NBA burning questions: Three-peats, comebacks and more

If so, it will begin at the epicenter of ownership, where Jeannie and Jim Buss clearly have not agreed over who should be coaching the team they inherited

Ian Thomsen|

If so, it will begin at the epicenter of ownership, where Jeannie and Jim Buss clearly have not agreed over who should be coaching the team they inherited from their father. The question is whether D'Antoni can survive the year, and the guess here is that he will: This team is going to be the Pacific version of the 2010-11 Knicks, who got off to a strong start and built up the value of their role players high enough to enable a trade for Anthony at the deadline. A bunch of shooters will surround the playmaking Gasol, with Nash (in spite of limited minutes) joining with Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar to play in the flow. And then Kobe Bryant will join them, and with him the Lakers will return to the playoffs as D'Antoni earns consideration for coach of the year. To pick the Lakers to make the playoffs is to express faith in Bryant. His career has earned him that much.

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JENKINS: Kobe Bryant: Reflections on a cold-blooded career

Published Oct 22, 2013 | Modified Oct 22, 2013

IAN THOMSEN

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Ian Thomsen, who joined the magazine in 1998, is one of SI's top basketball scribes. Along with writing columns and features for SI, Thomsen is a frequent contributor to SI.com. Before joining SI, Thomsen spent six years in Europe as the sports columnist for the International Herald Tribune, the world's largest international English-language daily. While at the paper Thomsen wrote about an array of sports for a global audience, including the major world and European soccer tournaments, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games, Ryder Cups, Grand Slam tennis events, Grand Prix auto races and, very rarely, cricket. Thomsen, who graduated from Northwestern with a journalism degree in 1983, was a feature writer for The National Sports Daily during its short, expensive run of 1990-91. His first job was with The Boston Globe, where he covered Doug Flutie's Boston College Eagles and all three of the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals of the 1980s. Thomsen was a feature writer at SI before taking on the NBA beat fulltime in 2000. With Luis Fernando Llosa and Melissa Segura, Thomsen covered the 2001 scandal of overaged Little League pitcher Danny Almonte and wrote the first SI cover story on Kobe Bryant in 1998. Thomsen lives with his wife and two children near Boston.

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