There may be few things worse than a pompous ass not only telling you how good he is, but also deriding others for their shortcomings.

	Admiral Robinson is not be as productive as he used to be.

That's why you can bet that there were more than a few basketball fans last season who wanted to see the San Antonio Spurs demolish the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. And not just fans in San Antonio, either.

After all, did it not seem heartless, shameless and downright mean when Phil Jackson came out and called the Spurs' championship during the lockout year hollow and meaningless, deserving only of an asterisk rather than real recognition?

Yeah, yeah, I understand that Phil is the master of getting under your skin, crawling around your brain and making you second-guess yourself. Ask fans in Sacramento about that.

But after so many people had picked on David Robinson for so long about being soft, could Jackson simply not allow the guy some satisfaction once he finally did get his title?

But being pompous is quickly overlooked when you can back up your words with action. Then, you are considered cocky but good. (See: Michael Jordan.) So after the Lakers completely destroyed the Spurs in the Western finals last season, Jackson's words were considered not so much sniping as they were truth.

After all, it makes you wonder, does it not, what would have happened that year had Jackson been in Los Angeles instead of Montana, and Shaq and Kobe had gained some direction rather than some immature stories to tell about their Blunder Years.

Is the Spurs' championship that year a joke? Is the only reason they won because there were simply not enough games to expose their frailties? Should a season with only 50 games crammed into what seemed like two weeks be considered a season at all?

Of course it should. But that is not the point. The point is, now Jackson has the Spurs wondering about those very thoughts.

Oh, the Spurs will never tell you they think those things. But in their heart of hearts, as they lay in bed and ponder what is going on with their franchise, you can bet they think about Jackson's comments, about whether he was right, and about whether they will ever be able to defeat this Los Angeles team again.

Four straight poundings in the conference finals, at a time when many thought the Spurs were the team that matched up best with the Lakers train.

And after Friday's loss to Los Angeles, the Spurs now have lost six straight games to the Lakers, the last four by an average of more than 15 points a game.

You think the Lakers are not in the Spurs' heads? You would be wrong.

To be fair, we'll allow Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to have his say.

The playoff loss "is always there to some degree," Popovich told the Los Angeles Times.

"It's just as irrelevant as the championship [the Spurs won in 1999] was. It's a new group. They don't really care about last year and they don't care about the championship. They care about getting this team together, being as good as we possibly can be...

"It was a tough summer. It was real tough. I wanted to make sure our guys faced it, knew what happened to us. You've got to face something like this. We got our butt beat. No matter what the reasons, no matter who's out, no matter this, that or the other, we got our butt kicked, we got embarrassed; it happened, that's the deal."

At least he admitted that it was a difficult situation to get over, but I call B.S. on Popovich saying the playoff loss was irrelevant. Just ask the Portland Trail Blazers how irrelevant their come-from-ahead loss to the Lakers in the conference finals the year before was.

	Smith

	Duncan

The main guys still are around, and those are Tim Duncan and Robinson, and they know what the Lakers did to them last season. And while Steve Smith has replaced Derek Anderson, Smith was in Portland for that historic crumbling, and so he too knows what the Lakers are capable of doing.

Tony Parker? Good, yes. Rookie, also yes. Is there any more of a fragile psyche than that of a rookie point guard unsure of himself, particularly after he has hit the rookie wall and had some of his minutes taken away?

In a way, I feel badly for David Robinson, because at the time of the Spurs' championship, he had been redeemed, his legacy of Charmin forgotten.

But much the same way the ever-grasping media clung to the stories last June about Allen Iverson and Larry Brown being best of friends, only to have those illusions dispelled once again this season, it appears Robinson's makeover was only an issue of mistaken identity, at least for a two-month stretch.

Now, Robinson's contributions have dropped to the point where he does not even get off the bench in the fourth quarter. Much the same way Patrick Ewing deteriorated before our sad eyes and did not fully realize it, it seems that Robinson is doing the same thing.

When the Spurs lost to the Shaq-less Lakers last Saturday, Robinson, playing against Mark Madsen -- who may be the equal of Robinson intellectually, but will never be mistaken for him on the court -- missed his first seven shots, including launching an airball. He finished with four points and seven rebounds.

And you think this team is capable of coming back and not only defeating the Lakers in their season series, but in a seven-game playoff series if it comes to that?

I don't think so.

Big Mac Attacks
As crazy as it sounds, Aaron Goodwin, the agent for Todd MacCulloch, thinks MacCulloch has a shot at an All-Star berth.

	MacCulloch

After talking to several people around the league, Goodwin, it turns out, may be correct.

Here is his thinking: The Eastern Conference needs two centers, and Dikembe Mutombo will be voted in. Likely, Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal will be the center voted in by the coaches.

But O'Neal recently was injured, and while he has come back to the Pacers, there is no guarantee that he will be healthy enough to compete in the All-Star game.

The New Jersey Nets have the best record in the East, which means that Byron Scott will be the coach of the team.

Jason Kidd is the only true All-Star on the Nets, but coaches will feel the need to reward the team with the best record with another All-Star. Kenyon Martin seems the obvious choice, but to Goodwin's way of thinking, with Martin going around the league clobbering everybody in sight, coaches will not exactly feel sympathetic toward naming Martin an All-Star.

That leaves MacCulloch, who is averaging better than 10 points and six rebounds a game after there was some question whether the guy would ever be able to make it in the league.

Voila, Goodwin says, Todd MacCulloch an All-Star.

Who would've thunk it?

Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.