The Official Los Angeles Lakers thread

[wcsoldier]

Andrew got a lot of pressure on his shoulders..  he has to become dominant.. I think he's able to make it skills wise but mentally wise I gotta say I got some doubts.. the other question is WHEN he's gonna be dominant...

Don't forget he's only 19, he still has some maturing to do. I have no doubt that he's going to be the player that everyone thinks he's goin to be. But he has no more pressure than he had before.

I know he's 19 but I actually think he got more pressure since we didn't decide to trade him... that could be good coz that means the organization trusts him but that implies he doesn't have to dissapoint... plus don't forget Kobe is about winning , he's not gonna patiently waiting, neither is Phil. You can feel Kobe is dissapointed with Kidd not coming.. of course he gives political correct answers but...

[rik]

Yeah man no doubt that Mitch makes some dumb moves. I don't think you could blame him for not making a trade though. Like GangstaBoogy said the other GMs bitched out. To get Kidd they wanted us to give up Bynum and that was not happening. With that being said  I still wish Jerry West was still our GM.

That deal was unreal. They wanted Bynum + other players for Kidd lol. I would trade Bynum for the right deal but not for a 34 year old. Besides, the whole point of getting Kidd was for him to help bring out the best in Bynum/Odom.

Hell yeah, what we offering was enough. Lets be real Kidd is not the player he used to be. He's still good but not what he was. Buss even stepped in and offered more money and some draft picks. Plus he was hurt and who knows how that's going to turn out. No way you trade the potential future of your franchise for a 34 year old. Thorn was being unreasonable, Kidd wanted to come to LA too.

[GangstaBoogy]

Andrew just needs to be more aggressive and demanding (not selfish, but demanding). He's only averaging 5 shot attempts a game. If Odom is going to keep playing like he's afraid to take a shot, then Bynum needs to be our second scoring option. I want him taking ATLEAST 10 a game. And fuck layups - DUNK THAT SHIET!

[rik]

^ True, some of that is on Phil too though. He needs to run some more plays for him.

[wcsoldier]

^ True, some of that is on Phil too though. He needs to run some more plays for him.

Phil doesn't like the fact Andrew takes too much time to make a decision when he got the ball on the low post.. he yelled at him about that during a timeout against the Blazers

[Vegasmac25]

THere is no way in hell i would have traded Bynum for Kidd.With that said i still would have like to have seen kidd in a laker uniform because he would makes this team better overall.Bibby would have been good too but i just hate to root for any sac queen player.Im a little worried about this slump we are in but i know we will come back with a vengence.Starting tonight with Boston im betting that we will destroy them by 12.

[Vegasmac25]

Yeah i saw Phill yelling at Bynum the other night too but i think thats what the kid needs.I just hope that Bynum can get it together within the next 3 years or else we might get screwed.

[GangstaBoogy]

Vladimir Radmanvic admits lie to Lakers about injury

It turns out that Vladimir Radmanovic lied to the Lakers about how he got injured last week. The forward is out around eight weeks with a separated right shoulder.

He initially claimed to have slipped on some ice while walking with his hands in his pockets.

But Friday evening Radmanovic released the following statement via the Lakers:

“First of all I’d like to apologize to my teammates, coaches, Lakers management and Lakers fans for initially lying about the circumstances of the injury to my shoulder last weekend. I’d like to, however, come forward and set the record straight at this time. The truth is that I hurt myself in a fall while snowboarding. Being young and sometimes immature, I initially panicked and made up a false story about how I hurt myself. However, over the past few days my conscience has been bothering me terribly. I am not a dishonest person and could no longer live with this deception. Therefore, I came forward today and told the truth to the Lakers. It is just as important to me though, to be honest with Lakers fans and the public in general, therefore I am making this statement and apology. I can’t express enough how deeply sorry I am, not only for the activity that led to my injury, but also for the initial deception of my story. I hope for everyone’s understanding and forgiveness. I vow to work as hard as possible to rehabilitate my shoulder and rejoin my teammates as soon as possible and to help us become a team that Lakers fans can be proud of.”

InsideHoops.com right now is examining the possibility that this could give the Lakers the option of voiding his contract. If another media outlet beats us to the punch we'll quote their report on this page in the next few minutes

[rik]

^ I knew it. Fuckin' asshole.

[7even]

hahahaha dude shouldve talked to his manager first. he's fucked now.

[LAKERS_FAN89]

Their defense was again penetrable Wednesday as Portland shot 59.7% from the field in a 112-108 victory over the Lakers.

"It becomes real glaring when we're making the mistakes that we're making when you watch yourself play on a videotape, where it can be stopped frame by frame, and they can be frozen, and guys can see just how ridiculous some of the things that they're doing out there on the court appear to us," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "A lot of guys sat there and watched the edit with their mouths open. They just couldn't believe that they were making the mistakes that they were making."

[LAKERS_FAN89]

Let Go Lakers Tonight i said we win by 15

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

I don't blame Mitch for us not getting Kidd/Bibby. He realized that we need a better PG and he went out and tried to get us one. The problem is he did business with two GMs that are bitches. Plus, I think the bad draft picks we made in the pass are catching up to us (ex: taking Von Wafer over Monta Ellis).

Monta Ellis isn't really much greater than Von Wafer...He woulda' flopped just as bad in the triangle.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^^^^ Thorn is just a good GM... got Kidd for Marbury, Carter for a bunch of craps.. I'm a Laker 4 life but Mitch is just horrible (outside drafting Bynum)...

I'd have to terribly disagree with you, homie...Mitch has done an excellent job since the Shaq trade, even acquiring some dope talent in the 2nd round (Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf), got Smush out of nothing, traded a 2nd round pick for Mo Evans, went out and got Radman (not his fault Radman was injured playing shitty the whole season), drafted Jordan & Bynum, traded for Kwame when we needed help in the low post, etc..He's definitely done his share, lets not forget that...

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^^^^ Moves needed to be made... apparently our organization didn't see it.. We have to win NOW , not in 10 years...

Moves don't NEED to be made, man...Everyone if forgetting how we were playing with THESE PLAYERS before the injury plague.

I hope you're right.. I agree that injuries play a role in that slump.. but even with all these players out, we shouldn't lose HOME games against the Knicks and Blazers... by the way when the fuck is Luke coming back ?

Well losing Kwame has basically gutted our interior defense. What I noticed last game was a lot of scrambling on defense, because as soon as Zach RAndolph gets the ball on the low block, he scores, so that forces a double, which then forces our defense to scramble and try to match up, which is hard to do. With Kwame in the line up, he can man up against the best centers and power forwards in the league, which helps our defense considerably because now we won't be forced to help as much and each defender can concentrate on their man.

Unfortunately getting Kwame back will not help our porous perimeter D. Smuch and Kobe both gamble way too much on steals and Sasha is just too slow to keep up with anyone. Farmar is too inexperienced. There were a couple of plays in which Smush gambled in the back court of all places which resulted in 5 on 4 and our defense panicking. Stop the gambles and that stops part of the problem. The other problem is lateral movement, which both Smush and Kobe are having problems with right now.

Kobe is a great perimeter defender, it's Smush who gets Kobe in trouble a lot. I agree, Smush needs to stick his man better, that's his biggest problem...Sasha has done a very decent job on defense with the minutes he's given though. You say Kwame helps us out considerably on low-post defense. Are you forgetting that Luke helps us considerably on perimeter defense? Our defense was MUCH stronger before the injuries, so lets have patience...PeACe