When the Lakers traded away Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks a year ago, part of the deal involved the rights to a 2012 2nd round pick. The Lakers used that pick to get themselves, well, another Odom.

This past Friday, Darius Johnson-Odom signed a non-guaranteed contract with the team capping, at least for now, an amazing summer for Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss.

The addition of the 55th overall pick out of Marquette comes exactly a week after the inking of another 2nd-round pick Robert Sacre from Gonzaga.

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound shooting guard averaged 3.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists coming off the bench during the summer league in Las Vegas. As a Golden Eagle, Johnson-Odom tallied 15.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists in his entire collegiate career. His best game came when he scored 19 points against Washington in a first-round NCAA tournament game.
no comments

Continue Reading

Not exactly something Laker fans would like to hear but it looks like Dwight Howard's debut in purple and gold will have to wait until some time during the regular season.

Thursday afternoon, the Lakers released an injury update on Howard on their official website. In the 4-paragraph report, it stated that the 3-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year will not be ready for training camp and will not play any pre-season games starting on Oct. 7th against the Golden State Warriors in Fresno, California.

It also mentioned that there is no timetable on his return.

Continue Reading

Reuters' Lisa Richwine recently talked with the suits of Time Warner Cable, Inc. and other cable and dish providers in Southern California to get an update on the dealings to have every paid television provider carry the new Time Warner Cable SportsNet and the all-Spanish Time Warner Cable Deportes.

And for us Laker fans who don't have Time Warner Cable, this is probably our biggest concern right now when it comes to finally watching the reloaded Lakers outside of Staples Center.

Time Warner Cable's regional sports network senior vice president and general manager Mark Shuken insists that the company is working diligently to reach an agreement with other local carriers in time for the October 1st launch of the new channels — or before the Lakers' first pre-season game on October 7th against the Golden State Warriors.

Continue Reading

Could it be that the Lakers aren't done bolstering their bench? Probably.

According to SportingNews' Sean Deveney, 9-year veteran Leandro Barbosa could end up with the already revamped Lakers. In the article, Barbosa expresses his patience in his decision due to his desire to be "in the right place" rather than his salary dictates the city he'll end up playing for.

As of now, only the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns are interested in adding the speedy guard from Brazil. The Brooklyn Nets were part of the equation at one point but decided any further pursuit would be to no avail.

Continue Reading

Continue Reading

With the acquisitions of Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison, and Jodie Meeks, the Lakers are poised to be an offensive powerhouse (or at the very least, a far better offensive team than last year) that could test even the toughest defensive team in every way possible.

But it isn't just because the Lakers infused themselves with more scorers. Nash is expected to make everyone better and more efficient on offense while providing his still deadly perimeter shooting. Howard may have replaced a more skilled post-player in Andrew Bynum, but he's a vast improvement in every category on both sides of the floor. We all know that at 36, Jamison can still put up double digits in points as a starter or as a bench player in every team he's played for. With the level of talent surrounding him in L.A., he'll be seeing more open looks like he's never had before. Meeks might not be impressive enough to some, but he got into the NBA with a reputation of a shooter. Like Jamison, he'll have his share of unobstructed panoramic view of the basket. That's all any shooter needs to flourish in any offense.

Continue Reading

With former 76ers head coach Eddie Jordan set to join the purple and gold as an assistant coach in the upcoming season, the new-look Lakers will have a new face on offense as well. Some call it "the backdoor offense". But it's more popular name is "the Princeton offense".

What is the Princeton offense exactly?

It's an offensive system that was refined by basketball Hall-of-Famer and former head coach of Princeton University Pete Carril which is based on constant player movement, passing, mismatches, and backdoor plays.

There are other factors that make this system work, but its general intent is to pressure the defense in constantly preventing mismatches while covering shooters and cutters.

You don't have to be an NBA coach or analyst to figure out that this type of offense in a team like the Lakers will be a nightmare even for the stingiest of defense in the league.

Continue Reading

Wow, a lot happened when I was out. And I mean a lot!

Life can change in a blink of an eye. For me, it happened overnight right around April when I was promoted at work and had to take over for three of my former colleagues for awhile to settle things down.

It isn't quite there yet. But at least, I now have time to get back to posting my thoughts on the Lakers.

The past 2 seasons have been forgettable (or at least we try to) for Laker fans. Two 2nd round exits in a row doesn't exactly scream Lakers basketball but it happened. I guess even the best franchise in the NBA has its dog days.

Continue Reading