Thank you Pau Gasol....

2014 marks the last season of Pau Gasol at Lakers. He won 2 championship rings long with Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson while he was with the Lakers.



His new deal which is worth 22+Millions over 3 years will send him to Chicago Bulls.

Am I happy as a Lakers fan? Not really because our front court is almost empty besides Jordan Hill. Ryan Kelly and Sacre? MEH. Can we attract anyone else? I doubt.

Am I happy for Pau? Yes! He has been on the trading block news for the longest time since their fail attempt at the 3-peat where Phil left along with it. I believe Bulls will be a good places for him considering how much he enjoys moving the ball, and hopefully the young blood and the change of environment will give him a new life.

Thank you Pau. It was fun while it lasted. Good luck!

Lakers, bouncing back to domination?

My Brud DT's post reminded me that I haven't been writing for this blog for the longest time.  So what happened? Maybe the passion of writing basketball left the same time Kobe and the Lakers walked off the court torn and broken. As a sports fan, it's hard to see your own team suffer and not just a little scratch but a major blow in this case.

How can we allow the Lakers to suffer such humiliation? It's the gold and purple we are talking about, we are the kings and we dominate.

What does it mean to dominate?

To dominate means on any days, ANY, when your friend ask you "Lakers vs Utah" - Lakers. "Lakers vs Bulls" - Lakers. It's almost like a faith, I don't even care who Lakers is playing against, I don't even care if someone is not feeling well or the opponent is having a 17 games winning streak, it's the Lakers.

"Dominating means we believe we will win, we know we will win regardless of who we are playing against."   

Google 72-10 and you will see the meaning of dominating.

Still the best NBA record. Jordan's 2nd 3peat

92' Bulls: 67-15 - this is dominating.

86'-87' Lakers - dominating.

71'-72' Lakers - Longest winning streak before MJ and the guys took over.

3-peat, Kobe and Shaq.

What does it means to the sports? More haters? More bangwagoners? Boring games as it's all "expected"? Do we want to see a dominating team?

Do we have a team like this as of now? Are the heat a dominating team? Yes, they are a good team, they win games, big games but are they dominating? They won 2 rings back to back and now they are chasing their very 1st 3peat and the only thing in their way now is Pacers and Either OKC or the Spurs.

They have had it easy, Bobcats and Nets for their 1st 2 round of the playoffs but that doesn't means they are not a good team. Like it or not they are going down onto the hall of fame. I'm a hater and I'm proud to say that.

THIS... Still hating it.


This is sports and we don't have a sure win but to dominate the game is possible and that means a lot of work. It's the same thing in life, regardless of what we do, if we want to be good we have to put in the effort and make things happen.

How much time does Kobe and the Lakers have to bounce back? Is Love the solution? Will a new coach be able to turn the team around? How much can the Lakers do in the coming off season?

IT'S OPENING NIGHT!

After months of talking and uncertainty during the off seasons, NBA IS BACK!

On opening night we have 3 games

ORL : IND
CHI : MIA
LAC : LAL

Frankly, I wasn't at all interested in the ORL vs IND game. All eyes on CHI vs MIA because of this man. All talks about him since he was out for 15 months and we want to watch how he will lead the bulls against our defending champion - Miami Heat. (I feel a sharp pain every time I say this.)

D Rose #TheReturn

How did it go? CHI 95 MIA 107. The Heat's D was madness and the way they play as a team and moving the ball was beautiful. I know it's too early to say but these guys are in the zone.

Is there a better way to start the season than having a derby game? LAC vs LAL. We all know Kobe is still out, Steven Nash was more like Stiff Neck for now and the rest of the players are just the rest of the players. To make things worst, LAC has gotten Doc Rivers but guess what? Looks like Doc have to start the season with a L.

LAC 103 : LAL 116.

To be honest I didn't like how the starters were playing in the earlier part of the game. A lot of run and gun and we see players taking jump shot and Gasol taking 3s. And yes he did make it. But I don't believe that is the best for the team to have a 7ft shooting from outside instead of showing some paint presence. The ball movement was pretty good from the 2nd half onwards and players like Farmar, Hill, Henry and Meeks just started to light things up. The team ended the game with 5 bench players with double figures. I can't say I am all excited about this team and the coach as a Lakers fan but I must say they have given their very best on this opening night. It's too early to say anything more but I hope they keep it up. This is why I love sports, always expect the unexpected.

Image from LA Times.com

As for the ORL and IND game, I have to give it to Roy Hibbert and Paul George. These fellas are putting are big big numbers.

16 Rebound and 7 Blocks for Roy. and 6 rebound, 5 Ast and 24 Points for Paul.

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Very good opening night as a whole. I love this game!

The Perfect Team

As mentioned in our previous two posts, NBA free agency is upon us. With this topic as my main inspiration, I have decided to write a post about building the perfect team.

In life, we all are part of teams at work or in our daily life (no man is an island). We work as part of a team which is a part of a bigger organisation, we are members of of our families and we are in a relationship with another person. No matter how different our situations and circumstances are, we all hope for the best combo that fits.

As sports fans, we have fantasy leagues where we build our dream team by putting together the best players in the world. We love All-Star games because that's like a dream come true for fans as we get to watch these players actually play together for real. But in the sports world, like in real life... things are never so simple.

I think a friend of mine came up with the best line about putting together the perfect team. "The stars have to be aligned". In so many ways, it's extremely accurate. We need so many elements to fit together that makes it so hard to achieve.

The boss
In any business, the end result is making money. With that as the goal, we put together the most efficient team with whatever means we have to achieve it. Similarly in basketball, the management has to balance between making money and winning championships. With the salary cap in mind, they put together what they deem as the right team to entertain the fans and try to win the championship. It's not easy to get a boss who sticks to the long term plan, backs his crew and pays the high salaries willingly. Therefore, these championship teams are hard to come by and usually don't last very long together.

The coach
The boss is the guy who buys the ship and owns the fleet, the coach is the captain who steers the ship in the right direction. The coach's team philosophy and system determines the identity of the team and how well he manages the players to play within his system will equate to the success of the team. With this new generation of players who focus on individual achievements and personal glory, this is not an easy job. That's why we are all looking for a Phil jackson.

The players

Michael Jordan once said "the organisation has to build the team, but its the players who win the championships". Putting together the key players who can play together and complement each other is already quite a tall order. Aside from them, you need to have role players who are willing to support them and come up big at certain key moments to be able to win. Like Rick Fox said "sometimes for a few minutes, a quarter or even a full game, you have to be as good as Shaq or Kobe"

If you are lucky enough to do all that and succeed, keeping the team together and prevent the egos from clashing will be even tougher. And simply putting star players together together doesn't equate success (just ask the '04 lakers). These players have to be able to sacrifice part of their individual game to play better together. A flush or straight beats an ace or two any day.

In conclusion, its pretty damn obvious how tough it is to build a perfect team. I have been blessed to be a part of some great teams, both in and out of basketball... We should appreciate the great teams we are part of and those we actually get a chance to watch (whether we like them or not, like Miami Heat). A perfect team is like clockwork, working together seamlessly and yet look so effortless, an absolute beautiful thing to watch.

Today's my partner-in-crime's birthday! Happy birthday bruh!
Hope some of your birthday luck will help us sign Dwight and put us back in glory quickly.

The Original Dream Team. Widely known as the best sports team ever assembled.

The 96 Bulls team with the best record ever 72-10 and capping it with a championship.

01 Lakers team who almost went on a perfect playoff run.