TSN : NBA - Canada's Sports Leader: "Based on the seriously flawed Cleveland Cavaliers winning the Eastern Conference, the Raptors have to enter next season with the expectation that they will be be competing for the conference title."
Look to future, not to Kobe on ChicagoSports.com: "In the new-era media exclusive, Pau Gasol's Web site, www.paugasol.com, scooped everyone with these comments: 'If they really want to keep me, then they have to make the necessary effort to get players around me that can compete at the maximum level. I want to be on a winning team that has ambition and fights for everything with stronger players.'
Not likely with just the No. 4 draft pick and a team filled with youngsters. Gasol has made it clear he's no fan of the city, either, so with a new coach and GM and declining attendance (they come to see Kobe in L.A.; they don't come to see Pau in Memphis), it seems like it would be a perfect time for the Grizzlies to cash in.
And a perfect time for the Bulls to pull off that deal rumored at last season's trade deadline."
Annus horribilis: "But we ask you today to strike the 2006-07 NBA season from the record, as it was among the most disastrous in the 61-year history of the Association. It was a debacle, beginning to end."
TorontoSun.com - Basketball - Kobe's web comments suggest he wants out: "'When you love something as much as I love the Lakers its hard to even imagine thinking about being elsewhere. But, the ONE THING I will never sacrifice when it comes to basketball is WINNING,' the two-time scoring champion wrote.
'The more I thought about the future, the more I became convinced that the Lakers and me just have two different visions for the future.'"
