It's official. The Lakers are eliminated from the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. And the Clippers are ahead of the Lakers in the standings.

The Clippers--being the Clippers--will find a way to lose the majority of their remaining games (maybe they'll even forget to show up for a game or two, miss the team plane, or show up late for a day game) and the Lakers will retake 10th place. I've got tickets for this Monday's game against the Suns & am thinking of taking a sign reading FREE FRANK HAMBLEN This is from (non-) GM Kobe Bryant following last night's loss: "Stuff happens, man. This is the path we're on right now. We will bounce back and we will be back. This is the course of action we have to take, and we will take it. We're going to take our lumps."

That laughing one hears comes from Shaq.

~Adam

The Clippers are doing their part to save Los Angeles from some form of natural disaster. They lost last night, this time to the Spurs, and are now the same umber of games back as the Lakers, a mere percentage point separatuing them. If the Lakers are somehow able to defeat the Rockets tonight, they will leapfrog the Clippers for sole possession of 10th place in the Western Divison. "We're Number 10! We're Number 10!"

In other Laker oddities, the front page of the main news section of the Los Angeles Daily News has as its top story "Phil Jackson in the Catbird Seat." THE FRONT PAGE!!! Since Jackson is scheduled to attend tonight's game, rumors are running rampant that the Lakers are about to re-sign him to coach next season. I seriously doubt it'll happen, but Jackson must love the sense that only he can save the team.

~Adam

The LAkers can't rely on the Clippers to do everything to keep the city from experiencing major calamity, but the Lakers' loss to the Rockets last bight--114-100--has once again placed the Lakers 1/2 game behind the Clippers for 10th place. Phil Jackson was in attendance, but what I find particularly odd from photos of him up in the luxury box he shared with Jerry and Jeannie Buss was that sitting behind Dr. Buss was KATO KAELIN! Only in LA could the pool boy/doofus made "famous" during OJ Simpson's trial have access to that level of luxury. Bizarre!!

~Adam

Maybe Kato lives there now, after he left OJ? wink

LA Times reporter JA Adande was interviewed this morning. One caller brought up the image of Kato Kaellin sitting directly behind Jerry Buss in the luxury suite. Adande, laughing, said he no idea what Kaellin was doing there but that since the photo appeared, more than 100 people have called Adande to ask about it. As for the Lakers, Adande stressed that for the next two years, the team will have a difficult time, if only because they have limited cap room & that he still thinks Flip Saunders will be the coach next season.

~Adam

It's going down to the wire. Four games remaining. Who will top who? The Lakers or the Clippers?

At present: Clippers 35-43 (remaining games: PHX, NOH, HOU, NOH), Lakers 34-44 (remaining games: SAC, DAL, GSW, POR).

The thing that's starting to dawn on folks out here is that even next year, it's highly likely that the Clippers will be on a par with--or better than--the Lakers. Cap room and the team's core of players are the major reasons cited for this astounding turn of events.

As for this season, the Lakers have to pull it together (or, more accurately, the Clippers have to resort to form and lose at least three of their remaining games.) I haven't had time to build an ark, I haven't finished bolting things down in case of a 9.9 earthquake, I'm not on high enough ground in case of tsunami, and the images of what could rise out of La Brea Tar Pits to ravish us all is something I don't even want to contemplate. wink Maybe it all started to go wrong with Schwarzenegger's election? wink

~Adam

From the Los Angeles Times:

"If Kobe Bryant, who flirted with the idea of joining the Clippers as a free agent last summer, has a problem with the Lakers finishing behind their Staples Center neighbors in the standings, he didn't show it after Wednesday's practice.

'What do you want, a cookie?' Bryant said when asked about that possibility. The Lakers (34-44) trail the Clippers (35-43) by one game with four remaining.

Even if the Lakers do finish behind the Clippers, Bryant said, 'Look at their track record and look at our track record....For us, we play for championships and this year has been a down year for us. Hopefully, next year will a little brighter for us.'"

~Adam

Local sportstalk is reporting that Kobe Bryant--who has already missed the past two days of practice--may miss the remaining four games to be at his wife, Vanessa's, side. She has been diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy, and he's doing the "good husband" routine.

~Adam

Sad news for Mrs. Bryant.

With just three games remaining for the Lakers and only two for the Clippers, the Clippers hold a 1 1/2 game lead over the Lakers & it looks like the Lakers won't be able to catch their arena-mates. I'm sure this is one of the signs of the Apocalypse! wink

~Adam

Clippers 36-44; Lakers 34-46 -- the best the Lakers can do is tie the Clippers. One more LAC win or LAL loss will make it official. Clippers are at Houston tonight and New Orleans Wednesday. Lakers are at Golden State tonight and at Portland Wednesday.

