OFFICIAL LAKERS 2009/2010 (57-25) 2009-2010 CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!

[CP1708]

How the hell the bench have a 13 point lead on our starters? They spot em 12 or somethin?

 

[badboyf0life420]

KB: Absolutely not, are you kidding? I was excited to face him every day in practice. When he got here and Phil (Jackson) put us on the same team I immediately took my jersey off, switched teams and told him we were going straight up.

KB: (Laughs) You know, about a week ago … I don't sleep much, but this one night I was in deep sleep, and I woke up sweating, and I was like, "Oh, man, I've got to win a ring!" But then I realized it was just a dream, and I breathed a sigh of relief … it was just a nightmare (laughs).

 

[darthska]

SN (on Ron Artest): [You] guys almost threw down last year. You weren't at least happy that he wasn't checking you anymore?

KB: Absolutely not, are you kidding? I was excited to face him every day in practice. When he got here and Phil (Jackson) put us on the same team I immediately took my jersey off, switched teams and told him we were going straight up.

Phil puts them on the same teams and Kobe pulled a "Hell no." I like it.

SN: I had the fortune to speak with Tim Donaghy, who... said the NBA [would] give you calls when you were going against Raja Bell.

KB: Well, when you clothesline someone on the court you probably do get watched a little closer than the rest of the guys (laughs) … I'm just saying.

Nice.

Raja.

 

[notorious 858]

The NBA's Best Fans

Sports are the ultimate form of entertainment, especially in Los Angeles. At Lakers games, it's hard to tell who the bigger fan attraction is--the superstars on the court like Kobe Bryant, or courtside celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Sometimes the athletes and celebrities come together, like reality TV star Khloe Kardashian and her new husband, Lakers forward Lamar Odom. But starstruck or not, there is one fact that is not up for debate: Lakers fans are the best in the NBA.

We looked at three fan engagement measures from the 2008-09 season to arrive at this conclusion. We ranked teams based on average regular-season home game attendance as a percentage of arena capacity; regular-season local television viewers as a percentage of the team's metro area population; and team merchandise sales.

Judged by those measures, Lakers fans showed their team the most love. Fans filled the Staples Center to its 18,977-seat capacity for every home game the past two years. They had a league-high 98% renewal rate for season ticket holders for the current season. On top of that, an average 267,000 households in the L.A. area tuned into Lakers games last season on television stations KCAL 9 and FS West. Fans also bought enough Lakers gear to make it the top-selling merchandise last season. Kobe Bryant jerseys were the most popular in the league, and Pau Gasol's jerseys ranked ninth.
In Pictures: The NBA's Best And Worst Fans

The Lakers' following is not just a function of their large market. Look at their Staples Center co-tenants: the Clippers. The Clippers averaged 16,170 fans at home games and only 38,000 television viewers on average.

The two Los Angeles teams highlight that winning certainly counts for something. The Lakers won 79% of their regular season games before going on to capture their 15th NBA title. The Clippers won only 23% of their games, and have never even won their division. In this economy, who can blame Los Angeles sports fans for choosing to spend their time and money elsewhere?

Each of the teams whose fans rank among the best made it to the playoffs last year. The Chicago Bulls won just half of their games, but their fans still rank fourth overall. The city is still basking in memories of Michael Jordan--his No. 23 jersey is one of the most popular sold, helping make Bulls merchandise the fifth most popular in the league. The United Center sold out every home game last season.

On the flip side, the fans at the bottom of our list had good reason to turn their backs on their team. The bottom five teams have posted only one winning season over the past three years.

The team with the weakest following by our count is the Charlotte Bobcats. Fans haven't had much to cheer about as the team has won only 35% of its games since the expansion team's inception in 2004. Bobcat merchandise sales were at the bottom of the league last season. Plus their historically low TV ratings were further depressed by the fact that the team moved all their games to cable, inking a deal with FS Carolinas and sister-station SportSouth, where games were available live in a limited area.

