Quote:
Originally posted by <b>Ballscientist</b>!
Could you imagine if the Clippers made the playoffs and the Lakers did not?
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Yes, I can. The Clippers should have made the playoffs last year, and would have had it not been for Kandi, IMO.
The Lakers have no motivation and plenty of reasons not to make the playoffs:
* They have more than enough rings
* Shaq and Buss, for whatever reason, have not shown that cared for Chick at all ... so, that's not a motivation. Neither attended his funeral, memorial or street dedication.
* Kobe did not sign the extension on his contract and is tired of hearing that he is Shaq's Pippen, so he wants to go somewhere else (Grizzlies?) to prove that he is all that he believes he is. His only motivation is personal stats, and ocassionally demostrating to interested management of other teams that he is capable of being a teamplayer
* Kobe wants to have his own team, e.g., Iverson, T-Mac, KG, SFrancise, etc.
* Shaq has never had any real interest in basketball because there has never been any competition for him (no imposing Centers and Refs allow him to do whatever he wants to do). His only claim to fame is his bigness (some choose to call it dominance).
* Shaq wants to retire and buy the Magics. In his mind, he has given the Laker organization what they've paid for (3 rings) and is content to ride out his contract with this annual "invisible" injuries until the end of his contract.
The Clippers on the other hand have a lot of motivation:
* New contracts
* Respectability (their home games now match the Lakers in sellouts)
* They know they should have been in the playoffs last year.
* Each player is competing for playing time which makes them verrrrrry dangerous.
I'd better make this short because I could go on and on and on.
