For the first time ever, NBA.com will stream live the 2K Sports NBA Real Training Camp, providing fans unprecedented access to five teams’ training camps, including the defending NBA champs, the Los Angeles Lakers. Offering fans an exclusive first look at team practices, along with interviews from their top players and staff, 2K Sports NBA Real Training Camp.
L.A. Lakers: With the addition of Ron Artest to a star-studded roster that already features NBA 2K10 video game cover athlete Kobe Bryant, along with Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher, will the Lakers defend their championship title
First KG, now Paul. The Celtics have a liking for talking… a lot. Oh yeah, we hate the Cetlics. So let ‘em hear it Lakers Nation!
Yahoo! Sports: The Boston Celtics open training camp next week with a new roster and the same confident attitude. Forget that the Los Angeles Lakers are the NBA’s reigning champions. Paul Pierce(notes) is already predicting another title for the Celtics – provided, of course, they stay healthy.
“Before the season even started last year, I was asked, ‘What is going to stop y’all from winning it all?’ ” Pierce said in a phone interview on Thursday. “The first thing I said was, ‘If we’re healthy, we’re going to win it all.’ And I’m going to say it again: ‘If we are healthy, we are going to win it all.’
“I honestly believe that. I think we’re the best team in the NBA, healthy.”
Pierce was speaking from New York where he was promoting the launch of his new “The Truth on Health” youth initiative. The program includes a web-based club, FitClub34, that provides children with resources to become more active.
Related CoveragePlay Fantasy Basketball ‘09 More From Marc J. SpearsPierce angry about replacement refs Sep 24, 2009 Curry declares himself the rookie to beat Sep 24, 2009 Poor health doomed the Celtics’ own hopes last season. All-Star forward Kevin Garnett(notes) missed 25 games, including the playoffs, because of a right knee injury that eventually required surgery. Role players also were in and out of the lineup as Boston went on to lose to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Pierce said he barely watched the Lakers beat the Magic in the NBA Finals. After the series was over, he tweeted, “Looked like a German shepherd vs. a poodle. That’s OK the Rottweiler Celtics will b back in 2010.”
This is good news to hear from Phil. Recently, he spoke on Ron Artest and how he planned to utilize him in his system:
Sports Radio Interviews: On whether he knows how he’s going to use Ron Artest: “Yes I do. I’ve spent some time thinking about it. Ron has a real knack of being a top defender and an aggressive player on the defensive end of the court. I felt a couple of years ago when we were looking for some people that could help this team move up in the rankings from where we were, we entertained the idea of trying to get Ron on the team to bring that toughness and defensive mentality to our team. This is really an addition to our game that we think is important. Not to say that we’re not going to miss (Trevor) Ariza. We’re definitely going to miss Trevor in our game. There’s a certain sense of how he plays. He didn’t need a lot of shots, he didn’t need a lot of things run for him as a player to be happy and to contribute. His defensive capabilities and steals to get through picks and get back to his man were invaluable to us last year in the playoffs. But we think overall that we probably have a more balanced and difficult team to defend and to score against on this team. I think Ron’s going to be a really big addition to this team. Not only defensively, but he can do some things offensively that’ll be able to help our team and people will be surprised.”
Kenyon… The Lakers are the world champions. They’ve beat you two years in a row. Maybe it’s time to stop talking?
RealGM:Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin says the team feels as though they are better than the defending-champion Lakers.
Martin was asked by 104.3 The Fan in Denver what the team learned from their deep playoff run this past season.
“That you have to play on a consistent basis throughout the regular season and just better your position. Just learn from the things we did right last year and learn from things we did wrong, but we had a great run,” Martin said on the radio.
“I think guys know that we were right there and everybody in that locker room and in the organization feels we were a better team than the Lakers. Everybody feels we were a better team than the Lakers and no one can tell me anything different. No one.”
ESPN: Pau Gasol had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead world champion Spain to a 85-63 win over Serbia in the final of the European basketball championship Sunday.
The victory gave Spain its first European title after six runner-up finishes, including a one-point loss two years ago to Russia in front of its home crowd.
The Spaniards dominated from the start at both ends of the court, playing pressure man-to-man defense and getting out on the break for easy baskets to take a 15-point first quarter lead. Serbia never recovered.
Gasol, a star with the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, scored down low and blocked three shots on his way to winning the tournament MVP honors.
“It was a great game, and obviously we won the final that we lost twice before this year, so I’m extremely happy and it’s an unforgettable day for us,” Gasol said. “We just worked so hard to win this championship and I’m just super proud of my teammates.”
Guard Rudy Fernandez chipped in with 13 points for Spain, while Uros Tripkovic led Serbia with 15 points.
“We lost the first half, and probably the game was finished,” Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic said. “The Spanish team was better and they deserved absolutely this title.”
Here is a small update on Drew. He;s been playing basketball!
AJC: It’s not often that rookie free agent center Garret Siler is forced to look up to someone on a basketball court.
But that’s exactly what happened to the 7-footer Wednesday when Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum cut through the door of the Hawks’ practice facility to get a workout in at the John “Beans” Beckett Invitational. Bynum and Siler matched up in two different games and Siler acquitted himself well, neither big man dominated the action – that honor belonged to veteran pro Jerry Stackhouse (who has been on a tear this week on both ends of the floor against players much younger).
Siler said he was just happy to have the chance to compete against a pro of Bynum’s caliber.
