Edwin G,

I like your ideas about the CBA rules. Something needs to be done. A lot of potentially good basketball players are falling through the cracks with the rules the way they are. Marcus Slaughter is one player who would've benefitted from such a rule change.

I don't understand why Farmar starting is such a far-fetched idea. Farmar is a special player, and special players always find a way onto the court. His leadership, exhibited in the NCAA tounament, is an asset that the Lakers have lacked in recent years. In comparison with Smush, Farmar does better things in areas that the team most needs:

1. Push the ball
2. Pass the ball
3. Penetrate and dish
4. Leadership
5. Hard working attitude
6. Quickness

These are just a few areas that do not show up on the stat sheet where Farmar, at 19 years old, is better than Smush already. There's no reason to hold Farmar back. In my opinion, to hold Farmar back is like the Steelers holding back Big Ben a few years back in favor of Tommy Maddox in order to "groom" him. I say throw Farmar into the fire and see what happens. We know what Smush can do(not much on a consistent basis).

LakerTom, I hate to disagree with you, but I think those glasses you're wearing are pretty rosy. Farmer isn't going to get the playing time you think he will, he isn't as ready as you think he is (I think his inconsistent Summer league games showed that), and you never really answered my main point, which is that Phil has never really used a real point to run the Triangle. If Farmer really is a true point, that might actually count against him.

Phil likes bigger guys to handle the ball once the offence gets set up; besides which, Kobe is like MJ, he likes the ball in his hands. No true point can deal with that, it's like letting the running back make decisions, as far as any quarterback is concerned.

I'm not saying Farmer isn't talented, but frankly, if there weren't serious questions about his game, he wouldn't have fallen this far in the draft. I still haven't seen any real indication he can shoot consistently, for example, and that was an area that hurt us last year.

reading the responses, makes me wonder if I am being mistaken with others on here with a similar username..But oh well..

36 days til camp -- Kwame's confidence will be off the rocker this year! Most Improved...

JUAN CARLOS NAVARRO from FCBarcelona will be a steal if the lakers take him!

Rocky,
Farmar has only been observed playing against NCAA level and summer league competition. No way you can say at that he is better than Smush, at this point in time, in those areas.

joninjapan,

Here's a bit of advice on college. You need to procrastinate on a few things to see just how good you handle pressure when things need to get done. It's kind of like that "Seinfeld" episode where Kramer drives the car with the "low fuel" light on to see just how far he can go before he runs out. You never know how much fun you can have until you pull of a ten-page medieval literature paper on two pots of coffee in one night.

Also, at most colleges, weekends actually start on Thursdays, which makes Wednesday night your actual "Friday night".

Oh, if your school has any class called "Sports Management" take it, you'll be in a classroom full of scholarship athletes.

Whew! Aced that government final!

AK, Andrew Z, second that. I just still can't see how Laker Tom thinks Farmar can know an offense better than Smush if Farmar never played in it.

again, I think Farmar can be really good, but isn't there a reason why he was picked 26th in a weak draft? Yet he is a "great defender" and a "supernatural" point guard? If that was the case, Laker Tom, than he would have been picked 1st! Everyone is looking for a supernatural, defensive, pass-first, clutch, 19 year old point guard. duh!

joninjapan,
Here's some "sage advice" from a 1.5 month vet. Go to your classes and don't procrastinate! In a lot of classes, you will have one assignment due at the end, and just midterms. Plan your 12 page essays!

JonInJapan, I'm sure someone else is going to answer this, but the Lakers kept their name when they transferred from Minneapolis. Kind of like how Utah are the Jazz, because they used to play in New Orleans.

I wish someone could explain to me why so many people are convinced KG only ahs another 2-3 good years left in him. He's not in a position where losing speed will necessarily hurt him right away. Dude can probably play until he's in his late thirties and still have some game.

Edwin-

Rookies are in the union. Once you're contracted to an NBA team, you get your union membership (as far as I know), so that's not an issue.

