Lakers cook up teamwork

[Sportcamper]

Rudy T. hopes Lakers can cook up teamwork

Tomjanovich liked hearing Odom compare the Lakers to the New York Yankees. :elephant

``This is a big deal,'' Tomjanovich said. ``You look up in the arena and see all the great players who have played there. And now we are a part of it. You want to live up to that standard.''
Bryant said he shares Tomjanovich's vision for an up-tempo team -- ``Getting out on the break, creating some turnovers with our defense and getting out running and creating as many easy opportunities as we can.''
``At the same time we're going to be a very skilled team in a halfcourt setting,'' Bryant said. ``You can't be a completely up-and-down type of team without having a clear concept of a halfcourt game.''

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-lakerscamp&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Duff McCartney]

They're cooking up some bullshit.

[ShoogarBear]

:lol

Good one, Duff.

[exstatic]

They're just plain cooked. Think in terms of the Dallas paradigm: very entertaining, but golfing by June.


``At the same time we're going to be a very skilled team in a halfcourt setting,''

They're going to be nothing in the half court setting. All you have to do is force the ball out of Kobe's hands with a hard double. Superman ain't there to bail him out anymore.

[bigzak25]

if rudy t is as good a i think, they should struggle early and get better as the season goes on....i don't think they'll be as bad as everyone thinks....of course i HOPE they are...but that's a different story...i think they'll get the 6th or 7th seed....

[Medvedenko]

Yeah...cooking up BS....sure, they're pretty optomistic over in Laker Land...but hey...Kobe went fishing with the team in the summer and is in great shape...230 lbs so far...damn.
Kobe & Odom...Pippen and Jordan...too bad phil isn't around especially with a big man that can pass and PF that can hit open jumpers, shit...hopefully RudyT can work it out, or it may be a long year indeed.

[Sportcamper]

Slava Hot Like Lava

OK...You Win...
:lol :rollin :lol

[exstatic]

Kobe's going to find out what it's like to be Tim Duncan. SA will let him go for three quarters single covered, and then shut him down.

[Medvedenko]

Yes, Kobe's alone...blah...blah..blah...hey what a wonderful idea...maybe the Lakers will play team ball..wouldn't that be a hoot.

[exstatic]

It may or may not be a hoot, but it would certaily be a first, at least in the last 10 years. You think Kobe drove Shaq out of town so that he could share the ball with someone LESS talented? :lmao

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

Yes, Kobe's alone...blah...blah..blah...hey what a wonderful idea...maybe the Lakers will play team ball..wouldn't that be a hoot.


Damn that's funny!!! I'd imagine by now Kobe's been told he's "the man" so many times already that the doors to the Laker practice facility have been widened so his head will get through.

If Kobe was a ball hog during the Shaq era, imagine what he's going to be like now that he's been propped as god's gift to the purple and gold!!

Tim Duncan can play within a team system, Kobe. . .umm. . . not so much. I think it could get ugly in LA if the team gets off to a weak start. Rudy T is a good coach, but he's really not going to have much control over guards who like to jack the ball at will. For a brief history on this coaching style see his final couple of years coaching the Rockets. Without a strong, mobile, scoring center Rudy T.'s system is not going to get the Lakers very far in the playoffs, and someone told me Hakeem is retired.

Have fun this year Laker fans.

[Tawnia]

man I can't wait for the season to start so everyone can just shutup and actually WATCH the games to see how well they'll play together instead of just assuming everything. This is a new team, and with any new team, they're going to need some time to get things together. They still have one of the best players in the league on their squad.

[AFE7FATMAN]

Yea What a TEAM

KOBELAKERS will win 51 games and get the 6th/7th seed and lose in the 1st round.

I hope they win less than 50 and don't make the playoffs.

[Sportcamper]

I agree with Tawnia...When the season begins all this nonsense will end and the same question will remain...How do we beat the Mighty Lakers?

Because the Lakers may have “9” new players on their roster...But they have restocked with some fine players who are already playing as one unit...

I don’t know how it is in Texas...But in So Cal....

A Full-House Beats Two Aces Any Day!!!!

[Useruser666]

Blah blah ba blah blah da ba blah Lakers. Ba blah da blah blah Lakers. Ba da ba da blah Lakers. It's Kobe's team. He's tired of the boos. After driving out Shaq and 3/4 of the team, he will now try and drive out the LA fans by briefly warming up a Laker team that in the end will be terribly undercooked.

Kobe weighs 230 pounds? If that's true then he's fat. The Lakers next year are going to resemble that team from "Teen Wolf" after Michael J. Fox. turned into the wolf.

[Sportcamper]

Coach Rudy Tomjanovich has less than four weeks to install the new Laker offense, a tall order on most teams, particularly one with six small forwards under contract and an injured starting center, Vlade Divac, who might not play an exhibition game because of a sore back.

"There's so much stuff [to learn]," Tomjanovich said. "It's just like we're cooking soup and we just chopped up the vegetables. It's going to take some time." :elephant

[adidas11]

The Lakers will be OK this year, in a transition season. They will have to play a new brand of basketball, which should be very interesting to see if it pans out. I'm also very excited that we'll be a more balanced team this season, with more athletic players on the perimeter. Of course, they're not a championship caliber team this season, but I do see them making the playoffs, and maybe even contending for HCA in the first round of the playoffs.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I'll agree with Adidas's take. I think LA will flirt with the 4 seed, but more likely be a six or seven. My guess is that the West will only have a handful of games separating the 4 thru 8 seeds this year.

I've never seen Kobe step up and lead other players. He's a great player individually, but I don't see his 'mates rallying behind him this year, which will likely be the team's downfall. And Rudy doesn't seem to have the iron-fisted coaching style that it might take to corral all the troops.

I suspect that the Laker bandwagon gets pretty lonely this season.