Blogs, Glorious Blogs

You could argue that what the Los Angeles Times and Daily News are doing for the Lakers are not really “blogs” in the spirit of the word. (But I don’t want to get into a debate about semantics.) You could also argue that notoriously tightfisted ownership of the papers is looking for ways to squeeze more copy out of overworked writers in an effort to drive more traffic to the Web site to try to appease fleeing advertisers. (But I don’t want to get into a discussion of newspaper economics.)

But for Laker fans right now — when the team has yet to play even an exhibition game and news is scarce — these blogs have become must reads. These guys have access (something the Lakers traditionally are loath to do for electronic media not tied to papers they want to be on the good side of) and cannot only give us the main storylines but also some interesting tidbits out of practices.

From Ross Siler at the Daily News:

Andrew Bynum did have a spectacular block against Von Wafer in practice that knocked Wafer off his feet and sent him tumbling to the floor. Without a doubt, Bynum has the best shot-blocking instincts on the team.

Kobe Bryant said he was still running three days a week on his injured knee. He’ll put in another morning of work Friday. “We don’t want to rush it,” he said. “We’re just taking our time, just getting stronger, letting the scar tissue heal.”

And from the Kamenetzky brothers at the LA Times:

As they practiced, Kurt Rambis reminded players to remain in motion, especially upon receiving passes, where players can’t just stop as the ball is heading their way. “You must keep running until you get your hands on the basketball.” Keeping the movement theme, Tex Winter harped a bit about the need to keep cutting and cutting.

Whether it’s a “getting used to the new ball” issue or not, most players were susceptible to some bricks or missed layups. The notable exception was LO, who hit a string of mid-range jumpers.

There’s more, and there will be more down the line. I’m not one to traditionally point you to the mainstream media, but whether or not these are “blogs” they are providing some access and info at a time we’re all looking for it, and that is a good use of time and space.