Stay up to day with the latest news, updates, and press conferences from your Los Angeles Lakers.
We’ll have a full report from L.A.’s 4-1 first round series win over the Utah Jazz, complete with links to each running diary and postgame story, a player-by-player breakdown of each Laker on the roster and an interview with Andrei Kirilenko highlighting an opposing player’s view of the Lakers.
Just check Lakers.com later tonight.
Luke Walton and Jordan Farmar have their Matt Damon - Ben Affleck thing going on, no question about it.
The question is, does that friendship translate into success onto the NBA floor?
“I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation between being good friends and playing well together on the court,” said Walton upon first consideration. “I think it more has to do with our styles of playing the game. We both understand the game pretty well and over the past two years, we’ve played a lot of 2-of-2 and 3-on-3 with each other and developed a good feel for each other’s games.”
Farmar had a different perspective.
“It definitely helps,” he countered. “If you’re friends with someone, you know their game, you know what they’re good at, you know how to put them in a position to be successful and you want them to be successful. They want the same for you, so it’s a different kind of chemistry and feeling out there when you like, know and enjoy people you’re playing with.”
So … which is it?
To read more, CLICK HERE to visit the article’s home on Lakers.com.
Throughout the 2008-09 NBA season and particularly just before the Feb. 19 trade deadline, several teams seemed to be cutting salaries for purely economic purposes. Here’s why the Lakers weren’t one of them:
This basketball season, much has been made about the impact of the nationwide recession that’s adversely affecting so many people not just in America but around the world.
Owners throughout professional basketball have made deals that appear, at least on the surface, to have just as much to do with their respective economic situations as on-the-court performance (see: pre-physical Tyson Chandler).
““I think the country’s economic struggles will have an effect on the business of basketball and the NBA.” said Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchack. “It is obviously a tough economic environment right now with a lot of uncertainty going forward. It is essential that all NBA teams and the NBA in New York pay close attention to the economy and how it may affect this great game in the short term so as to ensure its success in the long term.”
To read the rest of the article, CLICK HERE.
Whether you’re talking about food, basketball, medicine or what have you, Lakers forward Pau Gasol generally has something interesting to offer.
We caught up with the 2008-09 All-Star in his hotel room – while he was waiting for some pasta with marinara sauce (entrée No. 1), grilled chicken breast with mashed potatoes (entrée No. 2), a coke (he had plenty of water at shootaround) and a banana (for dessert) – to see what was on his mind:
MT: Let’s begin with a no-nonsense question. What’s your favorite cereal?
Gasol: Frosted Flakes. That’s easy. Also, Corn Flakes … with sugar. I guess that’s basically Frosted Flakes, but I started eating them when I was very young in Spain.
To read the rest of the interview, head right here on Lakers.com.
Thanks to a terrific individual week in which his team also happened to go 4-0 with wins over the two best teams in the Eastern Conference, Pau Gasol earned Western Conference Player of the Week honors, joining Kobe Bryant (twice) in receiving the award this season.
Gasol, after moving to center in place of the injured Andrew Bynum, averaged 26.0 points on 67.6 percent shooting and ranked third in the NBA with 13.8 boards per contest.
He was terrific when it counted both in an OT win at Boston and the win that snapped Cleveland’s 23-0 home record three nights later, helping the Lakers return from their trip with a 6-0 record to post the league’s best record at 41-9.
We took a closer look into Gasol’s fantastic play of late by detailing his numbers in the last five games since Bynum went down, and trying to describe how he’s done it with the help of some video from Luke Walton.
You can read it by clicking here.
How does an NBA assistant coach prepare for a six-game road trip? Which opponents does he focus on, what occurs on “off days” and what are his particular methods and tricks to impart information on his players?
On the road in Minneapolis, we spent a little time with Lakers assistant coach Jim Cleamons to talk about those topics and more.
Here’s what Clem had to say:
MT: After advancing to the NBA Finals last season without Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza, you knew you had a very good team. To what degree have the Lakers lived up to your expectations at the season’s midpoint?
