Friday Bolts – 11.7.14
Darnell Mayberry on Reggie Jackson: “But Jackson already had said enough to turn local supporters into skeptics. When he finally took the court after missing the first three regular season games due to an ankle injury, Jackson didn’t do himself any favors in the court of public opinion. He played selfishly at times in his season debut at Brooklyn on Monday, putting on a one-man show and what seemed to be a dribbling exhibition designed to search for his own shot. He finished with a game-high 23 points but took 20 shots. Perry Jones and Serge Ibaka, the next two highest shot takers, had 12 and 11 shot attempts, respectively. Jackson had five assists but committed five fouls and seven turnovers. Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins grew frustrated with Jackson by the third quarter. Both big men began freezing out their point guard, refusing to pass him the ball to lead the break following defensive rebounds.”
Chris Mannix of SI.com thinks the Lakers should trade Kobe: “So I’ll ask: Why not trade Kobe? Or, at the very least, have a real discussion with Kobe about if he wants to be traded. I know the arguments against it. The Lakers have the fourth-highest ticket prices in the NBA this year, according to Forbes, and they need a superstar to entice people to buy them. Save for a couple of post-Magic Johnson teams in the early 1990’s, L.A. has always had an attraction or, in the case of the Nick Van Exel/Vlade Divac/Eddie Jones-led teams of the mid-90’s, been good enough to make fans forget they didn’t. A starless stinker of a team is one Lakers fans aren’t accustomed to seeing.”
Seth Partnow of HP on the Spurs: “In a way, it’s the bizarro version of the hand-wringing over taking (which isn’t really a problem, with no easy solutions even if it was). If the Thursday night double dip is meant to represent the best the league has to offer, bad matchups and absent stars aren’t great arguments for viewership eyeballs. While the NBA schedule is crowded and some degree of back-to-back play might be unavoidable, before defeating Atlanta last night, the Spurs hadn’t played in four nights! They don’t play again until Saturday. Finding a way to give teams 48 hours on either end of these important contests shouldn’t be a problem. Why not start with the desired Thursday matchups and build the schedule from there? Two well-rested teams going at it with a Monday Night Football-like spotlight, even a curmudgeon like Coach Pop would admit that sounds like fun.”
