The Official Los Angeles Lakers thread

[wcsoldier]

Lamar got 18/6/5, player of the game....

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Box Score

(don't trip, it's only pre-season)

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

[Stone Cold is Bout It, Bout It]

Lamar got 18/6/5, player of the game....

yeah, he was 4-4 in the 3rd quarter and gave us a double digit lead. I think Lamar has become one of the best 3 point shooters in the game..he was 3-6 from 3 point land last night and i think he's made over 50% of his 3's since the 2nd half of Last season hopefully he keeps it up

Sasha also played great...he drew a couple offensive fouls on Derrin Williams & had 2 steals..

I like how Luke always gets his 5+ assist...

The Lakers played their worst when Bynum was out there...No one could get him the ball & he was turning the ball over and not playing smart defense.

Lakers had a 13 point lead in the 4th quarter & The Jazz came back when Bynum was out there Lamar came back in the Game & Mo.Evens got hot , Lamar & luke made some baskets and BAM!, 16 point lead 

[GangstaBoogy]

why wasn't this game even mentioned on nba.com?

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

The Lakers played their worst when Bynum was out there...No one could get him the ball & he was turning the ball over and not playing smart defense.

From what I heard, even though Bynum didn't pick it up offensively, he was making a difference on the defensive end and still picking up the rebounds (6 in 17 mins)...It's the pre-season, nothing happening other than an injury should concern us. I believe Sasha is the only one playing this game the same as if it were the NBA Finals. LOL.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

why wasn't this game even mentioned on nba.com?

It's a Laker hater conspiracy...

[rik]

How's it going?

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Evans impersonates Bryant

BY ROSS SILER, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:10/10/2006 11:09:32 PM PDT

FRESNO - Lakers forward Lamar Odom has taken to calling guard Maurice Evans by the nickname "Herschel Walker" for the simple reason that Evans is built more like an NFL running back than an NBA player.

That might be the case, but Evans did a pretty good Kobe Bryant impersonation in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' exhibition opener Tuesday night.

Evans connected on two 3-pointers and an 18-footer as the Lakers reversed course after giving back most of a 14-point lead and went on to a 94-79 victory over Utah.

He started in place of Bryant, who skipped the trip to continue strengthening his right knee, and scored all 12 of his points in the final quarter.

Evans was acquired from Detroit in a draft-night trade and came with the reputation as a defensive stopper.

But Evans, who can defend three positions, showed the other side of his game Tuesday.

"When I was in college, I was one of the top scorers in the country," said Evans, who averaged 22.6 points his sophomore season at Wichita State. "I had never been known for being a good defender until I got to the NBA."

Evans best sequence might have come after he missed a shot. He kept the rebound alive, tipping it back outside, and drilled a 3-pointer from the corner after he got the ball back from Odom.
Teenage center Andrew Bynum, meanwhile, had his ups and downs in finishing with two points, six rebounds and four turnovers in 17-plus minutes.

Bynum hit a turnaround 12-footer on the baseline in the fourth quarter and blocked a Rafael Araujo shot in the second quarter. But he had the ball plucked from his hands twice by Derek Fisher in the first half.

"You can see that he's still got a long way to go in terms of his strength," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said, "and for a big guy that's 7-feet tall he brings the ball down way too many times."

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McKie's Roster Spot Uncertain

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
October 11, 2006

FRESNO — Aaron McKie could look around the Lakers locker room and see an 18-year-old, a 19-year old and then, if he held up a mirror, a 34-year-old.

The guard tries to keep things light-hearted as he heads into what would be his 13th season, but he acknowledges he is near the end of his career.

"The fat lady is warming up her pipes," he said.

McKie averaged only 0.5 points in 14 games last season after being sidelined because of a quadriceps tendon injury. He will make $2.5 million this season, although the Lakers might waive him or try to trade him to make room for one of their younger players, forward Devin Green or rookie guard J.R. Pinnock. Waiving McKie would be a tough call, one that would come toward the end of training camp and hinge primarily on one question — youth or experience?

Including McKie, the Lakers have 13 players with guaranteed contracts, two short of the league maximum. The contracts of Ronny Turiaf and Smush Parker become guaranteed if they are still on the roster Nov. 1, a virtual certainty that would put the Lakers at the 15-man capacity and leave the team in a roster crunch if they want to keep Green or Pinnock, who have non-guaranteed contracts.

The Lakers are more familiar with Green, a second-year forward who averaged 0.9 points and five minutes in 27 games last season, but Pinnock has had a decent training camp.

Selected 58th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in June's draft, Pinnock was traded to the Lakers on draft day for a future second-round pick.

"He's picking up the offense," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "You feel a lot of confidence when he shoots that the ball's going in."

Pinnock, who averaged 14.5 points last season for George Washington, still has plenty of work to do if he is going to make the team.

"He's going to have to defend some really tough people," Rambis said. "And he's going to have to show us consistent knowledge of the offense."

McKie did not play in Tuesday's exhibition opener against Utah. Green had two points in four minutes and Pinnock went scoreless in five minutes.

