Chicken dinner or loo-hoo-zuh-her?

Team USA beat Australia 87-76!

A roster full of All-Stars couldn't score 120 against Australia?

Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Deron Williams, Dwayne Wade, Dwight Howard?

How about Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince, Carlos Boozer, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd and Chris Bosh.

You mean to tell me these guys couldn't score 120 points against Australia?

But the Lakers are different! The Lakers are better than team USA.

Kid: Daddy, if we had a roster full of All-Star do you think the Lakers can average 120 pts per contest?

Daddy: Boy...do I know you?

LOL!

mike t.

Why do you Fakers insist on focusing on offense? Defense wins champiosnhip. Defense takes hard work and team effort, non of which your precious Lakergirls exhibit.

Even your "stopper" gambles too much. Your other Euro-"stopper" flops like a little girl, then compalins after EVERY SINGLE CALL.

Your team is soft, Kobe included, which is the reason you all will not, under any circumstances, win the champioship next season.

ahahaahahahaahah

I'l still laughing and can't wait for ESPN's replay of Game 6. Game 6 is also known as The Rout.

ahahaahhahahaha! Foos!

AK,

Why do you think Ronnie did not want the Lakers to match?

Is it just me, or does it really seem that Green Bay Packers fans are going through the same emotional rollercoaster that Lakers fans went through last summer? This time, though, it looks like there will be a different outcome. Kobe stayed, but as each hour passes it looks like Favre is going, going, going, and soon to be gone. It's a very good day not to be a cheesehead.

Holy jeez Mike T let it go man.....it's ok...let it go...the big bad man said he knows he exaggerated and it was mistake on his part. It’s ok.

As far as standing pat, I like the idea. I’ve always been a believer in the “Don’t knock till you try it (with a few exceptions here and there of course)” philosophy
If things don’t work out or some moves need to be made because of injury or what have you later on in the season
the front office still has that option.

Laker Truth,

I'm guessing Turiaf didn't want them to match because he wanted more PT, which he'd get in Golden State. I don't think it was anything "against" the Lakers. Quite the opposite. I've talked with Ronny about being here and every impression I've ever gotten is that he loves the organization and city. But he's definitely set for a bigger role in Oakland and could maybe even start (since there have been rumors about moving Harrington). His future in L.A would always be a backup. Mitch Kupchak described Ronny as being very torn between liking the organization/teammates and what was best for his career development.

Look at it this way. Knowing the Lakers' cap/luxury tax situation, Ronny had to have known there was a very good chance the Lakers wouldn't have matched. In many ways, he was almost guaranteeing a defection by signing the sheet.

Mind you, I haven't actually talked to Ronny about it, so I don't know for a fact. But knowing him to the degree that I do and taking into account the situation, I'm pretty confident this is the case.

AK

Mike T. -

We get it. It was an overly zealous statement for LakerTom to predict the Lakers would score 120 points per game. He revised his prediction. Time to move on.

Out of curiosity, do you really "LOL" every time you post "LOL"? Because that's a lot of "L"ingOL and I'd probably have a headache after all that "L"ing. Just sayin.

I think Brett Farve is right when he said some time ago that the Packers didn't want him around for a couple of years now.

That was the feeling I got over the last couple of years. And when Farve said that earlier this summer or last month...I knew he was telling the truth.

The Packers are in the wrong on this one. They should just trade him because they truely don't want him.

mike t.

The loss of Ronnie concerns me. The lakers were supposed to get stronger over the break but we lost one of our most agressive big men.

The Infamous El Guapo,

What are you talking about? I didn't mention any names. I was just funnin' LOL!

mike t.

puddle,

LOL! On this one...yeah...I'm really LOL!

That was funny!

I also LOL when Jeff told me one day:

"Good day, sir! I SAID GOOD DAY!

LOL!

That was funny, too.

mike t.

Jon K - Vman,

Your welcome.

I don't remember Farve calling the team owner an "idiot".

I also think Farve is beloved while the Kobester is most hated outside of Bevery Hills 90210.

Not the same thing son.

Cheers mate.

ahahahaah

AK -

I agree with the post. I'd still feel a little more settled if the Lakers came into camp with one more big that could give them 10 strong minutes a night, but understand that not only are there basically no options out there, but for the ones that are, it may take more than they can pay. With Pau and Bynum not being the most durable of guys though, it'd just be for a little peace of mind you know? Not sure Didier could handle the load (as small as it might be) if either one went down for a significant period of time.

By the way, don't you think it's kind of strange that we haven't heard a thing from the Bynum camp since he was cleared to start conditioning?

Not a peep!

mike t.

AK -

I Agree as well. I would also like to throw out there that a Healthy Chris Mihm would be like adding a 3rd free agent.

James Deen,
"The lakers were supposed to get stronger over the break "

When the Lakers start camp, will the projected top 8 on their roster be stronger than the top 8 on their roster when they started last season? Absolutely.

When the Lakers start camp, will the projected top 8 on their roster be stronger than the top 8 on their roster when they ended last season? Absolutely.

The Lakers did get stronger over the break.

