Lakers' Odom may miss first 2 weeks

[duncan228]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/nba/specials/preview/2007/10/23/lakers.odom.ap/index.html

Lakers' Odom may miss first 2 weeks

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom, sidelined since the start of training camp after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder, could miss the first two weeks of the season.

"It could be five games, it could be one or two games. We don't know," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Tuesday night before a game against the Utah Jazz at Honda Center.

Last year, the Lakers began the season without Kobe Bryant in the lineup.

"It'll just be until Lamar's able to play and keep up with the game, and that may take a little bit of time," Jackson said. "But we've been without him since we started training camp, so we have a way to play. Last year we played without Kobe and won our first two games of the season. So we know that there's a way to patch this up if you're ready to play."

Odom was limited to 56 games last season due to a sprained right knee and a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He averaged 15.9 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

"I know Lamar's anxious to play, and he wanted to play in the opening game, but the consensus is to give him a little more time," Jackson said. "I mean, he's on the court and active with us in almost everything but the serious contact we get into.

"He did have a little bit of drill sequence two or three weeks ago where he got into some physical contact, and it was still evident that he wasn't ready. So we backed off at that time considerably. But he's still getting his running in and his shooting in, so I think it could be just a simple step to go back on the court and get back in the swing of it."

[LakeShow]

:pctoss That's 4 straight years of injuries! Call Phoenix and sweeten up the pot for Marion!

[duncan228]

:pctoss That's 4 straight years of injuries! Call Phoenix and sweeten up the pot for Marion!

I feel for you.
My son was a big Kobe fan in the 3-peat years.
I was a Celtics fan growing up and followed the Showtime Lakers through the 80's.
The Lakers just aren't what their gloried past would let you hope they could again be.
This :dramaquee with Kobe is nuts.
I get local Lakers coverage, so I'm in the thick of Laker blues with you.
It's hard to see one of the best players in the game go down on a sinking ship.

Did you see the OC Register this morning? Jeff Miller's column, about the "silly" Lakers, and Randy Youngman's column about Kobe being gone sooner rather than later? Both good reads, if anyone wants them I'll see if they're on line.

[td4mvp21]

The Lakers can still be pretty good this year...they had a decent record midway through the season last year before Odom went down.

[duncan228]

Figured I'd find them anyway.
Here's Miller's:

http://ocregister.com/sports/kobe-bryant-lakers-1902882-los-angeles

Lakers silliness provides diversion
Their attraction has plummeted to keeping up with all of the distractions, but it's just what fire-ravaged Orange County needs.

JEFF MILLER
Register columnist

We needed silly, and few things can deliver silly as well as sports can, the world of games being one that, relatively speaking, is mostly weightless.

So they sent us the Lakers, the preseason Lakers even, playing Tuesday night at Honda Center. A perfect fit, the silliest team in sports dispatched to entertain at this most serious of times.

Silly. How else would you explain a franchise that prepares for its season by conducting straining camp?

Or a team capable of making hundreds of headlines without making a single inch of headway?

Or a player who calls one of his superiors an idiot and a liar, yet has the nerve to claim words have hurt hisfeelings?

Oh, yes, Kobe Bryant, the only player in the history of sports to repeatedly demand a trade then become upset when the owner suggests one time that he could be traded.

It is glorious, this opportunity to watch a man publicly lose his mind over and over. Bryant has some people longing for the days of the more stable Lakers, by which we mean the Isaiah Rider era.

Just one week ago, in this very sports section, Bryant was quoted as saying this: "It's my job to play basketball. It's not my job to worry about what management is doing and this, that and the other."

Really? This is only a slightly different stance than the one Bryant took after last season, when he practically contused his vocal cords telling the Lakers front office what to do.

He shared his Buss-bashing opinions on this with one radio station, on that with a second radio station and on the other with yet another radio station. It's a wonder Bryant didn't just buy KCBS and change the call letters to KB-BS.

Bull is what it was then and bull is what it is now. Bryant is full of so many things, not the least of which is himself. This makes him the perfect Laker for all-time, this being a franchise that suffers from a superiority complex.

Bryant might be the greatest player in basketball history; he certainly is the goofiest greatest player ever. LeBron James could trade his high-tops for high heels and not challenge Bryant for the NBA's crocked crown.

He wants it both ways, which isn't surprising seeing how Bryant has almost everything already. He wants the freedom to speak his mind without having to listen to the opinions of anyone else.

The team opened training camp in Hawaii, a state with plenty of pineapples but apparently so short on coconuts it decided to import some from Southern California. While there, Jerry Buss talked about possibly trading Bryant.

Barely four months after saying he, in fact, wanted to be dealt, Bryant inexplicably reacted to Buss' statement as if the owner had done something really cruel, like take away his sippy cup.

