A New Hope?
I love the NBA pre-season. Every team is going to make the playoffs. Every player will average 20 points next season. Every rookie will become an all-star. Plus, unlike pre-season football, you get to see the starters for more than just five minutes of the first quarter. Also, since it’s the pre-season, I can just enjoy the game without really caring which team wins.
So Thursday night I had to tune in to watch the Los Angeles Lakers face the Seattle Supersonics at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It was actually the second pre-season game for the Lakers. They defeated the Utah Jazz, 94 - 79 in Fresno on Tuesday. Unfortunately that game wasn’t aired on television so I had to wait until yesterday to get my fix of pre-season basketball.
The Laker’s starting line-up was made up of Smush Parker, Maurice Evans, Vladimir Radmanovic, Lamar Odom, and Kwame Brown. Kobe Bryant, who had surgery on his knee this summer, had to watch the game in street clothes alongside Chris Mihm and Sasha Vujacic. I was pleased to see Radmanovic get the start. He was the Lakers big off-season acquisition and a lot of whether the Lakers are able to improve on last year’s performance depends on how much he can contribute to the team.
Things didn’t go so well for Radmanovic or the Lakers to begin the game. He committed a foul and missed his first three-point attempt and the Lakers got behind very quickly. But I was still encouraged by the hustle that I saw Radman exhibiting. He was driving to the lane and crashing the boards. That effort helped make up a little bit for his 1-8 shooting performance from the floor. Hopefully, once Kobe suits up, Radman will get better looks and boost that field goal percentage. Although given that his career FGP is only 41.4, there might not be that much improvement.
The Lakers narrowed the lead as the first quarter progressed. Smush made back to back threes and Kwame had a nice post-up play. Despite all the gripes in the last couple of weeks about the NBA's new ball, most loudly from Shaquille O’Neal, the players didn’t seem to have any problems with it.
Aaron Mckie made a rare appearance along with Shammond Williams, the other free agent signing by the Lakers this off-season, in the first quarter. I was almost livid when I saw Mckie. My first thought was “Why on earth isn’t Jordan Farmar playing?” I saw Farmar a couple of times during the summer pro league and was really impressed. I was eager to see him in action against NBA competition. I had seen a rumor in the Los Angeles Times that he might be sent to the NBA’s development league and when I looked at the box score of the Jazz game on Tuesday, I noticed that he didn’t get any minutes. Needless to say I thought the Lakers were making a mistake.
McKie’s play didn’t do anything to convince me otherwise. At this point it’s clear that the Lakers need to waive McKie because he really doesn’t have anything left in the tank and the Lakers could use the extra roster spot. Perhaps the Lakers were thinking of using his salary to facilitate a trade, but unless something develops in the next two weeks, it makes more sense to just cut him and keep someone more useful.
Around the three-minute mark of the first quarter, Andrew Bynum and Brian Cook subbed into the game. Another rumor that I’ve heard is that the Lakers are in discussions to give Cook an extension. I’m not sure how I feel about this possible development. On one hand Cook has improved every season and there’s no doubt he can shoot. He ended up leading the team on Thursday with 16 points. On the other hand his defense and rebounding still need a lot of improvement. Andrew seemed a little more comfortable than he has in the past. He had a nice dunk and a put-back after a rebound. Unfortunately he sprained his ankle in the first half and sat out the rest of the game.
Farmar finally made his Laker debut with seven minutes left in the second quarter. He started off a little slowly, but had a couple of nice plays after warming up a bit. One was a great pass to Ronny Turiaf for a dunk and another was a nice lay up off a pass from Kwame Brown. It was great to see Turiaf getting some playing time as well. You just have to love the energy an enthusiasm that he brings every time he steps on the floor. The Lakers finished the half trailing the Sonics 55-53 but I still felt good about what I was seeing from the young players on the team.
Aaron Mckie and Shammond Williams were on the floor to start the second half of the game. Once again I couldn’t understand why McKie was on the floor. Williams made a couple of nice plays, but I didn’t see anything that would have me believe he will be replacing Smush Parker as the starting point guard. Radman continued to struggle with his shooting touch but he made a nice pass to Odom.
As the game continued I kept hoping for Farmar to get back on the floor. Once he finally made it back on the floor, Farmar continued to impress. He made a great outlet pass to Turiaf and followed it up with a dunk of his own. He added a nice pass to Maurice Evans for a three-pointer. He ended the game with 10 points, 5 assists, 2 steals and only 1 turnover in 19 minutes and was playing in crunch time as the Lakers held on to win the game 104-101.
Hopefully Farmar’s performance will start convincing Lakers’ management that he belongs in the NBA, not the NBDL. We should know soon enough. The main reason I love pre-season basketball is because it means that the regular NBA season is just around the corner. In the next two weeks we should whether Farmar makes it and for the sake of the franchise’s future, I really hope he does.
