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Around The World (Wide Web): Kobe, Backcourt, Former Laker, Nick Young

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From Phillip Barnett, Lakers Nation: Earlier on Monday, OC Register reporter Janis Carr was at the Lakers training facility in El Segundo and spotted a few Lakers in the building, including Kobe Bryant. Some of the players were working out with ex-Laker Mike Penberthy, and even Derek Fisher showed up to get in a light workout. There hasn’t been any information as to what the workouts consisted of, or whether or not Bryant engaged in any physical activity, but it’s good to see that the team is starting to get back together. The team begins training camp on September 28.

From Dave McMenamin, ESPN LA: On March 18 of last season, Darius Morris didn’t get into the game until the last three minutes of the Los Angeles Lakers’ blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns. Coach Mike D’Antoni stuck to a seven-man rotation on the second night of a back-to-back, and Morris didn’t figure into his plans. Two days before that, Andrew Goudelock was playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and picking apart the Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the L.A. D-Fenders, with 33 points and 12 assists in a 15-point win. Five weeks later, Morris and Goudelock made up the Lakers’ starting backcourt for Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the San Antonio Spurs. They put up an admirable effort — Goudelock finished with 20 points and three steals, Morris had 24 points and six assists — but the Spurs still embarrassed the Lakers, winning by 31 points on the Lakers’ home floor.

From Eric Pincus, LA Times: Former Lakers guard Shannon Brown and his wife, singer Monica, have welcomed their first child together. Daughter Laiyah Brown was born on Sept 3. Brown, currently with the Phoenix Suns, spent nearly three years with the Lakers after a midseason trade from the Charlotte Bobcats in 2009.  The athletic guard won two titles with the team in 2009 and 2010. His wife won the 1999 Grammy for best performance by a duo or group with vocals for the song “The Boy is Mine,” a collaboration with Brandy Norwood. The couple wed in November 2010. Monica also has two children with rapper Rodney “Rocko” Hill, Jr. — Rodney III (born 2005) and Romelo (born 2008). Vanessa Bryant, wife of Lakers’ all-star guard Kobe Bryant, sent out a message on Instagram a few days after the birth.

From Jacob Rude, Lake Show Life: The signing of Nick Young by the Lakers this summer was quizzical to say the least. With needs far more obvious and glaring elsewhere, most notably at small forward, Young filled none of those needs. Last season, Young spent just 3% of the total 76ers minutes at small forward. Despite spending more time at the small forward position in past seasons, it’s not his natural position. With Kobe Bryant, Jodie Meeks, Steve Blake, and Steve Nash already at the guards positions, bringing in Young seemed to make little sense.


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Vasheed says

    So once Kobe comes back, will the Lakers start Kobe at SF with Young at SG or Kobe at SG with Johnson at SF?

    I think if Kobe is truly 100% I would Favor Johnson at SF but, if Kobe needs to play against slower SF’s I could see him playing alongside Young.

  2. BiggieMG says

    Young needs to come off the bench. Scorer basically. Kobe needs to be surrounded by good defenders at PG and SF. A Lowry and ariza or Deng next year. Nash and Blake hopefully can be traded. Wesley Johnson will get a chance to do his Ariza impersonation. As will Henry, Harris . Farmar should be solid and shawne Williams is a shooter only. Need defensive bigs to play along Pau for 20 mins per game. An Okafor for example. Excited for this coming season and next off season.
    Lowry Kobe Deng Pau Okafor. Farmar young Wesley and Hill with #1 pick. Should be good. Total salary of estimated – 5 12 10 10 3 1.5 3.51.5 4=50.5 mill

    Then 2015 let Pau and Okafor go and sign Love or Aldridge and chandler; we re set.

    Lowry Kobe Deng Aldridge or Love chandler
    Farmar young Wesley hill.
    5 12 10 17 10
    1.5 3.5 1.5 5
    Total 65.5mill plus first round pick and player exception

  4. MannyP says

    This is hilarious… From Darius!

