Kobe on PTI

Game Winner!

Lakers Season Preview from ESPN

Lakers Dominate in Opening Preseason Game

The Los Angeles Lakers filled up the box score at the Honda Center Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors in their preseason opener.

It was great to see Andrew Bynum playing at 100%. Bynum finished with 24 points, 5 boards and was 8-9 from the FT line. Kobe Bryant picked up right where he left off scoring 22 points, 9 rebounds in 26 minutes.

In his Lakers debut, Ron Artest put up some impressive numbers. He finished with 12 points, 9 boards and 7 assists in 23 minutes. The Lakers won easily 118-101.

The play of the night was this dunk by Shannon Brown. 

I cannot wait for the regular season!

Cuban Hating on Artest and the Lakers

Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, is known for being vocal and controversial. These are the attributes that make Cuban one of my favorite NBA owners. Cuban’s more recent opinion about Ron Artest joining the Lakers pumps me up for the Lakers v Mavericks game.

Cuban made an appearance at ESPN radio in Dallas on 10/2 and voiced his opinions about Ron Artest. “If you would have said, what one player…would you like to see on the Lakers? – Ron Artest,” Cuban said during the interview. Cuban was implying that Artest is going to destroy the dynamic of the Los Angeles Lakers. Follow this link to read the ESPN article and hear the podcast radio interview.

I’m not going to hate on Cuban for his opinion, I will let the Lakers play do the talking. Mark your calendars for Friday, 10/30 on ESPN when the Lakers trounce the Mavs!

Kobe – The Most Popular Player in the World?

The jerseys don’t lie my friends. The Los Angeles Lakers guard, Kobe Bryant, for the second year in a row has the number one selling jersey in Europe. In addition to Europe, Kobe dons the number one selling jersey in the USA and China as well!

NBA player’s top 5 jersey sales breakdown in Europe:
1) Kobe Bryant
2) Kevin Garnett
3) Pau Gasol
4) Lebron James
5) Dwyane Wade

Congrats to Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol – 1st and 3rd!

Referees Vote Down Latest NBA Proposal

The NBA is turning to its replacement referee’s after the latest attempt to mend the relationship with the National Basketball Referees Association (NBRA) failed. According to an ESPN article, 43-14 locked out NBA referees voted to decline the NBA’s latest proposal.

As a Lakers fan, I hate to see replacement referees for two reasons:
1) The flow of the game is key. No fan wants to have busch league refs making terrible calls creating frequent stoppage of play.
2) The Los Angeles Lakers are notorious for complaining on calls! I must say this is one of my pet peeves about the Lakers. They all complain! Especially Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic. Kobe, As the leader of the team, you need to shut your mouth and play...Lead by example!

Expect to see the NBA cave before the start of the regular season and give the NBRA a worthwhile proposal.

Media Day

Media Day for the Los Angeles Lakers generally would mean, Kobe Time! However, with Odom’s shenanigans and the addition of Ron Artest, Kobe was the third wheel.

I was a little nervous with Artest loving the media attention on top of the Odom-Kardashian wedding, but then I saw this Kobe quote:

"We understand that we worked really hard to get to this point," Bryant said of beginning the title defense. "It took us a long time to get here, so it's not something we want to give up because of our own inability to move forward or to not take the season seriously or as focused as we did the year before. If somebody's going to take it from us, we want them to take it from us with us being 100 percent focused and locked in…There's not going to be any distractions. There weren't any distractions last year, the year before. Everything will be smooth.”

Kobe is the leader of this team and I know he will keep this squad in line for a repeat! Another plus, the NBA banned twitter during games which will at least eliminated one distraction.

Odom and Kardashian Tie the Knot

Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian were married, 9/27, in a private Beverly Hills location. Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, and Phil Jackson attended the ceremony.

This wedding is clearly a dumb move by Lamar. Why do I care? 1) I don’t want to see Khloe affect Odom’s on the court play. 2) Khloe is the ugliest of the three sisters! What are you thinking Lamar?

Anyway – Congratulations buddy!

Congrats Pau!

Pau Gasol hasn’t been sitting on his butt this offseason. Instead, he went out and got himself the Eurobasket Gold. He also nabbed the Eurobasket tournament MVP averaging 18.7 points, 8.3 boards, 2.2 blocks and 1.2 assists.

What a great year for the Lakers C/PF - I look forward to having that same production during the NBA’s 09-10 season.

The Eastern Conference Breakdown

Much like last year, the top 3 teams in the Eastern Conference will be fiercely competitive in 2009-10. The Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Orlando Magic have all made significant improvements.

