KNOW THY ENEMY!!!!!!!!

Thanks AK / BK!! Good Work!!!!!!

dan

barney-

I'm not down on Mayo as a player, I just think he doesn't make nearly as much sense fit-wise in Memphis. They have a billion back court guys and NOTHING in the front. They could have used a good forward or big man.

When the Grizz went with Love, it made sense. When they traded him for a guard, it didn't. At least to me. Both ought to be good players, though.

BK

Love the reference to George 'the Animal' Steele. That was one hairy dude. Those were the good ole days of wrestling.

I like the way the Lakers looked last night. I think the high low game with Gasol and Bynum will be unstoppable once Gasol learns how to throw a good lob pass. That shouldn't be much of a problem.

I like how Lamar looks with the bench squad. I also like the way Radmanovic is playing as a starter. This should be the SF situation in my opinion.

Overall, a pretty good performance for the preseason.

Kobe's defensive mentality has carried over from the olympics; says 10 steals in 2 games. I hope that will be his focus this year.

Defense, defense, defense.....this is how we will win it this year. As a Lakerfan, this is where my focus is going to be as I watch every single game. Defense, defense, defense, defense, defense, twin towers + Kobe + Fisher should = Defense.

With Bynum in the middle, there's no reason why we shouldn't have the most feared, dominant defense in the NBA. It should be better than the Celtics.

With health, there will be no excuses.

Go Lakers!

Should see a lot of the opponents' "bigs" getting early fouls this season, with having to guard both Bynum and Gasol, followed by a lot of easy baskets for the Lakers.

Jon K,

It's funny, but the guy's not around much (if at all) to defend himself, so it's not really fair to mock along non-basketball llines. No big deal and we certainly weren't "offended" or "pissed off," but probably best unpublished. But points for clever.

AK

BK-

Gotcha, yea they definitely need way more front court players, but all their guards are very talented...They'll suck.

Lamar = 6th man of the year

GO LAKERS

AK,

I understand and I'm not upset about having post not put up. It's okay, but you might see how some people might get a little confused by the rules sometimes because even though my post may not have been in the best taste, I think it was still technically within the rules. Still no big deal.

GO LAKERS!

BK,

{Jon K. fighting every instinct to argue the matter}

Fine.

GO LAKERS!

Luke 2nd half play was a big improvement from the first half. But the pressure of failing at that tenure of the game was dramatically reduced by then ass well!

Wow, Jon musta said something pretty bad. The K-Bros don't even cencor the filthy mouth of the canibus hog!
--------------------------------------------------------

On another note, Phil is the man! Starting Vladi is such a smart move because it shows Ariza, Luke and Lamar how important good outside shooting is.

Imagine if Trevor starts shooting the ball well. Blend in his defensive tenacionsy, and we'll have the triangle forward of the ages!

ch

Eric M,

About those "three 3's":

In the game against FC, Phil inserted a lineup of Farmar and Mihm, along with Lamar, Luke and Trevor. That was an efective lineup because of the tempo they pushed. Phil then pulled Chris for Andrew and it was over.

THE THREE 3's!!
-Lamar
-Luke
-Trev

Gotta love it!!

dan

Hmmmmmm,

I NEED to see Jon K's post now because of all the publicity.

take care all.

janaya

"The Lakers are so deep in depth."

The definition of redundancy.

Ajax,

I can't even begin to express how much I've been sitting on pins and needles this week. You just know things are coming to a very ugly head. This season has grown ridiculously intense. And what a dark path Ronnie has gone down. He's becoming Vic, but with "100% pragmatism" substituted for "conflicted sense of morality."

AK

Hog,

Yes I was aware of the lineup. When LO is in with ONE center, he is playing the 4. He would only be playing the 3 if bynum and/or Pau and/or mihm were in at the same time and that didn't happen.

I prefer Lamar off the bench because now the ball is in his hands a lot more and the 2nd unit actually runs the offense. I think with the 1st unit a lot of times Kobe holds on to the ball to much and doesn't run the offense. Kobe is looking to create a shot for himself or for someone else, instead of allowing the offense to create the shot for them. The 2nd unit understands that.

Haven't had any time to do anything other than read some posts and scroll past the troll.

