sorry, that celtics game is tough to get over.

lamar odom is a gifted physical talent. no doubt. a unique player.

just too bad he has sh*t for brains. not since samaki walker have i seen a player so terrible when it comes to thinking on the basketball court. oops, you can throw kwame brown in there too...that dude is just a body of matter on the court.

lamar odom remains expendable.

the short shorts were an obvious statement that the lakers were not taking the celtics game seriously. sucks for the fans who paid top dollar...the lakers owe those fans an apology and a voucher (and not for free tacos at jack in the crack).

you wanna clown around? do that stuff during practice and preseason. a game versus the team with best record in the league...and the lakers decide to play "dress up" instead of basketball.

just asking for some focus and effort, and the lakers had very little of both on sunday night.

our offense pretty much consisted of kobe throwing up a miracle shot.

we gave up real quick on even throwing the ball into the post.

kobe played horrible on both ends. he would jack up an impossible shot and then let his man shoot wide open jumpers on the other end...paul pierce on many occasions...

props to the celtics. they look good, and unlike the lakers - they took this game very seriously.

ok i got that out of my system.

here's to a team that focuses on every game in 2008!

c'mon lake show.

I was surprised he didn'rt get tossed, but I hate when the [bush] league "revisits" a call. Didn't get it right the first time - move on.

Tha Show,

I feel you regarding Kwame. Lamar is always on the fence with me and so is Luke....

Yea, "b4hoops" I agree with you. The Lakers were just beat by a better team so I won't OD and get all analytical and lose sleep over it. The bottom line is, LA's SHOTS WERE NOT FALLING! I think I read somewhere that by half time, Odom alone missed 6 layups. I'm not sure what team could come back from that, never mind against the best team in the league right now. The Lakers just had one of those "can't do anything right" games. Lets not get all crazy and focus on the teams ahead.
This next stretch we are basically playing teams with losing records, so we should be ok. GO LA!

I'm hoping we can rely on Kobe, Fish and Phil to renew the team's focus following an ugly loss and the start of the new year.

I think our general attitude is good; management seems to exude a sense that all is going fine... but we'll entertain a good offer for any non-Kobe/Bynum players.

Lamar was the only one that showed some heart in that game. There was no reason for the Celetics to keep their starters in that late in the game, they just wanted to rub it in and send a message, so Odom was just sending a message back. That being said, the 1 game suspension is about right.

Fiscal review...

Analysis of that Boston game will inevitably come back to the fact that they have 3 all stars which demand enough attention to make it easy for their other guys to play big. Not being able to compete again but this time on your own floor, spoke volumes.

The biz plan was LO gets to all star level with Kwame at PF. Didn't happen. Won't happen. But they're both being paid as if it did happen.
Tough business.

LO trades have been bounced around since the wrong guy got traded to Washington. He's too expensive to get back equal value.
Hard to imagine Mitch won't make a move with Kwame's contract. No way his agent will want to take half to stay in LA. With Jerry's refusal to go over the cap, and Andrew's deal looming, the team needs more for it's 10 mil.

The Lakers are in great shape, it's just that Boston has raised the bar on what "great shape" is. You not only have to work for it, ya have to SPEND for it. It's gonna to take mo' green to keep up with the green.

Happy New Year to All

On the L.O. situation. WAY TO GO LO! You have now officially made this an updated, current day rivalry. Celtics and Suns are at the top of that list. Our guys couldn't hit the ocean from a boat or something like that if you ask Kobe. As a fan we wanted to kick some Celtic ask but weve got work to do and that fine. Teams in the NBA in the past few years that peak early fall hard in the end. see Suns, Maverick, Pistons for reference.

b4hoops,

>>>The Lakers shouldn't worry about the Cs too much, they should
>>>worry about how to match up with the Suns, Spurs, Jazz,
>>>Mavericks, Nuggets, Hornets, Rockets and Hornets of the world.

Well, so far this season, they've managed to beat the Suns twice, the
Jazz twice, the Spurs once (albeit without Duncan), the Nuggets twice,
and the Rockets. They haven't played the Mavs yet, and they'll get
another chance at the Hornets next week. Oh, and you should
have included the Warriors and the Trailblazers in your list of teams
to beat, because neither of them is pushovers either.

It would be nice if the Lakers could get another shot at the Celtics
this season, but I doubt it.

tha show,

>>>i'd offer kwame a deal at 3 million (max) per year and fill it with
>>>games played incentives. money is obviously the only motivation
>>>factor with this kat.

That's realistic. I don't know if he'd take it or not, but that sounds about
right to me. Have several incentives built in. If Kwame spends half his
time missing games, he gets paid 3 million per. If he plays in greater
than 70 games, he gets another million. If he plays in more than 7
playoff games in a season, he gets another million. If he averages
greater than 10 points or 10 rebounds, that's another million.

