laker basketball

[smazza]

LAKERS REPORT

Farmar Still May Need Some Development

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

October 5, 2006

Jordan Farmar was enmeshed in the fall quarter at UCLA a year ago, taking in Bruins football games and preparing for a basketball season that eventually ended in the NCAA championship game.

He's now starting over, in a big way, leaving the comforts of Westwood after his sophomore season and becoming the 26th player taken in the NBA draft, property of the Lakers.

ADVERTISEMENTUCLA still tugs at him  he stopped by campus recently  but his present-day status almost leaves him in awe.

"I still have friends that are there," Farmar said. "I do miss it at times, but I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world. I can't even put into words how good it feels to be here. It's good to have someone like Kobe [bryant] watching, and when you do something right and wrong, give you advice on how to improve. It makes it a great situation."

Farmar, 19, has demonstrated decent knowledge of the triangle offense and has shown some fire defensively, but he joins a crowded backcourt and could be a candidate for the Development League. He is the least experienced of the Lakers guards, falling in line behind Bryant, Smush Parker, Maurice Evans, Sasha Vujacic, Aaron McKie and Shammond Williams.

"It's certainly possible," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. "Training camp will give us a gauge. He had a good summer. He did work on his body so he's stronger. It looks like he's held his own [so far], but the D-League is there for a reason. It's going to depend on training camp, the health of our players and coach's decision."

Players in their first two seasons can be assigned to the Development League up to three times a season. If Farmar were assigned to the Los Angeles D-Fenders  the Lakers' Development League team  he would continue to be paid his NBA salary and would still be considered part of the Lakers' 15-man roster.

He'd rather not talk about it, understandably.

"I haven't thought of it," Farmar said. "I'm sure they're going to want to do what's best for their organization and for me as well. If they feel that I can get experience down there … it's not the end of the world. I would love to be on the court with these guys, that's definitely what my goal is, but I'm professional now and I have to act like one."

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The Lakers' other teenager, Andrew Bynum, packed on some muscle during the off-season and said he is now 7 feet 1. Now he needs to work on court awareness and expanding his moves in the post.

"You can just look at Andrew and see that he's improved his body," assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "He still has a long way to go in terms of the knowledge he has to have in order to have success out there on the floor. He has made strides, he has made improvements. It's nice to see that he's getting more control over his body. He was puppy-like last year. He's starting to tighten things up a little bit."

Bynum, who will be 19 this month, averaged 1.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in only 7.3 minutes last season.

"I'm going to go out there and prove I should get some more minutes," he said. "That's what training camp is for."

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Parker did not practice Wednesday and is day-to-day with a sore right shoulder after colliding with Brian Cook while chasing a loose ball…. Wednesday's practice consisted mainly of walk-through after walk-through on offense, so many that Rambis couldn't guarantee that a recovering Phil Jackson would watch it from start to finish on the practice tape. "I can't imagine that he would go through that and be able to enjoy it … or stay awake," Rambis said.

[Herman_Momart]

The Lakers really need a point guard.

Smush Parker, cool name, street ball legend and went to fordham but no starter in the nba.  

[smazza]

true

lakers need plenty of help

[smazza]

LAKERS REPORT

Jackson May Stay Around After Successful Surgery

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

October 7, 2006

Coach Phil Jackson has been reluctant to commit to the 2007-08 season for the third and final year of his $30-million contract with the Lakers, but longtime companion Jeanie Buss said his future is more clear than ever after the success of his hip replacement surgery.

Next season now looks to be a strong possibility for Jackson, with perhaps more to come.

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"I look at him for the long haul and I, of course, hope that he's here longer than his current contract," Buss said Friday.

"He has suffered for many years with a lot of pain, and my understanding is that the radiating pain he had in his leg is gone. I think that will make him do things based on his passion as opposed to not being able to coach because he's physically unable. He can now do it as long as he's interested in doing it."

Buss, the Lakers' executive vice president of business operations, said Jackson's return date remained unclear, but he is expected to be back by the Oct. 31 season opener. He has been recovering at his Playa del Rey home, watching the baseball playoffs and talking to assistant coach Kurt Rambis before every practice.

