Strange atmosphere, this planet Houston

looks like Houston is the lakers new biggest threat in the west if everyone stays healthy. big if.

AK,

KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

Wow. Dude, you are a dork. (I mean that in a very positive way.)

GO LAKERS!

That's it? That's all Sacto got? A has-been and a few low firsts. That strikes me as a really stupid deal. Why not just keep Ron-Ron into the season and see if a bidding war erupts? If worse came to worse, couldn't they have gotten this deal in February?

It's not like Sacto has to worry about the distraction of having Artest for part of the season ruining their title hopes.

It seemed clear after the season that Mitch was going to stand pat. I agree, why mess up a good thing? With Bynum and Ariza back and everyone else gaining experience in the triangle and with each other, we are favorites to win it all.
We shouldn't remake our whole team just because we got blown out by Boston in Game #6. If we'd messed with the chemistry too much this off-season we might not get that far. I figure we just need to add a third string center (in case Mihm can't cut it) and maybe a swing man/small forward who will sit on the bench in case of an emergency. I'm OK with Mbenga, Coby Karl and Mata-Real filling out the roster.

DID THE KINGS BEAT THE LAKERS TO RON ARTEST?
by Mark Heisler for the LA Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/
olympics_blog/2008/07/did-the-kings-b.html

This is a strange article as it is posted in the Olympics Blog section of the LA Times (along with a comment section conveniently filled in with my Lakers Blog name and email address). At any rate, just Heisler basically saying the Kings gave Artest away to spite the Lakers. Just a weird place to post article.

Tom

Can someone please tell me how the hell Houston is getting Artest for a Has been and a pick? I' mean how is this possible. I'm sure the Lakers could have offered more than this. The Maloofs hate us, that is for sure. They still traded him within the Western Conference. What does this do to the west? I:m still in shock and very upset.

CrzyFan

Still not worried.

Lakers win it all next year.

Eat my shorts Mike T.

what an outstaning move by the rockets. not only they get Ron Artest (in my opinion the best defender in the NBA) they also get rid of an aging bobby jackson who absolutely brought them nothing. In Artest they bring in a veteran who can defend better than shane battier and who's also a better offensice player. the rockets can now trade battier (20m+ for the next 3 years contract) and get an offensive player who can come out off the bench and provide a much needed scoring boost.
hats off to the rockets management
this makes Houston a very dangerous team next season! wow

help or hurt?

I say it hurts. Houston is arguably one of the better defensive teams in the league, they needed offense. And although Artest can be a beast in the paint...I don't see this "odd couple" coexisting all that well for a long time lol.

We dodged a bullet I'd say. Go Lakers!

That was all it took? Dang...

CrzyFan,

Because Ron Ron Bill Artest is a certifiable lunatic who spreads psychological disease everywhere he goes.

I will totally take Bobby Jackson over the lunatic anyday of the week.

GO LAKERS!

From Steve Kerr over in Phoenix:

"I think it's a big deal to have Shaq for the whole year next season. We'll be able to establish our defense and what we're trying to accomplish in October rather than trying to do it on the fly in February. Hopefully with a full year under his belt Shaq can really make the adjustment. I thought he played well for us last year; unfortunately our season ended a little earlier than we had hoped, but we'll be better this year because of that experience and the fact that he'll have a training camp with us."

The Suns are going defense. With Shaq to clog the lane and Amare to provide the offensive punch this team can be scary, too.

Now you have Houston putting a vice grip on their 3 spot. Another player to watch in Houston is Joey Dorsey. This kid could be a Charles Barkley type player.

Watch out.

mike t.

Bonez (and others surprised by what Sacto accepted),

"That was all it took? Dang..."

I'm not sure it was as much about "all it would take" as what Sacto was being offered. I doubt too many teams are going to offer a lot in value, between Sacto dealing from a position of total disadvantage and Artest's risks. The number of teams in the mix drop even further when you take into account that no team would bring in Ron kicking and screaming. You wouldn't just "take a flyer" even if you knew he was unhappy about it. Unless Artest wants to be a part of your team (as much as this guy ever really knows what he "wants"), he's basically out of the question.

Add up all those factors and I'm guessing the offers coming Sacto's way weren't terribly impressive.

AK

If the Kings picked up Dorsey the deal wouldn't be that bad for the Kings.

mike t.

"We dodged a bullet I'd say."

Agreed. First, it'd be unusual for intradivision rivals to work a trade that could materially improve the other.

That said, Artest has not been an "elite" defender (DRtg < 100) since his IND daze where he had Jeff Foster + Jermaine O'Neal to cover his back. That Artest also played somewhere south of < 240lbs, unlike the SAC version which ballooned to 250.

At 250 -- or even 240 --there's no way Ron Ron would reprise the 3-position "shutdown" defender LAL fans imagine he was at IND. None.

Will The Con Artest help HOU? Early, maybe. As Artest usually tries to make a good first impression after screwing up -- until his mind, as it inevitably does, begins to wander. And wonder. What if I ... and what if they ... and who really REALLY loves me more?

Although I wanted Artest, I wouldn't give up Lamar for him. I really don't know who will dominate this season, east or west. My gut feeling is that the Lakers are going to falter, and Kobe will suffer his first serious injury since the Shaq days. I hope to gawd I'm wrong.

This is going to be the most interesting NBA season in several years...

Pig,
That was 4-7-5.
Try "I'm still not worried" or "We're still not worried"

With Artest going to Houston, does this now mean that the Lakers will stand pat? The Lakers front office has been so ridiculously silent and circumspect, I almost wonder if a big shoe is going to drop without warning.

None of the Laker youngsters burned up Summer League, which could leave one to believe there may be some roster movement we don't anticipate.

IMHO, last season's roster could have benefited from one more seasoned veteran. Luke and Vlad are redundant in a way that offers no depth to the bench. Mihm must be considered a question mark until he proves otherwise in training camp. Viewed as a whole, the current roster only works IF -- let me repeat, IF -- everyone is healthy. In today's NBA, that's a huge "IF."

The Lakers got lucky last season when Bynum went down by being able to acquire Gasol. Even Mitch Kupchak doesn't believe there's a high probability that lightning will strike twice.

Something's up, Laker Nation. I just don't know what it is.

The Suns? They're down and out. The Shaq experiment is the worst yet.

Defense or not, it's still up in the air if he can be remotely close to Shaq of old, not to mention health problems.

"It seemed clear after the season that Mitch was going to stand pat. I agree, why mess up a good thing?"

rdlee - you can't stand pat in this league. In order to get to the mountain top, you need to continuously get better. Mitch must think that having Bynum and Ariza healthy are tantamount to improvement. While I agree that getting Bynum back equals an addition, it remains to be seen if Gasol can be a championship calibre PF in the west, and I'm rather certain that Odom can't play the SF. He has to be the back-up PF. Time will tell. Losing Turiaf was not a good thing. In the meantime, our SF position is a glaring weakness, and pg is fragile. My gut instincts tell me that we won't have the same productivity at pg as we had last year. Unless we address at least one of these weaknesses, I am less than confident of a return trip to the finals.

The elite teams are going defense.

I have no idea what to make of the Lakers. All I really know for sure is that they won't be making it past the WC this coming season. They're just too soft.

mike t.

Seriously sac queens,

They did not include Kenny Thomas in deal. Wow!! Anyways,
best thing for Lakers to do is trade Vlade and 2009 first round pick to houston for Shane. This is best and all possible deal for us. I think Houston will take it since it can not play Ttracy, Ron and Shane at same position and they need shooting power forward once Scola can take a break. Both have 3 years remaining and they get first round draft pick. For us, we have too much log jam at that position anyways and I think Shane is best defender we can have. Guy gives 100% day in day out and never stops playing defense.
Come on this is much better deal for us than getting Artest.

I would have traded Odom for Artest. Artest is mentally tougher than Odom. Artest is the type of player who would have challenged Kobe when Kobe got in his face. Odom is nothing near that.

mike t.

Some one brought up a valid point...Shane Battier is expendable to the rockets now. Why pay a guy 20mil+ when you've just picked up a guy who does all the same things better at a cheaper price. I don't know about y'all but I think I would try to swing an Ariza plus whoever makes the money work deal for Battier.

