From Phillip Barnett, Lakers Nation: With the recent news that the Clippers will cover up the Lakers banners during their home games, Mark Medina of the LA Daily News asked some of the Lakers their thoughts on the Clippers antics. “We got to talk to Doc,” Young said Sunday at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. “He can’t have that. We have to do something about that. […] “That’s a lot of pull y’all are giving Doc,” Young said. “He shouldn’t come and have that much pull. He should come and earn his keep.” The Lakers have earned the right to feature their banners and retired jerseys at Staples Center. The team’s history of bringing in great players and fielding competitive teams has allowed them to display their storied history in the building that they play in.
From Brett Pollakoff, Pro Basketball Talk: Kobe Bryant changed the avatar on his Twitter account Friday to “1225,” and while we could speculate on whether or not that means he’s targeting a return date of Christmas Day against the Miami Heat from his torn Achilles injury, the reality is it was likely done as a personal motivational tactic. ESPN ranked all of the players in the league from 1-500, an exercise in futility that is arbitrary at best and, like anything involving opinions, clouded by personal biases. But it does generate a buzz of fan discussion in the weeks leading up to the start of the season, and coming from the Worldwide Leader, it garners plenty of attention from the players themselves. Bryant was ranked 25th, after finishing 12th in the voting last season. It’s a precipitous drop, considering what Bryant is capable of when healthy. But with his return date from injury an unknown, along with just how close to his old self Bryant will be once he does make it back, it’s at least somewhat understandable.
From TheGreatMambino, Silver Screen & Roll: Much has been made about the 2013-2014 Los Angeles Lakers defense–or perhaps lack thereof. From Nash and Kobe on the perimeter, to a small forward TBD and Pau’s diminishing returns as a paint protector, there are serious questions as to whether or not we’re looking at a bottom-5 NBA defense. This all in mind, what hope, if any, do you see of the Lakers creating an at least adequate defensive scheme? In what way could their defense be good to great?
From ESPN.com: Kobe Bryant often is compared to some of the greatest players in NBA history. But in what he describes as “the last chapter” of his storied career, Bryant hopes to mirror someone who has never played professional basketball — Floyd Mayweather Jr. The 35-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star, who is attempting to bounce back from Achilles surgery, compared himself toMayweather in a recent interview withSports Illustrated. “Maybe I won’t have as much explosion,” Bryant told the magazine. “Maybe I’ll be slower, maybe I’ll lose quickness. But I have other options. “It’s like Floyd Mayweather in the ring. There’s a reason he’s still at the top after all these years. He’s the most fundamentally sound boxer of all time. He can fight myriad styles at myriad tempos. He can throw fast punches or off-speed punches, and he can throw them from odd angles.”
david h says
he of diminished mental capacity……….until i realized we’re talking about former celtic’s coach, doc rivers. obviously hung around and listened way too much to what danny ainge had to say and do when it came to doing things with diminished mental capacity. just hang ’em where you see fit, coach rivers.
although the upcoming laker season seems bleak, it’s good to know that the self proclaimed 1225 man who goes by so many other names and mantras, one thing for certain: everything humanly possible will be tried, uncovered and exposed to no end. and with a little spirtual inspiration of the fundamenally sound wayweather, the laker season, in a push toward possible playoffs, starts and ends with the 1225 man.
Go Lakers
Aaron says
Let’s keep listening to the smart people in the room…
http://princetonsportsanalytics.com/2013/10/19/past-achilles-injuries-show-that-kobe-bryants-nbarank-is-more-than-generous/
T. Rogers says
I wonder if the Clips plan on covering up the Laker statues in the plaza? There are statues of West, Magic, Kareem, and Chick outside. Heck, the main entrance to the arena is on a street named Chick Hern court.
Maybe the Clips should have went to the Honda Center when they had the chance.
Robert says
Clippers: Great move on their part. Best way to shut them up would be to add more banners so they have to add more cover up. 10/29 is a home game. Banners will be in full view.
Kobe: He looked good working out in China. I guess we are at a range of 8 days to 4 months per the Lakers. I am betting closer to 8 days than 4 months.
Doc: Would take him as my top pick to coach a team right now. Even over Pop. With Pop – I think he is totally tied into SA – so I would have a hard time hiring him elsewhere. So see – I do not always base this on rings. Pop has 4 and Doc only 1. If it was 11-0 I might have to reconsider this stance.
