WWTD?

The first time I heard Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”, I became overwhelmed with a single thought: “What would Tupac Do?” He wouldn’t stand for a song with this much hype for the East Coast. And this is the one thing I have in common with Katy Perry. (She stated how the Jay-Z hit has gotten her to follow the WWTD way of life in an interview with Rolling Stone. Obviously, since it was a magazine article, I couldn’t read the tone of her voice, but if she was saying this as a joke, then an extremely underrated sense of humor could be added to the list of her numerous talents. However, if she wasn’t kidding then, man, what a f***ing idiot.) One of the many, many differences I have with Ms. Perry is that she actually has the talent and the forum to voice Tupac’s presumed displeasure. Which she did, in her own special way, with this past summer’s smash hit “California Girls”, reigniting the dormant East Coast/West Coast rivalry of the mid-90’s.

But, this time the rivalry seems to expand further than the music industry. It has obviously made it’s way into the field of sports journalism and the East Coast is winning in a landslide in that battle.

ESPN has devoted an section of it’s website to the “Heat Index”, which strictly follows Lebron and friends through every move. Jeff Van Gundy has declared that they won’t lose two games in a row all season. He says they are a lock for the title this year and presumably each year for the foreseeable future. Multiple experts have said the ’96 Bulls record 72 wins is going down this year.

They may be right about that last part, but they have been talking about the wrong team. I understand all of the hype with the Heat. They have two of the best four players in the league in their primes, they came together through controversy, etc. And they’ll win 65 games this year and easily make the conference finals (I’m not sold on them beating Boston in the East Finals yet. I just hope the Celts can secure a top-3 seed to avoid seeing the Heat before then), but they aren’t the best team since ’96. The Lakers, on the other hand, might be.



Watching the first five games, the Lakers are just toying with teams. Granted their schedule hasn’t been the toughest, but they’ve used the easy early games to their advantage. Kobe was self-admittedly less than 100% on opening night. They were able to secure early leads against these lesser opponents and cruise the rest of the way, letting Kobe rest through the second halves. After a week and a half of taking it easy, he was back to his ‘last year conference finals against the Suns mode’ again last night.

Shouldering the load while Kobe was healing, the best offensive big man in the league, Pau Gasol. He can go right, he can go left, and most importantly, he has gotten 100 times tougher than he was when he was first traded to LA.

Equally as impressive as Gasol so far, has been Lamar Odom-Kardashian. I don’t mean this statement as an exaggeration, but I truly think he is the best role player in the past 20 years. (He may be the best ever, but I’m too young to have a strong enough grasp on the pre-Jordan era and I don’t want to lose all of this credibility I’ve built up on Illbefranksports.blogspot.com by making a ridiculous claim that exceeds my knowledge.) He’s a 6’11 lefty who can play 4 positions. Odom could be the best player on half the teams in the league, but he has accepted his current role with the Lakers. Frankly, he probably doesn’t want the pressure of being the lead man on another team. And really, I don’t blame him. He can just quietly fill up the stat sheet, live the life in LA, and hang out with Bruce Jenner all day. The only drawback to his lifestyle is that he has to have sex with Chloe Kardashian, but we all make sacrifices.

Then, of course, there’s Ron Artest, who, something tells me, would jump at the chance to have sex with Chloe Kardashian. Pair him together with Matt Barnes, an underrated pick up this offseason, and the Lakers have two of the biggest agitators in the game. Just think about them against the Heat, for example: Start out with Kobe on Wade and Artest on Lebron. When one gets tired/in foul trouble, bring in Barnes to guard either guy. Having three wing defenders of that caliber is a luxury that few teams know.

So that gives them a top-4 player (who has the most competitive desire of those four), the best offensive big man, the best role player in the past 20 years, a veteran point guard whose won five titles in Derek Fisher, two premier defensive stoppers who are comfortable in that role, two scoring guards off the bench in Steve Blake and Shannon Brown, and, of course, Luke Walton and Sasha Vujacic to talk to the Laker Girls during timeouts. (I’m not counting Andrew Bynum until he stays healthy for more than a 40 game stretch.) And by the way, they have 11-time champ Phil Jackson running things. The same coach who won those 72 games with the Bulls.

But the kicker, the thing that really makes me think they have a shot at 70 wins is the lack of talent in the West. Their three toughest opponents over the past few years are on the down slope. The Suns, Mavs, and Spurs are getting up there in age and it looks like their windows have closed (except for maybe the Spurs, who could still make one last run). The Jazz lost Carlos Boozer to the east, and tried to replace him with Al Jefferson, who was a steal for the price they got him, but is still a considerable downgrade. The Rockets have looked awful, the Warriors can’t stop anyone, the Kings are still a year or two away, the Clippers are the Clippers, and who the hell knows what’s going to happen in Denver.

So that leaves Portland and OK City as their competition. While the Heat are battling the Celtics, Magic, Hawks, Bulls, and Knicks(?), the Lakers are leisurely playing with the Blazers, Thunder, and I’ll throw in the Spurs.

They play the Heat and Celts twice each. The home team should be favored in each of those four games. Assuming the Lakers go 2-2 there, they would have to lose as the favorite 10 other times this year to not hit at least 70. I realize it’s still a ridiculous thing to ask of a team, to not have more than 10 off nights in 78 games. But, with they way they are structured and the ease of the West, I would put some money on 70 wins. I’d want some odds, of course.

(One last thought: I watched the beginning of Kobe's 81 point game on NBA's Greatest Games: Lakers Edition. The starting lineup that night: Kobe, Odom, Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown, and Smush Parker. Kwame and Smush wore headbands, as if to highlight for the other team which players they won't have to worry about.)