LAKERS OFFICIAL END OF SEASON THREAD: IT WAS FUN! THANKS FOR THE RUN LAKERS! LAKER FANS STAND UP!

[pinoy baller]

^
good read

i agree 100%

 

[la laker devotee]

Damn 4-8 weeks is tough.



Kwame to the rescue :S

 

[jbone2308]

Man every year Kwame is hurt. We actually need his defense but this guy is a waste.

 

[Lizakers]

i pray that we stay healthy all year from now on....if we do, then anything is possible
our full team can beat anyone

 

[darthska]

^ Yes, please pick me up one, if you don't mind.

Since yo've already bought one from Staples, how much do they run? I'm thinking $10 or under.

 

[CP1708]

Double Post.

 

[tupac003]

Love that article. I was thinking the same thing this moring. Any laker celtics match would be good for the nba. The history in that match up is great.

 

[tupac003]

Kobe Bryant's plan was to get treatment over the next three days on his left shoulder. Bryant suffered a contusion toward the end of the first quarter whenhe hit and then bounced off the Pepsi Center court during Wednesday night's game against the Denver Nuggets. Bryant got treatment in the locker room fromLakers trainer Gary Vitti and came back and played. "I got back in the locker room, took a look at it and realized it wasn't something that was goingto be too serious," Bryant said. "It's just sore." Press-Enterprise

Chris Mihm still suffers from inflammation in his right foot, the same foot he's had ankle surgery on twice. "I know I'll be treatingthis foot trying to get it back right," Mihm said. "We've got a couple of days off before we play so I should be OK. I just need to stay on topof it all season." Press-Enterprise

Could it be that trade-seeking Kobe Bryant has warmed to his teammates and is actually enjoying playing for the Lakers? It sure looks that way. Maybeit's just his competitive zeal, but Bryant has given no indication that he's putting out anything less than maximum effort for Coach Phil Jackson, thenine-time All-Star showing his grit again this week by fighting through stomach flu and a bruised left shoulder to help the Lakers sweep a two-gametrip. LA Times

 

[lamarownsem]

at Andrew.



I'm so glad we didn't trade him. I said during the off-season that we didn't need to make big moves because our improvement as a team would comewith the improvement of our players.



Look where we are now.

 

[darthska]

^ Yeah, I definitely didn't know he stood up and did a press conference. If so, that's a HUGE good sign.

I'd agree that 2 weeks at the MOST would be a reasonable expectation considering all the facts we have in front of us. And I'd be surprised if it waseven that long.

 

[darthska]

Sound's good.



You have PayPal, right?

 

[tupac003]

What we know for sure at this point is that Detroit has not ruled out bringing Webber back later this season. The Pistons would still have to shed a salary or two for luxury-tax reasons -- finding a taker for Nazr Mohammed remains at the top of their wish list -- but I'm told that they do remain open to a reunion. That's even though Detroit has begun to give minutes to slender shot-blocker Cheick Samb in its rotation of bigs alongside Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Jason Maxiell and tweener Amir Johnson. ESPN.com
Nazr Mohammed is out there...Chris mihm is trash. Maybe we pick him up if possible.

We are going to have to make moves this off season. Kwames 10 mil coming off the books. How much longer is odom under contract? I don't see how he is getting 13 mil.

 

[frenchblue23]

Damn, the hate for Odom came out of nowhere. All this "Odumb" nonsense is really unnecessary.

I like lamar. I am just sick and tired of him being in and out of games. He wow's us one game and then the next 3 games he scores 8 and gets 4 rebounds. It has to stop. He is talking all of this all star mess and he isn't going to come close with games like that.

^^ There's the answer.. The fact that he is getting paid, what?.. $14 Million per season.. to just show up every so often is unacceptable. He's6'10" small forward, and he riding the perimeter most of time, rather than take advantage of the smaller players that are guarding him.. Sometimes Idon't know where his head is at, he needs to use his length to his advantage.

And Stop taking 3's!! Because they always come up short.

 

[franchise3]

Seriously, what the hell is going on with the Lakers? Everytime I check the boxscore, they're blowing teams out left and right and putting up 110+ pointsup themselves.

And this dude Andruw Bynum is beasting. Summertime in that big man's camp paid dividends for real.

J. O'Neal who?

Madness I says.

 

[tupac003]

Alright so most of us have seen that kidd is unhappy right now. We all know we would have loved to play in la. So I am asking

Do we make a move for J. Kidd?


Edit Article from the other thread


Turmoil in the Swamp: The New Jersey Nets have lost six straight starting with the game in which Vince Carter sprained his ankle againstthe Boston Celtics. New Jersey won four of their first five before losing Carter - making them 4-7 overall.

While Carter's return may spark the Nets, Jason Kidd doesn't seem to think that'll be enough.

