Zakee,

>>>I hope that this doesn't hurt anybodies feeling, but you can't win in this
>>>league if you have more than 3 white men on your team.

And then there's Zakee. The ig'nant racist of the blog.

Spew your bile to Manu Ginobili, Brent Barry, Fabricio Oberto, and Matt Bonner.
Who just won a ring a few months ago.

And while your at it, you can also tell Rasho Nesterovic and Beno Udrih who won
one with Ginobili and Barry two years ago.

And then go try to convince your 2001 Los Angeles Lakers, who included
Mike Penberthy, Slava Medvedenko, Greg Foster, and Mark Madsen.

And before you go whining that those white guys were on the end of the
bench, go talk to Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, Bill Walton, Jerry
Sichting, Scott Wedman, and Rick Carlisle. More than half of that TEAM was
white, including three of the five starters.

And when you're through with that, hop in your car and drive back to bigot land
and stay there.

About every other year there's an NBA team with four or more white guys
competing for the title. While you are astute in noticing that the ratio of black
men to white men in the NBA is high, you are ignorant to believe that the
"whiteness" of the team has any correlation to whether a team will win or lose.

"AND I GUARANTEE YOU WHEN KOBIATCH GETS TIRED OF THIS TRANSFORMATION, KOBE BALL WILL COME BACK. HE'LL CALL OUT PJ FOR RUNNING THIS STYLE. HE'LL BE UPSET ABOUT OTHER PLAYERS LIKE CRITTER AND VLAD OUTSHINING HIM. "

I don't like the way Kobe passes the ball as well, even when he can actually shoot it himself, he over exagerate at times and last night was a good example of that. He completely shut down his ability to score and just continues to pass like, OK I'm doing what you told me! I don't think he is making a conscious effort to make his teammates better, rather, "ok here's the ball let's see what you can do with it". Then he goes "see I told you can't shoot". hahaha!

I'm a kobe fan, but it does not stop me from telling the truth of what I saw in the game. I think the Laker bench rallying a 20 point lead is a slap in his face because they are able to do it without him. Although, Kobe's outburst in the 6:09 mark of the third quarter and scored 17 pts in less than 6 minutes triggered the energy and confidence of the bench players to play hard and caught up with the opponents. Though the credit goes to the bench who made it happened, kobe was sort of the leader in that run, he just did not have to come back coz Sasha, Farmar, Vlad, Turiaf, Bynum then Criittemton were doing an excellent job.

Like everybody in this blog says, it' just one game. But to me it was more than just that, it was the visualization of hope coming to fruition, hope of Vlad can finally show us what he can do, Sasha coming out year, Farmar a year better, Bynum progressing and Javaris living up to his potential. All of a sudden this one game, proved or atleast showed the promise was real and the excitement it brought was unmatched even in a pre season game. What more can I ask of a one game. It happened exactly as I've hoped for.

The first half of the game was like how the Laker season ended, the second half was nothing like how the last season started while great, it was not like that at all. IT WAS MORE LIKE LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE! A FAST PACE LAKER TYPE OF BASLETBALL, a lot more athletic, quicker, sense of enjoyment and unity, the passing, the alley ooop, the shooting were all great.

This is what I saw in ONE GAME. Could this be a beginning of "A decade of new Laker showtime" featuring Crittenton and Bynum.

Is Magic Johnson, the driving force of the last showtime era, or Kareem Abdul Jabbar, maybe James Worthy or better yet all three of them as the new group of coaches to guide this new athletic talented youth movement?

There is one thing for sure, I like what I saw! I LIKE IT VERY MUCH! I LIKE IT VERY VERY MUCH!

There is excitement in the air and it's in Hollywood.

>>>At the start of the 4th the Lakers were down by 17, yes, when Farmar was in
>>>he pulled the Lakers to a tie ball game 93-93. That is when PJ yanked Farmar
>>>and put Crittenton in.
>>>
>>>On the VERY first possesion Critter was in, he lobbed it to Bynum for a
>>>spin-alley oop AND the lead. 95-93.

