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The Triangle offense has enjoyed a nice little run of success over the past 20 years.  Since the 1990-91 season, there have been more champions who believe in the principles of the ol' "Triple Post" offense than use some other antiquated stategy for putting a ball in an iron hoop.  Really, when you think about it, it's a minor miracle that so few teams have tried to give the Triangle a shot.  If this were a copy cat league like the NFL, a full 60-70% of the league's teams would be trying to duplicate success by running the Triangle, and screen-roll dominant guards like Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo might be reduced to coming off the bench for a few minutes at a time, as Kevin Harlan proclaims "It looks like the Hornets are turning to their Wildcat offense, looking for a spark"

But the NBA is not a copy cat league.  In the NBA, each coach has their system, and they tend to stick to that system as stubbornly as my local brewery sticks to its silly notion that pants should be required for service.  Not so coincidentally, the Triangle's reign of success has resided within the same space/time continuum as one Phil Jackson, who's resume contains all eleven of those Triangle-running championship squads.  Of course, it's not just pride that keeps other coaches from attempting to adopt what has proven to be a winning strategy.  There are a number of reasons why, depsite its high level of success, the Triangle doesn't look like an appealing option for a coach on the outside looking in.

For one, the offense is a bit tricky to grasp.  Just ask Ron Artest, who's positioning and comfort within the Triangle last year was his one gloriously hideous blemish on an otherwise stellar season.  If understanding it is that hard, one can reasonably assume that teaching it is even more difficult.  In addition, not all coaches are lucky enough to have had Tex Winter on speed dial to help out with the Triangle's finer points.  Health has reduced Tex's role in Phil Jackson's life lately, but for most of the past 20 years, PJ has had one hell of a Triangle tutor on call if things start to break down.

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More photos » Luca Bruno - AP

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This is the final installment of our series of Player Report Cards, in which we evaluate and assign a grade to the performance of each member of the 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers. Up last is Kobe Bryant a.k.a. The Black Mamba a.k.a. The M.V.P. a.k.a. Daddy.

After 14 seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant is finally the undisputed King of the NBA mountain.  With championships (and Finals MVP trophies) in back to back seasons to add to the first three he won in the early 2000's, his career resume stacks up favorably with any other player in the game.  Add to that the fact that his chief rival for "best player in the game" has done everything he can this summer to throw his own reputation, both as a basketball player and as a person, under the bus, and you are left with the obvious fact that we have finally arrived at the point where the NBA is Kobe's world.  There are still a few holdouts who refuse to think of him as the best player in the game, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone reasonable who won't admit he's the greatest player in the game today.

He's reached that status because he works harder than anybody else to get there.  Kobe Bryant is what results when once-in-a-lifetime talent meets once-in-a-lifetime drive.  It's what causes him to take lessons with Hakeem Olajuwon to improve his post game, despite the fact that he's a guard.  It's what causes him to want to play for Team USA despite having played more basketball over the past few years than anybody.  It's what causes him to take it as a personal challenge to play in every single game of every single season.

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Ed. Note: Sorry for the pun. It's been so long since I've written an article, I'm out of shape.

Let's take a trip back in history... all the way back to November 7th, 1991, a day that shook the basketball world at its very core. Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, soon after learning that he had contracted HIV, announced his retirement, effective immediately. A dark day for fans, not just of the Lakers, but of basketball in general. Even Celtics fans, who hated the Lakers on the court, would have been saddened at this horrific news.

In the Dark Ages of knowledge about this terrible disease, it was assumed by many that Magic Johnson's death was imminent, that he would only have a matter if years to live.

But Magic overcame it all, and overcame many of the misconceptions of the HIV/AIDS virus in the process.

EDIT: Magic turned 51 today. I don't know how I forgot to mention that.

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More photos » Mark J. Terrill - AP

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This is the next in our series of Player Report Cards, in which we evaluate and assign a grade to the performance of each member of the 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers. Up today is Pau Gasol.

Pau Gasol has been a Laker for only two-and-a-half seasons, but in that time he's already established himself as one of the best forwards in franchise history. Consider first what the team has accomplished since the trade that brought him to Los Angeles: a regular-season winning percentage of 0.746, a playoff winning percentage of 0.687, three trips to the NBA Finals and two championships. Pau's arrival heralded no less than a new golden age in Lakerdom. Although it's impossible to say what the last few seasons would've been like without him around, we can safely assume the Lakers wouldn't have come close to scaling these same heights.

From the moment he joined the Lakers, Pau has been a near-perfect sidekick for Kobe Bryant. His skill set makes him an ideal fit for the Triangle offense. His post moves compare respectably to those of back-to-the-basket titans such as Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin McHale. He has a smooth outside touch that makes him a threat out to 20 feet. He's a sensational passer for a big man. And he more than holds his own on the boards and has developed into a strong defender. In both of his full seasons with the Lakers, Pau has been named third-team All-NBA. In 2009, he probably should've been second- or first-team instead. Pau could retire tomorrow, and his trade to the Lakers would still go down as one of the great steals in sports history.

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Michael Dwyer - AP

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This is the next in our series of Player Report Cards, in which we evaluate and assign a letter grade to the performance of each member of the 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers. Next in line is Andrew Bynum, a.k.a.The Big Potential.

