56-26 LAKERS - The Mighty Purple & Gold!

[ChrisPitch]

DING DONG!!! The "Glove" is gone!

[axanodus]

yeah thats weird... so this is what we are looking at as of now.

Projected Starters
C Vlade Divac
PF Lamar Odom
SF Caron Butler
SG Kobe Bryant
PG Chucky Atkins

Subs
C Chris Mihm
F/C Brian Grant
F/C Marcus Douthit*
F Luke Walton
F Brian Cook
F Devean George
G Kareem Rush
G Marcus Banks
G Sasha Vujacic*

*rookie

[leith]

Originally posted by leith


Yet again Basketball ignorance shown. The Lakers are not done wheeling and dealing. Kobe will have help and his Leadership will be shown. Anyone who thinks the Lakers are now a lottery team knows absolutely NOTHING about the NBA. The players we got in return for Shaq are actually good players. Lamar is an up and coming player who may turn out to be Kobe\'s "Pippen". The fact that Kobe bleeds Purple and Gold leads me to think that he will not let this team fall to far from the top. So all you Laker haters enjoy while you can, The Lakers will be back w/ Kobe leading the Charge!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lakers just got faster, bigger and added much needed depth. I knew Mitch would keep workin\' it. Lakeshow will be in FULL EFFECT this season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrisPitch]

If the Glove don\'t fit, you must trade that piece of shit

[leith]

Originally posted by ChrisPitch
If the Glove don\'t fit, you must trade that piece of shit

Exactly!!!!

[axanodus]

It will be great to not rely on Brian Cook in the backup 5 spot next year as he had to do a few times in the playoffs.

Vlade is old as shit, but to have the size of Grant and Mihm before Cook thats much needed relief

oh and add Medvedenko to that list above, he did resign

[leith]

Nice to see a few REAL Laker fans out east. It is incredible how many people have bailed the Laker Buss since the Finals ended. Next season cannot come quick enough. Can we just hand the Cardinals the Trophy, Ask Paul T. to give the Pats their nxt championship and get the NBA rolling?

[leith]

Figures. Payton is a whiny bitch and refused to go to the Celtics. Fox decided to retire it seems(good choice), Payton should follow suit. What a fucker. At least the Celtics were willing to keep the trade intact w/ a little juggling. So the Lakers returned Banks and we get another player Jones but lose a draft pick next year not too bad.

[leith]

So Kobe Haters what do u think now?? As I said from the start Kobe is NOT going to jail. News conference on now and the ALLEGED victim has decided not to pursue the trial further. Pretty fishy. Guess she realized perjury was a crime in itself.

[davepeck]

talk about bad blood:

O\'Neal\'s Agent: Allegation Undeserving Of Response

POSTED: 8:47 am PDT September 29, 2004
UPDATED: 10:13 am PDT September 29, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- A report Wednesday stated Kobe Bryant told detectives investigating his sexual encounter with a hotel employee in Colorado that Shaquille O\'Neal paid up to $1 million dollars to keep women quiet about similar situations.

O\'Neal\'s agent told the Los Angeles Times that the allegation was untrue and undeserving of a response.

The allegation was reported to have been made while detectives were investigating claims by a 19-year-old hotel employee that Bryant had raped her.

Charges against Bryant were dropped.

A civil action is pending.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3769803/detail.html?treets=la&tid=2654577325813&tml=la_12pm&tmi=la_12pm_9829_02000209292004&ts=H

[davepeck]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-lakers-heat-shaq-kobefeud&prov=ap&type=lgns

O\'Neal takes shot at Bryant as feud escalates


September 29, 2004
NEW YORK (AP) -- Separating Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O\'Neal on different teams on different coasts has done nothing to lessen the animosity between the one-time Los Angeles Laker teammates. If anything, the feud is escalating.

