I need some advice on securing a couple tickets for a game at Staples next season. I know they haven't gone on sale yet nor appear to have even announced the team schedules yet (although I think that should be coming soon). The thing is I don't live in LA. Nope, I'm one of those rare breeds...a long time Laker fan living in Portland.

I have a friend who lives in LA but admittedly doesn't know much about basketball or how to go about getting tickets. I'm assuming they are pretty difficult to get even if you try once they officially go on sale. Does anyone have any advice that they can provide so I can finally realize my dream of seeing the Lakers play at home? I just can't imagine that it will be the same as seeing them in Portland, especially when I have to deal with mouthy, know it all Blazer fanatics.

Help a brother out please!!!

The Heels have had some very good success in recent years culminating in another national championship. It seems like every time they reach the pinnacle, the roster is depleted and in effect they go into another rebuilding mode. Fortunately, the drop off has not been very significant but when you are at the top, even a slight fall can be very difficult to deal with for this prestigious program.

What are your opinions/expectations for the coming basketball season? Personally, I don't think it going to be all that bad although I'm certainly not expecting a repeat performance of last season. One of the reasons why I was so ecstatic when Roy Williams decided the time was right to come back to Carolina is because I knew the program would remain very solid for years to come mainly due to his staff's recruiting abilities. Not that his predecessor did a bad job. Doherty basically handed him the 2005 championship squad but I think it took Roy to get them hungry and motivated enough to actually get the job done. By the time that team was purged of future NBA busts (Mays, Williams) and potentially solid ballers (Felton, McCants), Roy had already successfully recruited Hansbrough and Danny Green, the first building blocks of his next championship team. Adding Lawson and Ellington a year later certainly helped the cause. Now that these guys are trying their hand in the NBA, who is going to step up and become the next potential NBA stars?

I'm stoked that we'll have Marcus Ginyard back for one more season especially because of how young this team is going to be. He's been there and done that and will be a great leader for the youngsters to rally around. Larry Drew has shown some flashes of brilliance but has some pretty big shoes to fill. Watching Henson in the McDonalds game brought a smile to my face as well. Zeller's size could be a big asset and the towering twins should only add to that dimension of this team. In my opinion, the inside combination of Ed Davis (my nickname for him is Lil' Smooth) and Deon Thompson may be the key that determines whether we continue to compete for another ACC championship and high NCAA tournament seed or have a tough climb back to the top. It is going to take the right mixture of veteran leadership and young talent to get us back to the promised land. I'm banking on the next 2-3 years after 2009-10 to be when the Tar Heels will be talked about regularly again not as national champion hopefuls but as contenders. This also assumes that nobody leaves early for the NBA after next season. Either way, it should be yet another entertaining year of Carolina basketball.