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

[CP1708]

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that by saying I must be kicking your teams tail, and not even paying attention to the team isn't really making you likeme that much more right now is it.

I'll live.

 

[darthska]

CP1708:

---

How bad is it?

CP1708:

---

not even paying attention to the team isn't really making you like me that much more right now is it.
For optimum health, 10 out of 9 doctors recommend running with scissors in traffic while chewing glass.

 

[CP1708]

That bad huh?

Good, I need some easy wins.

Remember last year when I smoked you and Chester too? Good times.

I'm gonna catch a ban and not even know why.

 

[CP1708]

Uh oh.

You guys see Simmons today????

3. In the book, I blamed Kobe Bryant for 2004's breakup with Shaquille O'Neal and wrote that Shaq was a great guy. Last summer, Shaq left his fourth team on bad terms, and we heard rumors that he stole a reality-show idea from then-teammate Steve Nash. This happened right after Kobe won a non-Shaq title as the leader of the 2009 Lakers and even had a couple of successful interactions with teammates. Was Kobe less to blame than we thought? Why was Shaq on the wrong side of so many playoff sweeps and chemistry-gone-wrong situations? Could he have thrived in the Finals without a dominant sidekick like Kobe or Dwyane Wade?

Anyway, I had Shaq ranked 11th in my book's Hall of Fame Pyramid. For the paperback, I'm dropping him behind Moses Malone to 12th. So there. Other Pyramid rankings I'd change: Allen Iverson (29 to 32); Kobe (15 to 9); Dirk Nowitzki (Level 2 to Level 3); Nash (jumps two or three spots thanks to yet another MVP-caliber season); Jack Sikma (I'd include him and bump Arvydas Sabonis, if only for Jack's hair). If you haven't read the book and don't understand any of this, just nod.

5. A big theme of my book is The Secret of winning basketball, something Isiah Thomas explains to me at a topless pool in Las Vegas. (The Secret, in a nutshell: Teams only win titles when their best players forget about statistics, sublimate their own games for the greater good and put their egos on hold.) Another big theme of my book: Kobe Bryant's inability to grasp The Secret. He wanted to win a title, but only on his terms. That's what made him the most fascinating player of his generation. In the book, I even spend three pages comparing him to the wolf in Teen Wolf.

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago: A reporter asks Kobe if he still has room to grow as a player. Kobe responds, "I do, I do. I think there's so much more to understand. A lot of it just has to do with winning. When you first come into the league, you're trying to prove yourself as an individual, do things to assert yourself and establish yourself. But once you've done that, there's another level to the game that's more complex than figuring out how to put up big numbers as an individual." (That's right, The Secret! He finally gets it! Man, I wish this were in my book.)

8. That reminds me, in the "Greatest Teams" chapter, I wrote that no modern team could crack the top-10 all-time because of the restrictions of today's salary cap and luxury tax. I was wrong. The 2009-10 Lakers are going to be historically great. Nobody is going to touch them this season. I have already made room in the paperback for them. This is not a reverse jinx. As far as you know.

 

[darthska]

I reverse his reverse jinx by making this prediction:

We're winning it all thi...


















... nah, can't do it.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Bill Simmons makes me laugh. He'd do his reverse-jinx and forget that he jinxed his own Pats during their undefeated season?

You get what you deserve, in the end.

 

[CP1708]

Well he said no one would or could beat us in 2008............

He said the Cavs were unstoppable in 2009..........

So now, I worry.

 

[badboyf0life420]

whats this a soccer game ? got the horns blowing .

 

[frenchblue23]

Um, does any know, or have seen this jacket anywhere besides online??

I've only been able to find the purple on at Champs.

 

[CP1708]

Simmons is either converting, or he's jinxing......

