The Official Los Angeles Lakers thread

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Phil probably wants Odom back at the 3...

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^^^

Fuck having Lamar Odom and his sub-par defense at the PF spot.

 

[GangstaBoogy]

Fuck you

[LAKERS_FAN89]

Turiaf Might Get Starting Role

Turiaf may start for Lakers



Broderick Turner

HONOLULU - He has been called the Lakers' "silent warrior," even though Coach Phil Jackson says Ronny Turiaf is "an outspoken guy."

But it's that warrior mentality, that energy and effort and defensive intensity that had Jackson saying after practice Friday that Turiaf has positioned himself to have a bigger role.

"I plan ..ing him," Jackson said. "I really am seriously considering starting him. Those positions are so wide open. He's a guy that can bring energy to the game, the kind of start we need to have with a physical front. He's a guy that can block some shots."

It had been assumed that Luke Walton would start at small forward and Lamar Odom at power forward, just like last season. But Jackson is toying with the idea of bringing Walton off the bench.

Jackson was asked if he had told Walton about his plans.

"No," Jackson responded.

Is Walton OK with that?

"He's OK with it," Jackson said, laughing.

Walton, who strained his right hamstring Friday and is listed as day-to-day, took it all in stride, even joking about the possible demotion.

"You lose your starting spot over the summer, right? You don't even do anything," he said, laughing.

"I would like to start," he added, "but I'm not going to pout if I don't. ... I like starting. I enjoy it. But if he feels we have a better flow coming in with the second unit, I guess we'll try it out and see how it works."

When told of Jackson's comments, Turiaf wasn't sure how to take them.

"It's been a joking-around process for about 2˝ years, so I never know what to take seriously," he said. "But on a more serious note, I'll be ready to do whatever is coming my way."

At 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, Turiaf gives the Lakers more size on the front line. He can hit jump shots from 15 to 18 feet, but his main job would be to defend and set screens.

Turiaf played on the French national team in the FIBA European championships this summer, which gave him a chance to develop his game.

"It helped me a lot because I regained confidence in myself," he said. "Playing off and on and not playing and playing (for the Lakers), it's stressful on my mind. But going over there and knowing I was the backup center and I was playing even more than center ... I got the opportunity to showcase myself, score down low, hit the jumper, do everything else. Just have some fun again. Just build my confidence up."

Turiaf knows there is room on the Lakers for a player to do the dirty work.

"When haven't I done the dirty work?" he said. "That's what I do. If that's what it takes for me to get on the basketball court, that's what I'm going to do, brother."

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Turiaf=the next Ben Wallace with a better offensive arsenal.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Turiaf=the next Ben Wallace with a better offensive arsenal.

Still sleeping at 12:34 in the afternoon?

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^If all Laker fans+everyone within the organization slept like I did, we'd be the deadliest team in the world.

[Bay Area Jat]

With Turiaf starting this year theres just no stopping the Lake show in the wigigity west

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^You damn right.

PG Derek Fisher
SG Kobe Bryant
SF Lamar Odom
PF Ronny Turiaf
C Andrew Bynum?/Kwame Brown?/Chris Mihm?

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Lakers' Farmar impresses with his solid improvement-
Off-season is marked with a lot of time in the gym, even as Lakers pick up Javaris Crittenton and Derek Fisher. Farmar has been called by some the biggest surprise of training camp.

By Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 8, 2007

HONOLULU -- An hour had barely passed after the Lakers drafted Javaris Crittenton when a player unexpectedly walked into the team training facility in El Segundo.

Jordan Farmar showed up for some late-night work, taking shot after shot after the Lakers had taken another point guard in the draft in June.

 
It wasn't a vote of no-confidence toward Farmar as much as it was a vote of no-position by the Lakers, who were thin at the ball-handling guard spot after free-agent-to-be Smush Parker tailed off badly in his second season with the team.

(Unforeseen events would unfold a few weeks later that would deliver Derek Fisher to the Lakers.)

Farmar's appearance that night at the team facility might have been coincidental -- he played it down when asked about it -- but, just the same, he had an active off-season in the gym and has been called the biggest surprise of the Lakers' training camp by some observers.

Coach Phil Jackson, never one to give a rookie too much praise, was kind toward the second-year guard.

"He's playing really well," he said. "I think his decisions are better. I think his shooting's better right now too."

Farmar did not shoot well while starting all five Lakers playoff games after Parker's meltdown became complete, as he averaged 6.4 points and 1.6 assists, and made only 20% of his three-point attempts against Phoenix.

Farmar's numbers were negligible compared to the Suns' perennial All-Star point guard, Steve Nash, who averaged 16 points and 14 assists in the series.

Farmar, never one to be called insecure, was in over his head against Nash.

"He exuded confidence, but he wasn't making any shots, so there was something there going on that wasn't quite right," Jackson said. "If you have confidence when things are going right, then it's rewarded confidence, but he had nothing to be confident about, so this is a little better. He does believe in himself. That's good."

A year later, with a season's worth of the triangle offense stored up, the former UCLA standout appears to be more settled.

"I don't need to impress the coaching staff," Farmar said. "I'm not trying to make every shot so that they see I can shoot. I'm not trying to show them what I can do, really. My game's just speaking for itself. I'm comfortable. I can rest easier at night. I don't have so much to worry about."

