No Longer Silent

"When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence"
--Sound of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel

Haven't wanted to write much since watching the last few games of the Finals, since the Lakers have been a primary source of inspiration and now, obviously, can inspire no more. I got to cut highlight montages of every single finals game and after the high of presenting Kobe's 3 and the overtime domination of game 2, it's been all depressing work ever since.
In hindsight, though, this season really has been an incredible one, marked by unfair expectations throughout and distractions at a level never before seen. Through all the Kobe court appearances, Shaq moodiness, Payton frustrations and Malone injuries, they persevered and made it through an amazingly tough Western Conference to reach the Finals--a dramatic feat in itself. Though most of America (myself included) considered the title a foregone conclusion at that point, it quickly became apparent that without Malone, the Lakers were too old, too slow and too unbalanced to keep up with the younger, quicker and more together Pistons (of course, even with Malone, it might not have been too different a story).
The aftermath of this crazy season has me worried a great deal. There's so much potential for change that more than half of the roster and coaching staff might not be back when training camp starts in the fall. It appears that Derek Fisher and Karl Malone have already opted out of the final year of their respective contracts, the former to perhaps test his value on the free agent market and the latter no doubt to retire to the Arkansas wilderness. Gary Payton will no doubt soon follow suit and Kobe has said that he will be opting out as well. Phil said that it's only a "slim chance" that he'll be back. It's almost too much to handle, the possibilities too endless to even attempt a prediction.
Here's mine, for what it's worth at this early date. Kobe will be back, if only for the $30 million the Lakers can pay him that goes beyond what any other team can give. Shaq has to be back, but he can opt out after next year, which might actually be a time for him to retire (especially if the injury pace he's set in the last few years continues). Fish will end up back as the starting point guard and Payton will opt out only to find that he's not in nearly as high demand as he might have thought. Slava will probably not be back, with Brian Cook capable of filling the void left, and Phil will no doubt be spending his fall thigh-deep in the rivers of Montana, fly-fishing and happy to be away from the me-me-me-me attitudes he experienced the past few years.
Free agency isn't much of an option when you have two players taking up more than the entire salary cap, so they'll have to hope the draft is good to them and look to the continued development of Devean, Kareem, Luke and Cook. We'll see about that.
Jamie Kennedy is a very funny guy. I ran into him in the hallway of our studios yesterday and had to direct him to the bathroom. Even just a two or three-minute conversation made me laugh several times. His show is also amazingly humorous. I never know when it's on, but the clips I got to see this week were hilarious, laugh-out-loud stuff.
Sleep would be a good thing for me, considering it really hasn't existed much this week. I'm gonna give it a shot now. Peace.