Kobe Goes Cold Against Rockets

Uh, Houston? We have a problem.

That seems to be the glaring theme tonight after Kobe went ice cold, scoring just 18 points on 5 of 20 shooting, while the Rockets blasted the Lakers 101-91. Of greater concern was Kobe's right groin, an injury he originally suffered last week against New Orleans, which he apparently re-aggravated in the first quarter. He was nice enough to stay in the game and play through it.

In a strange twist, only one Rocket starter scored in double figures tonight: Aaron Brooks led all scorers with 33 points. But it was still enough to hand the Lakers their second straight loss and third of the season.

Lakers Look Lost in Denver

Fortunately for them, it was a game in November, and not May or June. The game was competitive for about 24½ minutes and then the Nuggets took over and turned it into a blowout. Final score: Home Team 105, Visitors 79.

The Lakers did manage to get balanced scoring from four of the five starters, but Derek Fisher was virtually unheard from tonight, and the entire bench with the exception of eight Jordan Farmar points was non-existent. Kobe and Andrew Bynum led the Lakers with 19 points apiece.

Back home on Sunday with Houston. Trevor Ariza gets his ring.

Win Streak Reaches Six

The Lakers improved to 7-1 as their win streak reached six tonight with a 121-102 blowout of the Phoenix Suns at Staples. The win follows a 104-88 romp of New Orleans on Sunday.

The "Captain" Has Leukemia

Hall of Fame and Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar announced last night that he has a rare form of leukemia. Kareem sounded optimistic about the long-term prognosis, and provided he follows through with all of treatments and medications, says it is manageable.

Kareem intends to continue with his normal schedule of activities while undergoing treatment.

We wish Kareem all the best and pray for a speedy recovery.

41

That seems to be Kobe's new number. For the third time in six games this season, Kobe has scored 41 points as the Lakers ripped the Memphis Grizzlies 114-98.

Lakers improve to 5-1 on the young season.

Another Nailbiter...

But Lakers prevail 103-102 in overtime in Houston. Kobe finishes with 41 again, and 6 and 2.

Lakers improve to 4-1.

Overtime Again

Tied at 92 in Houston...

Gasol Update

While the Lakers are battling it out deep in the heart of Texas against the Rockets and former teammate Trevor Ariza, Pau Gasol was cleared today to resume all basketball activities after his extensive MRI revealed he did not have a tear in his hamstring. That said, he's expected to practice tomorrow and could see game action as early as Friday.

Meanwhile, Ariza and Ron Artest were assessed technical fouls in the first quarter, and Artest, who played for Houston last season, was booed mercilessly by Rockets fans every time he touched the ball.

The game was tied at 22 after one quarter.

Lakers Dodge One in OKC

Final: Lakers 101, Thunder 98, OT.

Kobe finished with a 31-6-4 line while battling flu-like symptoms.

Houston tomorrow night.

Kobe's in the Lineup

His fever is gone but he's still got a sore throat and isn't 100%. None of this has stopped him from playing before, so he'll be ready to go.

Kobe Out Tonight?

He has flu-like symptoms and a high fever. He missed this morning's shoot-around, as well. He's listed as questionable for tonight and is a game-time decision. Stay tuned.

Gasol To Miss At Least Two More

As it turns out, he might have a small tear in his hammy. A sonogram revealed the possible tear and he underwent an extensive MRI today, of which the results won't be known until tomorrow.

This is obviously not very good news, but we'll keep our fingers crossed for that MRI to come back negative tomorrow.

Lakers Romp Hawks

Wasn't expecting this against a pretty good young team. but still without Pau Gasol, the Lakers rolled to a 118-110 win over Atlanta at Staples. Kobe poured in 41, the 97th time in his career he's scored 40 or in a game.

The Lakers trailed the Hawks midway through the second quarter, 38-37, but by halftime, they had regained the lead and opened it up to 64-58. By the end of the third, the Lakers were cruising by 22 points, 98-76.

The Lakers hit the road for a back-to-back in Oklahoma and Houston tomorrow and Wednesday nights before heading back to Staples for a matchup with Memphis on Friday night.

Gasol Still Out

Pau Gasol got his first ever championship ring just before the Lakers began their title defense on Tuesday night with a 99-92 win on opening night. But he didn't play. Three nights later, the Lakers looked sluggish, still without Gasol, in a 94-80 loss at Staples to Dallas.

Tonight, the Lakers hope to get back on the winning track against Atlanta, but Gasol will not be available again. Gasol is still nursing a sore hamstring that has kept him out of action since early in the pre-season.

The Lakers aren't too concerned about it, but Gasol is, as there is no timetable for his return. While he's still listed as day-to-day, it seems more like he's week-to-week.

Hopefully they can get him back sooner rather than later.

