They're back!

The first game cam and went and the Lakers scraped a win despite falling 15 points down at the half. No real surprise that the Lakers started in a seemingly distracted manner with the awesomely outrageous championship rings shining in their eyes. However the Lakers fought back in the third quarter leading to a final charge in the fourth.

The Laker bench provided their own momentum coming off the bench, with Blake and Shannon standing out. It's good to see the Lakers being able to rely on their bench to provide an offensive spark when called upon. If this continues then the Lakers will be very difficult to beat this season.

There was plenty of room for improvement with the Lakers missing open jump shots and lazy defense. Hopefully we can put it down to the distractions of receiving a ring that weighs more than my car.

But hey we got the win, job done.

The Land of the Rising Sun.

Two more days, that is all that is left between us and a brand new NBA season. Jam!
The Lakers will play Houston for their opener, or better known to Laker fans as ‘ring night’. It promises to have more diamonds then Kanye’s bottom row of teeth. This is the second year in a row that Houston has had to sit through ring night. I personally felt that it should have been the Celtics for the opening game by I’m still not allowed to draw up the NBA schedule and it’s not through a lack of asking. Damn you Stern.

Ok, back to reality it’s time to take a quick glance east and take a look at would-be challengers.

The Celtics added Shaq… hahahaha. Wait let’s take another pause...and another mocking…hahahahaha. Ok better…oh wait…hahahahaha! This does give the Celtics breathing room while Mr. Perkins heals up but don’t count on Shaq making significant contributions. Perhaps if Doc Rivers uses Shaq better than Cleveland did, the Celtics can tighten up defense which has always been a cornerstone of the team. The Celtics’ old age has a lot of critics ruling out Boston.
Orlando are always a strong contender with Vince looking ever more comfortable on offense and Dwight continually improving, it is hard to over look the Magic as possible finals opponents. If Dwight continues to remain a beast inside and all signs point to that being the case it will prove very difficult for teams deal with Orlando.

Coming out of the pan handle and further down to the tip of the state we arrive in Miami. Grabbing headlines and dreams of dynastic greatness, Pat Riley has put together a super team involving Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Lebron James. This indeed is free agent coup. The basketball world has been reeling from such of move leaving many wondering how the hell this happened. I don’t know and I don’t care. It happened, we’re just going to have to deal with the consequences. Obviously Miami has moved itself to instant contenders but if we scratch the surface a little bit there are some holes in the plan. There is no inside presence, Ilgauskas won’t be able to cope with teams like Boston or Orlando who have a string of bigs that like to pound the paint. There is no real team offensive depth, when the stars come off, the Heat’s bench don’t really have much fire power to go to. Opponents will seize this opportunity to make a run and in an 82 game season plus playoffs I think the lack of depth will show itself. Plus if injuries become a factor then Miami will really struggle. Defense will also be a major concern with Bosh at power forward his lack of defense and a tendency to sag off his man it will be difficult for Miami to deal with the likes of Kevin Garnett, Carlos Boozer, Rashard Lewis and my man Pau.
For me I think it is very likely that the Celtics will rise triumphant in the East don’t count on old age, their experience, skill level and bench depth will prove too much for other teams to deal with. Sorry Miami, it takes a lot more than three players to win a championship.

Quick side note, keep an eye on the Bulls this year they be I a good position to surprise and upset some of the bigger teams.

In other news it turns out that Gilbert Arenas faked an injury to give more playing time t a rookie. Hmm would you ever see Kobe faking an injury? The man would play in a wheel chair if they’d let him.

Celebration Hangover Time

I'm back, nanananana (insert batman theme here). If the NBA can take some time off, then I can too. Shouldn't I be able to take a break from the half an hour a day it takes me to do this. Phew! What a break!

Well, let's take a look, has anything happened?

Lamar won a gold medal at the World FIBA Championship, well dome Lamar. Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Theo Ratliffe, Derrick Caracter, Devin Ebanks, Drew Naymick and Trey Johnson have all joined the Lakers, welcome.

D.J. Mbenga, Jordan Farmar have left the Lakers, thanks guys, enjoy the rings.

Well, what has this done for the Champions I hear you cry out!

In my opinion and the only one that matters on this blog, is that the Lakers have addressed certain aspects and weaknesses present through the last season and made moves to hopefully quell these problems.

The Lakers biggest weakness was our stability and reliance coming off the bench. Bring in Mr. Blake, who is one of THE most under rated guards in the league. When Steve is given the green light he can light up the court. I first noticed Steve during a Laker game against the Clippers in the 08/09 season where Steve put up an 18 point game with 12 coming in the fourth quarter alone. Leading the Clippers to a rare victory against the Lakers. Playing what will probably be split minutes with Fisher, this remarkable talent will keep intensity and offensive momentum throughout the game. Something that was painfully noticeable last season. Plus add the athleticism, quickness supplied by Shannon and Ebanks it gives Phil more flexibility to adjust to opponents. Phil can shorten the line up and add speed when necessary, PERFECT!
Plus more defensive intensity has been added on the perimeter with Matt added to the roster. Phil is always preaching about defense, at least when he is not pretending to be a frog on a lily pad,(that's not even a joke).

It looks like the Lakers have become better on paper but this will take to time to come to fruition. The recent signings add some real depth to the bench a key component that wins championships. Ooooh was that a cheap shot and Miami, yes it most certainly was, we will get to that later though.

How are the Lakers looking over the past few weeks? Terrible. With a lack of court time and conditioning practice the Lakers are looking lethargic and out of shape. To best explain, Ron Artest gained 20 pounds in the two months off. The Lakers lost two pre season games, Phil is extremely unhappy with the players energy and thinks " the Lakers are not ready to play games that count just yet."

With Kobe recovering from knee surgery he has looked out of rhythm but seems to have much better movement, I wouldn't worry about Kobe, he'll be ready. Andrew Bynum is also recovering from surgery and won't be expected back until late November. Now, Bynum has been under criticism for delaying his surgery in order to go to the World Cup. Come on it's the World Cup and you're criticizing an athlete for going to one of the biggest sports events in the world, it happens every four years, cut him some slack. Plus Bynum doesn't even need to start playing for the Lakers until playoff time to earn his contract money. That is when we will need the 7 footer and coming back in November doesn't seem like such a problem. It will also give Bynum more time to work on his core strength training. No real problems here.

So all in all things are looking up for Laker land. Let's hope Phil can bring the team back to fitness and fluidity. If that is so, it should be a very good season for the Purple and Gold. The Lakers are in a good position to repeat their championship run. Good times may be in store yet again. Excellent news!

Tomorrow we will have a look at some other NBA teams that may want a parade of their own.

Tune in, same time, same place for more of the caped crusader. (Yes! Another batman reference!)