Still winning isn't everything. The Lakers' last two playoff opponents, the Orlando Magic and Denver Nuggets, finished in the middle of the pack in our fan rankings. Meanwhile, the New York Knicks won just 39% of their games, but boasted stronger fan interest than both. Some fans are just gluttons for punishment.
Link:

http://www.forbes.com/200...ball-values-09-fans.html

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Notorious, whenever I see your avy, I get mad. Not that there's anything wrong with it, just that I really, really don't like their logo (no matter howmuch purple and gold is thrown on it)

 

[notorious 858]

Originally Posted by Th3RealF0lkBlu3s

Notorious, whenever I see your avy, I get mad. Not that there's anything wrong with it, just that I really, really don't like their logo (no matter how much purple and gold is thrown on it)

ok avy *fixed .

 

[notorious 858]

[h1]Lakers will meet Obama[/h1]

The Lakers have set a date to be the first NBA champions celebrated at the White House by President Barack Obama: Jan. 25.
The White House isn't prepared to confirm it - and probably won't until about a week before, because sometimes things suddenly come up when you're the leader of the free world - but the visit is now planned on the Lakers' schedule as surely as the game the next night against the Washington Wizards.


Except you can rest assured far more Lakers anticipation and preparation will go into meeting Obama than facing Gilbert Arenas.

What remains to be seen is whether Obama brings the Lakers over to his recently renovated full-size basketball court at the White House. It's hard to imagine the hoops-crazy Obama would miss out on such an opportunity - and would Kobe Bryant be true to his tradition and refuse to take it easy on the prez? - but this is going to be one spectacular moment on the Lakers' side, too.

The White House trip falls on the sixth day of an eight-game, 14-day trip that starts in Cleveland and features Boston as the next-to-last stop. As epic as those games loom to be, they won't compare with meeting Obama for most Lakers.

In fact, the leadership of this Lakers team, in the form of both team captains and the head coach, has been aligned with Obama all along.

Kobe Bryant was one of the millions who went old-school the day after Obama became the first black U.S. President and scurried for commemorative copies of his local newspaper (yes, The Orange County Register) to save for himself and his children.

Derek Fisher was directly involved in the Obama campaign, visiting several different states to rally support and being on hand - with the cell-phone photos of the stage from afar to prove it - when Obama accepted the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Phil Jackson donated money to Obama's campaign and was a vocal public supporter along the way. Jackson also had the pleasure of receiving a phone call of congratulations from Obama the day after the Lakers' championship parade in June, with Obama saying he was a Jackson admirer from when they were both in Chicago and Jackson advising fellow lefty Obama about sometimes having to go right to get his shot off.

Luke Walton also donated money to Obama - the first time Walton has contributed to a presidential campaign. Jordan Farmar was a guest at a Newport Beach fund-raiser that collected than $1 million in campaign contributions. Back at the time of Obama's election over John McCain, Lakers players couldn't debate any issues with each other because they all felt the same way - despite which candidate was the one actually prepared to penalize their tax bracket.

The Lakers' visit will be tied to an as-yet-undetermined community-service project. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Obama did one with military families. When the Boston Celtics made their visit last year, Paul Pierce announced the club was donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Ike relief ... to which President George W. Bush hilariously responded: "That's awesome!"

Bush hosted the Lakers at the White House back in January 2002, the one time from the three-championship run that the Lakers made the special trip. Bryant presented Bush with a Lakers jersey, Shaquille O'Neal handed him an autographed ball, and Bush asked Mark Madsen to dance for him before stopping Madsen by saying: "I'm afraid the Secret Service might react violently if you did."

Obama is unlikely to be as entertainingly wacky as Bush, but Obama's deep basketball ties offer unique potential. He carved out time to watch all the Lakers' NBA Finals games, although he picked them to beat Orlando in six games, not five.

Unfortunately, the Lakers are not planning to have their practice that day on Obama's new South Lawn full court, expanded over an old tennis court. It'd probably be hard for the Lakers to get quality work done on an outdoor court that comes with a few distractions. The Lakers will fly into Washington in the wee morning hours after playing in Toronto the previous night, probably get their team practice out of the way in the morning at an indoor facility and visit Obama later in the day.

So it seems unlikely we'll get to see Sasha Vujacic pestering Obama with annoying in-your-face defense at a Lakers scrimmage to the point that Obama elbows Slovenia right off the map. Yet maybe the Lakers can engage the gunner nicknamed Barry O'Bomber on his Hawaiian high school team in some shooting contests.