As Dick Enberg is so fond of saying, oh MY! wink

Or as Marv Albert would say, "The Clippers just gave Kobe and the Lakers a facial!"

With the Lakers' loss last night, they have clinched a worse record than the Clippers. Congratulations, Kobe. You managed to do the unthinkable: make your team into the laughingstock of Los Angeles. You must be so proud!

The parade honoring the Clippers as Champion of the City will take place Saturday on Bixel Street just west of downtown LA. It's expected to last all of six minutes.

I had earlier mentioned that Vanessa Bryant has experienced an ectopic pregnancy; Kobe--that moron--has thanked the fans for "keeping me" in their prayers during this. It would have made so much more sense for him to thank fans for keeping Vanessa in their prayers.

~Adam

The playoffs just won't be the same without the Lakers. Since they came to LA, they've made it to finals 22 times! Kobe's team just doesn't measure up to Elgin's or Jerry's or Kareem's or Magic's or Shaq's or even Darrel Imhoff's team.

~Adam

When is the last time the Lakers weren't in the playoffs at all? I can't remember a time where they weren't in the playoffs.

You can't remember because memory is the first thing to go as one ages. Why, just today, I forgot why I was in a darkened garage wearing nothing but wrapping paper. If I remember the Lakers' situation correctly, the last time they missed the playoffs was the 1993/94 season.

~Adam

Breaking news on all the local tv newscasts!!! Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson are going to have lunch later this week. The general consensus seems to be that Kobe wants Larry Brown as the next coach of the Lakers but that Jerry Buss wants Phil Jackson. Lots of hatchet burying will have to go on at the Bryant/Jackson lunch--and not in one another's skull--for any detente to occur. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during the lunch.

~Adam

Who's paying?

Chucky Atkins, who just a few weeks back, responded to a question about next season's coach by snapping "I'm not the GM, go ask Kobe about that...," was interviewed today on the same subject and brought up a good point. All season long the Lakers have been struggling with the triangle offense but never abandoned it. His summation: "The only reason we stuck with it is because they're bringing back Phil Jackson."

Unless you have the right dominating players (Shaq or MJ) I don't think the triangle is all taht effective anymore. Other teams have learned how to defend against it and ultimately defeat a team that uses it.

~Adam

In the ongoing Phil Jackson sweepstakes, we can take Cleveland out of the running. Jackson has allegedly said "thanks, but no thanks" to the possibility, just before the Cavs said they weren't all that interested in him.

In other Laker coach news, Flip Saunders was in town over the past couple of days for meetings with the Jerry Buss and other members of the Laker braintrust.

~Adam

Phil Jackson may not be all that interested in coming back to coaching the Lakers next season. That's the impression one gets from interviews he gave to two LA papers. In the Times and Daily News, he calls the current Laker roster "not appealing at all. It's obvious they have a roster that's limited because it's capped out. It's going to take a while to clean that up. They had performers who were paid big money that were incapable of performing." He singled out Vlade Divac and Brian Grant as prime examples of those who "didn't earn their lunch money." Jackson--making like Hamlet--added: "I don't have a driving urge to come back to coach. I'm willing. I have the mindset that I still can do it, but it's not deeply ingrained in me. As I tell my family and friends, I haven't quite got the vision yet. It hasn't really come in that there's a plan in my head, waking me up at night." And then, taking a page from Scarlett O'Hara, he said: "It's not something I'll have to do tomorrow or next week. I feel real comfortable just taking my time."

Meanwhile, the Laker brain trust want to have a coach in place by June 1.

~Adam

I hate the Lakers...wait, I think I just hate shaq

Well, since Shaq is not a Laker but, um, a Heat -- you know, there really should be a law that all team nicknames be a word that can be pluralized (no Jazz, no Heat, etc.) wink -- you can feel free to like the Lakers....wait, what am I saying??

How about a Heater? A Jazzman?

I just want to taint this thread with a little "GO SPURS GO!"

Now this made absolutely no sense to me: Laker executive--and Phil Jsckson main squeeze--Jeannie Buss said she has "absolutely no influence or input" in the decision as to who the next Laker coach will be. She said this at the NBA lottery, just after showing off the "lucky rock my boyfriend, Phil, gave me" to help the team's chances in the lottery. Didn't bring much luck; got the 10th pick.

~Adam

[ May 25, 2005, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]

With the signing of 17-year-old Andrew Bynum (their center of the future, or, as some in the press have dubbed him: "Baby Shaq") the Lakers & Vlade Divac have come to an agreement to delay any decision on his future until the end of Spetember. The team was due to announce whether they would buy him out for $2,000,000 or pick up his one-year option (worth more than $5 million) today. Clearly, they're waiting to see how Bynum does in camp before making any decision on the flopper.

