only 9 points, but was still a defensive catalyst for the Lakers.

Here's to hoping that Scottie Pippen won't be the only famous second fiddle with the initials ``S.P.''

ZIMMER VS. TSITSUASHVILI

JEFF ZIMMER

46

Sherman Oaks

Director for ElimiDate

No Contest

When I read that the Daily News was seeking an amateur to write about the Lakers, I thought: how appropriate. Get an amateur to do a professional job writing about professionals who play like amateurs! You'll notice they didn't have one of these contests when the Lakers were champs. What next, a contest to find a columnist to become an inbed in Iraq?

Already I'm starting to feel a little like Huck Finn after Tom Sawyer got him to whitewash that fence. I'm sure there are a lot of good things about being a Lakers columnist. You get great seats, parking, and lots of free eats in the press box. There's always the chance you might be able to talk your editor into running a series of columns profiling the Laker girls.

You'd also get to meet a lot of big stars. The bad part for the Lakers is most of those stars are visitors. But there is Kobe. A guy with incredible one on one basketball skills trying to adapt to a team game. Some used to suggest that instead of armies fighting wars, we should just have the toughest guy from each country fight each other. If basketball did that, the Lakers would easily be in first, with Kobe taking on the best guy on each of the other NBA teams.

But it's not.

Basketball is a team game. When Michael Jordan bought into that concept, the Bulls began to win. Whether Kobe ever really buys into the Zenmaster's system or keeps taking those desperate last second shots when everybody on the other team including the mascot are on him is an interesting question.

So maybe this gig wouldn't be so bad. It could be worse.

It could be a contest where you'd have to cover the Dodgers.

JABA TSITSUASHVILI

17

Encino

Student at Taft High

You Can't Buy Maturity

There is no arguing that today's NBA has an image problem. But Allen Iverson's collection of throwback jerseys should be the least of David Stern's concerns. Today's NBA players behave less like thugs than like spoiled children.

Latrell Sprewell can't feed his family. Vladimir Radmonivic turned down millions of dollars in hopes of... a few more millions. Kobe Bryant actually requested that the Clippers move some of their home games to accomodate him during their courting process of arguably the most egocentric player in the league two summers ago.

Let's take a look at what has happened to these three players: Latrell Sprewell now has plenty of time to spend with his family, being that he is now out of a job. I just hope Spree has a few millions in the bank for apple sauce and fish sticks. Radmonovic has been complaining about a lack of minutes on a stuggling Seattle team, which next year probably won't offer him half of the reported $28 million they extended him last summer. As for Kobe's situation, the only thing his Laker team will be competing for this year is a decent lottery pick.

I can only hope that Stern's next memo the NBA's general mangers will read something to the extent of: All future contracts will be null and void once a player's ego exceeds the value of his contract and/or talent.

BRACKET 3

JANUARY 15th

SILVER VS. BLACK

AM SILVER

26

West Hollywood

On-line magazine editor

The Pro's of Consistency

Consistency. It's not a terribly artistic word - a compliment best reserved for a home plate umpire. Consistency recalls the morose stability of the San Antonio Spurs, the antithesis of the William Blake in motion Lakers of Shaq and Kobe. The teams of Phil the First were successful but never stable, and this unevenness lead to immortality. Cardiologists aside, who would have had those playoff battles without the frighteningly necessary heroics that peaked and died with .3?

Then came the slalom of the aftermath. Success punctuated by greatness devolved into mediocrity peppered by potential. Some point to the lack of All-Stars, but the problem is far less spectacular. Yes, the bench needs more depth and a post presence is lacking, but outside of Bryant, there is not a single consistent starter. Smush Parker can go from 21 to O ina day. Chris Mihm dominates the pine as much as the hardwood. Lamar Odom is terrific at hitting the boards, but his scoring often reads like an EEG monitor. And then there's Kwame Brown. ... The roster isn't without talent; it's without reliability. It is hard to expectsteadiness out of rookies or reserves, but from starters it is essential.

Streakiness is to be expected, but not to this degree. The reason for the optimism brought on by Jackson's return is the belief that a great coach can eliminate talented players' inconsistencies. In the mean time, road wins in Denver will be made up for with homelosses to Chicago. A 28- point first half will be followed by fourth quarter fireworks, only to end in a desolate overtime. It feels wrong for a Laker fan to wish for stability, but right now the team can't afford the luxury of the old Hollywood dramas.

COLIN T. BLACK

20

Granada Hills

Student at Pasadena City College

Requiem For A Rebound

Welcome to LA, the city where you can become a star overnight. Home to the likes of Denzel, Anniston, and Slava Medvedenko. Yes traffic is still bad, Skid Row is downsizing, and the Clippers are in first place. What's next? Warren Beauty schmoozing with Arnold, or the Purple and Gold making a run for it? Well with a Laker lineup not even deserving of B-movie status only time will tell.

Gone are the days of ``can you dig it,'' now it's more like ``can you even watch it.'' Sometimes, I wonder what Chick thinks about the boys in Purple and Gold. If they have Direct TV in heaven he is probably having a tough time.