After the University of Connecticut women's team visited in April, Obama finished his public meeting with the team, ditched the cameras and reporters and surreptitiously brought the team over to his court - then just a half-court - and rolled up his sleeves to shoot around. His love for pick-up basketball games has been well documented, including playing on election day. And Obama invited another of his big campaign aides, LeBron James, to christen the new White House court. Dwight Howard cared enough to attend Obama's inauguration.

Yet it won't be James, Pierce or Howard who gets the NBA's first Obama White House tour. It'll be the Lakers.
Now somebody just make sure Ron Artest, who'll be the tag-along on Jan. 25, wears his best shirt ... or a shirt.

Link:

http://www.ocregister.com...a-223222-lakers-day.html

 

[ebay 23]

Bayless would be nice on the Lakers

 

[notorious 858]

[h1]Lakers become the most NBA valuable franchise[/h1]The Lakers' victories keep coming from last season.

In addition to winning the NBA championship, the Lakers were the league's most valuable franchise, overtaking the New York Knicks after years of finishing second to them, according to Forbes magazine.

The Lakers took over the NBA's top spot with a franchise value of $607 million, up 4% from the previous season, according to the magazine's financial analysis of the 2008-09 season. The Knicks are valued at $586 million, a 4% drop.

The Chicago Bulls ($511 million), Detroit Pistons ($479 million) and Cleveland Cavaliers ($476 million) were the next three teams.

The Lakers were also the most profitable team in 2008-09, making $51.1 million on $209 million in revenues.

"We're very happy with the way business is going," said Tim Harris, senior vice president of business operations for the Lakers. "We renewed season-ticket holders at 98%, sponsorship revenue is up, and the team's obviously playing well right now."

The Milwaukee Bucks were the least valuable team, with a franchise valuation of $254 million. The Clippers were worth $295 million, 23rd in the league.

Franchise values were down an average of 3% because of declining revenues among several teams. Not that the Lakers have anything to concern them.

"Owners looking for a blueprint to follow have several to choose from. Start with the Los Angeles Lakers . . . " said an accompanying Forbes article. "Owners Jerry Buss and Philip Anschutz keep the Staples Center packed with concerts and other sporting events. Anschutz has also developed the land surrounding the arena, which keeps business humming year round. It helps to have Kobe Bryant and a winning team when you charge $2,600 per game for a courtside seat and $107,500 for a courtside season ticket."

The Lakers' profits undoubtedly will shrink because of the $112.7 million they're shelling out in payroll and luxury taxes this season. They paid only $85.4 million in salary and luxury taxes last season.

Use the force

Injured Lakers forward Luke Walton said he wouldn't mince words while filling in for Mychal Thompson as the Lakers' radio color commentator the next two games.

"I speak my mind to them all the time in practice, so I'm going to go out and have a good time," Walton said.

Thompson will be in the Bahamas this weekend to attend the funeral of his mother. Walton will team with radio play-by-play announcer Spero Dedes for Friday's game against Minnesota and Saturday's game at Utah.

Walton consulted with his father, Bill, a longtime TV analyst who recently retired because of constant back pain.

"He said, 'Go talk to Spero and do whatever Spero tells you to do and it'll be a good time,' " Walton said.

Walton won't be criticizing one person in particular: Coach Phil Jackson.

"I'm going to say he's the greatest, smartest coach of all time," Walton said, smiling.

Walton has missed 11 games because of a pinched nerve in his back, but hopes to play again in a "couple more weeks."

"I've been working out a few hours a day . . ." he said. "Every day we do more and more."



Link:

http://www.latimes.com/sp...009dec10,0,1585435.story

 

[2g00d4u]

Was at tonight's game. My first Lakers season game and first Lakers game in years.

Missed the entire first half of the game though. Second time in a row that this has happened

4 QTR was comical. The Jazz was atrocious. I was sitting there and then I thought to myself when was the last time the Jazz scored. Then at the end of thegame, I hear they only scored 6 points

Those 3 shot clock violations in that quarter was crazy. I was like Damn again?

Wished I had a camera to take pics. I was up in the 300 sections anyway.

Odoms wrap around pass

. Too bad Gasol couldnt finish. Crowd was ready toexplode too

 

[goldmember]

10-0

 

[frenchblue23]

Glad to see that people with Floor seats still continue to not pay attention to whats going on during the game.

