Missing pieces, and an injured dude: Media Day audio and quote pulls

Hey all we need to do is keep everything in front of us and stay focus. If Ariza has been working on his shot he is the missing piece we have been waiting on in that Ric Fox mold. And Odom could hold down the Toni Kukocs role of the offense coming off the bench.. i know he would not really like to do that out of and ego stand point but with Odom coming off the bench playing Gasol who he has get chemistry with and Bynum in the 2nd unit would give teams fits.

AK/BK,

WHAT UP,

Live from Iraq, and glad to be back in the fold. Didnt think I would be able to chime, but technology is a beautiful thing.

Were Mihm and Jordan Farmar there at media day, how did they look? I have heard about Chris looking healthy from Phil, but what is the word on Jordan's summer. He worked super hard last year after we drafted Jarvis, what have you heard about the work he put in this summer. Can we expect another leap in his effectiveness? It appears to me that soon he will have to take the point from D-Fish, maybe sooner than we like, is he preparing for it?

Glad to hear the defense is the base of where we will start. I am still burning up inside about losing to Boston. The taste in my mouth is more like Sasha's. And they talked such trash all summer, even clowned us at the ESPY's in LA, I only want to see them in the Finals. Glad to be talking Finals again though. I cant wait for this camp to actually start.

You know its been great to have Luke all these years and I have always been a supporter, but I think it might be time to let him go quietly in the night when his contract ends. He stays hurt. I hate it for him, but we need bodies.

Basketball is back, all is right with the world again.

Has Kobe been drinking from the same cup as Laker Tom?

"We're the favorites for a reason," Bryant said. "That's one of the things I tell the guys . . . we've got all the tools here, we've got all the pieces to the puzzle, now it's on us to do the work. If we do the work, we should win it."

Welcome to the 'Glass-Half-Full-Club' Kobe.

Mamba24, I see a Bandwagon somewhere in that quote from Kobe.

Sign Fatty up and put me on the bus for that Figueroa joy ride in June. (Mamba24. I want an aisle seat if you can do it)

Fatty - Who says, "Nothing is going to stop the Lakers this year. We're going to ride that Purple and Gold bus down Figueroa and not stop till we get to Disneyland."

Lakers basketball - so close to being the start of the season I can taste it!

I went to the LAL/NOH game last April and what do I see? Trevor, out there with his broken foot, shooting. Shooting threes, over and over again. He was out there before anyone else, shooting with B Shaw. Here he talks about working on his shot again. I like it. He was showing how well he fit with this team before the injury, and now we will get to see it. Both he and Drew are hungry after sitting out last year. I can't wait to see how they will gel together as a team.

Sadly I will be moving the the waste that is AZ and having to hear about the Suns. Of course I will be getting LP and wearing my Laker gear EVERYWHERE. I even plan on getting Laker scrubs so I can rep at work. The Suns. *shudder*

For always and evermore, no matter what desert wasteland I reside in:

"I LOVE LA!!!!!"

GO LAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good morning Mamba24, Charles, Jon K and the rest of the morning CRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE'RE BAAAACCKKK!!!!!!!

AK/BK - thanks for the good stuff from media day. I know I'm about excited as I can get without blowing out blood vessels in my eyes!! FINALLY - Laker season has arrived!!!!

Mamba24 - make sure I'm rolling on the 60+ win bandwagon this year - I'm feelin it!

GO LAKERS!

SHACK showed up to media day in shape and looking strong. Something tells me that isn't what laker fans were hoping to hear, or at least, it proves that everyone who warned about his conditioning were dead wrong.

LOPEZ said his role model is the Ben Wallace of the lakers-detroit Finals. That should frighten you.

Porter is changing everything about the SUNS' D. No longer will the paint belong to anyone but the SUNS..

justanothermambafromanothamotha,

Do you reside in California?

>>>LOPEZ said his role model is the Ben Wallace of the
>>>lakers-detroit Finals. That should frighten you.

My role model is Thomas Jefferson. That don't mean I'm going
to become president, revolutionize agriculture, and write the
Declaration of Independence.

There's a large gap between having a role model and being
as good as that role model.

MAMBA 24,

don't forget about the 70+ win bandwagon. i'm driving that bus. there are many open seats, bandwagon should be filled up by end of season. =p

GO LAKERS

ps Bynum looks scary.

Man, its great to see Derek Fisher smiling again and being a leader.

Derek Fisher = Future Coach of the Lakers

GO LAKERS!

The AZCentral Funs board is a riot today.

BUTTLER is chock full of BS claims of grandeur.

From reviewing the videos:

1. Andrew Bynum looks HUGE!

2. To quote Trevor Ariza "I don't understand how people are going to be able to stop us." RIGHT THE FRICK ON!

3. To quote Chris Mihm "It's been six weeks since I've had to ice my ankle." If Chris is back, with Mbenga and Powell we are fricken DEEP at center. YES!

4. Kobe looks a bit antsy in his interview. I think he just wants to get at it and not be surrounded by journalists asking twenty questions.

5. To quote Kobe "Don't give me that 'Two Towers' nonsense! That's a Texas thing and I hate Texas!" Me too, brother. How about "The Tall Trees" or "The Gold Forest"?

GO LAKERS!

Have you heard what Odom said bout Phil pondering making him a 6th man:
"He must have woke up and bumped his head."

I'm personally dissapointed in Odom for saying this. He must realize that this will be an experiment that only happens if the Lakers struggle with him in the starting lineup.