He's a proven lock down defender, can hit the open 3, and has a good attitude so he won't hurt the teams chemistry. If Houston does decide to keep both of them though they could be a major problem for us. Imagine Kobe having to face a double team from Artest and Battier!!!! Battier not an all-star but he's prolly just the player our team needs.

Or how about Houston keeps Battier and then they have either Artest or Battier to be on the court all the time when Kobe is on the court.

They would wear Kobe down. Then Yao would stay on Bynum and prevent that alley-oop pass Bynum scores on. And I think that Joey Dorsey is going to be an impact player, too.

The guy is a beast in the paint.

mike t.

Seriously sac queens,

They did not include Kenny Thomas in deal. Wow!! Anyways,
best thing for Lakers to do is trade Vlade and 2009 first round pick to houston for Shane. This is best and all possible deal for us. I think Houston will take it since it can not play Ttracy, Ron and Shane at same position and they need shooting power forward once Scola can take a break. Both have 3 years remaining and they get first round draft pick. For us, we have too much log jam at that position anyways and I think Shane is best defender we can have. Guy gives 100% day in day out and never stops playing defense.
Come on this is much better deal for us than getting Artest.

Damn, the Rockets are good... real good...

Welcome to the Western Conference shootout...

Lakers might not make it out the 1st round if given the wrong matchup and bad motivation...

Lakers must be ready for next year...

Enuff 70 win talk... let's win the division and get the #1 seed....

Standing pat with our younger players IS getting better, especially with Bynum back and hopefully healthy. San Antonio won three of their titles by basically standing pat making a few minor tweaks. Even our threepeat didn't include major shake-ups. The year we made the biggest changes (Payton and Malone) didn't yield a title.
Everybody likes to talk trades in the off-season but the best trades are the ones NOT made (Kidd, JO, C-Webb, Gordon/Deng, Miles/Blake). About the only ones I'd be open to is for Josh Smith or Shane Battier but I doubt they will be moved.

Its easy to see why the Kings didnt get more for Ron Ron. With each flip flop on wanting to stay or go, with each moan about not becoming a free agent. With each e-mail to ESPN, Ron Ron just continued to reinforce why teams were affraid of him. It got so bad that the Maloofs told him to shut up. They knew what would happen if he continued to whine and it did.

Mh

Ron Artest to Houston?

We need to thank the Maloofs for screwing up the Rockets.

There is a reason why the Kings did not even talk to Ron about an extension.

There is a reason why they dumped him before camp.

There is a reason why NO team was offering the Kings anything of value for Ron and a reason why the Kings gave him away.

Houston made a rent-a-player deal. Ron will be an unrestricted FA and be gone. It will cost Houston in the end 2 picks for the 'try Ron Ron deal'.

My guess is Houston trades his expiring contract mid-season to save there season.

Man, this is a great trade for Houston. Which is terrible for us. They already gave us fits last season and adding a player like Artest, if he keeps his head on straight and accepts being the third option, the Rockets will be our primary challenger for western conference supremacy. I mean we've still got an awesome big 4 with Kobe, Bynum, Pau and LO, but the west is going to be a dogfight once again.

The team in the west that really needs to make a move is San Antonio. They're going to be one year older and the only young blood they've brought in is Roger Mason.They might only be the 4th or 5th best team in the west.

Ron Ron the Psycho
Will Ruin another team
He and Mike make two

Standing pat and putting it on the shoulders of your younger players is NOT a good idea in a tight Western Conference that the Lakers won by only ONE game.

But for those who are complaining about the Kinks giving away Artest, I have two words for you - Memphis Grizzlies. Remember the Pau Gasol trade? What goes around, comes around.

Mitch, the ball is in your court. The Angels didn't stand pat and they were winning the West by 11 games not one.

rdlee

"San Antonio won three of their titles by basically standing pat making a few minor tweaks"

Exactly my point. Minor tweaks is all we need. I'm not suggesting a big trade, but we have weaknesses that Boston exposed. I would feel better if we addressed them. I'm going to tread lightly here, because I do think Mitch redeemed himself by the moves he did not make, then the Gasol deal. We are oh so close, and a minor tweak might make all the difference in the world.

i guess everyone is split on whether the artest pickup was good for houston,

i personally think its a win-win for houston.....they are taking a slight gamble on artest, if he doesnt work out, they didnt give up their big 2...and didnt even have to unload battier...

i look at it as something like if the lakers could of acquirred him w/o giving up odom....thats kinda how i feel houston pulled this off...their GM did a great job...cause if he self-destructs..big deal, they werent going to win anything too big with that current makeup

I believe Donte Green was drafted with the pick the 1st of the 2 1st round picks that the Lakes sent to the Grizz for Pau....see, sometimes we need to put a name to the number or "commodity"....Sometimes late 1st rounders can be pretty good, so someday the "gift" of the Pau trade may not seem like such a freebie, not like the the obviously fixed McHale/Celtics deal...those players may eventually become equal, in "value", however it was the principal of how the deal was done. It was done with the purpose of Kevin McHale making the deal to aid a team that he does not work for. That deal IMHO reeked of corruption and decepton, however, no one stepped forward to do anything about it. That is the deal that the Popovich proposed trade committee should scrutinize, but they don't need to, because it's so obvious. Maybe McHale and Ainge should both get a 1 year suspension and draft picks taken away from those teams, like McHale got for his Joe Smith under the table agreement. Those are just general thoughts, I had to put out. Look, all these blogs are starting to talk about Pau's holes in his game. Stop it, be positive. Hey, I like his game, and I think if used right we will have a team that is a big "machine" (which happens to have a little "machine" (shi shi) as one of its parts).

Tom, the way I think is disjointed I know, sorry to those who want thesis quality writings. By the way, where's Ding Ho and Kevin Ding??? I didn't see a blog by ding or an article by Kevin recently....vacation? Just reachin still....Chinese restuarants, fast food,....what do you want to talk about next, cars? After the earthquake when I was finsihing my tires, I found that one of my tires has bulges, I had hit a pothole too hard, so there goes $300 plus....

Joke of the day: "hahahahahhahahaa".....that's my impersonation of let's go c's....oh, by the way I have to do it while dreaming of Sasha....

>>>Now you have Houston putting a vice grip on their 3 spot.
>>>Another player to watch in Houston is Joey Dorsey. This
>>>kid could be a Charles Barkley type player.

If they actually sign him.

And even if they do, he'd likely be 4th on the depth chart
behind Scola, Hayes, and Landry (if they re-sign Landry).

With the current roster, Houston has no backup center and
only one player other than Yao over 6'9" on the roster
(that would be 6'10" Steve Novak who very rarely plays).
I'll wager they'll sign a backup center before they'd sign
a fourth PF under 6'10" (though Dorsey at 6'9" would be
the 3rd tallest person on the team).

Solomon Islands July 28th - 6.0 Magnitude, nobody knew and nobody cared.
Chino Hills July 29th - 5.4 Magnitude, everyone was concerned and everyone is scared of the big one.
It's all about location, location, location!

Rick Friedman,

"The Lakers front office has been so ridiculously silent and circumspect".

I will change one word from that phrase: Circumcized. Yes, indeed they let Posey got away, Artest got away w/o planting a mole of communication that he should have opted out, Okafor was not even an alternative, Matt Barnes moved to Suns for a measly veterans minimum so the Front Office has been newly circumscized by the turn of events. All they got back is Sasha at 5M. Will they stand pat? I think so there are no more worthy of signinga as a defensive mentality player. Perhaps, that's the story of next season STAND PAT Kobe's healthy again, LO will play his best on his contract year, Pau will have preseason training and Bynum will have two strong knees.

Sorry I forgot to put my name on the previous post to Rick F.

AK/BK what do you mean by the new notations of "bookmark, digg and submit" near your name?Should we be concerned on any privacy issues being compromised on our side?

Mike T,

Yea that's it! The Lakers made the finals this year because they were "too soft".. Teams rarely make the finals two years in a row so your prediction is lame.

Being "soft" is not the Laker's problem..I've told you this all a long. The Lakers played defense too and it will only get better.

