[::2009 Champion LAKERS OFF-SEASON THREAD Vol. Boring Non-News Days Causing In-Thread Tension::]

[westcoastsfinest]

it sucks cause these packages commemorate the teams the bulls beat in the finals...so idk if i support my teams failure by wearing these j's

 

[frenchblue23]

Originally Posted by CP1708

Anyone cop the Laker 1's?

I had them in my hand, 70 bucks, and I didn't pull the trigger.

Those 09 Hall of Fames aren't too shabby either, but another pass.......

The hell is happening to me?

You're talking about the High ones with the strap right?

I myself have not been buying any J's since the XX3's, in fact my collection is almost extinct. I moved on to Kobe's line.

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by FrenchBlue23

Originally Posted by CP1708

Anyone cop the Laker 1's?

I had them in my hand, 70 bucks, and I didn't pull the trigger.

Those 09 Hall of Fames aren't too shabby either, but another pass.......

The hell is happening to me?

You're talking about the High ones with the strap right?

I myself have not been buying any J's since the XX3's, in fact my collection is almost extinct. I moved on to Kobe's line.

Yeah, the high top 1's with the strap.

West, that ain't even the 6 rings you showed in them pics, those look like air force fusions or some @#$%

 

[lalakerfan213]

I have both low top 1's, but haven't gotten the high's yet.

 

[frenchblue23]

Originally Posted by CP1708

Yeah, the high top 1's with the strap.

West, that ain't even the 6 rings you showed in them pics, those look like air force fusions or some @#$%

Gotcha, they are not bad at all. For $70, I would have pulled the trigger. $110, not so much.

 

[kenji714]

those low top 1s can be purchase off Ebay for 50 . I got the black green low 1 a few weeks ago

 

[kookcle]

Andrew Bynum is "doing well", "feels great" and apparently did not hook up with Orlando's Dwight Howard over the summer, according to his agent, David Lee. Bynum had mentioned during the NBA Finals that he might train with the Magic center.

Lee told me in a phone conversation Tuesday that Bynum has been working out in Atlanta all summer, where he has an established training base and the place he has migrated to during the off-season for the past several summers. That's also why there has been no sightings (or stories) of the young Lakers center in and around L.A. the past three months.

"He's doing great, he's fine, there aren't any problems," Lee said. He was referring to Bynum's troubled knees.

Lee said Bynum would be back in Southern California on Sept. 18, 11 days before the Lakers open training camp.


I was hoping he would.

 

[kenji714]

Originally Posted by Kookcle

Andrew Bynum is "doing well", "feels great" and apparently did not hook up with Orlando's Dwight Howard over the summer, according to his agent, David Lee. Bynum had mentioned during the NBA Finals that he might train with the Magic center.

Lee told me in a phone conversation Tuesday that Bynum has been working out in Atlanta all summer, where he has an established training base and the place he has migrated to during the off-season for the past several summers. That's also why there has been no sightings (or stories) of the young Lakers center in and around L.A. the past three months.

"He's doing great, he's fine, there aren't any problems," Lee said. He was referring to Bynum's troubled knees.

Lee said Bynum would be back in Southern California on Sept. 18, 11 days before the Lakers open training camp.

I was hoping he would.

Dwight probably still salty or Bynum just too cocky now that he got a ring

 

[dyyhard]

Originally Posted by westcoastsfinest

^^^what happened against the serbs?...our boy pau got owned or what?


hey kenji u wanna go car shopping with me?...im thinking about getting a cadillac escalator

i think that was paus first game back. the whole team got outplayed and pau didn't start and was inserted in the 1st or 2nd qtr. they'replaying in the final round and beat england. pau came back with 27 and 11.



POL - British upset-bid falls short against Spain
WROCLAW (EuroBasket 2009) - Great Britain almost pulled off one of the biggest upsets in EuroBasket history but lost to Spain on the second night of Group C play in Warsaw.

Huge underdogs in their first-ever appearance in the tournament and beaten by Slovenia on Monday, Chris Finch's team fought back from a 16-point third-quarter deficit to lead tournament favorites Spain 73-69 with 4:58 to play.

However Pau Gasol, the MVP of Spain's 2006 FIBA World Championship gold-medal win, hit a three-ball to put Spain in front at 74-73 with 3:08 to go and they pulled away for an 84-76 win.

"Every day that we step on the floor, we try our best," Finch said.

"We're here to learn and we are learning quickly. We learned a lot of lessons so far and we hope to apply them."

