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Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Painful Struggle for Shammond
12:14 AM PDT on Monday, October 16, 2006
By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise
LAS VEGAS - He's back in the NBA after a two-year absence and wants to prove he can stick around.
But the problem for Shammond Williams is an injury that won't go away and is hindering his progress.
Williams said he has a stress fracture in his pelvis that has limited him during training camp. It kept him from working out until a week before camp began. He said he has lateral movement on defense but can't move forward well on offense.
He first suffered the injury while playing in Spain last season.
"I thought I would be cleared by now," said Williams, who signed a one-year, $1.7 million contract. "I'm not. My explosiveness is not there."
Williams played with six NBA teams in six years before playing in Russia during the 20004-05 season. He is trying to get readjusted to the NBA after spending two years overseas.
"It's a different game," he said. "The NBA game is a lot quicker. I've got to get my timing again."
Before Sunday night's exhibition against the Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center, assistant coach Kurt Rambis wanted Williams to shoot more.
Williams did just that, scoring 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting, including 2 for 2 on three-pointers, in a 99-91 loss. Smush Parker led the Lakers with 18 points while Shawn Marion and Raja Bell led the Suns with 16 each.
At 6-foot-1, Williams had always been perceived as a shooting guard in a point guard's body. He went to Europe and worked on his passing.
The Lakers just don't want him to be too focused on passing.
"We want him to be more aggressive, to shoot the basketball more than he's been," Rambis said. "I think he's been overly concerned about running the offense and I think he's passed up shots that he would normally take."
T's for Yelling at Refs
The NBA has instituted a zero-tolerance rule regarding players and coaches yelling at officials. Late in the second quarter Rambis found out the referees are willing to enforce it even during the exhibition season when he was given a technical by Joe Crawford, who is known to have a short fuse.
Rambis was upset when Steve Nash passed to Amare Stoudemire but appeared to have touched the ground first for traveling. It wasn't called, and Stoudemire dunked.
Parker also was given a technical by Crawford.
d-nice:
Smush gets a consistent 3 point shot= problems for the rest of the league. You really do not have a point guard his size in the west, so along with his quickness of the dribble, if he can shoot at a good percentage, it's going to cause alot of problems. It will also draw the defense out giving Kobe more driving lane to the basket.
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
Bell tired of talking about Lakers series
By Jerry Brown, Tribune
October 15, 2006
Raja Bell is asked about it every day. In fact, it's a good day when he's only asked once. Raja Bell and Kobe Bryant. The playoffs. The war of words. The clothesline. The suspension.
"It's unbelievable. I literally get asked constantly," Bell said. "I'll meet people, we'll start talking basketball and it takes about 10 seconds for it to come up.
"It's beyond old. It's really old. I'm starting to let people know it's not a topic I want to revisit."
Bell and Bryant meet up for the first time since the Suns won an epic, seven-game playoff series with the Lakers — with Bell's takedown the signature snapshot — tonight in Las Vegas. Both players will be in the lineup, but the game will be more about sharpening skills than renewing a rivalry. And Bell, for one, hopes it's a dead issue.
"I'm moving past it," he said. "I don't want something like that to define my career. If I look back at that as a bright spot, even though we won, I'll be disappointed. I want to help my team win a championship, not be the reason they don't. I was fortunate my guys went out and won without me."
But while the Suns were able to overcome a one-game suspension, beating Dallas with Bell out and then hobbled by a calf injury proved too much. Steve Nash has said he feels Phoenix could have won the series with a healthy Bell and Bell sheepishly concurs.
"No matter who (was injured), we were so low on healthy bodies that losing one more guy really made a difference," he said. "We won the first game, and we led at halftime in all the others. We needed everybody.
"That team with myself and Kurt healthy . . . I would take my chances. That's what has me so pumped about this year. We have more bullets."
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
--- Quote from: d-nice on October 16, 2006, 04:00:46 PM ---Smush gets a consistent 3 point shot= problems for the rest of the league. You really do not have a point guard his size in the west, so along with his quickness of the dribble, if he can shoot at a good percentage, it's going to cause alot of problems. It will also draw the defense out giving Kobe more driving lane to the basket.
--- End quote ---
Yup...Can't wait to see Smush's progression this year.
Now_Im_Not_Banned:
1985 NBA Finals Promo:
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