Kobe's section needs to be rewritten. I can't remember anyone reinventing himself historically as well as Kobe did these past 16 months. The Olympics, then the 2009 Finals, then the media victory lap that everyone ate up … and then, when it seemed as if we were headed for a decline, he reinvented himself as the second coming of post-baseball Jordan and developed an even nastier, more physical post-up game than MJ had. I can't believe what I am watching. It's staggering. He's like a 6-foot-6 Hakeem Olajuwon. I went into this season thinking Kobe would be able to last just one or two more seasons at a high level; now I'm wondering whether he could play like this well into his late 30s. Why not? I mean, Karl Malone did it. Like Malone, Kobe is a workout freak who takes care of his body and seems predisposed to staying healthy, anyway. Malone averaged a 26-10 and made second-team All-NBA in the 1999-2000 season when he was 36 years old … and then he played four years after that. Kobe is only 31. Could he replicate Malone's longevity and consistency?

Let's say he plays five more years at this level and averages 25-26 points a game, plays in two more Finals (winning one) and makes three first-team All-NBAs and two 2nd-team All-NBAs. (Conceivable.) Here's how his hypothetical résumé would look after the 2014-2015 season: five rings and eight Finals appearances in all … 34,000-plus points (third all time) … 1,300-plus games (the record is 1,604, held by Malone) … nearly 6,000 playoff points (close to the record of 5,987, held by MJ) … 10 first-team All-NBAs, four second-teams and two third-teams. Again, that's a reasonable scenario. So if he stays healthy and keeps playing at this level, he would eventually become the Kareem of non-centers: either the third or fourth best player in the history of the league. Meanwhile, just 26 months ago, the Lakers were shopping him and he seemed destined to leave. I think this is startling.

I like the capitalization concept. The best NBA example: From 1990 to 1996, the league's lack of a rookie salary cap combined with skyrocketing salaries led to absolute chaos. Younger stars were earning too much money too soon and had too much control of their own destiny; not just who coached them but where they played and who played with them. And the league removed any incentive they would have had to improve by making them filthy rich immediately. Nearly all of them handled it poorly: C-Webb, Coleman, Anderson, Marbury, Big Dog, LJ, Kemp, Baker … that's a lost generation, to some degree.

Flipping it around, Kobe is the best overcapitalization example other than Malone (who came along in the right era and had the perfect teammate and coach for his game). Kobe works harder off the court than anyone in the league; we have so many ways for him to improve in 2009 that he's like a kid in a candy store. We've all heard the story about how he worked out with Hakeem all summer to refine his post game, so here's one you might not have heard: When I visited Nike last month, we toured the development building (in which they customize sneakers for specific athletes), and the guy who ran it told us that Kobe was their favorite client. Why? Because he kept pushing them and pushing them to make the right shoes for him, even flying there for days at a time just to put himself through grueling workouts with sensors all over his body. This past summer, he pushed them to create a special low-top sneaker that also would prevent him from rolling his ankles -- which seems incongruous on paper -- yet they feel as if they pulled it off. And only because he kept pushing them. Forty years ago? He's wearing crummy Chuck Taylors like everyone else.

 

[wings90]

I don't think it's possible for him to convert so...

 

[cp3isdatruth]

i know this is kinda random..but can someone post some great/motivational kobe quotes?? ive seen a few I liked but was wondering if any laker fans had any forme...thanks

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by CP3isdatruth

i know this is kinda random..but can someone post some great/motivational kobe quotes?? ive seen a few I liked but was wondering if any laker fans had any for me...thanks

"Gimme the @#$%^& ball Farmar!!!!"

 

[westcoastsfinest]

f simmons...trying to jinx us...punk

the celtics are gonna be the 2010 world champs

 

[grimey]

Originally Posted by CP3isdatruth

i know this is kinda random..but can someone post some great/motivational kobe quotes?? ive seen a few I liked but was wondering if any laker fans had any for me...thanks

Look at his wife, man. All the motivation you need.

 

[LOLOMGWTFBBQ]

[h1]Lakers, Pau Gasol agree on contract extension; Kobe Bryant next?[/h1][h2]Power forward Gasol agrees in principle to an extension that would keep him under contract through the 2013-14 season. And talks with Bryant about asimilar extension are said to be progressing.[/h2]
[table][tr][td]

Lakers' Pau Gasol goes to the basket during a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 11. (Andrew Gombert / European Press Agency)
[/td] [/tr][/table]

By Mike Bresnahan
December 19, 2009
Reporting from New York - Lakers forward Pau Gasol has agreed in principle to an extension that would keep him under contract through 2013-14, and KobeBryant has had ever-improving discussions on a contract extension that would keep him with the Lakers for the same time period.

