May 8th "Lakers preparing for next season"

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:14 am    Post subject: May 8th "Lakers preparing for next season"


Lakers preparing for next season


By Ross Siler, Staff writer

LOS ANGELES - The last two summers, the Lakers have chosen to spend what free-agent money they had on Vlade Divac and Aaron McKie. That investment of $9.4 million so far has returned a combined 251 minutes played in two seasons, not even six full games.

Divac signed for the full midlevel exception in July 2004, intending to replace Shaquille O'Neal, only to suffer a herniated disc in his back before training camp started. He played in 15 games all season and retired after taking a $2 million buyout in October.

McKie was a luxury-tax amnesty casualty in Philadelphia who signed for half of the midlevel exception last August. The veteran guard suffered a torn quadriceps tendon in December, missed four months with the injury and appeared in 14 games all season.

For an example of a team that spent its midlevel exception well, the Lakers need look no further than Phoenix guard Raja Bell. While Bell battled with Kobe Bryant throughout their first-round series, McKie played in one game and was not used in Game 7.

As they head into this off-season, the Lakers cannot afford to spend unwisely. They have limited options to remake their team with little salary-cap flexibility until Brian Grant's monster contract runs out after next season.

"We have to make some large decisions about this team, about who stays and what we build our team around," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "But we feel comfortable that we have a nucleus and that we can go from there.

"Hopefully, we can find some additional pieces that will make us a little bit better next year."
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:15 am    Post subject:

Lakers Limited in Off-Season
Team must reevaluate after tough playoff loss, but has little to offer for free agents. Odom and Brown face scrutiny.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
May 8, 2006

The Laker season had officially been over for a few minutes. Phil Jackson scanned a quiet locker room and said that a lesson had been learned, that a playoff series needed to be closed out when the chance existed.

If the Lakers return to the playoffs next season, and maybe learn the hard-knock lessons that come with losing a 3-1 series lead, who will have taken them there?

Cap-strapped with limited options for free agents, the Lakers will analyze their roster during the off-season and reevaluate a lineup that made for an entertaining, but ultimately futile, first-round series against the Phoenix Suns.

"We have to make some large decisions about who stays and who we build our team around," Jackson said.

Kobe Bryant obviously stays because of his game-altering abilities. He has another five seasons and $106 million on his contract. The only thing that changes for him next season is his jersey number.

But what to do with Lamar Odom? The Lakers' in-house opinion of him swayed throughout the season.
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Phil
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:16 am    Post subject:

Growing pains were behind breakdowns

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register


The series took a bad turn for the Lakers when Smush Parker, right, stopped scoring and struggled to defend Steve Nash, left.

KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

PHOENIX – After the Lakers stole Game 4 from Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns, Smush Parker said: "It doesn't get any better than that."

It didn't.

Winners of all but one of their past nine games at that zenith, the Lakers lost the next three games. At the heart of the breakdowns were huge comedowns by Parker and Kwame Brown from the levels they'd reached early in the series.

But it's still pretty early in the careers for Parker and Brown, both 24. And as the pressure mounted toward the end of long growth seasons, insecurities seeped out.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:18 am    Post subject:


BARKLEY MISSES POINT ON KOBE


By PETER VECSEY

SAY WHAT? Kobe Bryant cups his hand to his ear in response to razzing by Phoenix fans on Saturday night. Photo: AP SAY WHAT? Kobe Bryant cups his hand to his ear in response to razzing by Phoenix fans on Saturday night.


May 8, 2006 -- TNT execs are charmed, I'm sure, that Charles Barkley has yet to utter a significant or grammatically correct statement since joining the nitwork, or mumble a complete a sentence without interrupting himself.

Saturday night, Sir Babble demonstrated the ease with which he maintains his supremacy on stupidity. He accused Kobe Bryant of being selfish for taking but three shots in the second half of the Suns' 121-90 clincher, and he accused Kobe of being selfish for taking 35 shots in Game 6.

Riotously ridiculous on both counts!

Again, TNT's outsized class clown wouldn't be saying spit had a Laker thought to give a foul before Tim Thomas lined up his toxic-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation of Game 6. Or had Lamar Odom been quicker than Shawn Marion for the peculiar rebound and subsequent outlet that led to Thomas' marvelous marksmanship.

Kobe had nothing to be ashamed of until that 3-pointer, and no coherent commentator, or rational fan can blame him for the Suns pulling away in the extra session.

That is, unless they find him guilty of picking the wrong time to share the ball; the score was deadlocked thanks to two straight scores by him when teammates misfired or made a mistake and the next thing L.A. knew, it was down four and feeling the pressure.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:23 am    Post subject:

Despite poor ending, Lakers made strides

IMPROVING: Bryant had a big year and the team's youngsters developed, but LA still needs help.