Some thoughts...

AK/ BK great Know Thy Enemy, I hadn't really read about any other teams aside from my hometown heroes and I found this enlightening. Something that you guys brought up in the Grizzlies section made me think:

"Actually, they're pretty damn bad, and any team playing with discipline against them should find some success."

This makes so much sense to me it was silly-fying. The Lakers seem to always play down to teams like this, last year being an exception, and it is this little observation that created a moment of clarity. The Lakers goof off against lower tier teams, they try to be too cutsie and end up in a dog fight when they should have mopped the arena with their jerseys. Everyone talks about playing down to the level of competiti9on, but never had it, in my mind, been put so succinctly. Well done.

Regarding the weekend games...

I thought in the first game, Kobe came out wanting to shut up the media and Phil. PJ had been taking little pot shots at Kobe's conditioing, and Kobe took that notion and fried it over medium and served it on sour dough, montery jack, sauteed 'shrooms and slice of soy meat. His game was tasty!

Gasol was very active, looks extremely sharp. Farmar had as good a game as I'd seen since mid last year, and he looked even better in the second game. I think that if he gets a little love from the refs, he could have a break out year a la (cringe) John Hollinger. Back to Gasol, he looks as good as he did in the first 10 games or so after he joined LA. His passing is on the money, he's moving and he and Bynum seem to have found each others comfort zone as far as spacing, which in hoops is just about everything when it comes to the triangle.

Bynum looked good passing in the 2nd game, I was not too impressed with his 1 st game, but I think Jermaine O'Neal brings out the Beast in Bynum, him and Shaq really seem to get the young lad pumped. Not sure why in Jermaine's case.

Kobe looks like he's found a nice blend of 2008 MVP Kobe and Olympic Kobe. I am really glad he didn't come into the new season firing from all corners, fading away, driving into masses of defenders, he's almost always playing in a 2nd gear speed, with a 6th gear mentality and he goes from 0 to 60 like nobody in the NBA. Skillzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Odom looks good off the bench. I hate to say it, because I love the dude and want him to be the best he can be. But he looks as good as Coop coming off the bench in the '80's. He's even got the socks going. His defense has been tight, very tight. He's got great footwork on the defensive end. I also don't mind if he wants to shoot those elbow jumpers, I've always thought he popped that shot well and had largely abondoned it since playing in Miami. Does Lamar have little suction cups on his fingers, he just reaches out that long arm and (schloop) he's got the ball. Sometimes he doesn't even jump. There's another big guy, or two, jumping...and Lamar just goes (schloop).

Fish seems to be cruising through pre-season, which is smart because we all know that he will bring the fire when the games are counted. His heart never needs questioning, as can be seen in his critique of the younger players line drills from earlier in the pre-season.

Bynum looks rustier than Mihm, which is a little surprising, but not a matter of panic. He is coming back from his first major injury, there is probably a small amount of personal concern and anxiety. He looks unsure when he gets the ball in the post, but is still moving very well without the ball. He has a great free throw stroke. His rebounding comes and goes, but defensively he still is making a difference.

Radmonavich looks like a new player. Sure he missed horribly from downtown last night, but that didn't stop him from playing good defense and rebounding well. It looks like he practiced defensive anticipation this summer. Not sure how one would go about doing that, but he has been moving into passing lanes very well and has been a force on the boards. His passing is probably one of the most under-reported things about this Laker team. Not that in and of itself makes an awesome headline...Vladimir Radmonavich looks slick handling the Rock. I like that he has set up a charity over here as well, good man.

Mbenga looks just like he did last year. Energy, hustle and blind fortune. I am amazed whenever one of his jump hooks goes in, he looks worse than Luke shooting.

Speaking of....

Luke Walton! Yes! He looks pretty good coming off a summer of rehab. His cuts are sharp and he is not as confused as he was last year. He had some early turnover laden games last year and I think he never really got back on track. Which is pitiful in a way, but, what are you going to do? In the second game, I thought Luke looked as good as I've seen him since early 07 when he led the league in 3 point shooting til they switched back to the old ball. He was rebounding inside well, he passed well, he made his funky white boy turn arounds that are absolutely UNGUARDABLE. Ok, that last part was over the top, but he did look really good.

