Official Los Angeles Lakers Thread

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Originally posted by LakersMC
I wonder when the little brat will realize winning (with Shaq) is better than losing (and winning the scoring title). Of course, he will never admit to it.

Oh well, the 3-peat sure was fun.

after everything I heard and saw about Kobe last year, I definitely agree that Kobe is a brat.

But, Shaq AND Kobe, each in their special way, contributed to the demise of the Lakers.

You look at Shaq, and this year, he's absolutely in tip top shape.
Why the hell wasn't he like this during the 2000-2003 seasons?

As for Kobe, we Lakers fans will hold him in the highest of contempt if the Lakers do not win a title within the next 7 years (the duration of his contract).

Kobe wants his own team - well, he's now gotten it.

the Lakers, today, would be as good with the players they have, or if you select 11 of us SCF members here, to play with Kobe

And yes, that 3-peat sure was wonderful, and well-worth putting up with these two babies.

There's ONE thing about Kobe that I admire greatly - his all-out pursuit to be the greatest of all time.

If Shaq had 1/2 the determination, passion, and work ethic of Kobe, Shaq would be the greatest center of all-time.

But, how can anyone say that Shaq was better than Wilt?
Wilt could shoot outside. Shaq can't
Wilt could dunk and lay-up. Shaq can also
Wilt plays TREMENDOUS defense. Shaq does this only in pre-season.

all in all, this is one SAD season for the Lakers

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Originally posted by minew_m
The Lakers still have a decent team. ............ I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

well, I saw the Lakers-Seattle game (the one where Kobe played 41 minutes, and Ray Allen did the same as well....so it wasn't really exhibition),

and if this is what the Lakers are -- they'll be lucky to break even at 41-41. In the East, that gets you into the playoffs. In the West, that's a 10th place finish.

1. Lakers have no inside post-presence. Dallas proved for the last 4-5 years that outside shooting gets you a quick exit from the playoffs. Dirk Nowitzki, outside of a few good games, basically stunk up the joint. Nash sucked big time, throwing up brick after brick. You will NEVER win in the playoffs without someone who can score on the inside.

2. Lakers have no fierce rebounders. I watched Mihm for the first time, and he is just your average big man. If he wasn't 7-foot tall, he'd be in the NBDL right now --- he's got very little skils.
Hell, if I were his size, I'd be in the NBA too.

3. Lakers have no outside shooting, short of Kobe. And even the legendary Jordan only made 52.5% at his best season. Kobe won't come close to that, simply b/c of the low % shots he takes at the close of quarters

Everyone talks about Lamar Odom --- well, I am not convinced. One good year doesn't get you to the Hall-of-Fame. All that does is get you a big fat contract so you can buy a 3-day pass to the Hall-of-Fame for a visit. The guy is an unreliable outside shooter; he's too thin to guard a Tim Duncan and too weak/slow to guard a Kevin Garnett

I am not at all impress with Odom - why are all the announcers making a big deal out of this guy?!?!??!

4. Lakers have a TERRIBLE point guard. Who the hell is Chucky Atkins? He can't shoot. He's 5'11", so he's not going to guard Mike Bibby, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, etc etc.

We don't need to wait and see.....I watched that entire 1 game of the pre-season (and why the hell were Ray Allen and Kobe playing 40+ minutes??? we all know what they can do; how about letting the players on the bubble play and see whether they should be in the NBA or the NBDL??) .... and already, I can tell you we are going to get SMOKED by Spurs and Timberwolves.

Unless we get Yao Ming in 2007, it's gonna be one looooooooooooooooooooooong
7-year itch.

what a sad state of affairs that Shaq and Kobe created.

Kobe wanted his own team?

He now will see why Jordan never won a damn thing in the 1986-1990 era, when he was scoring 60+ points vs. Boston, and it was the Celtics who kept going to the NBA Finals

In sports, if all you have to do is stop one guy to win a game, that's the EASIEST thing to do.

