In Non Jeremy Lin news, Kobe Bryant passed former teammater/arch rival Shaquille O’Neal and became the fifth highest scorer in the history of the NBA in his hometown of Philadelphia, no less.

Unfortunately for Bryant, the Lakers couldn’t contain Lou Williams as he went for 14 points in the 4th quarter: Sixers 95 - Lakers 90.  This only seems to highlight a consistent problem with the Lakers this season. Not athletic enough to keep with the young dudes of the league. 

Another day, another Lakers rumor of sorts. 

Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Los Angeles Lakers have expressed an interest in trading for Cleveland Cavaliers back up point guard Ramon Sessions. 

As we all know by now, the Lakers’ point guard options look fairly glum right now. Derek Fisher, while he may hit the occasional big shot, isn’t going to turn back the clock, Steve Blake is still on the injured list and rookies Darius Morris & Andrew Goudelock have been sporadically effective when given time off the bench. It only makes sense to find a temporary solution to keep up with the glut of speedy point guards in the Western Conference.

A deal for Sessions makes sense for the Lakers and could be affective use of the Lamar Odom trade exception, but you never quite know with this current Lakers regime. With Orlando’s current landslide and the Nets playing like, well, the Nets, maybe Mitch Kupchak could pull off a mega deal landing Dwight Howard and Deron Williams. 

Alex Kennedy of Hoops World is reporting that the Los Angeles Lakers have expressed in an interest in Gilbert Arenas. Arenas was waived by the Orlando Magic in early December and has been a free agent since then. 

Arenas could potentially fill the athletic void in the current Lakers line up, but it would seem like the Lakers would benefit more from signing a player like Aaron Brooks once he completes his season in China. 

Don’t forget to pick your own Gil Shirt from the Off Season Store.

Kobe’s first “jump off”. 

@Suga_Shane

(Source: candith)

Vanessa Bryant thinks that Kobe cheated on her at least 105 times in 10 years, according to reports. 

As one of my favorite tweeters posted, turns out Kobe’s true idol isn’t Michael, it’s Wilt. Forget Kareem’s scoring title, Kobe is trying to dethrone Wilt and his 20,000 jump-offs scored.

But in all seriousness, lets talk about those stats.

I know that some people don’t like the statistical revolution in basketball, but I’m pretty sure none of us were able to watch the 105 “overtime” games Kobe participated in, so all we have are the numbers to go by. 

Vanessa claims that Kobe cheated on her 105 times over the course of 10 years. She also claims that he has a “jump off” in every NBA city. This, my friends is called a habitual cheater. I’m no Hugh Hefner, but if my calculations are right, there’s 29 NBA cities and 10 years of time to do the cheating in. This means Kobe was having roughly 10 to 11 affairs a year even though he was traveling to 29 different cities, giving him a scoring rate of approximately 33%. That’s some inefficient scoring.

Taking it a step further (since I haven’t taken this way too far already) the 105 number seems way too low for an NBA Super Star like Kobe Bryant. You would think a guy with his assets would of carried more weight. Either Vanessa’s stat-tracker is broken or Kobe has been severely under-performing over the last decade. An expert estimate of what Kobe’s production should have been would be closer to 1,005 than to 105. Over 10 years, 82 games a year plus playoffs, most of which are at least 500 miles away from home in 29 different cities… well, you do the math.

Makes you wonder, though, between the insane gym hours, basketball games, event appearances, countless affairs and raising two kids, when does the Mamba actually sleep?

@Suga_Shane

Photo via: @dreudamn h/t @DrewUnga

Looks like Blake Griffin has been watching too many Real Madrid matches during the lock out. Flop City. 

However, the fact that Griffin flopped a little bit towards the end of a pre season game says more about the emerging rivalry between the Lakers and Clippers. Basketball in Los Angeles has taken a Dickensian twist.