Boston added Rasheed Wallace to the already stellar cast of veterans. Rajon Rondo gained some confidence and clout from his playoff performance last season. If the Celt’s stay healthy, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Lakers get their revenge at the NBA Finals. Boston re-signed all of their significant role players as well.

Cleveland has added Shaquille O’Neal – Which is just about the only thing worth mentioning. Oh, assistant coach John Kuester left the team to become the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. Which means the reigning coach of the year, Mike Brown of Cleveland, will be forced to show his true colors – OVERATTED!

Orlando added Vince Carter and lost Hedu Turkoglu. Carter is an exciting player, but is on the downhill slide of his career. Look for Carter to either make or break the Magic’s chemistry. Hedu’s 3-point brilliance in the playoffs last year gave them the edge they needed to make it to the Finals. If I was Van Gundy, I would be a little worried about the loss of Turkoglu.

Playoff predictions in order:

1. Boston Celtics
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Orlando Magic
4. Philadelphia 76ers
5. Atlanta Hawks
6. Miami Heat
7. Toronto Raptors
8. Chicago Bulls

Most Improved Team: The Raptors. With the addition of Hedu Turkoglu and a healthy Chris Bosh, they should be a force in the East. I wonder if ranking them 7th is a little low…Time will tell.

Sleeper: Washington Wizards – I expect Gilbert Arenas to sack up! Come on Agent Zero - You’ve got your money, now play some basketball!

Western Conference Breakdown

There is really only one team in the West that can challenge the World Champions, The San Antonio Spurs. All other competitors in the West are not even worth uttering in the same breath with the Lake Show.

If the Spurs can maintain a healthy Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker, they will be solid. The addition of Richard Jefferson will reap dividends. They have many of the same bench players returning as well. I expect them to challenge the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. By “Challenge,” I mean the Lakers will win in 6 games.

Here’s a peak at how the West will shake out for the playoffs:
1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. San Antonio Spurs
3. Denver Nuggets
4. Utah Jazz
5. Dallas Mavericks
6. Portland Trailblazers
7. New Orleans Hornets
8. Phoenix Suns

Lo Siento: Houston Rockets lost Yao Ming and Ron Artest…I’m not counting them out though, Houston could sneak in if the Suns continue their downward spiral.

Sleeper: The Los Angeles Clippers…With Blake Griffin and a healthy Baron Davis, this squad could be the NBA’s most improved team.

A Summer to Remember

Good things come in 3’s…so the saying goes. 1) World Champions, 2) Ron Artest, 3) Lamar Odom.

As a result of the Boston’s slaughtering of the Lakers in 2008, I was plagued with Shaq’s rap ringing in my ears, “last week Kobe couldn’t do wit out me!...Hey Kobe, tell me how my ass taste!” This June, Kobe cleared his name! The much anticipated and long awaited championship by the Lakers this June was a great start to a great off season.

About a 3 weeks later while on vacation in Mexico, my trip was enhanced with the great news that Ron Artest would sport the purple and gold. Instantly I smiled, then thought about the loss of a great team player, Trevor Ariza, which was quickly followed by hope that the Lakers would reel in Lamar Odom.

Happily the Lakers pulled the trigger and sealed our fate - A few more years of Championship glory! This has indeed been a summer to remember which will surely segue into a dynasty to remember. I'm looking forward to a great 50th season for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Two Weeks Out

Here is a snapshot of what you can expect in the next two weeks:

• Lakers Summerfantastic!
• Western Conference Competition
• Eastern Conference Competition
• My Expectations for 2009-10
• Summer League News?

I'm Back!!!!!

After my two year hibernation, I am back on the horse! With that, there will be a few minor changes. My Southern California Sports blog is no more. The topic of discussion will now surround Southern California’s only premier professional sports team – The Los Angeles Lakers!

I welcome all posts and comments. My contact information is provided in my profile if you ever want to get in touch.

Drama in Lakerland

This morning on ESPN radio, Kobe Bryant told Stephen A Smith that he is frustrated and wants to be traded from the Lakers. Kobe said there is nothing the team could do to change his mind. After reviewing the comments that Bryant made to Smith, I am still a little shocked about the whole situation. It seems to be a big mess of reports and leaks within the Laker organization that have upset Bryant. Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Heisler wrote that a Laker’s insider said that Kobe Bryant ran Shaquille O’Neal out of Los Angeles. This report seems to be the bulk of Kobe’s frustration.