People in Chicago used to call Jordan a ball-hog during the 1986-1990 seasons

Now, that's what we Lakers fans will be calling Kobe, b/c he's gonna be shooting every other trip.

I know one thing for sure: Kobe will win the scoring title this year.

Much like Tracy McGrady won it last year, when his Magic won something like 13 games or so

[minew_m]

Originally posted by podstock
well, I saw the Lakers-Seattle game (the one where Kobe played 41 minutes, and Ray Allen did the same as well....so it wasn't really exhibition),

Speaking Allen, did you hear his latest interview? He was ripping Kobe calling him selfish and he was the reason the Lakers didn't win the title last year. He said this based on the Phil Jackon diary. It's one thing for the coach to say it, but if your a player on an opposing team and are not in the situation itself, you should stay out of it. I am not the biggest fan of Kobe by far, but players in the league should be ripping him especially since they only heard one side of the story. Even so it's none of their business and they should stay out of it!

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a few updates - but not much to say b/c I was busy at work, and unable to catch the Lakers games, which were on cable.

Lakers lost a close one to Golden State in OT by 2 points, with Kobe missing a last-second 3-pointer.

then, yesterday, the Lakers beat the Clippers by about 17-20 points.

the one thing that has me puzzled slightly is why Kobe is playing 35+ minutes (including the entire 2nd half and all of OT vs the Warriors)

I realize that the coach is new, the system is new, and you need on-court chemistry

but, man, Kobe averaging about 41 minutes a game in these 3 pre-season games? Are you kidding? If Kobe gets injured, Lakers will be mired in last place.

fortunately, Coach Tomjanovich only let Kobe play 26 minutes last night, enough for him to jack up 25 shots for 25 points.

Kobe's shooting way too much, and with a bad shooting percentage.

Lakers may have what it takes to get to the playoffs....but in the playoffs, if the Celtics and Pistons could slow down Jordan a tad bit --- there won't be any problems slowing down Kobe

[minew_m]

Originally posted by podstock
but, man, Kobe averaging about 41 minutes a game in these 3 pre-season games? Are you kidding? If Kobe gets injured, Lakers will be mired in last place.

fortunately, Coach Tomjanovich only let Kobe play 26 minutes last night, enough for him to jack up 25 shots for 25 points.

Kobe's shooting way too much, and with a bad shooting percentage.

Dang, 25 shots! Those are Iverson numbers, lol. I checked out the Heat game last night and they sure do look impressive. Shaq is continuing to lose weight. He's down about 30 pounds right now from what he was last year. Shaq has great chemistry with Wesley Person, Eddie Jones, Rasul Buttler, and Udonis Haslem. The only problem is he and D-wade don't seem to be on the same page just yet. What I find more amazing is Shaq is playing more of a team game this year. He's getting everyone involved.

Last night he was trying to get the ball to Wang Zhizi and Christian Laettner. He was doing it with success. Wang for once looked comfortable in an offense. Just four years back when he came into the NBA he was suppose to be a star, but he never really fit into the game.

Eddie Jones and Wesley person are struggling with their shot. Once they get their shot going like it was last year, the Heat are going to be a scary team in the east. They already have Damon Jones, Keyon Dooling, and Rasul Buttler who are hitting basically every shot. Shaq seems to find Damon Jones when he's wide open for a three all the time and the result is Damon Jones is shooting close to 70% from the three point line.

I also mentioned Haslem. He may emerge as a star this year. He's playing off of Shaq and doing a great job. He knows his role and he's sticking to it. He's only playing 20 minutes (like everyone else) and getting 6 or 7 boards and ten points in that span.

This is a very well built team. They have a lot of role players who know what to do and are doing good at every aspect of the game. I haven't really caught any Laker games so I'm not sure how Odom, Grant, and Buttler are fitting in. Right now it looks as if the Heat got a great deal with the Shaq trade. Right now they are 4-1 and creaming some of their opponents.