Spain, who were just 26 of 40 (65%) at the free-throw line, would have lost this game had it not been for Gasol, their 2006 FIBA World Championship MVP who decided after helping the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Finals to play for his country this summer.

He only made 11 of 18 at the stripe but still finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds (both game highs), and his go-ahead three-pointer was arguably his team's biggest shot because Spain never trailed again.

Britain's Jarrett Hart, meanwhile, was a revelation.

He led his team with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Mike Lenzly scored 14 and Nate Reinking 10.

"In the final quarter, we made a great comeback thanks to some good defense," Reinking said.

"We unsettled them but then down the stretch, they came back and increased their pressure, too, and we weren't getting as much movement in our offense the same way as we did earlier.

"This is a bittersweet result because you want to win against every team. If we upset Spain, the world champions, we knock them out of the tournament."

Britain must beat Serbia in the last Group C game for both sides on Wednesday to stand a chance of progressing to the Qualifying Round.

Serbia weren't able to follow up their win over Spain with a second against Slovenia, who rolled to an 80-69 victory and also got important minutes from Matjaz Smodis who had missed the past several days with back and knee injuries.

Slovenia coach Jure Zdovc engineered a famous triumph against his former coach, Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic.

When asked about the victory over his former mentor, Zdovc said: "I'm very happy to sit up here with him (in the press conference). I'm very happy. It's just one game. I hope we will play many more games."

Ivkovic said there was no chance that his teammate would look past Great Britain.

In Group B, Germany gave their chances of reaching the Qualifying Round a shot in the arm with a 76-73 victory over Russia, the team that had beaten Latvia in their opener.

Jan Jagla had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Germany.

France got 23 points from Tony Parker and defeated the Latvians 60-51 to seal their place in the next phase of the EuroBasket. The Latvians have not been eliminated and may still advance with a big win over Germany.

Greece are in the Qualifying Round from Group A after beating Croatia 76-68 to improve to 2-0 and leave Jasmin Repesa's side at 1-1.

F.Y.R. of Macedonia, hammered by the Greeks in their opener, bounced back to claim an 82-79 victory over Israel (0-2).

Israel must win against Greece and hope the Macedonians fall to Croatia.

In Group D, Poland were spurred on by their fanatical fans for the second night in a row and beat Lithuania 86-75 to advance to the Qualifying Round.

Turkey, the hosts of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, joined them in the next round with a 94-66 demolition of Bulgaria.

Lithuania and Bulgaria will play each other for the final spot on offer from Group D for the Qualifying Round.

"We played terrible," said Lithuania coach Ramunas Butautas. "We had no defense, no offense. We lost our game.

"They played strong defense. They scored 20 points on fast breaks.

"We lost the battle on the boards.

"Now we have one final chance tomorrow against Bulgaria and we cannot fail."

 

[anygivensunday]

Did those lakers dunks just recently come out? Or do you have to cop online?

 

[westcoastsfinest]

Originally Posted by CP1708

Originally Posted by FrenchBlue23

Originally Posted by CP1708

Anyone cop the Laker 1's?

I had them in my hand, 70 bucks, and I didn't pull the trigger.

Those 09 Hall of Fames aren't too shabby either, but another pass.......

The hell is happening to me?

You're talking about the High ones with the strap right?

I myself have not been buying any J's since the XX3's, in fact my collection is almost extinct. I moved on to Kobe's line.

Yeah, the high top 1's with the strap.

West, that ain't even the 6 rings you showed in them pics, those look like air force fusions or some @#$%

nahh theyre called the jordan 1 phat low...just like the 6 rings these j's also commemorate the teams the bulls beat for their championships

 

[mcp4556]

where can i get lakers shoe at a retail store?

 

[2g00d4u]

"Give me a good pick, and we're going home with a W"

 

[notorious 858]

So here is how it went down with contract talks between Ariza & the Lakers this summer:

From ESPN:

That script began to be rewritten at the toll of free agency, 12:01 a.m. on July 1, one minute into the day after Ariza's birthday. He was still celebrating with family when he received a call from his agent, David Lee. "He said, 'The Lakers called, and they think you're worth only the midlevel,' " or $5.8 million a year, Ariza recounts. Technically, it wasn't even an offer. Says Lee of the Lakers GM, "Mitch Kupchak's exact quote was, 'We want Trevor on the cheap, and we're not going to make an offer. Find what the market will bear and come back to us.' "

Ariza was bummed. He'd been expecting something in the $7-to-8 million range, but he also knew the Lakers had committed $74 million to eight players, putting them well into luxury tax territory. And free agent Lamar Odom was still unsigned. "I thought, Fine, let's talk to some teams and see if anybody values me more," Ariza says. Later that morning, he headed to Vegas to cool out with family while fielding calls from suitors. The Cavs brought it hard. Mike Brown and Shaq phoned, LeBron texted, then met Ariza face-to-face. They eventually put a five-year, $33 million offer on the table.