Fair enough. And that was Crittendon's 1 assist. The problem was, if he played
like he played in the fourth quarter for a full-season, KL would be accusing him
of playing "Critter-Ball". He took the offense upon himself. He made an awsome
juke-jive move down the lane that almost faked someone out of their shoes. He
had that post-up-turnaround-fallaway-J that was awesome. But he also forced
up a couple of 3's early in the shot clock both when the Lakers had the lead
and when they were behind. And Troy Hudson schooled him like the rookie that
he is.

By contrast, Farmar was passing the ball around more. And his defense was
better and that's how they caught up. Farmar wasn't flashy, but the team was
more effective with him at the point.

To be honest, if last night was any indication, I think Critter will eventually be
better than Farmar at the point, but probably not this season.

In my ideal depth chart, by the end of the season they'd both be up-to-speed
enough that you could start Farmar and bring Critter off the bench for some
instant offense (ala Leandro Barbosa). Barring that, at least I'd like to see
Farmar backing up Fisher and Critter backing up Kobe (unless Evans improves
an awwwwwwwful lot).

Just wanted to remind everyone that this is the same team that before the injuries started to happen last year had beaten all the best teams in the league and had one of the better records in the league. We all know that we totally improved our team when we got rid of Smush and picked up Dfish. He adds chemistry and know how and most importantly a fighting spirit which Smush had none of these characteristics in fact he was the exact opposite. It also looks like we added another interesting gaurd who could contribute this year in Critt. Of course it should go with out saying that all the young players from last year will step it up a notch this year some higher than others. Finally, I think we need to be very excited about Bynum and also very patient. If we look at several other big men over the years we notice that their first several years they did not produce. For example Jermaine oneal did not do anything his first few years untill he was traded away from Portland. That was because the stars at that time in Portland did not trust or give him the ball. The same thing is happening alittle bit for the Lakers Kobe and Odom and company including coach have not yet shown the trust in Bynum for him to succeed. When and if they do I think you will see him blossom into a great player like a oneal. Another example is Dirk Nowitski the first few years he was nothing to write about but ofcourse he is awesome now. Bynum is 19 going on 20 younger than most players are when they start producing amazing stats be patient. Shaq was different because of his overwhelmingly big personality and huge confidence in himself so he produced immedietly. I do not think it is out of the question that Bynum could be the same kind of producer as Shaq was in a couple of years. I just look for him to be a VERY solid role player this year that makes things happen and COULD get us to the next level come playoff time.--------Komagiclakers

No one ever said Kobe as the end all, be all basketball player. You guys want Magic, MJ, Bird, Wilt, and Shaq all in one player and I'm sorry no one can do that, no one. If you look at team USA, every player brings their own strengths and weaknesses.

Kobe is not a ra-ra type of guy. If he got up and started waving towels like braveheart last night when the game meant nothing (but the effort certainly did) I doubt he'd be behaving like himself. Kareem was also not a ra-ra kind of guy.

I had a college coach who got on me about this as well. I'm not a ra-ra-ra guy either. I think with my mind, find weaknesses in myself, in the game, and then work on them at practice. That's what Kobe has always done. Not being a ra-ra guy can come at a price though... often times on my own team people thought I was aloof, like I didn't care, but it wasn't true. Sure, I cheered in select parts, but most of the time I'm Duncan-like stoic. That's just my personality, that's true whether I'm racing cars or playing poker.

That tells me if Kobe is anything like my personality, then you need to find someone else to be the ra-ra leader of the team. I was the type of person who would talk so someone in the locker room, someone who didn't believe in themselves and I would tell them what I saw in them, and this would get them pumped about the season and would get them thinking about how to improve. You want a ra-ra guy it's certainly not Kobe Bryant.

Maybe that's what the team needs, and if that's the case I have to disagree. I never really thought false emotion did much of anything in the long run. In the short run it can lift the play of lesser players.

I will leave you with this a Charlie Rosen quote from Fox Sports:
"LeBron James has to prove that he really does like playing with his teammates, and that the discouraging words that were printed during his run with Team USA were misquoted."

