The lakers have been a very lucky and fortunate franchise. Wilt, West, Baylor, Jabbar, Magic, Worthy, Shaq, kobe. Their fans have had it very good over the years to be able to enjoy all these HOF or near HOF players. I dont feel sorry for any team, they are paid so much better than the fans, it would be silly. Basketball players are very fortunate to get paid ridiculous sums of money for "playing around". I can feel sorry for FISH about his daughters illness, absolutely, but injury is part of his job, like layoffs are for many americans. I feel much more sorry for those americans. I also dont feel sorry for laker fans(or celtics fans), they have had it very good as well with many "great trades" and draft selections, sometimes getting the number one pick AFTER winning it all(worthy). There are alot of suffering fans in the NBA, those are the fans I can feel sympathy for when their chances of having a championship team go down the tubes. Suns fans feeling sorry for laker fans, or bulls fans, or celtics fans, is like a bum feeling sorry for a litigation attorney(well maybe not that bad). I dont recall anyone feeling sorry for suns fans when amare went down, or JJ was injured, or amare and Boris were suspended, its all part of the game. Now, is the season too long making injury an ugly part of the game? Absolutely, there are way too many games and injuries that result from the excessive schedule. If the players werent so highly paid, perhaps ther could be a more reasonable schedule that leads to better basketball with less injuries that change the playoff landscape.