Los Angeles Lakers (17x NBA Champions)

[OCBucksFan]

Laura Lane retains her press credential at Staples because she's female, whether her story is true or not, I don't know, but she's constantly coming up with stories that make everyone say "what the hell?" She's said some dumb things in the past.

 

[starBUCKS]

Congrats!

 

[SanAntonioBuck]

Congrats to the Lakers. Kobe is awesome and they are much better defensively than people give the credit for.

 

[BuckeyeTillIDie]

 

[OCBucksFan]

Well Lakers fans, I hate to say it, but I am 99.9% sure that's it. Maybe I am wrong and it's the most epic comeback in history, but I don't think so...

Congratulations Boston!

God, that hurts so much to say, but as I have said in the past in other sports, I don't play for the team so I can't do anything about the outcome.

Ok, so let's recap the season, I think most of us coming in were expecting the worst. Let's remember what the season started off with, Kobe wanting to leave and us looking to trade him, what looked like a mediocre roster and an expectation of getting knocked out of the first round at best. What we got was completely different, we had a western conference winning team in a season where 50 wins barely made the playoffs.

Now, the good news for next year, let's face one thing, Pao Gasol is not a center, he's a great forward, but a decent center at best. All of our championships have centered around a great big man. The Lakers will be a power again next year, especially with the return of Andrew Bynum.

Now, the bad news, The west is going to be tougher, much tougher next year, Portland will be a power, phoenix will be making adjustments, Utah is young and only going to get better, and New Orleans the same. So to make it back is going to be a challenge, but Dr. Buss is a great owner, so have high expectations.

Now the worst news, and great news if you are a Celtics fan. The Celtics have a team that can beat anyone, and they have at least 2 more years in them, that's the reality.

Maybe I'll have another post this season, but I doubt it, I'll start the new thread when practice starts.


​

 

[TRON]

Congratulations Boston!


​

Thank you from A Celtics fan.

 

[BuckeyeTillIDie]

Well, there should be some interesting off season moves here.

Players that need to go:

Radmonovic
Walton
and probably Odom

Possibly sign:

Ron Artest (would be huge)

Desperately need:

Defensive PG, back up center (assuming Bynum will play C and Gasol will play PF)

 

[starBUCKS]

Well, there should be some interesting off season moves here.

Players that need to go:

Radmonovic
Walton
and probably Odom

Possibly sign:

Ron Artest (would be huge)

Desperately need:

Defensive PG, back up center (assuming Bynum will play C and Gasol will play PF)

They need another shooter. Someone like James Posey would be a great fit.

 

[OCBucksFan]

Well, there should be some interesting off season moves here.

Players that need to go:

Radmonovic
Walton
and probably Odom

Possibly sign:

Ron Artest (would be huge)

Desperately need:

Defensive PG, back up center (assuming Bynum will play C and Gasol will play PF)

I am curious about the off season changes, we don't really have a lot of room to work with. Expiring contracts are Odom, Vujacic, Ariza, Mihm and Turiaf. Of that list, I don't know who we get rid of, I belive Odom is an option year so I expect us to try to use him as trade bait. I think Ariza and Turiaf will get offers, Sasha will want too much money and can't defend against a good player, and Mihm has been pretty useless all together.

I don't know how much Buss wants to jump on the Artest train, after Nick-The-Quick and that fiasco he tends to try to avoid players with that much baggage.

Last year, we thought they would be doing major changes, but the reality was there wasn't much, they got Gasol through the season and Derrick Fisher was back, but otherwise, it was the same starting line up. So, I wouldn't expect a huge ammount of changes. The Boards and defense in the paint were huge advantages we had with Bynum, so I expect the Lakers staff to continue on the same course and hope for an injury free 2008-2009 season.

Getting rid of Vlad and Walton will be difficult, since Walton just got a contract last year for 6 mil a year til 2013, and vlad is locked up til 2011, with 2010-2011 being an option year.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

LA times

Kobe Bryant: 'I'm comfortable with what we have'

By Jonathan Abrams, Times staff writer

Kobe Bryant left Lakers headquarters today in a much better mood than a year ago, when he was obviously unhappy with the team's management.

He didn't offer, at least in public, any calls for a change. Just a smile at a job (almost) completed.

"I'm comfortable with what we have," Bryant said, when asked if the management team led by General Manager Mitch Kupchak had personnel moves to make this off-season. "Whatever Mitch decides to do, he decides to do."

Already, he said, the bitterness of the Lakers losing to the Celtics in the NBA Finals is drifting away.

"I bounce back pretty quickly," Bryant said. "Not to say the loss doesn't sting, because it does and it will, but I bounce back quickly."

Continued......

 

[schwab]

Lakers 08-09 Season (official thread)

LAKERS: LAKERS EXERCISE FOURTH YEAR CONTRACT OPTION ON JORDAN FARMAR

October 27, 2008

The Los Angeles Lakers have exercised a fourth year contract option for the 2009-10 season on Jordan Farmar, it was announced today. In accordance with the league?s collective bargaining agreement, the Lakers had until October 31 to exercise their option on Farmar. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

Cont..

 

[schwab]

LAKERS: 2008-09 Season Preview

October 27, 2008

The goal for the 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers is clear, simple and explicit: win the NBA title. Every team in the league, of course, aims for the championship, but few truly have the players to leg out the seven-month journey.
L.A. has those players.
We took a look position-by-position at each Laker based on what was done last season, what the numbers say, what assistant coach Jim Cleamons explained and what you can expect from a fantasy perspective.
Game on.

Cont..

 

[schwab]

LAKERS: Lakers Gameday | 10/28/08 | Lakers 96, Blazers 76

Highlights

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Kobe Bryant had 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists Tuesday night to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 96-76 season-opening victory over the Portland Trail Blazers and spoiling Greg Oden's debut, which was cut short by another injury.
Bryant orchestrated a well-balanced offense for the Lakers, who also played tenacious defense.

Cont..

 

[OCBucksFan]

Thanks for starting this thread, I have been slacking

 

[schwab]

LAKERS: Lakers Gameday | 10/29/08 | Lakers 117, Clippers 79

Lakers cruise to 117-79 win over Clippers

LOS ANGELES(AP) Kobe Bryant had 16 points and eight rebounds, Andrew Bynum added 12 points and nine rebounds, and the Lakers spoiled the Clippers season opener with a 117-79 rout Wednesday night.
The Lakers began their season with a similar blowout a night earlier, breezing to a 96-76 win at home against Portland on Tuesday.
As they did against the Trail Blazers, the Lakers got deep and balanced scoring and played scrappy defense. They held the Clippers to 38 percent shooting while shooting 51 percent themselves.


Cont..