Lakers Assistants Looking Elsewhere

First of all, yes, Los Angeles Lakers’ Lamar Odom’s shoulder surgery was a success. Now, moving on to the holistic surgery of the team. There’s been a lot of movement suggesting that the Lakers will need to doctor their coaching staff soon. The Seattle Supersonics and Sacramento Kings requested permission from the Lakers to meet with coach Kurt Rambis for the position of head coach. Rambis has been contributing as assistant coach for nine seasons with the Lakers. And Jim Cleamons is in the middle of an interview process with the Supersonics. Cleamons is on his second go around with the Lakers, and has previous head coach experience with the Dallas Mavericks from 1996-98. In addition, Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw interviewed in Indianapolis on Tuesday for the open coaching position with the Indiana Pacers. Shaw has been assisting the Lakers since the middle of the 2004-2005 season. Shaw was also a Laker himself during their three-peat championship streak from 2000-2002. Shaw is also being interviewed by the Sacramento Kings. These coaching position talks are definitely still in the preliminary phase, pending the hiring on of other positions and some repositioning of staff on the other teams. Positions are still being juggled, so it will be interesting to see where everyone falls into place. Get your Los Angeles Lakers tickets today.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 16, 2007 - Post a comment

Will Odom Continue to Be a Surgery Magnet?

The Los Angeles Lakers’ off-season has begun. Unfortunately, it’s not a very positive start. Forward Lamar Odom recently tore his labrum in his left shoulder. Odom is undergoing surgery today. The fact that this is the same surgery he had two years ago is not promising. And we won’t know the extent of the damage until they actually operate. Odom has already missed five games in March due to his previous shoulder injury, and a few games earlier in the season because of a sprained knee. With all the trade talks recently, will this surgery put Odom on the endangered species list? This most definitely depends on the recovery time required before Odom can hit the court full force again.

Despite these mishaps, the Lakers’ team doctor Dr. Lewis Yocum claims that Odom should be ready for training camp. However, this means Odom will only have 4 1/2 months of recovery time before training camp, leaving a small window of flexibility with the initial 4-month recovery projection. Wish Odom luck and get your Los Angeles Lakers tickets here.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 15, 2007 - Post a comment

Lakers Need to Stop Kidding Around

New Jersey Nets’ General Manager Rod Thorn openly admitted to trying to trade Jason Kidd to the Los Angeles Lakers last week. The decision was in play until the last minute of the deadline. Reportedly, Kidd was a fan of the trade as well. However, the Lakers would have had to trade integral center Andrew Bynum. Bynum, the youngest player in the league, has quickly surprised many with the thorough development of his skill set. He’s obviously made himself a valuable stock ticket. Extremely young, career starts in the pocket, and already showing maturity on the court, all within his first year of going pro, why would Lakers turn this gem over at this point? Even Kidd admits, If I were the Lakers I wouldn’t have given him up for me, either.”

Lakers VP Jim Buss also admitted more trade truths on L.A. radio recently. He admitted that the Lakers are seriously considering changes to the roster after draft lottery positions are made concrete on May 22. So, perhaps Bynum may not be exempt from trade just yet. Especially when we consider the three-year slump the Lakers have been experiencing, we can see how the Lakers may start trading to make themselves undeniable challengers now. They simply don’t have the time to build up to contenders. Get your Los Angeles Lakers tickets today.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 14, 2007 - Post a comment

Harnessing Negative Energy on the Court.

When it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s easy to get caught up in the action on the court. But these all-stars probably wouldn’t be who they are today without their families. Kobe Bryant was reminded of this when former teammate Derek Fisher’s 10 1/2-month-old daughter recently underwent successful treatment for eye cancer. Surprisingly, Kobe said that such trauma can actually enforce a player’s concentration, “What happens is you get a higher sense of focus. You want to perform well for your family. You know it can help lift the spirits of your family for that day or however long.” After taking another minute to let this quote set in, I realized it’s not so surprising. Sports have an incredible mental component, and performing well always serves to boost spirits. For myself, I remember playing a soccer game with my freshly exed girlfriend in attendance. I wanted to make her sorry for what she did, and I felt a new level of adrenaline pumping through me that game; it was exhilarating in an almost eerie way. So, as strange as it may sound, it can be quite effective if players harness negative energy in their life and convert it to a focused plan of attack. Check out StubHub.com for Lakers tickets.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 11, 2007 - Post a comment

Lakers Need to Rethink Their Strategy.

It’s time to stop referring to Kobe Bryant like the mythological god Atlas, bearing the weight of the entire team on his shoulders. This is a professional NBA team right? Aren’t these multimillion dollar teams supposed to have more than one player to rely on to consistently produce? Instead of dwelling on how much longer the peak of Kobe’s copious career will last, the Los Angeles Lakers need to fall back on the basics and get a little gritty this off-season. “We’re very aware of Kobe Bryant’s age (29 in August),” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said. “We’re aware of that window, and we’re making every effort to make this the best team possible.”
Due to Kobe’s need to be the lone star on the court, we know that the Lakers can’t look to taking on another superstar to pick them up from their three year slump. So the Lakers need to start thinking about a new system on the court this off-season that reinvents how they use their current talent. You can view Lakers tickets at StubHub.com to watch what will hopefully be a revamped team.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 10, 2007 - Post a comment

Most Tradeable Player on Lakers

So the Lakers will be wheeling and dealing this summer. That’s almost a certain fact given Bryant’s demands that something “happen now” or else. It seems the only people on the Lakers that you are guaranteed to see next season if you get Los Angeles Lakers tickets are Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson. The bench might have a completely different look. Even Penny Marshall could be missing from the jumbotron close ups next year. I don’t mean to frighten you but it’s true.