The Lakers problem is a 3rd scorer..Someone who can score at will.

Kwame Brown is all damm muscle and he couldnt take us out of the first round..But you won't answer that comment will you?

Kwame Brown sucks. If the Lakers had Ginobli or a 3rd scorer like that, we would have won it all!

If the Lakers are too soft, then all the other teams besides Boston are too soft too! The Lakers can't beat anyone except Boston right now,

"Robert" Jackson is a $6 million a year player, donte a rookie,
and 1st round pick....the Lakers could have (note COULD have, not should have constructed a similar deal......like vlad rad makes 6 mill, Jordan Farmar could have been the equivalent of that rookie, and the Lakers could have give their next available 1st round pick. They could have made a $6 million dollar "player" out of combining Walton plus any of the following Trevor, or Mihm or Fisher....I'm glad that the Lakers sat tight and did not deconstruct to get 'Bill".....they are a much more stable team by keeping all the players with small contracts it would have taken to get him. Why didh't Sacramento shove those junk players on Houston???? Thank GAWD we did not take them on...

Houston got Artest solo, we would have gotten "Bill & Ted's Not So Excellent Adventure"......Score another one for Mitch, the Executive of the Year for 2008-2009!!!!!

Let's go dings!

>>>Or how about Houston keeps Battier and then they have
>>>either Artest or Battier to be on the court all the time
>>>when Kobe is on the court.

And meanwhile Bynum outplays their center and 6'11" Lamar
Odom and 7 foot Gasol make mincemeat of their 6'6" to 6'9"
"power forwards"...

Oh, and by the way, think about these numbers...

56, 70, 56
57, 48, 55
47, 71, 66

That's the number of games that Artest, Yao, and McGrady
have played in over the last three seasons.

Anyone want to give odds on who goes down first? Or
maybe the odds that each of the 3 plays more than 60
games? How bout the odds that all 3 are healthy during
the playoffs?

humanomaly,

>>>>>Tom, the way I think is disjointed I know, sorry to those who
>>>>>want thesis quality writings. By the way, where's Ding Ho and
>>>>>Kevin Ding??? I didn't see a blog by ding or an article by Kevin
>>>>>recently....vacation? Just reachin still....Chinese restuarants,
>>>>>fast food,....what do you want to talk about next, cars?
>>>>>After the earthquake when I was finsihing my tires, I found that
>>>>>one of my tires has bulges, I had hit a pothole too hard,
>>>>>so there goes $300 plus....

I’ve been a BMW guy for the last 25 years. I currently have 2000 740i with sport package that I bought when it had 40K miles and love it, although the friggin’ cup holder is broke and I refuse to pay $350 for them to remove the dash and replace it. Damn Germans never understood about Americans and their coffee and soft drinks. And the super low profile Michelin tires that look so cool cost a fortune to replace, only last 24 months, and have so much rubber on the road that they almost neutralize the power steering. LOL.

I’m still trying to get used to the look of the new 7 but I love my Beemer. I’ve had a Porsche 911, Lexus 400 SC, Mercedes 450SL, and in my very young days a hot1966 Pontiac GTO 389 3X2 barrel carbs, tri power muscle car that could hit a 100 mph in a 1/4 mile. We are what we drive, aren’t we? LOL. Of course, I left out the many VW Beetles, Hondas, Toyotas, Chevys, and a great red Triumph TR6 that wouldn’t shift into reverse for 2 years that I drove all over the Pacific Northwest and Canada. But most men have interesting car histories, much more so than women who don’t have their egos fastened to a machine, except for Faith with Sasha, of course. LOL.

Tom

I'm not sure if this has already been brought up but this is what Paul Pierce said when asked if Kobe's the best player in the world.

"I don't think Kobe is the best player. I'm the best player. There's a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don't cross that line but I have a lot of confidence in myself."

Kobe's conceited?!

GO LAKERS!!!

Another Mike T. gem:

"Artest is mentally tougher than Odom."

By "mentally tough," do you mean a guy willing to go into the stands because someone throws a plastic cup of beer at him after an on-court scuffle? That's some serious mental fortitude right there.

Does grabbing boards equal mental toughness? Yeah, it does. It means getting in there and doing the dirty work amongst flying elbows and knees.

Lamar: 10.6 rpg
Artest: 5.8 rpg

Yeah, Lamar shaved a star on the side of his head. It was strange. Artest shaved the words "Tru Warier" on his head. Mental toughness? No. Mental breakdown? Yes.

I'm sure you would have traded Odom for Artest, Mike T. But you also have a love affair with Kwame Brown. Is he "mentally tough," too? In all honesty, it's mentally tough to take you seriously, because you're a mental midget. No offense to little people, either.

Go Lake Show!

Insomnia sucks. I'm still working on the sonnet (what? who cares? I do) but here's a Limerick

Twas once a man named Teniente
His pasta? He likes it el dente
His longings have salves
In a man with stout calves
He dreams of being with Kwame, en flagrante.

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE LOVE

GO LAKERS

Mike T...

Our own little Golum. Was he really River Folk once?

Wes

Ajay and other fellow lakers fans,

the lakers cannot trade their 09 1st rd drft choice. The lakers need to have a first round choice for at least every other year and we gave up the 08 and 10 1st rd choices for gasol. The lakers would have to give up mihm and vlad to houston for a straight up trade but i don't thing the money would still match for just those 2. Also i doubt that houston would even trade Shane becuase artest will be a free agent next year and could sign with another team then they would be out 2 great defenders with nothing of value in return. I think that most us are spoiled with the gasol trade and think that we can always make a trade that one sided and thats just not going to be the case

Thank you. No more Lamar for Artest gibberish. I think the deal definitely makes Houston a much better team, but not an elite team. Don't forget that Houston has Mcgrady, who has never gotten out of the 1st round. Thats a pretty crazy curse for someone of his talent. Anyways, couldn't be happier that Lamar will ultimately stay with the Lakers for at least this season. All you doubters will be proven wrong by Lamar's great upcoming season. Just like all you people that wanted to trade Bynum for Kidd or JO. You are crazies just like Ron Artest haha jk.

Lamar = Laker for Life

GO LAKERS

"San Antonio won three of their titles by basically standing pat making a few minor tweaks"

Exactly my point. Minor tweaks is all we need. I'm not suggesting a big trade, but we have weaknesses that Boston exposed. I would feel better if we addressed them. I'm going to tread lightly here, because I do think Mitch redeemed himself by the moves he did not make, then the Gasol deal. We are oh so close, and a minor tweak might make all the difference in the world.

Posted by: Lincoln Laker | July 29, 2008 at 10:01 PM

Yes, BUT, we didn't win a title. The last team to win a title after losing in a Finals the previous year was a long time ago, the 1985 Lakers.

Usually the idea is "if ain't broke, don't fix it." In our case, it's broken by definition since we lost.

"Kwame... my Precious... give us the ball, Precious. Give us the ball..."

~ Mike T., January 27th, days before the Gasol trade.

I'm really bummed about this trade.

Artest would have been so great for us.

The only way we could redeem ourselves for missing this opportunity is if we get Battier, Josh Smith, or Gerald Wallace. Battier is the right price, the others have sick upside and are worth building around.

And enough of the "Pau is soft" chant. Yeah, he's not a 7', 290 center. The stats that matter with Gasol are of a different ilk:

18.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 3.1 apg

Man, I'd love to have Kwame back. He was so... so... unpredictable. It really made the game fun to watch.

Mike T., that's sarcasm above. Just in case you had any doubts.

Point the boat homeward
The last sunlight finds the west
With dreams, fruition.

Go Lake Show!

humanomaly,

Actually, just watched a DVD movie called Doomsday (Good action flick. Great female lead), where the heroine fights off zombies and road warriors ala Mad Max in Glasgow, Scotland driving one of the most beautiful cars I have ever seen – a Bentley Continental GT Speed – the most powerful production Bentley ever produced, boasting a 600hp twin-turbo W12 engine, a 0-60mph time of 4.3 seconds, a top speed of 202mph, and all the comforts, refinements, and class that you expect from a Bentley.

http://www.uncrate.com/men/cars/sports-cars/bentley-continental-gt-speed/

Now that would get me out of my Beemer but I would have to sell my house. LOL. You’d have to be an NBA player to afford one of these. Costs $200K. Nothing for even an NBA bum like Kwame.