Not a peep from Bynum's camp, but waaaayyy too much from Michael C. Teniente. LOLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

What a sports day! ESPN is reporting that someone close to LeBron James said that the Cavaliers' superstar would strongly consider playing overseas if he was offered a salary of "around $50 million a year." Seems like good money, to be sure, but wouldn't he make up the money from an NBA salary from endorsements? On the other hand, that would surely make him the David Beckham of basketball. Meanwhile, us mortals sure are left with just table scraps.

Mike T.

I don't find that strange at all. Do you?

props to my fool paul pierce...in vegas...

hehehehehehehehhehehehe

heheheheheheheheheh

heheheheheheheehehehehehehehehe

heheheheeheheheh

kg-i love ya....and love you more and more...
come stay with me...at my place :)

AK

"especially if it meant taking the dead weight of Kenny Thomas"

How did you come to the conclusion that Kenny Thomas would have been dead weight? What is your dead weight criteria?

P.S. Be careful with your explanation (if you have one) because I will use it as a standard to judge other players

P.S.S. If you choose not to respond I will assume your opinion is (PFA)

Since we are standing pat, this is what I feel the team needs to do:

1. Change of defensive philosophy and or hire a new Defensive Coach-Coordinator to join the Lords of the Rings aka Phil's Team. (Ex. When Ariza is playing a bigger guy like Artest, dare him to take the longball. Don't stick your body and let him mow you down.)

2. Use Craig Hodges. Ariza after the injury came back with a much better jump shot. Gasol since he is playing the 4, he should work on that Euro stereotype. Farmar, Ariza, Luke, Carl, Lamar since they will have more opportunities in the perimeter. Vlad can learn how to drop stop in the perimeter too.

3. Kareem should train all the front court players. Bynum, Gasol, Mihm, Lamar, Luke and Vlad. I feel Lamar lost his backupMarion post up game style and was rushing it too much when he had the mismatch downlow last season.

4. Have the desire to win. Kobe is unparalled but if the guys want it in their OWNED 100% effort, it will make a big difference. Look at The Machine and Bynum.

5. PJ needs to bench players if they are a liability. (Ex. Don't put in Luke just coz he knows the offense and someone like Kenny Thomas is killing him by posting his ass up. If Vlad-Luke is doing ok against the Wally Szer's and Ed Najera's then so be it) If Sasha is hot, let him roll. etc...

6. Check the ego. Purple and Gold, flashing lights, and the Glitz. Time to take the workhorse mentality and work during the offseason. This is their career. Please the fans and you owe it to your fans. Kobe, Drew, and Sasha are at the gym right now. Follow their lead. Sometimes, you get nick-named by your fans because of the character and work on that hardwood.

Ranting I know...

Caliphilosopher -

I wish I had as much faith in Mihm as you do. The pessimist in me thinks he'll never truly be healthy, and that even if he is, he won't be the player we remember. You'd be right on though if he could get anywhere close to his 04-05 form. I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

James Deen,

exheldovr is right.

The question is, will our bottom six players be stronger?

That's still up in the air.

GO LAKERS!

I sure hope Chris Mihm comes back healthy. It will make a huge difference if he does.

If he doesn't then we better have a Kwame Brown-type body ready to take some minutes and some fouls.

GO LAKERS!

In other news, Paul "The Self-Proclaimed Best Player in the World" Pierce ran afoul of the police in Las Vegas. Apparently, little PP was upset that the cops gave him a sobriety test. He then proceeded to fake an injury to his knee and was handcuffed until he calmed down.

By the way, don't you think it's kind of strange that we haven't heard a thing from the Bynum camp since he was cleared to start conditioning?

Not a peep!

mike t.
----------------------------------------------------------

You mean its been a whole 2 weeks since last we heard he was healthy and working out!! Oh my god!!!! 2 Weeks...2 whole weeks!!!!!!....Mitch better get on the phone with Detroit and ask about Kwame before it's to late!!!

/sarsacm

AK,

"Trevor Ariza, Chris Mihm and Jordan Farmar for Artest."

I wouldn't have done it. Particularly if Ariza and Mihm come back healthy. No way.

GO LAKERS!

Mike T-

"By the way, don't you think it's kind of strange that we haven't heard a thing from the Bynum camp since he was cleared to start conditioning?

Not a peep!"

Actually, we did hear from Mitch that he is on schedule to be 100% come the start of training camp in an article dated July 29.

http://tinyurl.com/69nj8p

There's your peep.

There's something wrong with people who laugh after everything they say. I don't what it is

>>>Why do you Fakers insist on focusing on offense?
>>>Defense wins champiosnhip. Defense takes hard work
>>>and team effort, non of which your precious Lakergirls
>>>exhibit.

Why do you Smell-tic fans not recognize that the Lakers defense
held your team well below their average.

The Lakers don't NEED to improve their defense to beat Boston.
They need to add different looks to their offense for when
Boston disrupts their initial look.

I'm glad we've heard nothing on Bynum...That's the way it should be..No news is good news!

Ex

The top 8 are better (stronger?), but skinnier.

As are the bottom 6 unless Luke's been hittin' his barbecue.

I'll leave it at that before a calve debate breaks out.

