Mike T,

I just thought you might find this quote from Kobe interesting. It might throw a big ol' wrench in your PJ-Kobe conspiracy theory:

"Ironically, his closest ally right now is Jackson, once his most vocal (or published) critic. "Phil's my guy," Bryant said. "I confide in him."

Um, sounds like he wants PJ out to me (cough, cough).

--------------------------------------------------------
JIM BUSS IS THE CANCER BANDWAGON
--------------------------------------------------------
(1) utzworrld THE BANNER HOLDER
(2) RICK FRIEDMAN
(3) EDWIN GUECO
(4) MAMBA24
(5) FAN OF MAMBA
(6) EXHELODRVR
(7) VMAN
(8) TSPHERE
----------------------------------------------------------
SELL THE LAKERS BANDWAGON
-----------------------------------------------------------
(1) utzworld THE BANNER HOLDER
(2) TSPHERE
(4) MAMBA24
(2) RICK FRIEDMAN
(5) ATL Laker Fan
(6) TIM-4-SHOW
(7) Scott Connor
-

Andrew Z,

Here is my response as MIke T,

Can't you see it? Phil is playing mind games with Kobe. He has Kobe believing he is his friend. Kobe is eccentric and is playing mind games with management. It was so obvious when he took Kobe out with 3 minutes left in the third that something is wrong. Phil continued his manipulations by leaving Mihm in the 3rd quarter. He was playing awful. In fact, Phil had 3 white guys in at the same time. Sasha, Walton, and Mihm. If that doesn't show Phil is a racist I don't know what does. At least channel 9 got rid of Alan Massengale so I don't have to keep hearing about Walton and Mihm. Now it's all black all the time. Now Phil has to go. Him and Jeannie lost their power struggle. It's time for him to go back to Montana.

From the stat lines it looks like in 5 min Coby K did about as well as Vlad Rad in 19 min.

Now, I have not yet reviewed the game tape, but it seems like Vlad needs to step it up...or at least shoot.

Last night, I actually had time to watch a Laker game and I must say, I was impressed with Bynum. He looks to be in better shape, more active and as he had said not long ago "This will be my year" and I believe he is right.

As far as Kobe goes...we'll be better off keeping him. There really isn't trade value for a guy like Kobe....Now someone has disagreed with this yesterday...but believe me...THERE IS NO TRADE VALUE FOR KOBE!

Oh by the way, add me to the "GET RID OF BUSS" Bandwagon

Peace

San Berdu has a couple of very sharp writers:

http://www.pe.com/sports/basketball/breakout/stories/PE_Sports_Local_D_patton19.12926e6.html

"...fans' goodwill seems to be a bottomless well. Bryant has mesmerized Southern California to the point of lunacy. His exploits are an endless source of fascination, a phenomenon not lost on the media, which understands that Anything Kobe attracts viewers, listeners, readers and Web hits.

Even those of us who consider ourselves neutral observers in the parading tugs-of-war between Kobe and Shaq, Kobe and Phil, Kobe and the State of Colorado, and now Kobe and Jerry, can't help but watch and absorb the fallout.

It's a little like sitting in the front row at SeaWorld. Shamu dazzles us with his high-flying performances, but at some point you know there's going to be a giant splash that covers you in salt water and whale goo.

Frankly, the Kobe Troubles seem less and less like entertainment and more and more like Orca slime.

The summer, and now the fall, have been too much.

I'm guessing Buss feels that way, too. Hopefully he's out in front of Bryant's hypnotized fan base, not shackled by it, and can figure out a way to move him..."

What a nice game. True, it was against the "Sonic Youth", but it was satisfying to see a number of players play well, and play well together.

A very good game by Bynum and indicative of what I think we can expect from him more often. Not all the time--he's still 19-20--but more often than last year. He looks bigger, stronger, and more agressive, which makes it seem as if the off-season hype about his workouts just might have been pretty accurate.

Farmar looked awesome. Running, pushing, dishing, and knocking down shots. He keeps it up and he'll get some serious minutes this year.

Cook?? DId I say Brian Cook? Even though he still got burned by rookie Green a few times, I liked what I saw. Unless we trade him, he's ours, so I'm rooting for him to have a good year.