On Friday, Gasol smiled and said, "I haven't signed anything yet," but it was merely semantics, the stroke of a pen likely completing hisextension within a few days after the Lakers' trip ends Sunday in Detroit, according to sources close to the negotiations but not authorized to speakpublicly.

Gasol, 29, made the Lakers instant championship contenders when he was acquired in February 2008 from the Memphis Grizzlies, but his current contract expiresafter next season. He is making $16.5 million this season and $17.8 million next season, though a three-year extension would net him an additional sum of up to$64.7 million, depending on NBA salary-cap figures to be determined in 2011.

Bryant, 31, is also having positive talks with the franchise that drafted him in 1996. He is making $23 million this season and will make $24.8 million nextseason in the last year of his contract, but he can tack on a three-year extension worth up to $91 million, depending on future salary-cap figures.

Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak declined to comment on Bryant or Gasol other than to say, "Generally speaking, we'd love to have both playersfinish their careers as a Laker."

The Lakers have offered Bryant the most they can under salary-cap rules, but the sides are believed to be discussing smaller items such as whether the 11-timeAll-Star can get most of his annual salary at the start of each season, which has been the case throughout his current contract. Another sticking pointpossibly includes whether he can again have a no-trade clause, which came into play when he demanded a trade from the Lakers in May 2007.

Bryant has declined to talk about the status of his contract extension, saying most recently he wanted to "keep my business behind closed doors."

The Lakers have been to the NBA Finals the last two seasons with Gasol and have notlost three consecutive games since acquiring him. His value was obviousearlier this season when the team went 8-3 while he was sidelined with a hamstring injury. Since his return, the Lakers have won 12 of 13 games. "It'scrazy to think it, but he's still underrated," Bryant said. "He's a great, great player."

Gasol made the All-Star team last season, representing the Western Conference as one of the NBA's most versatile forwards. He is averaging 17.7 points,12.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game this season, and has been on a recent rebounding tear, averaging 19.5 over the last four games.

 

[kb8sandiego]

Originally Posted by FrenchBlue23

Um, does any know, or have seen this jacket anywhere besides online??

I've only been able to find the purple on at Champs.

Saw it at Team LA, but that was last month though.

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

I'll never take Bill Simmons at his word when he's talking about the Lakers/Kobe, especially if he thinks his Celtics are contenders.

Remember when he jinxed us right before the '08 Finals?

 

[notorious 858]

[h1]Kobe makes a believer of him[/h1]

"Watch this," I say, standing in middle of the family room, pointing at the television.

"Watch what?" says my 14-year-old daughter, unmoved on the couch in her basketball sweats, Wednesday's junior varsity practice complete, nothing more to learn tonight.

"They are going to throw the ball to Kobe, he is going to make a basket at the buzzer, and the Lakers are going to win," I say.

"You really believe that, Dad?" she says.

"You know, I finally do," I say.

After 14 years of publicly questioning and challenging and wondering about the Lakers' bewildering star, it has finally sunk into my brain like that jumper sank into the hearts of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Goodness, the guy really can do anything.

The guy is the best player in the NBA, and, sorry, LeBron James, you have to wait.

The guy may be the best clutch shooter in Lakers history, and sorry, Jerry West, but the evidence is irrefutable.

The guy is not yet Michael Jordan, but long after he retires, we'll remember these days as if he were.

What the freshly crowned Bryant has accomplished this season, playing like a big man when Pau Gasol was gone, playing like a madman with a broken finger, playing like "oh, man" with two last-second, game-winning jumpers in the last couple of weeks, it should end all debate.

Even counting his MVP year, he has never been better.

Looking back to where this all started in the autumn of 1996, maybe no athlete in this town has ever come further.

The only thing more winding than his path has been my 14 years of scribblings about it.

"Is Kobe Bryant a future superstar or sideshow? Is he about championships or confusion?"

I wrote those words in April 1999, at the end of Bryant's third full season here. There were the four airballs in the final minutes of the final playoff game of his rookie season. There was the brewing trouble with Shaquille O'Neal.

