The Lakers trimmed their roster down to 17 by waiving Brandon Heath Monday afternoon.
Sasha Vujacic returned to practice and indicated that he felt no sharp pain in his injured ankle. He said that he won’t play tonight, but hopes to get in at least one of the final two exhibition games before Tuesday’s regular season opener.
Story lines are thin these days, so we get yet another article on Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum working to cohabitate in the paint. A Raptors big man who has an all-star background and a history of knee problems had some advice for Andrew Bynum.
The small forward merry-go-round continues to spin with the news that Vladimir Radmanovic is day-to-day after spraining the middle finger on his left hand against the Raptors.
Click here for links to yesterday’s Practice Report videos.
TODAY
The Lakers travel to San Diego to play the Charlotte Bobcats at 7pm tonight (TV: KCAL/9, Radio: AM 570). Check out Lakers Gameday for all the info and a preview of tonight’s game with Derek Fisher.
During last night’s win over the Raptors reminded me a lot of those games last season when the second unit would come in and take the game up a notch. Jordan Farmar was electric (his monster jam would have been play of the night if not for Trevor Ariza catching it off the backboard and slamming it home, but Jordan was the one that put it off the backboard) and Lamar Odom is finding out how fun it can be playing with the second unit (click here to see what Lamar had to say postgame).
The second unit was running and gunning while the first unit bigs of Gasol and Bynum faced one of the only teams in the league that can matchup with their size. Vladimir Radmanovic had a rough shooting night against Toronto, but his play as a starter has been positive overall.
Bill Plaschke on Andrew Bynum’s contract possibilities.
Home court played a huge role in last year’s finals. Will it this year too?
TODAY
There won’t be any rest for the Lakers (even after a back-to-back weekend) with three games on the schedule in the next five days. They’ll practice today before heading to San Diego to play the Bobcats tomorrow. Sasha Vujacic is going to give his injured ankle a test today.
As usual, Phil Jackson is using the preseason to work through various lineup combinations, which becomes more muddled as Luke Walton returns to an already crowded small forward position.
Kobe Bryant is only shooting 36% in the pre-season and some are questioning if his long summer might have led to tired legs. He’s also got a nice new picture to put over his mantle.
Alba or Mendez? Belding or Taylor? Bond or Hefner? Electronics or Food? A lotta questions and a lotta answers as Andrew Bynum and Jordan Farmar play a game of “Would You Rather?” on Lakers.com.
TODAY
The STAPLES Center Shootout returns for it’s ninth consecutive season with the Lakers taking on Regal FC Barcelona for the first time at 7:30pm tonight. Check out Lakers Gameday for all the game info and click here to read a preview from someone that lives in Barcelona. Pau Gasol is fired up for tonight’s game as he goes against his best friend, Juan Carlos Navarro.
Your ticket to the Laker game also grants you admission to the Clippers/Raptors game that tips at 4:30. Check back for live coverage from STAPLES during the Lakers game.
A lot of the talk at practice yesterday centered around the news first reported in this article about an extension for center Andrew Bynum (more takes on that here and here). The OC Register’s Kevin Ding has no doubts about Bynum, but points out that he’s not a sure thing, yet.
With so many small forwards on the roster Luke Walton is being considered more a small than a big as he returns to the lineup this weekend. More than anything, Luke is just excited to get out there, no matter where he plays.
Derek Fisher is mixing a little more fire into his laid back personality and wants that to translate into a sense of urgency for this Lakers squad.
Lamar Odom started showing “feeling it” a little more yesterday. Tex Winter talks about Lamar over at TrueHoop.
Pau Gasol goes in-depth about his hometown, his former team and his desire to maybe play there again once his NBA days are over.
Play a game of “Really!?!” with the guys over at Forum Blue & Gold.
C.J. Giles is putting his troubled past behind him and garnering some compliments from Phil Jackson.
TODAY
More practice as the team prepares for this weekend’s Shootout at STAPLES Center. FC Barcelona tomorrow followed by either the Clippers or Raptors Sunday (winners play winners and losers play losers with the Lakers tipping at 7:30).
Yesterday’s Open Practice for Season Ticket Holders drew over 1,000 people as the team took the STAPLES Center court for the first time this season. Kevin Ding has some notes on the proceedings. While they’re not all great, don’t worry, it’s still early.
For head coach Phil Jackson the pre-season is about much more than wins and losses. It’s about figuring out what you have and how the rotations will shake out, something that will be tough to do until Sasha Vujacic returns. The gunner’s injury could mean that the Lakers go into the season carrying a full roster of 15 players. Joe Crawford is rumored to be leading the competition for that final spot.
Luke Walton is feeling great and said he plans to play in this weekend’s Shootout at STAPLES Center.
Kobe Bryant brushed off questions about him playing in Greece as “silly” and refused to answer anything about it… three times.
TODAY
Training Camp Day #17 = more practice. Another day of preparation at the team’s training facility. We’ll also have a couple new pieces up on the site.
What otherwise would have been a quiet practice day was interrupted with the news that Sasha Vujacic will be shutdown for the next 10-14 days because of the ankle that has bothered him since the first day of training camp. Sasha is hoping it will be less, maybe just to spite some Lakers staffers. See what he had to say yesterday on our video page.
