Lakers in the News: 9/7/12: Social-media wars, NBA style: Lakers No. 1 team

 
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:45 am    Post subject: Lakers in the News: 9/7/12: Social-media wars, NBA style: Lakers No. 1 team

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Social-media wars, NBA style: Lakers No. 1 team

The Lakers ... bigger than the NBA?

Of course it only feels that way if you live in L.A.

The most-recent social media rankings -- and don't we all just love polls? -- are available for viewing on the website sportsfangraph.com.

But a quick snapshot is a telling one. The Lakers' Twitter feed (@Lakers) has the most followers among NBA teams, as does its Facebook page, 2.7 million and 14.6 million, respectively.

Orlando is No. 2, in terms of Twitter followers, with 1.08 million. The Bulls' Facebook page is second at 6.98 million fans.

Dwarfing all, naturally, is the massive NBA presence ... The Logo (@nba), which has 5.9 million Twitter followers. Sportsfangraph.com uses a combination of several NBA-related Twitter feeds for its number.

The Clippers have 161,548 Twitter followers and 516,817 Facebook fans.

Moving over to the soon-to-be locked out NHL....

The Kings land slightly ahead of the middle of the pack in the league with 170,918 Twitter followers and 316,413 Facebook fans. The Ducks have 74,311 and 197,122, respectively.

For the sake of comparison, Montreal's Twitter feed has 319,549 followers, leading all NHL teams, and the Red Wings' Facebook page has the most fans among league clubs, at 1.32 million.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:27 am    Post subject:

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It takes a while, but Jamaal Wilkes gets his due

Jamaal Wilkes always knew this day would come. He never lost faith he would one day be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He just wasn't so sure if he would actually be around to see it.

"I was hopeful that it would come while I was still alive," Wilkes said Thursday night from Springfield, Mass., where he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday. "I wanted to enjoy it."

Wilkes retired from the NBA in 1985 and is only now receiving accolades for a 12-year professional career and a college career so impressive that UCLA Bruins coach John Wooden once singled him out as his ideal player.

The Los Angeles Lakers will retire Wilkes' No. 52 jersey on Dec. 28, 27 years after he officially retired from the NBA. On Jan. 17, UCLA will retire Wilkes' No. 52 jersey, nearly 40 years after he helped the Bruins win back-to-back national championships.

"I knew once I got into the Hall of Fame my jersey would be retired. Although I knew that intellectually, emotionally the fact that the Lakers are going to retire my jersey along with all those great players I watched and played with, I still haven't grasped that yet. I haven't grasped UCLA yet either."

One of the reasons it took the Hall of Fame nearly three decades to grasp the greatness of Wilkes' career is because he was often overshadowed by some great players he will now join in Springfield, and in the rafters of Staples Center and Pauley Pavilion.

The greatest games of Wilkes' career came on the biggest stages, usually resulting in a championship, but also coinciding with a bigger name having a legendary game that rendered his performance a footnote to history.

Wilkes' signature performance came during Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals when he had 37 points and 10 rebounds to help lead the Lakers to a championship over the Philadelphia 76ers.

That game was, of course, also one of the greatest games of Magic Johnson's career, as he started at center in place of the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, played all five positions, and finished with 42 points and 15 rebounds and 7 assists.

"That was probably the best game I've ever played, certainly in my top three," Wilkes said. "I think they were already expecting a Game 7 and overlooking us in Game 6. Without Kareem, we wanted to play faster, but we all had to rebound and we all had to chip in and get the ball off the glass. We knew it was going to be an up-tempo game. It was the only game I ever played in where I attempted 30 shots."

