New Season Thread Made, Move on Over :)

Would love for Steve Nash to win a ring. :hat

He has been my third favorite player in the league (behind Ricky Rubio and LeBron)... always been a team-first guy, never complained, just quietly did his work and did it well. So badly wanted him to beat the Lakers in the 2010 WCF... that Jason Richardson three to tie it up, and then that Ron Artest dagger to the heart off of a Kobe airball. :{
 
Would love for Steve Nash to win a ring. :hat
He has been my third favorite player in the league (behind Ricky Rubio and LeBron)... always been a team-first guy, never complained, just quietly did his work and did it well. So badly wanted him to beat the Lakers in the 2010 WCF... that Jason Richardson three to tie it up, and then that Ron Artest dagger to the heart off of a Kobe airball. :{

Game 6 @ Phoenix that year Kobe took over and hit some incredible jumpers and fade away's with Grant Hill hanging all over him.That was the year he sent Steve Nash home crying.
 
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Eddie Jones is the reason why I'm a Lakers fan.

THIS!!!

EJ was my dude man...i was so sad when he got traded and even resented Kobe for awhile for "stealing" EJ's spot. Eventually got over it when Kobe started being Kobe, and the Lakers started winning lol

But i followed EJ's career through Charlotte-Miami-Memphis-back to Miami-then the painful end in Dallas. Dude was nice in Charlotte. That season after the lockout where he averaged something like 20 5 4 and almost 3 steals per game :smokin

He didnt really "fall off" in Miami like some of yall think. His 1st 3 seasons (including 03-04 where Wade was a rookie) there, he averaged about 18 ppg and was their best player.

Then they traded for Shaq and the emergence of another young superstar in the making SG sort of diminished his role (situation sounds familiar?). And also he was getting older.

He was still productive though..averaged almost 13 ppg i think in 04-05 with Miami and 12 ppg the following season in Memphis...all downhill from there though. Sucks he missed out on the Heat championship by a season :{
 
Game 6 @ Phoenix that year Kobe took over and hit some incredible jumpers and fade away's with Grant Hill hanging all over him.That was the year he sent Steve Nash home crying.

Okay? What are you saying exactly? :lol
 
Welp, guess I was wrong about Lakers-Thunder for Opening Night.
For Lakers, Jamison's hunger joins Nash's hope

Opening night is Oct. 30 against the Dallas Mavericks, whose Dirk Nowitzki is losing all the championship hope that longtime pal Steve Nash now suddenly can revel in with the Lakers.

Christmas is at Staples Center against the other big-money-market marquee team, the New York Knicks.

Revenge-in-the-air showdowns await against the Western Conference favorite Thunder in Oklahoma City on Dec. 7 and March 5 and in Los Angeles on Jan. 11 and Jan. 27.

And possible NBA Finals previews loom against LeBron James on Jan. 17 at Staples and Feb. 10 to close the annually epic Grammy Awards trip (Phoenix-Minnesota-Detroit-Brooklyn-Boston-Charlotte-Miami this time).

The NBA schedule won't be released until Thursday evening, but those are the Lakers' schedule highlights and the sort of action Antawn Jamison signed up for Wednesday – showing a self-described "skeptical" Mitch Kupchak that players who'll take less money for the chance to play big games and contend for championships still exist.

As if Nash hadn't already sent that message on July 4.

"Never in our wildest dreams did we think we could get either player," said Kupchak, the Lakers' general manager, "and here we are today."

At least Nash had the added motivation of geographic proximity to his three kids, who live in Phoenix. Jamison has four kids in North Carolina and passed up the opportunity to sign for more money – but more losing – with his home-state Charlotte Bobcats. For his part, the uncrowned Nash passed up more money but more losing with his home-country Toronto Raptors.

"I've been through the bad," Jamison said. "Now it's time to be a part of things that really matter. I'm a competitor. I want to win."

Everyone talks about wanting to win. Hardly anyone, when it comes down to it, makes it the clear priority over money.

For Kupchak, Rick Fox and Karl Malone are the two men who jump to mind for doing that definitively in the Lakers' past. Fox trusted the Lakers were about to win and win big, and his entire winning reputation wound up shaped by that faith; Malone, though, went unrewarded for his sacrifice to come with Gary Payton to the Lakers in 2003-04.

The Lakers have the mini-mid-level salary-cap exception worth more than $3 million per season – what they gave to Josh McRoberts a year ago – but they wouldn't offer it to Jamison, trying to manage their league-high payroll. So Jamision is taking the $1.35 million minimum salary for player of at least 10 years' experience – a wage Kupchak thought was sort of an insult to a guy who still averaged 17 points last season.

