The Rocky Mountain Collegian

April 25th, 2007

Kobe, Nuggets and Broncos, oh my!

The Lakers lost to the Suns on Tuesday night, putting them down 2-0 in their Western Conference Quarterfinal series.  After the game, Kobe Bryant said that his team lost the game because their overall talent level wasn’t as high as their opponents, and for the Lakers to win they would have to play a perfect game.

Kobe’s comments insinuate his belief that he is surrounded by a bunch of chumps who would be totally lost without him.  This is simply not true.  The Lakers’ problem is not the players surrounding Kobe Bryant, their problem is Kobe Bryant himself.

He is, without question, the most talented player in the NBA.  But Kobe has never been able to use his talent for the benefit of his team, making his teammates better just because they play on the same court as him.

By contrast, Steve Nash has made guys with fringe-NBA talent, players like Leandro Barbosa, into All-Star caliber performers.  Kobe can take 50 shots and score 81 points in a game, but until he learns to trust the talent around him, his team will never amount to anything more than a first-round knockout.

Speaking of first-round knockouts, the Nuggets are trying to avoid the Lakers fate against the Spurs.  This year’s vintage is the best Nuggets team since Carmelo Anthony has arrived, but San Antonio will still be extremely tough to beat.

The Nuggets will have to win Game 2 Wednesday night if they are going to have any chance of winning the series.  The longer the series drags on, the better San Antonio will be and catching them by surprise in the first two games is the Nuggets best chance to continue their season.

Shifting gears, the NFL Draft is this weekend.  The Broncos have many needs, especially after they officially released Al Wilson on Wednesday.  There are two things that I want from the Draft; for the Broncos to draft either Jarvis Moss or Reggie Nelson in the first round and to draft Michael Bush with either of their two third-round picks.

Moss and Nelson both come from the BCS Champion Florida Gators, and they are the two most sure-fire future Pro Bowlers available in the late first-round.

Even though the Broncos signed Travis Henry to a five-year deal, they still need a big, brusing back-up RB.  Bush fits this role and the team’s one-cut running style perfectly. If he wasn’t injured last season, Bush would have been a top-20 pick; so drafting him in the third-round would be a great value pick.

Well, that’s it.  Go Nuggets and pray for clairvoyance for Mike Shanahan in this weekend’s draft, the Broncos desperately need it.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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