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, May 7, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

PROBLEM AREAS

The top three areas in which the Lakers need improvement:

Point guard. The Lakers desperately need a veteran ball-handling guard. Smush Parker and Sasha Vujacic were adequate, but both would be best coming off the bench. The Lakers need an experience guard who can defend and consistently knock down open jumpers.

Small forward. Though Lamar Odom played well at small forward and Luke Walton was a solid backup, the Lakers could use a better player at this position, one who can make open jumpers.

Spending money. If Lakers owner Jerry Buss wants to win, he has to be willing to spend more money to acquire players. The Lakers were willing to give only two-year deals and used just half of their $5 million exception last summer. If they want a quality free agent, Buss will have to open his wallet and spend money and offer a longer-term contract.

The journey is over for the Lakers, and it came to an abrupt end in a most disturbing fashion.

One lasting memory of the Lakers is of them not putting forth the effort and getting blasted by 31 points by the Phoenix Suns in Game 7 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said it was "a shame" his team didn't perform better.

When Jackson gathered his team in the locker room after Saturday night's game, he told them how proud he was of their development and that they should use that "embarrassing" loss as an experience to build on for next season.

The Lakers will look back and wonder how they blew a 3-1 lead in the series and became just the eighth team to lose a series when holding that advantage. They'll reflect on the Game 6 overtime loss at Staples Center and realize that probably was their most opportune chance to close out the series.

But if the Lakers look at the total picture, they'll see how much they improved.

They missed the playoffs last year with a 34-48 record.

They improved to 45-37 this year, finished in third place in the Pacific Division and were the seventh seed in the playoffs.

They added eight new players this season, changing parts as the season progressed.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:26 am    Post subject:

Kobe a no-show in Game 7
Bob Keisser
Staff columnist



Today's this-hallway-isn't-big-enough-for-both-of-us edition of The Sporting Muse:

Kobe Bryant's value just keeps increasing.

Seriously. We all know how omnipotent he became in the eyes of Lakers owner Jerry Buss when the owner chose to side with the young star in the Shaquille O'Neal showdown.

Even if you believe it was the right decision for a lot of reasons, and believe that Shaq isn't going to ever win a title again, either, it still made no sense from a competitive point of view. We wouldn't be talking about the Lakers blowing a 3-1 series lead against Phoenix if the two were still teammates. We might be talking about Shaq's weight and Kobe's attitude, but it would be en route to the conference finals.

Now we can see that he's even more valuable in the context of his play with the Lakers. When he's motivated to be the best he can be, he can soar over a team by himself. And when his motivations ebb, he can suck the life out of a moment quicker than Ted Kennedy on C-SPAN.

In Game 6 of the Suns series, Kobe scored 50 points and his team had a late lead and lost in overtime. So how does it track that he takes just three shots and scores one point in the second half of their Game 7 loss Saturday?
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 9:30 am    Post subject:

TheBigStory
May 8, 2006
By MATT EAGAN, Courant Staff Writer

Kobe Bryant is not Michael Jordan. He is the Bizarro Jordan.

Jordan started his professional career as a high-scoring, acrobatic phenom who struggled to win respect as a champion.

Finally, the Bulls surrounded him with enough talent and he became, next to Bill Russell, the greatest winner in NBA history.

Bryant had the great fortune to be surrounded by talent early in his NBA career.

He helped the Lakers to three championships but eventually forced out anyone else who might demand the ball.

Now Bryant is free to score 81 points in a game but can't get out of the first round of the playoffs.

Against Phoenix, in a Game 7 loss Saturday, Bryant scored 24 points - 23 in the first half.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 10:19 am    Post subject:

Spectator : In the end, he was also unproven

First posted 10:04pm (Mla time) May 08, 2006
By Al S. Mendoza
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on Page A22 of the May 9, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

IN THE END, THE PROVEN ONE BECAME unproven, too.

Who said only Lamar Odom, Smush Parker, Sasha Vujacic, Kwame Brown and Luke Walton were the only unproven Lakers in the just-concluded Phoenix-Los Angeles NBA playoffs won by the Suns, 4-3?

Count Kobe Bryant in, please.

The series called for a maximum seven games to complete.

Sorry, but Bryant was essentially good only for three games.

Remember that Lakers' early 3-1 edge, forged mainly through Bryant's buzzer-beating twos in both regulation and overtime in Game 4?

The Laker joyride ended right there.

In Game 5, Bryant disappeared. Result: Phoenix won for a 3-2 Los Angeles lead.

In Game 6, Bryant reappeared. Still, Phoenix won for a 3-3 tie as Bryant failed a Michael Jordan replica at the horn.