For a second year the Lakers are led by their prodigal shooting guard Kobe Byrant. The only player in the league that took more shots than 50 Cent. If he where on Broadway he would have his own one man show. I know your asking what about Lamar Odom? Well what is there to ask? I'm an optimists but it just seems like it 3/8s not going anywhere.

Watching the Lakers right now is like watching your slow child play on a bad little league team. You don't want to say anything because he is young, and there is still room for growth. But deep in your heart you know you should push him to a different hobby. How does ceramics sound Johnny! Laker fans the new word of the day is ``positive reinforcement.''

Me and Phil Jackson will now be offering free Zen meditation classes for frustrated fanatics waiting for the 2007 free agent singing period. As of now the butter is getting moldy and the Jell-O is stale. Rest in peace Chick Hearn.

HARRIS VS. DELANIAN

GEOFF HARRIS

49

Sherman Oaks

Freelance writer

Lakers Win Title: Keep Dreaming

Martin Luther King had his. So did Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Now I have mine.

And it's killing me. Because my dream might be as impossible as Don Quixote's.

I dreamed the Lakers had won another championship. Not in three years. Or four. But this year.

A dream born from a victorious flick of Kobe's wrist with 0.6 seconds left in the Lakers' first game of the regular season against the much-improved Denver Nuggets.

Okay, so it was only one win, you say. But don't you remember Magic Johnson's first win as a Laker? When he, filled with joy, leaped into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's long arms to celebrate. That moment ignited a dream decade for Laker fans (five titles from 1980 to 1988).

Though not as ebullient when it started, the next Laker Dynasty (three titles from 2000-2002) also had its moments. Who can forget when Kobe alley-ooped to wide-eyed Shaq in game seven against Portland in the Pacific Division Finals? That one moment linked Shaq and Kobe together forever, despite themselves. It proved that team chemistry was possible.

Mere history, you say. It ain't gonna happen today, you say.

Oh, it is so fashionable to be negative these days, isn't it? But it's okay to dream, I say. Don't be afraid to open your heart. To believe.

Alchemist Phil Jackson needs to go Back to the Future with his new group. Sprinkle some ingredients from the previous Dynasties, like passion and chemistry, onto today's Lakers triangle and watch what develops.

I dreamed I saw NBA Commissioner David Stern handing the Larry O'Brien trophy to Phil, Kobe and the boys.

Then I woke up, screaming. I remembered seeing the San Antonio Spurs win the night before. Now that's a nightmare team. Good enough to repeat as champions. So much for dreams.

ALEX DELANIAN

20

Los Angeles

Student at USC 

Breaking The Mold

History remembers the innovators.

A relentless grip on the standard and the commonplace will get you nowhere in life - Phil Jackson's zen meditation may eventually help him reach this conclusion, but I'm here to put on the training wheels and hurry the process.

Listening, Phil?

Luke Walton should be your starting point guard.

He's a terrible rebounder for a small forward, too weak to play power forward and not enough of an offensive force to be a shooting guard. His one marketable skill is his ability to create shots for his teammates with fantastic passing.

Come on, Phil, even Tex could've told you that.

If the novelty of starting a guy named Smush Parker on your team has finally worn off, then it should be time to make improvements.

Sure, Luke can't keep up with 90 percent of the point guards in the league, but neither can Smush or Sasha Vujacic. The Lakers can adjust on defense and have Kobe Bryant defend the more dynamic guards while Walton gets help from Lamar Odom on the wing.

A small price to pay for somebody who won't suck the basketball into a vortex of fadeaway three pointers and spinning reverse layups when bringing the ball up the court.

Luke has shown throughout his career that he does one thing well. In the NBA Finals last year against the Detroit Pistons, when Tayshaun Prince was clamping down on Kobe, Luke was weaving through the Pistons

zone defense and feeding Shaq for easy dunks.

He made it look easy, and guess what - it is.

So let him do it, Phil.

If it'll help, think of him as the white Ron Harper.

Unless that also makes you think of Kobe as the new Michael Jordan. In that case, all bets are off.

BRACKET 4

JANUARY 22th

PIZZO VS. BORACK

SAL PIZZO

50

Tarzana

Music analyst

Lakers season could be saved by George

Devean George said before this season began his main priority was to stay healthy. By accomplishing that, everything else would take care of itself. Unfortunately for George, he has already missed two of the Lakers first twelve games and played just four minutes in another due to a sore foot.

With the Lakers season just one month old and already careening towards mediocrity at best, getting George back on the floor might be more important than most realize.

Many of the Lakers inadequacies this season have been blamed on the lack of another offensive threat to take the pressure off Kobe Bryant, the absence of players familiar with the triangle offense and the need for a strong on-the-ball defender. George, now in his seventh year with the Lakers, brings all three to the court along with leadership skills that began to become more apparent before his latest setback.

In the ten games that George has appeared, the Lakers have a record of 4-6. Interestingly, he has played an average of 27 minutes in the wins and just 18.7 minutes in the losses. With the additional playing time, George?s average is also five points higher (9.5 to 4.5).