Ring Ceremony Revisted

Twenty-two years and five titles later, this never gets old. This is from the 1987 ring ceremony, emceed by the late, great Hall of Fame Laker broadcaster Chick Hearn.

It's time to hand out some more hardware and raise another banner to the Staples Center rafters! The quest for 16 begins tonight!

Pre-season Winding Down...

Opening night is just three days away. Championship banner number 15 will be raised to the Staples Center rafters that night, against their in-house, in-town rival Clippers, with number one pick Blake Griffin making his official pro debut for the Clippers.

So many storylines heading into the 2009-2010 season.

For the Lakers, the big question is, can they repeat? Many people they can, and a lot of people think they will. Some don't think Ron Artest will make them anymore better than Trevor Ariza, and those same people don't think they can repeat. Either way, it won't be easy. And it looks like they'll have to start their quest to repeat without the services of Pau Gasol, who is still nursing a nagging hamstring injury that has kept him out of the last six pre-season games.

Back to the task at hand: repeating.

The West is loaded again. Denver still appears to be their biggest challengers, but Utah is still there, Dallas has gotten better with the addition of Shawn Marion, Portland is a year older and experienced, San Antonio is another year older but added Richard Jefferson, and just to throw them into the mix, the Clippers might contend for a playoff spot if they stay healthy.

The East still has its three beasts: The Celtics, who are a year older but added Rasheed Wallace to the mix, the Cavs, who added Shaq, and Orlando. All three teams have 60 wins written all over them.

All but the Clippers are serious contenders, and any one of them (minus the Clippers) can dethrone the Lakers. But really, the only team that can really beat the Lakers, is the Lakers. They've got to stay healthy. Artest has to be on his best behavior. (He's been seeing a sports psychologist for the past year to work on his anger management issues front he past.) Lamar Odom needs to stay focused and be accept his role off the bench. If all that happens, there's no reason the Lakers won't repeat.

The roster is virtually the same with the exception of Artest. And you can't help but think that the former Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-Defensive Team can only help. And not to mention his 17-point career average is a little more intriguing than Ariza's eight-point average.

So let's get the banner up and defend that title.

Summer News

Ever since Lamar Odom finally re-signed with the Lakers last month, I was hoping things would quiet down for the Lakers until camp started, but lo and behold, it's been anything but for the World Champions. That said, here's a brief chronological rundown/recap on some of the key news items since Odom's signing:

• The Lakers waived guard Sun Yue. I don't think anyone will miss him.
• Guard Sasha Vujacic underwent minor knee surgery following a minor injury suffered while playing for Slovenia's national team this summer. He has since fully recovered and has resumed full basketball activities. Barring any setbacks, he'll be ready for camp.
• Former Laker forward and assistant coach Kurt Rambis was named head coach of the Timberwolves. Congratulations, and good luck in Minnesota! You'll need it.
• Forward Pau Gasol broke his left middle finger (his non-shooting hand) while practicing with the Spanish national team. The injury required surgery but it's not considered a serious injury and he was expected to miss only three weeks. This timetable means Gasol should be more than ready when camp opens up in October, but to be safe, Lakers trainer Gary Vitti is flying later this month to Spain to check on Gasol, and to make sure the reports of the three-week setback are accurate.

That should about cover it. This space is now current and up-to-date!

Odom To Re-Sign With Lakers

About time. Now can we move on and not talk about this anymore? Here's the ESPN.com report...

As L.O.'s World Turns

We haven't heard much on the Lamar Odom drama in a few days, but there's an interesting rumor floating around the internet.

Last week, we learned that Odom reached out to Laker owner Jerry Buss in hopes of fixing the mess Odom created by rejecting the Laker offers. One source claimed the two met last night. Yesterday we also heard Kobe say he's confident that Odom will return to the Lakers. Now today, Black Sports Online is reporting that their sources say the Lakers and Odom have reached an agreement.

However, John Ireland says in his blog that after talking with his sources within the organization, no such deal has been reached. He also says that Odom will have to take a lesser offer than the ones he turned down if he's to re-sign with the Lakers. The Lakers will not put either of the offers (the 3- or 4-year deals) back on the table, and no offer is currently on the table. Finally, Ireland also says it was Odom who turned down the Lakers, not his agent, Jeff Schwartz.

This all sounds like something you might find on the Soap Opera cable network at 3am.

Lakers Pull Offers for Odom

The Lamar Odom saga has taken a new twist. The Lakers yesterday pulled their two offers on the table for Odom, saying that they were growing frustrated with him and his agent, Jeff Schwartz. The two offers are reported to be around $9MM per year for four years, and around $10MM per year for three.

According to a report today in the L.A. Times, people within the Lakers organization, and people close to Odom, however, believe that Odom wants to re-sign with the Lakers and accept one of the offers. However, his agent isn't convinced of that. Well, last time I checked, the agent works for the player, not the other way around. If a player says he wants to sign one of the contracts, it's the agent's responsibility to make sure that happens. The agent is an adviser and a negotiator, nothing more. The agent isn't the decision-maker, the player is.

