Extra! Extra! (3.21)

Mybe they should require all the players to wear ankle wraps , the way the big time college fotbal programs are starting to make all offensive lineman wear knee braces. Cmon, i've never seen so many bad ankle sprains on one team in one season.......I've had a bad ankle sprain before, and my ankle will never be the same again.....it's been almost 2 years now, and I'm just now thinking it's back to he point where I could jump like I used to......

i been hearing so many negatives about kobes latest scoring spree, its really annoying. if ray allen, "hibachi", AI, or any other superstar goes off for 50 pts in a game. everyone praises their remarkable performance, even if the team loses the game. kobe's latest scoring spree got us out of slump and we finally won 2 games after like 2 weeks and ppl r calling him a bad leader and even a worse team-player. ppl need to realise that he shot over 50% from the field, 3pt line and over 80% from ft line and not to mention he averaged less than 3to in both games. he didn't force the issue, he saved both games for us.

i know most ppl r ignorant and dats why they hate the lakers and kobe for no reason. if someone else besides kobe goes off for a big nite, ppl call em heroes, if kobe goes off for a big night, hes a ball hog and the worst human being. ppl shouldn't be hypocrite. not everyone is capable of having those kind of nights and delivering wins, so the man some props that actually delivers permances and wins like dat.

i've also read some dumb comments...actually the dumbest. some ppl actually suggest that we should trade kobe for ray allen and rashard. im not really good with stats but the last time i checked they're both on the same team and their team is playing worse than the lakers. their team is nowhere close to being a .500. you ppl really think they will make the lakers better? think about it before posting stuff like dat.

Everyone needs to realize that fans across the country (Lakers fans not included) are tired of hearing about a guy that's not on their team. They want a guy that can drop 65 for them. Any one of the so called "Kobe haters" would become a fan in a second if Kobe were traded to their team. There are a ton of teams out there who never go to the playoffs and even more that never win championships. How would you feel if your team was the victim of a Laker thrashing every time they face our team in the playoffs. Of course you would hate Kobe and of course you despise the Lakers.

Sarb,

Good point. Not only are they on the same team this year, but also last year, etc. The Sonics have some good talent as well, but yet, they cannot win. Hmmmmm, maybe winning in the NBA is harder than people think.

I've got an idea for all of those calling for J Buss to cash out his only real player asset...

There's a team that has a bunch of talent year in and year out, no one hogs the ball, they have real leadership that way... and best of all, you can still cheer for them in the city of LA.

So go root for the Clips and let us Lakers fans talk amongst ourselves.

Greekboy,
There's no doubt Sasha can hit. His play is sporadic at best... but his throwing away an inbounds pass verses the other two would mean he's only +1 (-1,+1,+1). He's got potential, but come on... I want to see it!

Go Lakes!

PS, I would NOT call Ray Allen a "superstar", he's a very good player. Maybe my definition of superstar is skewed by images of Magic, MJ, Bird, Dr J, Shaq, Kobe... You need to be a star amongst the stars, and Ray Allen is not that.

Props to Kevin Ding, dude hit a stat even the blog hasn't covered. 16-7 with the IR squad in the game. It ain't easy to scoop the blog. Telling numbers.
That article should be pasted on Mitch's wall, near the phone, over the summer.

The ability to make it through an NBA season with little or no game missing physical damage has to be an owner's favorite stat. Kobe might not be quite as durable as Mike but he does heal fast and would play with one arm if they'd let him.

The question: are the Laker injuries bad luck or a trend? How many seasons makes a trend?

KWAME BROWN

OK, in the last game against the Timberwolves, Kwame Brown dropped a couple of passes. I wanted to talk about that but I was too tired to write it down. But today is a new day so here it goes.

There was on pass where Smush Parker was in the lane and it looked like he was going for a lay-up then all of sudden whips a pass to Kwame that went right through his hands. I, myself, think that was a bad pass. First, Parker looked like he was going up. Second, he then whips a pass to Brown from about 2 feet and the ball is traveling way too fast for a pass from that short of a distance.

This brings me up to my point. I’ve been watching this type of stuff for over a year now. I believe I know the problem. It’s simple. Whenever a player is going for what seems to be a shot and then all of sudden passes the ball to Brown and Brown misses the pass it’s because Kwame isn’t getting in that position to receive a pass. It’s because he positioning himself for a rebound. He’s anticipating a shot from his teammate. Think about it. If Kwame was going there anticipating a pass…he would miss the pass. But if he’s anticipating a shot, well, he positioning himself for a rebound.

The thing for the Lakers’ players to do is to JUST SHOOT THE DAMN BALL! Quit trying to pass it to Kwame from such a short distant. Just shoot the ball and let Kwame clean it up if the ball doesn’t go into the basket.