Kidd told The Star-Ledger, "Right now there is no light at the end of the tunnel . . . and healthy, we're the same team."

"We had him, but we're still losing," said Kidd, referring to playoff failures of the past three seasons. "I mean, the proof is in the pudding. It's there. You want to ignore it, you can ignore it. You can sweep it under the rug and hope for the best."

It's a bit odd he'd lambaste the team so quickly considering they've been without Marcus Williams, Darrell Armstrong and Carter.

Clearly Kidd is frustrated beyond just this season, because of the team's recent history - considering the team recently went to the NBA Finals twoyears in a row. Remember, he was nearly traded to the Los Angeles Lakers at last season's trade deadline.

While LA thought they were negotiating in good faith with the Nets (with a package built around Kwame Brown, Jordan Farmar and pieces) - a source close tothe Lakers describes a bait-and-switch in which Nets CEO Rod Thorn tried to push LA to include Andrew Bynum in the deal.

That was never a consideration for the Lakers and negotiations died on the table - leading to the infamous "Kobe Video" in which Bryant lashed outat his team for not dealing Bynum for Kidd.

New Jersey in turn had decided against blowing up the team and re-signed Carter to a multi-year deal.

Word from the East Coast is Kidd was very excited about the prospect of joining Bryant on the Lakers. The pair had a blast playing together this past summeron Team USA.
At this point there's no sense either team will revisit the discussion

 

[kobefan88]

this gives us a possibility to fill our roster with Webber. I guess real gm has an article about it, but the Lakers shot down that idea. I really think thatwe should replace Cook with Webber. I think Webber would be a real nice addition to the Lakers. It would give us a starting lineup of:

PG - Fisher or Farmar (doesnt matter, Farmar plays well of the bench)
SG - Kobe
SF - Odom
PF - Webber
C - Hopefully Bynum and not Mihm

Then that would give us a bench of:
Walton, Ariza, Mihm/Bynum, Crittenton, Farmar, Crapshoot, Turiaf.

Not only does the starting 5 improve (we finally get to move Odom back to the small forward position to create mismatches) But our depth seems to get betteras we replace Mo and Dook with Webber and Ariza, which I believe strenghtens our team overall. Yeah, Webber is old as time, but all he really has to do isplay his midrange game and grab 7-9 boards a game

 

[th0mas cr0wn]

yeah, it's crazy. when you look at it like THAT, the Shaq traded was THAT horrible.

Caron
Odumb
Farmar

 

[i nasmatic i]

Originally Posted by SoHi 23

Free agents for next year:
Trevor Ariza
Kwame Brown
Chris Mihm(I think he has a player option though)
Ronny Turiaf
Sasha Vujacic.

I say re-sign Turiaf, Ariza, and Kwame for cheap.
With Kwame's fat contract coming off the books, do you think we'll have enough $$$ to pursue
lets's say Ron Artest or Elton Brand?

naw, the lakers are still over the cap with all the money being owed to kobe, lamar, vlad, luke, etc.

lakers also have to extend andrew this summer (i think?)

in terms of re-signing players, turiaf needs to be brought back. ariza too as long as it's a reasonable amount. i say a 2-3 year deal for both playersworth $3-5 million per season each. kwame i'm indifferent about. if he can play solid defense, finish when open and rebound well bring him back for theright price. sasha i don't know. i'm sure critt could play back up shooting guard if sasha were to leave.

 

[eclipced]

When Ariza made a baseline turn-around fadeaway against the Bulls, Kobe got up from the bench and yelled "Yeah Trevor!". Kobe probably sees some goodpotential in this kid.

And like the duke above just said, Ariza needs to train with Kobe the next summer.

 

[frenchblue23]

Crittenton is slowly getting into the Laker rotation.

He's trying to do too much though, he needs to relax and play like he did against the Sixers.

 

[tupac003]

On a day when coach Phil Jackson tied his immediate future to the Lakers with a two-year contract extension, his players did their best to help him lose evenmore of his thinning hair in the first half. The Lakers made their coach squirm in his seat during an uncomfortable first half, but then stunningly rallied inthe third quarter and throttled the Denver Nuggets in a 127-99 victory at Staples Center. After trailing by as many as 17 points early in the second quarter,the Lakers scorched the Nuggets late in the half to pull within two points, then scored the first 13 points of the third quarter. That gave the Lakers adouble-digit lead that they never relinquished, and they also closed with a 46-point fourth quarter. LA Daily News

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he has agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension believed to be worth about $24 million, putting him undercontract through the 2009-10 season. The Hall of Fame coach announced his decision and discussed his contract situation before Thursday night's victoryover Denver. When asked if this was his final contract with the Lakers, he hedged a bit and didn't give a direct answer. AP/Boston Globe

