Archive for October, 2007
L.A. Times: Lakers owner Jerry Buss was not at Tuesday night’s season-opener at Staples Center and will not be at Friday’s game in Phoenix because of a two-game suspension handed down by NBA Commissioner David Stern for Buss’ pleading guilty to misdemeanor drunk driving in September. Buss was also fined $25,000 by the league.
Buss, 74, was arrested in the early hours of May 29 in Carlsbad after police saw him driving his gold Mercedes-Benz on the wrong side of the road. He was sentenced to five years’ probation and fined $1,900.
Buss had a blood-alcohol level of .13% at the time of his arrest, according to prosecutors. The state limit is .08.
In a statement released after the arrest, Buss said, “I was wrong to do it. It was a mistake I will not make again.”
Buss bought the Lakers in 1979.
There were rumors online, but until now, there was no public reports of the accident. Odom was in a car accident yesterday afternoon. He’ll be ok. On behalf of LakersNaton, we’ll keep you in our thoughts and prayers Odom.
ESPN: Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom suffered a slight concussion in a two-car accident Tuesday.
Odom, who is inactive for the Lakers because of left shoulder surgery in the offseason, was on his way to the team’s pregame shootaround prior to Tuesday night’s season opener against Houston, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
A report confirms the radio discussion is true…
Daily Herald: Trade rumors involving Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant coming to the Bulls just won’t go away. In fact, they are getting hotter and heavier by the minute.
The latest, as reported by WSCR 670-AM, has Bryant coming to the Bulls as part of a three-way deal involving the Sacramento Kings.
Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich and Kings forward Ron Artest, a former Bulls, could wind up in Los Angeles.
The rumor was also being discussed on WMVP 1000-AM.
A Bulls source denied any deal was imminent.
Update: Via ESPN – The Lakers would acquire Ron Artest and Ben Wallace; the Kings would acquire Ben Gordon and P.J. Brown, while the Bulls would get Kobe Bryant.
Related:
Chicago Radio Says Kobe deal pending
As reported on the LG.net forums, a Chicago radio station (670 The Score B&B) reports that Chicago and the Lakers have agreed upon a deal. It is pending Kobe’s approval. Thanks to Halosage for posting:
LG.net: 670 The score B & B
48 hours for approval
- This is above Paxson’s head right now
- Lakers are sick of Kobe and want him gone now. Were amazed he got booed so badly last night
Here’s the deal:
- Does not involve Deng
- Does involve (best info at the moment) Kirk Hinrich
- 3rd team is the Kings
- Artest Going to Lakers
Also said Phx Was involve as a 3rd team but back off.
Kings getting involve.
The Lakers started the season great!
Then the second quarter happened. Then the third quarter happened. The Lakers were outscored by 17 points in those 24 minutes. McGrady heated up and was seemingly impossible to stop. Lakers could only put Kobe on him for so long as T-Mac finished with 30 points. But the real dagger was Battier who hit the game winning three with less than 3 seconds remaining.
The Lakers defense in the first quarter was impressive. Kwame did a number on Yao and Kobe locked up T-Mac. When Kobe, Fisher, and Kwame went to the bench, everything seemed to fall apart. Bynum was getting beat in the middle, Farmar was chasing James all over the court, and no one could slow down McGrady.
Offensively, the Lakers had poor ball movement for most of the game. They did have 18 assists, but many were on broken plays. Kobe’s wrist hurt the Lakers as he missed 19 FGs and 9 FTs. As bad as he played, he still got 45 points and 4 steals, and kept the Lakers in the game.
I like how Kobe attacked the basket, but he needs to find a way to get his big men involved more. Only 3 FG attempts for Kwame in 27 minutes and only 5 for Turiaf in 24 minutes of play. Let’s get to the bests of the night:
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Magic says Kobe trade won’t happen because Bulls won’t include forward.
Chicago Sun-Times: Bulls general manager John Paxson didn’t travel with the team Tuesday to New Jersey, where the Bulls open the season tonight against the Nets.
Paxson had plenty of work to do at home, including trade negotiations with the Los Angeles Lakers for Kobe Bryant. But those talks seemed to have lost some momentum.
Lakers vice president Magic Johnson said the deal isn’t going to happen.
