Lakers Thread

is it just me or does kobe look bigger

There have been reports that since he couldn't work on his running, etc, Kobe has been working on his upper body strength and has maintained that. He is still listed at 220 lbs...

He lifts alot and it shows. Can i get a student to post a before and after picture of Kobe please? Yes, noodle, you'll see what i mean once one of my students posts a picture.

Who is your student? Am I missing something?

heh funny. i read he loses a little weight and became skinny for some conditioning and now hes bigger the next season...heh hard work

Reality that Kobe changed to 24 is slowly sinking in...

anyways, LA won by 3 How great is that lol... it's only preseason thoguh and it doesn't mean much... but a win is a win in anything

Kwame Injured

As long as the injuries all come now and by the start of the season everyone is healthy... Kobe practised for the first time a few days ago And Mihm is getting better... hope Jax returns soon too!

Vujacic

I've read that Sasha's bulked up and I really hope he gets playing time and shows what he can do for the Lakers.

I wish the regular season would start right now. I'm starved for something to watch on the tele other than Heroes.



Is it just me or does something look terribly wrong about that picture.

no dadamafia, get ur head out of the gutter

the lakers play tonite on tnt at 9:00 p.m.

im looking back at the comments made about the triangle offense... ever since scottie pippen grasped the concept of the triangle offense jordan didnt have to play as an initiator as much. the only reason why you saw jordan handling the ball so much is because when ever they couldnt initiate the triangle the ball went to jordan to take care of business. as for the lakers of today, kobe tries to play off the ball as a wing player, however, the young team is having hard time getting used to the complicated offense and many times the clock is down to 10 seconds and they are still getting in position for the triange, therefore they just pass it to kobe hoping he could make the shot when the clock is running down. thats why you see kobe attempt so many shots and thats why you see kobe shooting the ball at the last second so many times.

hope to see less of that this season

Sucks to be the Lakers

McKie and Cook are injured now... thats added to Brown and Mihm... Shammond Williams and Von Wafer are both hurt as well...

Vujacic just returned from injury, Kobe hasn't played a game yet and Vlad Rad has been hurt with his hand

Hoep we can become healthy in time!

BYNUM TO START!!!
lol http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2637616

LOS ANGELES -- Leaning on a metal cane, Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson declared himself "pretty much pain-free" Tuesday in his first public comments since undergoing right hip replacement surgery three weeks ago.

"I'm feeling pretty good," he said after watching the Lakers scrimmage for season ticket-holders at Staples Center. "It's good enough so I can go to practices and feel comfortable on the court."

He plans to return to the bench for the season opener next Tuesday against Phoenix.

And he'd like to do so without the cane.

"I hope to throw it away next week," he said.

Also on the mend is Kobe Bryant, who participated in his first full-court scrimmage Tuesday since offseason right knee surgery.

"It was good enough to get through practice," he said. "We had a lot of breaks in between plays."

Bryant said he should be ready for the season opener, but Jackson wasn't so sure.

"He's stalled out a little bit on his rehab and on coming back," the coach said. "I really want him to be healthy when he comes back because a lot is asked of him and he plays heavy minutes. If things don't go right, it could be a setback."

Jackson confirmed that centers Kwame Brown (right shoulder) and Chris Mihm (offseason right ankle surgery) will miss at least the first two weeks of the season, making Andrew Bynum, who turns 18 on Friday, the starter.

Toward the end of practice, Jackson sat on the bench, his hands leaning on the cane propped in front of him. Bryant was next to him, a huge bag of ice wrapped around his knee.

"He had his armor on today, which is the Lakers sweatsuit," Bryant said of Jackson. "He puts that on, it means it's time for business."

During Jackson's recovery, assistant Kurt Rambis has been running training camp and coaching preseason games.

Jackson won't make the trip to Anaheim on Thursday night when the Lakers play Denver in their final preseason tuneup.

"That's still something I'm not quite comfortable doing," said Jackson, who hasn't recovered enough to drive.

For the first time in three years, though, Jackson made it through a couple hours of practice without pain. The hip replacement has also made it easier for him to sleep comfortably at night.

