LAKERS, BABY!!!

"BLUE" JIMMY:  LOS ANGELES LAKERS COMMENTATOR

BLIND DOG OZZY:  NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA

"BLUE" JIMMY:  THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS season begins Saturday with their first preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Oh, I know!  Some people say the preseason doesn't mean anything.  Some NBA coaches even want to eliminate the preseason and just start playing regular games which show up in the standings.  Let me tell you why the preseason is important. 

BLIND DOG OZZY:  Here it comes! ...

"BLUE" JIMMY:  It is not fair to rebuilding teams like THE LAKERS to NOT have a preseason.  Using the NBA Western Conference as and example, let me show you exactly why.  Teams like the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder have their all-star rosters intact.  They know what they have, they just want to start the regular season and jump so far ahead in the standings that no one will be able to catch them.  Teams like THE LAKERS on the other hand, have extremely promising rookies, skilled, developing young players and nice off-season acquisitions which look good on paper but no one knows exactly how it will all work until they all get on a court together and play against other NBA teams.

BLIND DOG OZZY:  Scrimmage is not an NBA game!

"BLUE" JIMMY:  The preseason determines who will  get to wear that proud purple and gold LAKER uniform, who will be a starter, who will be coming off the bench, who will be sent to the LAKER D-League and who will get cut from the team and end up playing for food and rent money in some ghetto in Lithuania.

BLIND DOG OZZY:  You know that tall, shiny-baldheaded, MOFO you see standing outside the club letting people in? ... failed NBA player!

"BLUE" JIMMY:  So everyone is asking me, "What do you think of THE LAKER'S chances this year?"  My prediction:  They are still a couple years away from championship contention and if everything goes FUBAR in the Western Conference, they might squeak into the playoffs.  But I am very excited about this young LAKER team:  Second overall pick Lonzo Ball; consistently excellent Jordan Clarkson; seven-foot scoring machine Brooke Lopez; automatic double-double beast Julius Randle and the young man who everyone predicts will be a future all-star, Brandon Ingram plus a cast of other solid players (KCP, Larry Nance Jr. et al.).  This team is not going to suck!  I predict that no matter what the standings say, THE LAKERS are going to be the sensation of the NBA and sell out every game at home and on the road and owners of teams like the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to be frustrated and wonder why this young group of LAKER upstarts are grabbing all the headlines ...

BLIND DOG OZZY:  ... I don't care if you just won a championship, I wanna see those Bad Boys from L.A. !!!

"BLUE" JIMMY:  Sake's Alive!

BLIND DOG OZZY:  Wow!  Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com