You mean LeBron might not actually be ra-ra guy either?? Well, either way, the guy is a great talent and a wonderful player, ra-ra or otherwise.

ak and bk,

Wheres my post? Ive sent it to you like 5 hrs ago. Ok im exgerrating. I hope you did not discard it because i said the letter word f in replacement for the actually word.

Wesjoenixon,

"It's possible we'll trade you somewhare like Canada or Utah or Mississippi or Guam."

Hey! Whats wrong with Canada? I am and always will be a Laker fan, even up here in Ontario, Canada. The Raptors are actually a pretty good team, and managment is smart enough to not take Kwame even if you sent 3 of Jerry Buss's girlfriends with him as part of the deal.

I go to the game in the Air Canada Centre the once a year they play the Lakers here (last year the Lakers lost to the Raptors). I wear my Lakers colors proudly and put up with the heckling from the lizard-lovin' fans around me.

For all you alarmists, its just one freakin' exhibition game! Gunner, stop your nonsense! Its too early to tell where this team is headed yet. I'm still on the 55-win bandwagon.

hubbit

Gunner

Hinrich and Melo each had 4 turnovers in limited minutes. Labron had 3 in 15 minutes! Dude its the pre season, we are tweaking our offensive and defensive schemes. Next game they may work on completely differnt things. If you want to place a lot of stock in the pre season then half the stars in the league should be out of a job because a lot of them have sucked so far. This is why you are probably the least respected blogger on the blog because you use zero common sense. Plus, there will come a point when no one on the blog will waqnt to play with you anymore and what fun will that be?

To all posters:

Please do not respond or comment on Gunner. It's a useless argument. The more you respond to him, the more he will post, like the waste of space above. I guarantee he will post less and less as noone responds to him. He will post his Kobe sucks posts only occasionally. I have learned to save a lot of time and skip his posts. Waste of time and space. It makes reading this blog quicker and more entertaining.

btw, I tried this same thing with KL, but I couldn't do it. His idiot humor can be entertaining if you're in the right mood. I have NEVER read an entertaining post from Gunner. Of course, I haven't read anything from him in over 6 months. Trust me, you will find your blogging experience more entertaining without his dribble.

Dice8up,
"And KOBE, well, you know, KOBE is K_O_B_E... like no other. persistent... consistent... hardworking... deffensive minded... and will power..."

That's right OLD KOBE = NEW KOBE.

HIS COUNTERPART HAD 27 POINTS LAST NIGHT. SO, DEFENSIVE MINDED? I THINK NOT!

LONG LIVE CHICKENS,
"Please do not respond or comment on Gunner. It's a useless argument. The more you respond to him, the more he will post, like the waste of space above. I guarantee he will post less and less as noone responds to him"

TEACHER TOM, IS THAT YOU?

NOT THE IGNORE LIST AGAIN. HOW'S THAT GOING?

Long Time,
"There was more to it than that. The defense the Lakers are playing has a lot more switching in it, so a couple of times Kobe rotated from the weak side to guard someone in the post and nobody rotated onto Azubuike so he was wide open for a 3"

THAT'S AN EXCUSE. ROTATIONS OR NO ROTATIONS, YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MAN THAT YOU'RE GUARDING UP THE COURT. IF HE'S SCORING BECAUSE YOU'RE ROTATING THAT'S STILL EFFECTING YOUR DEFENSE.

THIS IS MAN TO MAN DEFENSE. NOT ZONE.

ANGRY_CHIHUAHUA,

I KNEW YOU WERE ABOUT TO REGURGITATE SOME NBA STATS.

Lebron’s career turnover average is 3.3 per game
Kobe’s career turnover average is 2.9 per game
Wade's career turnover average is 3.8 per game
Carmelo's career turnover average is 3.1 per game

THAT WAS KOBE THEN. LAST NIGHT IS KOBE NOW.

6 TURNOVERS. NOW GO BACK AND FIND ME "YOUR DADDY" SOME MORE STATS!

We now have the latest update on the biggest game in town: the poker game between Buss and Kobe. To put things in perspective, listen to Buss's philosophy:

"I would certainly listen," Buss said. "At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody. It's just part of the game, to listen to somebody who has a dissatisfied player that you think is going to fit. You can't keep too many loyalties. You've got to look at it as a business. He looks at it the same way I look at it."