Pau Gasol is excited to see his hometown club, Regal FC Barcelona, come to STAPLES this weekend. Gasol has a lot of friends on the squad and had a lot of interesting comments on how he found out about the game and what it means for a Spanish team to come to the US, check it out on the video page. Pau also spoke to the LA Times about a “Twin Tower” front court.
Derek Fisher talks about defense and Jordan Farmar talks about wanting to be a starter…. someday. Point guard Sun Yue’s conditioning is improving.
Assistant coach Brian Shaw talks about his daily role, referring scrimmages, Kobe through the years and lots of other stuff with Mike Trudell.
Attendance is down in the NBA this pre-season and the Lakers games are no exception.
TODAY
The Lakers will practice in front of more than just the staff today as they hold their annual Open Practice for season ticket holders. Video and blogs will follow.
A day after returning from Las Vegas, the Lakers went through an extended three-and-a-half hour practice that saw Kobe Bryant boisterously trash talking teammates and occasionally cutting the lines that dictate a typical “indian run”.
Phil Jackson spoke with the media after practice. As Brad Turner of the LA Times points out, Jackson has used many different lineups this pre-season, with only Bryant, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher having started every game. For now, Vladimir Radmanovic remains a starter.
A day after explaining the differences between “Lamar” and “Odom”, #7 was talking like a guy that wants to stay in LA for a while.
General Manager Mitch Kupchak took questions from some team sponsors, Mike Trudell has the story on the front page. While in Las Vegas Mike also spent some time with play-by-play man Spero Dedes and some of the team’s younger players that are trying to make the team.
Luke Walton looks like he could be ready for Saturday’s game against Regal FC Barcelona, but Sasha Vujacic remains limited.
TODAY
The Lakers will practice today at the team’s training facility. Check back for the video and write ups later this afternoon.
I’m sure TNT was hoping that tonight’s game would be between the first and second place teams in the west, but after the Sam Cassell take over on Tuesday night, we’re looking at a matchup between the first and sixth place teams. Welcome to the Western Conference.
Still, plenty is at stake tonight. A win could put the public-at-large on notice that the loss of Andrew Bynum isn’t the end of the season. A loss puts the Suns back on top of the Pacific Division, the Western Conference, and gives them a shot to tie up the season series. It’s a big game (and aren’t they all) with a lot at stake, but we’ve got a long way to go in the season.
Phil Jackson indicated after practice yesterday that Chris Mihm is still at least a week away from returning to practice and even when/if he returns the Lakers could use some help on the front line. Losing Andrew essentially takes the Lakers back to the starting lineup from early last season (with an upgrade at point guard & deeper bench) that was pretty successful. Lamar Odom is looking even farther back, hearkening to the 2006 Playoffs where the Lakers.
Lakers trainer Gary Vitti spent detailed exactly what happened to Andrew’s knee and the recovery process.
It could be quite some time before Bynum can begin rehabilitation exercises to strengthen the muscles around his knee. The plan is to increase Bynum’s leg strength in order to prevent another kneecap injury.
“Right now, he can’t do a whole lot,” Vitti said. “He has a big, swollen knee joint. It’s probably full of blood, which is not good. Blood is not good in a place that it doesn’t belong. It belongs in your vessels. When it leaks out of there it has (bad) effects to other tissues. So we’ve got to get that out of there.”
Vladimir Radmanovic is expected to miss more time. The hope is that he’ll be available for the Lakers 9-game road trip that starts at the end of the month.
While the Lakers survived in Seattle, Coach Jackson wasn’t particularly pleased with Kobe Bryant’s 44 shot attempts and the repeated deferrals by Lamar Odom and Luke Walton.
“Try to get Lamar and Luke in a rhythm,” Jackson said. “Lamar just had an awful night and kept passing the ball. Fortunately for us, we found a way to win.”
Despite a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) in his first start since Andrew Bynum’s injury, Kwame Brown looked out of place on offense and appeared to tire as the game went on.
“I think he got tired and Ronny [Turiaf] had [too many] fouls, so he had to play through it…There was no one else to take his position,” Jackson said.
Continue reading ‘Lakers Today: 01/16/08′
With seven wins in a row–the longest active streak in the league–the Lakers currently sit tied with Phoenix atop the Western Conference standings after last night’s thrilling overtime victory over the Sonics.
“Tonight was just one of those games where I had to kind of read the mood of the team, and us being a little deflated with Drew going down and being on a back-to-back and coming on the road,” Bryant said. “It was just one of those things where I just wanted to be a little more assertive.”
Although news that Andrew Bynum will miss at least eight weeks due to injury may have distracted the team in last night’s game, General Manager Mitch Kupchak was happy the prognosis is only eight weeks.
“It could have been worse,” he said. “As long as I’ve been around, I’ve seen a lot of knee injuries. You never want a knee injury that alters a career. We’re fortunate that surgery is not needed and we’ll have him return this year.
Continue reading ‘Lakers Today: 01/15/08′
