I know MJ, Mr. Senator, and he's no MJ.

Yes, not much posting about the Lakers. . .having embarassed themselves with a terrible, terrible performance in the Finals. Well, that being said, time to start spreading the blame, eh? Bill Simmons thinks that Kobe just isn't great enough.

"With that said, MJ had to be delighted that Kobe struggled so much against the Pistons. Young MJ would have been too physical off the dribble for Prince. Older Wiser MJ would have brought Prince down low, posted him up and introduced him to the fallaway and the drop-step. Either version of MJ would have attacked the basket if the jumpers weren't falling. And if his team was having so much trouble rebounding, do you think MJ would have gone down low and grabbed a few boards? Me, too.

Put it this way: Either Kobe's bum shoulder was more banged up than anyone realized, or his stock dropped BIG TIME in this series. No way MJ goes that quietly in his prime. No way MJ launches that many ghastly shots. No way MJ wastes a 36-20 effort from Shaq. No way MJ stands around as the Pistons keep grabbing offensive rebounds. It just wouldn't happen. I think we can put a moratorium on the 'Kobe vs. MJ' stuff for awhile.

Which started to get me to thinking. Maybe Kobe may not be at the level of MJ. Maybe Kobe is as good at T-Mac, but no better. Jordan was a great player and great players not only score a lot and make spetacular dunks, but they make all the others on their team better. Kobe didn't do or wasn't able to do that throughout the Finals.