The Official Los Angeles Lakers thread

[Juronimo]

Did anyone watch Crittendon play in SPL? Is he someone that can contribute this year? I never saw him in college and I've only seen a couple of clips of SPL coverage.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Did anyone watch Crittendon play in SPL? Is he someone that can contribute this year? I never saw him in college and I've only seen a couple of clips of SPL coverage.

Yes...Crittenton will be competing with Jordan for that back-up point guard role. Dude was a steal, fell out the lottery.

[Antonio_]

He said he was expecting to be way higher than #19. In the top 10 def.

[wcsoldier]

Jermaine O'Neal Not Interested in Rebuilding
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 By Preetom Bhattacharya
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Aug 6, 2007, 08:10 
 
 
It was seven years ago in the summer of 2000 that Jermaine O'Neal became an Indiana Pacer. The Pacers had just come off an NBA Finals loss to the Lakers, Larry Bird had stepped down as the team's coach and Isiah Thomas moved in. seven years ago. The team was looking to develop a young nucleus, so they swapped Dale Davis to the Blazers for the youngest player to have ever played in an NBA game at that time (although Andrew Bynum has since taken that title), with O'Neal coming over along with Joe Klein.

The way things work out, that young player the Pacers were trying to rebuild around is no longer the pup he once was - entering his twelfth season in the NBA, O'Neal has become a seasoned veteran and one of the league's premier post players.

Coming off of a disappointing 37-win season, things have come full circle for O'Neal, who feels that it may be time for him to move on in the same fashion that Davis did as the Pacers look to rebuild and get young yet again. "Indiana's given me the opportunity to establish myself as a really good player in this league," O'Neal said at the LA Stars charity event in Los Angeles on Sunday. "But if they're into rebuilding and going young, I'm just not in a position physically to go through another five or six years taking a lot of losses."

"If I was going to be traded from Indiana, LA (Lakers) and New Jersey would be my top two teams," he added.

Fighting off two serious injuries for the past few seasons - he's had torn cartilage in his left knee and tore his left groin last season - O'Neal has gained a perspective on the short amount of time player's have in the NBA to achieve their goals. "You know what, when you get to play in your 11th or 12th year, it's tough. You feel your body begins to wear down a little bit, you're not as young as you used to be and you see that window of opportunity closing very fast," O'Neal said.

O'Neal reminded reporters on hand that injuries are the reason he's struggled to put up the kind of numbers he did during the 2003-04 season, where he averaged 20.1 points and 10.0 rebounds per game and finished third in MVP balloting. O'Neal and a solid group around him that included Ron Artest, Al Harrington, and Reggie Miller, won 61 games that year before the season culminated in a six-game loss to Detroit in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and one colossal block by Tayshaun Prince on Miller.

"People consider my last two years being down years, but physically I was hurt," O'Neal said. "I went out and addressed the things I needed to take care of - my meniscus, I've played on for two years - I'm 100% right now. I really want to kind of get the opportunity to really rejuvenate myself. At 28, I'm going into my prime, the game is really slowing down for me and I understand it a lot more, so I'm ready to go out and show people what I really can do."

O'Neal understands the frustrations of players like Paul Pierce, Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant who feel they needed help and action from their front office to move in a positive direction. Unlike Pierce or Gasol, whose teams have picked up some shiny new pieces around them to placate their desires, Bryant has yet to see the changes he wants with the Los Angeles Lakers. "I think Kobe's in a position right now where he understands that he needs some help to get to the level he wants to be at," O'Neal said. "I think he's the NBA's and the world's best player, you know, but no player can do it by himself. He has a nice group around him, but he needs somebody else that can give him some support."

"I understand exactly what he's saying," O'Neal added about Bryant. "Everybody handles their situation differently, and he handled the situation best that he thought he could handle it. But all in all, I understand exactly what he's saying - he wants to put out a team that can win. That's pretty much what I told my team: if we're in a rebuilding stage, then maybe it's my time to move on."

O'Neal, who has known Bryant since the age of 15 because of the various amateur basketball events around the country (AAU, Adidas and Nike camps), said Bryant is beginning to realize that he can't win a title on his own. "I think Kobe's in a position right now where he understands that he needs some help to get to the level he wants to be at," O'Neal said. "I think he's the NBA's and the world's best player, you know, but no player can do it by himself. He has a nice group around him, but he needs somebody else that can give him some support."