”A deal can’t get done because they won’t include [Luol] Deng,” Johnson said Tuesday on TNT. ”And without Deng, a deal can’t get done.”
Johnson also hinted that talks of bringing Indiana Pacers All-Star Jermaine O’Neal to the Lakers to join Bryant have resurfaced.
Paxson also had to deal with a contract extension for Deng.
Today is the league deadline for Deng and Ben Gordon to sign such extensions. Gordon’s asking price is believed to be well more than the team’s offer of five years and $50 million.
Johnson said the Bulls and Lakers could not put together a trade that would satisfy the league’s money requirement for such a deal. The total salaries of the players sent to Los Angeles for Bryant must be within 15 percent of the $19 million Bryant will make this season.
Continue reading ‘Deng is a deal-breaker’
Kobefan2408 WINS FIRST GAME PREDICTION CONTEST!!!
It was close. 30 contestants were within 5 points of each other, but one contestant stood out from the rest with an amazing score of 20. Congratulations to our first contest winner. Kobefan2408, you are the master of predictions, the Nostradamus of the NBA, the Prophet of Round Ball. Well, at least for this one game.
Only one got the Trivia Challenge correct. PrOmega. Way to go prOmega!
Only one had a zero. C’mon Phantom! You can do better than that? Keep this up and we will start calling you Agent Zero Phantom. :
This Friday against the Suns, the contest of 15 games begins. As Mr. Miyagi told the Karate Kid on the island of Okinawa when facing the death duel. “This no practice Daniel-San, is for real.”
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What should the Lakers do? When should they do it? Should they even do anything? Sound-off in the comments and tell us what you think!
Something must happen. As Kobe Bryant has said, “Do something, and do it Now!”
However, now it’s a different sense of desperation. The facts are clear, what has to be done is obvious… Kobe needs to get traded, or needs to be a Laker for the rest of the season.
How should management go about this? I would have to agree with Magic Johnson that a decision has to be made within the next week, or as soon as possible. The Lakers need to make a decision, are we either going to keep Kobe, or decide to trade him as soon as possible.
Trying to get a precise comment out of the Buss family is nearly impossible, but somebody needs to step up and make a statement about the immediate future of this franchise.
Phil Jackson wants answers, the players want this resolved and the Lakers want to move ahead with the season without this dark cloud hanging over them.
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Bryant hears it from the home crowd at start, but cheers soon come and he finishes with 45 points in loss. Late run can’t erase Rockets’ effort.
What were your thoughts of the game? Sound-off…
L.A. Times: It was a game of firsts, some of them infinitely more surprising than others.
That the Lakers lost their first game of the season to the Houston Rockets, 95-93, wasn’t as startling as another event that took place Tuesday at Staples Center.
Kobe Bryant was booed, loudly, on his home court during pregame introductions, perhaps only a one-game reminder from fans that he was their darling as recently as six months ago, but also possibly a harbinger of things to come if the losses begin to collect this season.
There were loud cheers when Derek Fisher was introduced after three years away from the Lakers, but the boos continued for Bryant when he touched the ball for the first time.
Undoubtedly, it surprised him, even if he kept it to himself. His pregame prediction on the fan reaction: “I don’t think it will be any different.”
Afterward, Bryant said he could comprehend their frustration.
“I understand where they’re coming from,” he said. “They didn’t really understand the whole situation because I’m keeping my mouth shut like I should.”
Coach Phil Jackson was caught off guard.
“I turned to one of my coaches and said, ‘Are those boos?’ And one of them said, ‘Yeah, those are boos,’ ” Jackson said. “I was surprised.”
Continue reading ‘Boos come early for Lakers’ Bryant in 95-93 loss to Rockets’
First game of season, the drama continues…
Clublakers: He said that there are too many voices in the organization right now, and whether the Lakers get a fair trade in return, they will move him. Said Kobe wants to be traded to Chicago, and even if he goes there, he’s going to go to the Bulls and be in the same situation there as LA because LA will have gutted their team.
He also said Kobe didn’t act smart when he got “Shaq traded” to be the man, now he realizes it isn’t that easy to do it alone. Stated that he should have accepted Shaq as the leader, been ok with it, and was partially to blame for the whole fiasco.
Charles said LA won’t get equal value for Kobe. States LA is a 7th or 8th seed team maybe.
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