Wilkes won three of his four championships with the Lakers and was the team's second-leading scorer behind Abdul-Jabbar from 1978 to 1983. He won his first championship as a rookie with the Golden State Warriors in 1975 when he was named the Rookie of the Year and was second to Rick Barry in scoring. He was a three-time All-Star and twice selected to the NBA all-defensive second team.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:04 am    Post subject:

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Dwight Howard appears at VMAs in LA

Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard made a brief appearance at the MTV's Video Music Awards show on Thursday, presenting host Kevin Hart with his jersey. Howard thanked the crowd for making him feel welcome in Los Angeles. As fans were laughing at Howard's jersey on Hart, the 5-2 comedian quipped to the 6-11 center: "That's funny to you? Let’s see if it’s funny when Kobe don’t pass you the ball."


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:21 am    Post subject:

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3 smaller questions looming large for the Lakers

1. How much responsibility is Devin Ebanks ready to handle?

The biggest positional question mark in the Lakers' rotation is at small forward.

Metta World Peace is set up well to succeed this year, given how little defensive attention he'll receive (he could set a record for completely uncontested jumpers) and the incredibly linear nature of his role (find the best wing player on the other team and defend him). Still, he turns 33 early in November and while his performance improved over the course of last season -- mostly because he got his body together -- overall his game has trended the wrong way. MWP is closer to the end than the beginning, and will be watched closely for more decline. Behind him on the depth chart is Ebanks, who had some quality moments last year (Game 1 against Denver, for example) but overall played very, very little.

With Matt Barnes gone, Ebanks is in line for a meaningful role in the rotation. Not just for a few games at a time, as it was last season, but on a night in, night out basis.

The Lakers aren't totally dependent on the third year player from West Virginia. Last season, they didn't have a real backup 2 guard, but this year they have picked up Jodie Meeks. If Meeks performs, Kobe can suck up more time at the 3, as well. But the goal is to limit Bryant's minutes, not figure out ways he can paper over potential weaknesses. Consistent performance from Ebanks not only would provide the Lakers an athlete on the wing and greater lineup flexibility, but also help preserve Kobe's legs.

He's a serious, hard-working kid who wants to be good, but should Ebanks step into a regular role in the rotation, he'll have a lot to prove.

2. How much production can the Lakers expect out of their backup PG's?

Nash represents a massive upgrade for the Lakers over last year's starting PG's -- for this analysis I get paid -- but turns 39 in February and at the very least the Lakers prefer he not play more (certainly not significantly more) than the 31.6 minutes a night he averaged in 2011-12. Obviously, the play of his backups influences that equation. Thanks to improvements in the starting five and additions of Jamison and Meeks, whether you're talking Steve Blake or Chris Duhon, neither will be expected to bring big production off the bench. Good thing, because in the last two seasons neither has posted a PER north of 9.0. Last season, Duhon tied for the second worst turnover rate among point guards, an improvement over the year before, when he was first.

Blake has had less trouble taking care of the ball, but hasn't been able to knock down shots in the way everyone anticipated when he was signed a couple years back, hitting only 37.7 percent from the floor last season, including 33.5 percent from downtown, the worst he's done from there since '06-'07.

Beyond basic playmaking/offense running duties, one thing that will be at a premium for both Blake and Duhon is perimeter shooting, particularly since neither guy is adept at attacking the basket. Together, they combined for .9 shots a game at the rim last year. Traditionally Duhon has laid bricks from outside, but last year was up to 42 percent. Blake, in theory at least, is a quality 3-point shooter. Both will have opportunities to knock down open shots.

For both, it could be a matter of finding a single thing and doing it well. Duhon, for example, comes with a solid reputation defensively, another way he can contribute coming off the pine. Anything allowing Brown to resist the temptation of adding to Nash's workload is positive. From there, if Blake or Duhon make it possible to steal a few minutes here and there for Nash, the Lakers will be in even better shape.

The task isn't as difficult as last year, but both will have to step up from recent performances.

3. Does Jordan Hill perform consistently even when he's now part of the opposition's game plan?

Without question, one of the more important pieces of off-season business for the Lakers was re-upping with Hill. Without him, there would have been a large hole in the frontcourt likely impossible to fill with comparable athleticism, youth, and talent.