Despite the short burst in the 3rd quarter, I thought Mihm still looks very rusty. Understandable, but given our early-season schedule and (hopefully) Bynum's continued improvement, we may not see Mihm all that much until after January or so.

Kwame is still Kwame. Can't catch a pass to save his life and only gets rebounds that come right to him. Yuck.

Walton and Vlad-Rad didn't look too good I thought. They looked a bit out of place for some reason.

Turiaf!!! He got beat a few times on the defensive boards, but overall he's really making a play for starting. No matter what, it's hard not to root for this guy.

And finally........Kobe. Was it just me, or did it look like he was barely even there for most of his minutes? Even when he was sitting on the bench, he just looked as if his head was somewhere else. When things were going well, his teammates on the bench were leaning back behind him and talking to each other, and he didn't seem at all to be rooting for the younger guys. And when Sene (?) shot the airball from the foul line, everyone else was laughing with each other and slapping hands, but Kobe was leaned forward with a sort of grin, but just not interacting with the team.

Yes, he got his points in the 3rd, mostly by pulling up and shooting long 3's--not exactly in the flow of the offense. Again, an amazing shooter and scorer, but a great teammate? I dunno.

If Kobe maintains this detached attitude, we've got to trade him ASAP. A player who acts like that over the course of the season hurts more than he helps.

Again, I'm very saddened by all this and hate the fact that it ended up this way, but it is what it is. Either Kobe screws his head on straight and becomes the team leader, or we move him soon. Sucks, doesn't it?

LAKER FANS ARE IDIOTS!

Ok here me out. I'm a huge Laker fan too, but this has got to be the biggest meltdown of any franchise in the history of the NBA(starting to talk like Bill Walton). Listen to all of you, sulking as if your life is over, as if your puppy died. It's sad to read all of your posts. The Lakers are the new Clippers. They give you just enough to get you excited with their "potential" talent, just enough to keep on watching for that breakout game/season. They also piss you off by making bonehead decisions (see Brian Cook draft pick, Sasha Vujacrap, see Shaq trade (how can you not get Dwade), see the day Jerry Buss decided to conceive his moronic son, Jimbo). We're living in the past people. The glory days are over. We can compare our Lakers to say the Milwaukee Bucks and that being there's nothing special. I want to see Kobe finish his career in LA just like most of you, but gosh, can we just stop with the crying? Can you just play the game? Sure it's mgmt's fault for not giving Kobe the help he needs. Sure it's Kobe's fault for acting like a crybaby. No wonder why our divorce rate is over 50%. People can't compromise. This is just one bad marriage. If I were Kobe, I would have kept it in-house, talked to JB and ask to restructure my contract to provide some cap space to bring in better talent (don't know if this is possible). I mean what's the big difference from 20 million a year to 15 million (as an example, not sure what Kobe makes exactly and don't care)? Oh yeah. egos, duh. How bad do you really want to win Kobe? and do you honestly think by going to a team other than the Lakers is going to help that cause? Why would you want to leave the Lakers? You should be glad you didn't play for the Charlotte Hornets, now New Orleans Hornets. It can always be worse my friend...Be careful what you wish for.

JIMBO

I've not met Jim Buss and, admittedly, he's an easy target. He's in an impossible situation, ascending the throne sans credentials, trying to fit in, writing his own job description. Too much good history in Lakerland, much easier to detract than to augment.

In that atmosphere, job one should have been maintaining a low profile. There should have been mostly "no comments" from his office. He could dress the part or not but he should have been invisivble when it came to personel even if he did have a hand in it.

If he's slated to replace Daddy, then he should use Jerry as a model. We never knew who Buss Sr picked or didn't pick in a draft, we just knew he signed the checks. I believe the Lakers have a GM named Kupchak, who also, by the way has some respect from the star player given his insistance on apologizing to him in person. It might be fun to play with rosters but guys who do that have different resumes.

He's been around the organization for awhile. Has he not noticed that silence and eternal optimism works best from the owner's box? Don't say it, even if it's true. Don't leak it even if it's accurate. Be invisible and all will be yours my son.

