Kupchak watches Drew with his own eyes
Not content to rely on a game of telephone for his info, Mitch Kupchak hopped a flight to Atlanta for a closer look at Andrew Bynum's workout regimen, which includes running, weights and roundball drills. The bird's-eye view has left the Lakers GM with no worries over Bynum's readiness come camp's opening or lingering problems from the surgery needed to smooth out rough spots from the knee dislocation. Instead, Kupchak is talking up Bynum at 100% strength when the preseason officially kicks off, citing visible improvements in areas such as conditioning, mobility and the kid's body in general. Obviously, we'll know nada for certain until he's on the court in October, but it's certainly a positive report, one in line with previous ones of a full recovery expected.
Also, Eric Pincus of Hoopsworld has been a busy beaver, cranking out two Laker-centric pieces. In his rundown of the P&G roster, Pincus relays the Miami Herald's info on free agent DJ Mbenga's status (The Heat might make a slightly bigger offer than the vet minimum deal apparently on the table from L.A.) and Josh Powell's two-year contract, which Pincus heard is either partially or non-guaranteed. I figured it was fully guaranteed, so that's a bit of a surprise to me. He also doesn't think the Lakers will pursue Clipper free agents Shaun Livingston or Quinton Ross, which in no way surprises me.
His other piece offers his take in a "Who's better: Kobe or LeBron?" debate, a topic otherwise shamefully neglected by the media. Pincus takes the Mamba's side, fellow Hoopsworlder Travis Health the King's.
AK
Ditto....on Yue over Livingston....
Shaun, he's most likely, unfortunately damaged goods. Someone who would be hesitant to take a chance on a major repaired knee would me Mitch K. himself. When he came to the LA ($$$) Lakers, (it was Magic in 83? who wanted a forceful player), he was what many of the LA Times bloggers believe we are are in need of now. A tough player who dished out more pain than he received. He would only play 26 games before his injury. His injury was serious, the technology at the time is not what it is now. I never thought he'd play again. He could have called it a career and sat back and collected all the money from that contract he got, but Mitch is tough guy, he didn't want to let the team down, he wanted to earn his money. When he made his comeback he was forced to play with a brace that covered about 70%of his leg. He could only be a role player for a season or two more, but I believe he did contribute to a championship or two. I believe in one of the Celtic series finals, he and another Laker were accused by the She-ltics of being "thugs". This is truly an example of "what goes around, comes around". My friend was a classmate of Mitch at UCLA's Anderson School of Business, where he got his MBA. I was too busy trying other business ventures (I should have gone too), think of him as the 80's version of our Chris Mihm, wasn't he a Celtic draft pick, or came from the Celtics???? Hmmmmm, I'll guess again, Cleveland....anyway...I agree that Shaun has never shown to be consistently good, I think that Sun has more talent than he has shown so far. Come on, think about it, when you are playing for the Chinese National team, or under the scrutiny of it (his ABA time), he does what he is told and no more. I think he probably has a little bit of Magic in him, maybe a little bit of Pistol Pete, without having to go out and try to look like him (Ricky Rubio....I'd take Sun for the Lakers, I'm a gambler). PEOPLE (which means GWB excluded here)...let's give Sun what I call the Star Trek treatment...give him time and space. DO NOT call him a wasted pick after 15 games. Think about how many klanks Sasha shot. It took him 3 years before he found the net and his game, and comfort zone. Let's give Sun at least that. We are on top of most polls, think about the US Olympic team's approach, play to win now, but continue to develop for later.
Everyone have a good safe holiday weekend, except for GWB, go out to go pick up some six packs from the liquor store, and splurge and get your "Blueboy", go ahead and start drinking some on your way home, and pick up your Motorola block cell phone and make that call to your boyfriend to see if he needs anymore Cheez-whiz for playtime, you frisky pair, you!!!! Then pass out from the heat, because your junker car doesn't have air conditioning that works. Then crash and die. If you show up on the blog this weekend you prove to the world that you are a loooooozzzzzeeeerrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bahahahahahahha
Posted by: humanomaly | August 29, 2008 at 08:46 PM
Greetings, folks.
Don't get too excited, fellow Laker fans. The team has yet to prove it has the maturity and toughness to get over the championship hump.
Posted by: Peace | August 29, 2008 at 10:05 PM
humanomaly,
>>>>> Ditto....on Yue over Livingston....