So Thursday night I had to tune in to watch the Los Angeles Lakers face the Seattle Supersonics at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It was actually the second pre-season game for the Lakers. They defeated the Utah Jazz, 94 - 79 in Fresno on Tuesday. Unfortunately that game wasn’t aired on television so I had to wait until yesterday to get my fix of pre-season basketball.
The Laker’s starting line-up was made up of Smush Parker, Maurice Evans, Vladimir Radmanovic, Lamar Odom, and Kwame Brown. Kobe Bryant, who had surgery on his knee this summer, had to watch the game in street clothes alongside Chris Mihm and Sasha Vujacic. I was pleased to see Radmanovic get the start. He was the Lakers big off-season acquisition and a lot of whether the Lakers are able to improve on last year’s performance depends on how much he can contribute to the team.
Things didn’t go so well for Radmanovic or the Lakers to begin the game. He committed a foul and missed his first three-point attempt and the Lakers got behind very quickly. But I was still encouraged by the hustle that I saw Radman exhibiting. He was driving to the lane and crashing the boards. That effort helped make up a little bit for his 1-8 shooting performance from the floor. Hopefully, once Kobe suits up, Radman will get better looks and boost that field goal percentage. Although given that his career FGP is only 41.4, there might not be that much improvement.
The Lakers narrowed the lead as the first quarter progressed. Smush made back to back threes and Kwame had a nice post-up play. Despite all the gripes in the last couple of weeks about the NBA's new ball, most loudly from Shaquille O’Neal, the players didn’t seem to have any problems with it.
Aaron Mckie made a rare appearance along with Shammond Williams, the other free agent signing by the Lakers this off-season, in the first quarter. I was almost livid when I saw Mckie. My first thought was “Why on earth isn’t Jordan Farmar playing?” I saw Farmar a couple of times during the summer pro league and was really impressed. I was eager to see him in action against NBA competition. I had seen a rumor in the Los Angeles Times that he might be sent to the NBA’s development league and when I looked at the box score of the Jazz game on Tuesday, I noticed that he didn’t get any minutes. Needless to say I thought the Lakers were making a mistake.
McKie’s play didn’t do anything to convince me otherwise. At this point it’s clear that the Lakers need to waive McKie because he really doesn’t have anything left in the tank and the Lakers could use the extra roster spot. Perhaps the Lakers were thinking of using his salary to facilitate a trade, but unless something develops in the next two weeks, it makes more sense to just cut him and keep someone more useful.
Around the three-minute mark of the first quarter, Andrew Bynum and Brian Cook subbed into the game. Another rumor that I’ve heard is that the Lakers are in discussions to give Cook an extension. I’m not sure how I feel about this possible development. On one hand Cook has improved every season and there’s no doubt he can shoot. He ended up leading the team on Thursday with 16 points. On the other hand his defense and rebounding still need a lot of improvement. Andrew seemed a little more comfortable than he has in the past. He had a nice dunk and a put-back after a rebound. Unfortunately he sprained his ankle in the first half and sat out the rest of the game.
Farmar finally made his Laker debut with seven minutes left in the second quarter. He started off a little slowly, but had a couple of nice plays after warming up a bit. One was a great pass to Ronny Turiaf for a dunk and another was a nice lay up off a pass from Kwame Brown. It was great to see Turiaf getting some playing time as well. You just have to love the energy an enthusiasm that he brings every time he steps on the floor. The Lakers finished the half trailing the Sonics 55-53 but I still felt good about what I was seeing from the young players on the team.
Aaron Mckie and Shammond Williams were on the floor to start the second half of the game. Once again I couldn’t understand why McKie was on the floor. Williams made a couple of nice plays, but I didn’t see anything that would have me believe he will be replacing Smush Parker as the starting point guard. Radman continued to struggle with his shooting touch but he made a nice pass to Odom.
As the game continued I kept hoping for Farmar to get back on the floor. Once he finally made it back on the floor, Farmar continued to impress. He made a great outlet pass to Turiaf and followed it up with a dunk of his own. He added a nice pass to Maurice Evans for a three-pointer. He ended the game with 10 points, 5 assists, 2 steals and only 1 turnover in 19 minutes and was playing in crunch time as the Lakers held on to win the game 104-101.
Hopefully Farmar’s performance will start convincing Lakers’ management that he belongs in the NBA, not the NBDL. We should know soon enough. The main reason I love pre-season basketball is because it means that the regular NBA season is just around the corner. In the next two weeks we should whether Farmar makes it and for the sake of the franchise’s future, I really hope he does.
posted by The Pocho at 11:45 AM
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