What surprises me is how stupid PJ and his coaching staff are to not realize that this is the problem. I think this is exactly why Kwame misses those short passes. In a way, it’s kind of funny. I think Kwame got fed up with those type of passes from Parker because right after he missed on one of those passes, Kwame received an entry pass from Lamar. Kwame was in position, he went up as if to shoot the ball then all of sudden whipped a pass to Parker that went right through Parkers hands. The pass was way too fast. Parker wasn’t ready for it and it went out of bounds. Why should Parker have been ready for that pass? It looked like Kwame was going to shoot the ball. I think Kwame did that on purpose just to let Parker know how it feels to have a pass shot at you when it clearly looks like the player is going up to the rim with a shot. Plain and simple, the playoffs are coming and it’s time for the Lakers players to JUST SHOOT THE DAMN BALL and let Kwame clean it up if it doesn’t go in. QUIT MAKING THOSE STUPID PASSES FROM SUCH A SHORT DISTANCE.

Next, there was a pass from Smush Parker into Kwame. This time Kwame had sealed his man. Parker made a perfect pass but Kwame let it get by him. That was Kwame’s fault. FSN showed a replay of the sequence. The replay clearly shows the ball arriving at Kwame’s right hand but at the moment the ball makes contact with his hand the replay shows Kwame looking up to the basket. That’s why he missed the pass. It’s not that he can’t catch the ball. It’s that he looks away from the ball too soon. Check out the FSN replay of the game and you can see it clearly. Why PJ and his coaching staff have not caught this stuff is beyond me.

With Kwame’s strength, he can have a lot of opportunities to seal his man for baskets. In the playoffs the Lakers are going to need Kwame to complete that play to keep opposing teams honest against Kobe and the rest of the players.

For the next few games Lamar Odom or Kobe Bryant should pass the ball to Kwame when he seals his man. We have to develop that play. Kwame, when he seals his man has got to understand that the man is SEALED! Kwame has perfect position to catch the ball if he doesn't rush (keeping his eye on the ball until it's secured). There’s no need to look to the basket before the ball is completely secure in his hands. The reason why Kwame rushes is because he thinks he’s going to get blocked or something. The opponent is SEALED! The rim is to be used for protection against the opponent’s arm. Why isn’t anyone teaching this kid this stuff? That’s part of Kwame’s problem, too. He hasn’t had anyone mentor him. I mean, from what I’ve read, the big men he had mentoring him were scrubs in Washington. It wasn’t Jordan it was some scrub. Here in Los Angeles he has to work with Rambis and others. Give me a break! Kurt Rambis? I know Kareem can't really mentor him because Kareem was pure finesse.

These other players weren’t offensive players. Give me Kwame Brown and I will turn him into a monster on both the defensive and offensive end of the game. I guarantee you that. And I’m only 5’11. I’ll tell you this: Kwame Brown is just a few tweaks away from being a solid contributor on the offensive end. A couple of simple adjustments and he’s good to go. They’re so simple I have to put the blame on PJ and his coaching staff. It seems that PJ method of addressing issues is to make fun of Brown in the press. Well, here we are almost at the end of Kwame’s 2nd year in Los Angeles and he’s still doing the same things I just described. Why can’t PJ and his staff fix these simple things? Is it because PJ doesn’t know how to develop young players?

mike

exheldvr, dude i was joking. mj, kobe are the best ever, sasha has hit 2 "game-winners" . Not even i, the sasha lover, can excrete such blasphemy.

Greek dude,
what are you smoking? Sasha' more clutch then MJ and Kobe? Seriously, what are you smoking?

On the other hand, there are people out there that actually respect Kobe. Check out the comments on this FreeDarko blog post:

http://freedarko.blogspot.com/2007/03/while-brian-butch-slept-before-curfew.html#comments

Michael Teniente,

That is BS. Kwame is professional basketball player. Be ready to catch the ball at all times. He fumbles the ball way too much to blame the passer on a "bad" pass. Kwame gets no benefit of the doubt, beacuse he mishandles passes w/ regularity, and also rushes shots. Anyone who plays basketball knows they should always remain ready to receive the ball. If what you want o hppens does everytime, then whay bother playing kwame when a player drives to the hoop? Maybe Kwame can sit down and smoke something with Greek Dude, and settle down a bit. I think he is valuable to this team , and feel he can eventualy turn into a reliable player, but he needs to fix that problem, and to tell you the truth, I don;t think it can be fixed. It's one of those, you either got it or you don't basketball skills. Clearly, kwame doesn't have it. even on bunnies, he gets a pass where he ends up being able to dunk the bll, and you can clearly ee that he is hesitant, ready to throw up a osft shot as a defender jmps by, before he realizes he's in position to dunk it freely.