Those questions were real at the time, and shared by many folks who wouldn't admit it, and I wouldn't have changed one word.

Bryant, of course, eventually changed them for me.

You want out, Kobe? See ya. Why settle for being the next Michael Jordan when you can be the next Jerry Stackhouse?

Written in January 2003, this was my answer to his first mutterings of unhappiness. Several times in the ensuing several years, when Bryant was at his pouting worst, I would again write that the Lakers should trade him.

OK, so maybe I would change a couple of those words.

I saw Jeanie Buss on Thursday and congratulated her organization for the umpteenth time on ignoring my pleas.

"It was hard," she said. "But it's really all about talent. And we just could not replace that talent."

"A sweet kid has grown into a sassy young adult. . . . Wonder Boy has sometimes become Wonder-What-On-Earth-He-Is-Thinking-Boy."

I wrote that in March 2002, as Bryant hardened into a veteran with little tolerance for anything that didn't suit him, which included O'Neal and passes to other players.

He eventually grew out of that place, the true wonder being in watching it all happen.

"Kobe Bryant seems to be a tormented soul who doesn't want to be here. His behavior is erratic. His chief goal seems to be forcing his way off the team. Maybe the Lakers should considering granting his request. Yeah, maybe they should trade him."

This was written in October 2003, at the start of Bryant's sexual-assault case season. Much of this town, and many of the Lakers, felt the same way. Everything screamed that it would just be easier if he left.

Did I tell you I thanked Buss for not listening?

"It appeared Bryant, hurt by recent comments about his selfishness, was tanking the game to prove that the Lakers can't win without him.

This was in April 2004, after he took just one first-half shot and basically stood around for 42 minutes while the undermanned Sacramento Kings handed the Lakers an important late-season loss.

I still believe Bryant was trying to send a message of arrogance that day. I also believe that the message of disgust he received was much stronger.

Five years later, the guy is scoring 42 points on nine fingers.

"The question is, is Kobe Bryant worth it?"

This was written in July 2004, after the Lakers traded O'Neal for several reasons, one of them being Bryant's happiness.

It was a fair question at the time. Last summer made it a moot one.

"Three years after being anointed the solution, Bryant has decided instead to be the problem and I ask, this is a winner?"

This was part of the chorus that resounded nationally in May 2007 after Bryant threw his legendary I'll-play-on- Pluto tantrum.

Of all of his self-dug ditches, this one seemed the hardest to scale. He had to not only show that he wasn't really a selfish jerk, but he had to do it by winning a championship without O'Neal, showing his strength of character by hoisting a title on his back.

Well, last summer, he showed it. This fall, he is expounding upon it. Forever, a city will remember it.

"Watch this," I say, we all say, with the confidence in Bryant's face before taking that last shot, with the conviction in his upraised arms afterward.

Great article. Just read and listen to how Plaschke felt about Kobe throughout the years up until now in the past quotes he included in thatarticle. I've noticed a lot of local & national media are really starting to convert from Kobe haters to respecting him and appreciating Kobe now. J.A.Adande who use to write for the LA Times and now works for ESPN also was a Kobe hater when he was working for the LA times but after Kobe hit the game winneragainst the Bulls he was all over Kobe and couldn't stop appreciating and praising him.

 

[notorious 858]

[h1]What's it like to be Kobe's teammate?[/h1]

NEW YORK You saw what it's like to be Kobe Bryant.
The shot, the victory, the glory. The finishing kick in Milwaukee on Wednesday night was a basketball knight in shining armor being the fairest of them all.


Yet what about his teammates? What's it like to be one of them?

Rewind to the start of the Lakers' comeback, after a Bryant jumper first dents the Bucks' comfy 106-100 lead with 1:18 to play. The bucket is enough to spark Bryant's belief in victory into a full flame, which is where the emotion comes from a moment later at the other end.

Milwaukee's Charlie Bell gets a shot off over Bryant, and Pau Gasol is where he's supposed to be with a perfect help-defense block ... except Milwaukee's Ersan Ilyasova is first to reach the rebound and is then fouled by Bryant. It's at this stoppage in play that Bryant is enraged.

