Podcast: Voice of the Nation – Episode #101

It’s the dog days of summer, and there is not really a lot of Los Angeles Lakers news to talk about.

Non-Sense!

David Brickley and Gregory Small, as always, talk about all the relevant, Lakers stories, and discuss the latest news and information.

Rundown –

• Doc Rivers disses the Lakers.
• Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant respond to Doc.
• Kobe talks on LeBron James going to Miami.
• G-Small responds to the hate mail on his LeBron stance.
• A preview of the 2010-11 Lakers Schedule.
• Sasha Vujacic is playing tennis?
• A Lakers player is being stalked?
• Another birthday has passed, is Kobe now out of his prime?
• G-Small’s boy Kwame Brown gets another job.
• And MUCH more!

Audio -
JRIB – Kobe Bryant Interview

Music -
Limp Bizkit – Take A Look Around
Emimen – Love The Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna)
Usher – There Goes My Baby
Kayne West – Through The Wire (Instrumental)

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Download Link: Voice of the Nation – Episode 101

NBA’s Top Centers: Andrew Bynum #5

This is huge, to be recognized in this sense is great for Drew and the fans.

Yahoo! Sports: Bynum’s stats aren’t as compelling as his Staples Center contemporary, and there is the nagging issue of those nagging injuries that have naggingly never, ever gone away.

But he turns 23 just before this season starts, he’s healthy by all accounts he and managed 15 points and eight rebounds in just 30 minutes a game while dragging one leg for a good chunk of the season.

This man — this kid — has all-world potential. If he could just give you a healthy 35 minutes a game, you’ll see. You’ll see. He’ll need the ball, too.

Doc Rivers: “It still hurts the same”

Get used to it Doc, the Lakers aren’t the same team from 2008.

Yahoo! Sports: Two months after the Boston Celtics lost the NBA championship to the Los Angeles Lakers, Doc Rivers was back in town, this time charged with escorting his son Austin to a prep all-star game. Such was Rivers’ luck that his weekend stay in Lakers Nation required a drive past Staples Center, site of the Celtics’ bitter Game 7 loss. “It still hurts the same,” Rivers said. “That won’t go away. I had dinner with [Rajon] Rondo and ‘Baby’ [Glen Davis] in Vegas and they were talking about how much it hurts. I said, ‘I hope it hurts you for the rest of your life. It should.’ ”

Derek Fisher to address the New Orleans Saints on opening day

I’m happy for Derek, the NBA isn’t the only place he’s wanted.

TMZ: TMZ has learned the New Orleans Saints are determined to get Los Angeles Lakers star Derek Fisher into their locker room for opening day … because they believe Fish holds the key to back-to-back championships.

Sources close to the deal tell TMZ that Derek “has been asked by the Saints to address the team before their home opener in N.O. on September 9.”

We’re told the team especially wants Derek to talk about what it takes to lock down consecutive championships “as he did with the Lakers.”

Fisher personally received calls from coaches and “other team staff” — and we’re told the courting worked … because Fisher agreed and will be in the Superdome to pump up the reigning  Super Bowl champs before they take the field.

Caracter drops #58; will wear #45 instead

Switching to A.C. Green’s number. Interesting move Derrick.

Twitter: Lakers roster update: rookie Derrick Caracter has decided to wear jersey # 45 instead of originally planned # 58.

Lakers will play fewest back-to-back games this season

They finally caught a break. They will need all the rest they can get.

L.A. Times: Guess which of the 30 NBA teams will play the fewest sets of back-to-back games this season?  Yep, the Lakers. According to number-crunching BasketballProspectus.com, the Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks each got stuck with 23 back-to-backs in 2010-11, topping the dreaded B2B list. It’s the second straight season the Bulls have led the NBA in this grind-it-out category. Meanwhile, the Lakers will play the fewest, with 15 sets of back-to-backs.

Fisher interview with Kobe Bryant on Rome is Burning

Here is the full interview of Fisher and Kobe! Awesome stuff here.

Derek will interview Kobe on “Jim Rome Is Burning”

This should be fun and interesting.

O.C. Register: Derek Fisher will fill in Friday as the host of “Jim Rome is Burning” at 1:30 p.m. Pacific on ESPN … and buddy Kobe Bryant will show up in the studio as a guest for Fisher to interview. Fisher said Bryant was a huge reason Fisher re-signed with the Lakers this offseason, so perhaps they’ll discuss that and the Lakers’ free-agent acquisitions. Or they’ll just chit-chat and entertain themselves and viewers.

Top 20 Power Forwards: #1 Pau Gasol; #19 Lamar Odom

I agree with most of this list except how did Blake Griffin get ranked higher than LO if Griffin didn’t play at all last season?

Yahoo! Sports: #1 Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers

Big men don’t get more versatile than this guy. He’s bad at absolutely nothing, and top gear in just about everything. Scores with either hand on either block. Dominates from the high post. Nails cutters, sets screens and finishes off the good or bad pass. He can play defense now, he’s worked his way into becoming a fierce rebounder and his brain is bigger than our brains are.

Even with Tim Duncan’s history, his smarts, his ability and his formidable all-around play, there isn’t a power forward in this league that I think can help me win more than Pau Gasol. He just does things too excellently too often to overlook.

Yahoo! Sports: #19 Lamar Odom, Los Angeles Lakers

L.O. was rightfully ranked that high last season because he set so much up within the confines of Los Angeles’ offense that didn’t show up in the box score, alongside some pretty happenin’ help defense. The defense was there last year, but he didn’t seem to have as much of an impact offensively, and I was more than dismayed by his slight-but-still-annoying uptick in 3-point attempts, without an uptick in 3-point percentages (31.9 percent on the year, right in line with his career averages).

Still, there are few players in this league I enjoy watching more.

Ron responds to Doc’s comment

It seems like Ron didn’t take the comment too lightly. You can’t help but agree with everything he said.

Every time someone badmouths the Lakers, Ron-Ron is the first person to respond and he’s got all the rights to do so. He won’t let you trash talk about the team he plays for, and Doc is not an exception. Here’s what Ron had to say:

Twitter: Boston lost to lakers because of Kendrick Perkins injury. What about in 08 when Bynum was injured. What about this year Bynum was injured ..

Twitter: What about Kobe played with a broke finger …. What about Ron artest defense When the Boston staff said Ron artest was too slow

Twitter: Doc got one million excuses.. Just come back this season a take what you want…

Twitter: The lakers with Bynum in the playoffs healthy has not lost The same way whoever whatever hasn’t Let’s not mention the stats on lock down

Twitter: Nobody made excuses when Boston came to sac town when I was there and they embarrassed us. Acting like they were hardcore.

Twitter: So Boston is going to championship right past Miami?