"He's walking better than I've seen him in the last few years, even though it's very slowly," Buss said. "His posture looks so much better. He's feeling better. Now he needs the stimulation. He needs to be around the guys."

Jackson, 61, admitted earlier this week he had stubbornly denied the need for surgery, but then came an incident while he was watching tryouts for the Lakers' development league team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, on Sept. 23 in El Segundo.

"He sat in the bleachers at the training facility, and after an hour and a half literally couldn't walk," Buss said. " … That's when he knew he had to get answers because he wouldn't have been able to function in the NBA season. I've never seen him like that before."

Surgery became the only solution. Along the way, he received good news regarding his heart, which required surgery in May 2003 to open a blocked artery. As part of the preparation for hip surgery, a CT scan of his heart was promising.

"His cardiologist couldn't have been any more pleased," Buss said. "His heart's as strong as ever."

Jackson's hip surgery was a newer, less-invasive technique performed by Lawrence Dorr of the Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center in Inglewood. The surgery began with a four-inch incision instead of a typical 10- to 12-inch incision. In addition, muscles in the area were peeled back instead of cut through, Buss said.

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Center Chris Mihm felt pain in his surgically repaired right ankle after beginning his running regimen a few days ago. Mihm sat out 24 of the team's last 25 games last season because of the ankle.

"The more activity that's done on it, the more it gets to be a sharp pain," he said Friday. "It's a matter of working it as intensely as we can in a certain range, and when the pain spikes, icing it down."

Mihm, who averaged a career-best 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds last season, is at least two to three weeks from returning.

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Guard Aaron McKie sat out the second half of Friday's practice because of a sore back. McKie, who played only 14 games last season primarily because of a quadriceps tendon injury, is day to day…. The Lakers were in a foul mood Friday, in a literal sense. Tensions were higher than normal during scrimmages, and Rambis knew why: "Our players are fouling way too much in practice, which is always frustrating for players."

[smazza]

LAKERS REPORT

Ball Reviews Are In: Can't Grip It, so Rip It

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

October 6, 2006

The vote is almost unanimous: The new NBA ball has some flaws, according to numerous players.

Shaquille O'Neal started the outcry by comparing the new ball to a cheap "toy store" type, and other players, Lakers among them, have concurred.

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The NBA changed the ball for the first time in 35 years, using a micro-fiber composite instead of traditional leather. A league press release trumpeted the new material as providing "moisture management" resulting in "superior grip and feel," although many of the players' concerns are about the grip when the ball gets wet with sweat.

"I'm old school, so I love the old-school ball," Kobe Bryant said. "We had to adjust to it last year when we played with it in the All-Star game and it got slippery. It was tough to kind of grip it or get control of it. It was really slippery when we were playing with it."

Lamar Odom, who will handle the ball plenty this season, is predicting problems.

"By the second or third quarter in an NBA game, guys perspire a lot," said Odom after Thursday's practice. "Once that ball gets wet, it just kind of slips out of your hand. I guarantee you in the beginning of the season we'll see a game probably lost on maybe just a simple pass, a guy trying to catch the ball  boom. A guy going in for a layup by himself  3, 2, 1  the ball will probably slip right out of his hand."

Bryant noted that the ball tended to stick in the net after a basket, which could slow a run-and-gun team such as the Phoenix Suns. No wonder Phoenix guard Steve Nash weighed in negatively. So did Miami guard Dwyane Wade, predicting there would be "a lot of bricks thrown up there early on." O'Neal went a step further, saying the league executive who made the switch needed to have "his college degree revoked."

Despite its apparent faults, the ball's composite material eliminates the need for a break-in period, which was necessary for the current leather ball, and has greater consistency from ball to ball, according to the league.

Bryant called for a curbing of complaints.

"It's just a ball," he said. "Growing up, I played with all kinds of balls. I rolled up tape and used tape as a basketball. I played with a sock. I think I can play with this one."

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Guard Smush Parker practiced Thursday after sitting out Wednesday because of a sore shoulder…. Individual game tickets for the upcoming season will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster locations, online at http://www.ticketmaster.com , and by phone at (800) 4-NBA-TIX. There is a limit of four tickets per person a game and tickets will not be available at the Staples Center box office Saturday. There are less than 1,000 tickets available for each Lakers home game.