Looking at his time with the Lakers, Hill played a grand total of 18 garbage time minutes before his signature L.A. moment, a 14 point, 15 rebound, three block effort in the double OT win over Oklahoma City in the second-to-last regular season game of the year. It was a game nobody saw coming, including OKC, who almost surely figured he wouldn't step on the court. Hill opened the playoffs with a double-double against Denver, again taking advantage of a team more focused on L.A.'s stars than him. Hill produced two more 10-plus rebounding games in that series (including one more double-double), impressive considering the Nuggets were now looking for him and he only cracked the 25 minute mark in minutes once in seven games.

Hill didn't have the same impact in the next round against OKC, but still finished the postseason with an NBA-best offensive rebound rate of 18.9 percent.

That said, Hill is hardly a fully developed, predictable NBA quantity. Taken by the Knicks with the eighth pick in the '09 Draft, the Lakers are Hill's third team. In two of his three seasons, Hill has played 47 or fewer games, and his one full campaign ('10-'11), Hill posted his lowest PER (13.1) and total rebounding rate. That could be due to any number of factors, but is nonetheless should lift an eyebrow or two. It's reasonable to wonder if, when he's someone for whom opposing teams are prepared on a day-to-day basis, Hill has less of an impact.

Good news: Like Metta, Hill will be put in a position to succeed based in large part on the personnel around him. He'll spend a lot of time on the floor with either Howard or Gasol, and could also get a boost from Bryant and Nash. Even in a lineup without many starters, in Jamison and Meeks the Lakers have better players than last season. Bottom line, Hill should be free to do those things he does best -- hit the glass (offensive glass in particular), get after loose balls, make a block off the weak side -- while his weaknesses -- an unpolished offensive game, high foul rates -- are protected.

Still, just as last year was his first postseason experience, the 2012-13 season will be Hill's first playing a key role in the rotation of a team with very high expectations. How will he respond?


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:19 pm    Post subject:

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Lakers GM cautiously optimistic after headline-grabbing offseason

Mitch Kupchak knows stories like this one won't matter come June, when all the hype is gone and his Lakers will either be pushing toward the only goal that matters or explaining what went wrong during yet another offseason of change.

Championship-or-bust is an enviable stance to take, to be sure, a creed that only the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs have been able to realistically embrace for decades at a time. Which is why, when the Lakers' general manager agreed to speak with SI.com about the new superteam he created by adding Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, he didn't get past his first sentence before sharing the organization's unofficial mantra heading into next month's training camp: On Paper.

It's not the sexiest slogan, but they may as well mass produce the purple and gold T-shirts and get them ready for the preseason home opener against Golden State on Oct. 7. The Lakers, with a starting five for the ages in Nash, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol and Howard, will have to prove they're worthy of all this ink. And if they don't, there will be hell to pay for all the hullabaloo.

Just nine months after Kupchak was devastated by the NBA's infamous voiding of the Chris Paul trade with New Orleans and, according to one Lakers insider, even considered leaving the Lakers, both he and the Lakers are revamped and revitalized again. He weighed in on his amazing summer via phone from Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, discussing the endless possibilities of his new-look roster; how Howard and Bryant will fit together; Howard's health; his unexpected acquisition of Nash; and the pressure on coach Mike Brown as he enters the second of three guaranteed years on his contract (the fourth season is a team option with the entire deal worth about $18 million).

SI.com: The curiosity about your team is obviously through the roof even more than in most years, which is saying something for a franchise that's always front and center. I wanted to hit the rewind button and go back to last December, when the trade for Chris Paul didn't happen and then things were tough from there. To go from that to this is pretty remarkable, no?

Kupchak: On paper, we've made what we think are improvements. I think we're going to be in the hunt. I don't know if we'll lead the pack or be second in the pack or be fourth in the pack or fifth, but I think that we'll be in the hunt and we're better than we were a year ago. Is it time to celebrate? Absolutely not. You're going to have to wait a year and see how it all plays out.

