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Author Archive for Shane Bien

Lakers’ priority: Keep team together

Published by Shane Bien on June 29, 2008 in 2008 Off-Season. 43 Comments

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.

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Kobe response to Shaq’s rap

Published by Shane Bien on June 28, 2008 in Kobe Watch. 27 Comments

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.”

What we learned in the NBA Finals

Published by Shane Bien on June 22, 2008 in 2008 Playoffs. 12 Comments

Fox Sports: Because teams, players, coaches and referees all reveal themselves in various ways, every play of every game is fraught with meaningful revelations. And the pressure inherent in a championship series certainly ups the ante.

So then, here are some nuggets of transcendent meaning that can be gleaned from the latest Lakers-Celtics set-to.

- While Doc Rivers did a superb job, he was way off-base in deriding Phil Jackson for “whining” about the refs after the lopsided 38-10 foul situation in Game 2. Since he’s been there before, Jackson knew that the public airing of his grievance would work to his team’s benefit — and it did. In fact, it always does. In other words, loudly complaining about being short-changed by the refs in a playoff series is as much a part of a coach’s job description as formulating a game plan. Besides which, Jackson’s protestations were entirely justified.

- With all due respect, the only plausible reason for Lamar Odom’s lack of on-court awareness is that he suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder.

In any case, Odom is imminently dispensable and must be dealt for someone like Ron Artest, Udonis Haslem or Shane Battier.

- Sometimes how a team plays is more significant than whether they’ve won or lost a specific game. Which was the case with the Lakers’ sloppy, error-filled victory in Game 5 that certainly pointed to the probability of their getting swamped in Game 6.

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Perkins doubtful for Game 6

Published by Shane Bien on June 16, 2008 in 2008 Playoffs. 6 Comments

If you think Perkins doesn’t make a difference for the Celtics, just find out how many combined rebounds Gasol and Odom had… Yeah, 24! Oh, and Odom had only 4 blocks.

Boston Herald: … Perkins faced the real possibility that he had played in his last NBA Finals game.

“I would say that would probably be doubtful,” coach Doc Rivers said before the game of Perkins returning to the floor for Game 6 at the Garden. “But I don’t know.”

“It’s a good question,” Perkins said of whether he could play the rest of the series. “I couldn’t tell you. I can raise my arm, but there’s just a lot of pain right now. I don’t know if I can take a hard hit on it. When we get back to Boston I’m supposed to get an MRI on it, and then we’ll know more about it.”

Sympathy for the Lakers? Not until they earn it

Published by Shane Bien on June 9, 2008 in 2008 Playoffs. 8 Comments

ESPN: The Los Angeles Lakers should know by now not to expect any pity. The Lakers surely understand that they traded away their rights to sympathy, maybe permanently, when they shipped so little to Memphis and stole Pau Gasol.

The infamous foul that wasn’t called on Derek Fisher in the San Antonio series won’t soon be forgotten, either.

So …

As unfair as a fuming Phil Jackson found the Game 2 free-throw count — and as frustrating as it had to be for L.A. to fall just short after Sunday night’s epic fourth-quarter scramble — this is the Lakers’ reality:

No one with a neutral interest in these NBA Finals is bound to feel sorry for the Zen Men, because the Lakers wouldn’t be here without the midseason gift of Gasol from the Grizzlies. Or because they clinched a series-turning road win over the savvy Spurs on a non-call that the league later publicly acknowledged as erroneous.

Or because the Boston Celtics happen to be outplaying them in so many categories.

Continue reading ‘Sympathy for the Lakers? Not until they earn it’

Jackson, Bryant learned each other’s ways to become winners

Published by Shane Bien on June 4, 2008 in Kobe Watch. 1 Comment

O.C. Register: As if there wasn’t enough history in this colonial city and in this classic Lakers-Celtics rivalry, the opportunity to make more has arrived for Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.

Somewhat inaccurately defined by their separate determinations to win championships — Bryant portrayed as borderline maniacal in his single-mindedness, Jackson long criticized for playing only with stacked decks — they are here on the cusp of validation again. Bryant can join a short list of modern NBA stars to have four titles: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan. Jackson can break his tie with Red Auerbach and stand alone with 10 NBA coaching championships.

Then again, they could have done those things in 2004, when the Lakers last reached the NBA Finals. The funny thing is Bryant and Jackson aren’t bitter about that defeat because they don’t think they deserved to win that one.

That’s how it is when you are the truest sort of competitor: one who judges success foremost from within.

Lamar Odom sees that in Bryant and Jackson, no matter that one is fire and one is ice.

“Kobe is the ultimate competitor, because he competes against himself,” Odom said. “If he has got 50 points one game, the next game he wants to get 55 or 60. If his back is hurt, he wants to prove that his back isn’t hurt. That rubs off on us.”

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Bryant gives his all, but some still want more

Published by Shane Bien on May 13, 2008 in Kobe Watch. 4 Comments

Should have Kobe passed the ball more during OT or instead pass the ball to his teamates? Sound-off in the comments and tell us what you think…

L.A. Times: Kobe Bryant will play Wednesday, I learned Monday.

Actually, I didn’t learn it as much as divine it from years of watching Bryant, who would play if they had to wrap him from head to foot like a mummy.

Two things are certain with Bryant: 1) he’s the gamer of gamers and 2) he’ll never take a breath without creating a controversy, as he did once more Sunday.

Only one thing kept Bryant’s performance in Game 4 from rising to the mythic level of Willis Reed limping out for Game 7 in 1970 and the flu-ridden Michael Jordan beating the Jazz in 1997 . . .

The Lakers didn’t win.

Otherwise, it would have been one for the ages: Bryant looking like Charlton Heston in “El Cid” whose body was tied to his horse and sent back into battle, leading them back from a 12-point deficit in the last 3:59 of regulation.

If Lamar Odom had made his three-pointer to put them ahead with :13 left and they’d gone on to win, people would have talked about this game as long as there was an NBA.

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Two Independent Doctors Clear Ariza, Lakers Next?

Published by Shane Bien on May 12, 2008 in 2008 Playoffs. 18 Comments

HOOPSWORLD: HOOPSWORLD has learned that Trevor Ariza of the Los Angeles Lakers has been cleared by a second independent doctor. Sidelined for months with a broken foot, Ariza has now sought out two additional opinions hoping to get back on the floor to help the team in its ongoing playoff run.

The Lakers’ physician has been conservative as Ariza’s CT Scan still shows a line on the bone which is normally interpreted as an unhealed fracture.

Ariza recently saw a doctor in Utah who postulated that the bone has indeed healed and that the line may never fully disappear.

The recent third opinion concurred which sends the ultimate decision to the Lakers who are inherently conservative when it comes to long term health of their players. To date they haven’t been willing to put Ariza in harm’s way, even for the ongoing playoff push.

At this point it’s not clear what the team will do with the additional medical opinion. From Ariza’s perspective, he’s good to go and feels no discomfort or limitation of any kind.

One thing to note is that opinions from even the most highly respected doctors are subjective. If they prove to be incorrect, Ariza could have some serious long-term implications.

The final decision from Laker management should be made in the coming days.

More as it develops . . .