The Official Los Angeles Lakers thread

[7even]

Artest is seriously ill. You never know what to expect from him. All those phrases like "playing for a championship with the player of his generation in an exciting city n shit, who would complain?" don't work here. He is not a rational person, don't expect him to act like the next nigga would in that situation. He is crazy. I think the main reason for him not fighting a teammate is because most people know when it's better to shut up. With Kobe and Phil, it might be different. Both have huge egos. And Phil might even talk shit about Artest to the media. And you never  know with Artest.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Artest is seriously ill. You never know what to expect from him. All those phrases like "playing for a championship with the player of his generation in an exciting city n shit, who would complain?" don't work here. He is not a rational person, don't expect him to act like the next nigga would in that situation. He is crazy. I think the main reason for him not fighting a teammate is because most people know when it's better to shut up. With Kobe and Phil, it might be different. Both have huge egos. And Phil might even talk shit about Artest to the media. And you never  know with Artest.

DENNIS RODMAN 96-99

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Players Lakers can still sign:

UNRESTRICED-
Michael Finley
Robert Horry
Gordan Giricek
Brian Skinner
Primoz Brezec
Francisco Elson
Fred Jones
Darrell Armstrong
Jason Williams
Smush Parker
Shaun Livingston
Quinton Ross
Lindsey Hunter
Juan Dixon
Jarvis Hayes
Eduardo Najera
Malik Allen
Devin Brown
Austin Croshere
Keyon Dooling
Bonzi Wells
Theo Ratliff
Jamaal Magloire
Antoine Wright
Devean George
Lorenzen Wright
Sam Cassell
Von Wafer 
Devin Green

RESTRICTED-
Craig Smith
Chris Quinn
Walter Herrmann
Salim Stoudemire
JR Smith
Delonte West
Daniel Gibson
Ryan Gomes
Carlos Delfino
Louis Williams

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Walton Having Surgery

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, July 14, 2008
By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

Luke Walton will have surgery Friday to remove bone spurs from his right ankle and expects to be out of action for four weeks.

Walton hopes the surgery will alleviate the pain he felt in the ankle all last season.

"It's the kind of thing that you don't know if the surgery will help. But I'm optimistic," Walton said by phone.


Hopefully, this takes him back to '06-'07.

[Stone Cold is Bout It, Bout It]

Sasha: 1 year/2.6 mil. offer from Lakers, hires Pelinka as agent
Finally some Sasha news. He switches his agent to Pelinka (Kobe’s agent). He is waiting for some offers, but the good news is the Lakers have offered him: O.C. Register: Vujacic used to be with Rob Pelinka (Kobe Bryant’s agent) before switching to Bill Duffy. Now, he is back with Pelinka, maybe with the hope that he will be able to attract a few offers some time before training camp opens.

Vujacic, a restricted free agent, was offered a one-year qualifying deal for $2.6 million by the Lakers, but seems to waiting on other teams to call. GM Mitch Kupchak was vague about being contacted by other teams regarding Vujacic, saying that several teams have expressed interest in Vujacic over the years.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Lakers' Jordan Farmar to go on peace mission to Middle East

Lakers guard, who is Jewish, will travel to Israel in August to run basketball camps for Israeli and Palestinian children, with the goal of giving them a lasting foundation of friendship and goodwill.
By Chris Hine, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 16, 2008
Like other NBA players, Jordan Farmar will head overseas this summer, only with a different mission -- to facilitate peace in the Middle East.

The Lakers' guard, who is Jewish, will travel to Israel to run basketball camps for Israeli and Palestinian children in association with the Peres Peace Center. The goal of the camps, which take place Aug. 4 to 11, is to bring Israeli and Palestinian children together through basketball and create a foundation for peaceful relations between them in years to come.

"If you can have a good time with someone you're supposed to be enemies with, and you guys can work together, things can be better for your future," Farmar said.

Farmar, who averaged 9.1 points and 2.7 assists in his second season with the Lakers, also participated in the NBA's fifth-annual "Play for Peace" clinic in 2006, a little more than a month after he was drafted out of UCLA.

"Sports can be a ground where everyone has fun and when you're out there having a good time; you don't really think about everything else that's going on," Farmar said.

The Peres Peace Center was founded by Israeli President Shimon Peres with the goal of fostering peace in the Middle East through social programs, cooperation and interaction between Israelis and Palestinians. Farmar said programs such as the camp are important for promoting peace, because the NBA is popular in both countries.

"For us to come, we're icons in both communities and we're taking time out to go out and show there's something important that needs to be changed," Farmar said.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Kobe Bryant: Sad to See Ronny Turiaf Go

July 22, 2008 1:10 PM

Kobe Bryant sure liked playing (and appearing in YouTube videos) with Ronny Turiaf. Janis Carr of the Orange County Register quotes Bryant on Turiaf's departure, via free agency, to the Warriors:

    As a businessman, Kobe Bryant understands why the Lakers let Ronny Turiaf walk. The popular forward, a restricted free agent, had received a four-year, $17 million offer sheet from the Golden State Warriors and the Lakers decided not to match it.

    But as a teammate and basketball player, he thought the decision stunk.

    "I'm sad about it. I wish we could have kept him," Bryant said. "I love him as a person. I love him as a basketball player and I hate to see him leave. I just wish him all the best.

    "He would much rather have stayed with us, but that's the nature of the NBA, man."