Last year was a difficult year for everybody associated with the NBA. If you had your coaching staff in place, and you had your team in place, you had an advantage. Teams that made coaching changes, or made personnel changes, with the shortened season, it became difficult to play your best basketball. And then without getting into great detail, the way we started the season with the trade that had to be undone and a lot of feelings were hurt. That didn't help our coaches, who were new to Los Angeles in a strike-shortened season. But that shortened season applied to everybody.

SI.com: You've been doing this a long time [Kupchak became a Lakers assistant GM in 1986], and I know it's not a time for reflection, but in terms of the way you look at your career from a personnel standpoint, how memorable have the ups and downs of this last year been for you?

Kupchak: In our business, you really don't have a chance to look back on it. Without the benefit of playing a season or two [with this Lakers team], you really can't look at it that way. I remember we had a great summer [in 2003] when we brought in Karl Malone and Gary Payton, and we had Shaq and Kobe, and we almost got swept in the Finals [by Detroit after a 56-26 season]. The result was really a big-time change after that season [which included, among other things, the trading of Shaquille O'Neal to Miami and the departure of coach Phil Jackson]. It's really too early, and GMs have a hard time really trying to project. You really do have to wait. You're always looking ahead to what the problems may be.

There's been a lot of positive publicity surrounding this team, but I know when you lose three in a row that all of a sudden it's going to be "Break up the Lakers." And then you start to worry about injuries, and then you look around at the league and who else has made improvements. So you're never really feeling good about anything that's taken place. You just kind of keep moving ahead and then you always try to figure out what could go wrong.

SI.com: You mention the summer with Karl and Gary. Has that season become a little bit of a cautionary tale in terms of not counting your chickens before they hatch with this group?

Kupchak: Adding Karl and Payton was a big positive to this organization. The hype surrounding them coming on board, and we had a great regular-season record. But we lost in the Finals, and that's how this organization is judged. I know that's how I'm judged with ownership and the people who have grown up watching the Lakers. It's about winning a championship, not about having a great record or about losing in the conference finals or winning your division.

SI.com: Because you're obviously taking the measured approach with how you look at this team, what jumps out as far as concerns or things to watch?

Kupchak: A perfect example is that a lot of people say, "Hey, Mitch, you've got a great starting five, are you worried about anything or could you possibly wish for anything more?" And the first thing that comes to my mind is, "Yeah, I wish they were all 25." That's how I look at things. Yeah, it's a great group, but I wish they were younger.

SI.com: Specifically with Steve, and speaking of age, did you take stock in what you thought was the state of his game at his age right now [38] before doing that deal or simply look at it like, "Steve Nash at any age is better than what we've had"?

Kupchak: To be honest with you, we didn't feel it was realistic to pursue him, although we did. At 12:01 [ET on the morning of July 1, the first day of free agency], we put the call in to his representative, Bill Duffy, and I'm talking to Bill and expressing interest in Steve. I felt I had to do that because he's available. I didn't think for a second that we had a chance to get him. And then Bill says to me, "Well, Mitch, would you like to speak with him? He's with me right now." I didn't expect to speak with him at 12:01 on the evening of free agency, and after I hung up, I said to myself, "Wow, that was a great conversation but I'll probably never hear from him again." We didn't have the money, and my feeling was that New York and Toronto were front-runners. On top of that, Phoenix would not do a deal with us, so I didn't see how it was possible."

SI.com: What made it a great conversation that night?

Kupchak: I didn't expect to talk to him. It was very upbeat. He expressed admiration for our organization. I expressed my admiration for his career and what he has accomplished. It was a very pleasant and direct conversation, but he probably had five or six conversations that night like that so I didn't make much of it.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 12:57 pm    Post subject:

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Metta World Health

You guess: which Lakers player paid the closest collective attention to his diet and work out habits last season?

Kobe Bryant … right?

Maybe not.