But it was Rockets GM Daryl Morey who received the coveted dinner meeting that night. Like everyone else, Morey was taken with Ariza's selflessness, athleticism and offensive uptick, all of which made him a snug fit in Rick Adelman's free-flowing attack. But in his analysis, Morey, the league's top number cruncher, discovered something else, too. "We found Trevor's defensive impact to be at the top of his position," he says. "He was always our top free agent target, but on his defense alone, he was worth the money we had available for him." As he and Ariza were leaving dinner, Morey checked his voice mail. Ron Artest was LA-bound.

A few hours later, Ariza agreed to a five-year, $33 million deal with the Rockets, similar to what the Lakers had given to Artest. "We were surprised Trevor was available," Morey says. "We thought the Lakers would bring him back for sure." Ariza was pretty sure of that too. "If you'd told me I wasn't going to be a Laker, I wouldn't have believed you," he says. "You'd think they'd want to keep their team together. I mean, we won the championship, and I was a big part of it."

Kupchak insists he wanted the same thing: "It was our intention to keep the team together -- and that included Trevor." But free agency is a fast-moving target, and decisions need to be made. "Early on, we weren't able to agree on a deal," he continues. "If it doesn't look like things are going the way you want them to, you have to make a quick decision and go in another direction."

The feeling in some NBA circles is that Lee -- who had earlier been criticized for the public push he made to get another of his clients, the oft-injured Andrew Bynum, a max deal -- overplayed his hand in a down market. Still, the whispers are that only after talks hit an impasse and Artest became available at a bargain did the Lakers change course.

Either way, the shakeout created conflicting emotions in Ariza's now-former teammates.

"Trevor's a great guy and a huge reason we won," says Jordan Farmar. "But we all know it's business, so I guess we have to enjoy what we accomplished and move on." Even as the Lakers will miss his game and goofiness, they feel Ariza is on to something. "Trevor now knows how to win, and he'll be more assertive in Houston," says Lamar Odom. "I'll be seeing him in the All-Star Game soon."

That kind of bon voyage can bring a smile to anyone's face. Ariza, though, has been smiling since July 2, when he listened to this voice mail: "Hey, Trevor, this is Luis Scola. I would really like for you to be my teammate." At the time, he couldn't believe his ears. "I thought Luis was a jerk," he says of the Rockets' feisty big man. "Just because of the way he plays. But he's a real cool dude." Within hours, Ariza had heard from seven other cool dudes, some by text, like this one from an unknown number: "You beat us and won the championship. Now you can help me get one. Shane."
[table][tr][td]
[/td] [/tr][tr][td][/td] [/tr][/table]

 

[CP1708]

Keep dreamin Shane.......

 

[noblekane]

lamar on that funny stuff again? ill be seeing him in the all star game? neither of them fools making an all star team...

 

[hybridsoldier23]

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=152547275024&h=WnybA&u=KRCuZ&ref=nf

LAKERS: Lakers Training Update

Throughout the summer and particularly in the past few weeks, Lakers Director of Athletic Performance Chip Schaefer has been among the members of L.A.'s training staff routinely working with various Lakers players. Many of L.A.'s younger guys - including Luke Walton, Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic and Adam Morrison - have regularly been participating in strength and conditioning programs run by Schaefer.

Other players go through their own specific training regimen outside of the practice facility (i.e. Lamar Odom's boxing routine), but Schaefer and the staff monitor what each and every guy is doing. Accordingly, Lakers.com headed over to the training room to get a player-by-player update from Schaefer:

JOSH POWELL
Schaefer: Josh has been traveling in and out of town all summer (between North Carolina and L.A.), but every week I e-mail him his program so we can follow him from afar. That way I know exactly what he's doing, so when he gets back in L.A. we can hit the ground running. I already know where he is in the cycle phases, which varies from player to player.

