Without going into the history of the Lakers' franchise, I should just begin by saying: Fifteen. Fifteen is the number of championships that the Lakers franchise has won, cumulative of their George Miken days in Minneanapolis. It has been five years since the Lakers, with a star-studded team of All-Stars, were embarrased in the NBA Finals by the Detroit Pistons. In that five-year period, Kobe Bryant has taken leadership to a whole new level, and led a team of relatively average NBA players to the playoffs multiple times. Many critics thought that the selfishness of Kobe Bryant would hinder his...