    “No, seriously. I’m cool w/ Jay. He LOVES LA. Him & Bey come over for paella ALL the time. In 2016 you can too.”
    pic.twitter.com/A8ATSmbDM4

  5. Ed says

    It`s almost mid-Sept, a date Mitch mentioned when he was asked about Kobe`s progress. In the next 10 days we should get a report on his condition and timetable for his return. Nick can easily play the 3 in MDA`s system.

  6. still a trianglefan says

    i don’t know if anyone caught the ramona shelbourne piece about jr. He still can’t admit he screwed up and he couldn’t even say the word “sorry” for how the whole pj thing affected jeanie. The closest he got was “compassionate.”

    That’s a cop out.

    Laker fans are going to suffer as Jr learns on the job, and he’s got a loooong way to go.

  7. rr says

    So once Kobe comes back, will the Lakers start Kobe at SF with Young at SG or Kobe at SG with Johnson at SF?

    —

    I would start Johnson and cross-match when needed, and use a three-wing rotation of Kobe, Young, and Johnson, each playing 30-34 minutes. But I don’t know what D’Antoni will do.

  8. rr says

    For those Laker fans hoping & praying LeBron becomes a Laker next season, you may find today’s “5 on 5? article on ESPN interesting…or not. Of special note is question 3.

    —

    Sid,

    Basically, working off what we know now on a public level, there is almost no chance that James would come here. But what Aaron is saying is that he knows about stuff going on off the radar. One can decide for oneself how much stock to place in that, but what Marc Stein thinks is really irrelevant to that issue.

    Also, when it comes to Vino and the Lakers, almost everybody is emotional and biased. Adande would like to see James here, but Wallace’s and Windhorst’s jobs are tied to James being in Miami (although if James changes teams, his bureau may go with him) and Stein is a Mavs’ fan. Along those same lines, Henry Abbott a piece up today entitled “The Lakers Won’t Win Free Agency” taking swipes at Kobe, saying he won’t take a pay cut, etc. But that is the wrong way to read the chessboard. Kobe will take a big pay cut–he won’t have a choice. And if James actually wants to come here, Kobe will have to accommodate him. on and off the floor. Guys like Abbott have Kobe in their heads too much to see that. James is a different animal than Howard, and if the team is as bad as I think it will be, everything will look different in nine months. Miami may look different in nine months as well.

    Like I have said, I don;t think James is coming here and I think the Lakers are in big trouble. But what the ESPN/Treu Hoop crowd says about it is not a big deal right now.

  9. Shaun says

    1. If anything the interesting darkhorse for James might be Chicago who would let Deng walk in free agency, amnesty Boozer and still have Rose, Butler and Noah + whaterver free agents they get once they sign Lebron – that would be a crazy team or him going back to the cavilers who would have irving, bennett, waiters, bynum, Lebron – a 2ndly insane team.

    2. Beasley just signed with Miami – why he is good enough for the title contender and not for us makes no sense …. unless we are tanking

  10. Jay A says

    Lakers after Magic were supposed to be in big trouble, the Lakers will be ok. Read Henry Abbott’s piece and it read like something straight off TMZ. The idea that players don’t want to play with Kobe is a fallacy. The Lakers haven’t had the cap room to throw money at free agents throughout Kobe’s career. The only major free agent that they have signed was Ron Artest and the amount he could command was hampered due to his reputation and that is one of the reasons he fell to LA’s price range. (Think about it, Trevor Ariza turned down the same money that Ron Artest accepted). Ramon Sessions isn’t a good player and the Lakers were never going to offer him what he got in Charlotte. So Henry Abbott and his source are lying about Ramon’s reasons. (Funny Abbott forgets how Session choked against OKC in the playoffs). If LA has Cap Room and can offer more than other teams, free agents will come (which Abbott did kind of say). Lastly about Kobe’s pay cut, only people with limited intelligence could hear what Kobe said and come away with the conclusion that under no circumstance would the man take less. How much do you have to hate a man that you have to twist his words and completely misinterpret and publish it like its the truth? People wanting Kobe to take less should please share situations where they saw what the market said they were worth and chose to take less?? How do you tell a man with a family what and what he shouldn’t do with his money??? Kobe has done enough for the Lakers to earn the benefit of doubt. I trust he will make a decision that is good for him and for the Lakers.

