Training Camp Thread

Lost One · Sep 30, 2009

Day 1:

Kobe Bryant: “I’m a post player.”
Throughout his career, Michael Jordan was known for coming back from the offseason boasting a new trick - turn-around jumper, a new set of post moves, 10 pounds of muscle … whatever. So, in turn, has Kobe Bryant, who this season opted to work on his low post game culminating with a trip to visit Hall of Fame pivot Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon, whom Kobe considers the creator of the best post moves in league history (regards, Kevin McHale).

Olajuwon told Mark Berman of myfoxhouston.com that his moves were actually better suited for guards and small forwards with agility, adding this comment regarding his two hour workout with Bryant on Monday in Houston: "It was so much fun because how he picks it up. I worked with him for two hours, step by step … Adding those moves to his game, watch out for him this year.”

Bryant explained that he’s certainly a post player, regardless of if it says “guard” next to his name on the roster (again, like Jordan), and that his trip was extremely valuable. While we’ll have to wait and see how many games it takes Kobe to whip out the “Dream Shake” move that terrorized so many Olajuwon opponents, he did post up Ron Artest successfully (see video) when reporters were allowed into practice.

Ron Artest: Two Practices Deep
Though he’d participated in just two practices with his new teammates and coaches, Ron Artest didn’t seem to have any trouble getting into the mix. Of course, that’s easier when everything else from a championship season retained its (albeit high level) status quo, but nonetheless, Phil Jackson’s mission to integrate Artest seemingly got off to a solid start.

When addressing the media after practice, pausing on occasion to wipe a sweaty brow, Artest described how he had in the past played against other players that had the kind of intensity Kobe Bryant exhibits in practice, but never a player that brought it so hard AND had Bryant’s level of talent. It wasn’t just Bryant that impressed him, however; Artest singled out Pau Gasol, mentioning how quickly the Spaniard’s talents were apparent, and also mentioned being impressed with the high skill level of Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. While that’s nothing new, the fact remains that L.A. had four other players capable of performing at an All-Star level before Artest came into the building.

Finally, when asked who talked the most trash on the Lakers, Artest threw a bit of a curveball. It wasn’t him, nor Kobe Bryant, but … Josh Powell. Artest ranked Bryant second, and said that he’s trying to get into the third spot. Afterwards, we asked Powell if that were true, and the 6-9, 240+ pound workout hound said he talks “Just to call out the plays and communicate.” Uh huh.

Phil Jackson: All’s Right and Well
After two practices with his squad, Phil Jackson explained that he was fairly pleased with the Lakers from a general standpoint. This is now the seventh time in which Jackson has been charged with defending the NBA title, and a plan is again in place.

Jackson explained that while Ron Artest is new, the team for the most part knows what it wants to do, and has the kind of attitude he likes to see. He said that they’ve yet to begin working on the triangle, but feels that Artest will be able to pick things up quickly.

The 10-time coaching champion also answered a question regarding his team’s potential for being the league’s best on defense, responding that while that was a goal, the numbers wouldn’t necessarily be there since the Lakers prefer to play up-tempo at times.

The team will return for an evening practice later tonight, though media access is not allowed.

Lamar Odom: Back to the Bread and Butter
After a day in which Lamar Odom spent the majority of his time dealing with questions surrounding his over-the-weekend marriage, the lanky lefty was more than happy to spend five minutes talking about his favorite football team (the NY Giants) and baseball squad (the NY Yankees). Odom, of course, is of the belief that the Yankees will win the World Series, and explained exactly why to anyone who was interested (all of us).

Aside from the Giants, Odom also had quite a bit of love for the Minnesota Vikings, citing their monster defensive and offensive lines, the league’s best running back (Adrian Peterson) and the addition of Brett Favre, which of course paid off most obviously with his last-second touchdown heave that beat the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Odom concluded the (bleep) chat session by showing off some newfound leg muscles, accredited to his summer of boxing training that he described to the reporters while bobbing and weaving all six feet 10 inches in an imaginary ring. We first learned of Odom’s boxing interest when we called LO back on September 1, and he stuck to his story. Apparently, it worked, because Phil Jackson said that Odom was in the best shape at this stage of training camp that the coach has ever seen. Jackson qualified his comments by suggesting that Odom wasn’t necessarily known for coming into camp in the best shape of anyone on the team in past years, but conceded that Lamar did need two of the offseasons to recover from varying injuries.
Click to expand...

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/090930practicereport.html

CelticKing · Oct 1, 2009

http://www.nba.com/realtrainingcamp/

Live stream of Lakers training camp right now. Watch it guys.

