The Goat Pen

The last no trade clause in a player's contract is owned by Kobe B. Bryant...and no others are allowed.

Thanks. I guess baseball is the only one left that has those.

Speaking of that, how long is baseball's last labor contract? It seems like I've seen NBA and NFL labor agreements being hashed out at least a couple of times over the last 15 years, but I only recall one for baseball.

Not sure but right now I wish the Reds were locked out.

http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/lazenb ... -team-now/

The NBA lockout will end someday, and when it does Los Angeles Lakers fans may well find themselves wishing it hadn’t.

Fans will discover they’re witnessing the new Lakers, the ones run by Jim Buss and built to cater in every facet to seven-footer Andrew Bynum, a nice enough 23-year-old kid with a dubious medical past and an even more suspect future.

Yes, aging star Kobe Bryant will still be a part of the equation, but he was put on notice over the summer when Jim Buss hired new coach Mike Brown without so much as a brief discussion with Bryant.

The message is clear: Brown is Bynum’s coach, and the team belongs to the young center as well.

“It’s obvious that that is what’s going on,” said one longtime Lakers insider. “Jim Buss is setting up Drew.”

That process began last season when assistant Chuck Person was given the freedom to restructure the Lakers’ defense around Bynum, never mind that the club was the reigning two-time NBA champion and seemed to have a defense that already worked quite well. After all, it was last seen stuffing the Boston Celtics in the second half of Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals.

The idea of the new defense, though, was to keep Bynum closer to the basket and to require less mobility from him (perhaps to help him avoid injury).

“Everything we do now revolves around him,” Person said last spring of the team’s defensive approach. “He’s the boss.”

The defense looked strong enough during stretches late in the regular season but was exposed badly during the playoffs.

As for offense, Bynum has long made noise that he wants to be more of a priority. Brown was hired after touting his experience as an assistant coach with San Antonio’s big guns team that featured Tim Duncan on offense.

Bryant said little publicly after Brown’s hiring, but he did make it clear that he and Pau Gasol would remain the first two options in the Lakers offense.

Bynum “will have to fall in line,” Bryant has been quoted as saying.

Seems pretty clear that we’re witnessing more big pulls in an ongoing giant tug of war for the soul of the Lakers.

The struggle has been building for several years now. The only thing that kept it from coming to a showdown sooner was the success of coach Phil Jackson, whose presence in the Lakers organization kept the house in order.

With Jackson winning and with Jim Buss having messed up with his 2005 hire of coach Rudy Tomjanovich, there was no basis for replacing Jackson a second time.

But it was obvious that team owner Jerry Buss and son Jim begrudged Jackson his success every step of the way. Jerry Buss did not like paying him $12 million a season and forced Jackson to take a pay cut for his last season despite his having won two straight championships.

Jackson left town with a stinging parting remark that he had no relationship with Jim Buss.

According to Jerry Buss, son Jim now has a 90 percent say in the team’s basketball operations. That percentage may actually be higher now that Jim Buss has laid off the vast majority of the team’s scouting staff, including longtime assistant GM Ronnie Lester.

Perhaps Jim Buss would be smart to build the future around Bynum except that the young center has a troubled medical history that has never allowed him to play a full season.

It was a torn MCL that limited his play in the 2009 playoffs and a torn meniscus that did the trick in 2010. His right knee was drained repeatedly during the championship series, and Sports Illustrated reported this year that Bynum still keeps on his cellphone a picture of an 80-milliliter syringe filled with red fluid from his knee.

His size and injury history raise a strongly arched eyebrow with virtually every orthopedic doctor in the world.

Another huge unarticulated factor is that even after signing a four-year, $57.4 million contract in 2008, Bynum still lives with his watchful mother, Janet McCoy, in a house in Westchester in West Los Angeles. She has done a wonderful job raising him. By all accounts, he is an extremely bright, fully engaged young man.

But that doesn’t mean the circumstances don’t merit questions.

Tex Winter told me in 2008 that Bynum had a strange relationship apart from the rest of the team. The young center was protected by Jim Buss, who encouraged Bynum to get his own coaches because he opined that Jackson wasn’t a good coach for big men, Winter explained.

“It’s an odd situation,” Winter said at the time, noting that Bynum dealt with his medical issues mostly apart from the team’s medical staff.

It at least raises eyebrows about how much sway Bynum and his mother will have over Lakers decision making.

Jim Buss, who has no real basketball experience, has clung to Bynum as an example of his ability to recognize and draft talent with an insecurity that in some ways brings to mind former Bulls executive Jerry Krause except that Krause had spent decades working and scouting both basketball and baseball and had earned his stripes in the grind of the business.

Jim Buss hasn’t even had an office at the Lakers team offices, although that may change now.

According to one observer, it would be healthier for Bynum and the team if he were to take steps to become his own man as his 24th birthday nears in October.

On the other hand, maybe these are not such big issues. After all, the Lakers have long been prey to dramas of every variety. Maybe the players and coaches will handle this one as well as they’ve handled others in the past.