Great stuff tonight, h. In some ways, Mitch’s injury cost the Lakers as much as Bias’ death cost the Celtics as far as continuing each team’s dynastic aspirations. Both were major events that hurt the respective franchises. Loved your recounting of Mitch’s brief career with the Lakers. I remember the newspapers talking about how bad his knee injury was and the thinking was that he was through. And you are right that Mitch is exactly what the Lakers were trying to find. He reminded me of Rudy LaRusso. I thought Garbo would have been perfect. Maybe Josh Powell will pan out. Hopefully, we won’t need him.
I also agree 100% with your comments regarding Sun Yue’s potential. I probably didn’t like Livingston because he was a Clipper and I got sick of AK always pimping him (JK, Andy) but Livingston was only 6-7 and while a good defender, ball handler, and passer, he was another Rajon Rondo, a guy who couldn’t shoot his way out of a paper bag. Sun Yue is a genuine 6-9 with long arms, excellent speed, athleticism, ball handling, passing, and a much better stroke than Livingston. He appears to have excellent shot blocking timing and skills. And he has not had a devastating and probably career-ending injury. Otherwise, the Clippers would have never cut the ties and the Lakers or some team would have picked him up.
I like your idea of the Star Trek treatment. Kind of prophetic since I have been watching the old Star Trek movies the last couple of nights. One of the benefits of being as old as I am and having watched literally almost every watchable movie released is that you forget them easily. It’s not like never having seen the movie before but it’s not like watching a rerun because most of it is new. I am introducing my grandson to Star Trek since he has recently become a big Star Wars fan. It’s really amazing watching his face during parts of the movies and remembering being just as entranced by it. Long time SciFi fan. Enjoy the weekend, h. Thanks for the great post.
Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | August 29, 2008 at 10:42 PM
LakerTom,
Old movies and old books are worlds to escape to. Generation X, Y, and Z...only know "Harold and Kumar"...they don't know about Bill and Ted. I watch movies over and over because I get something new each time. Star Trek, especially TNG was great because they always had 3 story lines running simultaneously. I love the analogy of the original Star Trek's similarities to Melville's great Moby Dick, which is one of the books I constantly read over and over. The author's ability to describe people and things and places is magnificient. J.K. Rowlings can got to Hill for all I care, I hate to see people rave about garbage, before her there was the lawyer guy who only knew how to write about lawyer characters, and then there was Mr Brown I believe who wrote about JC and his Merry Men, 'cept perhaps one??? c'mon, even I can take the white pill and go Kerouacian....back to whales and starships....The captain always putting his ship and crew on the brink of disaster in chase of some personal agenda. The White Whale for Ahab, the Klingons and the Romulans for Kirk. I declare it ok to go off blog topic because this blog is about to end...I believe the other Laker that was a thug was Landsberger, the 80's version of Ronny. I'm watching the series "Enterprise" the last Trek series, with Scott Bakula who I hated in that other series about time travel, but I loved in Star Trek. Chill with the family, LakerTom, I guess I'm the loser, but I'm done with my work for the night. So off to have one of those "Inner Light" dreams (ST-TNG), where it seems you live an entire life in the blink of a dream. What's paradise like? Well Laurie Anderson says "It's exactly where you are right now, except much, much better".
Funny cuz, earlier, in response to our contemplations of Sun, someone compared him to Doug Christie, alluding to a failed career, well darnit, Doogie, used to be one of my favorite players. I didn't go to Pepperdine, but I did go to another SoCal college,...do you remember the Hank and Bo show, the left handed free-throw, making the final 8 in the NCAA March Madness. Let the other team dunk so we can shoot a 3, now that was the good old days, I'm still laughing about how Westhead tried it in the pros. And he even had the altitude advantage in his favor as well!!! His players just didn't want to run, even on offense, you know, they loved the f' the defense part. Then I went to see AC in college. I hated the school, and their basketball program then, but now as I reflect Ralph Miller was "old school", I can't imagine how Gary Payton handled 4 years in Corvallis, Oregon. Being told what to do by a coach such as Ralph Miller. I went back 2 years ago, to double check to see if I did graduate. It's the same, it's a nice small town. BTW, the fact that GP played under Ralph Miller is proof positive that he had no anaphylactic allergic reactions to the triangle offense, because the offense that they ran at OSU was very structured, I remember alot of pass to the high post and back cuts, very structured offense. When I heard he was going to play for the Lakers in the triangle, I thought natural fit. Karl Malone, I did not feel had the right background for the offense, well, that was history anyway, and in the end it was always KB24's fault. Here rookie, we need you to drop some threes to win this playoff game....great coach, DULL Harris.....
