LAKERS OFFICIAL END OF SEASON THREAD: IT WAS FUN! THANKS FOR THE RUN LAKERS! LAKER FANS STAND UP!

As dumb as this sounds I'm all for bringing Lamar off the bench and let Puke start, to build his confidence, at the same time force Lamar to score with thesecondary. But the reason Lakers wont do that cus they will look like a buffoon to let a $13mil player come off the bench. But hes really bench material rightnow.
 
Good article abut former showtime Laker Byron Scott.He's also one of my all time favorite Lakers.

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Scott no longer blinded by Hollywood lights


As Byron Scott kept notes under Pat Riley and Larry Brown, the biggest coaching seat in Los Angeles was always in the back of his mind.

He wanted to be a coach.

He wanted to go home again.

As an Inglewood kid raised in the shadows of the Fabulous Forum, the Showtime running mate for Magic Johnson, there would turn out to be one more connection that could've delivered Scott to the Staples Center. Eleven years ago, Kobe Bryant had come to the Lakers and Jerry West brought Scott back to mentor him. Bryant insists that Scott taught him his most important lessons on professionalism.

"As long as Kobe is there, you would think about that job because of the relationship I had with him," Scott said.

As much as a part of the New Orleans Hornets coach will be a Laker for life, the strangest thing has happened in his four years with the most fragile franchise in the sport: Out of the rubble, and losing and moving boxes, Scott has come to an improbable truth: His dream job found him.

The Lakers play the Hornets on Wednesday night in New Orleans, two startling candidates for the Western elite colliding on terrific tears. These are good young teams, threatening to be something serious this season. Scott never did want to see Kobe leave the Lakers, and even considered offering some of that old, big brother advice over the summer.

"There were times when I thought that I should give him a call, but I knew he was going to be OK," Scott said. "Once the season started, all the other stuff was going to die down and Kobe would be Kobe on the court. One thing about him is that he's able to focus, able to play great, under the craziest of situations of any athlete I've ever seen."

Outside of Phil Jackson, maybe Scott would've been the most worthy candidate to command the respect of Bryant. Nevertheless, Jackson left in 2004, returned a year later, and with the development of Andrew Bynum, appears determined to chase his 10th title into the foreseeable future. Back then, the residue of Scott's firing in New Jersey made him barely a blip in the search for Jackson's successor.

There had been such an unfair movement to distance Scott and the Nets' unprecedented success. When the Lakers didn't want him in 2004, the Hornets did and maybe it was the best thing to ever happen to him. Most considered this a dismal job, and Hurricane Katrina compounded the program's degree of difficulty.

Still, the reclamation of this franchise has gone arm-and-arm with that of Byron Scott's coaching reputation. The Hornets are 23-11 with the worst home court in the NBA, with no bench and, best of all, no excuses. For the greatness of Chris Paul, these Hornets are such a reflection of Scott's resolve and toughness. There's a purity of Scott's character, an honesty that so clearly spills onto the floor with them.

"As much as I love the Lakers organization, I can see myself with these guys here until Chris (Paul), Tyson (Chandler) and David (West) are ready to retire," Scott said. "I'd like to be the Jerry Sloan here, and have a run like he did with Stockton and Malone. I would love to be here and see these guys through winning a championship.

"A few years ago, I thought a lot about going back to coach the team that I grew up with, that I loved, but that's not the case anymore. For me, this has become a dream job."

Under Scott, the Nets had gone to consecutive NBA Finals in '02 and '03. Halfway through '04, he was gone. For all of its years of futility, the franchise's transformation had been so sudden, so unexpected, no one understood how to handle success. Jason Kidd had loyalties to assistant coaches, not Scott. The locker room largely followed Kidd; where he went, so did they. Eventually, there were staff and players scrambling to carry out agendas, pushing power plays, and with a 22-20 record, Nets president Rod Thorn fired Scott.

In the wake of the Shaq-Kobe divorce, Jackson left the Lakers that spring in '04 and Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak never seriously considered Scott. Scott had Magic and Kobe on his side, but there had been so much damage done to his professional reputation - attacks on his work ethic, suggestions that he was merely a figure-head coach - that no momentum grew to bring him back to Los Angeles.

As hell broke loose, Scott was remarkable in the center. He didn't try to win the public-relations battle. He didn't try to gather his guys in the press. He didn't fight back. Coaches can be the most paranoid people because they see conspiracies everywhere. Someone is always out to get them. Mostly, it's imagined, but in this instance, with Scott, they were truly out to get him. His dignity was unblemished.

