So this pretty much sums it up.
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Archive for October, 2007
Kobe is sitting out this game because of his sore right wrist… Read all about it here.
Game Preview: Kings vs Lakers
Friday 7:00 PM Lakers Standard Time
Thomas and Mack Center - Las Vegas
Television: KCAL, ESPN
“It is what it is?”
“Are you ready?” As one reporter asked Coach Jackson after practice on Wednesday.
Looking for some insight, I waited for Phil’s answer. He hesitated, and then said something very PJ-like. “It is what it is, you gotta go do it.” Profound no, truthful yes. Encouraging? Not really. You never know with this Phil guy. He sounded more like the General leading his troops into battle, knowing the outcome will not be good.
When asked about Andrew Bynum’s defensive prowess? General P. Jackson shook his head and said, “Don’t ask me that.” All the reporters laughed, all we bloggers moaned.
When asked about the Utah game? General P. Jackson said, “It was one of our better defensive efforts as a team.” The reporters smiled. “You don’t believe me?!” We bloggers frowned.
Putting a good face on the situation. Our fearless leader announced the starting five for Friday’s game. And adding, “its not set in stone,” but this is our starting line-up this Tuesday against the Houston Rockets.
The regular season starters for your Los Angeles Lakers.
He’ll miss Friday’s exhibition finale against Sacramento because of his sore right wrist.
L.A. Times: Kobe Bryant was nowhere to be seen Thursday at the Lakers’ training facility.
He had a medical excuse, though.
He received X-rays on a sore right wrist and went home afterward. The X-rays were negative, but he will not play tonight in the Lakers’ exhibition finale against Sacramento in Las Vegas.
He is expected to practice Saturday.
Bryant was injured in an exhibition Tuesday when Utah center Mehmet Okur struck him, Bryant later saying that Okur was “doing that European move where you stick your leg out when you take the shot and try to draw the foul. It came down on my wrist the wrong way.”
Will he play Tuesday against Houston, when the games start to count?
“Yeah, I anticipate it,” Coach Phil Jackson said.
Bryant was bothered by a sore knee last week that contributed to his missing three days of practice. His wrist was sore enough to require X-rays, but Jackson didn’t seem overly concerned.
Article on state of Lakers. Interesting read.
PE.com: This is the most depressing part of the Lakers’ scenario: What if Kobe Bryant was right? What if his summertime evaluation, that this franchise is not going to be capable of competing for a championship not only now but for years to come, is spot-on?
And, really, what are the chances that it’s not?
By all appearances, not very good.
You don’t judge a team off an exhibition game or even an exhibition season, so we’ll discard Tuesday night’s 102-81 stinker against Utah at Honda Center. Playing rotations are mixed up during the exhibition season anyway, and the Lakers have spent the month without Lamar Odom, which means that what we’ve been seeing isn’t an accurate representation of what the 2007-08 Lakers really are.
But how do we know what the Lakers really are?
Continue reading ‘Lakers Stuck in Tough Spot’
Related:
‘Lakers struggling on defense’
Coming from a Denver source, the Lakers may waive Coby Karl. This would cut the roster space down to 14; 15 being the NBA season limit. With rumors of Walker coming to Los Angeles, should the Lakers bring on a 15th man assuming Karl gets waived?
Yahoo: The Los Angeles Lakers might just keep 14 players that have guaranteed contracts, which could result in Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl’s son, Coby, being waived.
“If the worst happens, we’ll figure it out and make the best out of it,” said the elder Karl.
If you follow the Lakers Nation, then you already know this report card isn’t going to be straight A’s.
The purpose here is to take an in-depth look at the secondary players in addition to our team play to find our strengths and weaknesses as of now. Kobe is less of a concern because we all know he can play and it’s still pre-season so you can’t really expect him to play at his peak. Besides, whether he will or should be traded is an entirely different subject.
Most winning teams are greater than the sum of their parts. Our Lakers, on the other hand, are actually less than the sum of their parts. The team cohesion is so lacking that we’re actually better on paper than we are in person.
Since I’m as optimistic as possible, let’s begin with the good. Our second unit has played extraordinarily well throughout the pre-season. This unit, led by Jordan Farmar, shows tremendous energy on the defensive end and a lot of spirit in their up tempo strategy. The driving factor is Farmar, because he has emerged as our greatest playmaker. In one year we’ve gone from terrible Smush to a solid playmaker in Jordan.
I noticed an interesting tidbit. Kobe to Detroit rumors and what package was discussed:
Det. News: The buzz was the Pistons would part with Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Amir Johnson and/or a first round pick for Bryant, arguably the best player in the NBA.
“Yeah, I heard that, too,” Chauncey Billups said before the Pistons beat the Wizards, 104-85, at The Palace Wednesday night…
Add another injured player to our roster…
L.A. Daily News: Kobe Bryant injured his right wrist during the Lakers’ 21-point exhibition loss to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. He received treatment Wednesday and said he hoped he could play in Friday’s exhibition finale against the Sacramento Kings in Las Vegas.
Bryant has spent much of training camp monitoring tendinitis in his left knee, but his wrist injury is the first serious setback he’s suffered this month.
“My knee is OK, but my wrist isn’t too good,” he said.
Bryant’s wrist injury might not be much of a concern for him and the Lakers if not for a lengthy list of injuries to other starters and potential starters.
Forward Lamar Odom has been ruled out of opening night Tuesday because he hasn’t recovered sufficiently from offseason left shoulder surgery. Odom is not expected to play for another twoweeks, which means he might miss four games.
Centers Kwame Brown (left ankle and right shoulder) and Chris Mihm (right ankle) have played only limited minutes during exhibitions because they’re slowly rebounding from surgeries.
Forward Luke Walton did not play Tuesday because of a strained right hip, but he might be ready to play Friday against the Kings.
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