Last year was the first time I had a chance to work with Josh since it was his first with the Lakers, and I found him to be among a handful of the most dedicated players we've had. He has a mantra of 'I'm just trying to get better' that applies off the court in strength training and some of the different things we do to try and keep him healthy. He's been in here first thing in the morning working with (Lakers advance scout and assistant coach) Rasheed Hazzard for his on-court work, then he comes in and goes full blast with me for an hour or hour-and-a-half every day. His programs are such that we're sort of peaking towards training camp, which means an increase in the intensity of the program as well as the volume. That means we may be doing more weight and fewer repetitions to try and get him in tip-top shape heading into training camp.

SASHA VUJACIC

Schaefer: As our fans know, Sasha left the Slovenian National Team about two weeks ago, and has been back in Los Angeles both rehabbing some of the knee issues he had and starting on some of his conditioning and upper body work that he has been able to do without limitations at all. He's been in pretty consistently since he's been back in town.

Just like with anyone else, the first thing we do when guys get back from out of town - whether it's with a player's National team or just working out on their own - is assess the level of fitness they're in and determine what they've been doing. For people like Sasha, who have been playing all summer with their National teams, they're going to come back in pretty good shape. As far as strength and conditioning, we do tend to create different cycles throughout the offseason and during the season, but we have some general principles that we apply in all our programs.

SHANNON BROWN
Schaefer: Shannon spent most of his summer in Chicago, but he's back in town now. Most of the stuff he likes to do is on the court, in addition to some bodyweight and core-type work and we're fine with that. You don't look at Shannon Brown and think, 'Boy we need to improve your power,' the guy is just freakishly gifted in those departments, so we don't want to mess with it too much. The biggest thing, and our priority on this staff, is injury prevention as much as we can. There's no substitute for having guys on that court 82 nights a year. That's our goal, every year, to have them dress for every game and not miss practice, because that's where they can really improve. So it's not all performance enhancement work … which we do … but also keeping our guys on the court.

KOBE BRYANT
Schaefer: One of the challenges that's presented with an athlete like Kobe - who obviously is fully dedicated to his health and his well-being 365 days a year - are all the off-court obligations that need to be fulfilled in a limited amount of time. It's non-stop. Therefore, it's difficult for him to get the consistent training that he'd probably prefer to get if it weren't for those obligations. That said, I don't know anybody that does a better job of doing it all. The last couple of weeks Kobe has been coming in and coordinating workouts very, very early in the morning. I don't know when he sleeps, but he likes to get his work done early. It's been mostly on-court stuff, including a lot of flexibility stuff, here at the facility. As talented as he is, what really separates Kobe is that he continues to strive his on-court skill work, and he never gets tired of the fundamentals. There's a reason why he is where he is.

RON ARTEST
Schaefer: We haven't had a chance to work with Ron yet, but we're looking forward to that. He's obviously a tremendous specimen and talent physically, and we're really confident that he'll blend right in with the rest of the team. He has been in to work out with Kobe early in the morning as well.

ADAM MORRISON

Schaefer: Adam has had a very good summer with us, with a little bit of travel as well. He was the only veteran to play with us in Summer League, and Adam did come to us last year with some lingering issues from that (ACL) reconstruction that he had in Charlotte. He's had some health issues related to that knee as well as some tightness and restriction issues in his pelvis, back and core, because he is a player that you look at and say probably could easily stand to gain maybe 6-8 pounds of lean mass to his frame. You don't want to overdo that, but he has a nice frame and I think that (the team) is looking to use him on the wing as a two or three, so he can afford a little increase in mass. Right now we're phasing into some general strengthening stuff into some speed and power, in addition to some movement enhancement things to try to work on his first-step quickness.

He's been pretty good about playing throughout the summer as well, working out with his private coach, and he's been very dedicated. It's been a good summer for Adam.

LAMAR ODOM
Schaefer: I understand that Lamar is doing some boxing, although I haven't had a chance to talk with him since his (re-signing) press conference. We're fine with that, the idea of doing some cross training and alternate work. At this level, when guys are getting to their 10th or 11th year in the league, we're together for eight months every year - hopefully - and there's a lot of basketball to be played. So when guys want to do something else to increase their work capacity and general fitness, it's just fine. Just a few weeks on the basketball court is more than enough to get that basketball specific timing and training back, so I have no problem with the type of training Lamar's been doing. I'm just happy to learn that he's been working hard.

