The #1 Source For Everything Lakers
Personally, the Lakers should be ahead of the Spurs. The way the Lakers dismantled them should rank us ahead of them. Nevertheless, sound-off.
ESPN: 3. Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe | Bynum | Gasol
If Bynum returns quickly to the form he displayed (17.6 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 2.1 bpg) in the three weeks preceding his injury, this will be the league’s second-best trio, at least. And a fourth option like Lamar Odom only strengthens the Lakers’ version of the Big Three.
L.A. Times: Amid reports that Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest is headed for the Houston Rockets, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant said. . . nothing.
“I hadn’t thought about it at all,” Bryant said at Wednesday’s practice.
And the Lakers’ small forward position?
“We’re fine,” Bryant said.
Bryant, once critical of Lakers moves or the lack thereof, has announced he is out of the GM business and is sticking by it.
Artest was so eager to join the Lakers, he made a series of appearances on local talk shows. With Coach Phil Jackson a known admirer, it would have been possible — if Artest had been willing to opt out of his $7.5-million-a-year deal and take $5.5 million from the Lakers. However, he announced he wouldn’t take less, declined to opt out and then, one day later in true Ron Artest fashion, said he regretted not doing it.
Back when Bryant was desperate for help, he asked the Lakers to get Artest as well as Baron Davis and Carlos Boozer. That was then and this is still now.
Scary start, awesome finish. Team USA wins their second straight exhibition game as they prepare for one tomorrow morning (well 5am Pacific time live on ESPN2).
ESPN: LeBron James snatched the opening shot right off the rim, raced the ball all the way up the floor himself and made a tough runner while moving away from the basket.
No problem with the ankle. No trouble with Turkey, either.
James scored 20 points and was a defensive force Thursday night in his exhibition debut, helping the U.S. Olympic basketball team overcome some early sloppy play to beat Turkey 114-82 in its first game in China.
“Obviously he’s healthy,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “He got player of the game. I voted for him twice.”
Carmelo Anthony added 17 points and Dwight Howard had some powerful dunks while finishing with 14 for the Americans, who shot 69.5 percent (41-of-59) from the field.
They allowed 10 field goals in the first quarter, then only 10 combined over the next two periods. They improved to 2-0 in Olympic tuneup play and face Lithuania here Friday before moving on to Shanghai for their remaining two games.
LeBron James scored 20 points, but was equally effective on defense as the U.S. beat Turkey on Thursday.
“We have guys that can come in and wear a team down. Wear a second unit down or wear a first unit down,” James said. “Once we realized it’s going to not happen in the first quarter but toward the middle of the second quarter and then toward the end of the third quarter, we can break the game open, and that’s what we did.”
Continue reading ‘U.S. team start sloppy, finishes strong behind Bron’
This topic came up in a series of emails with Reed yesterday — how much do the Lakers pay Andrew Bynum?
The baseline of the market has been set with the deals for Bogut (six years possibly worth $72 million with incentives) and Okafor (six years, $72 million). It makes sense that their deals are similar in numbers, because their on-court production last season was pretty similar.
But let’s compare that to Bynum from last season…
Here’s a little guide to those stats for those that are new here…
FG%: Shooting percentage
TS%: True Shooting Percentage, think of this as points per shot attempt, it covers twos, three, free throws all adjusted to be a percentage.
Reb Rate: Percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while on the floor.
Pts. P36: Points scored per 36 minutes of playing time.
PER: John Hollinger’s detailed statistic that gives us a snapshot of the offensive production of a player.
Interesting. How do you guys feel about this? He could be solid, but is it what we need?
Detroit News: Robert “Tractor” Traylor, a former Michigan and NBA player who is serving time in a halfway house for preparing a false tax return, will ask a federal judge today to amend his probation conditions so he can try out for the Lakers.
In September, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn sentenced Traylor, 31, to three years of probation — to include three months in a federal halfway house — after Traylor recorded as his own two homes that were owned by his cousin, convicted drug kingpin Quasand Lewis.
