There ain’t no Carnival like a playoff Carnival. The Carnival of NBA blogs has made a stop in Los Angeles, where the Staples Center sits as empty as Jennifer Aniston’s heart. If you don’t know what a carnival is read this (from Matt at Bulls Blog, who started the traveling roadshow), otherwise come along for […]
News
Thursday Morning Reading
Two stories worth reading to pass along, although both completely different. The first is the latest piece by Eric Pincus at Hoopsworld. He says that Phil is likely and there are several trade possibilities discussed. Jonathan Bender and the 17th pick have been rumored to be on their way to LA for Devean George and […]
The Three Phil Jackson Questions
Update: Without getting into details, I spoke with a friend who has good contacts within the Laker organization and the word is the Lakers organization is very confident Phil will be the next coach. I made that call after reading the reliable Eric Pincus from Hoopsworld say in several message boards today that he is […]
End of the Season Report Card: Point Guards
This is the second in a series over the next couple of weeks looking at this Laker team in depth and possible moves for the future. The first post looked at team management. (These player-related posts will have players listed this way: Kobe Bryant (23.8/15.1/+2.8). Those numbers are: the player’s PER, his opponents PER for […]
Notes From The Weekend
I watched some NBA playoff games, read what I could about the Lakers and went to the LA Times Festival of Books. Here are some thoughts: • Phil Jackson Watch: The Lakers are meeting Tuesday with Jackson to talk coaching, according to Joel Meyers. Phil also is scheduled to talk to the New York Knicks […]
The Playoffs: Round One
Normally at this time of year in Los Angeles Laker flags start popping up on cars like cherry blossoms in Washington DC. Everywhere you turned people were wearing Laker gear, talking playoffs and showing some civic pride. This year we get the “news†that Phil Jackson is a viable coaching candidate. Shocking. Today, I’m wearing […]
End Of The Season Report Card: Management
There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take one with a heart. -Lao Tzu I was worried at first when I heard Mitch Kupchak say there was no set blueprint for the rebuilding of the Lakers. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw a Zen-like wisdom in the idea […]
On Tap: This Is The End, My Friends
This has been a hard season to be a Laker fan. A hard season to watch if you love basketball. Back in October we entered the season with muted expectations after the trade of Shaq, but this was not a team without talent. I thought — we all thought — that as the season wore […]
New Carnival of the NBA
The letter of the day is K, as in Knickerblogger, who came up with an interesting way to put to put together the latest Carnival of the NBA post, then blamed it on an 80s band. Whatever reason he uses, it’s still a good way to find out what else NBA bloggers are saying.
Season Grades Start Coming In
The first season grade for the team is in and it’s from Chad “I’ll go public with rumors faster than Hacksaw†Ford on ESPN Insider. Without giving out specifics of pay-per-view content, he blames everything on Kobe, including saying he forced Rudy T. into retirement. That made me more suspect of Ford than before, if […]