Tom

"From Steve Kerr over in Phoenix:

"I think it's a big deal to have Shaq for the whole year next season. We'll be able to establish our defense and what we're trying to accomplish in October rather than trying to do it on the fly in February. Hopefully with a full year under his belt Shaq can really make the adjustment. I thought he played well for us last year; unfortunately our season ended a little earlier than we had hoped, but we'll be better this year because of that experience and the fact that he'll have a training camp with us.""

YES, indeed my laker friends, KERR is remaking the SUNS as we type. His creation will horrify the western conference. Harnessing SHACK into a cave troll that bludgeons all who transgress the painted land.

BAH! Why does the West just keep getting stronger? I guess we don't really have to worry about the Suns too much this year though. Go Lakers!

"I'll wager they'll sign a backup center"

Hmmm - you would think with the defensive philosophy of the Rockets, and their lack of size, that Kwame Brown would have been a natural signing for them. And yet they apparently made no attempt to do so. I wonder why?

Thank you. No more Lamar for Artest gibberish. I think the deal definitely makes Houston a much better team, but not an elite team. Don't forget that Houston has Mcgrady, who has never gotten out of the 1st round. Thats a pretty crazy curse for someone of his talent. Anyways, couldn't be happier that Lamar will ultimately stay with the Lakers for at least this season. All you doubters will be proven wrong by Lamar's great upcoming season. Just like all you people that wanted to trade Bynum for Kidd or JO. You are crazies just like Ron Artest haha jk.

Lamar = Laker for Life

GO LAKERS

Posted by: mrbarneydangles | July 29, 2008 at 11:32 PM

When Odom continues to be inconsistent and vaporize his brain before 1/5 games and is traded, I'll be there to have you eat crow too.

And for the record, I never predicted we'd get Artest, but I was obviously pretty up on getting him.

That's what I predict will happen. As a Laker fan, that's not what I want to happen. But human nature is fairly consistent. Odom has shown himself to be someone that isn't going to be worth keeping around.

I don't think I'll ever understand the blind devotion to a super talented, incredibly built player that is such an incredible underachiever and represents the worst of laziness and lifestyle-pursuers that is far too much of the NBA.

There are still some viable players to trade out there so I wouldn't get too excited just yet. Your prediction that he plays for us may yet be proven wrong.

On a less disagreeable note and since you brought it up, what are your predictions for Odom this coming season?

What position will be play (minutes per game)?
What will be his pts/rbds/asts/blks/tos?
How will his focus be?
How effective will be on defense? Who will he seriously disrupt?

And of these predictions I request, what are your hopes versus your realistic expectations?

I'm not asking so I can disagree with them. I'm genuinely interested in your perspective because it's obviously very different from my own.

Oh yeah, and Luol Deng is almost certainly resigning soon with the Bulls. I don't know his game that well, but I do know he had a pretty mediocre last season. It's probably a bigger lost opportunity than it appears to me in my ignorance.

can someone please send me a youtube link of joey dorsey's calves? i'm sensing a new love affair here....

ya know ... I find it interesting that there's so much
love and desire for a player who's never sniffed
an all-star game.

This year is Lamar's big year. Last year of his contract.
Coming off a whipping in Boston. Publicly labeled soft.

So y'all didn't want to upgrade the SF position with
a better defensive player and you want to hold on to
a backup PF/ too gangly & slow SF.

Ok. I'm ready to be proved wrong. If Lamar is an all-star
at SF I'll recant.

I hope Ariza is working out like a fiend!

Big Trade in Houston

This must be what they were talking about Friday when they were warning of a huge trade at the Rockets Ticket Office.

What a steal.

Houston was already one of the top defensive teams in the NBA.

Yes Houston might be the biggest threat to the Lakers next year now, them and New Orleans I would guess.

John

I think It’s just unfortunate that the sour ending to the Boston series causes fans clamor for changes to the Lakers roster and feel we’ve missed out on something here, before they’re really sure changes are necessary to begin with.

Again, this team hasn’t been fully tested yet with all its players in place. And the poor showing against Boston is only of limited value to determine if any major personnel changes are necessary considering our starting center Bynum was u/a, Ariza returned late and rusty, and well as Mihm after a 1 1/2 year absence due to injury.

I mean, I’m not saying a player like Artest could not have helped, had he kept his head on straight (a big “IF” to many B-ball analysts). But it would have been a risky move by the FO nevertheless, since it would have been an attempt to repair something which may not exist to begin with.

So yes, if its broke then try and fix it. But you’ve got to make sure it’s truly broken first by allowing these guys a fair chance to play together awhile first.

"The Rockets, meanwhile, are assembling one of the league's deepest teams by adding Artest and recent free-agent signee Brent Barry to the McGrady-Yao-Shane Battier-Luis Scola core. The Rockets finished 55-27 in Adelman's first season but lost Yao to a season-ending foot injury in March and, despite a historic 22-game winning streak, failed again to get out of the first round of the playoffs, something neither McGrady nor Yao has managed in their pro careers."

This Rockets' team is really good.

Yao
McGrady
Artest
Battier
Scola
Barry

I had forgotten about the Barry signing. With a team like this could it be possible that Steve Francis might actually want to play basketball the right way?

This could be interesting. This kind of resemble the old Adelman Kings teams back in the early 2000s. The Kings were stacked with talent and it seems Adelman is building something like that, again.

mike t.

Getting Artest is big for Houston, and things just got tougher in the West, but Laker fans lets take a different perspective on this. We are getting back Bynum who is a big! It's like he is a new player coming in a trade because he never played a minute with Gasol and didn't have any impact in our playoff run last season. So basically Houston added Artest, NO added Posey, and the Lakers added Bynum. Think about that! If you put it into those terms it looks like we had a pretty good off-season. Remember we are the defending WC champs not Houston or NO. We made the finals last year without Bynum, so adding him is like adding a new player to your roster. Any GM would take a big over a wing player any day and both Posey and Artest are wing players. I admit I think the Lakers are still a little weak at 3 and I would love to dump Walton and Vlad but with their contracts I don't think there are any takers for those two right now. Something big could be in the works, but seeing the history of how Mitch operates I would say no. He is not a gambler and plays more on the side of caution waiting for players to develop and for the right players to come along at the right price. Odom for Thomas and Artest was too much anyways especially with us being above the luxury tax.

ron ron is gone gone.

i would have traded lamar for artest. however, the salary difference and taking on inflated contracts of thomas or abdur-rahim made it very difficult to get a deal done. not to mention the queens weren't trying to do us any favors.

getting something for lamar would have been ideal. because i highly doubt the lakers will extend his current $14 million dollar deal come next summer.

so, lamar will most likely end up walking next summer for nothing.

i would like to see the lakers do more but i am highly aware of the fact that they are already spending a boatload of money on our current roster.

not to mention, if bynum comes back healthy and playing well - the lakers will have to ante up to keep him in the purple and gold.

radmanovic and walton contracts have really weighed us down this summer.

i believe we need a true reserve power forward, a banger...mihm is the only signed reserve big we have right now - AND THAT AIN'T SAYING MUCH!

THERE IS WAY TOO MUCH MONEY INVESTED AT THE SMALL FORWARD POSITION...ARIZA, LUKE, VLAD AND NOW LAMAR...THAT'S NEARLY 28 MILLION...

The Lakers are in for a up hill battle, this team has no room for injurys nor three game losing streaks if the Lakers start out the gate slow their season could be over before Christmas.
Everyone has upgraded interms of personal and improved athletism, we on the other have remained silent and our frontline depth consist of Mihm, Walton, and no solid banger to keep the paint honest!
PJ 's defensive philosphy has put our team in a very vunerable position and Mitch has added to our decline by keeping Luke Walton! I am not prejudice! Luke just doesn't get it done on a consistant basis for me. He is slow and injury prone, lacks the athletism to keep up with todays nba players, don't mention his IQ a parrot has more!

Will this be a season to remember? or to forget?

