L.A. Times: There are few things more important to Kobe Bryant before a game than his portable DVD player.
It goes wherever he goes before tipoff. On the padded table in the trainer’s room. On the floor for a pregame stretching routine. Perched in front of his locker.
The Lakers’ 10-time All-Star stares at his 10-inch screen, watching basketball clips of the players he’ll be guarding.
It is part of his longtime commitment to studying video, one of the foundations of a career still going strong in its 13th season.
The Lakers have had their stars over the last few decades — Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal — but few have studied game video (or film, as it was called back in the day) more diligently than Bryant, who looks for the slightest advantage while sizing up an opponent.
“Hands down, he’s the biggest video fiend we’ve ever had,” said Chris Bodaken, the Lakers’ director of video services. “I didn’t know if it was possible to be more competitive than Magic was, but I think he might be. It carries over into his preparation, and this is part of that.”
Bodaken, 40, began working in the Lakers’ editing room in 1989 as an intern and is now one of two full-time staffers who use eight digital video recorders, five laptop computers and 18 DVD burners to record, edit and copy footage for Lakers coaches and players.
Coming off a victorious showing against the hated Boston Celtics, a letdown was nowhere to be found as the Lakers recently handled the Golden State Warriors with ease.
All is well in Lakerland (aside from the injury to Farmar). However, there’s always room for some good questions, some deep thoughts, and a little bit of “The Truth”. Let the truth be told.
On the biggest stage this season, in the highest rated regular-season NBA game in four years, the Los Angeles Lakers made a strong statement by ending Boston’s 19-game winning streak.
Forum Blue & Gold: The game against the Warriors was a pretty good example of the Lamar Odom conundrum. On one hand, in his 21 minutes Odom had just 6 points and 3 rebounds and was did not seem to stamp his imprint on the game. Then again, at the end of the day he was +22, the best on the Lakers. He leads the Lakers this season in +/-, good things happen when he is on the floor.
So, for fun I re-watched the game and just tracked Odom, watching him on both ends of the court. What I came away thinking is that the +/- numbers are no accident. Here are a few observations:
• He understands the offense very well and spaces out well, then comes crashing to the boards when needed.
He often is set up on the weak side of the triangle, and against the Warriors (as in many games) there was not a lot of ball movement to the weakside to take advantage of Odom and the spacing. (To be fair, against the Warriors that was in part because the Lakers got pretty much whatever shot they wanted on the strong side, that was not a defensive tour d’ force by Golden State.)
I think when the ball sticks, or when Kobe goes Kobe, Odom can be one of the guys who gets hurt the most in terms of touches. But sometimes he finds gaps.
Kobe and Machine are BFF Still! These pics were taken from the Lakers vs. Celtics game. Machine sure wanted some Kobe BFF time during this game being in the spotlight on national television. Looks like it paid off Machine.
Lakers Examiner: Well it was a good start to 2008 for the Los Angeles Lakers, but the summer began with disappointment as they lost in six games to the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals.
The summer and upcoming season could go one of two ways: either the Lakers would build off of last season and improve on their weaknesses or they would hit the panic button and start trashing each other. Either way it would be a media frenzy.
Consult the second half of the Lakers 2008 Facebook page to see what happened…
July 10
Ronny Turiaf left the Los Angeles Lakers network and joined the Golden State Warriors network.
Monta Ellis wrote on Ronny Turiaf’s wall: “stay off of mopeds ”
July 18
Luke Walton is happy to finally have my ankle cleaned out! can’t wait to take it to Boston next season!
July 28
Sasha Vujacic wrote on Chris Mihm’s wall: “just signed a multi-year deal. where can i get a box of thin purple headbands?!?!?!?”
Chris Mihm wrote on Sasha Vujacic’s wall: “check Forever 21 at the Beverly Center. now that Gossip Girl’s taking off, they have a bunch ; )”
Forum Blue & Gold: I really don’t understand the idea of trading Chris Mihm for Tyronn Lue, the rumor that has gained enough momentum to be taken seriously. But then, any Laker trade rumor is harder to kill than Freddy Krueger.
The Lakers don’t save any money in this proposed deal — Lue actually makes more than Mihm. They trade big for small, and they do it for just a back-up guy to fill in for two months. Because if you’ve seen Lue play at all recently, you know he is no Jordan Farmar.