  13. gene says

    If Kobe makes stupid statements about how its “his team” and “Iam not going to take a pay cut” then the lakers will have trouble getting free agents.. Its all speculation now..we will see if Kobe is about winning or money…

  16. MannyP says

    Traingle Fan: You read the piece and assume Jim is lying. I read the piece and assume Jim is being truthful when he says Dr Buss made the call. Are either of us wrong here?

    I don’t think Jeannie has ever said that Jim made the decision to go with Mike D over Phil, then again I have never heard her say it was Dr Buss. So, I guess the only person that could tell us this would be MItch, and he has been silent on this.

    Also, I agree with you that the comment that learning on the job is a bad thing. However, Jeannie would also be learning on the job as her duties prior to this have not been related to BBall operations. If by inference on Jeannie you also mean Phil, the same goes for him – he has never held a front office job. You may not like Jim, but he did work under his Dad in the BBall operational side since at least 1999, so hopefully that means that his learning curve will be shorter than Jeannies.

    I have no idea whether Jeannie, Phil or Jim would be better than the other to run the FO. However, what I do know is that we are stuck with Jim for better or for worse for the near future and, although the guy has made plenty of mistakes he has also made some good moves. Only time will tell if he learned anything from his Pops.

  17. Robert says

    From the Ramona article:
    “Actually, when Jim Buss says anything, Lakers fans get nervous.” I think Ramona is being a little too hard on him. I do not get that nervous listening to him, it is looking at him that makes me nervous.
    “The early-season firing of coach Mike Brown and surprising hire of Mike D’Antoni (over Phil Jackson) that could have made them look like savvy geniuses but instead came off as misguided and hurried.” Ramona is not going to get a Holiday card from the Lakers this year.
    ‘Well you’re my son. Here you go.’ I always knew this was the interview process, but seeing it writing still made me a little angry.
    “Yes, it feels like a soap opera,” Buss said. Well there it is.
    “Change scares everybody,” Buss said. “I understand that.” Actually Jim – some of us are not afraid of change, rather – we are anxiously waiting for it.

  18. rr says

    People like gene need to realize that Kobe will be 36, he will be coming off an injury, he won’t have a contract, the team will probably be coming off a 45-50 loss season, and that no other team in basketball will offer him anything near 30M, or even 20.

    So, this idea that Kobe holds the fate of the Lakers in his hands is simply wrong.

    I don’t think James is coming here, either, but it won’t be because of Kobe holding the franchise hostage.

  19. Craig W. says

    Shaun,
    Thanks for the link. Look at coaches in this town over the last 5+ years – we want perfection or we want them out yesterday. That is our fan mentality – it isn’t a good way to run a business, but it is the way it is in this town.The article isn’t a fluff piece for Jim Buss, but it does present things in a more fair light than anything else since Jerry Buss’ death.

    Jerry Buss did not live in the past. He was always building. That is one difference between him and many fans who want things to be as they were. Those days are never coming back – for better or worse. The question is what is the best way to go forward.

    We will see how it all works out over the next 4/5 years.

  20. gene says

    Manny….just cause you disagree with me doesn’t mean I don’t have a right to comment here…I happen to agree with a writer who knows a lot about Basketball…SMH

  21. rr says

    Craig-

    That kind of opining would carry a little more weight if Howard had stayed here or if Phil had never won anything. As I pointed out to you before, the team won 57 games in Phil’s final season. So the suggestion that people who want Phil instead of D’Antoni are stuck in some kind of false, backward-looking nostalgia doesn’t hold up well. Also, Mike D’Antoni is 62 years old, and even you admitted that he will probably get fired if the team has a bad year. The future for MDA lasts from now until about July 15. His presence here is not about ‘building’ and never has been.