>>>Finals MVP Paul Pierce, who recently spent three days at a ball camp in Madrid, is making, ahem, news about what he said to a Spanish reporter. The money translation, via RedsArmy: "Q: Is Kobe really the best player in the world? Pierce: I don't think Kobe is the best player. I'm the best player. There's a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don't cross that line but I have a lot of confidence in myself." Surprisingly, Spurs fans seem more upset by this than actual Lakers fans.<<<

Oh I hope that pisses off Garnet and Allen. The dude was the equivalent of Vince Carter before they got there. Oh and Paul, before you get too ahead of yourself, I can score on Radmonovich.

lakers85,

Amen! Couldn't have said it any better myself.

-bozz-

Mitch forgot that that the arms race was still going...

Pee away our power forward and then let Houston acquire the ONE guy we wanted for... for...

for who again?

I still can't get over this article. I know it's been posted but, it's nice to hear some of the San Antonio Fans give props to Kobe underneath that link.

http://tinyurl.com/6go4kk

Tractor Taylor trying out for the Lakers?
http://tinyurl.com/5d8v7q

On a less disagreeable note and since you brought it up, what are your predictions for Odom this coming season?

What position will be play (minutes per game)?
What will be his pts/rbds/asts/blks/tos?
How will his focus be?
How effective will be on defense? Who will he seriously disrupt?

And of these predictions I request, what are your hopes versus your realistic expectations?

I'm not asking so I can disagree with them. I'm genuinely interested in your perspective because it's obviously very different from my own.

Oh yeah, and Luol Deng is almost certainly resigning soon with the Bulls. I don't know his game that well, but I do know he had a pretty mediocre last season. It's probably a bigger lost opportunity than it appears to me in my ignorance.

Posted by: Benjamin | July 30, 2008 at 02:59 AM

--------------------------------------------------------

Whats up Benjamin?

Yea, I see where you and everyone come from with Lamar's inconsistency. I would hope you would agree that Lamar played excellent during the second half of the season. It is unfair to say that Lamar chocked in the Finals as well. Kobe sure didn't show up for 48 mins during the six games, and Sasha, well he only had one good game (I believe). Yea, Lamar struggled some (so did everyone else), but he did show up for a few games and played well.

As for my predictions..

1. What position will he play (minutes): I believe he will play mostly the 3 but also some 4 when Gasol is out. Odom will and should start next year, he will start at the 3. Last year, Odom would always start the 2nd quarter with the second unit, this is when he will slide over and play the 4. So, mostly 3 but some 4 with the second unit. As far as minutes, it will vary. He will ultimately end up being the 4th option on this team (assuming Bynum can play the same offense he was playing pre injury) so his minutes will definitely be lower then they were last year. Especially if one of the bench players is having a good game, I see them eating up some of Odom's minutes (although Phil could again possibly take Gasol out and slide Odom to the 4). This is where Lamar becomes to valuable. I know there are many players that can play the 3 and the 4 but I like Odom at both. I think he's in a gym somewhere right now working on his midrange jumper. He can hit the outside shot but its inconsistent at the moment, this will change next year.

2. Stats: I believe Odom will average something like 11/12/7/2/3, these are my hopes as well as my expectations. With the starting lineup, Lamar won't be depended on to score, which is fine by him. He will still get his but I don't expect too many monster games. A couple dunks, a couple Js, and a few free throws, nothing miraculous but enough to help the Lakers win. Lamar's biggest strength is his rebounding. With Bynum in the lineup he will mostly be snagging the boards but whenever Drew is out its Lamar Odom's deal. We just can't expect Pau to be a monster on the boards where as when you watch Lamar on the boards you can see some pride and the fight he puts up for every rebound. I remember Lamar having a couple of 20 rebound games next year, I expect more of those next year. As for assists, I see and hope Lamar will lead all 3/4's in assists. Ofcourse, Lamar is lucky to have Kobe/Bynum/Gasol to pass to. Makes it pretty easy on Lamar, who definitely has the ability and skill to find the open man. My favorite plays of last year where the ones where Kobe would pass to Lamar who would very quickly find Pau for the jam, assist Lamar. As for blocks, with the twin towers it should be pretty easy for Lamar to come over on help side and pick up a couple of blocks per game. This could be lower or higher though, haven't put all too much thought in to it. And for TO's, Lamar will still kinda suck in this category and average around 3 TO's a game. As a 3/4 he is asked to do a lot of ball handling and so forth, while he is a skilled ball handler and passer, he isn't the best by any means. The turnovers will just happen and I will be fine with it as long as he isn't walking in bounds without passing the ball in first (I'm sure you know the play I'm referring too). So my expectations and hopes are by no means outrageous with his strengths being rebounds and assists.

3. His focus: I think his focus will be perfectly fine. Will he have some really bad games? Ofcourse, thats part of the game (unless you're Kobe). I expect his focus to be solid all year long though. This is mostly just a guess though, theres no real stat that measures focus (maybe turnovers). He was extremely focused during the second half of last year and I see that carrying over into this year.

4.Defense (disruption): I think Lamar will have an extremely solid defensive season. He is and will be quick enough to stay with the 3's in this league and like always, his length will be bothersome. Again though, Lamar is lucky because of our monstrous front court. Lamar will be able to funnel his man right into Bynum/Gasol, not pretty for the guy driving to the basket. Like always, Lamar will clamp down on the likes of a Dirk and so on. I can't think off the top of my head other stars that he matches up well against but I know he's more than capable of doing it. Lets just put it this way, I don't see this blog complaining about Odom's defense anytime soon.

I think the key with Lamar is the fact that he is such a gifted player and he is extremely low maintenance. He just suffers from the same problem Luke does, they get paid too much. Lamar isn't and never will be a solid second option a la Scottie Pippen, but he will be one hell of a role player and help the Lakers do all the small things while coming up with a monster game here and there and being consistently well at rebounds and assists. I look for Lamar to again fall short of an All Star game but ultimately winning over all of his doubters and getting another deal with the Lakers next offseason. Thats my biggest hope.

Lamar = Laker for Life

GO LAKERS

gokobego,

Paul Pierce is a tool.

I'll never forget watching Pierce be carried off the court his crying face buried in Brian Scalabrine's chest.

What a little female dog.

GO LAKERS!

haha Pierce calls out Kobeef for what he is, a Faker.

haha

Also, Ron Artest gave you Lakernation the big "up yours".

Can someone in Lakernation of whinners please tell me why nobody but Laker fan like Kobe and why no NBA free agent of any sort of good standing want to play in LA with Kobe "I can get off at anytime" Bryant?

The only decent player to join the Laker is Pau and he was traded.

Pathetic.

Still laughing at you foos.

Yo Hmrhed, who won the Finals MVP?

hahhahahahh

Not your beloved Kobeef Bryant.

Geez, I'm gone for a few weeks and teh cockroaches come crawling out.

I'll stay for a while and keep you Whinner and Fakers honest.

"Starve the troll" Jon

"Top of the World" KG

"I can get off at anytime" Kobe

Oh, there is no "I" in "team", but in Kobe's case, there is "me"

hahahhaahhahaahahahhaahah

Faith,

Bio-Chronologically speaking, Artest is strongly effected by his social environment. A small city like Sacramento is best for him psyhcologically speaking. Houston is a big city with distractions and issues. He'll soak up the worst elements of Houston and it will come out in the form of dysfunction.

GO LAKERS!

Here's my playoff teams for next year in the West, in order of seeding:

1. Hornets
2. Lakers
3. Rockets
4. Jazz
5. Spurs
6. Blazers
7. Mavs
8. Suns

I still think the Warriors will push on the suns for that last spot, as well as the Clips if they remain healthy.

Paul's "I'm the best player" self proclamation remind you of someone? Someone that said "he is a classy guy." Get the irony?