He has to tense up his neck and face the floor to suppress his frustrated reaction, to keep it from being an outright rebel yell.

"Box out!" Bryant barks softly, face down, walking away from the play. The words come out hardly loud enough for anyone to hear. When he speaks them, he is not even looking at teammate Lamar Odom. As Ilyasova prepares to shoot free throws, Bryant prowls all over the floor, expending manic energy.

It looks like his dog just pooped in one of his Gucci shoes and peed in the other, but he can't yell at the dog because company is over at his house. So Bryant just seethes, silently screaming. He shakes his head a lot. He steals little glances at Odom from afar.

This is how Bryant does passive-aggressive behavior. Very aggressively.

Bryant never does say a word to Odom, who had tried to guess the direction of the shot when Bell took it instead of staying fundamentally attached to the body of his man, Ilyasova. When the blocked shot took a different route than Odom expected, Ilyasova was left all alone to fetch the ball.

Ilyasova misses the first free throw. He misses the second, too. And when the live ball caroms off the rim, it heads right toward Odom.

It keeps coming down and down and Odom still makes no move forward whatsoever to go get it - to the point that Gasol comes across to collect it before it hits the ground. Odom has stayed rooted to his spot, his butt and back and hands all stuck to Milwaukee's Michael Redd - who isn't even actively trying to rebound - as if demonstrating the perfect box-out for a basketball coaching clinic.

On the Lakers' bench, Andrew Bynum has been watching it all unfold. Upon seeing Odom suddenly morph into a rebounding robot, Bynum falls back in his seat and puts his hands over his face. He cannot stifle his laughter.

Bynum, remember, knows a thing or two circa 2007 about being motivated by Bryant wanting so badly to win now and growing angry if a teammate isn't helping.

After Ilyasova's misses, Bryant scores an improbable 3-point play at the other end, cutting the Bucks' lead to 106-105. The Lakers again hold on defense as Luke Ridnour misses a 3-pointer, but that rebound caroms long and Milwaukee guard Charlie Bell is just flat-out quicker to the ball than Ron Artest, who was initially closer to it.

Bryant is frustrated again, but it's different this time. He is mad, spitting out a profanity to himself during the subsequent clock stoppage, but the sentiment is pure. There is no judgment. Artest just couldn't and didn't make the play because he couldn't and didn't, not because he was unfocused.

Likewise, Bryant directed no wrath at Bynum early in overtime for his lost defensive rebound. Bynum has been consistently bad on the boards lately while the coaches work with him on tracking the flight of the ball better, and on that particular play he had inside position on Andrew Bogut and tried - but just didn't get off the ground well enough to control the ball.

Milwaukee eventually recovered it, though Bryant had no visible reaction at all.

Leadership-wise, this is how Bryant has grown in recent years.

He will still breathe fire if he finds teammates are lax or lazy. Otherwise, he has learned the virtue of patience, understanding that building a winning team is about building up individuals, so long as everybody's really trying.

That approach is all you can ask of your friends, teachers, parents or co-workers: As long as they're consistently fair, you can trust what they tell you. Bryant isn't the fairest of them all in this regard, but he has become fair.

He doesn't rush to judgment, for these days there's no need to rush at all. The Lakers are already champions.
They have nothing to prove, plenty of time to improve and a leader who wants the best for everyone ... almost as much as wants the ball in his hands at the end.

Link:

http://www.ocregister.com...nt-224787-odom-play.html

 

[badboyf0life420]

lmao Plaschke use to always irk me .. matter of fact most of the lakers writers on LA times, always irks me.. whenever i read an article about the lakers. ifelt the hate, i use to be like "why would you be on a los angeles paper and hate on the number 1 team in L.A?"

 

[notorious 858]

[h1]Phil designs Kobe's heroics[/h1]MILWAUKEE Even now as an old married couple, they can still surprise each other, which is pretty hard to do.

And pretty great.