Now don’t get me wrong – Bryant absolutely keeps himself in fantastic shape and has changed his dietary habits in the last several years in particular after his absurd metabolism carried him through a pregame routine of burgers and fries earlier in his career. He’s just not our answer in this case.

How about Steve Nash? He’s extremely well known around the league for keeping a strict diet and putting himself in the best possible shape to maintain his elite level of play after all these NBA seasons.

But it’s not the Canadian MVP, who has yet to sit down with the team’s training staff.

The answer is: Metta World Peace. Don’t look so surprised.

According to Lakers strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco, MWP is absolutely the man.

“Metta was extremely helpful for me last year because he does a great job with his nutrition and recovery habits,” DiFrancesco detailed. “He takes that stuff very seriously, and younger guys in our locker room started to see that.

“He takes it to a whole different level; he’s really in tune with a lot of high level nutrition approaches. He doesn’t just want to know what a good peanut butter is made of, but where it was made, what’s in it and how he can get a better one. He wants to really put the nutrition program together like an actual nutritionist might.”

In fact, World Peace makes a point of traveling with the right types of food that he knows fuel his body most efficiently during the season when the team is out of town. And he’s just as serious about his work outs.

“He cares about the ‘why,’ DiFrancesco continued. “Metta wants to know why we’re doing each exercise. On multiple occasions, he and I would stay after games lifting into the late hours of the night, and he’s always willing to go the extra mile. He’s very, very easy to work with.”

World Peace came into camp last season noticeably out of shape – just ask coach Mike Brown, or MWP himself – but for a reason. He’d carried some injuries out of the 2010-11 campaign, and with the lockout starting in July, was unable to work with the team’s training staff to address those problems.

Issues with his back and Achilles made it difficult for World Peace to work out as he normally does through the summer and fall, and when the season suddenly started – as a surprise to many players – in December, he wasn’t close to being ready.

“It was a product of the lockout,” said DiFrancesco. “But once he flipped the switch and got healthy, he put it all together with lifting, working out, nutrition and everything. It wasn’t rocket science, he just ate clean, worked out hard and consistently and recovered and slept the right way.”

After shooting 34 percent prior the to All-Star break, World Peace shot 43 percent afterwards, and discovered the kind of lock down 1-on-1 perimeter defending that has been the hallmark of his career.

If you’ve seen him around the team’s training facility this summer (OK, there’s no way most of you could have), you’ve noticed that he’s in fantastic shape.

“Compared to last year at this time, it’s not even close,” concluded the strength coach. “Metta told me he’s feeling on the court like he felt when he was playing for the Pacers, when he was at the top of his game athletically. It’s because he’s put his time in.

“He decided he needed to stay focused on this track and not take much if any time off. You saw it last year from a production standpoint on the court around the All Star break last year, and he’s at that level now coming in. The last thing he wanted was to come in anywhere near where he was lats year, and he’s far, far from that.”


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:05 pm    Post subject:

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Eddie Jordan, Bernie Bickerstaff, Steve Clifford set to join Mike Brown’s Lakers coaching staff

It hasn’t exactly been a secret around the NBA that Lakers head coach Mike Brown has been courting Eddie Jordan to join his staff as an assistant coach. The official hiring of Jordan, who played for the Lakers in 1980-83 and ’84, is expected to occur in the coming days — and Brown will be hiring longtime NBA sage Bernie Bickerstaff, too.

The Lakers are also adding Steve Clifford to their staff. Clifford has been an Orlando Magic assistant — with Dwight Howard — since 2007. Before that, Clifford was with the Rockets and Knicks.

Bickerstaff, 68, gave Brown his first NBA job as a Denver Nuggets intern when Bickerstaff was the general manager of the team. He was most recently an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers the past two seasons but has been a head coach in Seattle, Denver, Washington and Charlotte.

Bickerstaff’s resume begins with a job as a Washington assistant coach in 1973, when he was the league’s youngest assistant.