Last weekend Mitch Kupchak admitted he was growing frustrated with Odom and his agent, and at the time didn't like his chances of being able to re-sign Odom, although he had hoped for a resolution 'in a couple of days.' Well those couple of days have come and gone, and no resolution has been reached, unless you count the retraction of the two offers the Lakers way of saying, ' we have reached a resolution.'

The Lakers say they will be more than willing to re-open negotiations, but Odom and his agent will have to come to them, and the two offers pulled yesterday are no longer on the table. Any new offers made by the Lakers could very well be for less than those retracted yesterday.

This all has an eerie similarity to the Dodgers situation with Manny Ramirez this past spring, doesn't it? I would guess the Lakers have grown tired of the lack of communication from the Odom Camp, and are ready to move on. It also appears obvious the Lakers have no intention what-so-ever of getting into a bidding war with themselves, as there are no other known offers from any other team for Odom. There does appear to be some lukewarm interest from at least four other teams (Dallas, Miami, Utah and Portland), but no serious talks have apparently taken place, and no offers have been made.

My advice to the Lakers is this: if re-signing Odom is going to hinder their chances of re-signing Pau Gasol when his contract is up in two years, I pass on Odom. Odom's a nice role player to have coming off the bench, and when he's on top of his game, and focused on the task at hand, he's one of the best players in the game. But his inconsistencies make him a liability. Gasol, to me, is a much more important piece of the puzzle for the future beyond the next two years. Let Odom walk, I say.

Stay tuned as this may get even stickier before it all irons out.

Artest Signing Official

Here is the story on the Lakers official website with an official press release. All free agent signings in the NBA can officially take place starting today as the moratorium period has concluded.

Artest will be wearing No. 37 for the Lakers in honor of Michael Jackson's album Thriller, which spent a record 37 weeks atop the Billboard 200 Albums chart in 1984 and 1985. Jackson died unexpectedly 13 days ago at the age of 50 in Los Angeles.

Shannon Brown has also officially signed a new two-year deal with the Lakers. Here is his official announcement.

Phil and L.O.

Well you knew Phil would return next season, especially if he was cleared medically. Well, it's now confirmed.

Not confirmed yet is the rumored three-year, $23-$24MM offer coming to Lamar Odom, as suggested by ESPN's Chirs Broussard. We'll find out soon enough.

Also, according to the NY Post, the Lakers, along with Orlando, have made "serious inquiries" about Knicks RFA PG Nate Robinson. The same report also says Robinson could very well just accept the Knicks one-year qualifying offer. Should the Lakers make him an offer for the Knicks to match, and the Knicks don't match it, you can almost bet Jordan Farmar will be out of the picture next season.

An Insider's Take on Artest, Plus Ariza To Houston

I just happened to be rummaging through some of the Laker blogs on the big WWW to see what was being said about the Ron Artest deal, and came across this posting by John Ireland, who covers the Lakers for KCAL 9, and is the co-host of the Mason and Ireland Show on 710 ESPN in L.A. from 10am to 2pm.

Also, in reaction to the Artest agreement, Trevor Ariza has accepted the Rockets offer of their full mid-level exception of five years, $32MM. Artest reportedly is getting part of the Lakers mid-level exception of three years and roughly $18MM. As Ireland notes, this leaves more than enough for the Lakers to re-sign Lamar Odom, a childhood friend of Artest.

Lakers Agree with Artest

According to the L.A. Times, the Daily News and CBS Sports, the Lakers and Ron Artest have agreed on a deal. The Lakers, and Kobe, have coveted Artest for several years now, and almost traded for him two seasons ago when he was traded by Sacramento to Houston. Now, they apparently have their man.

The addition of Artest will take the sting away from the possibility of losing Trevor Ariza. Ariza is said to be upset with the Lakers for the way they've handled his free agency and is now talking with Cleveland and Houston, among other teams. Meanwhile, Artest is expected to sign for the Lakers full mid-level exception, which is roughly five years and about $32MM, and should give the Lakers enough in their budget to re-sign Lamar Odom, as well.

Artest has been meeting with Jerry Buss and other members of the Lakers management team, including Phil Jackson for much of the day. His agent says an official announcement of the agreement could come later today.

Is Ariza a Goner?

According to this ESPN article just posted a bit ago, all signs point to swingman Trevor Ariza signing elsewhere, perhaps with Cleveland. The article suggests that both the Lakers and Cavs are offering just their mid-level exception for him, but Ariza is apparently not happy with the Lakers "blase attitude towards his free agency." The Rockets, Clippers, Raptors and Blazers are also said to be interested.

Stay tuned as this story continues to develop.