“This is the best test for me to see guys like [Hawks center] Al Horford and [Bynum] out here,” Siler said. “It helps mentally when you can say, ‘hey, i’m d’ing this guy up and he plays for the world champions. He’s got a ring.’ So if you can hold your own going against and he’s not just destroying you, hey, you must be doing something right.”
It’s no surprise Ron Artest has been all over Los Angeles. Elie Seckbach even considers him the new king of L.A. Check out this report by Elie on Ron’s amazing summer in L.A. Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, reports.
This has been an amazing summer for NBA star Ron Artest, who in a relatively short time has taken over Los Angeles. Ron-Ron has caused many Lakers fans to fall in love with the defensive specialist by being himself — chatting with fans, handing out his phone number and getting involved in the community. In this FanHouse exclusive, we catch up with Ron at a press conference for boxing stars Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, where we talk to him about basketball, boxing, charity work and even making a mean sandwich.
ESPNTheMagazine: That script began to be rewritten at the toll of free agency, 12:01 a.m. on July 1, one minute into the day after Ariza’s birthday. He was still celebrating with family when he received a call from his agent, David Lee. “He said, ‘The Lakers called, and they think you’re worth only the midlevel,’ ” or $5.8 million a year, Ariza recounts. Technically, it wasn’t even an offer. Says Lee of the Lakers GM, “Mitch Kupchak’s exact quote was, ‘We want Trevor on the cheap, and we’re not going to make an offer. Find what the market will bear and come back to us.’ ”
Ariza was bummed. He’d been expecting something in the $7-to-8 million range, but he also knew the Lakers had committed $74 million to eight players, putting them well into luxury tax territory. And free agent Lamar Odom was still unsigned. “I thought, Fine, let’s talk to some teams and see if anybody values me more,” Ariza says. Later that morning, he headed to Vegas to cool out with family while fielding calls from suitors. The Cavs brought it hard. Mike Brown and Shaq phoned, LeBron texted, then met Ariza face-to-face. They eventually put a five-year, $33 million offer on the table.
But it was Rockets GM Daryl Morey who received the coveted dinner meeting that night. Like everyone else, Morey was taken with Ariza’s selflessness, athleticism and offensive uptick, all of which made him a snug fit in Rick Adelman’s free-flowing attack. But in his analysis, Morey, the league’s top number cruncher, discovered something else, too. “We found Trevor’s defensive impact to be at the top of his position,” he says. “He was always our top free agent target, but on his defense alone, he was worth the money we had available for him.” As he and Ariza were leaving dinner, Morey checked his voice mail. Ron Artest was LA-bound.
A few hours later, Ariza agreed to a five-year, $33 million deal with the Rockets, similar to what the Lakers had given to Artest. “We were surprised Trevor was available,” Morey says. “We thought the Lakers would bring him back for sure.” Ariza was pretty sure of that too. “If you’d told me I wasn’t going to be a Laker, I wouldn’t have believed you,” he says. “You’d think they’d want to keep their team together. I mean, we won the championship, and I was a big part of it.”
Kupchak insists he wanted the same thing: “It was our intention to keep the team together — and that included Trevor.” But free agency is a fast-moving target, and decisions need to be made. “Early on, we weren’t able to agree on a deal,” he continues. “If it doesn’t look like things are going the way you want them to, you have to make a quick decision and go in another direction.”
Some minor news on the Lakers’ draft pick; who is heading to Spain.
OCRegister: Chinemelu Elonu knew he wasn’t going to make the Lakers. With a roster stocked with talent, the most he could hope for was to share the court with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Co. was in training camp.
So the Lakers’ second-round draft pick out of Texas A&M did the next best thing. He signed a two-year deal to play for the Spanish club team Zaragoza, but included an opt-out clause that will allow him to leave Europe and sign with the Lakers after the 2009-10 season.
So not all hope of playing for the Lakers is lost.
While playing for the Lakers Summer League team, Elonu said he was “overwhelmed” when the Lakers drafted him.
“There’s nothing better than to get drafted by the world champions,” he said in Las Vegas.
It’s nice to see the guys lookin’ sharp and preparing for the next title run.
LakersBasketblog: Training camp is still a few weeks away for the Lakers, yet several of the players gathered in El Segundo on Wednesday afternoon to shoot, lift and play some pick up ball.
Shannon Brown explained he was joined by Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, Ron Artest, Jordan Farmar, Josh Powell and Adam Morrison in addition to some D-Leaguers (to round out a 5-on-5 run).
Prior to the full-court action, some of the players went through lifting and general strenghtening activities with Lakers Director of Athletic Performance Chip Schaefer (Walton and Brown specifically), others got some shots up (Vujacic and Farmar) while others worked with assistant coach Brian Shaw and advance scout/assistant coach Rasheed Hazzard on running L.A.’s offense (Artest and Brown).
“It’s just good to get back in here,” said Walton. “I think we’re all excited about the coming season and eager to get ready to go.”
It won’t be long, since the first preseason game is only three weeks away on October 7 against Golden State.
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ESPNTheMagazine: That script began to be rewritten at the toll of free agency, 12:01 a.m. on July 1, one minute into the day after Ariza’s birthday. He was still celebrating with family when he received a call from his agent, David Lee. “He said, ‘The Lakers called, and they think you’re worth only the midlevel,’ ” or $5.8 million a year, Ariza recounts. Technically, it wasn’t even an offer. Says Lee of the Lakers GM, “Mitch Kupchak’s exact quote was, ‘We want Trevor on the cheap, and we’re not going to make an offer. Find what the market will bear and come back to us.’ ”
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