MDE

Commentary

Just curious.....I asked last night what is the meaning of those "Bookmark it, digg, submit" notations at the bottom of the head thread. I don't know if this happens to your system but in my case and it happened yesterday that whenever I click Lakers Blog site there is a pause of about 20 seconds, it freezes the cursor!!!......is this the commercialization that LakerTom was referring at, in his yesterday's post? I think it happens only with Lakers Blog because it doesn't happen w/ other sites. Are we being duped by Marketing IT's to create more awareness to read their Ads? First, it was the color background of black fonts and gray background, despite several plea of using the Laker colors however it will be in conflict with in highlighting their colored Ads; Secondly, the automatic audio that reverberates as you read the blog; Thirdly now it is controlling our senses to focus more on what are being advertised. There is no end-satisfation to this day and age of marketers, telemarketers, cacophony taped phone calls - they want immediate results at the click of technology by playing mind games. If this is the new blog order, I don't think it will work. If the blog wants to sell something an idea or an advertising concept, then do it the traditional way....just be patient and be ethical in developing relationship with target markets.

Wait....WHAT!?!

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/
article?AID=/20080730/
SPORTS0102/807300362/1127

I'd rather them just sign and bring back Mbenga than that guy

this is a good trade for both teams. Sacto really liked Donte Greene before the draft and they now have another draft pick to play with or trade. Artest is in a contract year so he will be on his best behavior - for this season, after that he will destroy them from the inside out if he gets a new contract.

Sacto is going young. I appreciate this, let the young guys play and see who develops. Look at Kevin Martin. Maybe this Donte Greene has something too.

Houston is going to be very tough but what do you always say about Houston? If they can stay healthy... and now you can add if they stay mentally healthy as well... Adelman is a good coach though...

Ya don't know till they jump it up but Houston looks more than formidable. With 2 Kobe inhibitors, they'll join Portland as being a team we'll have trouble with all year.

LO was too much for Ron but RA was just what the Doctor should have ordered. The Lakers like Luke and Vlad, why don't other teams?

Anyone see the article at hoopsworld about the Lakers wanting to bring in Robert "Tractor" Traylor for a workout? I guess the Lakers are looking for any big body that will play for the league minimum? Not good.

In today's news, ESPN reports that Lakers were hurt by the signing of Ron-Ron, the monster with the Rockets. There is a new Gorilla applying to be a Laker, his name is Robert Traylor who is serving in halfway house b/c of tax dodging and a close relationship with his drug dealer cousin.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/SPORTS0102/807300362/1127

This could be another white elephant sitting on the bench. I would rather go with DJ MBenga. DJ is taller, better shooter, lighter, familiar with Laker's triangle and has a purpose driven life. With Traylor, he is a convicted felon. LAKERS WANT A FELON, I hope Mitch is not losing his senses in mixing him with celebrities on the front row seats at Staples

There's something about Celtic green that makes their players into totally wankers. I love that Paul Pierce, who couldn't hit 25 wins without Garnett & Allen, is suddenly the self-proclaimed Best Player In The World. One lights out series and he's now the top of the heap - love it. I'm sure the Mike T can tell everyone here was comes after pride - looking forward to that next year.

I like Artest as a player, but honestly, we don't need the Ron-Bill-Ron freakshow in LA, and I'm still not sure he would have been a vast improvement over Lamar at the 3 to warrant the other things we would have been forced to relinquish to the Cowbells. I hate what happened in Game 6 as much as the next guy, but I really think people need to get a grip. The Lakers made it to the Finals without a power Center and several other injured players - imagine what we can do next year if they're healthy. All this talk about the importance of a big powerful player in the middle, and I can't help but mention that Kendrick Perkins wasn't exactly the second coming of Bill Russell. The team made some fundamental errors, but other than Game 6, they had a good chance until late in the 4th quarter of every loss. So, why trade in a Ferrari that only needed a tune up over the summer for a Corvette that the owner swears runs really great! I think the front office is doing a great job of staying pat this time; this isn't a team that needed a lot of tinkering. If we can find a nice defensive-minded backup at the 4, great, but that's about it.

Oh, just a plug - I'm going to be on the Mark & Brian show tomorrow morning at 8:30AM on 95.5 KLOS. I'm playing in their trivia contest Tournament of Champions - I'll try to make my fellow bloggers proud. Listen in if you get a chance to hear for yourself how full of meaningless trivia I really am.

REPOST...

LTLF: nice points about a Battier/LO trade. It definitely got me thinking. But LO's versatility is way more beneficial to the Lakers than to the Rockets.

Adelman is a positional player coach and there's not much fluidity to his offense. I always felt the Kings were a bit chaotic when he coached them. Although, I think he has learned from his ways.

The bigger question of the Rockets is does this trade get T-Mac and Yao out of the first round.....finally???

If their guys can stay relatively injury-free - their nucleus can compete against any team in the NBA. But that's a huge "IF" for the Rockets as T-Mac and Yao are brittle. And the rest of the team now is pretty old.

I would have to guess their fans are saying look what they did without Yao and now they have both Yao and Artest. That's a good team. I don't think they beat New Orleans or the Lakers though to come out of the West. I still think it will be the Lakers this year with a close series from NOH.

As for Lakers - nothing doing. We still have what we are going to have heading into camp. The Lakers are holding pat, Dr. Buss is off to Europe for rest of Summer and Mitch will be watching the Olympics because 3 of his "assets" (20%) are on national teams. Two of which take up a significant amount of the payroll and luxury tax.

We will have Lamar until the Feb. trade deadline barring calamity. Get used to the team folks - it will be a shorter rotation and a lot more minutes to our key guys. I see only MVP and Fish getting less minutes during regular season. LO, Pau and AB will be taking the brunt of the time on court.

GO LAKERS!

yeah, like I've been saying... hmmmm... a 31 year old dude living in a federal halfway house or Mbenga... uh, I'll take the dude living in the federal halfway house!

Ahahahahaaa!

How could it be any more clear after THAT? Mbenga could work with Kareem from 2:00 AM to 11:00 PM EVERY DAY and he wouldn't get any better than what we saw last season. What do you see in this guy? He can't box out, he barely functions on offense, God knows what he does on defense, he doesn't know how to set picks... I mean... you might as well pick up some big dude off a Junior College team and develop him than waste any more resources on Mbenga...

Hey, how many minutes did Mbenga play against Boston? Exactly...

Why is everyone so worried about this last player? Is there any chance that this player will get many minutes? Let's be honest. Whoever it is won't be playing more than a couple of minutes per game on average. That will put the big man total to 5 once he signs up, and at that point the minutes are slim. So what if it's Traylor, or anyone else.

Stop freaking out about every little thing!

Oh my god... Mark & Brian are still around? KLOS is still around for that matter?

I'm feeling... feeling...

Red skies at night, red skies at night
Wo oh, wo oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Red skies at night, red skies at night
Wo oh, wo oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
Should have taken warning
It's just, people mourning, running, hiding, lost
You can't find, find a place to go
So it's red skies at night, red skies at night
Wo oh, wo oh oh oh oh

While I like Lamar, if he doesn't hit the 18 footer consistently, we're going to have to trade him and his expiring contract for someone who can.

I would say Lamar is now a true PF, more than a SF. He's even bulked up a little bit. So while it'll be fun to watch this experiment. Ultimately, my basketball senses tell me it's going to be exposed, leaving Kobe and Fisher out there as the only shooters we have to offer in our starting lineup.

Lamar at the SF is going to be open all day. Will he make the shots?

Tully:

Was that you on the Mark and Brian show last week?

Toad,

Yeah, I played on Monday...I beat my opponent Lisa 5-1. Tomorrow's opponent wasn't one of the best, but at this point, it all comes down to the questions. If I know them, I'll roll, but it's so random now that anything could come up and snake bite me. I've got to win 3 more matches to win a cruise to Mexico. I need the vacation, trust me. Luckily, I'm great at one thing, and that's trivia based game shows. It's a limited skill set, but it pays off every now and then.

Wankerr?

Pierce, Allen and KG can be "wankers" cuz those foos actually acomplished something.

Kobeef is a wanker and the dude has don't Jack without riding Shack's jock.

What's up with that?

Tell your boy to put up or shut the **** up.

What about the so-called "machine"? Machine my butt. Dude looks like a girl and doesn't even play real defense. Only flops.

ahahaahhh

The only big man worth considering at a cheap price is Juwon Howard. He plays good defense, can knock down a 15-footer, can play the 1 or the 2 and give the Lakers a solid 10-12 minutes a night.

SportsNation poll right now on best Big 3 in the west. They forget: the lakers have a big 4.