The Bucks gave Lue the old trade spotlight game Saturday, giving him key minutes against Detroit. What did he do with it: 0-7 from the floor, 0-5 from three, and made Allen Iverson look a decade younger on defense.
Did you watch Sasha Vujacic last night? He can play the point in the triangle. He had 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting, 4 of 7 from three, had a season best six assists to just two turnovers, and looked solid on defense.
Some Lakers fans have this odd, unnatural affection for Lue and think he’s a good defender. He is not. So far this season, opposing point guards are shooting over 60% (eFG%) against him, scoring 23 points per 48 minutes and have a PER of 22.7. That is the same as having a Tony Parker or Chauncey Billups playing against you every night.
And if you thought he played stellar defense against Iverson in the finals seven years ago, you must not remember The Answer stepping over him after hitting a key three late in game one. I remember that.
L.A. Times: Ronny Turiaf, the energetic face of the Lakers’ reserves in seasons past, walked into a different locker room on Sunday, the one that’s 100 feet down the hall from his old one at Staples Center.
He is in his first season with Golden State after signing a four-year, $17-million contract during the off-season, increasing his annual salary by more than five times what he made with the Lakers last season. But he still misses his old locker room, and its inhabitants.
“I talk to them on a daily basis,” he said. “I know for a fact they miss me too.”
Turiaf, 25, was the main name to leave the Lakers last summer, signing an offer sheet with the Warriors that was not matched by the Lakers, who eventually chose instead to sign Sasha Vujacic to a three-year, $15-million contract.
With Andrew Bynum coming back from injury, the Lakers didn’t think Turiaf would get much playing time in a frontcourt that also included Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.
Turiaf came into Sunday’s game averaging 4.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and a notable 2.2 blocked shots a game, fourth in the league. Last season, he led the Lakers in an immeasurable category.
“We liked the energy,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “It’s like a radiator out there, just giving off all this great energy and this light, and getting off the bench and creating stuff — laughable stuff, humorous stuff. And that was Ronny’s energy. We miss that because that’s infectious.”
L.A. Times: The Lakers have a void at point guard because of an injury. In Sasha Vujacic’s eyes, he is capable of filling that role.
The Lakers have a need for a backup point guard because Jordan Farmar had surgery on his left knee for torn cartilage and will be out for eight weeks.
Vujacic pointed out he came into the NBA as a point guard. He also pointed out how in Lakers Coach Phil Jackson’s offense there is a two-guard front in which both guards can facilitate the offense.
“Phil knows that I can play at that position,” Vujacic said. “I really feel comfortable and I’m excited about the opportunity.”
It means Vujacic can’t look for his shot first, the way he can as the shooting guard. It means he has to run the offense and get his teammates involved.
There was a moment in the second quarter when Vujacic had the ball on a two-on-one fastbreak, when he made the right play. Vujacic threw a behind-the-back pass to Trevor Ariza, who was fouled on the play and got two free throws because of Vujacic’s pass.
Vujacic finished with six assists, his season high.
“We’re giving him some minutes out there,” Jackson said. “I thought that he did all right. With Lamar [Odom] back there on top of it, he’s got somebody that’s experienced in that role so that the two of them can co-exist.”
It’s no surprise that the Lakers are looking for a PG, one person says we should go after Boykins – good idea?
O.C. Register: The Lakers need a guard. Earl Boykins very likely will need a place to play. It seems like the ideal situation for both parties.
With Jordan Farmar out for at least eight weeks while recovering from knee surgery, the Lakers have a need for an experienced guard.
Boykins is a proven scorer, a terrific ball handler and an excellent free-throw shooter. From 2003-2007, he averaged 12.4 points per game, off the bench, with the Denver Nuggets and the Milwaukee Bucks.
I once asked the 5-foot-5, 135-pound Boykins how he was able to score against much bigger players. He shrugged and told me that scoring was the easiest part of his game. And then he showed me the basic moves that he had honed and perfected, starting from the time when he first started playing basketball while growing up in Cleveland.
Boykins, who inexplicably did not receive any attractive offers this past summer as an unrestricted free agent, signed to play for Virtus Bolongna of the Italian Professional League.
In 12 games, Boykins is the team’s leading scorer at 16.3 points per game. He also leads the team in average minutes played, free-throw percentage, steals and assists.
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L.A. Times: There are few things more important to Kobe Bryant before a game than his portable DVD player.
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