[LakersMC]

I went to the Laker game yesterday vs. the Clippers. Even though they won, that special excitement was there. Where's Shaq, Fish, Fox, Horry? Even GP or Karl? Sigh...

I did see Cook, Rush, Sasha Vujacic, and some other scrubs in the hallway signing a lot of autographs. I didn't have any cards with me, so I just watched for a minute or two.

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I haven't seen much of Sasha, but from what I briefly saw (esp. in the Seattle game), he looks like he could start in 2-3 years --- we will see how this kid develops

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pre-season update: 10/25/04: 117-91 Lakers

Lakers now guaranteed a winning pre-season (5-2 right now, with 1 more to play) since 1998.

Pre-season doesn't mean jack.... however, given the massive facelift the Lakers have, this pre-season was VERY important, and I hope they have developed some chemistry going into the Nov. 3rd opener.

Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis - 2 of Seattle best players - didn't play.

I didn't see the game, but did listen to it on the radio in the 4th quarter once I got off of work.

Boy, Tierre Brown, the 6'2" point guard, is making a case for himself to stick on the Lakers roster. I would say that he's made the team.

Nice shooting touch. Great passing. Fairly ok defense. But, of course, it's only pre-season.

However, Brown is 6'2" and Chucky Atkins - the Lakers starting PG - is only 5'11"

we need someone like Brown to deal with Mike Bibby, Steve Nash, and the other PGs in the league.

Sasha - the Lakers 1st round draft pick is playing AWESOME - and led the Lakers today with 8 assists. Nice passing, nice shooting touch. We will see how he performs once the season starts.

On a slightly different note, I totally forgot that there is now a re-balancing of the divisions, as follows:

http://www.sportsline.com/nba/standings

I am not sure how this helps the Lakers overall in the hunt for the NBA title (now, before y'all start rolling on the floor laughing, remember that no one predicted Detroit to win it all).

Also, Only the top 8 teams make it to the playoffs.

But, now, the Lakers only have to deal with Sacramento for the Pacific Division title. I don't think the Suns are that good, nor are the Clippers and Warriors.

Gotta think the Lakers or the Kings will win the Pacific Division

The Northwest division appears to be really tough, with 4 of the 5 teams conceivably able to make it to the playoffs (MN, Denver, Utah, Seattle, and Portland)

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Lakers played their final pre-season game, beating Washington Wizards easily at Oklahoma (why the heck was this game played there?!)

It was a relatively easy gaem, with the Lakers leading practically 95% of the way.

This game represented the Lakers toughest challenge, since the Wizards have 7'2" Branden as a center.....
but, even after having watch 3 of the 6 Lakers games on TV, i still don't know how good/bad they will be.

I would guess that PG Tierre Brown will make the team (he played a large majority of the minutes tonight) and Tony Bobbitt was on the bench.

I think that it won't be long before 6'2" Brown starts in place of 5'11" Chucky Atkins, who had a HORRIBLE pre-season, and was shooting something like 25%

I prefer Brown..... but we shall see.

I hope Karl comes back sometime in December. But Brian Grant looks fairly nimble for someone with aching knees.

the regular season starts with a home game vs the Nuggets on Tuesday

Then, the Lakers fly to Utah to play back-to-back on Wed

the 3rd game will be an early indicator of how good/bad the Lakers will be -- vs. San Antonio Spurs

[LakersMC]

I went to the game last night. Again, I thought it was BORING without the Big Diesel and the old gang. A couple of notes of interest.

- Lots of increased security because of the Pistons-Pacers thing. Lots.
- When the scoreboard was showing Miami Heat highlights, the crowd booed Shaq. How quickly they forget.
- Stumbled across the VIP parking entrance. Saw Jamaal Wilkes there & his son (top high school recruit).

As for the game itself:
- I don't think the Lakers fed the post more than 2 or 3 times. I hope this changes when Vlade comes back.
- Kirk Hinrich (Bulls) was on fire. I think he was possessed by the ghost of John Paxson & Steve Kerr.