As for guys being unsigned, another team can always pick up a player's rights in a trade. It happens all the time. Again, that's not an issue. You can argue that the time period that a team can hold a player is too long. I think it's reasonable, but you disagree. To shorten it, though to a year, or to training camp, or whatever, is far too short. The draft system gives teams their only real chance to control a player and the amount of money they make (that, for example, is why there's a draft salary system). Once they become FAs, the control reverts to the players. Teams, though, have interests and deserve to have them honored as part of the process. It's a give and take.

The third thing, though, you suggest- allowing drafted players to return to their college teams if they don't sign, I don't agree with at all. First of all, there are the practical considerations. Let's say Pinnock wanted to return to GW. That means his coach would have to hold one of his scholarships- there are limits to the number they can give- waiting to see what will happen. Meanwhile, there's a kid somewhere who won't get a chance to go to GW b/c Pinnock is trying to latch on to an NBA team, and a team that can't organize itself because they have no idea of the status of some of their players. Remember, Pinnock woulnd't be the only person taking advantage of this rule. Again, he can return to college if he chooses, but like the rest of us, will need to pay his own way, get a loan, or whatever. He's hired an agent at this point. He's not a collegian anymore.

There are ample safeguards in place to give players every opportunity to test the waters without giving up their scholarship. Once they do, players need to be responsible for their decisions.

I understand where you're coming from (as a former teacher, I certainly understand the value of education), and while I think you can argue about how long a player's rights should be held, teams deserve the right to exert some sense of control over a player, or you might as well not have a draft at all.

BK

Ken:

Thanks for your comments reminding everybody that the Triangle Offense is not Molecular Genetics or Nuclear Physics. It is just a series of sets and plays with defined options that link together basic basketball plays such as picks, screens, rolls, cuts, passes, and shots. Broken into its various pieces, the Triangle Offense is just basketball. And how well you know basketball is really what determines how easy or hard the Triangle Offense is to learn.

There is a bell curve for learning the Triangle Offense just as there is a bell curve for learning anything. There is a small group of players at the top end who will pick up the system almost automatically. While you might consider them to be savants, in reality they are probably point guards and coach’s sons who have been immersed in basketball from the cradle. While Jordan Farmar is not a coach’s son, it is pretty clear that he has a very high basketball IQ and an almost intuitive understanding of the Triangle Offense, partly because he is just plain smart and partly because of growing up as a “true” point guard who understands basketball. Do you really think that Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, or Steve Nash would have any problems learning the Triangle Offense? They would probably pick it up even faster than Farmar because of experience.

At the other end of the spectrum there is a large group of players who will never learn the system, either because they just don’t get it or just don’t care to get it. In the middle will be the vast number of players who will gradually absorb the new system and eventually become comfortable within in but really never master it. Let’s be honest. Most of the players in the NBA were not honor students or phi beta Kappas. College, assuming they even went much less graduated, was just a form of minor league basketball for them. Add in the factor that they are making millions of dollars for just playing a game and it is easy to see why many of the players might have a problem understanding any system, much less a structured and comprehensive system such as the Triangle Offense.

Tom

10milliondollarzen -- Jack Nicholson is a New Yorker, if I am not mistaken -- that is why the Yankee love.. I think I also read one time he said he is a fan of basketball first and foremost, but not necessarily the Lakers being his team. (I also think he loves his Knicks)...but roots for Los Angeles because he calls LA home most of the time. I am cool with that. So I wont go as far as saying I am ready to start a "Hate Jack" bandwagon -- he is good for the Lakers, like the Knicks have Spike and the Clippers have Frankie Munoz and Billy crystal -- good publicity. It's all love and basketball..Nothing more.

Just a thought... Smush has been in the trinagle longer, and has had more time to work with it. But, isn't it possible that Farmar is simply smarter than Smush? The term "basketball IQ" is overused, but it does carry some truth to it. It is possible that Farmar may simply have a better grasp of the concepts of the triangle than Smush.