No big deal.

Artest is available next year as a free agent and can be an addition without parting anything but money.

Rotate Kobe to small forward periodically until then with Sasha at guard and we have all the shooting and length we need. Getting the team to play defense will be the key to the championship next year. Bring back Fox as assistant coach.

Let’s go C’s wrote:

“haha Pierce calls out Kobeef for what he is, a Faker.”

And since Kobe and Paul Pierce are good friends, I’ll wager Pierce will eventually retract his immodest comment. Or claim he was misquoted or some other if the bad PR continues to build.

Also, for someone who stands as an NBA professional, yet throws up gang signs for the Bloods street gang during a national telecast is in no position to criticize anyone.

LgC:

“haha

Also, Ron Artest gave you Lakernation the big "up yours".”

Ron Artest had nothing to do with it. The Kings’ FO made the deal with Houston’s management is all. And we now know despite all the rumors, the Lakers never actually made an offer for him. It was all hype from the Sacramento press.

See here: http://insidesocal.com/lakers/

LgC:

“Can someone in Lakernation of whinners please tell me why nobody but Laker fan like Kobe and why no NBA free agent of any sort of good standing want to play in LA with Kobe "I can get off at anytime" Bryant?”

Whatever the criticism of Kobe by anyone. I’ve never heard one player or any of the agents who represent them, speak adversely or not desire to have their clients play for such a historically great organization as the Lakers. Kobe era or otherwise, the franchise which practically defines the NBA.

LgC:

“The only decent player to join the Laker is Pau and he was traded.”

As with just about all other teams, since the Lakers are well over the salary cap. The only way for a truly “decent” or substantial player of high salery to join any capped out team is via a trade. Including the Celtics.

LgC:

“Pathetic.”

Your post is, I agree.

LgC:

“Still laughing at you foos”

I assume you meant “fools,” But as the late Chick Hearns use to say many times Let’s go C’s, when a player made a bonehead play or commit some other stupid action....

“It only hurts when you laugh.”

Jon K,

If that's the case with Houston I'm hesitant to wonder what would have happened had he landed here. Artest and LA? I think a recording company would have been the least of our worries.

I still think the Lakers match up favorably against the Houston Rockets.

Fisher - Alston
Bryant - McGrady
Odom - Battier
Gasol - Artest
Bynum - Ming

John Hollinger said that the Rockets plan on using Artest at the 4 position. What makes this lineup funny in my opinion is that Odom and Gasol will essentially be the X-Factors. I don't see how you can put Battier on Gasol so i'm assuming Battier plays Bryant while McGrady tries to guard Odom. Odom has a huge height advantage, and "SHOULD" be able to post McGrady up. Gasol also has a HUGE height advantage, and again SHOULD be able to dominate whoever the Rockets put on him.

Tully,

Yeah, Pierce, once a dou***, always a dou***. He got his 15 minutes, he better enjoy them, because he'll never sniff that trophy again. Punk.

I'm really curious about your trivia skills. Some have called be the Trivia King of the Upper Central Midwest States (not), so I also consider myself somewhat of a trivia buff, especially pop culture. I'd love to challenge you sometime if there was a format in which we could do it in. Best of luck tomorrow though, I'll be pulling for ya.

-bozz-

LovetheLakeShow,

you wrote: I think It’s just unfortunate that the sour ending to the Boston series causes fans clamor for changes to the Lakers roster and feel we’ve missed out on something here, before they’re really sure changes are necessary to begin with.

I think you're referring to me. Yes, I *do* think we missed
out on something. Just as two years ago, we had Smush
Parker and I thought and still do think that J-Kidd is a
better pg.

*I* can't recall Lamar playing SF. Maybe he's good at it. *I* don't think he'll be exceptional at it because I think he's
too slow for the position and too inconisstent. I disagree
with LO's statement that defense is all about attitude. He
hasn't demonstrated it for his entire career. That is not to
say that he doesn't play defense. It's just not something
that he focuses on.

I would be happy to have LO and Artest on the team. I
think LO would make a great PF coming off the bench.
Think about it this way. Kobe is a fantastic player.
Would you support him playing center?

I like seeing the Western Conference as a female, complicated, difficult, full of lead changes yet exciting and able to keep me drooling.

Does that mean the East should be a male?

Why is everyone so worried about this last player? Is there any chance that this player will get many minutes? Let's be honest. Whoever it is won't be playing more than a couple of minutes per game on average. That will put the big man total to 5 once he signs up, and at that point the minutes are slim. So what if it's Traylor, or anyone else.

Stop freaking out about every little thing!

Posted by: "Pig" Miller | July 30, 2008 at 10:02 AM

Bigs have a strong propensity to get injured. So yes, this player does matter. Given our PF situation, I'd say we're looking at the 9th-12th player here. One injury and that guy gets 20 minutes a game.

People are freaking out, but we're not talking about a player that will definitely never play.

And it feels kind of lame to get going after a player whose parole officer will not even let him come to workout for us.

I miss Turiaf.

Laker Tombastic,

My attempts to respond to the itemized hysteria you offered up as a post (yesterday) were not pushed through, which is disappointing. I even suggested that you move your comments to a more appropriate board, and I would join you there.

Suffice to say, nothing new was offered-up in your narrative. I've been hearing variations of the same dribble in the national media, by "educators" and in public theatre at least 40 years or more. Come on. You can do better.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, I couldn't be more pleased with how the Ron chapter has worked out. He showed our young guys what defense and toughness is all about.

Because of the trade ("Bill to Houston, We have a problem") the Kings have two first round picks this year, and will have two first round picks next year. Add them to the other four most recent 1st rounders; Hawes, Douby, Garcia and Martin and I like the way things are shaping up. Bobby Jackson, in limited minutes, will be worth his weight in cowbells. Plus we get some cash.

I'm extremely relieved that Petrie stayed with the youth movement and didn't try to snag a veteran "star". We will begin to make some noise this season, and legitimately be in the hunt the following.

Go Sacramento Kings of Basketball!

Sonnybelfast

To everyone agreeing with "standing pat",

The problem with "standing pat" is that we lost with
what we had. You stand pat when you have a winning
hand. We lost & badly in terms of spirit. The Utah Jazz
stood pat and never one a thing. The Pistons have
*mostly* stood pat and they haven't one a championship
in how long?

All of our hopes our riding on Bynum. What if Bynum isn't
as good as we hope? If Bynum is = to Pau & Pau is = to
Lamar & Lamar is = to Vlad we loose again.

We have to upgrade so that we're a better team because
other teams are trying to get better not stand pat.

Pig Miller,

it is not freakin' out on the last player, in fact he is not the last because there are only 11 players signed w/ the Lakers at this time. It is value analysis in using the roster space. Yes, both of them whether Mbenga or Tractor gets a million but we could develop our youth, our decent youth who finished College like Lorenzo Mata-Real or Nik Caner-Medley than going with a convicted Heavyweight Felon. The action one could affect the other four b/c he is another Shaq-like figure who slows down the game, gets 50% free throw and averages 3 ppg. It is a waste of roster space, waste of money and very unlakerlike in choosing a player that will wear purple and gold.

Why don't they wait for the Olympics, there will be a lot of players there that can be tapped? No Posey, No Artest, No Okafor....at least they should use their common sense!

Tully:

I'll be listening tomorrow..........best of luck!

Love the lake show,

You are trying to make rational arguments with Lets go C's. That's your problem. It won't ever happen. My money is on him/her being KL from last summer. Purely a troll trying to knock Kobe/Lakers down. Logic is irrelevant to this kind of clown. Same rhetoric=same clown. Just a new name is all.

My advice: save your breath, talking to this guy can a drive a sane person mad.

From the diary of Tully Moxness, semi-frequent LakersBlog poster:

I suppose the remarks of the troll stung in the first couple of weeks after the finals loss, but the pain of that loss has slowly dissipated. I'm optimistic about next year, but for some reason, the troll is still around, like the last lingering vestiges of a psoriasis flare-up. I wonder what his life is like, why he's reduced to frequent inane 'Kobe sucks' comments on a Lakers blog. Is it so devoid of joy and happiness that his one remaining bright spot is needling Lakers fans? I feel sorry for him, and I hope my fellow bloggers ignore him; I've heard that if you fail to feed a troll, it will surely die, and the best method of starvation is complete ignorance. It'll be a mercy killing but a necessary one, regardless.