And have O'Neal and Bryant discussed with each other the possibility of O'Neal being that support for Bryant? "We've spoken a couple times this summer about things in general - about life, about basketball - so he understands where my heart is and what my desires are," O'Neal said. "He understands that I really want to get back on the court and really prove to some naysayers, especially since my team had a down year. Obviously the best player on the team is going to get all the blame. I really worked out hard this summer and I'm ready to go. If I'm here, I'm going to do my best to get this team to a championship."

"It's been a long relationship that we've had and we've talked briefly about maybe playing together," he added, "but obviously until the business side of things gets done, it's all talk."

The prospects of playing with Bryant certainly do appeal to O'Neal, though, who feels his goals are directly in line with Kobe's. "You know what, I think right now, he's at a position where he wants to prove to people he can get back to an NBA championship," O'Neal said, "and I'm at the point in my career when I want to prove to people that I can help a team get to a championship."

O'Neal understands that as a player that is paid nearly $20-million a season, he has to garner a lot of the blame for when things go wrong for his team. "I love Indiana, I love the fans there, they've gave me all the opportunities to achieve some of the goals I want to achieve, but ultimately I understand the business part of it," he said. "If we don't get it done this year and I'm still there after this season, I'm pretty sure they'll want to move me on also. All in all, I want to really concentrate on my body physically, get back healthy and mentally get back stronger and be ready to play wherever I'm at next year."

Meeting with the Pacers' front office several times this summer, O'Neal said he has tried to understand the direction of the organization and does not feel as though he can be a part of what he has come to learn about the team's plans. "They're trying to rebuild, so maybe its better to get some younger pieces for me so they can grow with the young guys," he said. "I just told them I can't be in a rebuilding mode right now - I just can't go through that because physically it's going to wear on me too much to do that."

Being in Los Angeles for the charity event, O'Neal reiterated that he spends a lot of time in Southern California in the summers. "I love LA," he said. "I normally train here every summer. The last two summers I haven't trained because I got hurt. I had my meniscus surgery and I rehabbed my groin last year in Indiana. My daughter loves it, my wife loves it - this is one of the prime places, where if I was to be traded, I would allow Indiana to trade me to."

With Los Angeles and New Jersey on O'Neal's wish list should he be traded, the pressure now is on the Pacers to get the most value they can for their superstar in any prospective deal.


 
 

[Doggystylin]

if boston can get KG without giving up pierce and allen, then we better be able to get JO without giving up Kobe and Odom

[GangstaBoogy]

http://www.etonline.com/celebrities/news/49326/index.html

Rumors have surfaced that basketball star KOBE BRYANT and his wife VANESSA's six-year marriage is close to divorce. But the Lakers guard tells our KEVIN FRAZIER exclusively that the reports are 100 percent false.

The NBA player has been traveling in Europe with his family, which includes two young daughters, and has been working out with Team U.S.A. He tells Kevin he has no idea how the rumors got started because he and Vanessa are happily married. He goes on to tell Kevin that he initially wasn't going to respond to the reports but then felt compelled to set the record straight.

[wcsoldier]

Who gives a fuck about Kobe life ... I don't care what he does off the court

[GangstaBoogy]

Reminder: Kobe will be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight! 12am on ABC.

[wcsoldier]

^^^^ his body language (NO HOMO) when Kimmel asked him about the Lakers isn't promising at all ...

[wcsoldier]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AQQDQ9AS

For those who missed it

[7even]

If the Nets acquire JO, Kobe will not play for the Lakers anymore. Everybody knows this.

[wcsoldier]

As of now (journalist of a New Jersey newspaper is the source) Bird is rumored to want Kwame, Bynum, Evans, Turiaf, Sasha and Farmar (plus 2 picks) for JO ....  Bird is out of his mind

[7even]

Well, better than Odom+Bynum+pick imo...

It would leave you with the Big 3 of the West 

Also, you don't deal for JO, but also for Kobe 

[wcsoldier]

^^^^ well that would leave us with

Fish/Critt
Kobe/ Coby Karl
Luke/Snowman
Odom/Cook
JO/Mihm

Very thin roster , we have to try to keep Turiaf or sign Webber and add Marc Gasol and Sun Yue... by the way talks are between Lakers and Pacers ... Pacers don't wan to trade JO to the Nets

[7even]

of course it is thin, that's only natural when you trade for a fake-franchise player without giving up anything close to all-star level. but dont worry some washed up niggas will beg to get signed to that trio.