Add injury to insult.
During last night's 118-116 win over the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers lost the Black Mamba. In the 4th quarter, Kobe Bryant tore his Achilles on his left leg. While he will have a MRI later today, the expected news from the team seems to be a "probable" or "complete tear." Kobe has been ruled out indefinitely with his season over.
Kobe's chances of a 6th ring just took a big hit. While he will likely try and mount a comeback, his return is obviously unknown with next season in jeopardy. Recovering from this injury can take a few months to a year. Bryant will be 35 if he manages a comeback sometime next season which will likely be a lost cause as well.
If you're the Lakers, this might be the best time to try and make the transition into the Dwight Howard era. Assuming, of course, Howard wants to stay in LA.
P.S. Look at that. Suddenly teams want to play the Lakers in the 1st round of the postseason.
Showing posts with label LA Lakers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LA Lakers. Show all posts
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Howard Still in LA and No Major Trades Done
The trade deadline in the NBA has passed and no major deal has been done. Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks, who was cited several times as the most likely player to move, is staying in place despite all the offers that the team received for him. The Hawks will take their chances with Smith in the summer. Josh, on the other hand, might end up somewhere else anyway with max money on his mind.
Dwight Howard was another player not traded away, not that many expected him to be traded from the incompetent Los Angeles Lakers. GM Mitch Kupchak has stressed that Howard is indeed the future of the Lakers despite the fact that Howard can walk for nothing this summer. There is a little hope considering that the Lakers won an emotional game against the Celtics last night 113-99. Howard scored 24 points and got 12 rebounds in the win.
There were a number of smaller trades around the NBA. The most notable player among them was J.J. Redick who was traded to Milwaukee as part of a 6 player deal between the Bucks and the Magic. And no, Redick looks nothing like Josh Reddick (I wish). There were 8 deals in all on Thursday.
Not great non-moves from the Hawks or the Lakers. Both teams are taking huge risks in hoping that their players will come back to them for another contract. Without them committing long term means a bleak future for those organizations.
That goes double for the Lakers who are putting their entire future on Dwight Howard. Nothing has really gone right in LA so far that would convince Dwight to stay long term: they hired Mike D'Antoni over Phil Jackson, he and Kobe Bryant don't get along, and the Lakers are not even over .500. To add on to that, Howard never wanted to go to LA in the first place. Likelihood is that this summer he will still want to skip town and head for either Brooklyn or Dallas.
I do have to give credit to Dwight Howard. For a guy that wants to be liked, he sure knows how to cause unrest wherever he goes.
Dwight Howard was another player not traded away, not that many expected him to be traded from the incompetent Los Angeles Lakers. GM Mitch Kupchak has stressed that Howard is indeed the future of the Lakers despite the fact that Howard can walk for nothing this summer. There is a little hope considering that the Lakers won an emotional game against the Celtics last night 113-99. Howard scored 24 points and got 12 rebounds in the win.
There were a number of smaller trades around the NBA. The most notable player among them was J.J. Redick who was traded to Milwaukee as part of a 6 player deal between the Bucks and the Magic. And no, Redick looks nothing like Josh Reddick (I wish). There were 8 deals in all on Thursday.
Not great non-moves from the Hawks or the Lakers. Both teams are taking huge risks in hoping that their players will come back to them for another contract. Without them committing long term means a bleak future for those organizations.
That goes double for the Lakers who are putting their entire future on Dwight Howard. Nothing has really gone right in LA so far that would convince Dwight to stay long term: they hired Mike D'Antoni over Phil Jackson, he and Kobe Bryant don't get along, and the Lakers are not even over .500. To add on to that, Howard never wanted to go to LA in the first place. Likelihood is that this summer he will still want to skip town and head for either Brooklyn or Dallas.
I do have to give credit to Dwight Howard. For a guy that wants to be liked, he sure knows how to cause unrest wherever he goes.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Knicks and Lakers Having Different Seasons So Far
This year in the NBA has been surprising for two teams that met last night at Madison Square Garden. First were the visiting LA Lakers who have started the season very poorly with either Mike Brown or Mike D'Antoni as head coach. The other were the New York Knicks who are doing so well and even fooling people into thinking they are for real.
As for the game itself, it was the Knicks starting off fast and keeping the Lakers at bay. Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points on the evening and might've gotten more if he didn't get a sprained ankle in the 3rd quarter. New York shot 12/25 from 3 point land hitting 48% from beyond the arc. The Lakers also had 12 three's but they also took 12 more 3 point shots. Kobe Bryant did score 31 points and the Lakers did get over a 100 but they still lost to the Knicks 116-107.
The Knicks get another win and improve to 17-5 while still remaining undefeated at home (9-0). This win against their old coach is also their 8th win in 9 games. Meanwhile, the Lakers fall to 9-14 and while they didn't have Pau Gasol or Steve Nash playing they still shouldn't be this bad.
We should still reserve the ultimate judgement on D'Antoni until Nash returns but the team is struggling, they don't play defense well (like any D'Antoni team), and Kobe has seeming spoken way too much about what is happening around the Lakers. I kind of like them like this.
P.S. Maybe I'll just watch the LA Clippers instead. HEY, I REMEMBERED THEIR TEAM NAME!!!!
As for the game itself, it was the Knicks starting off fast and keeping the Lakers at bay. Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points on the evening and might've gotten more if he didn't get a sprained ankle in the 3rd quarter. New York shot 12/25 from 3 point land hitting 48% from beyond the arc. The Lakers also had 12 three's but they also took 12 more 3 point shots. Kobe Bryant did score 31 points and the Lakers did get over a 100 but they still lost to the Knicks 116-107.
The Knicks get another win and improve to 17-5 while still remaining undefeated at home (9-0). This win against their old coach is also their 8th win in 9 games. Meanwhile, the Lakers fall to 9-14 and while they didn't have Pau Gasol or Steve Nash playing they still shouldn't be this bad.
We should still reserve the ultimate judgement on D'Antoni until Nash returns but the team is struggling, they don't play defense well (like any D'Antoni team), and Kobe has seeming spoken way too much about what is happening around the Lakers. I kind of like them like this.
P.S. Maybe I'll just watch the LA Clippers instead. HEY, I REMEMBERED THEIR TEAM NAME!!!!
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