The Lakers got blown out by the Pistons tonight on their home court in a game that wasn't even as close as the score.

Let's take a look at the reality of the Lakers tonight and their overall disappointing 4-3 start. vs what the Sideline Parrots Kobe/Lakers say.(they say this after every Laker Loss so I'll be brief here since everyone knows it by heart now)

Sideline Parrots

The Lakers are a better team without Kobe

Kobe is a selfish ballhog.

Kobe quits on his team.

The Realities:

Kobe Bryant:  Bryant shot 5-11 tonight going 1-4 in the first 3 quarters then 4-7 in the fourth. This game was eriely similar to many games last season when Phil had Kobe trying to "get his teammates involved". Kobe is the number one shooting option and one of the premier shooters in the NBA. 4 shots in 3 quarters for Bryant is absurd. All scorers regardless of their name or their shooting %'s must shoot in order to be in rythmn. Smush Parker shot 7 times (2-7) and Brian Cook 10 times and Luke Walton 11 times in the same 3 periods. This is not what they pay Kobe to do. Last night when Kobe shot 19 times the haters came squawking "Kobe is back to his ball hog ways". Bottom Line: the Lakers can't win against good teams with Bryant taking only 11 shots.

Smush Parker:  Is only playing because Sasha has tanked the season to date even worse. and Farmar is a rookie. Look for Parker to work himself out of not only his starting job but a Laker Uniform by season's end the very latest. I said during the offseason, when Parkers name kept popping up at every "name rapper party", every  "free drinks and buffet shindig" that he was spending his offseason grabbing the limelight like he knew it would be the last chance he'll get. I suspect I'm right.

J. Farmar: We all know Phil hates rookies. But due to Sasha's and Smush's twin tanks, Farmar is getting minutes. He super green and making tons of mistakes. Old Pro Billups worked him over like Farmar was Payton in the finals a few years back. But not as bad as he worked over Smush. And Famer went 4-8 with six assists. If he can do this consistently as a backup look for him to take over the starting role by midseason latest and his outside shot is better to date than reported to be when drafted. Needs to get better on his 3's but what Laker doesn't?

Lamar Odom had his second straight less than hall of fame game which is to say he had a good game for the point forward in the triangle. Sideline parrots will say that Odom numbers have dropped back to mere mortal numbers because Kobe is back. Nonsense. Last night Lamar was occuppied with trying to keep Zack Randolph's 35 in the zone under 50 points and run the offense both and his numbers reflected that. Same situation tonight with Rasheed. Granted Sheed "only" got sixteen but when a forward has to spend his time defending the three point line and posts ups both he's gonna work more than normal. Bottom line Lamar belongs at the shooting forward spot in order to maximize his long arms and height but not brute force that he will encounter on a regular basis from the superstar PF"s as the season progresses. Hopefully this will happen once Kwame Brown returns shortly. Kwame is the lakers best post defender and best defender in the paint. Odom is fine and him back at the 3 will not benefit him but Kobe and Farmar as a slasher both. Opponent 3 defenders seldom have the bulk and size to  block out Odoms passing lanes just by being their size.

 Vlad Radmonivitch: Oh sure I know it takes time to learn the triangle. Not that a spot up long range streak shooter needs to know much more than that. And Vlad has certainly been a streak shooter. Consistent streaks of missing to date. Wasn't this the 5 million dollar man who was supposed to keep defenders from tripling Kobe because he'd make you pay with the three? 1-5  tonight which is an improvement over last night. His defense, never a question that he plays none, makes me want to issue him a matador cape. Wow. 7th man maybe? 8th?

Luke Walton: Remember when Luke would be at the rim and about to throw down an uncontested slam and at the last second would kick it out to someone? Remember when Luke would stand wide open at the three line and look for someone to pass to? After setting career highs in scoring two nights in a row and generally scoring like he thought he was Tayshaun Prince my Laker fans moron friends instantly dubbed him "the missing link". :Luke is doing just fne....in fact....great......for Luke. But he's not the missing link. He's not even the missing links cousin. He's two slow for a 3. Tayshaun Prince worked him over bad.(12-24). And Luke took 11 shots while Kobe too the same. What is there about this that you don't understand that this is just plain wrong. Luke can shoot 11 times as the sixth man if you want but I don't want him shooting as often as Kobe. Not now, not ever.

Andrew Bynum: Another statistical not too impressive game. Barely 19 he went  3/4 with a couple of boards. The miserable rebounding is on him. He was going against Nazr Mohmmed who is not a stiff but not exactly Yao Ming either. The 3/4 is on Phil Jackson. Bynum is agile and quick around the basket and not shy about his shot. for Smush Parker to take 7 shots against  Billups and Bynum only 4 against Nazr speaks volumes to me about Phils attitude concerning rookies. Incidentally all but one of Bynums best games as a pro in his young career have come with Kurt Rambis sitting in for Phil. Get a grip Phil. Stop acting like Larry Brown. Kwame is due back but he's not gonna light the world on fire scoring and Mihm is not even on the radar yet so you gotta give the kid some touches. He's your future to the second round if you don't screw with his head.

Summary: The Lakers need Kobe to shoot more, Odom to move back to the 3, Kwame at the 4, bring Walton and Rad off the bench. Give Farmar a couple of starts. See what happens. You might even get Smush's attention. Little run and gun with them two and Smush, Evans, Cook and Turiaf might not be a bad idea for the second unit. None of them except Turiaf play that much defense anyhow.