So he sulked, doing so in a manner that suggested he was well practiced at the art. And why not? He is 29. That's enough time for any grown man to figure out how to behave like a child.

When he finally was able to bring himself to speak, again, in this very sports section, Bryant was quoted thusly: "To kind of have this go on now, it's a bit of a distraction."

Really? Who for, exactly? Javaris Crittenton? If Eagle, Colo., didn't distract Bryant and the Lakers, Honolulu, Hawaii, has no chance. Short of a decision to play barefoot, the islands will have no influence on this season.

Evidently, Bryant's frustration was heightened because Buss also disclosed details of an offseason meeting between the two, details they reportedly had agreed would remain private.

Bryant, understand, prefers a more modern approach to sharing secrets with outsiders. He waits until someone is recording him in a public parking lot before trashing his teammates.

Of course, Bryant should know the Lakers better than anyone. That's the role of a trusted team leader.

So the Lakers, warts and all — not that this team is much of anything else right now — invaded Orange County for a day. They moved one step closer to opening the regular season, one step closer to ending this irregular preseason.

For now, they remain intact, if not completely together.

The Lakers always will be a diversion. There always will be noise and clamor and interest. They are one of the shining objects in sports. Also one of the whining objects.

At least as long as they have Bryant, the flighty and most recognizable face of a weightless world.

[duncan228]

Here's Youngman's:

http://ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/columns/article_1902936.php

Bryant trade only a matter of time
Expect that a trade for the Lakers star will come by February, most likely to Chicago.

RANDY YOUNGMAN
Register columnist

ANAHEIM -- Reading between the lines and the rhetoric and the speculation around the NBA, it now seems to be a matter of when, not if, Kobe Bryant will be traded.

There he was Tuesday night, in Lakers purple and gold, revving up the Honda Center crowd during an exhibition game against the Utah Jazz. As always, "Ko-BE! Ko-BE! Ko-BE!" was the most popular player in the building.

But will Bryant be wearing the same uniform when the Lakers open the 2007-08 regular season next week? A report in one New York tabloid Tuesday said not to bet on that one, "even if L.A. must accept an inequitable return" because "that's how repugnant he supposedly has become to the owner's senses."

Ouch. Is Jerry Buss that angry at the Kobester?

Perhaps, but it's more likely Bryant will be playing for the Lakers until at least mid-December, one team insider said Tuesday, because of the contract status of one player the Lakers are interested in acquiring.

Though the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks also have been mentioned prominently in recent trade speculation, most signs point to the Chicago Bulls as the most logical destination for Bryant.

Nobody knows what is or isn't going on behind the scenes, but Bryant has the leverage of a full no-trade clause in his contract, meaning he essentially can choose his next team. He also has an opt-out clause in his contract after two more seasons, so the disenchantment he expressed publicly in the offseason has to be taken seriously.

There is no urgency to trade Bryant now. The team can sift through potential offers and move him before the February trading deadline, if the Lakers aren't in serious playoff contention at the time, or it can wait until after the season. The team certainly can't wait any longer than that and risk losing him to free agency without any compensation.

And if the Bulls are the most logical suitor — and all indications are that Bryant would love to play in Chicago, where Michael Jordan became a star — a deal could happen by December.

The Bulls reportedly have made star forward Luol Deng untouchable, so the Lakers made it known they wouldn't agree to a deal unless the incoming package includes center Ben Wallace, a choice between guards Ben Gordon and Kirk Hinrich, and others.

But when the Chicago Tribune reported that Bryant wants to play with Wallace, it meant the Bulls would have to change the package to perhaps include Tyrus Thomas or Joakim Noah, forward Andres Nocioni and a first-round pick.

Word is the Lakers are very interested in Nocioni, a former Argentine star who averaged 14.1 points and 5.7 rebounds for Chicago last season. But by rule, he can't be traded until after Dec. 15.

There also has been speculation in Chicago the Bulls want to find out how good this team will be before making a major trade.

So it looks as if Lakers fans will be able to cheer Bryant for at least a few more weeks.

But it doesn't look as if this marriage can be saved. Bryant alienated almost everyone in the organization by complaining in the offseason about the team not doing what it takes to improve — he wanted Jason Kidd as a teammate last season and Kevin Garnett this season — and Buss supposedly is hurt that Bryant already has forgotten how staunchly the team supported him during his legal ordeal in Colorado a few years ago.

And it certainly didn't help Bryant's attitude when Buss recently told the assembled media in Hawaii he would definitely consider trading his superstar.

If it's not Chicago, it still might be Dallas, but Mavericks owner Mark Cuban insists Dirk Nowitzki will not be part of the package. Would a deal centered around Josh Howard and Jason Terry get it done? Not likely.