Rusty Shackleford says
Did Luke Walton get a 6-year deal for his new announcing job?
gene says
The Kings (Hockey) put King’s jerseys on the statues outside of Staples during the playoffs !!!!
C.Hearn says
T.Rogers-Good question. Maybe on their home games they’ll pay all the pigeons in California to come and poop on the statutes. The Clippers will then hire an artist to fashion the poop on the statutes into Paul, Blake and Jordan. Then maybe they can get a sleeve made with a picture of Doc Rivers to put over the Chick Hearn street sign. As for Chick’s statute maybe they can just cover it up with a sign that says ‘under construction.’
That’ll take care of those darned Lakers! After-all the Clippers actually made it to the playoffs last year, they deserve some respect.
PurpleBlood says
C.Hearn,
is `under construction´ a reference to the Stones´ ¨Some GIrls¨ LP? 😉 – anyhow, G. forbid they´d screw around with Chick! Though I imagine he´d have a good laugh about it and maybe get a dig in at Sterling or Doc as well!
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Robert,
`Best way to shut them up would be to add more banners so they have to add more cover up.´
That´s what I´m talkin´ about brother!
(by the way, when you saw the Chili Peppers some months back, did they play anything off of `One Hot Minute´? (the Navarro album that Frusciante refused to acknowledge on stage), just curious..
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gene,
I for one have no problem with the Kings availing themselves to the statues, i´m not insinuating that you do either; heck, i remember seeing A.C. at a KIngs game long ago & most of the Kings fans there were calling out `A.C.! A.C.!´, & he was digging it! – plus there was a story not too long ago in the L.A. Times where some of the Kings players were invited to the El Segundo facility & they mentioned being honored by the invite & inspired by ALL our banners!
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Lastly,
hope our interior defense starts to shore up a bit, it´s worrisome in that we don´t wanna get blown out in the 4th Q of every game (talkin´ about the reg. season here), do we?
Peace y´all
Warren Wee Lim says
As hyped as the Clippers were, they only made it as far as we did, on our most disaster-filled season EVER.
Its a your face is my butt moment.
Craig W. says
Now we preview the teams for 2013/14 and the scribes have followed the time honored tradition of picking defensive ability based on how good, defensively, the individual players are. The Lakers are terrible because they lost Howard and MWP, while the Rockets are good because they acquired Howard. Some of the pundits following the Lakers have actually brought up the concept of defensive systems, but those people are just homers – according to the prediction rules.
Defense is a team job and individual talent only plays into this when there is a viable system. Without the system even the best players struggle. The other observation is that team chemistry matters a great deal in the matter of defensive intensity. If Dwight Howard becomes unhappy in Houston, he is going to adversely impact the defense, even if he works very hard at what he thinks he should do – he did work hard on the floor for the Lakers last year. This is where I have a problem with the talking heads presuming they know how the defensive abilities of teams will turn out. Since they have been right so frequently – LOL – I find their opinions laughable.
Robert says
Dwight: I see ESPN has him in the 7 slot. That is coming off his injury and his worst year ever. To put it in perspective: take a look at 1-6 and ask yourself what the odds are of us signing one of those guys (Aaron’ pipedream not withstanding of course).
Purple: Nothing from that disc. It was a decent set, they played well. Flea is my favorite Laker celebrity fan, because he wears our gear and is vocal.
Craig: No doubt that all predicting types (including us) are often wrong. However there is no solid evidence yet that we will be cohesive defensively. We lost two of our top individuals – that is a fact. How we play together as a unit and the defensive end result is yet to be seen. In my mind, we would need to improve the team aspect significantly – just to break even from the loss of DH + Metta. Also, I am betting on a huge year from DH. Not necessarily DPOY – however – 1st Team All D is likely barring injury.
rr says
I have posted this a few times, but I think it needs to be said again–from SSR, April 4:
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Since the All-Star break the Lakers give up an average of 100.4 points per 100 possessions when Howard is their anchor, but an atrocious 115.8 when he’s off the court.
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So, like Robert says, even if Rambis makes a difference and everybody tries really hard, it is quite unlikely that the Lakers will have even an average team defense. The perimeter D will probably be a little better, but the interior defense and the pick-and-roll will probably be very poor.
Banners says
It seems like a pretty sinister move to hide the banners and achievements of the team you’re sharing stadium with… But there’s not much I can imagine that can be done if the person who was in charge has already “okay-ed” that idea… Maybe it was done behind their back and the banners will be shown in the future? I can only hope