Phil and his caoching staff are too stupid to realize what Kwame's problem is? Are you going to go back and change all the "thumb's up" grades?

Kwame getting into position for a rebound? Since when?

The problem with Kame is that he has slow reactions. Some people just can't react quickly enough to be catch a pass like that. Just like some people have quick feet, and some don't. The slow reaction can appear to be "bad hands," but the two aren't the same thing. At times they display similar symptoms, though.

Of course, the issue could be "basketball IQ". As in, after all these years, he still doesn't realize that someone might pass him the ball when they are driving towards the basket.

But "positioning for a rebound"? Please!!

greek dude,

quit the useless, pointless debates about sasha. it's obvious you are just trying to get under people's skin. and it seems to be working.

sasha is a dime a dozen in the developmental league.

end of conversation.

no stats could make me think otherwise.
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moving on, i hope the lakers can win both of their next 2 games. roadie, back to back versus the hornets and grizzlies.

with the month of march closely ever so quickly, it is time for the lakers to adopt the habit of winning consistently.

if they can do this, it can have a carry over effect come playoff time.

the lakers will have to be hitting on all cylinders come playoff time to make more than just noise.

c'mon lake show!

fakerz,

so in the 90's, we missed the playoffs once.

under the kobe era, we have missed the playoffs once.

same difference.

i realize it's only been 3 years under the kobe era, however with this core of players - they will continue to make the playoffs every season.

this core of players will even make the playoffs this season despite all of the injuries.

and that hypothetical kobe - bulls trade is SIMPLY A REPEAT OF THE HORRIFIC SHAQ TRADE.

we got ripped off once, why would we do it again?

c'mon now...

Fakerz, well said. I respect your balls for coming on here and speaking the truth. There are many of us out here, lurking, who agree with you. Don't let the "groupthink" of this blog fool you. There are many intelligent, TRUE Laker fans out there who see Kobe for what he is: an arrogant punk, who is completely self absorbed with equaling MJ's scoring records...nothing more, nothing less. Please Lakers, TRADE KOBE before it's too late! I don't care to whom, but let's end this misery and start rebuilding with a REAL leader!

Kwame vs Smush

Kwame does a way better job in his position then Smush. Smush is the worst starter that we have without any doubt. But he did have a good last game. We can do without Smush Parker this year, but we can't go anywhere if Kwame goes down again.

There has never been an championship contender without a solid cast. Heck, Shaq even with a DEEP cast around him couldn't lead us to the finals until Kobe developed into the 1A option that he was and Phil guided and motivated them.

It is not fair to put a "three year limit" on Kobe while we have been rebuilding for couple years now. Did Kobe have a deep cast that Shaq was gifted with when he came to lakers? We saw this team have success this season and challenge and win against the top teams when they were healthy. It is not the time to "give up" on Kobe, unless of course a person like you who has had a dislike for him that you don't want to consider the personnel situation around him.

Lakers will get some cap space in couple years when a lot of the salaries come of the books. That would be the time for the lakers to find the second all-star that any successful team requires. If after that, Kobe doesn't lead the team deep into the playoffs and the finals, THEN it may be the time to let Kobe go.

People often don't notice that unlike many other stars with a successful team, Kobe doesn't have another all-star or former all-star playing with him. Kobe doesn't need a superstar, just give him one all-star at least. Lamar was supposed to be that this year and he was on track until the injury.

Lakers did not pick the wrong guy. If you wanted Shaq for only 30-35 games, i.e college season, using Shaq's words, the lakers would have been out of the playoff race in the WEST long before Shaq would return to the team. Let's not forget that with Shaq's contract alone, we had nothing to bring in players to the team. Only veteran minimums and MLE. With that, you cannot build the cast enough to have a successful team as it is common knowledge that Shaq would miss many games during the season with his body wearing down. This is a simple concept, yet many fail to understand.

Hey, on another topic, did anyone here listen to either yesterday or today's "Simers/Rogan" show on 570AM? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a "guest" yesterday, and T.J. Simers, along with his know-nothing daughter, basically spat all over him, along with his legacy as the greatest player in the history of Los Angeles basketball (both at UCLA and as a Laker). The total disrespect they paid him crossed the border from boorish to absolute cruelty. Kareem tried desperately to be as restrained as possible, and after the debacle, he asked to come on today and clear the air. Instead, it gave the Simers' another excuse to attack him again, and the segment was even worse than the first. There is no excuse for such treatment, especially of a legend like Kareem. T.J. admitted he could care less about sports history and only views it as entertainment, and Tracy Simers also stated that she 'lacked knowledge' of Kareem's career. Fred Rogan tried to keep things on an even keel, but T.J. refused to act like a professional. Again, the segment ended with an air of animosity, and for me, abject disgust.