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Here's a more efficient box-score...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=261010013

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Laker Pre-Season Game 1 Evaluation

First impressions count for something, even in a half-filled arena in Fresno. Four guys who made good ones in the exhibition opener against Utah were Sasha Vujacic, Lamar Odom, Maurice Evans and Jordan Farmar.

Vujacic faces greater competition this season with the additions of Shammond Williams and Farmar. He had one of his best halves since coming to the Lakers in the opening two quarters Tuesday.

Not only did Vujacic hit all four shots he took - - Vladimir Radmanovic even passed on a shot to slide the ball to him for a 3-pointer at the end of the first half - - but he drew two offensive fouls by being a pest.

If he can do those two things, Vujacic will have a nice role for himself this season.

Odom, meanwhile, was the best player on the floor at the start of the second half. It wasn’t a coincidence that the Lakers went from leading 44-41 at halftime to going up 12 in that stretch.

He took Carlos Boozer off the dribble for layups, knocked down a 3-pointer in transition and kicked out a pass to Luke Walton for a 3-pointer off a drive. Odom also was grabbing rebounds and pushing the ball the other way.

Odom finished with 18 points (on nine shots) with 6 assists and 5 rebounds in 28-plus minutes. The only weakness he had came in missing four free throws.

``Right now, I’m playing with the spirit of two people in me,’’ Odom said, referring to the tragic death of his infant son. ``I want to just keep attacking, keep attacking, keep attacking, pour it on as much as I can.

``I lost my legs a little bit on my free throws. There’s always things you can improve on. Defensively, I want to just keep improving and knock down those free throws.’’

Evans was a 37.1 percent 3-point shooter last season in Detroit and showed that he can be more than just a defensive stopper. He connected on jumpers from 19, 26, 25 and 18 feet in the fourth quarter.

Assistant coach Kurt Rambis said Evans had been struggling to learn both the guard and forward spots in the triangle offense. But Rambis praised him at the same time for wanting to get better and being a quick learner.

Needless to say, Evans was impressive Tuesday. He still faces a minutes crunch trying to get on the floor as Kobe Bryant’s backup.

Farmar played the last 4:19 but made those minutes interesting. He was so eager to play that he jumped up in the third quarter to check in when Andrew Bynum’s name was called.

By the time he realized his mistake, Farmar tried to squeeze in next to assistant Brian Shaw on the bench.

On the court, Farmar whipped a pass to Ronny Turiaf as he drove the lane, which led to two free throws for Turiaf. He also was visibly frustrated as he posted up Utah’s small guard Brian Chase and didn’t get the ball.

Farmar had two steals as well in a matter of 15 seconds. He finished the game by slicing to the basket for a layup with the clock running out.

He missed the only jumper he took, but Farmar brought an unmistakable energy to the court.

As for some of the other players, Radmanovic missed all three shots he took in the first half and was way, way short on an open 3-pointer and a baseline jumper. He finished with seven points on 2 of 7 shooting.

Bynum turned in the lowlight of the game. He showed off a great spin move in the third quarter but somehow short-armed his shot from point-blank range. Bynum was so upset at himself, he smacked himself in the head a couple of times.

You could hear Odom on the bench asking why Bynum didn’t dunk the ball. Bynum was asking himself the same question after the game.

Here's the story on the game. There's also a trivia question related to the part below about Derek Fisher: Name the five active players who were a part of all three of the Lakers championship teams this decade.

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Report card is mixed
Rambis says the team lacked ball movement and communication but did do some good things.

By AL BALDERAS
The Orange County Register

EL SEGUNDO – Lakers coach Phil Jackson sat in on the film session Wednesday when the team watched what worked and what didn't in its 94-79 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday. He also spent time working with the team in the on-court part of practice, but despite his recent hip-replacement surgery, he was quick enough to escape the media.

The overall assessment of Tuesday's game had pluses and minuses.

"There were some good things that they did out there," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "(But) there was not enough quick ball movement. There were a lot of times when guys were holding the ball too long. We thought they did a better job of executing that in practice today."

The Lakers coaching staff also spotted a few defensive deficiencies, though Rambis said the team would be better prepared against an opponent during the regular season.

"It's not like we sat around and watched tape of them and went over all of their plays," Rambis said. "We saw some defense that worked out well and some defense that didn't work out so well when guys fell asleep.

"One thing that they didn't do, especially early, was talk and communicate. It was a good lesson for them. Utah is a tough opponent. They play hard, and they cause our defense a lot of problems."

GOOD REVIEWS

Lamar Odom finally got a chance to take some time off during a summer and played well Tuesday. Odom has been called upon in recent offseasons to participate in Olympics or other tournaments, but this summer he finally got to catch his breath.

He led the Lakers with 18 points and five rebounds while playing a game-high 28 minutes. Luke Walton also played 28 minutes.

Odom said he was satisfied with his effort Tuesday but quickly reminded everyone that it's not all about what he does. With Kobe Bryant and Chris Mihm out of the exhibition-game lineups, the other players need to show that they can play and learn together.

"It was good for me individually to have a game like that to start the season off: - being aggressive, attacking, things like that," he said. "Right now we're all focused and trying to do the little things to become a better team. We want to try to take these steps together."