"I didn't really think he was a possibility," Kupchak said.

Jamison could've continued to be a starter and go-to scorer with Charlotte. Instead, he gives what was a woeful Lakers bench last season the No. 44 scorer in NBA history.

"I've started a lot of games," Jamison said, smiling, "and lost a lot of games as well."

Most of those games had sparse crowds and no playoff ramifications. That's why Jamison, 36, said he's more excited for this season to start than any since he was a rookie.

"I can't tell you the last time I had a televised game," said Jamison, who lived through the post-LeBron apocalypse in Cleveland and spent most of a 14-year career with dead-end Golden State and Washington teams.

Playing on TV isn't just about glamour or fame; it satisfies a player's sense of significance, too. Jamison has done that complex math and concluded that 33 minutes a game in Cleveland or Charlotte is not greater than half that court time in the Lakers' spotlight – where there's extra pressure to perform.

As far as money goes, well ... Over the past 10 years Jamison has made $129 million – or $10 million more than Nash has made in his entire 16-year career.

"I've done a lot of things," Jamison said, "but the one thing that drives me is to have my name associated with being a champion."

He will wear the No. 4 Lakers jersey recently owned by Luke Walton and previously by Jamison's Cleveland coach, Byron Scott. Jamison wants to become part of that Lakers prestige. It's not unlike how a long-limbed forward who recently anchored the Lakers' bench felt about representing "the Yankees of basketball" and overturning the personal stigma that he was a loser.

Like Lamar Odom, Jamison is a candy addict off the court. Like Odom, Jamison will benefit tremendously on the court from opposing defenses having far greater personnel concerns.

"It's been a while since I've had some open shots," Jamison said.

So Jamison can't stop smiling as his first Lakers season nears. He has moved beyond the playoffs' first round only twice in his career – and both times stopped there.

Whatever the 2012-13 Lakers wind up being, this much is refreshing right now:

They already value winning and appreciate this championship window a lot more than the supposedly hungry-again 2011-12 Lakers.

"Maybe going through what I went through has set the stage for this situation," Jamison said.
Link
 
Howard told Hennigan (Magic GM) during their meeting.. He would resign with Lakers at the end of the season... And he told Hennigan he has 3 options

1. Trade him to LA
2. Trade him to BK
3. Watch him leave
 
Howard told Hennigan (Magic GM) during their meeting.. He would resign with Lakers at the end of the season... And he told Hennigan he has 3 options
1. Trade him to LA
2. Trade him to BK
3. Watch him leave

thats good news.. i was expecting him to say, "okay, i'll give it another shot, because im feeble minded and i screwed myself over once, why not screw myself over twice?"

i hope hennigan listens, otherwise he's gonna lose his star player and gets nothing in return
 
Sources: Dwight Howard wants trade
Updated: July 25, 2012, 9:34 PM ET
By Ramona Shelburne | ESPNLosAngeles.com

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Dwight Howard reiterated to Orlando Magic general manager Rob Hennigan on Wednesday during a meeting in Los Angeles that he still wants to be traded and will leave as a free agent after next season.

The Magic considered the meeting as an opportunity to check in with Howard and brief him on their plans going forward, league sources told ESPN the Magazine's Chris Broussard.

Howard
Howard

The Los Angeles Lakers would seem to be a team that has moved on with their business as the Magic pulled back on trade talks involving Howard this week.

The Lakers introduced new forward Antawn Jamison on Wednesday, announced the re-signing of forward Jordan Hill and have had preliminary discussions about an extension for center Andrew Bynum.

But while talks have fallen into a holding pattern as Orlando regrouped to assess its options, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said as far as he's concerned, the door remains open.

"Typically it slows down in August but the brakes are never on," Kupchak said coyly.

The Lakers' position on Howard has remained relatively unchanged for the past few months, league sources familiar with the situation have told ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Lakers have always been willing to trade for Howard without assurances he'd re-sign with them after the season, believing that once Howard experienced a championship culture he'd want to stay.

However, the Lakers also remain unwilling to take back burdensome contracts from Orlando that would subject them to the most punitive luxury-tax penalties of the new collective bargaining agreement, according to sources.

They also lost the ability to include future first-round draft choices after including their 2013 and 2015 first-round picks in a sign-and-trade with Phoenix for Steve Nash earlier this month.

While the pace of the talks has frustrated executives and hamstrung business around the league, the Lakers seem to have found a way of remaining open to a re-opening of talks while still going about their business.