Jordan, 57, will bring unique offensive expertise with comprehensive knowledge of the Princeton offense. The revamped Lakers with Steve Nash and Dwight Howard will be naturally potent via pick-and-roll action, but Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol would be natural fits for the Princeton sets that are somewhat similar to Phil Jackson’s read-and-react triangle offense.

Jordan was previously head coach of the Sacramento Kings (1996-98), Washington Wizards (2004-08) and Philadelphia 76ers (2009-10).

Assistant coach Quin Snyder and coaching consultant Ettore Messina both left Brown’s staff this offseason to work with CSKA Moscow. Brown’s staff last season also included John Kuester, Chuck Person and Darvin Ham.

Clifford was a candidate to be head coach in Orlando and Portland, according to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, but didn’t get either post. His knowledge of what works and doesn’t work best for Howard should be particularly valuable to Brown.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 4:01 pm    Post subject:

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LAL Assistant Coach Roles

With Friday’s announcement of Mike Brown’s new assistant coaching staff, we took a look at where each addition might focus in the 2012-13 season:

EDDIE JORDAN:
Lakers fans may remember Jordan as a player on the 1982 title-winning team, but he’s best known as a coach in the NBA headlined by a six-year stint with the Washington Wizards from 2003-09 and for his use of the Princeton Offense. As Brown has discussed this summer, the team will be incorporating the Princeton into the rest of the offense*, and Jordan happens to be an expert who learned from its creator, Princeton’s own Pete Carril. Last season, assistant John Kuester was charged with some of the offensive system, but the team is heading down a new road to best take advantage of the personnel. Kuester has been reassigned as an advanced NBA scout and will be based on the East Coast.
*Highlighted by Steve Nash pick and rolls, and post ups for Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant as well as Metta World Peace at times.

BERNIE BICKERSTAFF:
Bickerstaff first hired Mike Brown back in 1992, Brown’s first job in the NBA as a video intern for Denver, with the inverse now occurring in 2012. Bickerstaff was the Nuggets President and GM at the time, and went on to coach the Nuggets for three seasons (1994-97), out of his 39 total years of coaching experience. Most recently, Bickerstaff was an assistant with Portland. Bickerstaff is expected to take on part of the role occupied last season by Ettore Messina – who along with fellow 2011-12 Lakers assistant Quin Snyder will be coaching CSKA Moscow next season – by looking at the big picture of the team, and not focusing on any particular area. Neither Bickerstaff nor Jordan will likely scout specific teams to set up game plans, leaving that duty for new hire Steve Clifford along with returning coaches Chuck Person and Darvin Ham.

STEVE CLIFFORD:
Having spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach in Orlando under head coach Stan Van Gundy and alongside new Lakers center Dwight Howard, Steve Clifford will step into a role for Mike Brown occupied in part by Snyder last season. In addition to setting up specific game plans for a third of L.A.’s opponents, Clifford will work with both the defense and the offense, not necessarily focusing on one or the other. His previous NBA coaching stints came as an assistant with the Knicks (2000-03) and Rockets (2003-07).

Person and Ham will continue their respective roles from last season. Person focuses more on the defensive end (plus beating players in three-point shooting contests) and Ham more like Snyder (then) and Clifford (now) on both ends while also working with the big men.


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:03 pm    Post subject:

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Lakers sign second-round draft pick Robert Sacre

Perhaps the clearest indication of the Lakers' hopes for their draft picks came earlier this week when the team signed undrafted rookies Reeves Nelson and Greg Somogyi before either of the players they had taken in the second round in June.

The Lakers finally signed Gonzaga forward-center Robert Sacre on Friday, though it was unclear if the contract was non-guaranteed and amounted to little more than an invitation to training camp.

Sacre's agent, Keith Kreiter, would not divulge the terms of the contract.

"We’re just thrilled that he signed and we think he has a great chance to make an impact this year," Kreiter said. "He feels he’s a perfect fit. He brings energy, he’s a terrific defender, he can step out [and shoot], he has a little punch to his offensive game and he's a chemistry guy.

