In these days where the lobe of our brain that is all things Lakers is like a forlorn castaway on a desert island longing for a sip of fresh water, we can look back on some vids and articles that can fill in the time and simultaneously slake and whet our thirst for even a simple pre-season tilt…
Hit the links and enjoy some Lakerology…
Speaking of pre-season, this may be one of the more interesting in recent memory. The Return, The Prelude, starring Young Andrew Bynum…
What are the effects of a Phil Jackson training camp on Pau Gasol?
Phil Jackson explains the Triangle… “In His Own Words”:
“If your holding the ball longer than 2 seconds, your holding up your team…” Phil Jackson breaks down the offense for the fans.
Tex explains what to do if the defense is sagging in the post, aka the “Two Pass” or “Pinch Post”… where we should see Pau and Kobe a lot this season…
“The Moment of Truth” in the offense… when a players gets within 3 feet of his defender, the rest of the offense needs to move. This is something the regular fan actually can look for in a game. If Kobe’s jab stepping at the top of the key and there are no cutters…there should be a “pressure release” aka “The Blind Pig”…
Creating a triangle in a way that is inconspicuous to the defense… and another triangle axiom, “The player with the ball hits the first open man. It is an offense predicated on player and ball movement with a purpose“…
“The first principle is penetration.” Another point the layman can look for…How fast do they get into the triangle?… and they are not called “plays”, they are called “a series of options”. And why don’t the coaches huddle with the players at the beginning of time outs?
Jordan Farmar:
A Peace Player, in Israel making a change in the world with a hoop, a ball, and some Woodenesque ideas on teamwork…
…and if you don’t know who the Fanhouse’s Elie Seckback is… you should check him out…
From the SI.com vault… where they have archived and allowed access to some of the greatest sports writing and sports writers…
The young, exciting, and surging 1995 Lakers…
What did the Lakers know that nobody else did?…That 6’6″ rookie guard Eddie Jones , out of Temple , the NBA ‘s 10th draft choice overall, would outplay other lottery picks with contracts $50 million richer than his six-year, $13.5 million deal? That Cedric Ceballos , a career backup with the Phoenix Suns , would make the Laker faithful forget recently retired James Worthy? That point guard Nick Van Exel would help them forget Magic Johnson? That through Sunday they would be 21-11, on a 54-victory pace and in third place in the rugged Pacific Division?
Kermit Washington’s infamous punch…
For all his reputation as one of …the strongest, most dangerous customers in the game, off the court Washington is a gentle, sensitive, family man who is popular with both teammates and opponents…
The Immortal Chick Hearn…
“…From high above the western sideline of the Los Angeles Forum, the world’s most beautiful sports theater, hello again, everybody, this is Chick Hearn.”
The voice was steady and sure of itself, and it caught the ear. The voice was made for radio, painting pictures in the dark. “Wow, what a tempo! Magic back and forth like a windshield wiper with the dribble drive, he throws up a prayer…air ball. Rebound left side taken by McAdoo, he goes right back up—a frozen rope that time, no arch, but it melted right in the hole…
The announcement that caused the Lakers to trade Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for the 13th pick in the draft…
…Bryant , a 6’6″ shuffler—except on a basketball court, where he moves like lightning—ambled up to the podium in a vent-less sport coat and fine dress trousers bought at the last minute and in need of a tailor, his sunglasses positioned on the top of his shiny shaved head. His coat had puffy shoulders, masking his frame, which at 190 pounds is as skinny and malleable as a strand of cooked spaghetti. He leaned his goofy kid’s mouth toward the microphone, mockingly brought his fingers to his unblemished chin as if he were still pondering his decision, and delivered the news that insiders had been expecting for a week.
“I’ve decided to skip college and take my talent to the NBA ,” Bryant said.
And finally…
…for what it’s worth. I don’t get out to many shows these days. But Beck in Reno was the highlight of my summer…
-Gatinho
chearn says
Interesting post., a little future (Bynum), present (Kobe dropping those beautiful dimes), nostalgia (the Eddie Jones draft and the Kobe Bryant announcement)!
My mouth is watering for the season to start, it just tastes like some fine cuisine!
The P&R with Kobe and Bynum is just nasty!! The assist by Luke to Bynum was nice–that’s the Luke I love. Bynum catching the ball at the pinch post turning and dribble driving with two long strides for the dunk, wow! The thing that I love the most about Bynum is that he dunks everything.
That Christmas game against Shaq and Miami–yes, we got out butts handed to us–I was sitting in a bar at the Del in San Diego when Bynum made that spin move nailing Shaq to the floor. I shouted a little to loudly and almost (I said almost) spilled my drink. The exuberance that he displayed by bumping Shaq on his way down the floor was a harbinger of the Bynum we see now. Shaq did not like that and came back at the kid the next play.