"Believe me, I heard everything that was going on in Jersey and the one thing I told myself was that I was not going to stoop that low and become a part of that stuff," he said. "The bottom line is that I knew I could coach. The first thing I asked from George Shinn was that I need to have full control over who I hire. I just didn't want anyone on my coaching staff that I didn't OK. I wanted to pick guys who I knew well, and who I knew that I could trust."

Looking back, Scott isn't too stubborn to think that the winning disguised his mistakes on the job in Jersey. There was so much Riley in his style, so much bravado, that he knows his relationships with players suffered. Sometimes, Scott would say too much in public and too little in private.

"At times I went too overboard," Scott said. "I was too much of a disciplinarian. My communication is better now."

Paul will tell you that he loves playing for Scott, that they connected from the moment the Hornets drafted him. Scott has turned this team over to him, the way that Riley did with Magic. Yes, Scott still calls plays when there's something he wants done, but his seasons in Showtime ingrained in him that the NBA belongs to the players, and too often the suits on the sidelines spoil the spontaneity of the genius.

"The more freedom and trust you give them, the better they're going to play," Scott said.

Among the Western Conference elite teams, they'll privately tell you this: They'll be even more fearful of this team in the playoffs if the Hornets can make a couple deals to improve the bench. Scott simply says that his bench has been "terrible," and knows that he's playing Paul, Chandler and West far too many minutes.

"The minutes worry the hell out of me," Scott said. "It worries me in the long run. In March and April, are they going to be so tired that they won't have anything left?"

Absorbing salary is always an issue for this cash-strapped team, last in the league in attendance. Yet they have such an opportunity to make a move in the West now, to elevate closer to the elite. The Lakers come to town on Wednesday and they're as hot as the Hornets. This is the kind of night, the kind of packed house, they don't get much in New Orleans. The people come to see LeBron James and they come for Kobe Bryant.

"I understand that's how it goes here now," Scott said, "but maybe they'll see us, see our team, and want to come back again."

The Hornets are still a tough sell in New Orleans, but the old Showtime shooting guard bought into it all. His team, his guys, his reclamation project. Here, Byron Scott earned back his good coaching name. No one can dare take it away again.
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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...8vLYF?slug=aw-byron010908&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I wouldnt mind at all seeing Byron Scott become the head coach after Phil Jackson.He played with and mentored Kobe during his last season in theleague.He's also one of the few people who Kobe respects and listens to.But Byron if you come to coach the Lakers sometime in the future please convinceand bring CP3 with you to the Lakers
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Ariza is gona bring some athleticism to the Lakeshow. Hopefully trading Mo Evans gives Crittenton some playing time.

KB8sandeigo your avatar is hilarious. I had to look twice.
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they have tons of the 60th patches on laker game days, i'm not sure on non-laker game days. They go around $8.00/patch and are located on the rollableshelves in the middle aisle.
 
Originally Posted by 23ska909red02

I still want Kidd.

Early season success has not been foreign to us the past few years; we've had solid October through February seasons. But the postseason? Kobe is the only guy to fear in the postseason, and that's not working for us. In my opinion, we're not a Finals contending team, and we would be with Kidd.
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co-sign...remember Last year guys?!...good start bad ending...we need j.kidd to get us over the hump and tupac003 where'd you get those 60 yrspatches?...i want them on my jerseys too!!
 
tupac003 - you got it sewn on?? aren't those patches iron on. i got 2 of those patches from friday's game at staples and i'm debating whether toiron it on my adidas authentic i got last year or a swingman jersey or my lakers jacket.



and as for so cal group game i think we have a better chance at getting a section from the clippers when the lakeshow visits LA's sister team.
 
Lakers are ranked #1 in the power rankings and then this happened. We can only hope Kobe has 1 more MVP effort left in him. Man I was hyped for every Lakergame just to c how Bynum would play. We just gotta hold on and hope Bynum will b back by the beginning of March in time to start a playoff push.
 
Where was chirs? Is he hurt again?

Looking at the schedule if we beat gs tonight I think we could win another 5 more games before our match up with the suns.
 