Forward Ronny Turiaf has a sore right knee and will have an MRI exam today. . . . Jackson has never been a fan of exhibition games. Thus, his response to what he hopes to see Tuesday and Thursday against Golden State: "Quick games, no overtimes and a limited amount of timeouts."

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Newell likes what he sees in Lakers' Bynum-
Big man guru was impressed by young center early last season, and he says Bryant should back off.

By Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 7, 2007

HONOLULU -- Andrew Bynum will turn 20 in three weeks, a young 7-footer asked to grow up quickly . . . again.

Last season could be described only as an experience, a torrid start dissolving into a frigid ending, complete with a total of two points in the Lakers' last two playoff games.

In case things couldn't get worse, the infamous amateur video with Kobe Bryant surfaced midsummer, a reminder that at least one player didn't think much of the team's 10th pick in the 2005 draft.

In Bynum's corner, however, is one of the original big men, proprietor of the internationally known Big Man Camp.

If they're 7 feet tall and claim to have even a dollop of basketball ability, Pete Newell has seen them over the last 30 years -- from Bill Walton to Hakeem Olajuwon to Shaquille O'Neal. Now 92, Newell has taken a keen interest in Bynum, who has attended two of his camps.

Newell saw what any Lakers fan saw of Bynum last season -- strong beginning, horrific finale -- with further detailed observations from his trained eye.

"I was surprised that he played as well as he did at the start of the year," Newell said. "I think that he was a little confused at the end because he was catching a little hell from Kobe. He was grabbing him by the shirt and telling him what he should and shouldn't have done. That wouldn't help anybody, let alone a young player.

"If [Bynum] does stay with the Lakers, and they don't trade him, they've got to make it clear to Kobe that he's not the coach and he should be positive, not negative, when he makes the mistakes that he made. I don't think he's going to prosper if the older players start to get on him in the court in front of all the people, and that is what happened."

Newell keeps replaying the first three months of the season in his mind, including Bynum's 10.7-point, nine-rebound average in January.

"From the first year to the second year was amazingly different in terms of the steps he made and how much he improved in some areas," Newell said. "The first year he had no idea what he was into. He showed [last season] that the potential is there."

Bynum hit the wall physically once February rolled around, a sudden lack of confidence joining overall lack of conditioning. He ended up averaging 7.8 points and 5.9 rebounds.

"Big kids in high school don't seem to need to exert themselves -- getting back on defense, getting up the court on offense," Newell said. "It's something, especially the big player, it takes time for them to recognize they should get down that court. It just is the habit of not having had to do it. He will learn that. He's willing to learn. It's just habits that have to be broken."

Bynum has tried to break some of them on his own.

Chastised byCoach Phil Jackson for apparent lack of work ethicat various points last season, Bynum became more serious in his conditioning.

"I've been hitting the weights, been out there on the track," he said. "My wind is a lot better. I'm a lot stronger. I have a bigger base, so I'll be able to hold my ground in the post."

Still, he is among three centers vying for starter's minutes, trying to beat out veterans Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm to reclaim the starting spot he held for 53 games last season.

"He's definitely looking for his offense. He's an offensive-minded kid," Jackson said. "He makes some big blocks in practice and that's what we want to see -- rebounding and defense is what's going to win it for us in the middle."

Six players sat out the Saturday morning practice session, including Bryant, who rested a mildly sore knee.





Looks like we have some nice things to look forward to, Laker fans.

[GangstaBoogy]

The temporary starting line up is probably going to be

Mihm
Turiaf
Vlad
Kobe
Farmar

^ Kwame and Odom and I think Luke are going to miss the start of the season. Phil said Mihm will probably have to start because if he sit for 10 minutes his ankle gets numb.

Any update on Turiaf's bad hip? If he can start and still provide energy when coming off the bench homie will be a problem for every big man in the league.

[GangstaBoogy]

Karl, Brown Impress

Jackson said the most impressive players in camp have been Coby Karl and Elton Brown, free agents hoping to make the team.

Karl is a 6-5 shooting guard who has a pretty decent chance to make the team as the 15th player, and Brown is a 6-9, 255-pound forward.

"Neither one of them have a spot on our roster," Jackson noted.

Karl, who has $100,000 of his $427,000 contract guaranteed, showed how confident he was while playing on the Lakers' summer league team in Las Vegas, and Jackson called Karl the best shooter among the Lakers' guards.

"He's got a concept of what we're trying to get accomplished," said Jackson, who added that he calls Coby Karl by his full name all the time to differentiate him from Kobe.

[Bay Area Jat]

i would like to see Coby Karl make the team. kids been through a lot

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

i would like to see Coby Karl make the team. kids been through a lot

^^Carl will probably get that last spot...Leaving us at:


PG Derek Fisher...Jordan Farmar/Javaris Crittenton
SG Kobe Bryant...Mo Evans/Sasha Vujacic
SF Lamar Odom...Luke Walton/Coby Karl
PF Rony Turiaf...Vladimir Radmanovic/Brian Cook
C Andrew Bynum...Chris Mihm/Kwame Brown