And forget those silly Phoenix Suns rumors last week. Sure, Raja Bell, Amare Stoudamire and Leandro Barbosa would make the Lakers a better team, but there's no way they would risk being embarrassed several times a year by making a trade with the Suns. Why do you think Shaquille O'Neal went to Miami instead of Dallas?

But, rest assured, Kobe Bryant is out of here. It's just a matter of time.

In the interim, the rumors continue to swirl.

"Obviously, people are tuned into it, but it can only be a drumbeat for so long and then it kind of fades," Coach Phil Jackson said before Tuesday night's game, insisting the trade speculation is not a distraction for his team. "But it's still there. It's in the background."

Until the day Kobe puts on another uniform.

[LakeShow]

I feel for you.
My son was a big Kobe fan in the 3-peat years.
I was a Celtics fan growing up and followed the Showtime Lakers through the 80's.
The Lakers just aren't what their gloried past would let you hope they could again be.
This :dramaquee with Kobe is nuts.
I get local Lakers coverage, so I'm in the thick of Laker blues with you.
It's hard to see one of the best players in the game go down on a sinking ship.

Did you see the OC Register this morning? Jeff Miller's column, about the "silly" Lakers, and Randy Youngman's column about Kobe being gone sooner rather than later? Both good reads, if anyone wants them I'll see if they're on line.

Yeah, I just posted Randy's column. It is crazy out here. No one knows what will happen but Kobe sure looks sad. I think they did call his bluff! I really don't believe he wanted to leave now.

I get Lakers Insiders as well and I don't care for all the drama either. Unfortunately the fires have been the bigger stories out here now and taken away from the lakers drama, for a while.

[LakeShow]

The Lakers can still be pretty good this year...they had a decent record midway through the season last year before Odom went down.

True, but they could be so much better with Odom. He's does so much more than the average SF(his new position)

[stretch]

:pctoss That's 4 straight years of injuries! Call Phoenix and sweeten up the pot for Marion!
Why do you care? You should be more concerned about the imminent injuries that are to happen to T-Mac and Yao.

[Medvedenko]

Not looking good for LO....hopefully he comes back healthy. I say if Kobe's unhappy and it's starting to look that way on the court...then ship his ass out.

[duncan228]

Not looking good for LO....hopefully he comes back healthy. I say if Kobe's unhappy and it's starting to look that way on the court...then ship his ass out.

I think it's already started to look that way on the court.
The guy is miserable and is making it obvious to all.
He doesn't want to be a "distributer" and not listening to your coach is a bad sign.

[LakeShow]

Why do you think he's unhappy? I wonder if its because he's here or because Buss called his bluff? He hasn't been saying trade me, I wont play for the Lakers, etc.. Seems to me if he really wanted to go he would have said those things. Easiest way to get shipped out.

[duncan228]

Why do you think he's unhappy? I wonder if its because he's here or because Buss called his bluff? He hasn't been saying trade me, I wont play for the Lakers, etc.. Seems to me if he really wanted to go he would have said those things. Easiest way to get shipped out.

I think it's a build up.

They haven't put a contending team around him in 3 years.
Buss did call his bluff and it pissed him off.
He's got the clause in his contract, he's got to agree on where they "ship him out."
They can't possibly get equal value, (player ability, not $), for him without that other team gutting themselves. Then they're in the same boat the Lakers are in now. All Kobe, nothing else that can win a Title now, not sooner or later.
Fuck, his wife threw him out.
The guy's one of the best this game has seen, he's in his prime, and the 3 he's got may be all he ever sees.
I'd be pissed too.

[dirk4mvp]

:pctoss That's 4 straight years of injuries! Call Phoenix and sweeten up the pot for Marion!

why? I'd rather had Odom than Marion anyday.

[LakeShow]

I think it's a build up.

They haven't put a contending team around him in 3 years.
Buss did call his bluff and it pissed him off.
He's got the clause in his contract, he's got to agree on where they "ship him out."
They can't possibly get equal value, (player ability, not $), for him without that other team gutting themselves. Then they're in the same boat the Lakers are in now. All Kobe, nothing else that can win a Title now, not sooner or later.
Fuck, his wife threw him out.
The guy's one of the best this game has seen, he's in his prime, and the 3 he's got may be all he ever sees.
I'd be pissed too.

You got a point about that, I would be pissed too! I wonder If Vanessa is hanging out with Karl Malone now? :lol

[LakeShow]

why? I'd rather had Odom than Marion anyday.

I would too, but Odom just can not stay healthy. Marion at least does not have a history of injuries. Right now I would rather have a player that you can depend on to give you a full, injury free season once in awhile.