That way, the max potential value of the contract is like 6-7 million,
but only if he plays like a player that's worth that much.

The article ?K linked to about Coby Karl pointed out a factoid that's
worth thinking about -- most of the best teams in the league have
several starters of age 30 and up -

San Antonio starters:
Bruce Bowen - 36
Michael Finley - 34
Fabricio Oberto - 32
Tim Duncan - 31
Tony Parker - 25

Detroit starters:
Antonio McDyess - 33
Rasheed Wallace - 33
Chauncey Billups - 31
Rip Hamilton - 29 (turns 30 in February)
Tayshaun Prince - 27

Boston Starters:
Ray Allen - 32
Kevin Garnett - 31
Paul Pierce - 30
Kendrick Perkins - 23
Rajon Rondo - 21

Phoenix starters:
Grant Hill - 35
Steve Nash - 33
Raja Bell - 31
Shawn Marion - 29
Amare Stoudemire - 25

Compare this to the Lakers starting 5 -
Derek Fisher - 33
Kobe Bryant - 29
Lamar Odom - 28
Andrew Bynum - 20
(who's the fifth starter? Luke - 27? Ariza - 22? Rad - 27?)

In fact Derek Fisher is the only player on the TEAM over 30 (Kobe
is getting close).

The Lakers either need to add a couple more experienced players
to get up to that level, or they need Odom and maybe Luke to
mature a lot over the next couple of years.

I'm starting to think more and more that I would sanction a trade
for Jermaine O'Neal if it didn't involve giving up any of Kobe, Bynum,
Fish, Farmar, Odom, or Turiaf. Jermaine's interior defense would
be a huge upgrade, and he's more consistent offensively than any
of the Lakers other than Kobe. The Lakers would lose something
giving up Luke or Ariza or Radmanovic, but Kwame's no great loss,
and JO would be a huge gain.

AS I PREDICTED LAKERS SHOWED THEIR REAL STRENGTH AGAINST CELTICS. BYNUM IS NO-SHOW AS THERE IS NO ONE TO THROW ALLEYOPS.

LAKERS ARE AN AVERAGE TEAM. NOT EVEN THE ABOVE AVG. TEAMS.

BY END OF FEB-08 WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF THIS TEAM.

Unless there is another GM out there like Kevin McHale, I don't think anyone wants our mismatched, one dimensional players for a legitimate championship caliber starter. I would love to trade in Luke, Kwame, Radman, Mihm or Sasha, but who really wants any of them? The only way I can see any of them being of value to another team is future salary relief (Kwame). These players are of more value to us in our system than to most any of the other teams in the NBA. I just can't see Larry Bird, Rod Thorn or the Maloof brothers doing us any favors by taking on these marginal players.
Turief, Farmar or Odom could bring us something of value in return but I'm not sure about equal value.

For those who don't have espn insider, here's some comments they made
about Javaris Crittendon in their Rookie Watch:

"Javaris Crittenton got 16 minutes to show his stuff vs. the Celtics, a season
high. But his coaches cannot be thrilled at the young point guard's game
action. A look past the box score shows a player not nearly ready to contribute
to a playoff team. Too many dribbles, too many circus pass attempts, not
enough simple basketball plays. In the new year, I'd like to see Crittenton
resolve to play at a pace similar to that of teammate Jordan Farmar, who has
learned to flourish within the system instead of playing outside of it."

I pretty much agree with the assessment - but it's not a big knock. Critter
is a rookie, and a young one at that, and he is still learning to play NBA
quality basketball.

For those of you pushing to give Sasha's minutes to Java, hopefully that
game showed you why not. The Lakers have a better chance of winning
games with Sasha on the floor than with Crittendon at this point.

I know everybody's is hammering LO for the #2 foul and his overall contirbution to the team of late, but I have another question. AK or BK can you tell me if Carmelo received one of these "after the game" suspensions for choking Sasha a few weeks ago. If ever there was a time for a suspension, choking someone should be one of those times. Or is it just Lakers who get this special attention?

As i said a few weeks ago, this team wil not win a championship with Fisher as the starting PG- The celtic game highlighted many of the reasons why

1) he cant get into the paint and get his teammates easy shots

2) He is slow and gets exposed by PGs defensively

3) He misses too many layups.

Can anyone say Jason Kidd?

I dont understand the criticism of Odom in the Celtic game- only Odom and Ariza were attacking the basket and Odom was working his butt off on both ends.

If anyone needs to be criticisized its Kobe for not playing any defense and jacking up 25 shots. Ill say it again Kobe only plays defense when he feels like it and lately thats been rare. Thats not a leader.

LTLF - The Lakers have a better chance of winning
games with Sasha on the floor than with Crittendon at this point.

