NBA GMs: Lakers will be Champs, Kobe is clutch and Bynum will be the breakout player

NBA.com’s about to release their annual GM survey and we got a sneak peak:

In the survey, a whopping 46% of the GMs picked the Lakers to win it all:

• 46% Lakers
• 19% Celtics
• 12% Hornets
• 9% Spurs

And who you gonna call when you need a game winner?

For the7th season in a row, Kobe “Dobermamba” Bryant was far and away the #1 choice with 89% votes this year.

And for you Bynum lovers, AB17 received the nod from the GMs for “breakout player of the year”.

Which team will win the Pacific Division?
1. L.A. Lakers — 100%

Which player is the best at getting his own shot?
1. Kobe Bryant - 81.5%
2. Tracy McGrady — 7.4%
Others receiving votes: Manu Ginobili, Ben Gordon, LeBron James

Also of note, LeBron is the projected MVP for the 2008-2009 NBA season with a 56% vote, Kobe with 37% and Chris Paul with 7%

Picture of the day: Kobe in Europe?

So there’s been plenty of speculation of speculation about those greek multi-billionaire brothers paying Kobe mega-bucks to come to Europe.  Ok, these brothers are pretty friggin’ rich and they own Olympiacos, a pretty good Euro basketball team.  They’re trying to turn Euroball into Lifestyles of the Rich and famous by offering super luxury anemities to basketball players.

Cars, villas, chauffers and maids, oh my!

So What if this really happened?  Welcome back Employee #8?

Sun Yue still waiting to play his first game.

One of the NBA’s latest Chinese imports is the Lakers very own Sun Yue.  Originally nicknamed “the Chinese Magic Johnson” by the Chinese Media, Sun asked to not be called that.  He said, if anything, you can call me the Monkey King, after the popular Chinese series Journey to the West I believe it was.

Due to being diagnosed as having “mono”, Sun Yue hasn’t been able to get into the Lakers lineup yet. He recently began practicing with the team again and right now is building up his strength and stamina. After a recent practice, Sun stated “wow, my body wants to kill me”

In the NBA, Sun Yue’s only played some games in the 2008 summer league…quite a few Chinese Americans are looking forward to seeing Sun play.  Watching his videos and highlights, it’s easy to see that he indeed has some skills.  Most importantly, even though he’s 6′9″ tall he does have the skills of a point guard.  His shooting is decent but he has the right mechanics to become a good shooter.

His speed is good off the dribble and oftentimes beats quicker/smaller guards with his good lateral quickness.

Here are some youtube vids.

Overheard: Andrew Bynum could be the $88 million dollar man

A source has reported that Andrew Bynum’s agent, David Lee, is trying to get an $88 million dollar deal on the table with the Lakers. This is up from a reported $80 million dollar deal before. Exact terms of the contract are not known but it is believed to be a 5 year deal.

It’s been old news that Bynum was looking for the Max but this is pushing the envelope. Oddly enough, last year, Bynum was quoted as saying that he’d be fine without getting the max, the power of agents I suppose.

What isn’t old news is that the Lakers are willing to meet Bynumite close to the max at the $78 million mark and they’re ready to make a deal before the season starts. The source also said that Andrew is looking “phenomenal” in the pre-pre season workouts with no apparent lingering effects of the surgery.  In fact, Bynum looks much stronger than he was last year.

Lakers GM, Mitch Kupchak has made it no secret that Bynum is the future of the Lakers and he’ll do whatever it takes to sign him.  If you’ve been watching Bynum and witnessed his quantum improvement, you can see Kupchak ain’t foolin’ around.

Andrew Bynum meets the Press

Andrew Bynum met with local media today to discuss his summer, more particularly his continued path back from his knee injury, and also his reflections on the past season and his hopes for the upcoming campaign.