Adidas, I meant Adios, I'm so lame, like my buddy LGC.
I'm a looooossssser.....but he's proof positive that abortion should be legal even if the child is born and lives in blogland. We still should be able to abort him. He's obviously defective. His mother probably got tums and thalidomide confused.
Posted by: humanomaly | August 30, 2008 at 02:39 AM
No brainer.
A healthy Shaun Livingston over Sun Yue anyday. Anyday.
We're talking a high lottery pick versus a late second round pick.
This discussion is ridiculous.
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | August 30, 2008 at 08:28 AM
humanomaly,
>>>>>I declare it ok to go off blog topic because this blog is about to end...
I agree. It’s the next tab to be deleted on my dedicated Lakers Blog connection. LOL. But we’ve done this before and it’s a lot of fun. You know you’re a hooked Lakers Bloggers when you haunt the old threads. And that’s what we’re doing – haunting the old threads, where freedom of subject rules and AK and BK don’t need to play Big Brother all the time.
You’re right about the parallels between Star Trek and Melville’s Moby Dick. There are numerous instances where the two bodies of work interact, including The Wrath of Khan, First Contact, The Doomsday Machine, Obsession. I loved the Laurie Anderson reference. While I have never heard it, I understand from a friend that she wrote an opera comparing Moby Dick and Star Trek. Moby Dick’s influence can be traced throughout the arts.
And I remember Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble like it was yesterday. Did you go to Loyola Marymount? Westhead was Dantoni before his time. I thought it was ironic that Magic and Westhead would butt heads, though in this case it was Paul who wanted to slow things down. It was almost like imagining Nash calling for Dantoni to be fired because Dantoni wanted to slow down the pace of the game. Westhead really blew his big opportunity.
At any rate, what was even weirder was the Lakers turning to Pat Riley, as assistant coach who had recently been Chick Hearn’s color man on Lakers TV and radio broadcasts. Sort of like McCain choosing Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential candidate. It worked for the Lakers but I doubt it will for the Republicans. The thought of a soccer mom one step from succeeding a 72-year old president is beyond scary.
AC Green. Now there is one strange dude in my mind. The perfect power forward and an excellent rebounder and defender. Probably still a virgin. Maybe not as strange as your boy Doogie, but a distant second. Or did you go to Oregon State. Corvallis is a SMALL town. Drive fast and it’s gone. And there is nowhere close to go. But I do like Beavers. LOL. Comparing Sun Yue to Doug Christie? I would be happy if Sun became as good a defender as Christie in his prime. I could pass on the missionary style of Christianity, however.
Time to go two tokes over the line. Enjoy the weekend off, h. What’s your first name, if you don’t mind. Go, Lakers!!!
Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | August 30, 2008 at 12:44 PM
to Jon K.
or whoever posted pick positions as a sign of destiny...
Shaun Livingston was picked for his potential, I did not or ever did see any lightbulbs turn in my brain when I saw him as a Clipper. When I first saw Magic, I was confused, I mean we had Norm Nixon already at point, and along comes this gangly guy really didn't dribble all that smooth....then it clicked...someone else had already seen the light on Magic, personally, I did not watch him in college.They nicknamed him "Buck", Norm said he did because he was like a outa control deer on the court, the reference also means something which eventually forced him to retire. Someone explained that one to me later. Shaun was just a potential player in the United States, where we at now 300 million, while I'll put this one to challenge. The Lakers drafted him, but maybe never knew if they could get him to leave his home, That thought alone drops him by a few picks, then another thought to think about, he's one of the best players in a country of 1 billion on top of our 300 million...so I think, he's OK, If China thinks he's ok to put in so young, and unorthodox, to their style of play, I thinks he's got some game....and only time will tel;.
Lakertom, firstname is same as he who fleweth the spruciest goosiest.....LMU 75-79, OSU 80-83 and those aren't scores....those were the years my friend, we thought they'd never end........and the beat goes on......
Posted by: humanomaly | August 30, 2008 at 07:18 PM
humanomaly,
>>>>>Lakertom, firstname is same as he who fleweth the spruciest goosiest.....
>>>>>LMU 75-79, OSU 80-83 and those aren't scores....those were the years my friend,
>>>>>we thought they'd never end........and the beat goes on......
Pleased to meet you, Howard. I saw the Spruce Goose in the early 80’s when it was docked by the Queen Mary in Long Beach, one of my old stomping grounds, Belmont Shore. It was one big mother of an airplane. Hard to believe it could fly. What a weird combination, the Queen Mary and the Spruce Goose. I have a weird connection to the Queen Mary as it was where I started my first entrepreneurial venture – and no, not a Chinese restaurant. LOL.
