Lakers on their Way; No Hobby Impact?

Orlando's late game failure has put the Lakers up two games to none in the best of seven NBA Finals.

Barring divine intervention, the Lakers will add another banner to the rafters, Kobe will get richer and we'll forget about the NBA until draft day. 

The Lakers of the 1970s were Chamberlain and West and Baylor and even Goodrich to a certain extent.  The Lakers of the 80s were Magic, Kareem, Byron Scott and James Worthy.   The Lakers of the 90s were Shaq and Kobe.  The Lakers of the current era are...Kobe.  And that's part of the problem.  Pau Gasol is a nice player and Lamar Odom is a stud when he's zoned in, but when all is said and done, the Lakers are Kobe.  He's already reached his popularity peak so you can't expect there to be much of an impact in the hobby.

The NBA could use another jolt from someone like Dwight Howard taking over the series to establish himself as a true superstar.  Ain't happenin'.  Howard was a no-show in crunch time Sunday night.  He may become a winning superstar at some point and he's still popular with collectors, but he's going home this year and his fan base isn't likely to climb anymore in 2009. LeBron is big, but a championship would have boosted him into the role of young Jordan.  It's wait 'til next year in Cleveland, though. 

I hate to say the Lakers winning another title is going to be boring everywhere but in LA, but sadly, I think the nation will yawn its way through whatever games may lie ahead.

Speaking of the Lakers, we've carried at least one mainstream media outlet's story on David Kohler's Lakers collection.  Now, the Long Beach newspaper has gotten the tour and given it a nice write-up.  Kohler, for those of you who aren't totally in tune with the hobby, runs SCP Auctions.