It was all strategic putting Bynum in against Shaq. Does anyone remember that Bynum had said that he was better than Shaq because he could make his free throws. Shaq took umbrage to that comment and said that Bynum needed to get a degree first or something like that. So the two of them had done a little verbal sparring prior to that game.
I believe that that onemove gave Bynum confidence that he could play in this league and that summer he put in the work necessary for him to come out with that great start in 07′.
So I am confident that he has worked his butt off since his clearance!
the other Stephen says
elie is so awesome. LA bias and all.
chearn says
Is Jennings still with the Boston Celtics? From the article on Kobe going pro.
In the pros he will be a guard, but whether he’s an NBA shooter remains to be determined. Also unclear is whether a 17-year-old who is truly happy with a book in his hands should be going straight into the workforce without stopping for a college education.
“I think it’s a total mistake,” says the Boston Celtics ‘ director of basketball development, Jon Jennings, who opposes any schoolboy’s going pro. ” Kevin Garnett was the best high school player I ever saw, and I wouldn’t have advised him to jump to the NBA . And Kobe is no Kevin Garnett .”
kneejerkNBA says
Ah, I miss the Lake Show…
Van Exel and Eddie Jones chucking up wild 3s, Ceballos taking a few days off to go sit on his boat, the coaching genius of Del Harris and Mike Dunleavy, Shaq in ‘Kazaam’- those were the days.
Darius says
Those clips of Phil and Tex talking about the offense are pure gold. And I think the continuity they’re speaking of and the flow of the offense are directly related to Kurt’s last post about Kobe’s pinkie.
Drrayeye has spoken repeatedly about the transition of roles of the players from last season to this next season. We all hope that Lamar can adjust to SF, Pau can slide seamlessly to PF and mesh well with Bynum, and that Ariza becomes a major contributor next season. We hope all these things go well while also seeing an improvement from players like Sasha and Farmar, and look for better consistency from Luke and Radman. The catalysts to all these moving parts are Kobe and Fisher, the two players that have had the most experience in this offense and are the leaders with the hardware in their trophy cases that will be the glue to our team next season.
All this relates back to Phil and Tex and Kobe’s decision to not have surgery because we need him (Kobe) there with this team as all these roles adjust and (hopefully) improved players gel together. Those clips show how all five players on the court at the same time have responsibilities to read and react on offense. How a chemistry must exist between the players in order to execute at the level that will be needed to be elite on that end of the floor again next season. And when we’re talking about a player like Kobe, a guy that demands as much attention as he does and a guy that everyone looks to for leadership (especially on offense; I mean how often do the guys just defer to Kobe stand while he does his thing) it will be extremely important that he’s there in helping sculpt how the flow of the game will be played during the regular season, and it starts in training camp.
This will be needed on defense as well. We all know that what let us down against Boston was our inability to get stops when we needed them and our lack of cohesion (especially in comparison to Boston) on the defensive side of the ball. We need every player on the same page and practicing together on defense to achieve that type of defensive chemistry that we’ll need in order to complete the mission next seaon.
Brandon Hoffman says
This was an excellent compilation of articles and videos.
Very educational.
Cheers.
IgorK says
Loved the Kobe article, and the Pau vid made me excited for the season again.
sT says
Gatinho, Your post took me many hours to go through, no complaints here though. It was very interesting for me. I remember when Divac was traded (for the 13th pick) to the Charlotte Hornets, he did not like that and threatened to retire from Basketball. His family and friends talked to him about that and he finally decided to stay in the NBA and allow the trade to happen. The rest is history and I am really looking forward to this season.
Amazing_Happens says
From the SI Link about Kobe announcing he was going pro from high school:
In the pros he will be a guard, but whether he’s an NBA shooter remains to be determined. Also unclear is whether a 17-year-old who is truly happy with a book in his hands should be going straight into the workforce without stopping for a college education.
“I think it’s a total mistake,” says the Boston Celtics ‘ director of basketball development, Jon Jennings, who opposes any schoolboy’s going pro. ” Kevin Garnett was the best high school player I ever saw, and I wouldn’t have advised him to jump to the NBA . And Kobe is no Kevin Garnett .”
………………….
Yes, Jon Jennings was right. Kobe is no Kevin Garnett. He’s better than Kevin Garnett.
jwl says
Anyone hear about this signing?
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/080912cjgiles.html
h.f. in H.D. says
10. Read about that about 2 days ago I think. I guess he’s what Kurt would refer to here as “camp fodder”.
busterjonez says
Today is the 15th. NBA regular season games start the 28th of October! Huray!
Kurt says
New post up, and a good one!
Bottle of Smoke says
Thanks for the link to the CHick Hearn article. Lots of good memories there. We still remember you Chick…you were the best.