Mike T

Actually Mike there have been a couple of articles on Andrew. He has been running, lifting weights, jumping and doing individual basketball drills. He has not been cleared yet for any contact drills . Like last summer he is working out in Atlanta with his trainer.

MH

Mike T...

I dont think the Lakers will score 120 a game either but one thing you need to take into consideration is this...How much zone defense do the Lakers see during the regular season?

The biggest problem TEAM USA faces at these Olympic games is zone defense...Last night Australia played a little zone but didint over do it for the simple fact that team USA is about to have zone defense every time they step on the court...Why let a team get better at its biggest weakness....

All the EURO teams will play it just as they did in Athens..

You think that even someone with intelligence the level of a caveman might get bored eventually.

AK,

I don't know on Ronny Turiaf case. He immediately grabbed the better deal and presumably more playing time. However, with the competition here in the West and his heart condition, I would rather phase myself by accepting a 2 year deal with Lakers at 3M and after that 3 years, I could venture for a bigger pay either in NBA or in the Euro League. It is more improving Ronny Turiaf with Bynum, Kareem, Kobe and with the little minutes played I also phase myself well with a healthier heart and less stress on major role. In his current situation, it is a major challenge to prove oneself in Warrior's uniform and at 6'10" w/o any seven footer in GS roster, he will be always under great pressure to be at his best in every game. If he fails miserably, he just destroyed his resume by jumping too soon out from the Lakers, even Euro scouts would bring down their sights on him. Right now, I see GS as a lottery pick team, they have to overcome the Lakers, Spurs, Hornets, Mavs, Suns, Blazers, Jazz, Rockets and those are favorite 8 teams that will go to Western Conference playoffs. Will Nelson make a miracle out of his hodge podge line up?

AK, in answer to your question, I agree.

I think the Lakers did get better by keeping what they have,
assuming Bynum and Ariza get healthy and stay healthy.
If Mihm does the same, then that's a bonus.

Despite the fact that I'm one of the most voluminous posters
of wild and wacky trade proposals, I don't think most of them
would actually help the team. Even trading away Rad or
Luke might make them worse, despite what some people
think.

I'd still like to see them bring in someone to fill in for Ronny,
even if it is only to occupy the spot he would have been sitting
on on the bench for most of the year. But other than that,
I think they can have a better regular season with the
players they have and a better post season with a year
more experience and Bynum and Ariza back in the fold.

Honestly, I figure after getting Pau that we'd be pretty much handcuffed in terms of what we can do in the market.

It's one thing to re-sign your guys....but it's another thing when resigning them means getting even deeper in luxury tax territory. So I thought it would behoove us to look closer into who we're singing. Ahem, ahem Luke haha, jk. What's done is done.

The good news is we got ourselves a young, hungry squad that just got done with one year of some valuable experience. Combined with better health, who knows what this year will bring.

GO Lakers!

Kobe Bryant rates the Australian team.......www.nbl.com.au

Well ex,
Kobe will be out at the start of camp...

I think the Hornets made a great pick in Posey. Rockets are on a dicey situation with Artest, however a healthy Yao, TMac and well behaved Artest, the Rockets could be the team to beat in the West. Last season, w/o Yao on the line up, they romped 21 consecutive wins. It could be a toss up with Lakers, Hornets and Rockets.

However, if Lakers have healthy Bynum and a good chemistry of the youth, the not so good players are connecting and the 4 superstars are on sync - watch out for 125 .pts and Kobe gets his usual 50. They will be the first in the history of NBA. unbeatable, fantastic, it's all because of the beast meets Mamba in the air.

(I think that is a worthy conclusion of 120 ppg and it should now get a decent burial. lol)

I'm not sure what to think of the Lakers just yet.

We have two guys that missed much of last season in Ariza and Bynum that I consider moderate injury risks.

We have some other injury prone guys.

We have a group that continues to fluorish via the triangle offense under Phil Jackson.

We have a pretty good composition as a team, but we are missing something that we need to win the Finals.

We need better toughness at the 4/5 and we need a better defender at the 3. We're a little defensively vulnerable at the 1 as well. We're also lacking a strong all around offense when things stutter. This last Finals has shown that Kobe alone can't bail us out. Someone else MUST step and play well in high pressure situations in close games.

Maybe Ariza solves our problems at the 3. He needs to stay healthy and develop a 3 (or keep the 3 he had during the Finals). If he can do this and play consistently, then our problem at the 3 may be solved.

Similar situation for Bynum. He needs to stay healthy and play like he did for 6 good weeks at the 5. We need him to punish people that drive and think the basket is an easy target. He needs to make the opposing teams' bigs work hard to contain him and he needs to slow them down considerably. He's young, but hopefully hungry to get a contract or earn the next contract if he signs over the summer. I think he has lazy tendencies and that concerns me.

I don't feel confident we're a team that can win the Finals. I would have really liked to add a little depth at the 4 with a physical defensively effortful presence (like we had in Ronny) and a solid SF that can deal with Paul Pierce, but also RJ, Artest, Maggette, Josh Smith, Gerald Wallace, Caron Butler, Marion, Carmelo, Lebronze and the other talented and mobile 3s of the league.