[smazza]

LAKERS REPORT

It's Better for Brown This Time

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

October 8, 2006

Kwame Brown smiles.

"Yes," he says after exhaling, he is definitely feeling more relaxed these days.

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He was trying to do everything in a hurry a year ago, moving at a painfully blurry speed whenever the ball came his way in the post. If he actually managed to secure the ball instead of fumbling it  a 50-50 proposition at times  he would begin his post moves awkwardly and rapidly, often ending with an off-balance shot.

He has now been handed the title of the Lakers' starting center, one he hopes not to drop. He says he has changed, calling the difference from a year ago "like night and day."

"Just not thinking as much, not as anxious," he said. "You can't do nothing without the rock. I'm just basically trying to slow down. I'm not as wide-eyed as I was last year."

Brown would have been an important key to a successful season before it became apparent Chris Mihm would not be ready for the start of training camp. Now, many eyes will be on Brown, who delivered in Mihm's absence toward the end of last season and will be expected to do so even more this season.

Brown averaged 13.6 points and 9.2 rebounds in the team's final 13 regular-season games, following it up with a slightly less exemplary 12.9-point, 6.6-rebound average in the playoffs.

A day after last season ended, Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak challenged Brown by saying, "My understanding is that he has not put as much time into his game during the off-season as he should."

So Brown became a fairly frequent visitor to the team training facility, although he wished he could have done more.

"I understand that he wanted to see us in here, but there were no guys in there playing," Brown said. "That's the one thing I wish that we could change. If you want us to be here, try and get some games going because there's not a lot of games going here. You can work out, you can do all the shots and skill work, and you're still behind the eight-ball because there's no playing."

Now in his sixth season, Brown can't afford to fall behind if he is going to be a meaningful post presence for an entire season.

"You can tell that he's much more relaxed out there," Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis said. "He has a better understanding of what we want to do. We just need him to keep growing as a ball player. Part of his job is to make sure that he controls the lane for us  defends, rebounds  and starts expanding his offense."

As for his hands?

"He's doing a good job of catching the ball," Rambis said. "To be honest with you, I don't think that I've noticed him dropping the ball in training camp, which is good, considering that most of this is a hack-fest out there. You've got grabbing and holding and they're smacking and slapping."

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Guard Aaron McKie practiced Saturday after sitting out part of Friday's practice because of a sore back.

[smazza]

LAKERS REPORT

Season-Ticket Renewals Increase to 97%

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

October 9, 2006

The Lakers have taken a victory without even playing a game this season.

Season-ticket holders renewed at a 97% rate for the upcoming season, an increase of five percentage points from last season, halting a two-year slide in season-ticket sales.

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Buoyed by last season's playoff appearance as well as the scoring power of Kobe Bryant, more Lakers' season-ticket holders dipped into their bank accounts despite an increase in ticket prices of almost 5% across the board.

Courtside seats were increased from $2,100 to $2,200 a game, and seats in six lower-level sections between the baskets were raised from $210 to $220 a game.

But the fans have anted up, adding value to a franchise that was worth an estimated $529 million last year, second in the NBA only to the New York Knicks, according to Forbes magazine.

"Winning, making the playoffs and 81-point games from Kobe always makes our life easier when it comes to renewal," said Tim Harris, senior vice president of business operations and chief marketing officer for the Lakers.

The season-ticket sector, which includes approximately 13,000 seats, had not been so kind to the Lakers in recent seasons.

The team enjoyed a 98% renewal rate before the 2003-04 season, but slipped to 97% for 2004-05 and fell to 92% last season. The remaining percentage of season-ticket seats will be available to those on a waiting list.

As such, the team has taken steps to woo season-ticket holders, offering an open practice later this month at Staples Center and conducting town-hall meetings with Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak the last two seasons.

"I think the fans recognize that we're reaching out to them more," Harris said.

"We still need to continue to do more than we're already doing. It's an ongoing process and one that we're completely committed to."

The renewal average throughout the league was about 84% last season.

[Triple B]

Cowboys suck ... Yankees suck .... USC not the best team in the country any longer ... I guess it is time for Laker basketball.   8-)

[smazza]

who will beat usc?

[Guest GBBB(Guest)]

who will beat usc?

Whoever they play in the NC game ...... IF they even get there.