Hobbit: taking total opposite side from you.

We got to game six without full health of Ariza and big body bynum. We aren't standing pat, we are going to come back to camp in full strength. You can't argue the Lakers were at full roster strength.

Pistons were LAZY. They thought they could breeze thru and play in the playoffs. They didn't count on the championship attitude of the celtics.

Finally - we don't need to upgrade right now. we can hold tight until trade deadline or do something up to then. Trade scenarios change mightily when teams are losing and there is nobody left that is really worth pursuing.

Why should the Lakers be forced into action with the current pool?

GO LAKERS

Tractor Trailor doesn't interest me. In trouble with the law over tax issues is a bit wimpy and too soft for me.

Now if you find someone, on probation, just released from Pelican, has a little NFL or NBA experience, now were talking.

About Ron? He was way too soft. One foot in the state mental hospital doesn't qualify as tough.

MBenga will work in a pinch. He plays hard, tries hard, and kicks hard. We just need him to come in and knock a few people around. He blocks the ball pretty decently, and on occasion misses and bruises the other guys arms, neck, and nose. Can't fine him for trying right?

Totally agree, Sac did this trade just to spite the Lakers. They could have gotten so much more from other teams and it seems they didn't even try? And a battier artest double team on kobe, ... well i don't even want to think about that. Yao can minimize bynum, but they still gotta deal with gasol. Odom is just going to have to step up that game, since he's taller than his opponent.

The west is crazy, i luv it, i never seen nothin like this. And the shift towards teams focussing on defense, omg. Look at detroit adding kwame, posey, j-oneal, and now artest. The lakers addition on defense is clearly bynum, and I hope that PJ makes that the cornerstone of focus for this years Laker group. Defense!

Think about the teams post Jordan that win the championship: Boston, Spurs, Detroit, Lakers with Shaq. All these teams played D. The Lakers last year DID NOT. I don't care what anybody says. Name one shut down defender on the Lakers last year. You might say Kobe, well who else if I give you that one. Nobody. Nobody. Houston has 2 maybe three if you count Yao. We gotta focus on D, that phoenix dallas scoring style is EXPOSED. It doesn't win championships. Kobe scoring 80 doesnt win championships. If we are to win in it all- all I want to hear outta Laker personnel's mouth is focus on defense.

I can't wait to see the new prerankings too. So now who's favored in the west and the east. Boston- sure. Lakers, Houston? The funny think is both these teams have that big IF regarding their health. Houston is sooo deep now that's its not even funny. Lakers too, but really it all depends on Bynum, Yao, and Mcgrady's health.

My final thought is this. Can the guy who is making the schedule go back and adjust the 08-09 schedule, now that artest on the rockets. Kobe vs. Artest for Christmas. Bynum and Yao for Thanksgiving. And the playoffs! What if the Western Finals was Rockets Lakers? I'm sure down the stretch, towards end of season, it might be a close race like last year between these teams. What a year next year, Stern is probably buying 5 new houses as we speak. Go Lakers!

Hobbitmage;

I wrote earlier:

“you wrote: I think It’s just unfortunate that the sour ending to the Boston series causes fans to clamor for changes to the Lakers roster and feel we’ve missed out on something here, before they’re really sure changes are necessary to begin with.”

You replied:

“I think you're referring to me. …”

Ah, no hobbitmage. My reference was to fans in general on this blog clamoring for changes, when the current team hasn’t even been fully tested yet. I think it’s prudent to give all the guys a chance to play together awhile first to see if any improvements are really necessary, before considering making them.

You cont:

“ …Yes, I *do* think we missed
out on something. Just as two years ago, we had Smush
Parker and I thought and still do think that J-Kidd is a
better pg.”

First my statement of “missed something” was in reference to the perception by some here of allowing Artest and other FAs this off-season to get away.

And of course Kidd was superior to Smush, that’s an obvious no brainer. But refresh my memory here. Didn’t New Jersey ask for Andrew Bynum as part of the proposed exchange for Jason Kidd at the time? If they did, then I think in retrospect it should go without saying. The Lakers were good to have turned that offer down.

You cont:

“*I* can't recall Lamar playing SF. Maybe he's good at it. *I* don't think he'll be exceptional at it because I think he's
too slow for the position and too inconisstent. I disagree
with LO's statement that defense is all about attitude. He
hasn't demonstrated it for his entire career. That is not to
say that he doesn't play defense. It's just not something
that he focuses on.”

You may indeed be correct, but I would prefer to see the Lakers triple tower threat experiment actually fail first, before pronouncing it a failure prematurely. Also the Lakers could try other options should Odum not work out as a long SF.

For instance, and somewhat radical I admit, move Kobe to the 3 and try Odum as a point forward like Scottie Pippen played throughout most of his career. Or more conventionally, use Ariza at the 3 and bring Lamar off the bench to backup Gasol.

Whatever the case, we should be patient to see what we have first before seeking any major personnel changes.

You cont:

“I would be happy to have LO and Artest on the team. I
think LO would make a great PF coming off the bench.
Think about it this way. Kobe is a fantastic player.
Would you support him playing center?”

I would have been happy with both Lamar and Artest as well. But at the urging of his agent I suppose, he threw a wrench into that possibility by choosing not to opt out. So the Lakers could have a chance to acquire him with their MLE.

Now it’s pretty much all academic at this point. Though there is the future possibility he may not choose to sign with Houston next season (since one never knows with Ron Ron) and the Lakers manage to resign LO for a reasonable price. Then use their MLE to bring in Artest if he’s willing.

But that is all too far ahead to speculate about right now.

>>>Gasol also has a HUGE height advantage, and again
>>>SHOULD be able to dominate whoever the Rockets put
>>>on him.

Actually, don't underestimate Artest's ability to guard a
taller PF. He can do it.

I don't think Sacto made the trade to spite the Lakers. They weren't going to give Artest to the Lakers, that's for sure but you are forgetting how much Artest has reduced his trade value with his... what? unpredictability? There were only so many teams that were going to gamble on the guy so getting Donte Greene - a first round pick this year and another 1st round pick which will probably be packaged with another pick to move up in the next draft is not a bad return on a guy that was "only" taking up about $7m in cap space, allstar or not.

Good Morning All.....

Just letting everyone know last night Australia played the best defense i have seen this team play for a very long time to beat China 67-55...In the process doing a fantastic job on Yao Ming...
I know we wont beat team USA but it was a great place to start against a decent team...

Cheers

No spite here from the Kings but there is a pattern in the NBA were buddies and former colleagues help each other out. Minnesota could have received more from the Lakers or Phoenix last year for KG but no way in hell was Mchale trading KG to the hated Lakers so he took less to help his buddy Ainge. When the Lakers got Gasol for basically nothing GM Chris Wallace was at one time Jerry West's protege as was Mitch Kuptchak at one time. Now Artest to Houston where Rick Aldemann also has a relationship with the Maloofs having been a coach in sac-town. Maybe the NBA should look into this! naw J/K since we got Gasol but there is some truth to this buddy system in the league.

Sonnybelfast,

I agree. I think it's a good trade for the Kings. Get the lunatic out of Sacramento and start building your team around something which has promise, rather than misery.

GO LAKERS!

AK,

Actually, Houston has even worse smog than Los Angeles, if you can believe that.

GO LAKERS!

Getting Artest is big for Houston, and things just got tougher in the West, but Laker fans lets take a different perspective on this. We are getting back Bynum who is a big! It's like he is a new player coming in a trade because he never played a minute with Gasol and didn't have any impact in our playoff run last season. So basically Houston added Artest, NO added Posey, and the Lakers added Bynum. Think about that!

Posted by: lakers85 | July 30, 2008 at 07:31 AM

Actually, Houston also added Yao Ming since Yao wasn't around in last year's playoffs.
So they're going to have Yao at 5, Scola at 4, Artest at 3, McGrady at 2 and Alston at 1. And Battier coming in as sixth man.
Versus Bynum at 5, Gas