Our team needs to grow together and our tall 3 need to figure out how to play well together.

I'm disappointed thus far with our front office not making trades to improve our team and just hoping/praying that everything will just "work out" when people come back healthy. And the front office can't honestly stay they stood pat since they let Ronny go.

At some point in the season, Odom and/or Gasol will get hurt. When they do, we only have Vlad to play backup power forward. In the long term losing a few games does matter. As currently comprised, the Lakers don't beat the Celtics without home court advantage. Heck, I'm not sure we beat Houston or New Orleans without home court advantage.

LTLF,

you wrote: The Lakers don't NEED to improve their defense to beat Boston.
They need to add different looks to their offense for when
Boston disrupts their initial look.

With respect, I disagree. See Game 4 and that whipping we took in Game 6.
While you're at it look at Games 1 & 2 also. To be explicit, when you're up
by 24 in the first half and you lose the game ... it means you couldn't get stops.
Regardless of if you turned over the ball or got in foul trouble ... You couldn't
get stops. Even worse is that it was bench/role players who put it to us.

It *seems* that people today focus on offense. It's more glamorous. When you
look at the 50 best players to play the game you find a fair number of defensively
skilled players. The defense of Australia and Russia has been quite interesting
and enlightening to watch. I'm very curious to see the defense of Spain and Greece
vs. Team USA.

Man, I totally forgot about Mihm. Talk about another wild card! He seems up for a physical challenge, but I wonder if he's strong enough to do much about it. Jazz, Portland, Pistons, Celtics might manhandle him.

In other news, According to Gilbert Arenas, this is Kwame's year!

So, there it is. Mike T will proven right. And we will all be proven fools.

http://my.nba.com/forum.jspa?forumID=400032200

Oh yeah,

Later in the same blog Gilbert has some comments about the pictures of his pool that were on the net.

The guy's web page says he got retroactive permission to post them.

Gilbert's pretty hung up on one fact, that the pool isn't done so you're not actually seeing his pool.

No, it's not the the privacy that really bothers him, he just doesn't want you thinking you know how cool his pool is because it's totally better now.

Agree

Arenas says this is Kwame's year?

The guy says Kwame is going to a "quieter city" and now he's out of "these big city markets"? Let me see: Detroit is bigger than Washington isn't it?

The reason why Kwame will do well is because he's going to a team that emphasis' team basketball and whose focus is defense first.

Gilbert is just saying this stuff because he knows Kwame is going to do well in that environment and then people will say: Why not sooner?

Because Michael Jordan, Gilbert Arenas and Kobe Bryant were ballhogs and those team did not play team ball and played very little defense. Michael Jordan was trying to be Michael Jordan at 40 years of age. Gilbert Arenas was barely coming to Washington to make a name for himself. And Kobe was just coming out of the Shaq years and was making up for all the scoring he missed from having to play 2nd fiddle to Shaq.

In other words: All three situation were with guy who dominated the ball and did not play team ball at all.

Now that's going to change and Arenas says: This is Kwame's year? Gee, I wonder why.

mike t.

Pfunk,

"How did you come to the conclusion that Kenny Thomas would have been dead weight? What is your dead weight criteria?P.S. Be careful with your explanation (if you have one) because I will use it as a standard to judge other players. P.S.S. If you choose not to respond I will assume your opinion is (PFA)."

Wow. So much pressure, especially considering how "difficult" and "intimidating" the question. I doubt I'll ever be more "careful" (at anything, in my life, period) than I am right now answering you.

(Deep breath... Exhale)

Well, I would regard Kenny Thomas as "dead weight" in part because the rest of the GM's around the league seem to think so. The Kings worked very hard trying to make other teams take on Thomas as part of a deal for Artest, which demonstrates how the Sacto doesn't really want him. That nobody bit demonstrates that he wasn't really wanted at all, especially as a backup at 8 mil per season through 2010. That's an awful lot to pay for a guy whose minutes will already be limited by Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. For that matter, Thomas isn't close to as good a player as Lamar Odom, who the Lakers would lose in the deal.

Throw in the fact that Thomas' production has also steadily dropped over the last few seasons (and absolutely flatlined in 2008), he couldn't find PT this year in a Kings frontcourt that's hardly among the league's best and was missing Shareef Abdur-Rahim for basically the entire season, and has something of a prickly rep, I think referring to him as "dead weight" in this trade scenario would be fair enough.

That said, if you think Kenny Thomas is the missing piece whose absence is standing in the way of a title, feel free to throw out why. I must have missed the part where you actually explained why my opinion seemed so off base.

Also, can I get an ETA on when you predictably use these words (likely out of context) as ammo against Luke Walton and try to paint me as a bigger supporter of his game and 2008 season than I've actually been? That's a day I figure I'll need to be extra "careful," so I'd love some advance notice, if at all possible.

AK

This was poster by John Schuhmann on NBA.com. It's pretty surreal, enjoy

Kobe Bryant came out after most of the team had been shooting around for a while. He got a ball and started dribbling around casually, doing a couple half-speed dribble-fakes. Then he called Chris Paul over and seemed to be (I couldn't hear what they were saying) asking CP13 how he turns the corner on a screen-and-roll on the wing.

