Archive for November, 2011

Mike Brown will have a chance to kick the tires on his new squad before the regular season actually begins. According to the OC Register the Lakers and Clippers will square off twice in a much abbreviated preseason. The first contest looks likely for December 19th. The next preseason battle of Los Angeles will occur within a day or two of the first. Circle your calendars as it will be our first and very long overdue Lakers fix. As of now the curtain is still slated to go up on the Lake Show on Christmas day against the Bulls. Those [...]

As you’d expect Mitch Kupchak is back in business as the league allowed teams to begin talks with player agents today. As you’d also expect GM Mitch has put his feelers out on free agent Shannon Brown. Hummm…where have we heard this before? Oh…that’s right! This is the same song and dance the Lake Show seems to go through with ShanWow every offseason since he’s become a Laker. However things are much different this time. Obviously this is not going to be your normal NBA offseason. No doubt Shannon has designs on getting the best payday of his career. While [...]

Forgive my word choice here but…sh*t is starting to get real! While the NBA lockout is not officially over there are some strong signs that the business of basketball will commence as early as tomorrow. According to an ESPN report, NBA executives have been given the green light to open communications with player agents tomorrow morning at 9am eastern. That means free agency will begin soon enough. What’s more is that team facilities will be open to the players beginning Thursday according to a memo issued by the league office. In short, the NBA season is getting ready to commence [...]

At the moment no one on the Lakers’ roster is in jeopardy of losing their job. Mainly because as of now none of them have jobs, per say. Until the lockout is officially lifted and paychecks start getting cut no NBA player is back on the clock. However in the coming years there could be some drastic cuts made by the Lakers in order to save cash. While we await all of the details of the new CBA to become public, a few bits of information are slowly trickling out. With regards to the salary cap it is reported that [...]

Expect NBA news to be coming in hot and heavy like Rosie O’Donnell after a busy day at the buffet. Today we got the first few details of what the schedule will look like. We already knew that the season would be limited to 66 games. According to reports 48 of those 66 contests will be against conference foes. Do the math and you’ll see that means only 18 games will be against non-conference competition. That means you won’t be able to see the Lake Show take on all comers this season. Also of note is how many games will [...]

We’re still much too early in the process to get into all the specifics of what the Los Angeles Lakers will look like this season. Sure, there is an agreement in place to end the lockout but until those padlocks are removed we’re not out of the woods. What we do know is that if the season does in fact begin on Christmas morning then the Lakers will be facing the Chicago Bulls. What we also know is that the regular season will consist of 66 games. In that scenario a shorter season could work in favor of the veteran [...]

Some things are just too convenient to be coincidence. After playing hardball for the first 149 days of the NBA lockout both sides were able to pull off a miraculous, last minute agreement to save the season in time for Christmas. Those that passively follow hoops will recognize Christmas morning as the moment they actually start to care about the NBA. Those of us that live and breathe ball usually look forward to Christmas as the official NBA takeover. No matter which side of the fence you’re on you have to acknowledge the Christmas deadline as the most urgent factor [...]

Word out of New York, in the early morning hours, after a 15-hour long bargaining session is that the NBA players and owners have reached an agreement on a deal that will end the lockout. Now we’re still not out of the woods yet. The lawyers still have to create the language of the new CBA. Then the union and the owners must separately approve the deal. But if David Stern’s words hold their weight then we’ll be watching NBA hoops on Christmas morning. “We’ve reached a tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex [...]

Well, this didn’t take too long to unfold. Just prior to Turkey Day it was reported that Turkish club Besiktas had set their sights set on Lamar Odom. Just after Thanksgiving it looks as if Odom will be headed to Turkey where he’ll join Deron Williams as early as next week. LO is said to have agreed to a deal that will pay him up to $2-million should he play out the entire season in Turkey. Naturally if the NBA lockout ends Odom will be allowed to return to the States. For now he’s on his way to having Turkish [...]

Either Pau Gasol really enjoys being in the States for Thanksgiving or he’s hopeful the NBA lockout will end. Whatever the case, Gasol is back in L.A. and is preparing as if the season will begin sometime soon. When last we heard from Pau he was basking in the afterglow of Spain’s second consecutive trip to the summit of European hoops. Gasol and his brother decided to stick around in Barcelona to train with their former club and there was even talk of Pau playing professionally in Spain. Now that the labor talks have resumed there is a slight glimmer [...]