PAU GASOL
Schaefer: We love the fact that guys are still playing basketball and staying fit in a competitive atmosphere, and obviously the European Championships feature a high level of basketball. These guys all have the luxury of being with teammates they trust, and staffs that we're assuming are very competent and aren't over-training the players, as with Pau in Spain. It's unfortunate that these things do lead to injuries some times, but you just cross your fingers and hope players come through healthy. In fact, sometimes playing pick-up games in gyms get raggedy, and players may be more likely to get hurt in that environment than under a structured environment with referees.

On the improvement in Pau's strength last season: Very late in the year, Pau made a comment to me that he'd done more weights (last year) than throughout his entire career combined. I laughed and said, 'That means you've either really worked hard this year or it speaks to how little you did prior to this year,' and we had a good time with that. But I give him all the credit in the world. He really made a decision dating back to June within hours after our disappointing loss to the Celtics two seasons ago, that he was going to dedicate himself to getting stronger. It was almost reminiscent of Michael Jordan making that kind of revelation in 1989-90 after getting thumped on by the Pistons for a few years, to be able to withstand those blows and play a more physical game. It was tough at first, because when Pau came back before training camp, we started out slow, as with a lot of athletes who haven't done much of that kind of training. Sometimes we had to nudge him into the weight room, but after about a month or so when he started to see a result, he liked it, and it became less and less difficult to convince him to do that work as the season went on. He became a fan of it, and I give him all the credit, because no matter what is suggested, the athlete himself has to come in and dedicate the time and the energy. He worked hard, and he and the team reaped a lot of the benefits.

DEREK FISHER
Schaefer: Derek is just such a delight to work with. He has a maturity and seriousness about him that I wish every player had, and he does a great job of sharing that professionalism with the younger guys. I'm knocking on wood that he goes another 82 (for the fifth-straight season), and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he did with his work ethic. He's very good about re-inventing things, because he discovers things that he needs to develop each year - whether it's core strength or flexibility in different years - and he's completely dedicated from a sports nutrition standpoint. They don't come any better than Derek.

JORDAN FARMAR
Schaefer: Jordan's been in and out this summer, having done some international travel that he's kind of taken to in the last few years, and he's still in the process of deciding what he most likes to do. When he first came in a few years ago, we had him on some traditional programs, and he may have gained

some initial lean mass but decided he wanted to be quicker rather than stronger, so we changed his program accordingly, similar to Shannon's. Jordan also discovered yoga a year or two ago, and really found that he likes that quite a bit. Those things aren't too specific to the power and explosiveness associated with basketball, but they are very beneficial to him. One of the things with guys is they have to feel good about the program that they're on. That's where some of the art comes in, and why we have 13 or 14 different programs for 13 or 14 different guys, because otherwise they're just going to go through the motions.

LUKE WALTON
Schaefer: Luke's been in and out of town, and we also communicate through voice mails and texts. He's been playing some basketball in local gyms as well as hitting a track here and there, which I'm not necessarily a big fan of without him doing some of his core and prep work beforehand. But he's been in working with us this week and we're starting to get up to speed.

ANDREW BYNUM
Schaefer: We do try and communicate with Andrew on almost a weekly basis. He did some international travel as well, but has created a base for himself to train in the offseason in Atlanta. He's there right now, but we're hoping to see him within a week or so. The reports that I have from Atlanta - I have a friend in the Hawks organization - are that he's working hard and was just playing in their gym the other day. We're hoping for big things for him this year.

DJ MBENGA:
Schaefer: D.J. loves to train and we know that he's been with his Belgian National team. I'm sure between the demands of the National team and his passion for training, he'll be reporting to camp in great shape.

 

[laker4lifeman]

Can't wait for this season and

at Ariza getting happy Luis called him.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

thats a pretty cool report...when did chip leave chicago and join the Lakers?

that ariza story is BS...i hate david lee

i miss ariza

 

[michaelfoooo]

Where do I get a sig?

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

I have to admit, I saw the article and raced straight for the segments about Sasha and Andrew. I hope they're better than last year

And after that I went to look for Pau, Shannon and Farmar.

 

[enrique23]

Originally Posted by Michaelfoooo

Where do I get a sig?

just copy and paste one







btw...did anyone go to the Grove yesterday to go see Fisher at the book signing?
i wasnt able to go

 

[michaelfoooo]

Sig check

Must be the worst Lakers sig, but it will do.

 

[hybridsoldier23]

Originally Posted by westcoastsfinest

thats a pretty cool report...when did chip leave chicago and join the Lakers?

Kobe

 

[percy.]

Anyone pick up Derek's book Character Driven: Life, Lessons, & Basketball?