From Chad Ford’s ESPN chat from today:
ESPN: Mike: (Philly): After watching LBJ last night, how accurate is his statement that “winning a title is that simple if we get Kidd”. They would definetly come out of the East. LBJ is clearly the most dominant player in the NBA. Clearly.
SportsNation Chad Ford: Tell that to Boston and Detroit. Kidd would make a major difference in Cleveland. However, from what I understand, he really only wants to play in 1 of 2 places, LA or Dallas. Maybe LeBron can convince him otherwise. The problem is that the Cavs have zero assets to offer the Nets back. They have no young talent (Varejao can’t be traded this year) and only a few expiring contracts. Danny Ferry, when he signed Larry Hughes, Damon Jones and Ilgauskas, bet the farm on this group. They lack the flexibility to make a deal like that now.
10 more days, eh. We don’t really have a choice, do we?
Pres Enterprise: DJ Mbenga’s 10-day contract expires today.
Jackson said Mbenga, averaging 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds, will travel with the Lakers, indicating they’re going to give him another 10-day contract.
Well this is some good news. Mihm – if he can return – can give us a bit of offensive stabilty down low… and well, just another big body – or any body for that matter – will be good for this team.
L.A. Times Blog: Speaking of which, I was told after the game that Chris Mihm won’t start the roadie with the squad, but they’re hopeful he’ll join the team at some point on the trip.
When the Lakers got off to a 16-8 lead with 8 layups initially, I was thinking I could stop watching in about 5 minutes after we opened it up to a 25 point game. Unfortunately, I had to watch all 48 minutes tonight. Until the fourth quarter, the Lakers did not play defense. As good as our bench was, Lee and Robinson matched us with 43 between them. Nevertheless, the Lakers came out with a 120-109 victory. The Lakers continued to do what they do best—score.
They shot 51% from the field, including 11 threes, and 30 assists. They also had 13 blocks tonight (although it seemed every block led to a layup). The Lakers played fine offensively, but you can’t let the Knicks score 109 points—no excuses for that. Now, the bests of the night:
+Continue Reading
L.A. Times: Kobe Bryant had 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, Sasha Vujacic scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers rallied for a 120-109 victory over the New York Knicks Tuesday night at Staples Center.
The Lakers trailed, 99-91, when Vujacic made a pair of three-pointers to get them going. A jumper by Bryant with 5:07 left snapped a 104-104 tie and put the Lakers (28-15) ahead for good.
Zach Randolph’s basket with 3:10 left drew the Knicks within two points before the Lakers scored the next 10 points to clinch the victory.
Lamar Odom had 22 points and 12 rebounds, Derek Fisher scored 17 points, Ronny Turiaf added 14 points and nine rebounds, and Kwame Brown had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who are 13-0 when at least six players score in double figures.
Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson led New York (14-30) with 22 points each. David Lee had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Randolph added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Knicks, who had won five of their previous eight games.
Continue reading ‘Kobe, Vujacic lead rally as Lakers beat Knicks, prep for road trip’
Another injury hit the Lakers during tonights game. Errr…
ESPN: Lakers forward Luke Walton came out of the game for good late in the first quarter with a right hip pointer.
Kidd wants Dallas according to this report:
RealGM: Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that New Jersey Nets ‘ point guard Jason Kidd is privately telling his friends that he wants to be traded to the Dallas Mavericks .
Kidd has a total FIC of 709 this season and has posted an FIC per 40 minutes of 17.7 for New Jersey.
The Mavericks’ point guard Devin Harris, who is currently injured, has an FIC total of 376 and FIC per 40 minutes of 12.7 in 2007-08.
Interesting trade offer the Lakers turned down to the Nets for Jason Kidd:
ESPN: I threw my proposal out to a few league executives Monday, and they said they’d make that deal in a heartbeat — if they were the Nets.
In fact, I’m told that earlier this season, the Nets offered Kidd to L.A. for Odom, Vujacic and Jordan Farmar, but the Lakers weren’t interested.
Great stuff for Ronny!
ESPN: … No matter the reason, I came up with a 15-man sleeper team for the second half. The rules? For starters, this isn’t an all-underrated team as much as it’s an all-no-exposure-whatsoever team. The other criteria are more obvious: They’re playing well, and in most cases they’re young enough that they’re likely to keep it up or improve on it in the future.
Ronny Turiaf, Lakers: L.A. has a ridiculously deep and productive bench, but the one member of the group who gets fairly little attention is Turiaf. Yes, he can’t shoot, he’s a below-average rebounder and he seemingly fouls on every play. But despite those shortcomings, he’s a very productive player.
Turiaf isn’t a refined post player but can pile up points on garbage baskets because he runs the floor and never stops moving — he is scoring 15.5 points per 40 minutes on 50.6 percent shooting this season. The hyperactivity also helps on D, where he posts over a block a game in just 17.3 minutes of action.
With Andrew Bynum and Chris Mihm out, Turiaf is getting a much bigger opportunity to showcase his skills, and he could become important come playoff time. Even if he doesn’t, he’s a restricted free agent after the season who could prove tempting to teams with holes in the frontcourt.
According to this report, Chris Webber rejected the Lakers offer to join the team last week…
ESPN: Webber last week rejected the opportunity to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers after they lost Andrew Bynum to a knee injury in part, sources said, because L.A. wanted Webber to play out two 10-day contracts before it made a decision on keeping him.
Chris Webber told ESPN.com on Monday night that he will arrive in Oakland on Tuesday to formally re-join the Golden State Warriors.
“Ill be there tomorrow,” Webber said via e-mail. “It’s a done deal.”
Loading ...