So the question stands: “who is the most tradeable player?” If you had to rank them, or give them a score out of, say, ten Kobe Bryant scowls, who would be the most Alberto Gonzalesed of the bunch? One Kobe scowl means the player is only annoyingly useless. Ten means his resume is on craigslist with a title like “Role Player Seeks Less of Role.”

Tomorrow we will begin the assessment. I’m already thinking that Brian Cook will be first up. Expect something like ten Kobe scowls and three national television chew outs, which is, of course, off the charts, but because it actually happened in three separate TNT games last year, it’s within the range of possibilities. Make sure to write letters to Mitch Kupchak about who you want out of L.A., and then go to StubHub.com for some Los Angels Lakers tickets for next year’s new and improved season.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 10, 2007 - Post a comment

Bryant to Bulls in ‘08?

Now that the season is over for the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s time to speculate and speculate hard. The Lakers need change, and it seems like anybody and everybody on the roster is on the table for a trade save for Kobe Bryant, of course. Kobe wants the team shaken up badly, and there are a few names out there that are being thrown around.

The guy the Lakers will probably try hardest to get is Kevin Garnett, but he hasn’t said anything particularly optimistic about going to Los Angeles. He lives in Malibu, and he is on good terms with Kobe Bryant, but outside of that, there isn’t much else to go on besides a long time Lakers lust for a center, and Garnett’s floundering team in Minnesota.

But here’s a scenario that just occurred to me (and Sam Smith): what if the Lakers don’t do anything? What if they keep the same basic personnel and they end up losing in the first round again or even failing to make the playoffs? Well, that would be a nightmare situation. Kobe would likely have to opt out of his contract in ‘08… and go to the Bulls, a team which would be well under the salary cap, and which Kobe has openly admired. Then, when you go to StubHub.com in about a year, you’ll be getting Los Angeles Lakers tickets without the promise of seeing Kobe. Unless the Bulls are in town.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 9, 2007 - Post a comment

Possible Trades Abound for Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have, as Kobe Bryant called it, “a big summer” ahead of them. Bryant has make his feeling heard loud and clear following Los Angeles’ 2007 playoff exit last week. Baby wants to win, and baby wants it now.

Of course, there’s just a few things standing in the way of a big change for next season. First of all, money. The Lakers don’t have much of it. Kobe and Lamar Odom take up the lion’s share of it, so the Lakers management will be working the phones this summer looking to deal. Most likely any big trades will involve Lamar Odom, who gives the kind of numbers a player half his cost and size could produce, and Andrew Bynum, a young big man with potential. If Kobe Baby wants to win now, there isn’t much time to wait for a guy like Bynum. Oh, plus the Lakers need a point guard.

Some of the names you’ll probably be hearing around the Lakers blogs all summer are Kevin Garnett, Germaine O’Neal and Jason Kidd. But those are the same names you’ve heard said before, and look where they are now. Stay tuned for all the latest trade rumors and rumors of rumors. Then, once somebody makes a move, gun it over to StubHub.com to get some Los Angeles Lakers tickets for a new ego for Kobe to run off.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 8, 2007 - Post a comment

Bryant Passes… to Kupchak

Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Lakers will have to wait until next year to do anything about the state of the Los Angeles franchise. Right now, it is all up to GM Mitch Kupchak to improve a roster that clearly couldn’t get it done this past season. Though Kobe hasn’t exactly said that he would opt out of his contract following next season if there weren’t any big changes in the win column, he hasn’t denied that he would either.
Said Kobe Bryant, “I know my patience is about as short as my 1-year old daughter. … Here we are now, three years from then and my patience is really on `E,’ so we really have to put our pedal to the metal and do something.”

With the Lakers already pushing the salary cap limit, the only real options that Kupchak has is to make trades. The Lakers need a point guard first and foremost. There is also the annual Kevin Garnett trade rumors that keep floating around. There might not be any big changes very soon, but stay tuned. Then, once the Lakers bag a big ticket player like Garnett, be the first on StubHub.com getting Los Angeles Lakers tickets for games next season.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 8, 2007 - Post a comment

Lakers Reflect on Season

Most of the Los Angeles Lakers returned to LA yesterday to empty out their lockers and take exit interviews with coach Phil Jackson and general manager Mitch Kupchak.  Overall, the team’s feelings about the season were those of frustration and dissapointment. 

Said Lakers forward Luke Walton, “We just kind of talked about how disappointed we all were with how the season ended. I think last year, at the end we really had a lot to build on. Early in this year, it looked like we had built and we’d gotten better as a team and we’d be able to start competing for championships again… Then we kind of got hit by the injury bug and it was all downhill from there.”

Injuries were the death of this team. Then there were the altercations on and off the court, with players and coaches fighting amongst themselves and, sometimes, with the NBA. Luke Walton is an unrestricted free agent this summer, as are Shammond Williams,  Aaron McKie, Chris Mihm, and Smush Parker.

Though the Lakers will likey lose Parker and McKie, but the rest are questionable. Then there’s the rumors that Kevin Garnett migh be coming to L.A. So pay attention to the moves this summer. If you like what you see, make sure to check out StubHub.com for Los Angeles Lakers tickets to a game or two next year.

Permalink - Posted in General on May 4, 2007 - Post a comment


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