Lakers Thread

[Matt]

"After being treated for a kidney stone, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said "When the anesthesiologist leaned over me, he said "We named your kidney stone Kobe because it's not passing." "

haha, just thought i'd share

[Jackal]

That's quite an old quote. Probably been posted in this thread before.

[[Q]]

Lakers have 5 free agents:
Smush- will not be back. period.
Mihm- A lot of "experts" think Lakers should re-sign, but I think he's a waste of money. I'd start Turiaf or Bynum over mihm and Kwame any day.
Shammond- Showed some good stuff when he had the chance. I think they'll need him if they can't find a PG in the draft.
McKie- Was supposed to be the PG of the triangle before Smush came along. They don't need him anymore.
Walton- a necessity. must re-sign at all costs.

[scrub]

Kobe wants traded if Jerry West isn't made the GM. Its on RealGM.

[Cornerthree]

RealGM's talkin' shit, Kobe never actually said he wants a trade if West isn't made the GM... Read ESPN...

[dan_suth]

lol, there's a lot of funny rumors regarding the Lakers there...

Garnett And Saunders To Reunite In Los Angeles?
27th May, 2007 - 7:16 pm
Pioneer Press -
According to basketball people who spoke with longtime Minnesota columnist Charley Walters, after Flip Saunders' Pistons contract expires in 2009, will be reunited with Kevin Garnett, who will be traded to the Lakers.

[Matt]

Latrell Sprewell will of course join the Lakers too, deciding that the vets minimum will feed his family, and Sam Cassell will not "phone home" just yet!

[Cornerthree]

Kobe just confirmed, he's not leaving the Lakers anyway...

"I'm not demanding anything," Bryant told the Riverside Press-Enterprise on Sunday night. "I'm not making any threats. I didn't say that. Those words didn't come out of my mouth about a trade. I'm just making a suggestion. I think Jerry West is one of the greatest to ever do this thing. It's undeniably so."

Link

[Buckley]

Jerry Buss arrested. http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archi ... on_of_dui/

Your thoughts?

[Dan's Brain]

I wonder if 12 year-old girls will be writing letters to Arnold Schwarzenegger now?

[Patr1ck]

Hmm, I wonder who the 23 year old woman is.

[Scottybasketball]

Hmm, I wonder who the 23 year old woman is.

Kobe's wife Vanessa.

Lol, only kidding!

Now that would be a story wouldn't it.

[Indy]

Hmm, I wonder who the 23 year old woman is.

The way that sentence was writte in the article I can almost guarantee you she was a hooker, and the cops are just covering for Jerry.

[Isaiah]

lol @ buss' arrest.. i wonder where he was coming from on the way home

[Patr1ck]

Bryant states his case

Bryant, via phone with The Times and later on his website and in a radio interview, voiced his disenchantment with the Lakers' front office.

"Their trying to put this Shaq stuff on me is [wrong]," he told The Times. "Jerry Buss told me he didn't want to pay Shaq $30 million a year. I, not once — not once — went to them and said, 'Trade Shaq or else.' "

Later, in an interview with AM 570, Bryant took aim at the state of the front office by saying, "That place is a mess."

"If we're not making any strides here to improve this team right now, to be aggressive in that nature, then what's the point of having me here?" he said.

[maes]

That Buss is a weasel, every basketball fan out there believes Kobe made it an ultimatum to lose Shaq or he wouldn't resign. Buss just let everyone believe that instead of taking responsibility for his own decisions.

[tempo]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2886927

kobe on new york radio station wanting a trade...WOW!

[magius]

That Buss is a weasel, every basketball fan out there believes Kobe made it an ultimatum to lose Shaq or he wouldn't resign. Buss just let everyone believe that instead of taking responsibility for his own decisions.

did buss tell kobe to go out and test the free agent market? did kobe say he DIDN'T want shaq traded? the reason kobe even tried the free agent market is because he wanted the challenge of playing without shaq. there is no other reason he would do so - you become a free agent if you want to play a bigger role, you want to win, or you want to play for your favorite team. The lakers win (or rather, won), and are kobe's favorite team. do the math. Now that he can't carry a team to success, he's trying to dig himself out of his own shit and heaping it on others.

[maes]

Sorry magius, but i'll take Shaq's word over why he was booted out of LA's over yours. Shaq backed Kobe's story, quote, "1000 percent", publically to several newspapers.

There were 3 parties involved with Shaq's departure: Shaq, Bryant, and the Lakers management. 2 of the parties are collobarating each other on what happened, and the third party has NOT denied that's how it happened.

[magius]

fair enough. though i disagree that kobe wasn't a factor in shaq's trade, you are entitled to your opinion. to be honest, i'm a little tired of reiterating my stance.

[Sauru]

of course kobe is not gonna say he wanted shaq gone or he was leaving. i believe that is how he wanted it and its what he got but he wont admit it, not now that the experiment has failed him. not now that shaq has won another ring and he cant get out of the first round. kobe was sick of being cast into the side kick role and wanted to be the man. now he has his chance and he wants to blame everyone else in this world as to why he is not winning.

[Jackal]

The day Shaq was traded, hadn't we all seen this coming? Cept for die hard Bryant fans that said Bryant would rule the world ofcourse.

[Sauru]

gotta admit, this was pretty clear. you are also right about some bryant fans going on about how he can lead the lakers to glory without shaq. alot easier to play basketball when you know 1 of your players(shaq) is always gonna have 2 guys on him leaving you with only 3 more to deal with

[Jackal]

Everyone expected Bryant to become the Part II of Michael Jordan. Sure, just bring in Odom who can be his Scottie Pippen and a big bodied PG and Phil Jackson and watch them win 6 championships.

Yeps, took 2 years for him to realise that what they had is not something they'll have anytime soon. Way to bail ship bitch.

[Carmo]

Looks like there are two deals on the table. I definitely would not be opposed to O'Neal AND Camby coming into the team.