When asked a second time if he was saying it's his last contract with the Lakers, he laughed and replied: "No, I'm not." The 62-year-oldJackson signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the Lakers in June 1999, and coached them to three championships before they lost to San Antonio in theWestern Conference semifinals in 2003 and were beaten by Detroit in the NBA finals in 2004. AP/Boston Globe

Jackson had expressed uncertainty because he's undergone two hip replacement operations since October 2006 -- the second one last June. He used a cane forfour months, including the preseason, and put off his decision to return twice before meeting with Lakers owner Jerry Buss this week. AP/Boston Globe

Jackson said his contract extension wasn't connected to whether Kobe Bryant stayed with the Lakers or is traded -- a subject that dominated the localpapers and airwaves for months after the two-time defending NBA scoring champion requested a trade last May. AP/Boston Globe

Asked Thursday night if it wasn't time for the organization to make a definitive statement that Bryant won't be traded this season, Jackson replied,flatly: "No." Why not, your serene highness? "I think Dr. [Jerry] Buss has stated maybe twice, once this summer and once again this fall,it's not our intention to trade Kobe," Jackson said. LA Times

Bryant's relationship with the front office is arctic. During the talks with Chicago, Bryant's agent, Rob Pelinka, reportedly steered Paxson away fromLakers GM Mitch Kupchak, who was deemed to be against a deal, to Jackson. The reality was there was no anti-trade faction. No one wanted to trade Bryant,including Jackson. LA Times

On Phil Jackson's extension: Lamar Odom called the news, ``awesome.'' ``He's a championship coach,'' Odom said. ``He's got a lot ofinsight, a lot of wisdom. His record speaks for itself.'' InsideSoCal

And how about the bench? Sasha Vujacic had a career-high 22 points, Luke Walton added 14 points, four assists and four rebounds, and Jordan Farmar contributed10 points, five rebounds and four assists. The Lakers totaled 52 rebounds and forced the Nuggets into 18 turnovers. LA Daily News

Yet Phil Jackson rejected the idea that his good relationship with Bryant,, and his commitment to stay through 2010,, might influence Bryant, - who can opt outof his contract in 2009, - to rescind his trade demand. "I think Dr. Buss has stated, maybe twice, once this summer and once this fall, that it's notour intention to trade Kobe," Jackson said. "It never has been our intention to trade him. "Since the season started a month ago ... there'snot been one iota of trade talk. It went up to a certain point and then the door closed and we've been going forward since that time." LA Daily News

Carmelo Anthony had 23 points to lead Denver (9-7), but was ejected for a flagrant foul on Vujacic with 6:18 remaining in the game. Anthony appeared to catchVujacic in the throat with his hand as Vujacic ran along the baseline. Under NBA rules, Anthony will be subject to a fine not to exceed $50,000 and/or leaguesuspension. Allen Iverson had 21 points and six assists and Marcus Camby had 11 points and nine rebounds, but the Nuggets never could regroup after Anthonyleft the game. LA Daily News

 

[sohi 23]

So Chris Mihm is injured again...


Mihm is out for three to four weeks
The Lakers center will be treated for an inflamed right Achilles.
By Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 3, 2008
The story of the Lakers and their big men -- one comes back, and one goes away for a while.

Chris Mihm will be out three to four weeks because of a sore right Achilles' heel, leaving the Lakers with Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum at center. In apinch, Ronny Turiaf can also play the position.

Mihm will undergo weekly sonar-wave treatment on the Achilles' heel, which is being affected by bursitis and inflammation, he said. Mihm has had his rightankle surgically repaired twice.

"It's been something I've been trying to avoid," Mihm said of the layoff. "We've pretty much exhausted every avenue to try and beable to speed the recovery on my Achilles while still playing. With Kwame being out the last four or five weeks, I wanted to stay active. Now with Kwame backand healthy, timing-wise it was a good opportunity here to try and do this. . . . "

Mihm is averaging 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 19 games. He had an 11-point, seven-rebound effort Dec. 4 against Minnesota but had played only three gamessince then.

"We're hopeful," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "It looked like he was struggling a little bit to play, so they felt there was somethingmedically they could do to help him out."

Mihm signed a two-year, $5-million contract in July to stay with the Lakers. The second year of the contract is a player option

 

[frenchblue23]

I'm not ready to forgive Mitch Kupchak yet...

But, he's looking very smart right now for NOT trading Bynum, for Jermain O'neal and/or Jason Kidd.

Still though, he traded Caron Butler for Kwame, so I will forgive u not!!

 

[darthska]

They still sell 'em?

I need a new D-Fish and one of those patches.

 

[johndaeyun]

Sedale Threat
Ceballos
Divac
Elden Campbell
Anthony Peeler
Tony Smith