WAITING GAME

Mihm continues to be hopeful he will be able to play in at least one of the exhibition games.

He spent Tuesday getting his right ankle treated while the rest of the team was in Fresno for its first exhibition game. Mihm had arthroscopic surgery in July to remove scar tissue from the ankle.

"I took a day to just get some treatment," Mihm said. "It paid off because it calmed down quite a bit. We got back out here, ran a little bit more and tried to work in some more basketball skills. It's definitely progress. We're kind of going day by day and increased it a little bit more today. We'll see how it reacts."

TONIGHT

The Lakers will meet the Seattle SuperSonics at Honda Center at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on KCAL/9 and KLAC/570. Sasha Vujacic has a bruised left foot but is expected to play.

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Farmar Motivated

11:22 PM PDT on Wednesday, October 11, 2006
By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise
 
EL SEGUNDO - He's a rookie, and a young rookie at that, and he's behind two guards who split most of the playing time at point for the Lakers last season.

But don't tell Jordan Farmar his chances of seeing significant playing time this season are just about nil.

"You're not just out here conceding the ship," Farmar said. "I want to play. I'm going to do everything in my power to get in that situation."

Coach Phil Jackson's philosophy about rookies means that at 19, Farmar is at the bottom of the pile. But he has been impressive in camp and may just find playing time this season.

"I think the kid has a really bright future," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said.

Conventional wisdom said it would be a three-year process before Farmar would be a consistent contributor, and that's still probably the case. But he's not backing down to Smush Parker or Sasha Vujacic.

Farmar, who left UCLA after his sophomore year, helped himself by picking up much of the triangle offense in the summer league. But more than anything, Farmar just has natural point guard skills: He knows how to run a team, how to find open teammates, how to put teammates in the right spot, how to be a leader.

"The most confidence I have is in my ability to play basketball and just learn the game," he said. "Aside from everything, I know how to play the game. When you teach us something, I learn it and I understand why you're doing it. So I'm not worried in terms of knowing a system and understanding things."

Mihm Update

The sweat poured off Chris Mihm after practice Wednesday, which was a good sign for the center still recovering from right ankle surgery.

Mihm received soft-tissue treatment on his ankle Tuesday. That allowed him to run and do some drills Wednesday.

"It's definitely progress," he said. "Like I've said, we kind of go day by day. We increased it a little bit more today, but we'll see how it reacts tomorrow. Hopefully as long as it doesn't swell up or flare up at all, (I'll) keep progressing towards getting me back out on the floor."

Mihm won't play tonight when the Lakers face the SuperSonics in an exhibition at the Honda Center in Anaheim. His goal still is to play in at least one exhibition.

Quotable

With Kwame Brown hovering over him, Lamar Odom said Brown should lead the Lakers in rebounding, and he had another bold statement: "He could lead the league if he really wanted to."

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Evans Earns Good Reviews

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
October 12, 2006

It was a draft-day footnote, falling well below Toronto's selection of top pick Andrea Bargnani and the seemingly never-ending barrage of trades by Portland.

The Lakers' acquisition of Maurice Evans from Detroit for the rights to Cheik Samb barely registered amid the draft-day hubbub, but the Lakers are satisfied with what they've received.

Samb, a Senegalese center selected 51st overall by the Lakers, was not invited to the Pistons' training camp and probably won't be for another year or two. Evans, on the other hand, has been a pleasant surprise in El Segundo, arriving with a defense-first reputation and showing more of an appetite for offense than expected.

He views it as a more palatable situation than another year in Detroit, where his playing time and scoring average dropped in the playoffs because the Pistons' rotation was shortened. After a sour end to the Pistons' season in the Eastern Conference finals, Evans and his agent, Roger Montgomery, appealed to team President Joe Dumars.

Evans averaged only 3.3 points and 6.3 minutes in the playoffs, about half his regular-season averages.

"We were very hopeful that some changes could be made, whether we could expand our role there or get into a better situation," Evans said. "And they put us in a better situation."

When Evans received the news he had been traded to the Lakers, he called Dumars and thanked him. He is expected to back up Kobe Bryant at shooting guard and get time at small forward as well.

"I definitely welcome an expanded role," Evans said. "The thing I like about our offense is it kind of highlights your talents. If you're a versatile player, then you can really show off your skills and your talents.

"You might be in position to shoot three-pointers one moment, the next moment you might be slashing or cutting to the basket."

Evans signed a two-year, $3-million contract with the Lakers, but the second year is a player option, allowing him to test the free-agent market after the season if he wished.

The Lakers hope he fills a need as one of the first players off their bench.

Starting in place of the still-recuperating Bryant, Evans had 12 points in 21 minutes in an exhibition opener Tuesday against Utah.

"We just kind of viewed him as a board-crasher and an occasional three-point shooter, but he's shown us that he can do more than that," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "He's done a good job."

Evans will do about anything to ease the transition from Detroit.

"I wouldn't say unhappy like I was a problem, but they understood I was looking to be more a part of that team than what I was," he said.