In Game 5, Brown's sex assault charge in Los Angeles became screaming sports headlines. The first time Brown held the ball in that game, walking. With 11 minutes gone into the first quarters,

he had three fouls.

It rubbed on his teammates, who were all obviously distracted, too. Result: 18 Laker turnovers produced a blowout Phoenix victory to close the gap at 3-2.

The proven one tried to resurrect his unproven teammates in Game 6. He almost succeeded.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 10:21 am    Post subject:

Lakers Face Long Summer of Discontent

LOS ANGELES - The joy and anticipation stoked by the possibility of an unprecedented Battle of L.A. disappeared with the greatest playoff collapse in Lakers history.
To make matters even worse, it was capped by an embarrassing flop in Game 7.

So now, with the Clippers about to play Phoenix in the Western Conference semifinals, the Lakers head home for the summer to ponder what went so completely wrong against the Suns.

The Lakers were just a rebound and six seconds away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs in Game 6.

How in the world could they have been so horrific in Game 7?

"I don't know what to say," coach Phil Jackson said after his team was routed 121-90 on Saturday night.

"To be honest, I think some of us came out a little overwhelmed," Luke Walton said. "We're a better team than we showed and should have moved on."

But the Lakers didn't. Instead, they lost a playoff series after holding a 3-1 lead for the first time, and the Suns became just the eighth NBA team to rally from such a deficit.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 12:04 pm    Post subject:

The Kobe Conundrum
posted: Sunday, May 7, 2006 | Feedback

I'm beginning to wonder if Kobe Bryant has a major weakness. I'm not making a final judgment; I'm just starting to wonder.

What's with these amazing shifts in the way he plays? If this is versatility, that's fine, that's great. But if it's some spiteful game he plays every now and then to prove a point, then it's a character flaw that could put a cap on how far he can lead a team.

I really don't understand how he can take only three shots in the second half of Game 7. While watching him hit 3s from all over the building late in Game 6, I thought of Earl Campbell.

That's right -- Earl Campbell. As a kid, I was a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. For me, the next best thing to being the next Charles White (read my bio) was being the next Lynn Swann. I absolutely ached whenever my Steelers didn't finish the season with a ring.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 4:19 pm    Post subject:

This forum is for posting news and not comments. But, sometimes I find a story is so bad I think you desire some kind of warning. This is one of those times and from this post on I plan to use emoticons for that purpose.


:roll:

On the Pleasure of Hating Kobe Bryant

And the sadness of watching him exit the playoffs.
By Sam Anderson
Posted Monday, May 8, 2006, at 6:28 PM ET

Kobe Bryant. Click image to expand.

Kobe Bryant
When the Phoenix Suns embarrassed Kobe Bryant's Lakers this weekend in what should have been a classic Game 7, it marked the beginning of a kind of spiritual vacation for me. I detest Kobe with such bilious overpowering fervor that, when he's playing well, I have trouble doing much else with my life: an incapacitating dark sludge floods my soul. Over the last few weeks—as Kobe threw dirty elbows, made smug post-game comments, and beat the lovable Suns on a couple of irritatingly great last-second shots—my Kobe-hatred swelled to alarmingly high levels. With the Suns' victory, however, I felt the black tide begin to recede. Its absence still feels strange.

I don't hate Kobe for petty reasons: for his talent, for instance, which is beyond dispute and often gorgeous to watch, or because he sold out Shaq, or because he's an adulterer, or because his face looks like a weasel. I can forgive all of that. I don't even hate him because the referees surround him with a sacred halo of gentle touching (he was once so coddled in a playoff game that Ralph Nader had to start agitpropping about it), or because he's skewed the self-perceptions of pickup ball-hogs across the nation, or even because he makes close to my yearly salary every time he scores a basket. This is all irritating but peripheral. The true source of my rage is much, much deeper: I hate Kobe Bryant's rotten and derivative soul.
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2006 5:27 pm    Post subject:

Lakers Look Ahead For Next Year Improvements

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(AP) EL SEGUNDO, Calif. The Phil & Kobe reunion worked out well, with no apparent glitches. And outside of an ugly finish, so did the Los Angeles Lakers' season.

As for the future, Lakers fans probably shouldn't expect much roster shuffling or a championship contender very soon. The hope is, a title shot isn't too far away.

"We were all about getting to the playoffs and make some noise in the playoffs. We met our goal," coach Phil Jackson said Monday during a break from conducting exit interviews with his players.

The Lakers went 45-37 for an 11-game improvement over the previous season, and took a 3-1 lead over the Phoenix Suns before losing the last three games to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

"We're pleased. We maintained from day one that was achievable," general manager Mitch Kupchak said of a return to the postseason.
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