First (mild) injury of Lakers exhibition season: Steve Blake sprains ankle
Lakers guard Steve Blake sustained a mildly sprained left ankle after a collision with Sasha Vujacic near the end of practice Sunday.
"Sasha gave him a little extra push," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "It's a highly competitive drill we end with. These things happen."
The injury is not considered to be serious.
On the second day of training camp, Jackson had kind words for Blake and other Lakers newcomers, including veterans Matt Barnes and Theo Ratliff and rookies Derrick Caracter and Devin Ebanks.
"Every one of them has a part of their game that's a reason we brought them here," Jackson said. "Caracter's a tremedous offensive rebounder, and he's a real physical force in there. Matt showed some speed and quickness. Theo made some jump shots and blocked some shots out there. Steve Blake had a big influence on our practice today, just organizing his team. Devin Ebanks is very active and looks like he'll be a pretty good defender too."
Neither Kobe Bryant nor Andrew Bynum practiced Sunday.
-- Mike Bresnahan
Sashaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
Kobe needs to put his fanboy in check!
Posted by: mclyne | September 26, 2010 at 01:43 PM
Sasha is a grown man, going into a contract year.
Posted by: Humanomaly | September 26, 2010 at 02:23 PM
WOW... PJ's comment on the NEW Lakers players IS EXACTLY what they were brought for the Lakers: "Caracter's a tremedous offensive rebounder, and he's a real physical force in there. Matt showed some speed and quickness. Theo made some jump shots and blocked some shots out there. Steve Blake had a big influence on our practice today, just organizing his team. Devin Ebanks is very active and looks like he'll be a pretty good defender too."
I have really good feeling about this season's Lakers roster. This could be the best 1 through 14 Lakers roster, ever!!!!
Posted by: LakerPeace | September 26, 2010 at 02:29 PM
well, they say it's a minor injury....all good.
next season is the season to rebuild, so I want this season to be EPIC!
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Magic Phil | September 26, 2010 at 02:33 PM
well, they say it's a minor injury....all good.
next season is the season to rebuild, so I want this season to be EPIC!
GO LAKERS!
Posted by: Magic Phil | September 26, 2010 at 02:33 PM
The comment I read in post about PJ quotes on the new players...."Caracter's a tremedous offensive rebounder, and he's a real physical force in there." To me it sounds like he can be the energy force that Turiaf provided without all the excessive cheerleading.
Posted by: Humanomaly | September 26, 2010 at 02:37 PM
Wes - I hope you copyrighted your Scarface 2 idea...lol. If there is a sequel it'll probably be Tony's son growing up to follow in his dads' footsteps.
Posted by: LRob | September 26, 2010 at 02:59 PM
@CYBERCOSMIX… Thanks for your comments and praise. Needless to say, I could have cut and pasted the comments and sent them right back to you. We definitely see the Lakers through the same purple and gold glasses. It was also good to see you giving LakerMike a high five, especially since he hijacked your blog handle while you were away. :-) The one postscript I would add to LakerMike’s superb post is the now known fact that the reason Drew suffered additional damage to his knee that will require more time to heal was by opting to play hurt during the playoffs despite being advised that he could not injure the knee further by playing. My question for the Bynum doubters and bashers is this: would you have preferred that Drew opted to have his knee operated on and missed last year’s playoffs but was ready for this year’s training camp? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@LEWSTERS…Excellent response to Troll Man. One paragraph that jumped out at me in the article he cut and pasted was this” “But even so, this recent injury report is frustrating news to any Laker fan. This is the fourth consecutive season that Bynum is dealing with a significant knee injury and it's only his sixth year in the league.” This woman needs to realize that the main reason Drew is not ready for camp is that he suffered additional damage to his knee by playing hurt in last year’s playoffs.
~
You would think most Lakers fans would give Drew a break, especially since his owner, coach, and teammates all appreciate and support him. The most disappointing aspect to me were the posts from Lakers fans who used to be Bynum supporters announcing that they no longer believe in him as our center for the future. Hopefully, these fans are just frustrated and reacting on the spur of the moment and will be screaming and jumping for joy when a healthy Drew leads the Lakers to a three-peat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@MUD… “according to some at SS&R, they didn't remove the damaged bit of Drew's miniscus, but were able to repair and save the broken bit, which takes much longer to heal(3-4months instead of a couple of weeks), but makes it less likely that he'll be bone on bone in a few years. this may actually be very good news and worth the wait.” Excellent point. I would think that any Lakers fan would see the benefit of Drew missing November if it improved the odds that he would be able to stay healthy. Of course, I’ve been wrong before. By the way, after puddle, I’m now wondering how mud is.
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TOM
Posted by: LakerTom | September 26, 2010 at 04:20 PM
Has this been lnked yet? From ESPN:
""Steve Blake had a big influence on our practice today just organizing his team," Jackson said. "They're actually the team that had the lead [in the intrasquad scrimmage] before he went down."
At least the 65-year-old Jackson is looking spry.
