It came as a bit of a shock to most basketball fans that Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss had been battling cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for the past several months, but some reports from his family indicated that he was “doing fine”. Sadly, it turns out that was not the case.

Lakers owner Jerry Buss passed away this morning. A sad day for L.A.

— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) February 18, 2013

This is obviously a sad day for Lakers fans and NBA fans in general, and there will be plenty of information and reports coming in today and this week as to what happened, as well as the well wishes of the countless players, coaches and fans that he has touched along the way. Prior to the NBA All-Star Weekend, Kobe Bryant touched on the enormity of Buss’ presence in the grand history of the league, and I think that the Mamba’s words were a great start in helping people truly understand the Buss legacy.

“It’s beyond measure,” Bryant said. “I don’t think there’s any way to really define it. What he’s done, it’s tough to really find a match for that in any sport. He’s been a model of consistency.”

“He’s meant everything to me in my career, taking a risk on a 17-year-old kid coming out of high school and believing in me my entire career,” he said. “For the game itself, the brand of basketball, ‘Showtime’ carried the league. You think about the rivalry that took place between the Lakers and the Celtics, and what that did for the global outreach of the game.

“It reached me, and I was in Italy.”

Much respect.

Say what you want about actor/comedian Will Ferrell – he’s washed up, past his prime, a shell of his former self, he should have stopped after Anchorman, he should take a few years off to come up with a new project that would totally wow us, The Campaign was awful, he yells too much, the only people happy about Anchorman 2 are aging frat boys* in need of fresh happy hour material, he plays the same character over and over – but I still love the guy.

Between his random Old Milwaukee Super Bowl ads, the Knife Guys with Baby Goose and his announcing work at that New Orleans Hornets game, he’s a nice second fiddle to the even more awesome Bill Murray, whose mustache at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am was other-worldly. And last night, Ferrell reminded us why he’s the king of surprise cameos when he showed up to an incredibly boring game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns and played a security guard named Ted Vagina.

The Lakers ended up winning 91-85 thanks to a strong double-double by Dwight Howard, but Ferrell “ejecting” Shaquille O’Neal from the game was definitely much more entertaining.

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You know the drill. Every Wednesday we collect four notable slam dunks from the last seven days of basketball and pit them against one another in the WEDNESDAY DUNK BATTLE. You watch the dunks, then scroll to the bottom and vote for your favorite. The winner is named the scientifically, democratically-decided Dunk Of The Week, which I assume wins them fame and prizes.

This week’s dunks:

1. Nick Young’s 360 dunk for the mild enjoyment of Sixers fans.
2. Pacific University’s awesomely-named Dustin Bowser catches a ball off the glass and sends his defender tumbling into a wall.
3. Kobe Bryant dunks on the Nets, but Kris Humphries is there, so we’ll just say he specifically dunked on Kris Humphries, because f**k Kris Humphries
4. Nate Robinson’s fast-forward dunk on the Bucks.

Please consult the following clips and make your decision below.

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When I was a child, I loathed the very thought of broccoli and mushrooms, despite having never tried either. My mom would put them on my plate with each meal and I’d either mash them up and move them around the plate, as if to say, “Look, I ate some of them”, or I’d knock them off the table and let the dogs have at them. Even though I had never tried these foods, I had heard they were awful, and I therefore wanted absolutely no part of them. That’s basically how I feel about HBO’s award-winning show Girls.

I have never watched a second of Lena Dunham’s controversial hit, and I don’t plan on ever changing that, despite the fact that I now eat broccoli and mushrooms with almost every meal. I’ve been told that I won’t like Girls and that it wasn’t written for me, and I will just settle for that so I can avoid the wrath of the show’s fans. Then again, if it’s anything like this sexy moment from last year’s Emmys, maybe I should be watching…

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You know how this works.

In order to further Slam Dunk Analysis sciences, we’re asking you, the With Leather community, to compare four of the week’s best dunks and tell us which was the most … uh, slam dunk. We’re still working on the phrasing. Anyway, watch these four dunk clips and please, take a moment to vote in the handy poll included at the bottom.

Your dunks for this week:

1. James Harden’s tomahawk slam on the Utah Jazz.
2. Carlos Boozer dunks, gets an amazing call, gets an even better reaction from Taj Gibson.
3. Jeff Green dunks on Chris Bosh, specifically.
4. Dwight Howard sucks at basketball.

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It has been a few months since I was finally able to extinguish the last of my raging hatred of Dwight Howard for what he did to my beloved Orlando Magic, but I’m actually glad that I can look at him in a new, unbiased light. It wouldn’t be a typical NBA season if Howard’s people weren’t leaking his complaints to certain people in the “media” and, sure enough, ESPN reported this week that a Howard trade may be imminent.

While this has been corroborated by other people who claim to know – translated: they have Howard’s cousin’s email address – it was pretty much a done deal once everyone realized two things: 1) The Lakers just aren’t good with this old, injured lineup and 2) Howard still clearly wants to play in Brooklyn. However, much like he did with the Magic, Howard is doing his little song and dance routine with the Lakers by saying that he doesn’t want to be traded and will “bring it”.

Perhaps that has something to do with Nets star Deron Williams responding to the Howard rumors by saying that Brook Lopez won’t be going anywhere. Maybe it’s because he and Kobe Bryant got into it again in the locker room in a heated confrontation that they’ll probably deny again. Or maybe someone simply sat down with Howard, drew a bunch of zeroes on a piece of paper and told him what he’ll lose if he leaves L.A.

Like with his childish drama in Orlando, we probably won’t ever get a true story out of Howard for this case of déjà vu, but as an NBA expert and world famous analyst, I believe that the Lakers should trade Howard now. There are plenty of teams that can offer value, and I have broken down the Top 10 of those with proposed trades that are in no way mocking his value right now. Right, winking giraffe?

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