I gotta hand it to your team, plawrence. The Nets are looking really strong, and they should come out of the east. Hopefully they won't be TOO rested after the Philly-Detroit series ends after 6 or 7 games. I was watching highlights of Jason Kidd last night, and I can't believe how good his court vision is. He might not have a great shot, but he is an outstanding rebounder for his size and he is the best passer I've ever seen this side of Magic Johnson. I don't think he'll ever come close to Stockton's assist mark, but I am more amazed by Kidd's passing than I am with Stockton's.

We may get our chance to see how good Kobe is, since Shaq will almost definitely retire before Kobe does (barring any kind of career-shortening injury to Bryant). Once Shaq is gone, the offense will be redesigned to have Kobe as the focus (if he isn't already), and I think his game will open up. I think that many of the great ones have had a sidekick (MJ and Pip, Magic and Kareem, Larry and McHale, West and Baylor), and I don't think Kobe will be any different.

Kobe is quite cocky, but he can back it up. There are a lot of guys out there who do a lot of talking but no one hates on them because they're not in the spotlight all the time. You see guys like Antoine Walker doing a lot of talking, but no one hates on him. I think with Kobe it might just be plain old jealousy. He's young, handsome, rich, has a hot wife, plays for the NBA's glamour team, and he's probably the one guy who has been able to live up to the dreaded "next Jordan" label. Success breeds contempt.