On Wednesday, O\'Neal dismissed as ``ridiculous\'\' Bryant\'s allegations that O\'Neal had paid up to $1 million in hush money to various women and then took his own shot by saying, ``I\'m not the one buying love.\'\'

O\'Neal made the remark over the telephone to a staffer at ESPN, the network said, after the Los Angeles Times quoted a police report as saying Bryant told detectives in Eagle, Colo., ``he should have done what Shaq does ... that Shaq would pay his women not to say anything\'\' and already had paid up to $1 million ``for situations like this.\'\'

The statement came near the end of a lengthy interrogation about a hotel employee\'s complaint that Bryant had raped her.

The Times said it was unclear precisely what Bryant meant by his remarks.

Prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Bryant earlier this month at the accuser\'s request, but the woman has filed a federal civil suit against him in Denver, seeking unspecified damages for pain and suffering since the case began.

O\'Neal was informed of Bryant\'s allegation last September, and the relationship between the two was cool throughout the 2003-04 season. O\'Neal was subsequently traded to the Miami Heat.

``This whole situation is ridiculous,\'\' O\'Neal told ESPN. ``I never hang out with Kobe, I never hung around him. In the seven or eight years we were together, we were never together. So how this guy can think he knows anything about me or my business is funny. And one last thing -- I\'m not the one buying love. He\'s the one buying love.\'\'

O\'Neal\'s latter comment was an apparent reference to a ring -- reportedly costing several million dollars -- that Bryant gave his wife, Vanessa, after he was charged with felony sexual assault last summer.

There have been no published reports of O\'Neal ever being accused of any sex crimes. He was charged with misdemeanor battery in Orange County, Fla., in 1998 after a 23-year-old Walt Disney World employee claimed he grabbed her neck, but the case was dismissed in 2000.


Updated on Wednesday, Sep 29, 2004 7:36 pm EDT

[skalnbyc]

Go Clippers!

Just kidding.

Do any of you play b-ball?  We should find a lighted court after a show in the future and play late night.

[ChrisPitch]

I have nothing to say in this post. Just preparing for the season. By the way, has anybody else noticed that the Lakers are no longer 56-26?

[leith]

Yep Time to get ready for another season of Laker Haters. Kobe And Lamar will show that Mitch and Co. knew what they were doing when they sided w/ Kobe in the Shaq/Kobe feud. From all reports Kobe is hanging out w/ the other players and even acting like a teammate to other players. He realizes the enormous burden put on him but ralizes it is nothing compared to the burden he could have faced. Lets Go Lakers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrisPitch]

NO.    PLAYER    POS.    HT.    WT.    BORN    COLLEGE
9    Chucky Atkins    G    5-11    160    Aug. 14, 1974    South Florida
5    Tierre Brown    G    6-2    189    Jun. 3, 1979    McNeese State
8    Kobe Bryant    G    6-6    220    Aug. 23, 1978    
1    Caron Butler    F    6-7    220    Mar. 13, 1980    Connecticut
43    Brian Cook    F    6-9    234    Dec. 4, 1980    Illinois
12    Vlade Divac    C    7-1    260    Feb. 3, 1968    
3    Devean George    F    6-8    240    Aug. 29, 1977    Augsburg
55    Brian Grant    F    6-9    254    Mar. 5, 1972    Xavier
20    Jumaine Jones    F    6-8    218    Feb. 10, 1979    Georgia
14    Stanislav Medvedenko    F    6-10    250    Apr. 3, 1979    
31    Chris Mihm    FC    7-0    265    Jul. 16, 1979    Texas
7    Lamar Odom    F    6-10    232    Nov. 6, 1979    Rhode Island
21    Kareem Rush    G    6-6    215    Oct. 30, 1980    Missouri
18    Sasha Vujacic    G    6-7    193    Mar. 8, 1984    
4    Luke Walton    F    6-8    235    Mar. 28, 1980    Arizona


x - Injured List
Coach: Rudy Tomjanovich
Average Age: 26.0
Average Height: 6-7
Average Weight: 22