Kupchak said Wednesday that he's had "positive and productive" conversations with Bynum's agent in recent days.

Under the terms of the new CBA, Bynum would be eligible to sign a three-year extension before the start of the season. Or he could play out this season, become an unrestricted free agent and sign for four years with another club or re-sign with the Lakers for five years.

"You can argue both sides," Kupchak said when asked whether he had developed a sense of Bynum's thinking on the issue. "The risks associated with playing out a contract versus bird in hand. That's something each player or representative weighs and evaluates on their own.

More on the Lakers

For more news and notes on the Lakers, check out the Land O' Lakers blog from the Kamenetzky brothers. Blog

"I remember when I signed with the Lakers. I was coming off two back surgeries and I know what I told my agent. So you can argue it either way. If you feel you're never going to get hurt and you're healthy, God's in your corner. You can take a risk and become a free agent and deal with all of the abundancies of free agency. Everybody evaluates that differently. I know how I looked at it."

Bynum has been plagued by injuries throughout his career. This was was the first year he's made it through a full season without a significant injury.

When reached by ESPNLosAngles.com on Wednesday afternoon, Bynum's agent, David Lee, said he wasn't sure which direction Bynum was leaning and denied he'd had any substantive conversations with Kupchak about an extension.

"We talk all the time, but we've never had a conversation about an extension," Lee said. "About anything of any substance regarding next year or the following year or the following year."

Asked whether he and his client have decided whether it benefits him to sign for three years on top of the final year and $16.1 million he's owed for 2012-13, Lee said, "He generally addresses things as they come to fruition. As I've said before, if we were to talk about everything that comes out, every trade rumor, we'd spend more time talking about other teams than the Lakers.

"To discuss a hypothetical would be a waste of our times."

Bynum has been the subject of trade rumors for most of his career and is somewhat used to them by now. Although it gets tiresome, Lee reiterated that any notion this latest round of speculation would sour him on the Lakers is incorrect.

"I haven't heard him say anything negative about the Lakers," Lee said. "I know that (Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations) Jim Buss has reached out. I'm not sure that he's been successful yet."

NBA Free Agency

NBA NBA free agency is under way, and ESPN.com has you covered with all the latest deals, trades and potential moves.
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• More: TrueHoop | Trade Machine

Last week Lee told ESPNLosAngeles.com that it would be "foolish" for any team to trade for his client without first speaking to Bynum to gauge his interest in signing an extension or long-term contract with them.

The Lakers so far have not granted the Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, Magic or any team permission to speak directly with Bynum or his representatives.

Lee also denied that Bynum had a list of preferred destinations, saying he and Bynum chuckled when they read reports while on vacation in Alaska last week indicating he had already made such decisions.

However, sources have told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard that Bynum likely would not sign an extension anywhere else but with the Lakers this summer because it benefits him financially to wait until after the season so he can get a longer, more lucrative deal.

The inability to decipher Bynum's intentions complicated trade talks last week and Broussard subsequently reported that the Magic may not trade Howard after all.

Howard has been steadfast in his desire to be traded since the end of last season, telling new Magic general manager Rob Hennigan last month in their first face-to-face meeting that he wanted to be traded to the Brooklyn Nets.

But with Howard under contract for next season, the only firm deadline Orlando faces is next season's trade deadline. By then, the Nets would be free to trade center Brook Lopez, whom they signed to a four-year extension once talks with the Magic broke down earlier
 
thats good news.. i was expecting him to say, "okay, i'll give it another shot, because im feeble minded and i screwed myself over once, why not screw myself over twice?"
i hope hennigan listens, otherwise he's gonna lose his star player and gets nothing in return

Better news he has warned Houston that they better not trade for him because he will be a Dallas Maverick July 2013 if that's the case.
 
Howard told Hennigan (Magic GM) during their meeting.. He would resign with Lakers at the end of the season... And he told Hennigan he has 3 options
1. Trade him to LA
2. Trade him to BK
3. Watch him leave
And to add on to what Essential said above, Dwight said either "trade me too the Lakers immediately, trade me the Nets in January or let me walk at the end of next season". 

Hopefully Rob is meeting with Mitch now after what transpired today with D12.

Side note. I remember meeting Nick Van Exel as a kid at a autograph signing at the then CIty Mall in Orange (now The Block). Dude was hella cool. He even clowned on me cos the only thing I had for him to sign was a brand new James Worthy basketball I got that Xmas. I was a kid what to ya expect 
laugh.gif
. Wasn't gonna miss seeing NVE. That was my dude!
 