CP did a demonstration of how he crosses over while brushing the shoulder of his screener, while Kobe watched along with Jason Kidd, Deron Williams and eventually, Johnny Dawkins.

At the end of the conversation, CP13 was showing Kobe how he does his hard-dribble-fake-behind-the-back-pass move. Kobe shook his head, seemingly amazed. The MVP runner-up was showing the MVP a thing or two.

The whole thing took about five minutes, but it was the most interesting five minutes of pre-game shooting that I've seen on this trip.

AK,

What going on, man? Do you feel like everyone is attacking you all the time?

You just seem like people are annoying you too easily for you--the AK Laker Nation knows and loves.

Have you hit a wall as blog overlord and really need a break? (Maybe a week on the beach in the Bahamas with you Spurs-loving girlfriend? Well, who couldn't use that [except for your girlfriend part. She's taken.])

Anyhow, I know that you and/or BK have to monitor this blog seven days a week... week... after week... after week...

It probably gets pretty tiresome, especially when nothing's actually going on in Laker Nation of any substance.

Anyhow, if you go to your dark masters at the L.A. Times and scream, "I NEED A MICKINGMOTHER VACATION DAMNIT!" Hey, we're all in support! Laker Nation will live on until you get back.

{Though I'm sure when you get back everyone will be at each others throats and Michael T. and LakerTom will find some new, bizarre means of competition for more nefarious and devious than a haiku war.}

Anyhow I hope you're well.

GO LAKERS!

From Ball Don't Lie:

"This team (and I'm looking at you, Carmelo) just turns its head too much. These guys aren't used to watching for back-picks and defending cuts to the front of the hoop. Back-door screens still kill Team USA, and though the men still have the athleticism to recover and sometimes make up for it, Coach K's crew is still getting beat way too much by teams using Team USA's pressure against itself.

That pressure seems to be a rallying point, both for Coach K, and legions of observers who still think the US can pressure non-stop and bully toward the gold medal. The team racks up oodles of steals, but once those turnovers dry up, this is still a limited defensive outfit.

And it's a limited, three-point happy, offensive outfit in the half court. The team continues to make decisions that were depressing not as an American watching his country being represented overseas, but as a basketball fan in general. A long fadeaway jumper is the easiest shot in the world (and we mean that, "in the world," at this stage) to get, and there's a reason why you're usually open when you take it. Because guys like Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James can make one out of every three, though, they think the next one is going in. And that kills an offense.

But that's enough of the dour take. Team USA still kept the Aussies at bay for most of the contest, even when it was a two or three-possession difference, and it still can rout the rest of the world even playing like the Denver Nuggets (going for steals, running, scoring with either dunks or bombs)."

Sounds like a mix between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers type of ball over the last 2 years.

Well, he did mention the Nuggets.

Nuggets? NuggleHead?

LOL!

mike t.

AK, thank you so much my I E browser is back on the saddle again. The plague has left the blog after raiding our files and and hopefully will not sell our contact list to the junkies.

Sasha Vujacic is expanding his empire:
http://sportscucumber.com/2008/08/05/sasha-vujacic-unveils-line-of-feminine-hygiene-products/

The problem with Team USA is Jerry Colangelo. His vision of basketball is like the Phoenix Suns of 3 years ago.

That's why he only has one big man on the squad. That is a mistake.

I don't have a good feeling about this.

mike t.

It was reported on hoopshype that Lebron announced that he would play in Europe for 50M/yr and yesterday Kobe for 40M. Whether the joke is trying to priced out themselves, there should be repercussions to a jocular outsourcing. In the Obama Administration, taxed these athletes heavily twice unless they can donate half of their earnings to the homeless of America. There gotta to be a law just like the way we treat illegal immigrants in this country, that if an American citizen chooses to work abroad except for the Armed Forces, he should also apply for re-entry with similar treatment of incoming immigrants based on preferences. On the contrary, this is the damage brought about by the Bush/Cheney Maladministration when the value of dollar has lost significantly viz-a-viz against the Euro, Pound, Yen etc. Our rich resources, valued companies, technological wealth are being bought at a cheap price while the CEO's and new billionaires are just happy for the tax write offs, options and golden handshake at our expense.

CAN SOMEONE POST LINK TO SEE USA vs AUSSIES SCORE CARD.

Thanks

Mike T

"Because Michael Jordan, Gilbert Arenas and Kobe Bryant were ballhogs and those team did not play team ball and played very little defense. Michael Jordan was trying to be Michael Jordan at 40 years of age. Gilbert Arenas was barely coming to Washington to make a name for himself. And Kobe was just coming out of the Shaq years and was making up for all the scoring he missed from having to play 2nd fiddle to Shaq."

"In other words: All three situation were with guy who dominated the ball and did not play team ball at all."

So that is why he couldn't catch the ball? There is no way that you can blame the things that he can control on those guys. I understand that him not touching the ball consistently can effect is moral. But dude, look at the phoenix series where he was basically the second option he still was making the same mistakes...couldn't consistently catch the ball, still not releasing the ball before moving his pivot foot and not to mention he is the only person who's dunk percentage is almost as low as is fg%.