"He looks better than he did last year," Bryant said about the coach. "He looks great. He has a lot of energy; he moves around extremely well. He looks good."
As the team is integrating five new players into the roster from last season, the breakout star in the early going seems to be second-round draft pick Devin Ebanks, selected No. 43 out of West Virginia, who is in camp on a partially guaranteed contract. He received a stamp of approval from the offensive maestro Bryant on his scoring ability ("I think Ebanks has shown a lot of promise in terms of versatility in terms of the things he can do offensively," Bryant said) and from former Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest on his skill at disrupting the other team's offense as well ("Devin is a really good defender, people are going to be surprised when they see how he can play defense," Artest said.) Jackson got in on the praise as well: "Ebanks was very active, very active and it looks like he can be a pretty good defender too."
Wes
Posted by: wes | September 26, 2010 at 04:27 PM
So it's the 2nd day and Blaker is already running circles around Fish?
In other news, JF just got the starting gig over in NJ along side Melo. Now wait, who'd we get in return for him?
Posted by: Tim-4-Show | September 26, 2010 at 04:33 PM
Fans who hate on Bynum who's trying to recover from a knee operation are fake fans.Real Lakers fans support our players not tear them down.
Posted by: rondo | September 26, 2010 at 05:34 PM
This is for the person JUSTA HATER on your post. Are you aware that FBI is watching you since Hate is a crime. God gets angry at you evil doer and wickness so if you don't have nothing to to say don't say because you are not the judge here. People like you need to be in hell with the devil your master. I hope you do serious time out there. Go lakers and may the best team win the cup.
Posted by: George | September 26, 2010 at 05:52 PM
@ CYBERCOSMIX . . .
I think I owe you a big apology. Over the summer, in MagicPhil's renegade chatroom, somebody commented about a "previous Laker Mike". I asked around and got the impression that maybe I had assumed a name somebody else was using. But I was unsure.
Beginning with the playoff season of '06 (7 game collapse versus Suns), I had been reading the blog. It wasn't until a year or so later that I starting contributing. At that time, I did not remember seeing that name. IF I HAD, I WOULD NEVER HAVE USED IT!
Now, years later, I read this by my fellow Laker patriot, LakerTom: "It was also good to see you giving LakerMike a high five, especially since he hijacked your blog handle while you were away. :-)"
PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGY! You had the name first obviously. Please ask MM for my email address. We can use that communication to organize an orderly return of YOUR name to YOU.
Of course, Mrs. LakerMike will remain in my possession! :-)
Mike
Posted by: LakerMike | September 26, 2010 at 05:59 PM
Just got back home from a BBQ...man we have a mini heat wave here in Vegas...
Well I almost fell off my seat, seeing the headline of this new post...
HEALTH is our X Factor this year...
Luckily it's just minor...
Love the comments from PJ about the new guys...It's one of the things I am really anxious to see this year...
@LakerMike - of course Mrs.LakerMike stays with you...lol...will she keep her maiden name, or change to your new handle...By the way...we consider you LakerMike...keep it the way it is...and I love Cyber's handle now...so it's all good...
@wes - The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin...is the feature movie for me and the wifey tonight...
@Hater - yes we are drinking the Purple Kool Aid...but better than all the Heat players drinking Mojitos every night in South Beach...this party scene will be the downfall of your team this year...LeBron is still immature and a young kid with his posse...Until he stops thinking he is Vincent Chase, he will never go all the way in the Association...
Lakers Dynasty - The Next Generation
#17 Coming Up...
Posted by: LEWSTRS | September 26, 2010 at 06:25 PM
This blog with self IMPLODE, it will be ARMAGEDDON up in here.
Posted by: JUSTA HATER | September 26, 2010 at 05:25 PM
*****
Actually, it's REVELATION in this Blog...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yT8d5oSQVs
Lakers Dynasty - The Next Generation
#17 Coming Up...
Posted by: LEWSTRS | September 26, 2010 at 06:51 PM
How is Luke Walton
Will he be participating in practive at all
Posted by: Cl;aude Johnson | September 26, 2010 at 08:10 PM
Luke Walton practice and Phil said he thought he looked fine
MM
Posted by: Mark Medina | September 26, 2010 at 09:21 PM
MM, There appears that you're having a problem with my posting on the present and previous thread. Actually you or you're assistance have remove some of my comments. I've made it a point not to personally attack other poster and being respectful of the Lakerholic. Being refer to as a "TROLL" I think is great smack, I mention it on the Heat blog everyone thinks it's pretty funny. If you want to contact me on my email I'm open to converse with you, regarding censorship matters.
I was a die hearted Lakers fan since 71 and still enjoy watching them play, their just number two in my heart.
Sincerely,
Justa Hater
GO HEAT next NBA CHAMPS
Posted by: JUSTA HATER | September 26, 2010 at 09:22 PM
Sounds like things are going as expected so far. I have high hopes for what Steve Blake will mean to the Lakers - hope there's no swelling on that ankle...
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