FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH GIRLISH GLEE

OK, I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm here--we are only 1/27th of the way through the season after all--but with my guys coming off back to back double digit wins over top 5 teams without Lamar Odom...well, let's just say: so far, so good.

Again, it's so early and it's just a couple of games (in the NBA where anything can happen, especially when you catch someone on game two of a back-to-back like the Lakers had with both Phoenix and Utah), that the results themselves don't really mean much. But there have been some very positive developments that are giving me just that slighest glimmer of hope:

1. The young guys look great. Andrew Bynum still isn't starting (although you have to hand it to Phil Jackson, Kwame Brown is playing shockingly solid so far), but has put up two very strong games in a row off the bench, with 14 & 13 in 22 minutes against Phoenix, and a huge 15 & 9 in 19 minutes tonight against Utah. The big fella has been playing smart and hard, he's destroying people on the glass, getting garbage buckets in the lane with his unbelievable hands, and giving them a real shotblocking presence.

Jordan Farmar was key in the 3rd and 4th quarters tonight when the Lakers put the game out of reach against a tough Utah team, coming up with 12 & 4 in 17 minutes.

Ronny Turiaf is the ultimate hustle guy, giving them great energy that'll serve the team well when he's coming off the bench upon Odom's return.

And Vladimir Radmanovic is showing signs of shaking off last year's cruddy season and is playing with the kind of confidence he had with the Clippers two years ago. He absolutely *buried* the Suns.

2. With a tough early schedule, this team had the potential of turning into a Notre Dame. With all the controversy over Kobe, some bad losses early could have really sunk the ship. I'm sure Kobe still would have played hard, all the talk about him not doing so was just poppycock, but everyone knows when he's disgruntled and it filters though the whole organization.

A bad start would have had the media sharks getting into a feeding frenzy, everyone would have been playing scared, it could have been a really bad scene. And I would have been very concerned about Lakers management making a panic move on the Kobe front, like taking a deal with Chicago that doesn't include Luol Deng.

I suppose it's still very possible the Lakers end up mediocre or worse, maybe we'll be talking in a couple weeks about what an outlier these last two games were. But I'm a hell of a lot less worried about a bad start now then I was before the season. The team is playing with incredible energy, getting tons of turnovers, sharing the ball unbelievably well, crashing the boards--it just doesn't look like a team on the precipice.

But it could all turn quickly, at least in terms of the team reverting back to mediocrity. I'm hardly sold that this is suddenly a 50+ win team. And they desperately need Odom back, the offense will look a lot different when the scrubs stop shooting the ball like they're Reggie Miller, Glen Rice and Ray Allen. But I'm encouraged by the team's energy, by how hard they're playing and how obviously enthusiastic they are, and I'm especially encouraged that a lot of that energy and effort is coming from the young guys. Here's hoping they can keep it up.