I will be writing and calling management at both 570AM, the LA Times, and the Los Angeles Lakers to discuss this issue. I feel that both the radio station, anybody involved with the production of the 'Simers/Rogan' show and especially T.J. Simers owe both Kareem and the Los Angeles basketball community an enormous apology. There is no excuse for treating a member of the Los Angeles sports pantheon with such disrespect; as for me, I will never listen to the show or read another T.J. Simers column as long as I live. I highly recommend that anybody who calls themselves a Lakers fan do the same.

I'm with you fakerz. Everybody is waiting for Bynum to gel into a superstar for what? To have a dynamic duo of big (Bynum) with small (Kobe)? That would get us titles, but wait, we had that already in Shaq / Kobe and Kobe couldn't handle it. He ran Shaq out of town. We already saw him abuse Bynum in public last Sunday night. He must have been reading the blogs that state the Bynum is the Lakers future. He won't be able to handle having another superstar on the team. This is his team right now, and that's the way he likes it. It doesn't matter that we are mediocre at best. Trade him now would be my vote as well.

fakerz & Tim,

right on, let's trade our best player (our only all-star player too).

THAT will get us where we wanna go.

yeah let's get a youth movement going with lamar odom as the center piece.

so you guys would rather start from scratch by trading kobe by any means instead of adding the one piece we need (a kevin garnett or jermaine o'neal) and being RIGHT BACK IN THE TITLE RACE?

do you read your posts before submitting them?

because they make zero sense, whether you are a kobe fan or not.

sounds like you guys want to rebuild just for the sake of rebuilding. or maybe just because you hate kobe, our best player by far.

as i wrote several days ago, there are only 2 players you could trade kobe for and not feel completely ripped off (wade and lebron). and i highly doubt kobe would reunite with shaq on south beach, and lebron looks to be a cavalier for life.

Just to clear things up... I did reference Simers' article today in this blog, but I still believe he is a hypocritical jerk off who will do anything to make a buck.

Thanks, that's all I had to say.

fakerz,

you can't blame everything on Kobe.
He's the best player of the NBA.
We need to get him help. Jordan had help (pipen and others) they what Kobe have now? Odom? please!

KG next season and you will see another ring coming up. KOBE is untouchable.

Crap! I thought I took the trash out yesterday..and it's back today....

FAKER!

What? Didn't have the b@ll$ to answer the questions I asked you?

So you calculate a player's worth by adding their points, rebounds and assists? Well, then here's a news flash - Jalen Rose is available!! And don't forget Sharif Abdur Rahim.You proved your "intelligence" right there...

So this squad with Bynum will win us a championship...RIGHT!! When that happens you can eat bacon with the pigs that start flying out of your @$$.

Why don't you trade the three of them to Minny for KG? Oh, wait a minute..they tried? And Minny said they were not interested? I wonder why...BUMMER!!

I will never read a Simers article ever again! K-bros, can you make sure to never, ever link to his stuff? I don't want to accidently give him more hits.

What a jerk.

Say what you can about KAJ, but I've only seen him as a statesman, leader, and the greatest center to ever play the game. (with Wilt a close second).

"1) No existing all stars want to play with another player as self centered and demanding of his own personal glory as Kobe"

That is not true when there have been players who said they would love to play with a competitor like Kobe, including KG.

And, please, all-stars want $$ and we won't have that space till two years from now. If players don't come then, THEN you can make that claim. Be reasonable.

"2) Kobe has not been able to develop his supporting cast into all stars because he shoots too much and does not facilitate their success. Kobe just scowls and berates and is a very negative individual. A terrible leader. Other great players would have been able to develop some of these current Lakers into all stars or pretty darn close by now."

Who other than Lamar has the talent and skills right now (not potential.. Bynum has ways to go to build his skills) to be an all-star? and he has been in the league for so many years and has played with great players and he hasn't become an all-star.

Even then, Lamar was on track this year to make an all-star bid before the injury and the lakers and Kobe were successful with Lamar before the injury. Their talents blended better than ever before.

You are simply not giving Kobe a fair chance.

lfan, Shaq, ever since Kobe stepped into the league, ABUSED Kobe both publicly and privately. This has been documented.

It has been reported that Bynum and Phil were arguing.. Kobe and Shaw then tried to explain Phil's point.. Bynum became upset and threw a tantrum publicly. If anything, it shows how Kobe as a young player was restraint despite public criticisms and Bynum isn't that mature yet.