Archive for June, 2008
L.A. Times: Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced his arrival as a businessman 13 years ago, when he took part in an unusual meeting with gang leaders from the Bloods and the Crips.
At the time, Johnson was building a movie theater in Baldwin Hills. Would the gang members, Johnson asked, be kind enough not to shoot it up?
“I just laid it out to them that I’m building this theater for the community,” Johnson, the former Lakers basketball standout, recalled from his seventh-floor office in Beverly Hills. “You can’t have anything happen at this theater because we’re going to hire your cousins, your mothers, your sons and daughters. You come in here and shoot up the place, it might be your own relatives inside.”
The theater stands peacefully to this day, largely untouched by violence. And these days, Johnson meets with corporate CEOs, institutional investors and elected officials nationwide who want a piece of his growing collection of businesses and properties in 21 states.
The orchestrator of the Lakers’ highflying “Showtime” teams in the 1980s, which netted five NBA championships, has crafted a second career by investing his time and, in many cases, other people’s money in long-ignored urban neighborhoods through his Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund.
Contiune reading ‘For Magic Johnson, the NBA was only halftime ’
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Press Enterprise: This week the Lakers and Clippers will enter the free-agent market, both teams shopping for players and looking to improve.
The problem is that this year’s free-agent class is not considered strong. The only All-Star-caliber talent available is Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, both of the Washington Wizards, and they will be commanding the kind of money that the Lakers and Clippers aren’t expected to spend this summer.
The Lakers, who reached the NBA Finals for the first time since 2004, like their young team and aren’t expected to make big changes. Their top priority is to re-sign two of their key backups, guard Sasha Vujacic and forward Ronny Turiaf, and the Lakers’ course this summer largely “is going to depend on the progress we make with Sasha and Ronny,” said General Manager Mitch Kupchak, who will begin negotiations Monday at 9:01 p.m., the opening of the free-agent period. Teams can start signing players July 9.
Because both Vujacic and Turiaf are restricted free agents, the Lakers can retain them by matching any offers they get from other teams.
Vujacic, 24 and coming off a career year in which he averaged 8.8 points and was eighth in the league in three-point shooting (43.7 percent), might get offers from $4 million to $5 million per year. He might be seeking as much as $5.8 million.
Turiaf, who’s 25 and also had career highs in points (6.6) and rebounds (3.9), could command $3.5 million to $4 million.
Contiune reading ‘Lakers’ priority: Keep team together’
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To nobody’s surprise Kobe didn’t fuel the fire some more…
Canadian Press: Bryant had little to say about a rap video by former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal, who rapped that “Kobe couldn’t do without me.”
Asked how he took the video, Bryant shook his head and said, “I didn’t take it any kind of way whatsoever.”
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Hoopsworld’s Eric Pincus came up with a great power rankings list of the entire NBA (with draft choices and recent trades in the mix). Eric listed the Lakers as #2, behind the top-of-the-list Celtics…
Hoopsworld: #2 Lakers – The Lakers would have liked a pick higher than 58 but the first rounder was well spent in Memphis’ hands after the Pau Gasol trade. LA chose Joe Crawford – hoping to curry favor with his father, NBA official Joey Crawford (no, he’s not the referee’s son).
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Well it is the summer time, Shaq’s latest “Kobe rap” is still making its rounds in the media, and FoxSports has written up a pretty accurate article on these two history. Some moments still creep up to my memory and get me all riled up. Either way, check it out…
Fox Sports: Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant have maintained one of the most childish personal rivalries in all of sports, going back and forth like teenage girls for most of this decade.
Their relationship started out well enough, with Shaq playing the big-brother role when Bryant arrived straight from high school in 1996. But as Kobe blossomed into a superstar, a massive rift formed.
The flare-ups have been memorable — and occasional lyrical, as we saw with Shaq’s rap performance Sunday, courtesy of the ever-vigilant TMZ.
Here are the top 10 highlights of this fabulous feud.