(Repost by popular demand)
Rare Recent Phil Jackson Interview:

Q: As we approach the start of the season, are you getting an idea of what your lineups are going to be? Who will be the starters and who will come off the bench?

PJ: Yes, I have it mostly sorted out. I am going to try something new. There are going to be 2 starting lineups, and then the bench. Which starters will play what games depends on the opposition and on how I'm feeling that day, like if I just had sex or if I'm wanting to have sex. It's really a philosophical thing. I'll give you a book on it if you remind me...

Anyway, the two starting lineups will be named "Short Stack" and "Too Tall". Short Stack, or "SS", if you will, features Fisher at the point, Farmar at the point, Vujacic at the point, Crittenton at the point, but then Evans at PG. See? Yeah, the SS is quite versatile yet flexible, with a little bit of spice.

Too Tall, or "TTs", if you will, consists of Mihm in the middle, Kwame in the middle, Bynum in the middle, Radmanovic in the middle and Cook in the Kitchen...just kidding, in the middle. As you can tell, this lineup mostly stays around the perimeter. A lethal but deadly combination of action/adventure is precisely what TTs is about.

Q: Um, OK. That's interesting. But I have a question...

PJ: Oh, you must want to know about the bench. I didn't forget. I was really testing you.

Q: What? But-

PJ: Listen, it's OK. Not all of us are made out to be philosophers. (Twenty second pause) Or are we? Anway, on to the bench players. These guys will still get a significant amount of playing time, especially during pregame warmups. The bench will be made up of Kobe and Coby. I feel that if I put two players in that have the same name, they'll play off each other. Magic will be created. Sparks will fly.

Q: So those two off the bench in some combination with the starters?

PJ: No, no no. Just those two off the bench and onto the floor. Everyone else comes off the floor.

Q: Just two players on the court?

PJ: Yes.

(33 seconds of silence)

Q: Even if that were allowed, why would you do-

PJ: I feel having two players on the floor with the same name will make them play off each other very efficiently. Now do you have anymore questions?

Q: So are you saying that the tall group will start some games and the short group others?

PJ: You must be referring to the SS and TTs. Yes, the SS will start games against the midget teams and TTs will start against the Goliaths of the league. But if a lineup does not start, than it will not come off the bench later.

Q: What? You're saying that if TTs starts a game, no one from the Short Stack will come off the bench?

PJ: Yes, that is true. It is called coaching. If you don't understand, it may be too....philosophical for you.

Q: I have no further questions.

PJ: Are you sure? Why is there still a "Q" if you have no more questions? Think about that philosophically. Go ahead, try it.

Q: Bye.

Enjoy the posts, but why all the attacks on Kobe? What has he done to any of us? Mr. Buss stepped up to be a player, and payroll was the 5th highest in the league with banners going up. The Jerry West is stopped in doing his job and leaves, Buss does not resign Robert Horry, ( side note Robert added 2 more rings), D. Fish is not resigned, Shaq is traded, Phil Jackson quits and is eventually comes back. Now we are in the 22 highest payroll only 8 teams less overall than us.
Kobe loves the LAKERS and pushed management in the media to change there act. Buss is about the money, not the banners. You say no, well if Kobe was in Dallas do you think Mr. Cuban would worry about the cap money or would he put the best around the best man in basketball? Yeah, I do not blame Kobe for keeping the correct vision, banners, rings, championships and challenging Mr. Buss over his money attitude. A true LAKER would be proud of KOBE and crying for Mr West to return with a owner that is willing to spend money.

Ron,

You can't understand why?

Kind of a long answer... Just read over the blog for the past 3 years...

Well said John Duta.

zen,

That made me laugh out loud. Thank you.

Kobe did look a bit detached on the bench, but conversly, when he was playing he was laughing and joking with everybody on the floor.

Mihm, it was obviouos he is rusty. There were a few flashes of his old self, hey at least he didn't foul out early. Bynum is strating to look better for sure. He was going in strong and played the post well. Lets see how he does with some bigger, better, stronger guys. Although Swift is a big boy now.

Ronnie is still Ronnie and I love him for it. I loved the way he did his bobble head impersonation after a big shot in the fist quarter. Strong and smooth now. Lots of fun to watch.