Battle of darkhorse contenders tommorow
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Should be a good one. I fully expect us to come out with a W.
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The Lakers didn't come close to matching the poise and cohesion of the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night in a 107-92 Spurs rout that dropped the Lakers to 3-3. To make matters worse for the Lakers, Lamar Odom tore a tendon in his right pinky finger; it won't prevent Odom from playing, though he will be unable to straighten the end of his finger. Orange County Register

Lamar Odom, in his second game back from off-season shoulder surgery, sustained a torn tendon in the tip of his right pinkie finger but probably won't miss any time, making the Lakers more concerned about a sinful 15 first-half turnovers, a series of three-point misfires and an overall raggedy defense. Last January, the Lakers made a statement by winning in San Antonio and improving to 26-13. On Tuesday, the only statements were made by the Spurs, underlined and in boldface. LA Times

Nevertheless, Bryant sounded an upbeat note after the loss in keeping with an improved leadership attitude cited by Lakers coach Phil Jackson before the game. When asked if Bryant was giving his "heart" to the team, the phrasing for what Jackson said he hoped to get from his disgruntled star player, Jackson replied: "I'm very impressed. He's put a lot of energy into this team. He has been vocal. It has been going good for him." Orange County Register

In spite of a 17-point deficit after three quarters, Bryant asked Jackson to start him in the fourth in hopes of making a push. Bryant finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals - both against Spurs star Tim Duncan, who had five points and four turnovers. Duncan finished just 2 of 13 from the field. Orange County Register

Odom, who is left-handed, will play with tape on his right pinky and wear a protective splint off the court. Injury-prone Odom was in pain after the game and alternated between resignation ("It's always something") and resolve ("When you're hurt, you focus in. I was just meant to be injured"). Orange County Register

Reflecting on Lakers owner Jerry Buss' decision to trade Shaquille O'Neal in 2004 instead of meeting O'Neal's demands at the time for $30 million-plus annual salary, Jackson said: "Probably I'd say this guy (Buss) would do it nine of out 10 times." Orange County Register
Tough loss last night. Glad to see everybody is on the same page though. We must cut down on turn overs though. I hope we can get a win tonight.
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get rid of mihm, kwame, odumb and sasha for some decent pLayers then we gonna be okay...anyways i hope big drew keeps this up and keeps working hard and thecap keeps him in check

btw nas whos edge pinning on ur avy?
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..its been a minute since i watched wwf or wwe whatever they caLLed it now adays
 
hello all lakers fan !
FOR ALL KOBE FAN WATCH MY INTRO !!! I'm preparing a mix of KOBE !!! GOOD WATCHING !


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We have been doing pretty good this season if we can stay healthy I thing we can make some noise...

I'm loving that Kobe is using his teammates and not forcing the action hopefully we can keep this up. And watching us put up 39 points in the 4th quarteragainst the Pistons was :shock
 
We need to prep a pacakge with Odom and others for a trade quicker than Miami PD cought Sean Taylor's killers (RIP). I mean come on, this dude isgetting insanely mediocre at best. We played so damn soft last night
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starting with him, evrytime he played on AK47 and Millsap they put him thru the rim. I defenitly think we have a lot of potential but get rid of this guyplease!!!!
 
Wow this is a huge blow for you guys. You guys were rollin' 9-1 in the last 10 games. Not saying that you can't win without Bynum, but now you got toturn to Kwame.
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Originally Posted by dyyhard