1. Two wills, one basketball
While winning three consecutive NBA titles in Los Angeles, O’Neal and Bryant kept their differences largely under control. But when the Lakers opened the 2002-03 season in a serious funk, the tension became palpable.
Bryant questioned Shaq’s commitment to conditioning given the big fella’s excessive weight and chronic foot injuries. In turn, O’Neal regarded Kobe as a shot hog.
“I’m just going to play within the flow of the game,” Bryant said at the time. “If people want to criticize that, they’re going to criticize that.”
(At least these two agreed on one thing that year: They weren’t to blame for the team’s demise. That fell on the team’s ineffective role players. Looking at you, Samaki Walker.)
Contiune reading ‘FoxSports: The best of Shaq vs. Kobe’
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This is an interesting topic. Robert Horry recently came out and said some great things about his own career, how he wants to go out and when he wants to retire. Basically, he’s ready to give it another go and wants to contribute more than leaving his career on a playoff ‘DNP’ decision. And with that, Horry is set to become a free agent July 1.
There is no question the miles have added up over the years. In fact, no other player in NBA history has played in more NBA post-season games than Horry. However, Rob is indisputably the definition of clutch and most certainly is more than valued within the city of Angels. While I personally feel it shouldn’t be priority #1 for the Lakers, if potential-FA players like Posey and/or Artest get missed, why not?
+Continue Reading
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The entire NBA, and world for that matter, were shook when the Pau Gasol trade went down. Lakers fans cleaned their ears out to made sure they heard right. Kwame Brown, J-Critt, a few future draft picks for Pau Gasol. Many were shocked, excited and in disbelief.
Maybe the biggest twist however, was that a brother was traded for a brother. The Lakers, ironically, drafted Pau Gasol’s brother Marc in the 2007 NBA Draft. He was also included in the deal for Pau. Now, ESPN projects him as the 4th best rookie for this upcoming season. How good can Marc be?
Here is what ESPN had to say…
+Continue Reading
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This is pretty awesome stuff! Go Team USA! Go Kobe!
LakersBlog: Kobe Bryant and the other members of USA Basketball team arrived in Las Vegas today to begin gellin’ as a team at a two-day mini-camp.
The camp is the start of the team’s training for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. They will convene at Cox Pavilion at UNLV.
The USA Team will resume its training in Las Vegas on July 21 and will train daily for four days, capping the session with the USA Basketball Challenge on July 25 against the Canadian National Team at Thomas & Mack Center.
The weekend minicamp, along with the later camp, will be profiled in a five-art documentary series called “Road To Redemption.” The series will debut with a special one-hour episode that will air July 2 on ESPN2.
Road To Redemption presented by NIKE -
Episode Date Time Network Length
One 7/02/08 7:00 PM ET ESPN2 1 Hour
Two 7/21/08 7:30 PM ET ESPN2 30 mins
Three 7/31/08 7:30 PM ET ESPN2 30 mins
Four 8/05/08 7:00 PM ET ESPN2 30 mins
Five 8/05/08 7:30 PM ET ESPN2 30 mins
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Seems like the Lakers are on top of their game with Sasha…
L.A. Times: The Lakers now move forward to free agency, which begins Monday at 9 p.m. They are particularly interested in re-signing Sasha Vujacic, a restricted free agent. “I intend to contact him at 9:01 on Monday night,” Kupchak said. The Lakers are also interested in re-signing Ronny Turiaf, a restricted free agent.
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If some of you don’t know me, I really want to see Yue in a Lakers uniform next season. Why? ‘Cause most analyst are comparing him to Magic Johnson, thats why! Well, the asian Magic Johnson, to be exact. So whose with me?! Sound-off… Do it, Mitch!
L.A. Times: They are also keeping tabs on 6-foot-8 Chinese guard Sun Yue, whom they took last year with the 40th pick.
“We’re very optimistic that we can get him on the roster next year,” Kupchak said. “I’ll contact his agent this week and have some initial discussions.”
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