Jason Williams, aka "White Chocolate", Retires

This is one of the rare moments I'm featuring an NBA player that is not, and had not, played for the Los Angeles Lakers. Why? Because one of the key figures in the Los Angeles Lakers-Sacramento Kings rivalry of the late 1990's hung up his sneakers.

Jason Williams, aka "White Chocolate," aka "J-Will", announced his retirement a few days ago and I felt the urge to write about this very interesting specimen of a basketball player. He was one of the very few broke the mold of the typical Caucasian point guard. When basketball fans think of "white point guard," cerebral players like John Stockton, Mark Price, and Scott Skiles come to mind. But J-Will is in the same basketball vicinity "Pistol" Pete Maravich once occupied-- Showboat City.

Williams, in his three years with the Kings, made them watchable and competitive in the regular season. The behind-the-back passes, cross-over dribbles and long 3-balls put the fans in the Arco Arena, and his presence evened-out the likes of Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic in the team. Yeah, Williams took a lot of bad shots and prioritizes sizzle over substance, but basketball fans forgave him.

But when playoffs came, it was a different story.

Playoff success was not part of Jason Williams' career in Sac-Town. Williams' stats dropped dramatically and his penchant to make turnovers was more glaring than his flashy game. As a result, he was shipped to the Memphis Grilzzlies for Mike Bibby after three break-neck seasons with the Kings. Along with Williams, the fun-and-gun Sacramento Kings image departed.

The same way could be said about Jason Williams. He obviously matured as a player in Memphis but definitely lost the mojo that differentiated him in Sacramento.

So, my hat's off to Jason Williams. He definitely made basketball interesting for a lot of people during his early playing days.


Tags: NBA

Kobe Bryant Won't Repeat as MVP

2008 seems to be Kobe Bryant's year so far-- he won the 2007-2008 NBA regular season Most Valuable Player award, he led the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA Finals, and was part of the gold medal-winning USA Mens's Basketball team that dominated the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But 2009 may be a different story for him, particularly in the MVP race.

Phil Jackson shared in a recent interview that he plans to limit Kobe Bryant's minutes this coming 2009-2010 NBA season. Kobe has played at least 38 minutes a game since 2004, and for Jackson, that is an area of concern because of Kobe's health and age (he turned 30 this year).

So this means an opportunity for the likes of LeBron James and Chris Paul to grab their first Most Valuable Player plum.

But I'm definitely sure knucklehead Paul "I'm the Best Player in the World" Pierce won't win it.


Tags: Lakers

Big Lakers Fan is a Finalist at the Philippine Blog Awards!

Yes!

I'm very ecstatic to share that Big Lakers Fan is a finalist in the Best Blog for Sports category at the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards!

Making the finals is a great feeling, something like watching Kobe Bryant making a buzzer beater to win the game for the Lakers. :)

The finalists for the Sports category are:

• Big Lakers Fan
  
• Bleachers’ Brew
  
• HooPh - Philippine Hoops Blog
  
• Lakers Today
  
• Sports and Tech sa Pilipinas
  
• The Bull Runner
  
• Victorious One
  

It's interesting to note that there are three basketball blogs out of the seven, with two blogs about the Los Angeles Lakers (mine included :P)

The awarding ceremonies of the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards will be on September 21, 2008.


Tags: Lakers

Pau Gasol at Power Forward: Will this Work for the Lakers?

I read an article about Los Angeles Lakers young center Andrew Bynum where he was excited about this coming season because of his improved health. The last line read:

Bynum also said he’s looking forward to teaming with Pau Gasol, who will move from center to power forward this season.

I gave emphasis to the last part of the sentence because that will be at the center of one of the big questions the Lakers will face this season: "Will Pau Gasol at Power Forward work?"

Kobe Bryant is a known commodity and his value to the team is huge, but as we have seen in past Lakers successes and failures, it often because of a Laker not named Kobe Bryant. Pau Gasol was brilliant in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and he was playing his preferred Center position. Power Forwards in the NBA are generally much more active and physical than Centers. The likes of Amare Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, Carlos Boozer and David West come to mind.

Let's see how training camp will work out.

Tags: Lakers

So Oklahoma City Thunder It Is

The Los Angeles Lakers has a "new" opponent in the Western Conference-- The Oklahoma City Thunder. This has got to be one of the worst kept secrets of all time as people already knew as early as a month ago what the name of the Oklahoma team will be.

The franchise was originally the one that belonged to the Seattle Supersonics, but thanks to a messy move to Oklahoma City, Sonic Green is now Thunder Blue and Orange.

Almost every pundit is predicting the Thunder will suck big time so I guess, the only thunderous sound that team will hear are boos from frustrated fans.


Tags: NBA