So given this new revelation, the Magic would be stupid to wait until the deadline to trade him right?

I mean, first of all, it would be a PR nightmare and a huge distraction for the whole organization knowing the star player wants out and will leave at the trade deadline,

Howard will probably get booed by the fans since they know he's going to leave, and

The deals the Magic can make will get worse and worse because other teams will know they're desperate around the time of the deadline.

I hope this means the Magic will suck it up and get a deal done sooner rather than later because the packages are only going to get worse for them.
 
Chris Mannix: There is a strong push coming from Howard's camp to deal the disgruntled center to the Lakers. Viewed as only realistic possibility. Twitter
 
Ice Cube keepin it real on ESPN 1st Take this morning with Stephen A. Smith, nasty looking Jemeel Hil, and Skip:






He had me dying when he was asked about LA's other basketball team and referred to them as "The dippers" :rollin
 
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Stu Lantz talking about the new Lakers regional network channel and giving love & props to Chick:





I don't care how some of the NT Laker fans feel about Stu and say his color commentary is horrible or boring.I hate to say it but I honestly think those who complain about his commentary during games are probably fans who are young and didn't get a chance or didn't remember Chick & Stu calling games or either the Laker fans outside of Cali or in Norcal who are the part time Laker fans who support also another NBA team at the same time.

Stu is that dude and will be calling Laker games with whoever until he dies just like how Chick went out.
 
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Since it's summer time & it's slow right now.Lets look back to 2002 the last championship of the Kobe & Shaq 3peat Lakers Dynasty:

Horry's 3 against the Queens in Game 4 of the WCF:




I was at Staples Center live and experienced that game with my sister.That's the loudest I ever heard Staples Center @ a Laker game :hat

The 2002 NBA Finals against the then New Jersey Nets.Game 3 Kobe killing it and bringing the Lakers back for the W. And yet some Laker fans on here and Kobe HATERS lie & claim that Kobe was a non factor and was just a role player & sidekick during these 3peat Dynasty teams :{





2002 Game 4 Finals Clincher @ Jersey:



Lakers 2001-2002 Championship Documentary:



http://youtu.be/UxA76TW_p3g

http://youtu.be/b5r8YMbvFTY

http://youtu.be/SqXoDNw0yLY

And Kobe finished the summer by visiting The Rucker and getting his streetball on:

http://youtu.be/zxIN_b-vhNQ


Really hard to believe how time fly's and 10 years has passed.
 
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Man MR J 858

Those videos make me feel old (I'm just 20 but i've been a fan since I was 6). Kobe jumping out the building
and Shaq dominating. Just watching that 2002 video made me remember my hatred for the Kings during that time.
Even though I hate the Celtics now, I despised the Kings 20x and Blazers 10x more than the Celtics.
I knew about the historic rivalry, but I never experienced it until recent times since the Celtics were never a threat from mid 1990s till the Big 3 formed. Just becoming a fan in the Kobe Shaq era had you hating the Kings and Blazers cuz they were the true threats to the Lakers.

Man if Shaq stayed and was motivated, and if the media wasn't so damn annoying and always talking bout the KobeShaq Feud.
It just would have been interesting to see if Kobe developed into the 1/2 the player he is today or if Shaq ever let go of being the Top Dog. or if Kobe got traded to another team and Shaq lead the Lakers to Chips without Kobe.

Wish I could be there for Shaq's Jersey Ceremony.

kinda showed a Shaq bias there, but let's be real Shaq was a beast in the three-peat run.
 
smh, i dont see this team doing anything :(. while everybody around us seems to be putting the pieces together that they need. i'd like to have dwight, but if we dont, ay dios mio its gonna be bad. bynum will have no motivation. pau will still be shooting 3s. kobe will be in permanent mamba mode. and steve nashs backup is steve blake. fantastic. oh and we have no defense. there were some great pieces out there that we missed. foye. rush. i wanted to get lamar back. the odom we have is terrible. i just want us to win again. but we got older and slower. with still no definitive offensive or defensive scheme :{





lol @ D.Fish moonlighting as the hypeman i that rucker video. musta needed that bread. haha
 
lol @ D.Fish moonlighting as the hypeman i that rucker video. musta needed that bread. haha

Should've stayed his *** in Houston. I absolutely cannot stand that dude and his lazy shortcut defense. I use to want to throw the remote at the damn tv these last couple years that he wore the purple and gold.

Is The Machine still available? What I'd give to see him playing for us next year.
 
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