Summer of '09

"When I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever..."

Will the '09-'10 season start already? It seems like ages since the Lakers won the championship and the Recession of 08-09 was named MVP of the Finals. You read that right. Kobe hoisting the trophy was for the unwashed masses who tuned in to watch LeBron vs. Kobe only to realize, sometime in the 3rd period of game two, that Orlando was in the Finals and not Cleveland. For people that out of touch, the crowning of an economic phenomenon as the MVP would have been too much for them to handle. So they gave the trophy to Kobe but the economic down turn was putting the recess in recession when they got back to the hotel to celebrate. Everyone knew who the night belonged to.

It's no joke. The Memphis Trade was made purely for financial reasons brought on by the real estate bubble, the stock market crash and something called "toxic debt". Pau Gasol was the missing piece and until one of those draft picks turns into a 1st team All NBA player, I will hereto fore refer to the Memphis Grizzlies as the Lakers Farm Team (LFT). The Lakers had a good chance of winning anyway. As Dave Moss said in Glenngary Glenn Ross, "The rich get richer, that's the law of the land." The money train stopped and the checkbook in Memphis snapped shut. Can you imagine the shock of the players who were sent to Memphis? Kwame Brown and Aaron McKee walked into the Grizzlies locker room and found a handwritten note taped to their chairs. It went something like, please throw your uniform on the floor only if you need it washed. Otherwise, hang it on the hook in your locker so practice jerseys and game uniforms are not washed unnecessarily. Aaron looked at Kwame and said, "We're in Kansas." You think I am joking? I am. But you know what isn't a joke? Memphis was trying to give it self room to maneuver with a lower payroll and all those draft picks so they could build for the future. To do that you need scouts right? Well guess who got let go in Memphis? Yup, they released their entire scouting staff. So the LFT continues to struggle but fortunately they drafted Marc Gasol (that's Pau's brother) so that in a few years, when Pau is retiring and the Lakers need an all star for some draft picks and cash, Marc will be ready to make the jump to the big leagues.

But I'm over it. Really. So the Lakers won again and it looks like they could win again next year. I say "could" because championships cannot be won in October and the sure cannot be won in August. Prognostication winds up being a lot of Bovine Scatology. That's why they play the games. That's why Detroit beat LA (almost swept them) in 2004. That's why Golden State beat Dallas in the 1st round of 2007. That's why Orlando was in the Finals this year. Orlando? In the Finals? Not only did they beat Cleveland but they almost swept them. If Lebron does not make that miracle shot at the end of game two, I think that would have been it (Even though they lost the series, I still like watching that play. Hedo was thumping his chest in Lebron's house just a wee bit early on that one). I am not sure the basketball gods will smile on his departure to Toronto. The basketball gods are difficult to fathom but there are two things that have been shown time and again:

1. The basketball gods do not favor those who bolt to a weaker team for mammon.
2. The basketball gods do not favor those who bolt to a contender to try and squeeze in a championship before the golden years arrive.

Those are guidelines, but for the most part I think they hold true.

As far as the off-season goes, the story that's received the most ink is Stephon Marbury filmed himself for 24 hours. Apparently it's big news when a former all star eats a petroleum product live, looks at the camera and says, "Vaseline. It's what's for dinner." I still don't know why this story got some much press. I am deliberately not providing links to it in the hopes that anyone who reads this will be too lazy to look it up.

As for the off season moves, it comes down to this. In the eastern conference, the list is:

• Cleveland
• Boston
• Orlando
• Miami
• Chicago

One of those five teams will win the East. If we're lucky we will get a 7 game series in there somewhere that was as good as the Boston/Chicago one was last year.

Here's the list for the Western conference:

• Denver
• San Antonio
• Portland
• Dallas
• New Orleans

One of those five teams will win the West. Oh yeah, forgot one:

• Utah

One of those six teams. Okay, seriously, Utah is not on the list. Here's the team I forgot to add:

• Los Angeles Clippers

Do you really need me to add the Lakers to this list? They are at the top of everyone elses list. Do I have to have it as well for the sake of Jungian Synchronicity? Fine. Scratch the Clippers.

• Los Angeles Lakers

The West is going to be super tight once again and the Lakers will probably make it to Finals again but the approach will not be easy. It's going to be 2009 all over again. Only six games separated the 2nd seed from the 8th seed then. It's going to be more of the same this year only I don't think Los Angeles will have an 11 game cushion. But what do I know? Since this blog is run by a geek I'm going to do what any self respecting geek would do...I will get out the D&D dice set and roll for play off seeding and playoff wins all the way through to the championship game. The results will be posted as the Official 2010 Season Picks for the Basketball Geek. But wait! There's more! I will also be reviewing the Week in Twitter (WIT) for NBA players.