In other words, Buss -- unlike many of the bloggers -- doesn't see his attachment to the Lakers as one of loyalty (which has no meaning for him) but of financial interest. And that helps to explain why he's only committed to winning when it is essential to making a profit. When he can make a profit without having to make the investment in winning, he doesn't hesitate to do so. It therefore appears that Kobe is the only one in this poker game who is fixated on winning as the chief criterion.

The second point is interesting in that it inadvertently shows how strong Kobe's poker hand is. Buss says,

"If he still is in that frame of mind, then hopefully we can do a sign-and-trade and get some comparable talent. I would like to think that we win between now and then so that it doesn't come up."

What he seems to be forgetting (wishful thinking?) is that Kobe would need a lot of incentive to prefer a sign-and-trade rather than just getting up and leaving. Why? Because he wants to go to a team with a chance of winning and a sign-and-trade might deplete his new team of needed talent. The alternative is to take some overpaid has been onto the Lakers' payroll (remember Brian Grant?).

Buss certainly has a new-found talent for a) driving on the wrong side of the street in an inebriated b) compromising the Lakers' future.

As for the rest of his comments about Kobe -- all very complimentary -- that too seems to indicate that his poker hand is weak. With only three cards to a suit, he seems ready to draw two hoping to complete a flush. The only combination of cards that would appear to come up winners would be getting at least to the conference finals this year.

I know how many bloggers are hoping for that, but I suspect the number that are ready to gamble on it is far lower. But that's Buss's game today. That or fold.

KL,
"Funny how when you pass the ball, often times you get the ball back.....unless you're passing to Kobe Bryant of course. Again, quit being a gawd damn ballhog. Pass the rock. Pass the rock."

YEAH IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE BALL AGAIN, YOUR BEST CHANCE IS TO RUN LIKE HELL TO THE BASKET AND TRY TO BECOME A REBOUND MACHINE LIKE RODMAN. COLLECT THE BALL HOG MANY BRICKS!

Kobe, Pluto may not be that far away!

Buss: Bryant isn't untouchable
Lakers owner says he doesn't want to trade his star player, but he doesn't want to lose him and get nothing in return. He also defends Kupchak.

By Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 11, 2007

HONOLULU -- Jerry Buss looked relaxed in a seashell-print shirt and khaki shorts as he sat down near lush hotel grounds of botanical gardens and koi ponds, a paradoxical setting for his frank discussion of the very real possibility that his star player might not be on the team in two years, if not sooner.

The owner of the Lakers spoke publicly for the first time since his team's off-season of disarray, providing details of his involvement and his deepest thoughts during several months' worth of distress signals emitted by Kobe Bryant.

The conversation Wednesday also steered in other directions, touching on his opinion of his front office, whether he would sell the team in coming years, and Coach Phil Jackson's unclear future with the franchise.

Buss, who has presided over eight championships and five other NBA Finals appearances in his 28 previous years of ownership, acknowledged considering offers for Bryant over the summer -- none of them deemed remotely good enough to act upon -- and also conceded that the gaping hole in Bryant's contract could make the nine-time All-Star an ex-Laker by 2009.

Buss, 74, also said Bryant was not necessarily off the table now that the new season had started. Offers will inevitably continue to trickle in, particularly if the Lakers struggle before the February trade deadline.

"I would certainly listen," Buss said. "At any time, I think you have to do that with anybody. It's just part of the game, to listen to somebody who has a dissatisfied player that you think is going to fit. You can't keep too many loyalties. You've got to look at it as a business. He looks at it the same way I look at it."

BUSS IS LOOKING TO THE FUTURE! THE REBUILDING PROCESS HAS ALREADY STARTED. JAVARIS, BYNUM, AND VLAD ARE THE FUTURE OF THE LAKERS. KOBE, I HAVE A SHOE HERE WAITING TO BOOT YOUR AZZ ON OUT!

dice8up,

"YOU REALLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT BASKETBALL, DO YOU?