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-78/Kobe-Bryant--Sad-to-See-Ronny-Turiaf-Go.html

[Teddy Roosevelt]

LAKERS SIGN JOSH POWELL

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent Josh Powell, it was announced today. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

Powell, a three-year NBA veteran, spent last season with the Los Angeles Clippers where he averaged 5.5 points and 5.2 rebounds in 64 games. After going undrafted in 2003, the 6-9 forward spent two seasons overseas where he played in both the Italian and Russian basketball leagues. Prior to the 2005-06 season, Powell was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Mavericks where he averaged 3.0 points and 2.2 rebounds in 37 games. The North Carolina State alum was traded to the Indiana Pacers in July of 2006 and played in seven games before being acquired by the Golden State Warriors in a midseason trade. Powell finished the 2006-07 season with averages of 3.1 points and 2.4 rebounds in 37 games.

Powell has career averages of 4.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 138 games with Dallas, Indiana, Golden State and the Clippers.

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/080814joshpowell.html

[Antonio]

LOL he played in A/2, here. The second best league in Italy.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

LOL he played in A/2, here. The second best league in Italy.

He improved a lot since then...

[Antonio]

I haven't watched him enought at the Clippers to judge him, but i trust Mitch and his staff. We will miss Turiaf, but let's hope he'll be a nice replacement.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

The Difference for Team USA was Kobe

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

No date set for Kobe's surgery

August 25th, 2008, 1:18 pm
posted by ART THOMPSON III, OCREGISTER.COM

Eventually surgery will have to be performed on Kobe Bryant’s right pinky finger. The procedure is necessary to mend the ligament damage that he incurred during the past NBA season.

However, Lakers spokesman John Black reported Monday that Bryant has not decided when he is going to have his finger mended. According to Black, Bryant planned to take a few days to contemplate the situation, upon his return from the Beijing Olympics.

Bryant’s post-surgery recovery likely will take at least four weeks. Prior to leaving for China, Bryant said he expected to be ready for training camp the opening week of October.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Lakers sign Chinese guard Sun

By Elliott Teaford, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 08/25/2008 10:25:55 PM PDT

It's official: the Lakers signed Sun Yue on Monday, adding to their depth in the backcourt and increasing their collection of international players.

Sun, a 6-foot-9 point guard from China, agreed to a two-season contract earlier this month but delayed signing on the dotted line until after the Beijing Olympics. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"He's really looking forward to (joining the Lakers)," said Charles Bonsignore, Sun's agent. "The Olympics gave him kind of a boost. He's optimistic and, obviously, a little bit excited."

Sun averaged 6.8 points, 2.5 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals in six games for China in the just-completed Olympics. China did not medal and did not give Team USA much of a game in the Olympic opener Aug.10.

The 23-year-old Sun played three seasons for the Beijing Aoshen Olympians of the ABA, including 2005-06 when the team played its home games at Azusa Pacific. So he is familiar with the Los Angeles area.

"His adjustment will be pretty easy," Bonsignore said. "It's not like he's coming here out of the blue like some of the other guys who come over."

Sun will compete for playing time with Jordan Farmar in the Lakers' backcourt. He also gives the team an added foreign presence, joining Pau Gasol of Spain, Vladimir Radmanovic of Serbia and Sasha Vujacic of Slovenia.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Bynum says he's feeling completely healthy
Sep. 5, 2008
CBSSports.com wire reports


EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum proclaimed himself completely healthy Friday, saying he expects to be better than ever when training camp begins Sept. 30.
 
"I'm doing well, man," the 7-footer said during a news conference at the Lakers' practice facility. "The knee's good. Everything's ready to go, 100 percent. I've been training, getting stronger."

The 20-year-old Bynum was expected to be sidelined 8 to 12 weeks after bruising a bone in his knee and briefly dislocating of his kneecap in the third quarter of a 100-99 victory over Memphis last Jan. 13. Instead, he was sidelined for the rest of the season, and underwent arthroscopic surgery May 21 to remove some cartilage debris and smooth some rough spots on the underside of his kneecap.

He was in the midst of a breakout season when injured, averaging 13.1 points and 10.1 rebounds.

Bynum recently returned to Southern California after spending a month working out with his personal trainer, Sean Zarzana, and former NBA standout Gerald Wilkins in Atlanta.

Bynum, the 10th overall selection in the 2005 NBA draft, credited the rapid improvement he made last season to the hiring Zarzana in the wake of withering criticism from teammate Kobe Bryant after the Lakers' first-round playoff ouster in 2007.

"Actually, I'm better," Bynum said when asked to compared his fitness to last summer. "My times on the track are better and I'm able to lift more weights. I'm stronger. I weigh about the same, I'm 285 (pounds) with less body fat."

Bynum said he looked forward to working with Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar again this season. Abdul-Jabbar, the leading scorer in NBA history, has served as a mentor to Bynum, who jumped from St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, N.J., to the pro ranks.

"I can't wait, man," Bynum said. "I think I'm the only guy who wants the season to start, like, tomorrow, you know what I mean? But I just can't wait to play with the fellows."

Bynum is eligible for a contract extension that could pay him up to $80 million for five seasons, but said he's not thinking about anything but a successful return to the Lakers' lineup.

"If I handle my business on the court, the business off the court will be handled," he said.

Bynum also said he's looking forward to teaming with Pau Gasol, who will move from center to power forward this season.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

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