It would take me too long to list all the schools I went to in my various academic pursuits but I would agree with you that “those were the years my friend.” I started in Berkeley in 1964 right when Timothy Leary was popularizing LSD and the Beatles and Dylan were creating the music that fired and fueled the 60’s. You should have been here when Edwin, Tsphere, and a bunch of us old farts were reminiscing on the music and drug scene of the 60’s.
I was in a masters program at UCLA in the early 70’s and played in several leagues in and around Pauley and Santa Monica. I probably played more pickup basketball than studying during the ten years I spent in college and graduate and law school. But those ten years were when I got married, met all my best friends, played my best basketball, and lived life to the fullest. You bloggers still in school, cherish every minute of the “best times of your lives.”
I like Sun Yue and hope he can grow and become the type of point guard that the Lakers need – a sure ball handler, passer, and shooter who can play shut down defense and be a valuable role player on future championship teams. I’ll be rooting for him all the way.
Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | August 30, 2008 at 10:57 PM
wow c's fans are funny... I mean I guess I wud be excited to if my team had just now started getting some publicity sine 01 too... At first it was all talk, now I am convinced that real c fans don't exist, there are just like Knicks and Giants fans, only around for the shine... well c fns ur 15 secs is up go back under that rock u have been under since 01, now that u have gotten some time to stretch your legs out, time to get back in position....
Posted by: Mr Marvel | August 31, 2008 at 03:29 PM
I have been off the blog several days now due to medical issues and have been expeiencing a lot of pain issues. I came to this thread because of the subject matter and will have to go back and do a lot of reading.
I still owe Hugo er KBblitz a response and I copied his post onto word until I can get back to blog full time.
JLF
========================================
Someone just gave eternal optimist Laker Tom a huge jug of happy juice.
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Jon K. | August 28, 2008 at 12:00 PM
I drank from that jug too!
JLF
=========================
LakerTom,
You are one positive dude. Let's see who would I rather go have a drink with?
MikeT thinking whitey is racist and Kwame is Gods gift to mankind and Bynum is Fools Gold
or
LakerTom who thinks the Lakers might be unlucky this year and lose 1 game and Bynum is really King Kong in a Laker uniform.
Tom you win out I like positve people and avoid negative jerks.
We both agree on 2 things....Bynum is the key to the Championship this year and yes he will get the max this year. Your point is valid they will never let him get close to free agency. You lock up this kid now at 21!!!
BD
Posted by: BD | August 29, 2008 at 08:50 AM
I agree and make that 3 who agree.
JLF
============================
Posted by: JustaLakerFan | August 31, 2008 at 07:52 PM
I for one have stopped visiting this blog a lot more this summer JUST BECAUSE of Let's go C's stupid childish posts, it gets exhausting trying to wade thru his post's to read the intelligent posts. It's not like he posts once or twice per topic, I have him measured at the #2 or #3 poster by volume on this blog. I think the Laker blog community should force AK and BK to remove him. With an organized boycott if necessary. If they want to run the blog and have just him talking to himself more power to them.
Posted by: tomK | September 01, 2008 at 10:30 AM
JLF,
Thanks for the support. Sorry to hear you’re under the weather.
Get well soon. There never are enough sane voices on the blog.
Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | September 01, 2008 at 01:35 PM
The Lakers need to go after Livingston. He is a Phil Jackson kind of point guard long and athletic. They can get him for next to nothing right now. The Lakers really need to look @ him.
They need to get bigger and faster @ the point guard spot.
Posted by: Chris Thornton | September 02, 2008 at 08:25 AM
JLF,
Thanks for the support. Sorry to hear you’re under the weather.
Get well soon. There never are enough sane voices on the blog.
Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | September 01, 2008 at 01:35 PM
=====================
LakerTom
Thanks and same to you. Sane blogger.
Posted by: JustaLakerFan | September 03, 2008 at 05:28 PM
Kobe is the best player in the NBA hands down. He went to the redeem team and sacrificed offense to play D and lead the team the way it needed to be lead and in the one game, the big game, was the Mamba when it counted with Lebron on the side because he didn't get the same beneficial calls he gets in the NBA every night. By the way, for all those who say Lebron is better, answer this, who would you have wanted shooting those shots in the 4th in the Bejing..
Posted by: Ramsey | September 03, 2008 at 08:57 PM