The addition of George and the just returned Luke Walton in the Lakers regular rotation could work wonders for a team still searching for an identity. Walton, playing in his first game last night, showed why Phil Jackson has enough confidence in him to keep him on the floor for 35 minutes. Walton responded with eight points, seven rebounds and five assists. More importantly, he helped keep the triangle running smoothly during the Lakers fourth quarter run that allowed them to send the game into overtime.

With Luke now healthy and Devean very close to returning, many solutions to the Lakers deficiencies might be found right at home by George!

SHAWN BORACK

27

Lancaster

Student/Concrete pumper

Mitch Should Have Known Better

Where have you been Mitch? Didn't you learn the lessons from The Master? Perhaps it is unfair to compare Mitch Kupchak to Jerry West who is on the short list of the greatest GM's in the history of basketball; but Mitch lags far behind in comparison to his mentor. Aside from the brilliant acquisitions of Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Magic Johnson, Shaq, and Kobe, West always added the small pieces that complimented those players. When you look at his supporting players he had the offensive spark plugs like Jamal Wilkes, Bob McAdoo, and James Worthy. He had defensive stoppers like Michael Cooper. He had the nitty-gritty guys like Kurt Rambis, Brian Shaw, and Mychal Thompson. He added veteran leader Ron Harper to cement the Shaq-Kobe dynasty. All of these supporting players added to the established stars, spelled T.E.A.M.

The irony is that Kupchak was one of those nitty-gritty role players acquired by West. He was groomed by West as a future G.M. When looking at the Kupchak era you have to wonder if he was paying attention to the master at all. Looking at this team you have one bona-fide all star in Kobe and one secondary star in Odom. You have three players in Brown, Bynum, and Parker who provide potential but aside from that what player(s) on this roster fills the roles of the West teams? Nearly half the team plays either small forward or shooting guard. Who is the defensive stopper, who is the veteran leader, who is the offense off the bench, who does the dirty work for the team? When you consider his background he should have known better.

CRAWFORD VS. KOUTROUPIS

KINON CRAWFORD

47

North Hollywood

Office clerk

Now Comes The Winter Of My Discontent

Behold another NBA season of too much hype, not enough skill, and no clear pick for number one, and The Great Lakers Experiment. I'm not happy about any of it.

Call me a traditionalist, but remember when a player actually had to WIN SOMETHING before being named King? LeBron James is a great player, with potential to be one of the best ever, but can we wait until he leads his team to some success before we crown him? Ask yourself, why was Kobe slammed for producing great numbers (finishing second in TRIPLE-DOUBLES!) and not making the playoffs, but James was praised?

Something is very wrong when an NBA player needs to be taught to shoot a hook shot (Andrew Bynum), something I learned in elementary school. Just another example of the further declining skills of the NBA. Magic made the triple-double famous, yet now we heap praise on DOUBLE-DOUBLES??? Mediocrity reigns.

Who's Number One? San Antonio? Soft and always looks beatable. Miami? Only a matter of time before The Big Selfish corrodes the Heat like he did LA. Phoenix? Not without Amare. Indiana? The heart of that team left with Reggie. My Pick? Detroit.

Another Lakers mystery season. To begin, don't blame Mitch. Jerry West wasn't perfect either (remember Terry Teagle, Wes Matthews, BENOIT?). Don't blame Kobe. He has played his butt off (let's just hope he stays patient with his teammates). Don't blame Phil, either. It's a thankless job, and this is his greatest challenge ever. If anyone, blame those who foolishly expect championships every year, considering it a failure if they don't win.

No, I'm not happy. I love the NBA, love basketball period, and want it to be the best it can be. Just like it used to be.

YANNIS KOUTROUPIS

17

Corpus Christi, Texas 

Student at WB Ray High

A 17-year-old, are you kidding me?

A great deal of negativity surrounded the Lakers first round pick in the NBA draft. ``Why pick a project?,'' ``So much for trying to win now,'' and ``Not a good pick with what's left on board,'' were some of the things said. However, picking Andrew Bynum was not only the right choice, but the best one.

Phil Jackson made it clear days before the draft that he wanted a center - Who better than a seventeen-year-old, seven-foot monster who has a 7'6'' wingspan and a standing reach of 9'6''? Young and inexperienced, Bynum is the perfect molding clay to shape into the type of player who is hard to come by. Possessing all the things you can't teach, and lacking some of the things you can, Bynum has the potential to become a great big man in this league.

There were some good players left on board. Some, but none better than Bynum. Sean May, a 6'8'' power forward, lacks the size to become a big-time player on the next level. Danny Granger is a proven college player, but the last thing the Lakers need is another small forward. Gerald Green is a great prospect, but the Lakers are set at shooting guard for at least the next seven years.

According to Coach Calhoun, who would have coached Bynum had he gone to UConn, he was ready to dominate college basketball. What the Lakers did in drafting Bynum at the tenth spot in '05 was win the draft lottery in '07. With two years of college he'd have been a top pick. Great big men are the foundation for Lakers Championship teams, so why go with anyone else than a kid with the potential to be one?