Sit Down, Shut Up and Play Some Basketball

(photo courtesy of yahoo! sports)


Yesterday, a couple of buddies and I were watching the Lakers take on the Kings and someone brought up the fact that the NBA hosts some of the strangest players in the world. We're talking personality strange, visually strange....some of them just make you wanna ask 'why?' Every so often, I will present you with a player who needs to sit down, shut up and play some basketball.

Even though I said I will present a player who needs to get his head back in the game, this edition of "sit down and shut up" will not focus on one player, but on an a team as a whole: The Los Angeles Lakers.

This may come to a surprise to some. you may be asking "why is this idiot telling the defending champs to shut up and play basketball," and normally I wouldnt tell any defending championship team to shut and and play ball. But this team, if these Lakers continue to act like fools off the court, I 'guarensheed' that they wont repeat this year.

Everyone on the Lakers should observe Kobe, he's probably the best in the league at strapping down and playing ball when things are getting rough on and off the court. Although the main reason why the Laker players are in shambles is because of Kobe (he has been taking way too many shots lately), he still handled this situation the best. What did he do? He kept quiet, and continued to only focus on basketball.

This whole ordeal started with Pau Gasol claiming that he needs more touches. A couple of days later, he says that the ball needs to go in the paint more. I agree, the lakers should force the ball inside at least once during their possession especially with those big boys down low. The problem here is simple, Gasol needs to shut up. You're a professional for heavens sake, is this how you're going to handle your problems? Blabbing to the media is not going to get the message to Kobe, shaq learn't that the hard way and look who came out on top?

If Gasol wants to get his message to Kobe, all he has to do is sit down with him. Now I'm not a Laker insider or anything, but I'm sure Kobe would be willing to sit down with his #2, the man who brought him that 4th ring without shaq to discuss how to bring in a 5th. To me, Gasol has earned his respect to this organization and to Kobe. Im not sure how intimidating Kobe is in public, but all this man wants to do is win, and win the right way. He dosen't respond to the media about team troubles, he talks to the team and Gasol should do the same. I mean lets be real here Gasol. If Kobe had a problem with you (and your not perfect, lets be honest) how would you feel if you heard it through twitter? Wouldn't you rather verbally tell Kobe whats wrong, and how you feel we can fix this? Its like you guys are kinder-gardeners, Kobe stole Gasols juice and Gasol having a fit but the teacher wont do anything.

Gasol is not the only Laker who needs to sit down and shut up. Ron Artest has been pissing me off all year. To me, this guy is Bi-polar. When he's on the court, hes all basketball. He looks focused, and has a killer instinct when he plays (only defensively, offensively he has been a joke.) The problem (and what has always been the problem) has been his public shenanigans. One day he shaves his head in three different languages, the next he claims hes gonna break a world record (him and Odom plan to make the most FT as a pair in 60 seconds,) and then the next day he claims that he wants to be the best defensive player, AND THEN the next day he will claim he needs to get faster to be the best defender he can be......I dont know, the guy just doesn't make sense to me....He's like a dog chasing his tail

Artest claims that he signed with the lakers to win a ring, hes the only Laker on the roster without a ring. All Ronald has to do is play hard every night like he has been doing and if I were Phil Jackson, I would buy him a muzzle that he would need to wear during media hours. Again dont get me wrong, I love Artest and in my opinion was the second best off season move, (besides Crawford to Hot-lanta) I just wish he wasn't aware of the English language

Ohh yes, there is more. Lamar Odom needs to shut up as well as Josh Powell. The other day, Lamar posted that he is ready to "personally" shed the "Soft" tag the Lakers own in the league and that he's willing to take a game suspension to do so. (source: http://www.ocregister.com/sports/odom-238453-lakers-fisher.html) Is it just me, or do the Lakers love the media? I understand that they are in the media capital but come on Lamar? You basically just told the media that the Lakers are soft....and its been exactly a week since that statement was made and have you done anything to make the team 'harder?' I certainly dont think so, and I have this feeling that Lamar will not take that game suspension during the regular season, he wants to be hard but the league knows him as an amazing guy. To me the Lakers look just as soft as they looked at the beginning of the season, they still dont demolish teams and they let them stay in the game unlike other elite teams that close their opponents within minutes of opening tip.

And then, there is Josh Powell. This makes me laugh, I just dont understand it. Josh Powell decided one day to plead on twitter that the Lakers need a change. To quote Josh: "kobe…kobe…we still need to step it up..can’t keep winning like that…there will be a change…trust me…" .........what does a player get out of that? did he think Kobe would respect him more by saying that to the world? did he do it to get more playing time? I cannot imagine how Phill or Kobe would feel if they saw this in their twitter news feed, it makes the team look like losers, it makes them look so soft.

Championship teams do not complain. Championship teams do not force blame. Championship teams do not make excuses. Championship teams do not use the media to convey feelings towards teammates. Championship teams win by trusting in one another and playing hard every night.

The Lakers are supposed to be a championship team.....so start acting like one.

T-T-R

p.s i know the last two articles have been heavily Laker based.....i promise you this is not a Laker site, its just the past 2 nights i've watched the Lakers so they've been on my mind.