Archive for the 'Off-Season' Category

Gasol, Spain Drop Eurobasket Opener

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on September 8, 2009
in Off-Season and Pau Gasol
. Closed

In his first game since injuring the index finger of his left hand, Pau Gasol scored nine points with seven rebounds in 25 minutes during Spain’s 66-57 loss to Serbia.

Gasol missed the first seven of his eight free throws, and hit only 4-of-9 shots in the loss, a surprising result for many as Spain are the heavy favorite to win the Eurobasket 2009 title.

Gasol, who shot 56.7 percent from the field and 78.1 percent from the line for the Lakers during L.A.’s championship run, may have been bothered by the finger, but he and Spain have a chance to bounce back against Great Britain on Tuesday.

To read a full report of Spain-Serbia game and view the box score, CLICK HERE.

Mbenga Concludes Week in Africa

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on September 7, 2009
in Community, DJ Mbenga and Off-Season
. Closed

D.J. Mbenga concluded his week in South Africa with the NBA’s Basketball without Border’s Africa program, as summarized by league staff:

It was all basketball on the final day of BWB Africa 2009, with a women’s clinic starting things off in the morning led by former WNBA players Nkeysha Sales and Teresa Edwards. Sixty girls Basketball South Africa ran through passing, shooting and dribbling drills. After the on-court action, Hoops 4 Hope ran a life skills session for the girls teaching the importance of teamwork and leadership.

The BWB campers played their last games with their teams and the Houston Rockets, coached by Dikembe Mutombo, Teresa Edwards and BJ Johnson, finished in first place in the camp tournament.

The campers waited eagerly for the All-Star announcement and Nigeria and Senegal had the most representation with six and five respectively. BJ Johnson coached Team Black to a 44-31 victory over Team White. After the game, individual camp award winners were announced as follows, including Nike Camp MVP Gorgui Sky Dieng of Senegal.

The campers then had a final chance to say their goodbyes and trade email addresses with their new found friends at the end-of-camp barbeque.

Mbenga in Africa for Basketball Without Borders

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on September 3, 2009
in Community, DJ Mbenga and Off-Season
. Closed

Dikembe MutumboAmong my favorite pregame routines during media access throughout the 2008-09 regular season was stopping by the locker of the always interesting D.J. Mbenga.

Of course, many of the conversations were about basketball. But just as often, the topic would drift to international news, particularly anything involving Mbenga’s native land, Africa. His eyes were just as likely to sparkle when talking about his favorite cause - education in Africa - as they were when an opposing player tried to lay the ball up near his sacred land (the paint).

Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mbenga was forced to move to Belgium, but his love for Africa makes it no coincidence that he has been in Johannasburg, South Africa, with the NBA’s Basketball without Borders (BwB) Africa since Wednesday.

The NBA described the project:

The focus of the NBA Cares social responsibility efforts for Basketball without Borders (BWB) Africa is education, grassroots basketball development and health related issues with a focus on HIV/AIDS education and advocacy. The BWB Africa camp also features a product donation for local non-government organizations (NGO’s) that includes school supplies, sports equipment, clothing, toiletries, hygiene products and other necessities. Social responsibility efforts are split into two categories. The first is Life Skills seminars, which are hour long sessions held daily for the campers. Life Skills seminars will run in the following schedule: Day 1 – Orientation, Day 2 and Day 3 – HIV/AIDS education and living a healthy lifestyle presented by Hoops4Hope. The second category is community outreach events that take place each afternoon around the Johannesburg community.

MbengaThe event runs from Sept. 2nd to 6th, and aside from a bevy of basketball activities featuring the Top 60 African players from 15+ countries (ages 19 and under), includes the following visits by the NBA: Sustainable Food Garden Project at Cotlands Home Based Care Facility- Soweto; Habitat for Humanity Build Day; Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY) Trust Visit; Hoops4Hope Girls Basketball Clinic; and Life Skills Seminars including two sessions on “HIV/AIDS Education and Living a Healthy Lifestyle.”

Mbenga’s fellow participants include close friend and fellow native of Congo Dikembe Mutombo (pictured above), Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki and WNBA/Team USA legend Teresa Edwards.

We’ll catch up with Mbenga for all the details of the trip upon his return.

Pau Gasol Injury Update

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on August 31, 2009
in Off-Season and Pau Gasol
. Closed

According to Pau Gasol’s website, Lakers trainer Gary Vitti met with Gasol in Barcelona to check on the progress of Gasol’s injured finger.

Pau is about to start playing ball, perhaps this Sunday to coincide with last warm-up game of Spain, in Murcia against Israel. He will not play this game, but perhaps he does it in Lithuania, the last before the European Championship.

The index finger on Gasol’s left hand seems to be progressing according to plan, and the Spanish National Team expects him to return to the court shortly.

Vujacic Updates Slovenian Situation

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on August 28, 2009
in Off-Season and Sasha Vujacic
. Closed

Sasha VujacicEarlier this week, we read reports that Sasha Vujacic was not selected for the final roster of the Slovenian National Team, set to play in EuroBasket 2009 in September. Slovenia’s coach, Jurij Zdovc, cited a minor knee injury.

Vujacic, however, wanted to explain the situation from his perspective, and he did so on his website.

Well, I know there has been a lot of speculation about what has happened with my participation with the Slovenian team and I wanted to set the record straight to discontinue any rumors and falsehoods. So here is the whole story just for you guys: After a long time of consideration, I accepted the Slovenian national team’s invitation to play for them because I had a strong desire to play for my country and was assured that things had changed with respect to how the team was handled and operated. I reported to camp incredibly healthy, feeling great and ready to work hard to attain the national team’s goals. I trusted their methods and I was ready to accept their training program. I arrived to Ljubljana and joined the team. Our preparation began in Rogla (mountain in Slovenia). The very first day, I realized that training was unreasonably excessive and insensible to avoid injury…

TO READ VUJACIC’S FULL ENTRY, CLICK HERE.