However, last year the team was consumed with behind-the-scenes issues in the playoffs. Bynum himself spoke out about the Lakers’ lack of trust. His comments were left open to interpretation by many.

One interpretation not articulated at the time was that he was in part asking teammates to trust in a defense created specifically for him.

If that was the case, his plea for trust failed miserably.

Unfortunately, the prospects don’t seem bright for trust to have a greater prognosis this time around either.

After all, Jim Buss coldly laid off many of the team’s loyal longtime employees, which had even Ronnie Lester, one of the Lakers most trusted staff shaking his head in bitter wonder.

That doesn’t exactly build a climate of trust for the team next season.

And with Jim Buss now obviously tilting the floor in Bynum’s favor, it could be quite a while before happy days return to Lakersville.


Read more: http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/lazenb ... z1RZDNfvOl

New blood. It happens.

This part...

Bryant said little publicly after Brown’s hiring, but he did make it clear that he and Pau Gasol would remain the first two options in the Lakers offense.

Bynum “will have to fall in line,” Bryant has been quoted as saying.

Was a bit disingenuous. Kobe said that during the season, before Brown was even considered for the job.

Jerry Buss wasn't a basketball guy either, so that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that Jim is an asshole idiot.

I also don't like Bynum's punk streak.

is Jim the retarded dude who accepted the trophy 2 years ago?

or was that his brother?

Bklyn wrote:This part...

Bryant said little publicly after Brown’s hiring, but he did make it clear that he and Pau Gasol would remain the first two options in the Lakers offense.

Bynum “will have to fall in line,” Bryant has been quoted as saying.

Was a bit disingenuous. Kobe said that during the season, before Brown was even considered for the job.

Jerry Buss wasn't a basketball guy either, so that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that Jim is an asshole idiot.

Brook,

Kobe reiterated that point about two weeks ago, well after Brown was hired.

I need a link to that one.

He should not do commentary, but I think he would be great doing special features. He would be a new and (much) improved Ahmad Rashad. Every player in the NBA (save a couple guards) absolutely love him.

Mike Brown as Coach

I liked this one...

One thing that did not miss his attention was the hiring of new Coach Mike Brown over the favored assistant Brian Shaw. Leave it to Artest to give the most honest of Lakers answers.

"I feel like, as a unit, we didn't do what it takes to keep Brian Shaw, and that's real disappointing," he said. "You can't forget where you're from. You can't forget what you've been through. You can't forget who helped you win a ring, who was there for you when you were frustrated or stressed out, and I've got to give credit to Brian Shaw for all of that."

However, he added, "This doesn't mean I won't love Mike Brown. But for the next couple of months, I'm going to be disappointed about Brian Shaw."

Johnette's Daddy wrote:

Bklyn wrote:This part...

Bryant said little publicly after Brown’s hiring, but he did make it clear that he and Pau Gasol would remain the first two options in the Lakers offense.

Bynum “will have to fall in line,” Bryant has been quoted as saying.

Was a bit disingenuous. Kobe said that during the season, before Brown was even considered for the job.

Jerry Buss wasn't a basketball guy either, so that's not what bothers me. What bothers me is that Jim is an asshole idiot.

Brook,

Kobe reiterated that point about two weeks ago, well after Brown was hired.

My bad - Kobe said it at his exit interview.

"I'm going to shoot the ball," he said during his exit interview. "We all know that. Pau [Gasol] is going to get his touches. So he's No. 2 in command. So [Andrew Bynum] has to fall in line with that. It's pretty simple."

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblo ... fense.html

At that point, all the speculation and what I've heard, the powers making those decisions felt like the team needed a change of culture and a new voice, and head in a new direction," Shaw said. "I thought that was kind of peculiar because in the 12 years I'd been there, all we had done was gone to the championship seven times and won five championships. I felt like there were 29 other teams in the league that would love to have that kind of culture and that kind of direction. ... But I didn't expect anything to be handed to me."

Shaw said despite his disappointment, he also understands the nature of the business and that it was time to move on.

Still, Shaw said it would have be nice to have been treated just a little differently.

"For whatever reason, there was a glitch in communication. ... I've always had a great relationship and open line of communication with (general manager) Mitch Kupchak so I don't think it came from there," Shaw said. "We've always been on good terms and are still on good terms. I understand in his position there's only so much that he can do even. He has people over his head that he has to follow directions. ... Definitely there's some room for improvement in terms of how ... people are dealt with."

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/stor ... e-brown-tv

Yeah, I can see why it would be a struggle with other GMs in the league, overall, considering the success of his disciples when they went on their own (Cleamons, Rambis even Hamblem). What I don't understand is why the Lakers organization decided to treat them all like shit. That's what frustrates me more than anything.

Anyway

Beanhead was out in Manila doing promo shit and one team in the exhibition was getting demolished by another. So, he asked for a jersey and 8 more minutes on the clock...

[youtube]PCk4sOJzlYU[/youtube]

(if he had a big man who could finish, things may have turned out differently...)

We call him Lucky Lefty (or "Left" for short), but dammit if he doesn't have tragedy pop up on him too often. So, unfortunate.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_d ... nba-wp6558