B.
Thee Cali King

Xodus!

Some Florida college student who was told he was too late to board his Miami plane at the Long Beach airport phoned in a bomb threat to try to get on the plane. They stuck him in jail yesterday and now I am noticing you haven't posted since Saturday night. Tell me it ain't so, Xo!

Farmer is a rookie!!!!Even Kobe had to earn his keep!!!!!!

Farmer will not start at the beginning of the year. Why the hell would you hurt the confidence of your last years starting pt. so quick. Please Jordin has to work for his. It is really that simple. I am not saying he can't do it, but I am saying that it would be absolutely stupid if the Lakers don't give the players that were there last year a shot at sowing whatthey worked on in the summer would only end up in a disaster. It would be like if you had two sons and when your third son is born you just automatically start to do more for him then the others. No you make the youngest person work the hardest so that he can be better than the older brothers. Giving Farmer the starting spot from the door would only spoil him as a player. You got to earn your spot in the league. Smush got lucky last year because no body was there, but even though I was mad at him at the end of the year I still think he did a hell of a job.

I just feel like chatting up bball today and not FIBA stuff. I am ready for this season to start but some of this chat is getting redundant for me. I wish we had some info on how the players individual workouts are going and if they honestly feel they've improved in some areas and if so, what. And Socks went to Newells Big Man Camp, I would love to know how that went..And what exactly did Smush do to improve, did he work out with anyone in particular, and Kwame, same thing. He and Jermaine O'neal hooking up over the summer and working out would have been nice for Kwame!! Just some little inside stuff would help me through this withdrawal period...sumthin!! Yall feel me?? LOL

Fearless:

Thanks for getting my back and reminding AK that it is OK to dream. You have to notice, however, that even the naysayers are really only disputing "when" our version of reality will happen, not "if" it will happen. They're afraid to go out on a limb and concede that it actually may happen this year.

More Farmar Start Bandwagon. Go, Lakers.

Tom

LakerTom,
Being a "pure point guard" is probably detrimental to learning the triangle, because it depends so much less on one particular player initiating the offense.

I didn't see any of the Lakers' summer league play. All I could do was read the reviews. But from what I read, Pinnock played well and did enough to at least get some attention from the decision-makers for L.A. My question is why not unload another guy from the roster and give the new guy a chance to play? You don't know if he'll do well, but you can't assume he'll do bad, either. I think it would be worth the move to unload a guy which you know isn't gonna help, like McKie, and free up a spot to at least give him a chance to show what he can do. McKie isn't going to play, we already know that, so there's no risk. The worse that could happen is that you get a guy who can't play, but that's what you had before, so it's no loss. On the other hand, he could surprise some people.

Or what about a guy like Sasha? Some guys prove they can play in the league. If anything, he's shown the opposite. I watch alot of Laker ball, and he hasn't show anything. I never expected him to be a superstar, but by now he should have shown something. Every time he steps on the court, you have no idea what he's there for. He has no role. He was supposed to be a shooter, but he can't shoot. Why not unload him?

I understand that you can't just fire guys. There's contracts and other details involved. But I', sure if they want to they can make it work. Pinnock can't be any worse than these guys, right?

B.
Thee Cali King

jfatty:

"Listen to coach jackson; when farmar can play on the ball defense he will get playing time."

Then explain to me how come Smush is playing when he cannot play on the ball defense?

Tom

BK:

"Interesting argument (again) about Farmar. One thing to remember is while he may pick up the offense quickly, he has to learn to play defense at the NBA level. Smush may have issues there, too, but at least initally, he's the better option. Farmar will start eventually, perhaps even sooner rather than later. Just not right away."

I disagree that defense will be the determiner of when Farmar starts. It is just one factor. The determining issue will be how the team plays when Farmar is at point versus how it plays with Smush at point. And what if Farmar shows during training camp and preseason that he is a better defender? It still comes down to who makes the team better when they are on the floor. Defense is just one component.