I don't knock who he is as a player because man to man defense from kwame was really good. But to make it sound like he is going to get better because he moved to a different city and team, and not because he actually improves in his game because he works at it is ridiculous.

Dear Mike T.

What will you do when I retire the flop that everyone predicted me to be. Besides being on teams with players who dominate the ball, it's my job to catch the ball when it's thrown to me. Andrew started doing that so Kobe fed him the ball more. Please write another excuse for me as to why I was so offensively challenged.

Kwame

P.S. I still love you

If I have to watch kobee ballhog any more in the olympics...the curse of the mamba knows no bounds. He's ok on defense, but can't match the power or imagination of D-Wade on offense. Leave the scoring to the younger, more talented playas, kobee..

Now, if D'ANTONI could suit up in place of jellybean jr., this would be an easy gold for USA.

wow,

I saw that thing about Kobe from Schulmann too. Pretty interesting. Apparently, Kobe's been asking every top player how they do their unique moves for his entire time in the league. He's an insatiable sponge for soaking up basketball information. He says his heart isn't into coach, but I think it would be almost tragic if he didn't coach given how knowledgeable he is about the game.

EH,

Funny stuff.

Mike T.,

It's not surprising you'd latch onto the GHE perspective from Ball Don't Lie. I totally agree with their take on fadeaway jumpers. I don't agree with their general assessments. I think our offense looks very little like the Suns offense. I also think our D is way better in style than the Nuggets D. We have lapses in which we forget our prime directives, but overall, I think the team is playing solid ball. I've only watched us play Canada, Lithuania, and Russia so far FWIW.

Rejected Nicknames for Team USA:

://thedaveburbarevolution.blogspot.com/2008/08/rejected-names-for-2008-us-basketball.html

AK, your post wasnt funny at all...it left a bad taste...i have to concur with JON.K ...

From Hoopsworld:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/
Story.asp?story_id=9697

The Lakers depth chart:

"PG: Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar
SG: Kobe Bryant/Sasha Vujacic/Coby Karl/Dwayne Mitchell (the latter two non-guaranteed)
SF: Lamar Odom/Trevor Ariza/Vladimir Radmanovic/Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol
C: Andrew Bynum/Chris Mihm

Man, Luke Walton is way back in the SF position.

Wasn't it just last year all these writers were saying: Signing Luke Walton was a no-brainer?

My how things have changed.

mike t.

bonez,

I only disagree with one part of your comment to Mike T. You
indicate that MJ and the bulls did not play team defense. I
disagree with you. The 1st 3 championships, MJ played with
Pippen and they were both all NBA defense. The 2nd 3
championships the bulls add Dennis Rodman. That gave
them 3 all NBA defense players.

It's actually this that irritates me about the comparisons b/n
Kobe and MJ. Since Shaq left Kobe has never played with
an NBA all-star. Pau is the first all-star caliber player Kobe
has played with since Shaq left. I hope Bynum is all that
people think he is. I know that Lamar is not what most people
on the blog think he is. We've had that conversation before...
:)

Jon K,

I appreciate your concern, but honestly, I'm doing fine.

If you note Pfunk's phrasing of the question (heavily inferring I don't even have a reason for my opinion, pretentiously warning me to be "careful" how I answer because he'll use it later, as if that should make me worry) and also consider his long-adversarial stance towards me (completely one-sided, as I've told him my preference is that we just talk to each other as people), I think it's pretty obvious he was being contentious. Thus, my answer had some sarcasm, because the whole thing was so ridiculous (and in his case, predictable). He could have just asked why I don't think Kenny Thomas would help much and leave it at that. All the other crap is just silly, which I called out.

But I wasn't "angry" by any stretch, if that's what you were thinking. Not in the least.

AK

REPOST - "Apparently, Kobe's been asking every top player how they do their unique moves for his entire time in the league. He's an insatiable sponge for soaking up basketball information." Posted by Benjamin

I LOVE the fact that Kobe is doing this. Once he knows how a player does his move, he becomes a much better stopper of said move. That makes him & the Lakers that much more dangerous this season.

GO LAKERS!

Edwin,
"Our rich resources, valued companies, technological wealth are being bought at a cheap price while the CEO's and new billionaires are just happy for the tax write offs, options and golden handshake at our expense"

You mean billionaires like George Soros?

I completely disagree - I thought AK's post was freaking hilarious. If I had to wade through every single ridiculous posting on this board, I'd get a little testy sometimes, too. And I have to say, given the randomly aggressive nature of PFunk's message, I thought the tone was extremely appropriate.

OK - MIke T. is calling someone out for making an unsupportable statement?? The same Mike T. who publicly offered himself as a spiritual guru to show Kwame the power of the Lord in order to improve his game??? The same Mike T. who ran away like a b***h and posted rambling religioius rantings when the Lakers traded Kwame?? The same Mike T. who ROOTS AGAINST HIS OWN TEAM AND WISHES INJURIES ON ITS PLAYERS?????