Code: 
Mitch Top 10 in 1985-86.http://www.eskimo.com/~pbender/misc/salaries86.txt1985-86 NBA Salaries[with thanks to Michael Siewenie for sending me the players' salaries info]Team PayrollsThe salary cap for the 85-86 season was $4.23 million.    Team                      Payroll  1. Los Angeles Lakers      $8,579,750 2. New Jersey Nets         $6,840,500 3. Philadelphia 76ers      $6,825,500 4. New York Knicks         $6,691,500 5. Boston Celtics          $6,560,000 6. Seattle Supersonics     $5,683,333 7. Los Angeles Clippers    $4,745,000 8. Detroit Pistons         $4,603,666 9. Chicago Bulls           $4,486,00010. Washington Bullets      $4,381,38311. Golden State Warriors   $4,365,83312. Houston Rockets         $4,259,00013. Phoenix Suns            $4,189,50014. San Antonio Spurs       $4,052,84615. Dallas Mavericks        $4,052,34616. Sacramento Kings        $4,052,00017. Cleveland Cavaliers     $3,920,66618. Portland Trailblazers   $3,831,00019. Indiana Pacers          $3,758,20020. Atlanta Hawks           $3,671,25021. Milwaukee Bucks         $3,661,33222. Denver Nuggets          $3,425,50023. Utah Jazz               $2,914,500  0 players will earn $3 million or more  3 players will earn $2 to 3 million 10 players will earn $1 to 2 millionThe league minimum was $70,000Average: $370,104  [296 players]Top 25 players 1. Magic Johnson (LAL)        $2,500,000 2. Moses Malone (Phi)         $2,145,000 3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (LAL)  $2,030,000 4. Larry Bird (Bos)           $1,800,000 5. Jack Sikma (Sea)           $1,600,000 6. Julius Erving (Phi)        $1,485,000 7. Patrick Ewing (NY)         $1,250,000 8. Ralph Sampson (Hou)        $1,165,500 9. Mitch Kupchak (LAL)        $1,150,00010. Otis Birdsong (NJ)         $1,100,00010. Marques Johnson (LAC)      $1,100,00012. Albert King (NJ)           $1,035,00013. Kevin McHale (Bos)         $1,000,00014. Wayman Tisdale (Ind)         $987,00015. Adrian Dantley (Uta)         $950,00016. Bill Cartwright (NY)         $925,00017. Buck Williams (NJ)           $915,00018. Sidney Moncrief (Mil)        $884,00019. Akeem Olajuwon (Hou)         $882,50020. Bernard King (NY)            $874,00021. Alex English (Den)           $825,00022. Darryl Dawkins (NJ)          $808,00023. George Gervin (Chi)          $806,00024. Joe Barry Carroll (GS)       $800,00024. Tom Chambers (Sea)           $800,000
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what the hell?
 
FrenchBlue23 wrote:
Good to see coby doing some good things. As much as we bash mitch he seems to have an eye for young talent. Javris, farmar, bynum and coby are all going to be solid.

And would be further praised if he can pull off that NJ Nets deal, which I keep hearing about all over am 570 radio.

Who are the particulars they are discussing?
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Originally Posted by CP1708


How much crow should we be eating because of Mitch? We all love to bash the dude, we blame him for a lot of stuff, but.......since he traded one of the greatest players of all time, that team did get their one ring, and their franchise has sunk into the abyss since. We had one really strange season in which the coach quit and then eventually so did the players, we almost pulled off a miracle in the first round the next season, had an unreal rash of injuries last year that really stunted our momentum and now we are looking real solid. *fingers crossed*.

He screwed up the Brown/Butler deal.
Overpaid for Vlad
Drafted Sasha - who is trying to get on our good side, but as of this second still belongs in the mistake department.
There are some moves he left out on the table, however many of them would have included moving Bynum. Smart move perhaps to stay put?

But,

Drafted Bynum, Farmar, Crittenton, Turiaf
Made a decent move with Ariza
Locked up Walton (slightly overpaid, but solid peice)
Really lucked out with Fisher, can't really give him credit there.
Got rid of Smush, and Cook.
We now have flexibility to trade or sign peices as we go along, we're not in too bad of shape.
We are extremely young and set to make a run for a couple of years with a little tweaking here and there.
Got Jackson back, and has locked him up for a couple years.

So after the intial hit from moving Shaq, we stumbled a bit, but now seem to be back on track, the only thing that can mess with that is the Kobe contract. If it weren't for his antics, we would have had a real quiet off season, but maybe he was the guy that motivated Bynum and Farmar and guys like that to really work on their game. Plus, look how much a difference Fish is over Smush. Totally changed the whole nature of the team.

I dunno, if Mitch stays doing ok, and with Jackson locked up and coaching, if we keep the Buss's quiet, we seem to have a semi stable front office again. If we manage to keep Kobe on good terms, and get thru the opt out or not issue that will be coming, we could really be set for another run. Dare I mention, Shaq was in his prime, Kobe was a 20 year old, they won a chip. Kobe is now in his prime, Bynum is a 20 year old. Maybe not this season, but if that kid keeps growing, and Kobe stays......this could be a lot of fun.

Will we give the credit to Mitch?
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Some credit is do to mitch. But a lot of credit is due to drew and famar and the coaching staff that put in the work with the kids. But the one thing thatwe always have to worry about is kobe bolting. They need to try to throw an extention his way or at least throw something out there so he knows that they arecommited to him. Kobe has kept his mouth shut but so have the buss's and jerry and jim wanted kobe gone and they have not come off that statement.

This year we have to make it to the WCF or have the second round go to 7 games in order for kobe to stay. But I feel if we are going to get that far we needsome tweeks and quick. Anybody got mitch's email? I need to e-mail him that trade. If the sonics wanted crit and some picks in that deal I can deal withthat.
 
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