Don't be a cancer Lamar!

damn...it looks like bynum is ready for war! let's do this!

Here's what the phx paper says about SHACK:

From the EV Trib:

"From their end, the Suns were happy to see the 36-year-old O'Neal come back for his first full season with them in good shape and, by his own estimate, at the same weight (between 330 and 335) he was at when he led the Lakers to the first of three straight championships. Shaq now says he's with a better team and a better coach than back then."

It's amazing that the Lakers organization is so good at rebuilding. One of the thigs that makes me proud to be a fan is that the Lakers never let themselves go too much, although I remember them missing the playoffs two times since I was a small child...
I think that Lamar Odom needs to take a good look at his talent and stop whining about coming off of the bench. He has a lot of nerve asking to start in front of players that played their hearts out during the championship, while he ran around like he was drunk or something - he played very lacidasically during the finals...

Fatty,

We need LakerTom optimism in the Wall Street than in the Lakers sidelines. Too much exhuberance on a favored team may not be clever if not mixed with hardwork. They need some challenges and trials before achieving glory. We said it all in this blog, overanalyzed each player, now it's implementation time. Preseason training and jelling are the ingredients of Lakers success, they need to improve their shooting percentages especially in the free throw line, review tapes of games and correct those flaws or bad habits of Odom's forcing through, Bynum's unnecessary fouls, Gasol indecisiveness or ackward defense, Fisher's inability to chase fast & young PG's etc. Indulging too much on Championship without preparation is akin to disaster.

PJ was right in considering Odom in the 2nd team. That was our weakness in the Finals, Odom was not fresh when he was mixed with Walton and Turiaf and others. In this scenario, Odom and Vlad slipped on the 2nd coupled by Sasha, Farmar, Mihm, I believe we have a sustaining force that either resurge or upkeep the lead established by the starters. I just hope PJ will stick to the best Laker players this year.

"Good Morning,

Anybody smiling in anticipation?

Posted by: Charles | September 30, 2008 at 08:21 AM"

Yes, :-)

Me: Hey Butler, I just won $50 million in the lottery, isn"t that great?

BUTLER: Great? Great? Do you have any idea how much you will pay in taxes? And now you need an accountant, investment adviser, etc. Man I feel sorry for you.

Me: Hey Butler I got the entire Swedish Bikini Team coming over to my house later, isn't that great?

BUTLER: Great? Come on man are you serious? Have you seen the price of condoms lately? Man I feel sorry for you.

Me: Hey Butler, I saw the Suns won their season opener last night, congratulations?

BUTLER: Yeah, I just made a down payment on my finals tickets. 82-0 who would have believed it?

DELUSION, ITS NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST ANYMORE...

I think the real question is, did Kobe and Pau talk about the Olympics at all.

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

Anyways, its good to see the attitudes coming in to training camp. I like it that Lamar isn't "cool" with going to the bench. That's the kind of confidence and a little pride we need. And lest we forget though, starting is overrated. So I'm sure PJ put that out there not as a decree from upon high, but as a feeler to see where LO is at and how to approach the subject of lineups.

The Beast looks like a monster. The one thing that I sort of didn't like from him was that he worked on a jumper of some sort. Meh. Hook shots and foot work would be more important to me. I'm sure its a non-issue, but I cringe at the fact that a center like him develops a jumper as an out. If he didn't have that option, he'd work harder at getting closer to the basket or maybe have an unblockable hook shot. But a jumper pulls a big out further...and that's a waste of height and space.

Otherwise no negatives. I'd like to see what Jordan has worked on since its his 3rd year now. I'd like to see him have develop a midrange jumper and bring back that floater, to keep teams honest. Defensively, he's likely to be a liability against thoes top tier 1s since he's fast, but not necessarily quick laterally. But the reason I mention him is because it a) time for him to show that he belongs to at least the mid-level echelon of point guards, and b) the point guard position is a position of relative defensive weakness for us.

Still, the teams defensive scheme is probably going to more important than what Jordan or Fish can give us. How the team will react to pick-and-rolls on the perimeter, especially with essentially 2 centers on the court remains to be seen.

Whew. I'm just glad the season is here. Last year, we stumbled upon the Finals. This year, the championship is ours for the taking; the Lakers WILL be ready to snatch it from whomever the East brings (it won't be the Celtics this year!!!).

Who gives a flying fig about Shaquille O"Neal's weight?

Jon K: We cool?

I admit that it wasn't just losing the Finals - but HOW WE LOST - that knocked me completely out of sorts and into that unnecessary beef with you.

I hope we're cool. I would like to resume my chaplain duties in peace knowing that the air is clear between us.

I wouldn't make too much out of L.O.'s statements... first they seemed to carry some humor with them (talking about P.G. hitting his head on a rock) and secondly, you wouldn't exactly expect a guy who's started every game in his career to relish the idea of coming off the bench.

Whatever role L.O. takes this year, I don't expect that he'll be causing team friction - it just doesn't seem his style.

Re: Luke, I'm hoping he'll have a solid season off the bench - not playing big minutes but filling a role. This will be his 6th season here and he can certainly organize a second unit on the floor and chip in 7 or 8 pts a game.

*_________________________________*
Najja aka Bonus The Blogs Man in IRAQ
GOD BLESS YOU BANDWAGON
*_______________________________*
(01) Mamba24 - Driver

pslakerfan,

Great post.