"I think he's just thrilled to be part of the Lakers' tradition. It's one of the most storied franchises in the history of basketball. He’s old-fashioned. He loves to win, comes from a good program and he’s well-coached, so he feels like this could be a perfect fit."

Sacre, a 7-footer taken with the 60th and final selection in the draft, started all five games for the Lakers' summer league team, averaging 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 30 minutes.

He finished his career at Gonzaga ranked second all-time in school history with 186 blocks. He averaged 9.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in his career.

Darius Johnson-Odom, the Lakers' other second-round draft pick, remains unsigned.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:37 pm    Post subject:

Music to my ears.

We seriously need helps on the perimeter defense. So hopefully, MWP will provide that.



32 wrote:
Quote:
Metta World Health

You guess: which Lakers player paid the closest collective attention to his diet and work out habits last season?

Kobe Bryant … right?

Maybe not.

Now don’t get me wrong – Bryant absolutely keeps himself in fantastic shape and has changed his dietary habits in the last several years in particular after his absurd metabolism carried him through a pregame routine of burgers and fries earlier in his career. He’s just not our answer in this case.

How about Steve Nash? He’s extremely well known around the league for keeping a strict diet and putting himself in the best possible shape to maintain his elite level of play after all these NBA seasons.

But it’s not the Canadian MVP, who has yet to sit down with the team’s training staff.

The answer is: Metta World Peace. Don’t look so surprised.

According to Lakers strength and conditioning coach Tim DiFrancesco, MWP is absolutely the man.

“Metta was extremely helpful for me last year because he does a great job with his nutrition and recovery habits,” DiFrancesco detailed. “He takes that stuff very seriously, and younger guys in our locker room started to see that.

“He takes it to a whole different level; he’s really in tune with a lot of high level nutrition approaches. He doesn’t just want to know what a good peanut butter is made of, but where it was made, what’s in it and how he can get a better one. He wants to really put the nutrition program together like an actual nutritionist might.”

In fact, World Peace makes a point of traveling with the right types of food that he knows fuel his body most efficiently during the season when the team is out of town. And he’s just as serious about his work outs.

“He cares about the ‘why,’ DiFrancesco continued. “Metta wants to know why we’re doing each exercise. On multiple occasions, he and I would stay after games lifting into the late hours of the night, and he’s always willing to go the extra mile. He’s very, very easy to work with.”

World Peace came into camp last season noticeably out of shape – just ask coach Mike Brown, or MWP himself – but for a reason. He’d carried some injuries out of the 2010-11 campaign, and with the lockout starting in July, was unable to work with the team’s training staff to address those problems.

Issues with his back and Achilles made it difficult for World Peace to work out as he normally does through the summer and fall, and when the season suddenly started – as a surprise to many players – in December, he wasn’t close to being ready.

“It was a product of the lockout,” said DiFrancesco. “But once he flipped the switch and got healthy, he put it all together with lifting, working out, nutrition and everything. It wasn’t rocket science, he just ate clean, worked out hard and consistently and recovered and slept the right way.”

After shooting 34 percent prior the to All-Star break, World Peace shot 43 percent afterwards, and discovered the kind of lock down 1-on-1 perimeter defending that has been the hallmark of his career.

If you’ve seen him around the team’s training facility this summer (OK, there’s no way most of you could have), you’ve noticed that he’s in fantastic shape.

“Compared to last year at this time, it’s not even close,” concluded the strength coach. “Metta told me he’s feeling on the court like he felt when he was playing for the Pacers, when he was at the top of his game athletically. It’s because he’s put his time in.

“He decided he needed to stay focused on this track and not take much if any time off. You saw it last year from a production standpoint on the court around the All Star break last year, and he’s at that level now coming in. The last thing he wanted was to come in anywhere near where he was lats year, and he’s far, far from that.”


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