Say what you will about LakerTom, but he's a true fan. MIke T. could learn a LOT from him.

Celtic trolls STILL roaming the halls?? I guess there really is nothing to do in Boston. I guess when you haven't won anything in 21 years, you forget how to win like you've been there before. You punks are a disgrace to your uni - you think Bird or Russell would be here, rubbing their opponent's nose in it two months after the fact? They would win with class and move on to the next season, look ahead and explore possibilities. I guess you've already convinced yourself that you're never winning another one, and need to put us ndown to make yourselves feel better.

And anyone who thinks Kobe isn't the best all-around player in the world hasn't been watching Team USA play. his poise, defensive commitment and leadership on that squad has been completely beyond reproach - as those of us who actually know what Kobe's about knew it would be.

Good lordy it looks like Mike T. forgot to take his medicine.

Seriously folks, Kwame Brown is one of the worst pieces of crap to ever put on a Lakers uniform (based on value). That piece of crap is now steaming in Detroit, and I propose we no longer discuss the pungent nature of Kwame "the cake throwing" Brown and simply ignore the deranged obsession of a single helpless sole that has forgotten to take his medicine.

Now wake up, Kwame Brown is GOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

MOVE ON.

DOOOO BEEEEE DOOOOO BEEEEE DOOOOOO

hobbitmage

You sure it was me who said something about the bulls to mike T? lol

Go Tully Moxness!

GO LAKERS!

AK,

Yeah, I know Pfunk was being something of jerkoff with his tone of questioning. It just seems like you've been a bit short-tempered recently in your responses.

I'm used to you being the positive one and BK being the bitter one, not vice versa.

Anyhow, if you say you're fine, then I'll just take you on your word. Perhaps it's just another misobservation of the way, way, way, way too long offseason.

{I wish the D-League too place during the offseason--then I could root for the Defenders--but that scheduling would make no sense.}

Go Defenders!

GO LAKERS!

Arguing about Kwame Brown now is silly.

1. He's a Piston.
2. We'll have no reasonable idea how he'll do as a Piston until the regular season starts.

Between now and then, I propose a moritorium on discussions of Kwame Brown.

GO LAKERS!

AK, I was too fast in thanking you yesterday but today the digg.com reappears as well as the usual missing personal info. hmmm.

EX, my statement is not relegated on your conservative friends but to all billionaires who amassed wealth on the blessings of your favorite President. Secondly, Soros is a currency investor and made wealth by investing on developing nations, moved his investments based on normal business conditions. Under your President, everything became abnormal, globalization has been abused to the hilt, currency changes are unpredictable, wall street prospered, standards have been relaxed, poor quality of life have littered our landscape and the ordinary wage earners have devalued their purchasing power while our sons and daughters are in and out of jobs without that stability we enjoyed in the past. Nonethless only a retired helio pilot is happy with our present condition.

On Lakers analogy, the celebrities on the courtside are happy and can shell out $2,500 any night while those in the General Admission who are paying 30-50 bucks a seat could not even buy food at the concessionaires, they smuggle on their ready made dinner nor pay 10-20 for parking but parked 10 blocks away on the street just to watch a Laker game. Realistically, if you add up the cost of gas going to Staples, food, ticket and miscellaneous easily, one can spend $ 100 just watching at the General Admission. that's a day's earning for typical fans.

I watched the third quarter of that game again yesterday afternoon and have to say, that Team USA will be just fine.

The fact that they are as athletic as they are plays a big role, but they had to play about as bad as they could play, and the Boomers played about as superbly as they could, and the USA still won by 11. I think the USA will have to play more zone in the Olympics, and intentionally didn't in these warmup games so as not to show their hand. These friendlies were little more than basics for the USA. I think with D'Antoni's presence, the running game has shown its face, but we haven't seen the pick and roll game from the USA yet, and with DWill and CP3, rolling Bosh and Howard to the hoop, there will be a lot of layups for the USA in the games. We also haven't, as I said before, seen the zones that the USA is capable of implementing. Boeheim is on the coaching staff primarily for defensive purposes. I can see the USA running some hybrid zone-man schemes like a box and 1 with Kobe on the other team's best scorer or a 1-3-1 set to prevent back picks and protect the rim from drives and cutters.

The bottom line is that no one has seen the full breadth of the ability this team has to play the international game. Why tip your hand if you don't have to?

Everybody! Check this article out! A Laker hater Screenwriter. Formerly a Sonics Fan, now trying to hop the Trailblazer wagon.

http://tinyurl.com/6jwl9f

On a Portland Trailblazers blog called Blazer’s Edge, Alexie wrote: “I would root for a team composed of Jack the Ripper at the 3, Lee Harvey Oswald at the 2, Saddam Hussein at the 4, Galactus at the 5, and Lizzie Borden at 1 over the Lakers. If the Lakers were playing a team made up entirely of those giant chameleon cockroaches in that movie Mimic, I would root for the insects. Heck, I just rooted for THE CELTICS instead of the Lakers. That’s how much I hate the Lake Show.”

I'm glad other people hate the Lakers. It's because they're jealous.

Clips just got Steve Novak from Houston.