Tom

Jordan Farmar as the starting PG isnt as far a stretch as some might think but it would take some guts and vision by Phil Jackson which I think he lacks at times. Greg Popovich made an unheralded 19 year old rookie named Tony Parker the starting PG for the Spurs in '02 and they won 58 games that year. Obviously Tim Duncan was the main reason they won those games but they were able to bring along a young player on a veteran team and that takes guts. Because he got so much PT early he developed faster. I'm not saying we should just hand over the keys to Farmer but if he outplays Smush and Shammond in camp and preseason why not make him the starter?

AK,
I agree with a lot of your points about Farmar, and I don't think he will get significant playing time this year. I think that Gary Payton failed to get the triangle as a result of lack of effort. He was unwilling to try and learn something new, and he did not have confidence in it. GP is very cocky and likely thought that he had been playing basketball all his life and he was going to play his way. His unwillingness to put forth the effort required to learn the triangle probably had a lot to do with his inability to help us out against Detroit in the Finals. Malone getting injured was the Final straw.

Dan The Man,

While calls for Adelmans head rang loudly on our blog, fan polls in Sacramento overwhelmingly supported retaining him. Ron Ron, who changed the whole dynamic of our play, responded very well to him and agreed with most fans.

I was one of those on the -retain Adelman- bandwagon (on a one year contract) to see if the vast improvement we had seen the latter half of the season would continue. It was one of those -she's running great again and ain't broke- situations. The fact that Artest offered up a million to keep both Adelman and Bonzi (jokingly -I think- threatening to kill Bonzi if he left) was all I needed to know.

Our pleas were to no avail.

On the bright side, the Magoofs are intent on rebuilding an elite squad and Petrie is one of the very best at the game. I trust their judgement.

Many felt (and they are right) that Adelman wasn't tough enough on defense or with the players. He was literally and figuratively replaced with Muscle-Man.

My gut tells me that underlying issues (unknown to me) may have cooled them to Bonzai, not to mention the type of injury that took him out of action for about a month last season. Even so, Sacramento's offer of 38 mil (I think I said 36 mil earlier) is by far the best offer to date.

The fact that they did not renew Adelman's contract and weren't overly aggressive about retaining Bonzai tells me that they expect a lot from our youngsters. I'm O.K. with that. They are the future and the future is now. KMart and Francisco are potential stars in the making. They are under your radar at the moment, but if they continue to show what they did the latter part of last season, it will be Bonzi who? and we will be a force to be reckoned with. We're also very pleased with our rookie, Douby.

If he is smart, Bonzi will hire a new agent and should land on his feet somewhere, if only for a year.

Adelman is a great coach who (if he even wants to) will coach again wherever and whenever he chooses.

Marcus,

I absolutely agree that Payton's attitude impeded his own progress in the triangle. But that's beside the point. If we're to believe a player with Jordan Farmar's lack of NBA (and college, really) experience and lack of exposure to the entire triangle system can pick it up that quickly simply because of the inherent hoops IQ that a "true" PG possesses, then it's only logical that a guy of GP's experience and skills (even on the downside) could pick it up in his sleep, bad attitude and all. He just wouldn't even have to try. Clearly, that wasn't the case, which is why I think Farmar already knowing the triangle better than Smush is a huge stretch.

I actually think Farmar will get some time this season, regardless of whether he starts or not. And I think he'lll definitely pick up the triangle. I just think a little perspective needs to be kept.

AK

Laker Tom,

Like I've said in the past, Sacramento has a certain appeal and way of changing "problem" players into real contributors. Knock on wood, Ron Ron loves it up here and has been a model player and citizen, albeit a weird one.

If the Kings do well next season, he won't be going anywhere. I'm sure Bonzai laments the day he turned down Sac's offer.