 

[CP1708]

It might seem normal for a team's executive vice president to inform the coach that a key player would miss practice because of extenuating circumstances. But is anything in Lakerland really normal? So here's how coach Phil Jackson learned that Bryant wouldn't be at the morning shootaround Wednesday after a SWAT team standoff in Bryant's Newport Beach neighborhood following a robbery.

"I was in the shower and Jeanie walked in," Jackson said.

Life is good as coach of the Lakers.

 

[menacin methods]

Originally Posted by EBAY 23

Bayless would be nice on the Lakers

Well now that Farmar is playing well they might not go after a pg
If they do i rather see Ramon Sessions on the Lakers

 

[CP1708]

Nuggets playin with lotta heart right now.........

 

[Los Angeles]

They're such a different team on the road (7-6).

Plus the Pistons have given it to them for like 6 times in a row or some stat like that.

Karl shows how stupid he is, Melo dropped 40 and gave the ball to Chauncey with the last shot.

Anyone need: xbox360 20gb, 1 controller, GH II, 2 guitars, pga 08 all for $175.

My homie is selling it and lives right by USC, hit me up.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

damn lucky phil with having a bad chick like jeanie

 

[frenchblue23]

Anyone know if there's an official thread for tonight's game? Can't seem to find it.

 

[Los Angeles]

gotcha

http://niketalk.com/topic/222570

 

[frenchblue23]

Originally Posted by bright nikes

gotcha

http://niketalk.com/topic/222570

Thank you much!

 

[notorious 858]

[h1]Does Lakers' Bynum deserve to be an all-star?[/h1]EL SEGUNDO Andrew Bynum was late to the Lakers' office holiday party Thursday but hadn't heard the newly released first returns of the All-Star Game fan voting. He most certainly wanted the balloting update more than the Christmas gift card Jerry Buss was offering all his employees.

Told he was second among Western Conference centers behind Phoenix's Amar'e Stoudemire - and facing a significant deficit of 447,776 to 299,484 right out of the gate -Bynum held a blank expression on his face.


"That's messed up, though," he said.

Bynum doesn't view it as a fair fight, because he doesn't consider Stoudemire a center. Neither do the Phoenix Suns, actually, listing Stoudemire at power forward and Channing Frye at center all season - yet that's inconsequential now. The panel of journalists who assembled the ballot (Bynum fans can direct their hate e-mail to Mike Breen, Eddie Sefko, Doug Smith, Marc Spears, Marc Stein and Ian Thomsen) the first week in October didn't know how the Suns' frontcourt designations would shake out in this post-Shaquille O'Neal season.

Bynum has been about as quiet about hoping to make his first All-Star team this season as Allen Iverson has been about not wanting to come off the bench this season. Asked the other day about possible New Year's resolutions, Bynum didn't hesitate: "Just one: try to get on the All-Star team."

The Stoudemire ballot issue by no means puts Bynum's dream out of sequence, but it is a setback given he was so vocal about his All-Star plans upon realizing Yao Ming (injured) and O'Neal (going from West to East) wouldn't dominate the West center balloting this season.

Even if the Suns' public-relations department even touts Frye as "the first center in NBA history with consecutive games with six 3-pointers," it's not a total injustice: Stoudemire does also play center, as Frye sometimes gets subbed out for forward Jared Dudley, which bumps Stoudemire up.

But Bynum isn't going to outpoll Stoudemire, who takes this sort of peripheral stuff far more seriously than he does his actual craft of basketball. Stoudemire went on Jim Rome's radio show Thursday "to discuss my 2010 All-Star campaign," as stated via Stoudemire's Twitter account, and there's the vote4amare.com Web site to go with a series of four short films on YouTube starring comedian David Spade and Stoudemire. Stoudemire also is experienced at this, taking down Carmelo Anthony last season at the West's forward spot by mounting a huge rally with the help of a viral Web campaign. Plus, Stoudemire's numbers (19.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.1 blocks) will improve as he restores himself after a career-threatening eye injury last season while Bynum's numbers (17.9 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks) will drop with a healthy Pau Gasol next to him.

"Whatever," Bynum said. "I can't do anything else about it."