    Whether I (and others) am right about how this year’s team will perform or you and Warren et al are, the foreseeable future for the Lakers depends almost entirely on free agent recruitment. Financial and flexibility have been Kupchak’s two favorite words all summer. If Jim Buss and D’Antoni come through on that score over the next two summers, the fans will get behind them in a big way. If they don’t, the Lakers will probably experience a fairly protracted and very severe downturn by the franchise’s standards, and the criticism of Jim Buss will intensify enormously.

    And so far, they are 0-for-1 in recruiting big-time FAs.

  22. Kevin_ says

    rr: that’s why I believe Lakers best chance was max out a restricted free agent and hope he demands to be in LA. Or Lakers overachieve to start the year and come asb find a willing partner who wants expirings for their young talented player. Teams like Detroit and Toronto being prime candidates.

    Craig W: have to think our fan mentality played a part in Dwight leaving as well. Had there been more support and love for him on the radio and elsewhere it might’ve made his decision harder. Instead he gets scolded all year long. But everybody gets that from the fans, some players just deal with it I guess.

    Lots of articles I’ve read this summer indicating Kobe is all about his money and he won’t be willing to take a paycut. I think if Kobe is the only main attraction left once next fa is over, that’s the Lakers fault and they’ll probably fork over a few extra mill. If they bring pieces to contend for a title, I see it much easier for Kobe to accept a paycut. And while he may like his money lots of his goes to his homless charity, transportation and all the doctors he needs to stay in the top shape he’s always in. It’s not like he’s pocketing all this money being greedy. He uses plenty of it for his body which benefits the Lakers also.

  23. rr says

    Sure, gene, you can comment here unless the mods say that you can’t. But the point is that posting the kind of stuff that you’re posting at a Lakers site is, shall we say, bad form. It is not question of what you can do; it’s a question of what you should do.

  24. rr says

    The most noteworthy thing about the Jim Buss article was his comment about Phil, in which he said that Phil is welcome to work with him on a consultant basis. IOW, he is not going to give Phil any power.

    To be clear here, Buss has in some ways taken too much criticism. Change the Paul deal, and everything looks different, and the Lakers are not tied down to any really bad long-term contracts.

    But leaving James aside, Buss needs to put together two consecutive summers where they get some FAs that work (perhaps some combo of Lowry, Deng, maybe Monroe or Cousins if DET/SAC let them walk, Love, Gasol, Rondo) and the Lakers need to get at least a rotation player in this draft. If they don’t, the team is likely to struggle for the foreseeable future.

  26. still a trianglefan says

    manny p: I’m on an island when it comes to who hired mda. You would think that one year later, Junior would make some kind of real admission that he screwed up with how he handled the phil/mda thing. But he just can’t bring himself to admit his mistake.

    He can’t even admit he owes an apology to his sister! Are you kidding me?

    That’s a real flaw. And frankly, he should come out and say that either hiring Mike Brown was a mistake or how Brown was fired was a mistake. I am not a Mike Brown fan, but I don’t see how anyone can say he got a fair shake. He’s a good coach, but was a not a good fit compared to the others out there at that time.

    And when you think about how many coaches were available in the offseason (Byron Scott, George Karl, etc), it just magnifies to me the ineptitude of some in the front office. There’s no way that anyone can say that of all the coaches available, MDA is the best choice for the lakers – whether it’s this upcoming season or last season.

    But that’s who we got and let’s hope this season is better than last.

  27. rr says

    I don’t really care who made the call on MDA, but I think Buss Jr,. would make himself look better in the media if he said something like I am in the big chair now/the buck stops here etc. regardless of how it went down.

    And, in any case, it was obviously Jim Buss’s call to keep D’Antoni after the 2013 season ended. So D’Antoni’s presence here as of today is on Jim Buss, even if his father made the call on the original hire.