~Adam

Reports are that the Lakers are looking to move Caron Butler and an additional player to the Wizards for Kwame Brown. Supposedly, they're haggling over length of a Laker contract for Brown, with the LAkers offering a two-year deal and Brown wanting a three-year contract.

As I wrote when the Lakers picked Bynum, this makes no sense considering the return of Phil Jackson. He's never liked projects & now, with Bynum & if they get Kwame Brown, that's two projects. I don't get it.

~Adam

[ July 13, 2005, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]

The deal to bring Kwame Brown to LA is "done in principle," with the Wizards getting Caron Butler and either Chucky Atkins or Devean George. As I wrote in the previous post, I don't get this deal--Brown was out of shape all last season, was unhappy (to put it mildly) in DC and is a project. Not Phil Jackson's type of player. Coupled with teenager Andrew Bynum, it seems the team now has two players who need a whole lot of teaching, rather than bringing strong skills to be melded into Jackson's triangle offense.

In other Laker news, Luke Walton has signed a 2-year contract and Gozaga's Ronny Turiaf has come to terms with the Lakers. I think he'll be good for the team, in a Kurt Rambis sort of way.

~Adam

Kwame Brown is an underachiever, but, who knows, the change of scenery may work for him. Reports say that Kwame may play the power forward position with Chris Mihm at center and Lamar Odom at small forward. Kobe and point guard TBD (the Lakers are said to be interested in Antonio Daniels) in the back court, as Chucky Atkins and Caron Butler move to Washington.

Poor Phil, he's not going to have much to work with.

For the Lakers sake, they better hope he doesn't become another Stanley Roberts.

I believe Yinka Dare was also nicknamed "Baby Shaq".....not too sure if I want that tag if I was Bynum.

The Lakers' second-round draft choice, Gonzaga standout Ronny Turiaf, will miss the entire season, as it was discovered he needs open-heart surgery to repair an enlarged aortic root. It is possible the condition will prevent him from ever playing basketball again, but the Lakers' best-case scenario is that he returns in the 2006/2007 season.

~Adam

When the Lakers selected Andrew Bynum, I wondered what they were thinking--Phil Jackson doesn't like projects & Bynum won't be a help this coming season--and now the Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak seems to have come around, telling the LA Times: "We don't want him really playing next year, or even the year behind it. Certainly that's not in the plans." So, the team drafted someone they don't plan on playing for at least two seasons??

With the holes the team needs to fill now, carrying a "wait and see how he develops" type of player makes no sense.

In some good news, Ronny Turiaf's open heart surgery was a success, with physicians saying the six-hour procedure to repair the aortic root went well.

~Adam

Why draft someone you can't use? wink At least they can send him to that NBA developmental league now...

Hope Turiaf is able to begin his NBA career at some point.

heard on the radio this morning that the doctor who performed the surgery on taraif will be able to begin his nba career sometime in the future.

heres a link to the espn story

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2118134

Good luck to him, hope he suceeds and everything goes as planned.

Ronny Turiaf has been released from the hospital, a week following open-heart surgery. Doctors are pleased with the pace of his recovery. All to the good.

~Adam

Ronny Turiaf attended Laker training camp yesterday and took a few jump shots, less than three months after open-heart surgery. He wasn't joined by any other players and the team maintains it's "highly doubtful" he'll play this season, but the fact he's already back shooting is a good sign.

~Adam

For either the third or fourth time since the end of last season, the Lakers will hold a press conference announcing Vlade Divac's retirement. Divac, who wouldn't stay retired after the first announcement, takes after Harry, who wouldn't stay buried, in Hitchcock's "The Trouble with Harry."

~Adam

Ronny Turiaf continues his rather impressive recuperation following his open-heart surgery. Just four months after the surgery, he scrimmaged with the Gonzaga players, playing 16 minutes. At present, the Lakers have no plans for his return to the team.

~Adam

Good to hear the news about Turiaf's recovery, regardless of if or when he can begin his Lakers career.

Yep. They showed clips of his practice with the team over the weekend. The Zags have some big shoes, literally, to fill in Ronny's absence when the season begins.

This cracks me up. Slava Medevedenko (Stephen A. Smith's favorite name to pronounce) fainted in the elevator as the Lakers left their hotel to head to their game against the Sixers. He was checked out at the hospital and released and is expected to rejoin the team in Memphis. The Lakers said the fainting spell may have been due to Medevedenko's diet: all he had had to eat on Sunday was a candy bar!

~Adam

Maybe the candy bar diet explains his play for the past 3+ years.

The candy man, Slava Medevedenko, will miss 4-6 weeks due to a recurring back injury. The only person who will miss him is ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

~Adam

This stat fascinated me. Over the past six games, Kobe Bryant has taken a total of 200 shots. In five of those games, he took at least 33 shots. Amazing!

~Adam

So Adam, what was the Lakers win-loss in those games where Bryant took several million shots?