Kobe Bryant: 31 Moments

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on August 27, 2009
in Kobe Bryant and Off-Season
. Closed

Kobe DunkWith an Amazon River-long list of accomplishments already to his name, it would seem that Kobe Bryant would at least be old enough to run for President, right?

Nope. Not for four more years of moment-building, anyway (by then the list could be closer in length to the Nile).

Bryant turned 31 on Sunday, August 23rd, prompting us to enlist the help of Lakers fans – via our @LakersReporter Twitter account – to amass a list of 31 highlights from the 2009 NBA Finals MVP’s career. At the end of the day, no list can fully encapsulate one of the world’s best athletes, but hopefully we detailed many of Kobe Bean Bryant’s best moments and most impressive accomplishments:

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Vujacic To Miss EuroBasket 2009

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on August 24, 2009
in Off-Season and Sasha Vujacic
. Closed

An update on Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic from Eurobasket.com:

The head coach of the Slovenian Basketball National Team Jurij Zdovc cut down the roster for the 2009 European Championship 16 players to 14. Miha Zupan (205-F/C-82) and NBA champion Sasha Vujacic (200-G-84) of Los Angeles Lakers - who has a minor knee injury - were not among the players selected for the roster by coach Zdovc before the tournament in Maribor. The roster now includes Goran Dragic, Jaka Klobucar, Jaka Lakovic, Domen Lorbek, Beno Udrih, Samo Udrih, Goran Jagodnik, Bostjan Nachbar, Primoz Brezec, Jurica Golemac, Erazem Lorbek, Uros Slokar, Matjaz Smodis and Gasper Vidmar.

Happy B-Day, Kobe. From Lamar.

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on August 24, 2009
in Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Off-Season
. Closed

Bryant - OdomOn his Twitter feed this past Sunday, Lamar Odom offered some off-court words to his on-court leader:

“Happy Birthday to my boy, Kobe Bryant.”

Odom’s words came in honor of Bryant’s 31st birthday, putting a bookend on the year Kobe won his first NBA Finals MVP award in culmination of his fourth championship with the Lakers.

On our end, we’re assembling a list featuring 31 of Kobe’s most memorable NBA moments, set to go out in the next day or two.

Should there be a moment you’d like to make sure isn’t missed, send a tweet to @LakersReporter.

Lakers in Cabo San Lucas

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on August 18, 2009
in Josh Powell and Off-Season
. Closed

Josh Powell Brian ShawNearly two months have passed since L.A.’s 4-1 NBA Finals victory over the Orlando Magic, but the celebrating is far from over.

Just ask Lakers forward Josh Powell, assistant coach Brian Shaw or assistant general manager Ronnie Lester, who were treated to a victory party at the Casa Dorada Los Cabos Resort and Spa down in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Casa Dorada’s general manager Victor Gomez happens to be a bigtime Lakers fan, and he hosted the party in the resort’s B Lounge, which was attended by more than 400 people. Entertainment was provided by Cirque-style jugglers on stilts along with a DJ (not Mbenga), while game highlights played on two big screens flanking the pool.

“Being a die-hard Laker fan, it was an honor to host my favorite team at Casa Dorada,” said Gomez. “We are looking forward to helping other Lakers recharge their batteries before next season’s title defense begins.”

Surely Powell, Shaw and Lester had no problem with regenerating in that manner.

While in Cabo, the player and coach dove into the ocean for a round of early-morning deep sea fishing, along with Shaw’s son B.J. (pictured). Clearly, their Pacific trek was productive, as the fish was used by the hotel’s executive chef, Fabian Rios, for that evening’s meal at 12 Tribes Restaurant.

“The food was fantastic!,” said Shaw, who was also joined in Cabo by his wife Nikki and two daughters Brianna and Bianca. “We had such a great time at Casa Dorada, and look forward to coming back soon.”

Pau Q&A Remix: Frosted Flakes & Penelope Cruz

Published
by
Mike Trudell
on August 17, 2009
in Off-Season and Pau Gasol
. Closed

Pau GasolWhen we sat down with Lakers All-Star forward Pau Gasol in early February, he and his teammates were on quite a roll, having won six straight road games including the confidence-cementing victories at Boston and Cleveland.

At the time, Gasol was as good as ever from an offensive perspective, and was demonstrating an impressive zest on the defensive side of the floor as well. Since we had a pretty good sense of the Spaniard on the floor, we thought it prudent to talk about everything else.

So, while Gasol - who’s currently recovering from a minor finger injury - was waiting for his midday meal (pasta with marinara sauce/grilled chicken breast with mashed potatoes/coke) in his Utah hotel room, we started asking questions:

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.

MT: Tony the Tiger, huh. What about your favorite meal?
Gasol: Sushi. I love toro, I love sea urchin, I love salmon … All kinds really. Seafood is big part of Mediterranean culture, and I grew up eating it in Barcelona.

MT: You probably know Salma Hayek, don’t you…
Gasol: Actually I know Penelope Cruz better. I like her sister Monica (google images link), too.

MT: Your mother is a physician and your father a hospital administrator. Was education emphasized before sports as you grew up?
Gasol: Yes, it was always “Do your work before you play.” They wanted me to keep my options open, to make sure studying was a big priority over basketball because you’re not sure that sports will work out. So I stayed in school as long as I could and should have even though it was hard my first and last years in college to do both medical school and professional basketball.

TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW, CLICK HERE.