QuickShift · Oct 1, 2009

It's wild to see Artest out there. It still seems un-real!

CelticKing · Oct 1, 2009

lol I agree, it'll be a fun season with all these crazy teams, Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, etc. (ready to go to war)

Lost One · Oct 1, 2009

Chuck Person Hired to Keep Ron in Check

Q: What are the chances Ron Artest gets a team suspension from the Lakers this season?

A: 3 percent.

Chuck Person was right there on Nov. 19, 2004. Person’s left arm was hooked around Artest’s neck, pulling his head down. Person had the formidable challenge of trying to control Artest while also protecting Artest’s exposed head from all the debris being hurled from the hands of angry Detroit Pistons fans.

On Wednesday afternoon, Person was again with Artest, casually rebounding the ball as Artest practiced jumpers after the Lakers’ team workout.

The Lakers have hired Person as a special assistant for training camp, and there’s an expectation he’ll stay on staff for the duration of Artest’s first season here, at least. Person was a very good NBA player who has become a very capable NBA coach, but what’s most important here is that he has a special connection with the flammable Artest.

And the Lakers would be wise to keep using that as they chart these rough waters for the first time.

Person was an Indiana Pacers special assistant, dabbling in some scouting and some coaching, when Artest was there. That’s why Person was in position to try and help Artest that night of the infamous brawl. Artest wound up traded to Sacramento; Person wound up an assistant coach there, too.

Without Person in Houston last season, Artest still showed improved stability. He should be even less disruptive with Person’s help here and with the respect Artest has for Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Phil Jackson. In addition, it’s not Jackson’s way to use team suspensions to discipline players, so it’s highly unlikely it comes to that with Artest this season — even though Artest has plenty of such team suspensions on his resume.

You will, however, see a higher number when we answer Friday’s follow-up question: “What are the chances Ron Artest gets a league suspension from the NBA this season?” Check back to see how much higher.
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http://lakers.freedomblogging.com/2...p-artest-in-line-as-a-laker/22665/#more-22665

Lost One · Oct 1, 2009

Fish is Ready

No one is surprised that Derek Fisher came into training camp fit and ready to play. The Lakers veteran guard always is a picture of fitness, looking as though he just stepped out of a Bow-Flex commercial.

Or movie.

Many have called Fisher “Benjamin Button” after the Brad Pitt character that reverses his age because at 35, he continues to impress with his fitness and determination to keep the body of a player 10 years younger.

“It’s flattering for people to say that, but I seriously have never felt better,” Fisher said.

In his quest to stay on top of his game (and perhaps defy aging), Fisher hired Peter Park, the strength and conditioning coach of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, to help prepare him for the season. Wonder how his cycling skills are?
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http://lakers.freedomblogging.com/2009/10/01/the-curious-case-of-derek-fisher/22679/

Lost One · Oct 1, 2009

Lamar Odom in Shape for Training Camp

Ron Artest has known Lamar Odom for 20 years and been right there for, as Odom says, “the triumphs and tragedies” of Odom’s life. Artest is fully aware how immersed Odom, reasonably famous for a never-an-All-Star basketball career, has become in the fashion and music scenes.

Now Odom has bumped the Brangelina brood and Jon Gosselin-plus-date off the tabloids’ top shelves with his whirlwind wedding to reality TV personality Khloe Kardashian.

“He would’ve made the media eventually for something anyway,” said Artest, who has been credited as the matchmaker even though he doesn’t know if that’s true. “So why not be in the media with a beautiful young lady?”

The bachelor party was Thursday, the wedding was Sunday and the opening of Lakers training camp was Tuesday. Odom did look a little ragged back at work Tuesday, when he tried to explain that his love is real, singing a hopeful note about how couples can be married 25 years without long engagements.

Yet he couldn’t say much out of deference to the Nov. 8 telecast of the wedding on E!

On Wednesday, the gym became Odom’s comfort zone again. He played ball and, as is his way, showed love for the game more openly than most.

Odom seemed to have forced a turnover by Josh Powell during the team’s scrimmage, and when Phil Jackson signaled with an extended arm that possession should go to Odom’s team, he danced over with a big grin and tried to high-five Jackson. (The coach didn’t reciprocate, not that it stopped Odom from slapping Jackson’s wrist anyway.)

When Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw, playing the role of scrimmage ref, overruled Jackson’s call, Odom protested but managed to laugh about that, too.

After practice ended, Odom came off the court and engaged a group of reporters in a high-energy conversation about the upcoming baseball playoffs and the state of the NFL.