Cohn earlier allowed Traylor to interrupt his sentence to play pro basketball in Puerto Rico and the probation department allowed him to attend a workout with the Cavaliers and play on their summer league team.
But when Traylor got a chance this week to try out for the Lakers, his probation officer denied him permission to leave his halfway house and make the trip.
Traylor’s Detroit attorney, Steve Fishman, filed a motion Tuesday asking Cohn to overrule the probation officer, saying the judge “clearly intended to give Mr. Traylor the opportunity to obtain an NBA contract and continue his professional basketball career.”
Cohn is to hear the motion today. Federal prosecutors are not opposed to Traylor making the trip to the West Coast, Fishman said.
And people say the Gasol trade was one sided?
ESPN: Ron Artest is not going home to play for his beloved New York Knicks. Artest didn’t get the fairy-tale trade to join his Southern California buddy Kobe Bryant, either.
He’s also not complaining.
Artest was unmistakably giddy in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a phone conversation with ESPN.com as he discussed his forthcoming trade to the Houston Rockets.
“I’ll be a kid in a candy store,” Artest said. “I’ll be a kid in a store with a lot of candy. I’m going to dance with the stars.”
Instead of the trade to Hollywood to Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers, as many around the league expected, Artest is headed to Houston for a reunion with Rick Adelman, who ranks as his favorite pro coach.
In a swap first reported Tuesday night by The Houston Chronicle, Sacramento has agreed to part with its rugged but controversial swingman in exchange for a first-round pick in 2009, newly drafted Rockets rookie Donte Greene, Kings alumnus Bobby Jackson (and his salary cap-friendly contract) and a first-round pick in 2009.
Inside the Lakers: Just got back from Sasha Vujacic’s press conference this afternoon and got the answer to the question you always have to ask a free agent who has just cashed in:
“I heard a rumor that guys who sign a contract don’t keep working to get better, but I don’t agree with that,” Vujacic said. “I will definitely keep getting better. I’m a gym rat. That’s how I am.
“My goal is to be the best shooter in the NBA and if I keep working hard, I think I can do that.”
It’s no coincidence that the Lakers and Vujacic agreed to a three-year deal. From the team’s standpoint, it means that the Lakers can see how he develops over the next three years, if he gets better, or if he’s reached his ceiling, without committing to six years. From Vujacic’s standpoint, it means that he’s in line for a much bigger payday in three years, when he’ll only be 27 (the prime for most NBA players) if he continues to develop.
Vujacic is taking on some risk of course. If he doesn’t improve, or if the Lakers don’t play as well as a team, his value in three years might be lower, not higher. To compensate him for that risk, the team upped its original offer of about $12 million over three seasons to $15 million over three seasons.
In other words, Vujacic got paid, but still has plenty of incentive to work on his game.
He said that because the negotiations took so long, he’s only planning to go home to Slovenia for about a week, then return to Los Angeles and get back in the gym.
This was posted on Turiaf’s official myspace page. It’s nice to hear him still keeping all of us close to him. We’ll miss you Ronny:
Turiaf21: Just wanted to send a thank you to all the encouraging and kind words during my transition from the Lakers to Golden State. I will admit, I do have a few people sending me hate mail, but if they really knew Ronny Turiaf as a person that would not be happening.
I do read each and every comment made on this page and I think it’s dope to reach out to all of you. Just remember, I am no better than the next man and I appreciate all of your support.
I am here in France with my mom and my fam bam…feels good to be back home for a bit. I will definitely send pics from France since I will be here for a good month or so.
Oh, and I am not taking down my Laker photos…those are my memories and my former teammates are my boyz, my family and my dear friends along with PJ and Mitch.
Holla at ya boy anytime!
R. Teezy
Oh and congratulations to my publicist Danika and her fiance.. Joe who had their baby which is my God Daughter – Zoe Brianne Kouaho.
She is absolutely GORGEOUS!! My ZoZo!
Twitter
Loading ...
Recent Comments