L.A. Lakers 08-09 Season (official thread)

[schwab]

LAKERS: LAKERS EXERCISE FOURTH YEAR CONTRACT OPTION ON JORDAN FARMAR

October 27, 2008

The Los Angeles Lakers have exercised a fourth year contract option for the 2009-10 season on Jordan Farmar, it was announced today. In accordance with the league?s collective bargaining agreement, the Lakers had until October 31 to exercise their option on Farmar. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

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[schwab]

LAKERS: 2008-09 Season Preview

October 27, 2008

The goal for the 2008-09 Los Angeles Lakers is clear, simple and explicit: win the NBA title. Every team in the league, of course, aims for the championship, but few truly have the players to leg out the seven-month journey.
L.A. has those players.
We took a look position-by-position at each Laker based on what was done last season, what the numbers say, what assistant coach Jim Cleamons explained and what you can expect from a fantasy perspective.
Game on.

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[schwab]

LAKERS: Lakers Gameday | 10/28/08 | Lakers 96, Blazers 76

Highlights

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Kobe Bryant had 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists Tuesday night to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 96-76 season-opening victory over the Portland Trail Blazers and spoiling Greg Oden's debut, which was cut short by another injury.
Bryant orchestrated a well-balanced offense for the Lakers, who also played tenacious defense.

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[OCBucksFan]

Thanks for starting this thread, I have been slacking

[schwab]

LAKERS: Lakers Gameday | 10/29/08 | Lakers 117, Clippers 79

Lakers cruise to 117-79 win over Clippers

LOS ANGELES(AP) Kobe Bryant had 16 points and eight rebounds, Andrew Bynum added 12 points and nine rebounds, and the Lakers spoiled the Clippers season opener with a 117-79 rout Wednesday night.
The Lakers began their season with a similar blowout a night earlier, breezing to a 96-76 win at home against Portland on Tuesday.
As they did against the Trail Blazers, the Lakers got deep and balanced scoring and played scrappy defense. They held the Clippers to 38 percent shooting while shooting 51 percent themselves.


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[OCBucksFan]

Yeah, they looked great last night, good on both sides of the ball. Then again, it was the Clippers, but they were supposed to be improved this year with Baron Davis added to their roster.

[schwab]

Easily the deepest team in the league, and very young also. Having only 2 guys age 30+, one being Kobe, means this team will be good for years to come.

Hard to bet against a Lakers-Celtics rematch at this point. (This point being 2 games into an 82 game season) .

Funny how 2 years ago, not trading Bynum for Kidd was a "bad move". One of the best moves Mitch never made.

[OCBucksFan]

Originally Posted by schwab

Easily the deepest team in the league, and very young also. Having only 2 guys age 30+, one being Kobe, means this team will be good for years to come.

Hard to bet against a Lakers-Celtics rematch at this point. (This point being 2 games into an 82 game season) .

Funny how 2 years ago, not trading Bynum for Kidd was a "bad move". One of the best moves Mitch never made.

Well, they were missing something from that team, Gasol seems to have filled that gap. It will be interesting to see them against some of the more traditional "tough" teams, (Celtics, Pistons, etc...) to see how they play to know if they are really improved over last year. They got roughed up really bad in the finals, something I have never seen happen to a Lakers team before.

[jmorbitz]

I'm looking forward to seeing how Odom will perform coming off the bench. It seems that he may actually play better being with the second team because he gets caught ball watching Kobe sometimes, and I think the pressure will be off him to perform as well helping him relax and actually play better. He never was a lead guy.

[#17buckeyefan]

Originally Posted by jmorbitz

I'm looking forward to seeing how Odom will perform coming off the bench. It seems that he may actually play better being with the second team because he gets caught ball watching Kobe sometimes, and I think the pressure will be off him to perform as well helping him relax and actually play better. He never was a lead guy.

Yeah, I agree. I hope the Lakers go all the way this year! I thought for sure they'd beat the Celtics..it makes me wonder if the NBA is fixed. I'm not saying that the Celtics aren't a good team or anything. Like I wonder how accurate the referees really are. They could fix the game and it could a couple of years till any one would find out. They've done it beofore. But I don't want to forcus on the past.

[OCBucksFan]

Originally Posted by #17buckeyefan

Yeah, I agree. I hope the Lakers go all the way this year! I thought for sure they'd beat the Celtics..it makes me wonder if the NBA is fixed. I'm not saying that the Celtics aren't a good team or anything. Like I wonder how accurate the referees really are. They could fix the game and it could a couple of years till any one would find out. They've done it beofore. But I don't want to forcus on the past.

The Celtics were a lot tougher than the Lakers last year, Gasol isn't really a center and just got pushed around under the net, with Bynum there that should fix that issue. He just needs to work on blocking without fouling.

[jmorbitz]

Originally Posted by OCBucksFan

The Celtics were a lot tougher than the Lakers last year, Gasol isn't really a center and just got pushed around under the net, with Bynum there that should fix that issue. He just needs to work on blocking without fouling.

Definately agreed, the Celtics had really good bench players, but the Lakers bench gained alot of experience last year. Gasol, as a European PF, just can't play tough enough C in the NBA and it showed. Gasol has a great jumper and they will definately use that more this year in the triangle offense, the missing link last year was Bynum, who is a true center, and the first team offense is so complete with Phil as the coach they are definately the team to beat in the west again. They should be improved from last year with Bynum back, and now that Gasol has had a half season and off-season with this team they should really gel and come back strong.

[schwab]

ESPN - Report: Andrew Bynum reaches four-year, $58 million extension with Los Angeles Lakers

Report: Bynum agrees to four-year extension worth $58 million

Updated: October 30, 2008, 5:41 PM ET

Bynum

The Los Angeles Lakers have reached an agreement on a four-year contract extension with center Andrew Bynum worth about $58 million, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.

The deal would keep Bynum under contract with the Lakers through the 2012-13 season, according to the report. The first three years of the deal are reportedly worth nearly $42 million, with a team option fourth year for about $16 million.

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First Farmar, now Bynum.

[OregonBuckeye]

I guess Bynum wanted to stick around for more of this:

YouTube - Greg Oden big block on Andrew Bynum!!!

Lakers look great so far.

['BusNative]

Was at the game last night - the Lakers casually beat the [censored] out of the Clips.