Phil Jackson started drawing the diagram on his board, designing a play from the backcourt, and Kobe Bryant was baffled. He interrupted with a furrowed brow and started to point toward the scoreboard to remind his longtime coach that only 5.4 seconds remained in overtime, and the Lakers were losing by one. "Huh?" Bryant actually said in the huddle Wednesday night. Bryant turned to appeal to co-star Pau Gasol to bring Jackson to his senses. Jackson stopped drawing and just gave Bryant a dead-eyed look that basically said: "Are you going to let me do what I do or what?" Jackson resumed drawing in the backcourt, and with that, Bryant ceased being surprised. "Then I got it," Bryant said later as he walked out of the visitors' locker room, his epic resume now bulging by one more shot. "I knew exactly what he was doing." Jackson wanted to help Bryant by deterring Milwaukee from double-teaming him.

Bryant flashed back in the moment to the 1991 NBA Finals (yes, his basketball knowledge is that encyclopedic that he could cite the correct year): Jackson started a play in the backcourt - although 10 seconds remained in that case - and wound up getting Michael Jordan an elbow jumper over Vlade Divac's too-late help, forcing overtime at The Forum in Game 3 against the Lakers. As Bryant caught Jackson's drift in the huddle, the excitement began to build in him and he picked up as soon as Jackson left off drawing the play. Bryant pointed to the clipboard and talked to Derek Fisher about what he needed to do in his corner, then Lamar Odom about what he needed to do with the inbounds pass, then Gasol as they walked in step onto the court about holding off Milwaukee shot blocker Andrew Bogut. Bryant knew that with Jackson's help in drawing up such a spread-open floor, if his teammates held their spots well, he'd get a shot he later said he can make "in my sleep." Bryant hit a game winner just a week and a half ago against Miami. But with the ball coming in from the frontcourt then, Bryant struggled to control the ball against an immediate double team. He wound up dribbling the wrong way, away from the basket, and had to double back before launching what he later called the luckiest shot of his career. This time, Bryant wasn't even touched until he dug his right shoulder into Milwaukee's all-alone defender Charlie Bell as a prelude to clearing space to shoot. Bryant breezed to the left elbow, shimmied with a quick fake left for more space and was all net on a 15-foot fadeaway.
Odom was so excited he didn't just hop up and down; he jacked his arms up like goalposts and leapt so high he bent at the knees.

Bryant's teammates on the bench stormed the court toward him, but Luke Walton paused to turn back to a ballboy who'd been sure Bryant would play hero and smiled, saying: "You called it!"

The largest crowd of the season in Milwaukee dragged away, and one Bucks fan could be heard saying: "What a buzzkill! What a buzzkill! Unbelievable."
Jackson was somewhat surprised, too, considering the Bucks missed crucial foul shots in regulation and overtime to open the door. Milwaukee had also led, 106-100, until Bryant produced the game's final seven points in the last 1:18 (in his third full game with an avulsion fracture in his right index finger that has left him to change his shooting grip "substantially" with more thumb pressure). "It was a miraculous win," Jackson said. "It really was." Jackson's genius in designing the play will go unnoticed by the masses. His life, though, has been all about being the man behind the man anyway. Asked about the Bucks not double-teaming him, Bryant said: "Phil caught them off guard by having us take the ball fullcourt. I think that threw them for a loop." And because they're now an old married couple, Jackson poked some fun afterward. He noted Bryant's miss on a similar jumper at regulation's end and asked him: "Why'd you keep us waiting?" Smiling at reporters later, Jackson said: "Really, he wasted a whole half hour of our lives."


Link:

http://www.ocregister.com...224593-kobe-started.html

 

[goldmember]

@ the 'Huh?" reaction from bean

 

[darth dnzy]

--Phil Jackson. Never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Los Angeles]

LAKERS [h1]Lakers, Pau Gasol agree on contract extension; Kobe Bryant next?[/h1] [h2]Power forward Gasol agrees in principle to an extension that would keep him under contract through the 2013-14 season. And talks with Bryant about a similar extension are said to be progressing.[/h2]Reporting from New York - Lakers forward Pau Gasol has agreed in principle to an extension that would keep him under contract through 2013-14, and Kobe Bryant has had ever-improving discussions on a contract extension that would keep him with the Lakers for the same period.