Greg Anthony reported on ESPN’s Outside the Lines that he had spoken with Bryant after the Bryant/Smith conversation on the radio. Anthony claimed that Bryant had a conversation with Phil Jackson which calmed Bryant down. Anthony said that Jackson asked Bryant to sit back and evaluate the steps the Lakers organization takes to resolve the insider leaks and player acquisitions in the near future before demanding a trade. Anthony believes that Bryant will do just that. Kobe has reported that he wants to be traded, but most likely the Lakers will resolve the problem by firing the insider who leaked to the press. Then if West comes and the team gets some quality players, we will still be able to see Kobe in uniform next season in Los Angeles.

Kobe Demands a trade!

As soon as I finished writing my blog this morning, I turned on the news and saw that Kobe Bryant has demanded a trade. I find myself eating my own words. I would have never expected Kobe Bryant to demand a trade. I thought that he loved being a Laker. I guess I was wrong. As soon as I find out more about the breaking news I will be writing more on the subject.

Off-season Frustration from Kobe Bryant

Three years have passed and the Lakers have not made any progress. Kobe Bryant let his frustrations be known in the past couple of days and a lot of questions are coming to mind. Does Bryant want to be traded? Should the Lakers get Jerry West? Did the Lakers make a mistake when they traded Shaquille O’Neal? I will do my best to try to answer these questions.

Kobe Bryant does not want to be traded. He loves being a Laker and he wants to retire that way. Kobe’s comments were merely an attempt to get the Lakers front office to acquire some talented players this off-season. Bryant wants to be surrounded by players that are motivated and willing to put out the effort that he displays in practice and during games. Kobe remembers the days when Jerry West would make those risky moves to get the right group of players necessary to win a championship. Bryant has yet to see any trades being conducted to improve the team. He wants action, and he wants it now. Jerry West is his solution to the problem.

Jerry West has a great talent for finding and acquiring the right players necessary to win. He assembled the 1980’s Lakers Showtime team. Then he put together Kobe and Shaq to win three more championships. Since West left, the Lakers have not won. Trading Shaq was a decision made by Mitch Kupchak and the Buss family that raised a lot of questions. West is missed across the southland and the fans would love to see him back in the front office. The Lakers should definitely bring West back.

Should the Lakers have traded Shaq? Trading Shaq was a decision that was made and it cannot be changed. As far as I know, Shaq demanded he be traded if Kobe was going to remain a Laker. If that is the decision the Lakers were forced to make, then they made the right choice in trading Shaq. Kobe is younger and in order to make moves to benefit a franchise, going younger is always a safer bet. Bryant still has many great years of basketball left and Shaq is on the downside of a steep hill. I wish Shaq the best, but I am okay with the decision to trade Shaq.

The Lakers do need to make some changes in order to win. The players surrounding Kobe are not nearly talented enough to win.

Ducks Vs Senators

The Anaheim Ducks have finally made it to the Finals. They started the regular season as one of the favorites to win it all, and now they are in contention to win the Stanley Cup. The Ducks have never won a championship and are excited to bring the cup to Anaheim. They will be facing the Ottawa Senators who have played exceptionally well through out the post season. The Senators have won all three series in five games with out trailing once. The Ducks have not been as consistent as their finals opponent. The Ducks will have to rely on Teemu Selanne hot hand heading into the matchup. Jean-Sebastien Giguere must also play well defending the net in order for the team to have any success. It should make for an exciting series for Southern California sports.

Ducks defender will miss game 4

Ducks defensemen, Chris Pronger, suspended for crushing Thomas Holstrom Tuesday. The Ducks were outplayed on Tuesday against the Red Wings and Pronger let it be known that the Ducks were going to fire back physically. Isn’t hockey supposed to be a physical sport? Apparently the NHL allows checking and fighting, but when does it go too far? When a player maliciously slams another player into the glass? In other words, checking is not allowed any longer. At least, it is not allowed when victim spills blood.

Hockey is an interesting sport. When a team is losing, it must flex some power by playing physical. This is how every game turns out. If it is a blow out, expect to see fireworks! The replay clearly shows that the two Duck defensemen were merely checking Holstrom into the boards. They were playing physical, but I did not see malicious intent. Take a look at the video: (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2007/news/story?id=2872561 ). I still have a hard time seeing the elbow, but it’s a playoff game. Expect it!

Hopefully the Ducks can use this incident to gain some momentum on their side to tie the series. As of now, they are down 2-1.