I'd agree with AK's post... would disagree with Ford putting the Clippers in the losers category... they pulled off a coup landing Baron. True, they got shafted by Brand but they've continued making moves, getting Camby, Ricky Davis, Skinner.... now Novak who's a pure shooter. They could be fun to watch this year.

Edwin,
"my statement is not relegated on your conservative friends but to all billionaires who amassed wealth on the blessings of your favorite President."

LOL! Look into George Soros - he is the money behind the Democratic party. Made his money speculating on currency.

" Under your President, everything became abnormal, globalization has been abused to the hilt, currency changes are unpredictable, wall street prospered, standards have been relaxed"

Everything became abnormal? LOL.

Globalization is the key to raising the standard of living in the third world. The WORST thing to do is to have protectionist policies which keeps third world countries products from being competitive. Europe is the worst at that, of course the protectionist policies that the (primarily) Democrats favor have similar effects.

Wall Street prospered? Not significantly - you must not be paying attention. You may be referring to the "bubble" under President Clinton.

The number of homeless has declined during the past 8 years.

Charles

Dey see us Dey see us and it feels good.

Fire32,

Thanks for the reply.

Man ole man, reading this blog has told me one thing about LakerNation:

MR. SENSIVITY!

It's a blog mates! Expression of opinion and smack talk.

Why so sensitive?

Can someone tell me why Mr. I Can Get Off At Anytime is averagin 13 points per game averaging the lowest FG% for Team USA? Can someone say forcing shots?

Cheers!

hahaahahahah

The schedules are out --

Opening in Portland 10/28

Lakers/Celtics Christmas Day.

Edwin/Exhelodrvr,

As we've requested in the past, please take the purely political debates to a more appropriate forum. Either personal emails, the L.A. Times political blog, etc. But it doesn't really work here and has a habit of sidetracking discussion.

Thanks,

AK

Pig -

To add to what you said, as far as I can tell, the US hasn't run an offense. I'm assuming they'll have one for the Olympics. But right now, it's a giant pickup game with the occasional big guy running up to set a screen for a little guy, and a lot of one on one play. Again, I'd have to assume they've actually got an offensive system and as you say, don't want to tip their hand.

I hope this is the case because right now, they look a little lost in their half-court sets.

Hmrhed -

Yeah, I saw the schedule too. After we open against Portland, we have an "away" game against the Clippers. Sounds like fun right out of the gate.

Once again, we have a home heavy first half and a road heavy second half. The longest road trip is a 7 gamer towards the end of the year (in March I think). That could really test our mettle.

The Lakers will have to work hard to get back to the summit because the West doesn't look any weaker. Could be another photo finish.

My reply to Mike T. on team USA was deleted b/c of missing personal info snatched by digg.com

Anyway, what I said to him how many exhibition games have you watched so far? I guess it's Canada in Vegas and Aussie, well I watched all games and in every game there was a different repertoire of offense and defense. What you saw in the OZ games is a mere exhibition trying to avoid injuries and a) Shomanship of individual talents to sell shoes for Kobe and Lebron; b) Steal and premature fast break stance leaving one man behind; c) perimeter shooting by Melo and constant pass on the crowded lane. I don't think that's the USA team in the Turkey, Lithuania that I saw. The reason why CP3, Deron and Kidd are there was to kill the zone on perimeter shooters. Coach Boeheim and Coach K were there primarily to neutralize the zone which in NCAA. If you watch the Lithuania game, they showed there how to attack the zone by utilizing Deron as the playmaker, Redd on the outside and Howard in the inside. D'Wade and Lebron were used sparingly to attract double teaming and freeing the players following them and those staying on the wing with clear shot. However, if you watched the Shanghai series, you immediately shanghai-ed conclusions that USA is unprepared for the zone. You interpret the show as the plan itself, why will they show everything in an exhibition game when they are aware everybody is watching. So Mike T, go again to your favorite topic that Kwame should be the big man in Team USA???? lol or w/ Team Lakers b/c he is the best defensive player ever...

Counting the homeless is how we measure our ecomomic success in the USA? Sounds like a typical neo-con answer to me. Wow--what a great measuring stick. ( hey did you see the thousands that camped out in Appalachia to get free healthcare yesterday? Tell me again how perfect our system is... best healthcare in the world for those who can afford it, but hey some statistician sampling says homelessness is down---guess those numbers were in before the housing crash caused a few more)

Take a look at wages over the last 8 years--FLAT at best.
Inflation out of control.
Biggest disparity between upper and lower class ever.
Middle class is gone my friend.

If I have to I can bitch slap you silly with more facts about how our ecomomy, and how it is failing the American people, but.....

THIS IS A BASKETBALL BLOG. I come here to forget this kind of BS. Both of you take your Politico BS to dailykos.com or Bill O'Reilly's blog so you can beat the crap out of each other, and leave us here in peace to contemplate how the Lakers will reign in 09.

I'd rather see a post from Butler, or Let's go C's. It least it is basketball related.

Mr Yan,
"If I have to I can bitch slap you silly with more facts "

Well, based on your last post, your next one will likely be just as silly, but likely also lacking in facts.