Bynum isn't too worried about it because he's in great position to be among the West All-Star reserves, chosen by the vote of the 15 Western Conference head coaches. Clippers center Chris Kaman has had a good statistical start, but it's inconceivable that the coaches would rate Kaman ahead of Bynum. Minnesota's Al Jefferson has been disappointing, and Denver's Nene remains nondescript.

Bynum has already earned respect from those who've had to game-plan against him this season.

You saw it from Stoudemire's coach, Alvin Gentry, on Sunday night. Gentry sent immediate double teams at Bynum that the Suns didn't use in their loss to the Lakers one month earlier. Despite Gasol not playing in that first meeting, Bynum had 26 points on 13-of-18 shooting.

On Sunday night, Bynum faced far more double teams than even Gasol, who most often was guarded straight up and badly by Stoudemire. Bynum has an analytical mind that ties into hobbies such as computers and cars, and he's enjoying the challenge of reacting to additional defensive attention.

"It's not frustrating," he said. "It's actually a good thing for somebody to want to double-team me."

Bynum is a deft passer but hasn't had as much experience as his veteran teammates beyond looking for simple cutters going past him at the post.

"They're coming (on double teams) right on the catch now or as soon as I take the first jump hook, so I'm going to have to start moving the ball," Bynum said. "And if we keep beating them from the outside, they'll get back honest.

"It's good. It's the next step in my progression: try to be able to hurt people on the double team, passing the ball out. ... It's difficult to get into the rhythm of the game offensively, but once you pass the ball around and it's still hurting them, it doesn't really matter."
Bynum's improvement in this subtle area of the game is the kind of thing that opposing coaches will more notice far more than casual fans, so it works out well that the coaches are going to be the ones to determine whether the 22-year-old's All-Star dream comes true.

Link:

http://www.ocregister.com...1-stoudemire-season.html

 

[CP1708]

Just keep working Drew, they'll all learn.

If we manage to take tonight's game, AND find a way to win in Utah tomorrow night, I may not be able to control myself. Last year was very easy for me, Iwas bitter as #$%^ from the thrashing we took in the finals, and the way our D looked, I came up with that "we're the worst 46 - 8 team in theleague" type stuff all season long.

But this season, the way we have been playing, the way Kobe has settled in, the way Bynum has improved, the way that Odom has settled, the way Famar has gottenbetter after a slow start, bringing Ron in and he even seems to be just playing and nothing else........I simply can't wait to just get to the conferencefinals already and see where we are at that point.

And I don't wanna think like that. I don't wanna overlook everybody. But what the hell can I pick on? Our 10th man?

I mean, I'm trying to pick on something, but they're not giving me alot to go on here.

 

[kb8sandiego]

Originally Posted by CP1708

Just keep working Drew, they'll all learn.

If we manage to take tonight's game, AND find a way to win in Utah tomorrow night, I may not be able to control myself. Last year was very easy for me, I was bitter as #$%^ from the thrashing we took in the finals, and the way our D looked, I came up with that "we're the worst 46 - 8 team in the league" type stuff all season long.

But this season, the way we have been playing, the way Kobe has settled in, the way Bynum has improved, the way that Odom has settled, the way Famar has gotten better after a slow start, bringing Ron in and he even seems to be just playing and nothing else........I simply can't wait to just get to the conference finals already and see where we are at that point.

And I don't wanna think like that. I don't wanna overlook everybody. But what the hell can I pick on? Our 10th man?

I mean, I'm trying to pick on something, but they're not giving me a lot to go on here.

I don't want to play devil's advocate but you can always join me...

 

[CP1708]

[Luke voice trembling] I'll never join you [Luke voice trembling]

I'm all about the dark side, but I'm ok with Sasha. I got no issues with him. He does what I ask. Luke does what we need, Powell does, even DJ givesus a few minutes every once in a while. They don't play sexy or shoot 75 percent or anything, but they fill a role that we need as a team, and as such,I'm alright with them. Sure, they can frustrate me in a game, but I also know a lot of that has to do with Phil mixing and matching searching for thatright combo, and also Lamar being with the starters for much of the early season, not letting these guys settle into the roles they would eventually play comeplayoff time.

 

[notorious 858]

I'll pick on something:

He might be playing good lately but it might be just like Sasha a few seasons back when he was in a contract year.

Keep playing good Farmar to get your trade value up so Mitch can get something for you at the trade deadline.

Get it done Mitch !