Trevor is still a menace on defense. Seeing him after the summer makes me realize how out of sync he was in the Playoffs last year. Out of sync and still a step slow. He looks bigger, too. His outside shot looks about as good as Luke's, which is OK. I think he should get more rebounds, although, he is most effective as a perimeter defender and not too many rebounds come way out yonder, so that's a draw and possibly an unfair expectation.

The Blog might hate this next one: Josh Powell is better than Ronny Turiaf. There, I said it. He shoots better, he rebounds better and he plays as good off defense as Ronny did. IS he emminently likable? No, but who frickin' cares. If we had Josh Powell in last year's Finals, we don't lose Game 4 beacuse that guy BANGS. Me likie.

Finally...Chris Mihm. If ever the phrase, "He's on a mission from God." came into play it is in regard to Mr. Chris Mihm. He looks like he wants to tear the head of a weasel and eat it raw. He walks on that court pissed off and hungry and it is awesome. He's got lift, he goes straight up on rebounds, not over or to the sides. He played some great defence last night. He shot the ball well from about 15' out, rebounded well. it is so good to see him healthy again. He could be our secret weapon, along with Powell off the bench. And it'll keep Bynum working with a guy like Mihm playing the way he did last night. My only question...consistency.

Sasha was funny on TV when he was answering questions, but watching the game. He actually didn't answer some of the questions posed, just kept saying how he wanted to go out and play with his pals. He looks stoked to still be here.

I think that is what makes this team special, it is greater than the sum of it's parts. They like each other. They complement each other very well. Last night, and against FC Barcelona (whose owner is pretty cool), they looked like a team that plays with dicsipline. Not when Heath, Crawford and Karl were out there, but with the main 12 man rotation Phil's been trotting out there, it's looking good.

In pre-season.

Jon K,

"Celtics waived Darius Miles."

Don't even think about it.

Xodus,

Again I concur with you:

Jon K: Don't even think about Darius Miles. Heck he's even worst than Clipper rejects that you try to get to the Lakers hehe.

(To me at least, trying to get Clipper rejects is almost as bad as trying to get Trojan Basketball rejects. Maybe a few Clippers are good to sign like Powell but heck there IS a reason why the Clippers didn't want guys like Smush and Dan Dickau).

Warren,

I 90% agree with you. Powell is a better rebounder, seems to have better help defense, and has a better jumper than Ronny. Ronny though is a better finisher and is a better shot blocker.

Deep Depth as in our bench is very deep and talented hehe.

-blitz

FYI,

The Blazers play the Queens tonight on NBA TV if anyone is interested. I'm looking forward to doing a little scouting on Oden.

BK - I'm sorry to say I've got a HUGE problem with you. How could you say "Best Blog: 3 Shades of Blue is one of the best team blogs around."

What the....?????!!!!!

The LEAST you could have done was toot your own horn a little and give props to the Times blog & all of us. This other so-called blog may be good, but COME ON - you can't give them a shout out without even BOTHERING to mention all of us.

I FEEL DISSED and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Please don't let it happen again.

GO LAKERS!!!!

pslakersfan,

>>>>>Most of the Lakers flexibility of lineups comes from some use of Lamar Odom.
>>>>>How many teams in the league can bring in the same player off the bench
>>>>>regardless of which starter is in foul trouble. (I am guessing none).

Superb point. Players like Lamar, Pau, and Kobe, who can play multiple positions at a high level, make it appear to other teams as if we have more players suited up rather than just 12. Lamar playing 4 positions, Kobe 2, Pau 2, and even Sasha, Farmar, and Mihm 2 give the Lakers the equivalent of 7 extra players for other teams to have to deal with. LOL.
Tom

Jamie,
I agree that Powell is better than Turiaf; hopefully he'll get less PT, though, since if he gets very much it probably means that someone is injured.

LakerTom,

"Considering the prevailing “what have you done for me lately” attitude that has fans making uncalled for comments every time Andrew Bynum has a misstep and Jon K slamming Sun Yue."

None of the comments about Bynum have been uncalled for. It's true that he hasn't proven much in his short career and doesn't deserve a max deal.

BK - I know. It's just nice to hear it sometimes!