PITY!"

Hey! don't say that.. Gunner was the number 1 in assist during his time in the sports of basketball as a Waterboy....LOL..

Phil "the skirt" Jackson. Has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? My, my, my...how the mighty have fallen.

mike

Lakers Fans,

read this..

http://www.ocregister.com/sports/bryant-buss-trade-1887014-lakers-season

Buss said every offer to date for Bryant has been laughable and "not ever under consideration."

hmmm. I guess there was a trade talked between Lakers & Bulls or Knicks.. What you think guys?

Thanks Buss for keeping our Star of all Stars.. We'll see how this season works with the lakers. Let's cross our fingers to see the current squad to keep winning when the season started otherwise we are going to lost the best player ever exist in the Planet earth(and soon to be- in Pluto)...

Hey! don't say that.. Gunner was the number 1 in assist during his time in the sports of basketball as a Waterboy....LOL..

Posted by: trio | October 11, 2007 at 02:09 AM

That was funny... really... yeah, I got you.

Mike T -
you have just offended every female on this blog. Nice Job! Keep it up!
and remember behind every good man is an great woman...

Mike T.,

"I have the truth"

This is the source of problems of Man whenever he says this. Truth can be comouflaged, bent, naked, taken for granted, controversial, defamatory etc. Have you noticed all tyrants in history were all telling the truth? From Ceasar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Attila, Medici, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Idi Amin, Marcos, Saddam and Cheney. All of them were telling the truth. Truth can be ugly but it is more appropriate in defining it like beauty, it lies on the eye of the beholder.

Only the Almighty God can tell the real truth.

MJT

"And letting Kobe run the offence like he did during the 2004 finals is a testament to the trust Phil Jackson has in Kobe."

and 2004 worked out fine for us, didn't it? if there was an opposing-team finals MVP, it would have been kobe.....the guy only averaged 23.....23 shots per game that is.

further, 2005, 2006 and 2007 also worked out fine with kobe "run[ning] the offence".

PS, i purposely misspelled "offence" because i didn't want to misquote you.

Andy L

"Ol' sleazebag Buss has opened his gin stinking mouth and procliamed how good a job Jimbo and Kupchak have done and that Kobe ain't untouchable. "

please take 10 steps back and pulll you head out of kobe's ass.

kobe's a loser, period, end of story.

kobe forced management to chose EITHER KOBE OR SHAQ and management made the right economic choice given the ULTIMATUM ISSUED BY KOBE. Management was playing kobe for a fool while management was secretly rebuilding and now that we're at a solid place, kobe, like EVERY NBA PLAYER, is expendable.

my wish is that management realizes that Kid Kobe has caused them the loss of BOTH SHAQ AND KOBE and should only consider deals that fairly compensates as such.

kobe is a loser.....

LESSON LEARNED: You get what you give in life...

TSphere,

Your arguments are self contradictory. First you say that Kobe's only in it for the
money, then you say:

>>>What he seems to be forgetting (wishful thinking?) is that Kobe would need a
>>>lot of incentive to prefer a sign-and-trade rather than just getting up and
>>>leaving. Why? Because he wants to go to a team with a chance of winning
>>>and a sign-and-trade might deplete his new team of needed talent. The
>>>alternative is to take some overpaid has been onto the Lakers' payroll
>>>(remember Brian Grant?).

If Kobe opts out, he probably can't have it both ways. If you didn't notice, Phoenix,
Dallas, Cleveland, Miami, and the other contenders are over the salary cap and
likely still will be 2 years from now. The only possible way Kobe can go to one
of the top teams and still get paid more than the MLE is by sign and trade.

So if Kobe opts out, his three choices would be:

1. Sign with a bad team that can pay him the max. If this is the case, then why
leave the Lakers?, at least they're not terrible.

2. Let the Lakers sign and trade him to a capped-out contender so he can get
a reasonable payday and go to a contender.

3. Sign with a contender for the MLE.

If Kobe opts out and signs with Chicago for the MLE, that would show that he's
really dedicated to winning more championships, and it would be a major F-U
to Buss for keeping him chained to mediocrity for two years.