Andrew Bynum may be the most contentious figure in all of Lakerdom.  Sure, once you leave the friendly confines of the purple and gold fanbase, you'll find lots of people who don't like Kobe Bryant too much, or people who aren't keen on Derek Fisher's skill in the art of elaboration.  People still hold a grudge against Ron Artest for past transgressions, and Phil Jackson has a legion of people who dislike his smug demeanor and seem willing to dismiss his "Best Coach Ever" legacy by claiming its the quality of his players, not his coaching ability, which is the reason for his unprecedented success. In house, however, there is no player two Lakers fans are more likely to disagree on than big Drew.

That's because Andrew Bynum represents the basketball equivalent of Let's Make a Deal.  Based on his current career progression, one could easily see a couple of distinctly different career arcs for our young center.  Behind door number 1, one looks at his soft hands, very good length (long arms on top of a legit 7 foot frame), and polished inside post moves that plenty of 10 year pros never develop, and they see a guy who has the potential to become the best center in the league (which is a virtual guarantee that you'll be in the mix for championships assuming a certain caliber of teammate).  Behind door number 2, his long list of injuries might have already cut into his athleticism, and we can look forward to more years following the same pattern of moderate success followed by untimely injury that we've seen for the past three seasons.  When it comes to Drew, all we can do is sit and ponder whether or not we'd be better off taking what's in the suitcase (some sort of trade bringing in another big piece).

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This is the next in our series of Player Report Cards, in which we evaluate and assign a grade to the performance of each member of the 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers. . Next in line is Ron Artest, a.k.a.Ron Ron or Crazy Pills.

I have a confession to make.  When I first heard the Lakers were going to sign Ron Artest, I wasn't exactly excited.  Not only did I not want him, I wanted the Lakers to keep Trevor Ariza.  Trevor was young, getting better, and a contributing starter on a Championship team.  I knew Ron Artest was the better player, but we all knew about the baggage he had.  Never mind his positive or negative impact on the basketball floor, did we really want or need him on the team that already went all the way?  Did the Lakers really need to shake things up with such a seemingly high risk, albeit high reward player?  There was his defense, that's a given, plus he showed in the 2009 Second Round series against the Lakers that he could lead a team offensively.  Yet, it was in that same series that he showed his poor decision making and bad leadership by shooting the Rockets out of games, and then earning ridiculous technical fouls.  Was he really necessary?  Did the Lakers really need to swing for the fences?  I wasn't so sure at first.  

Still, Ron won us over fairly quickly.  He was engaging, honest, accessible, funny, and really seemed to have turned a new leaf.  His transformation into a mature professional seemed complete.  He worked his way back into the limelight and relished the opportunity, and Lakers fans loved him for it.  He was on Twitter, giving away things to fans, saying all of the right things.  Plus, he seems to be a bigger fan of Kobe than any reader I've come across.  He seemed reformed, and this was before he even stepped foot on Staples Center's hardwood.  When the season began?  Well, that wasn't as easy.  His play made us share a love and hate relationship with him.

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This is the next in our series of Player Report Cards, in which we evaluate and assign a grade to the performance of each member of the 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers. Up today is Lamar Joseph Odom.  You can call him LO for short, or The Candyman to spice sweeten things up.

Lamar Odom is a busy man these days.  Whether taking some time to manage his personal brand, Rich Soil (purveyors of music, film, and fashion), or playing a bit role in either of his wife Khloe Kardashian's two reality shows (with a rumored third on the way, centered on Lamar and Khloe's attempts to mate), the man has a lot on his plate.

He also plays basketball profesionally.  Therein, for some, lies the problem.  Considering LO was already judged to be inconsistent long before he ever married someone who's famous for being famous, all these distractions he's got piled up on the side sure don't seem to be doing him any favors.  Kobe Bryant he is not, but is it too much to ask for a player who is already deemed to be not fully living up to his talent not to invite further criticism by living a large portion of his life in the public eye? 

That's why, as Laker fans, we were praying that Kobe and Pau Gasol would take the summer off from playing for their respective national teams in the upcoming FIBA World Championships, but nobody batted an eye when it was announced that Lamar would be donning the red, white, and blue this summer.  Lamar has played as many or more games than Kobe and Pau over the past few seasons, but nobody is concerned about his level of fatigue as we might for our two superstars, because nobody is convinced that Lamar works that hard all the time.

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This is the next in our series of Player Report Cards, in which we evaluate and assign a grade to the performance of each member of the 2009-10 Los Angeles Lakers. Up today is His Intangibleness, Derek Fisher.

At some point in the middle of this past NBA season, a great man wrote, "If Derek Fisher is re-signed by the Lakers, I will burn this city to the ground." That great man was me. Here we are in late July, and not only have the Lakers re-signed Derek Fisher, but they've committed to pay him for three more years. Unless the Lakers trade him before then, which they won't, or he fails to exercise his third-year player option, which he won't, Fish will be on the Laker payroll when he's 38 years old. And yet, the city of Los Angeles still stands, unincinerated and not even a little crispy around the edges. What happened?

For one thing, I probably never intended to carry out my threat of mass devastation. I've only committed arson three or four times in my life, and it's always a pain to get the materials together. Also, I live in Los Angeles and couldn't figure out how to burn everything down while leaving my own refrigerator box opulent home intact. The plan was flawed from the beginning.

More to the point, Game Three of the NBA Finals happened. That was the night Fish saved the Lakers' season and forced even the most committed of his detractors to revisit their criticisms of the man. Just when we were ready to give Fish his long-awaited Viking funeral and move on to the next era of Laker point guards, he pulled out another crazy act of clutchness. As a reward, he'll be hanging around until 2013 at the earliest, so in the meantime, we might as well sort out what we think of him.

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