That may be true for the first few games while Crit goes through some growing pains but Crit has 100 times more potential than Sasha and can provide the Lakers something they sorely need- penetration for easy buckets.

I agree crit and farmar looked over-matched against the celts and played Santa Claus turning the ball over but Sasha is not a threat to get into the lane at all. He is no better than Cookie- one dimensional.

why does everybody want jason kidd? the trianlge offense is a halfcorut offense, we have always played halfcourt. how effective is an aging jason kidd in halfcourt? He can't do nothing with the nets and they have vince carter. we got to get our heads straight jason kidd is not the answer. The west is tough, and the lakers are amongst the tough now. we just got to keep makign progress. The celtics aren't 26-3 for nothing, they got 3 all stars on their team. We can't be ashamed for loosing to them.

I'd rather have PJ Brown than Webber.

We have several players on the team with sole purpose - knocking down open shots and nothing else. I'm talking about Vlade and Sasha. Yes you' all saying they are onedimensional players. Well, at least I would expect to excel in this one thing they suppose to do - make an open shot. Unfortunately as I said they not doing even that. Vlade cost us an entire MLE - what kind of return are we getting? Plus very often he stil does not know what to on floor, when trying to get to the basket he usualy creates turnover or needs to take fast ill advised shot. The same true with Luke when he tries to do more than he capable of doing like breaking down defense with his drible.

Thanks for the well earned play off the bench!!! Really appreciate it!- Bynum!!
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakerep3jan03,1,4328850.story?coll=la-headlines-sports&track=crosspromo

Long Time Laker Fan,

Thanks for sharing the ESPN Insider comments on J-Crit, "A look past the box score shows a player not nearly ready to contribute to a playoff team. "

I've been hammered by other bloggers for saying virtually the same thing. No knock on his future and potential -- only an honest look at the present.

Serious fans know that wishful thinking can't change the Lakers equation. This team has come a long way since training camp and there's a lot of accomplishment to be proud of. But as Kobe has pointed out, even more hard work is still ahead.

Over all, the Lakers performed reasonably well in December, but it is how they play in late February, March and April that will determine how they perform in the Playoffs. The loss to the Celtics was a necessary event to prod the growth required for a successful season.

Some of the work to be done includes:
Farmar - stop trying too hard and the game will come to you
Walton - learn to play well with the 2nd unit, where you can best contribute.
VladRad - at least make an honest effort on Defense, you are starting to play like Brian Cook
Lamar - keep focusing on being aggressive
Kobe - don't lose faith in your team mates

Ariza, Bynum, and Kwame should just keep working as they did before the Celtics debacle. It was one game.

The composite trajectory of the team is still positive. Most of all, the lesson is that Defense will always be king.

tha show,

I have mixed feelings about Lamar, particularly because his potential is so high and yet, like Kwame Brown, he so frequently performs significantly beneath that potential.

Still, I think it's reasonable to have faith in Lamar. He does make his fellow Lakers better players.

Somebody just needs to get that guy in with a top-notch sports psychologist and get him in regular therapy.

If Lamar can learn to stay focused, I truly think he'll be a force to be reckoned with.

GO LAKERS!

LT Laker Fan if you are going to pick a fight with a Celtic, who are you going to pick? Garnett, Pierce or Perkins? Man, those dude's will fight back! Ray Allen? tough guy? c'mon... I'd pick a fight with Ray Allen every time... and no, I'm not impressed that Odom knocked down Ray Allen... one knockdown after a game is out of reach does not = passion. Lamar can disappear with the best of them, who will even notice he is not playing in our next game? Watch the game with no sound and you won't even think about Odom because that's just like how it is when he is ON the court!

Then, shall we predict the Odom "reaction" to being suspended in the next game? How about 10-12 points and 7 rebounds in the first half and then he finishes the game with 14 points and 9 rebounds? THAT'S ODOM! That's all he'll ever do, you could stand out there with a cattle prod and the dude would put up 14 and 9, then you could light candles and play Yanni and the dude would put up 14 and 9, you could have Odom dressed up as Santa Claus and he would put up 14 and 9... you could stick Odom into a water polo game and he would put up 14 and 9... you could put him on the UCLA squad this year and he would put up 14 and 9... you could have Odom reach into a bag full of 2 different items and he would STILL pull out 14 and 9! LOL! You could have Odom throw 23 darts at 23 balloons on a wall and he would hit 14 and leave 9!

That game is done. It's about showing what we're made of now. How do we bounce back? Do we go on a roll and show that we're capable of playing very well? Are we capable of shrugging off a tough loss like a veteran team (that we're somewhat)?

This is when growth happens. You learn the most in losses, if you're willing to learn. We have definite holes that need to be addressed. The question is how willing are we to take that next step?

GO Lakers!