Kupchak: The expectations were great, and I think there was a curiosity factor with a healthy Andrew Bynum. People didn’t know what to expect based on Trevor Ariza’s short window of opportunity with us last year; I’m not sure there was much expectation there. But certainly with Andrew coming back, people were very curious, and as I would expect myself they’d expect us to be a stronger team. We’ve had our share of small knickknack injuries and we haven’t really faced any extreme adversity so far. Jordan Farmar especially, Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic all missed time and Kobe Bryant’s probably the most banged up of anybody but he continues to play. So where we are today, overall, we’re pleased. But we’ll be evaluated on how we conclude the season, not where we stand in January.
To read more, CLICK HERE.
Fact: Every NBA player wants to play big minutes.
With perhaps a few exceptions (uniquely unmotivated souls, you know who you are), playing time is the thing players covet most and control least. That mandate may not apply as directly to players like Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, whose talents any coach simply can’t leave on the pine … But nearly every other player on L.A.’s roster knows that at least some of his professional livelihood may depend on if Phil Jackson decides to play him 10, 20 or 30 minutes a night.
Players as good as Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and Derek Fisher are going to earn their share of minutes, but playing 20 vs. 30 can make a huge impact not only on the team, but more pointedly (in this case) on a player’s production.
For Fisher, getting big minutes hasn’t been much of an issue since his backup, Jordan Farmar, went down with a knee injury on Dec. 19 against Miami.
Derek Fisher 2008-09 Stats
Pre Farmar Injury:
28.0 minutes; 10.5 points; 3.3 assists; 2.5 rebounds; 0.9 turnovers; 41.3% FGs
Post Farmar Injury: 36.2 minutes; 14.8 points; 4.0 assists; 2.8 rebounds; 1.0 turnovers; 49% FGs
Totals Through 30 Games
29.4 minutes; 11.2 points, 3.4 assists, 2.6 rebounds; .93 turnovers; 42.8% FGs
Does 34 Matter?
The other number upon which there’s been a focus at least in the media is Fisher’s age: 34.
Though we should acknowledge that Fisher’s 34 isn’t the usual 34 - not after he takes such terrific care of his conditioning - do we know if playing six more minutes a game, on average, since Farmar’s injury makes a big difference on a body that hasn’t missed a game in four years? Maybe not. Fish has maintained throughout his career that he trains his body to play 48 minutes a night, and he honestly doesn’t appear to be fazed in the least - not that it should surprise us.
“I think it’s fun to compete,” said the veteran after Wednesday’s practice. “Guys that have made it to this level of professional sports - the drive and the persistence and determination that you have to show to get to this point - you don’t get here to want to sit on the bench half the game, and that goes for everybody.”
Of course, the feeling is somewhat fleeting.
“I think the difference for me is that through my life experiences and my basketball experiences, I know it’s not something that will stay forever,” Fisher added. “So I appreciate it and I maximize it when it’s there, but I’m smart enough and enough of a team player to know when to step back as soon as Jordan comes back, because he’s an important member of our team.”
Farmar did say at Thursday’s practice that his knee feels really good after the surgery. But until then, Coach, Fish doesn’t seem to mind playing all 48. That’s up to you.
We can’t explain exactly why it works like this, but when Sasha sits down with us after shootaround before home games, he balls out.
During Sunday’s beating of Golden State, Vujacic was 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-7 from three for a season-high 17 points, plus a season-high six assists, two boards and a steal … Not to mention only two turnovers while serving as the backup point guard in the absence of Jordan Farmar, and some tough defense against smaller guards on the perimeter. Not coincidentally, he appeared on Lakers.com that morning.
Sasha’s already admitted the cause (admittedly, playing 30 minutes didn’t hurt his cause), and can even rewind back to the season’s first four games, in which he’d made just 7-of-22 shots and was ready to crack his head against the base of the basket. Sasha came on Lakers.com, and proceeded to make all three of his shots from the field with three assists and a steal for a +15 in 15 minutes of playing time against Houston the next day.
Alas, below is the video of Sasha before his best game of the season … Though, clearly, he’s more worried about the socks* I wore to shootaround then the fact that Lakers.com is basically ensuring that he lives up to his contract.