More thoughts later.

T-Woody

Hab!

Yes, I have read the blogs. More crying than logical answers to Kobe's problems. It's called paying too much attention to media hype. But what YOU and others don't seem to understand is Kobe's vision. Instead, YOU and among others look for negativity...much like the media, and bite the bait like fishes in a pond or lake.

Try this for once.

Put yourself in Kobe's shoes. Even if you don't size up to Kobe...just try it. Close your eyes....vision championship rings, parades, Hollywood glitter...VISION IT ALL!

Than open your eyes....

What do you see?

I know what I see!

Kwame, Vlad Rad, and a bunch of other peices that won't win Kobe another championship. And that is why Kobe is frustuated...

Mamba24

I was worried yesterday when you didn't call the roll call for Thursday that you have gone to fishing again in upstate NY maybe Lake Placid, but then I saw your name this morning, we got rejuvenated. Hold the port on "Retain Kobe", thanks for Tsphere and Lakergurl in early morning for acting as sentries, there are just too many "trade zombies" out there, some of them are our good friends that needs theraphy. Well, what do you expect there are three great hynotists here that makes Rush Limbaugh/Karl Marx pale in comparison, they trash Kobe from morning till midnight until he gets to the gutter. Haha, performance are just louder than words 3rd quarter in Bakersfield, in a span of three minutes he brought the house rockin' with instant 14 pts. Hahaha, there, trade Kobe - plain nuts, where are your eyes for talents? Magic J, Jerry W. and the Chiqui baby as well as Wilt C.(bless their soul) are just cringing listening to psuedo-fans or shall we say fans of other teams wishing Kobe is traded.

Can you count me twice on Jim Buss bandwagon? Can you also include me on sell the Lakers (i don't mind if Lakers are sold to a homeless in South LA, he would do a better job than that homeless look-alike shaggy hair genius. Does he imitate Jimmy Hendrix or Gerry Garcia? I say neither?) Well, to balance the criticism, his boy, AB was good in the post and his latest choice of Coby Karl was also a good defender. I just pity these two young tots they will be forever identified with the nut case, Jimbo. Why should the Laker fan have factions? What do I mean by factions? Like in this blog, one group say trade, another group say apologize while we contend retain. The Laker fans on the streets who do not blog have another faction - they just give up with the Lakers. See you can already form 4 bandwagons out there. I don't think that is a healthy environment throughout the season to brand bloggers and other fans based on their affiliations or groupings. I join bandwagon to protect the ideas expressed since there are forces trying to insist their way as the right way.But it is not really good to categorize bloggers, categorize human being beings, much more on Laker fans.

At the end of the day, we have to agree with a resolution that the majority wins but the voice of minority will be recorded and their motions be considered for future considerations. There has to be unanimity of choices, as Laker fans, we should have only One Voice, One Objective i.e. Championship.

ajax

yea, i noticed a few times where kobe looked serious and mad but there were also times where it looked like he was having a good time playing. im really confused and i think kobe is too. i dont think kobe knows how he should be acting. i feel like hes happy one second and mad the other.

GO FARMAR

GO LAKERS

Mike T and others

This pre- season the Lakers are pushing the ball more to get early offense ( less than 7 seconds)

What does that indicate about the triangle offense?

Does this mean 9 rings is finally adapting the offensive style to the laker personnel as opposed to trying to make the Lakers fit his style

WIll this early offense create more transition opportunities for the opposing team? ( a major problem with defense last season)

Ron,

I don't want to get into prolonged arguments with you now (got things to do), it's been discussed ad nauseum here and everywhere else in b-ball world. If you believe that Kobe is just frustrated because he is not winning, I have to wonder if you started following the Lakers in May of 2007?

If he wanted to win, he wouldn't have gotten rid of Shaq. If he wanted to win, he wouldn't have gotten rid of Phil. If he wanted to win, he'd lobby Garnett, like Ray Allen did..