"What's important now is I'm pretty much pain-free," he said.

Jackson's rehabilitation involves doing exercises a couple times a day and walking, which he said should be easy to continue during down time on road trips.

Jackson has attended practice about seven times in the last two weeks, but he's been more of a presence behind the scenes -- watching film and discussing practice plans and lineups with Rambis.

"I don't think my voice is an entity yet in their ear and that's one of the things as a coach, they've got to respond to my voice," Jackson said.

Bryant certainly did.

"He's the same old Phil, jumping up and making sure he yells out instructions and subtleties of the game during practice," he said. "We definitely missed his voice."

also notice that typo by ESPN i reported it tho so they'll fix it

Well... I don't know what to say other than it would be interesting to watch some of these game where Bynum starts

i really like bynum, it would be nice to see him play.

I don't think he will do much, I will be extremely happy if he just goes in, plays some good defence and be a team player

I can't wait for Mihm and Brown to be back in action...

And Jax is back

on the Lakers website, they are promoting this thing called Lights Out, which will take place on Opening Night. does anyone know what this is?

Here's a question for not only Laker fans, but for all NBA fans.

Almost everyone knows that Shaq & Kobe will have their jersey's retired at the end of their run, but what about Robert Horry? Is he worthy? He isn't super great, but seriously, if it wasn't for him, a lot of times Lakers wouldn't have even gone to the Finals.

So, do you think he deserves to have his jersey retired by LA?

I dont believe they should. If they retired the jersey of every great role player then at some point there will be no numbers left. I appreciate what he did for the team but to me he isnt deserving of a retired number (which I think should only happen when a player is so great theres nobody who can ever replace him at that number in the organization).


By the way did anyone else enjoy watching Bynum put up decent numbers last night?

IT is coming… November 1st , online exclusively to LAKERS.com.

You’ve never seen LAKERS Basketball like this before. Inside access – on and off the court.

IT is all LAKERS, all the time…and all yours, November 1st.

They're updating the site?

Almost everyone knows that Shaq & Kobe will have their jersey's retired at the end of their run, but what about Robert Horry? Is he worthy? He isn't super great, but seriously, if it wasn't for him, a lot of times Lakers wouldn't have even gone to the Finals.

Firstly, I believe that retiring his jersey would be a better, possible and more realistic option than for him to be included in the basketball hall of fame. Why I say that is that there will be plenty of people who have debated where his legacy will stand at the end of his career and in the future. What will he be remembered as and how will he be remembered.

I think that he is worthy of such an acolade but ultimately, it depends on the Lakers' organisation. He wasn't just a role player but was an important part of those Laker championship teams and him having won NBA rings with 3 different teams is a great acheivement. And with all 3 different franchises, he's had his clutch moments. And with LA, he of course won his most rings with one franchise.

As dadamafia said, if every team retired their great roleplayers' number, then there wouldn't be any numbers left. That's a good point too.

So instead of retiring his number, maybe they could have some sort of jersey hanging from the rafter with his name or something? I'm sure the Lakers will think of something to honour him.

IT is coming… November 1st , online exclusively to LAKERS.com.

You’ve never seen LAKERS Basketball like this before. Inside access – on and off the court.

IT is all LAKERS, all the time…and all yours, November 1st.

They're updating the site?

well i saved the "Lakers" image above that announcement and the file name came out as:

lakers_magazine.gif

Well aren't you a grade A detective.

Good news for the Lakers is that Kobe Bryant will probably playing in the season opener in two days time!

LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant wouldn't say Saturday if he'll play in the Lakers' regular-season opener against the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night, but coach Phil Jackson said Bryant has told him he will be available.

The Lakers practiced Saturday at Staples Center and Bryant participated in much of the session. Bryant has been recovering from right knee surgery and didn't play in any of the Lakers' exhibition games.

"He says he's going to play on Tuesday," Jackson said. "There's a disclaimer that he's doubtful. I'm sure that he'll make the correct decision. He came off the floor and he was sore, but he was on the court for a good hour and a half before he came off."

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