On Friday, Gasol smiled and said, "I haven't signed anything yet," but it was merely semantics, the stroke of a pen probably completing his extension within a few days after the Lakers' trip ends Sunday in Detroit, according to sources close to the negotiations but not authorized to speak publicly.

Gasol, 29, made the Lakers instant championship contenders when he was acquired in February 2008 from the Memphis Grizzlies, but his current contract expires after next season. He is making $16.5 million this season and $17.8 million next season, though a three-year extension would net him an additional sum of up to $64.7 million, depending on NBA salary-cap figures to be determined in 2011.

Bryant, 31, is also having positive talks with the franchise with which he began his career in 1996. He is making $23 million this season and will make $24.8 million next season in the last year of his contract, but he can tack on a three-year extension worth up to $91 million, depending on future salary-cap figures.

Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak declined to comment on Bryant or Gasol other than to say, "Generally speaking, we'd love to have both players finish their careers as a Laker."

The Lakers have offered Bryant the most they can under salary-cap rules, but the sides are believed to be discussing smaller items such as whether the 11-time All-Star can get most of his annual salary at the start of each season, which has been the case throughout his current contract. Another sticking point possibly includes whether he can again have a no-trade clause, which came into play when he demanded a trade from the Lakers in May 2007.

Bryant has declined to talk about the status of his contract extension, saying most recently he wanted to "keep my business behind closed doors."

The Lakers have been to the NBA Finals the last two seasons with Gasol and have not lost three consecutive games since acquiring him. His value was obvious earlier this season when the team went 8-3 while he was sidelined with a hamstring injury. Since his return, the Lakers have won 12 of 13 games. "It's crazy to think it, but he's still underrated," Bryant said. "He's a great, great player."

Gasol made the All-Star team last season, representing the Western Conference as one of the NBA's most versatile forwards. He is averaging 17.7 points, 12.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists a game this season, and has been on a recent rebounding tear, averaging 19.5 over the last four games.

Title talk

Bryant is two NBA championships short of Michael Jordan, who won six titles with the Chicago Bulls, but he insists he doesn't think of it as a goal. "I never gave it consideration," Bryant said. "I wanted to try to gobble up as many as I could. With this team that we have, we want to try to milk the cow and just see what happens, see where it goes."

Could this team gobble up quite a few?

"It could," Bryant said. "But the Lakers had the chance to three-peat in '89 and then the injury to Magic [Johnson] and the season, boom, it's gone. You have to have a little bit of luck there."

Two thumbs up

Ron Artest got a strong vote of approval from Bryant. "It's like a breath of fresh air. He's fantastic," Bryant said. "He just has great energy, is extremely competitive, plays hard and has a high basketball IQ. Plus he has a sense of humor. You have to have that on this team -- a sense of humor and thick skin."

Artest (6 feet 7, 260 pounds) replaced the thinner but quicker Trevor Ariza (6-8, 210), giving the Lakers a different look at small forward.

"Last year we used our length and speed a lot more," Bryant said. "With Ron, we can be more physical and make teams more uncomfortable physically. Once he puts his body on people, it's hard for guys to move."

The Lakers still haven't faced two of the NBA's top small forwards -- Cleveland's LeBron James and Boston's Paul Pierce -- but that will come in the next month and a half. "He's going to make them take contested jumpers, make them take tough shots," Bryant said. "If they make them, you live with it."

Etc.

The Lakers practiced Friday in New York and will play at New Jersey tonight.

[email protected]

twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan


Copyright [emoji]169[/emoji] 2009, The Los Angeles Times

Just for giggles of course:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler [+]

Spoiler

[h2]Radmanovic Understands Boos[/h2]
Dec 18, 2009 4:36 PM EST

Warriors forward Vladimir Radmanovic understands why fans have booed him heavily lately.

"As harsh as it is, I can't really blame them," said Radmanovic. "I understand how they feel. I feel the same way. If I could boo, I would do the same. But it's not going to help."

Radmanovic went 0-for-8 from the field in a 103-91 home loss to San Antonio on Wednesday night.

He is averaging 8.7 points and 6.1 rebounds for Golden State this season.