I knew you guys would come with that Kobe quote. My my my how little we know. All that means is this:

The winners and losers in the power struggle have already been determined. That's why Kobe is:

"Singing to himself as he walked toward the chair where his folded jersey awaited him, Bryant stripped off his sunglasses, clothes and heavy gold watch and methodically put on his familiar Lakers uniform." As Helen Elliott puts it.

PJ lost the power struggle to Jimmy Buss and there's no more arguement about that. The only thing people can do is make nice with each other and start focusing on basketball, again.

Kobe is a happy man because he came out a winner and he can nice to whoever he wants.

Kobe met with management the other day with his agent. Whatever was spoken of in that meeting has been met with satisfaction by Kobe Bryant and that's why he's happy.

The proof will be in the starting line-up on opening night. Until then there's no need to keep knocking Phil. At this point it would be counter productive. We're trying to get on the same page. And now that there's no question who the boss is and who has the final say in all matters...Jimmy Buss, getting on the same page is the right thing to do.

I have a lot more to say on this matter but I want to hear the report on Kwame Brown before I write more. I want to see how his ankle responded to the "full contact" practice. The reason why is because up until the past few days, Kwame hadn't been able to put two consecitive days of full contact practice together. Now if you count last nights game as a full contact practice that would make it three straight days. Once I get my report on that then....I'm going to break one off on you.

By having Kobe make that statement in public, what they're saying is this: Hey it's over! The power struggle. Lets move forward now. Come on man, it's marketing. And in this case it's the right move to have Kobe make the statement. It means the focus is now on basketball, again.

mike

Ron,

>>>Kwame, Vlad Rad, and a bunch of other peices that won't win Kobe another championship. And that is why Kobe is frustuated...

Yeah, Ron, I know. Lamar, Luke and the rest of the misfits toss and turn at night wondering "how can I improve as basketball player and as a human being so I can help Kobe win his 4th ring"..

Or that's what they should be doing. Comfort mattress or not:-)

And you call yourself a LAKER FAN??? Shameful, Ron. Shameful.

John Duta,

"A true LAKER would be proud of KOBE and crying for Mr West to return with a owner that is willing to spend money."

Excellent post!

EDWIN GUECO,
"I was worried yesterday when you didn't call the roll call for Thursday that you
have gone to fishing again in upstate NY"
Edwin my mentor, no fishing for me friend.
LAKERS TODAY LAKERS TOMORROW LAKERS FOREVER

ABSOLUTELY NO FAITH IN MANAGEMENT BANDWAGON
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(1) Complex Brotha …….… (8) Mambs24………….…... (15) XODUS
(2) RICK FRIEDMAN……..... (9) MJCMAN32……… ..…..(16) MJCMAN33
(3) XODUS………………... (10) EXHELODRVR…….......(17) utzworrld THE BANNER HOLDER
(4) EDWIN GUECO……….. (11) LakerBake …………….(19) Benjamin
(5) TSPHERE…………….. .(12) Alexinho17…………....(20) CBUCK
(6) TIM_4_SHOW………….(13) Mamba24Fan4Life..…. (21) LakerTruth
(7) Lincoln Laker ………… (14) SHAQ FAN
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JIM BUSS IS THE CANCER BANDWAGON
--------------------------------------------------------
(1) utzworrld THE BANNER HOLDER
(2) RICK FRIEDMAN
(3) EDWIN GUECO
(4) MAMBA24
(5) FAN OF MAMBA
(6) EXHELODRVR
(7) VMAN
(8) TSPHERE
(9) RON

----------------------------------------------------------
SELL THE LAKERS BANDWAGON
-----------------------------------------------------------
(1) utzworld THE BANNER HOLDER
(2) TSPHERE
(4) MAMBA24
(2) RICK FRIEDMAN
(5) ATL Laker Fan
(6) TIM-4-SHOW
(7) Scott Connor
(8) EDWIN GUECO
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WE ARE OUT IN THE 1St ROUND AGAIN IF KUPCAKE DOESN’T
GET OFF HIS @SS AND DO SOMETHING BANDWAGON
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(1) JAY JAY………………..(4) EXHELODRVR……………..(7) ALEXINH01
(2) COMPLEX BROTHA....…(5) ANDREW Z
(3) SHAQ FAN……………...(6) ANDREW Z.
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