Roger:

To tell the truth I am so tired of the Shaq-Kobe melodrama that I am almost glad that one of them is gone. I am not in the Kobe or Shaq camp. I see two giant ego’s that put their own interests ahead of the interests of the team. If Dr. Buss had to make a choice I can understand why he went with Kobe but the way the deal was stupid. By not hiding the fact that they had to trade Shaq they turned a sellers market to a buying market.Odom is a fine player but the team has no size and no depth. With the Byzantine salary cap structure that the NBA has now as far as I can tell the Lakers are very close to being capped out until 2007.They say they are going to run and Kobe will be exciting but to have a good fast break offense you need someone to reboundand the Laker front line is thin. I am a life long Laker fan and I always will be but much like the war in Iraq this is going to be a long struggle with many casualities.We must be realistic. I think a reasonable goal for next year would be to make the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed and a first round elimination. GO Lakers! [said sincerly but meekly]