In bare feet, with just tape around his ankles, and holding his socks-stuffed-in sneakers in his left hand the whole time, Odom re-enacted Brett Favre’s every move on the miraculous winning touchdown pass that lifted the Vikings over the 49ers. (The groom still managed to get his football fix Sunday, apparently!)

The little pink gum moved every which way around his teeth and tongue as Odom kept jabbering away about the boxing lessons he did every other day for two months of the summer. He said the effect is “incredible” and his whole body feels different now. He hiked up his purple shorts in an effort to display how much stronger his thighs feel.

Although Phil Jackson later kidded that the effect is a result of Odom having never worked out in any capacity during any previous offseason, Odom’s longtime personal trainer Robbie Davis agreed that the boxing has helped, saying of Odom: “He’s very fit.”

When he’s all revved up, Odom speaks all in questions, and he was soon doing so as he kept talking: “You’ve got to be strong from your ankles to your neck, right? To take a punch? You know what I mean?” A left-handed baller, Odom suggested that boxing right-handed would create muscle memory for all the right-handed layups he never makes.

He showed how his boxing stance is a slight crouch, similar to proper basketball positioning for defensive slides. He chattered on about how he liked that it felt “combative” and believed he would be a better defender to stand up alongside Artest.

Odom shared his workout mindset, saying: “I’m just thinking, ‘I’m gonna stay in there. I’m not a (wussy) anymore. Not scared to take a punch.’ And it just made me think of competing at the highest level, just one-on-one. Warriors.”

Lamar being Lamar – he’s the social-butterfly sort who simply knows too many people – he couldn’t remember his boxing trainer’s last name when raving about him Wednesday. All the hours put in were, in fact, at Terry Claybon’s LB4LB gym, and this is not a mere peripheral note to this story.

Claybon trained Denzel Washington for “The Hurricane” and Matt Damon for “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Claybon has also trained Tom Brady. And Tyra Banks. And Snoop Dogg.

There’s a reason Odom went there to work out. Artest is right; in NBA history there has never been a player so willing to pass up shots who has been so desirous of the spotlight. He definitely wants to win, but he wants much more to be a winner.

Say he should be more responsible; NCAA investigators have. Say he should be a better parent; the mother of his two children has. Say he should be a greater player given his skills; well, just about everyone has gone there.

He has always been a piece of work … and an incomplete work of art.

In a vibrant life plagued by loss of life (his grandmother, his mother, his infant son), Odom is starting to make the kind of mark on the world he has always wanted. He has achieved his longtime goal of proving he’s “not a loser” – his words – by playing a key role in the Lakers’ championship.

He is thankfully re-signed, happily married and proudly portrayed on the cover of OK! Magazine – his sideways grin dancing behind all three Kardashian sisters.

Whether you believe it’s real life, this is the life for L.O.

It’ll be interesting to see who he is now that he’s finally playing from ahead, not behind.
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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/odom-jackson-right-2588727-life-artest

Lost One · Oct 2, 2009

Lamar Odom Mic'd Up

[video=youtube;gXBMgnlgUbg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXBMgnlgUbg[/video]

Damn he talks a lot.

Lost One · Oct 2, 2009

Practice Report 10/2

Head Coach Phil Jackson spent most of his Friday media session commenting on three specific Lakers:

On Sasha Vujacic: “He’s played well. You know, he hasn’t shot the ball with the accuracy that he’s known for. But he’s shown that he can lead a team, he had to play a lead guard role and that was a good situation for him to (show) that ability to organize and run an offense. He’s a kid that will come and shoot a lot, so he’ll get his shot together.”

On Kobe Bryant: “He looks the same to me. I can’t tell you that he’s (more fresh) or not. But he’s looked very good.”

On Andrew Bynum: “Just about everybody on my staff wants to have a piece of Andrew. Particularly my own focus will be in that direction because Kurt (Rambis) was really the guy that spent a lot of time with him working on some of the details of his game … He’s been running the court very well and his conditioning looks good.”

Meanwhile, assistant coach Brian Shaw gave us an idea of what L.A.’s scrimmages have been like, and revealed whom he considered to be L.A.’s biggest trash talker thus far in camp.
Click to expand...

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/091002practicereport.html

So Sasha still sucks, and according to B-Shaw's interview, Luke Walton is the biggest trash talker on the team. wow

Lost One · Oct 3, 2009

http://www.nba.com/video/channels/nba_tv/2009/10/01/rtc_lal_full.nba/

Lakers training camp, live.

2 hours long, for those interested.

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