*OK, I wore white socks with my blue suit at 11 a.m. shootaround, because I had to promptly change back into jeans and running shoes to cart my in-town family around Manhattan Beach. Obviously, blue socks were waiting in the car for the game, but Sasha cared so little about that excuse that he brought it up three times during the video (some were edited out) and then again twice in the locker room. Thanks for blowing up my spot, Sasha, ‘ppreciate you.
My name is Mike Trudell, and I’m a fantasy basketball addict (I don’t need to attend meetings, do I?).
As a point of fact, I love fantasy hoops about as much as …
A) Teenage girls love the Jonas Brothers
B) Teenage boys love Megan Fox
C) Bill Belichick loves cheating
D) Tom Cruise loves Scientology
E) Nike stock loves Michael Jordan
So, my love affair with sports numbers is why I get frustrated (to quite frustrated) when I see that Dwight Howard is No. 35 on ESPN’s “Player Rater.”
No. 35? Really!!!??
Check me out: Howard is leading the league in rebounding (13.6) and blocked shots (3.68) by a long shot. He’s ninth in field goal percentage (55.1) and 24th in scoring (19.9). He’s missed exactly two games in his four-plus year career (both this season due to a left knee tweak) and is a mortal lock to put up big numbers every night because he’s twice as athletic as anyone his size … and very few boast his size in the first place.
So wait … What are we missing? Oh yeah. He’s a big-time clanker.
One of the NBA’s worst ever free throw shooters, Howards hits only 56.5 percent of his league-high 11.3 attempts, which can admittedly cause you to lose the free throw category each week (unless you know how to properly compensate). Because of the way ESPN’s rankings system works, Howard’s charity bricks drop him all the way down to 35th in the rater.
Basically, ESPN’s player rater assigns an exact +/- number in each of eight categories (points, assists, steals, blocks, rebounds, FT%, FG%, 3PM) based on how one compares to the rest of the players in the league. So Howard earns a ridiculous +6.52 for blocks*, by far the highest of any category (CP3 gets a 5.11 for assists, the next highest), but his free throw number (-6.8) is also the lowest number in any category, and completely eviscerates his blocks, while de-emphasizing his FG%, points and boards.
*Only three other players (Marcus Camby, Chris Anderson and Ronny Turiaf, the latter two who don’t play much) average over two blocks, making Howard’s swats even more valuable than, say, Dwyane Wade’s 28.9 points (since 13 other players average over 22 points).
Is that fair? No way. Let’s continue…
If you drafted Howard at No. 35 overall in your fantasy league this year, and you’re not a moron with the rest of your squad, you are probably winning your league. That suggests that the rater is off a bit, right? After all, Howard is a rare player who significantly helps you in four categories, just like ‘Bron, Wade and Paul and really no one else. With Dwight on your team, even if you’re punting free throws - which you don’t necessarily have to do - you’re most likely going to win blocks, you have an excellent chance in rebounding and field goal percentage and you even get 20 extra points per game. He won’t help you much in assists, steals or threes (duh), but his massive production in those other categories cannot be matched by any other player, even LeBron. Furthermore, if you’re smart, you can put more point guards and point forwards on your roster to help you with the categories Howard doesn’t excel in, while letting Dwight do the work of two centers. No, seriously. Look at this:
Taking out the shooting categories (we know Dwight has the edge in FG and a deficit in FT), here are Howard’s numbers compared to Rasheed Wallace and Al Horford’s numbers … combined.
Dwight Howard: 19.9 points, 13.6 boards, 3.7 blocks, 0.9 steals, 1.4 assists
Wallace and Horford: 23.3 points, 16.2 boards, 3.2 blocks, 1.6 steals, 4.3 assists
While ‘Sheed’s 1.9 threes are a factor as well, it’s pretty telling that it takes two very good players to just surpass the Player Rater’s 35th best guy.
If someone can please explain to me how missing free throws (again, one out of nine categories) can push a player down about 32 spots in the fantasy rankings (Nene and Jason Terry are 17th and 18th, OK!), I’d LOVE to hear it. I mean, a solid all-around player like Joe Johnson (11th on the PR) doesn’t have one number below or above 3.0, and has a minus only in the turnover category, so his 10.84 more than handles Howard’s 7.95
OK, time to bounce … I need to go frantically put together trade propositions for Howard in all three of my leagues.
FROM LAKERS.com
