10/30/19

By: @OOSSports

‘I like my rings the hard way…’ Kobe Wouldn’t Come Out Of Retirement For A Guaranteed Ring

Regarded as one of the greatest and fiercest competitors to lace em’ up, Laker legend Kobe Bryant stated Tuesday during his appearance on the Ledlow & Parker podcast that he would never come out of retirement and join a super-team in pursuit of a another championship. Bryant said he would rather earn his rings.

“I like my rings the hard way,” Bryant said “I like fighting for them and earning them. I don’t like jumping to the easier route, so I wouldn’t take it.”

Anyone who has ever heard of Kobe knows about his “Mamba Mentality” and his absolutely legendary work ethic (and that’s an understatement). Kobe would show up at the gym for 7:00 AM practices 2 hours earlier, at 5:00 AM. Legend also has it that during his high school practices, he would force his teammates stay and play one-on-one games to 100 points. This mentality stayed the same when he got drafted, former Lakers player and head coach Byron Scott said he once found an 18-year old Bryant shooting in the dark two hours before practice.

Whether these are shots at players who have joined up to form super-teams or not, we don’t know. We DO know that Shaq said this about Kobe in the locker-room, “You’d walk in there and he’d be cutting and grunting and motioning like he was dribbling and shooting — except there was no ball. I thought it was weird, but I’m pretty sure it helped him.” The best compliment of them all had to be when his idol Michael Jordan said, “Kobe had done that work to deserve the comparison. He says Kobe’s the only one to have done the work.”

10/25/19

By: @OOSSports

Lakers: Rondo will Split PG Duties with LeBron

Even though LeBron started the opener at Point Guard, Rajon Rondo is a quality PG option as well, who can be used when Coach Vogel feels like the team needs to switch it up and try different rotations putting LeBron at forward.

After Thursday’s practice, Coach Vogel had this to say about his veteran point guard, “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I think he’ll be in the starting lineup a lot,” referring to Rondo. “I definitely envision a lot of games where he’ll be the starting point guard.” Vogel stated.

The Laker’s still must figure out exactly how much “a lot” means, Vogel went on and also said that it could mean just 10 starts for Rondo. The idea is to find matchups that make make sense for Rondo and that will help the Lakers not have to be so dependent on LeBron to set up the team.

LeBron started at PG, guards Avery Bradley and Danny Green started at the two and three, along with AD at the four and McGee at the five. The veteran point guard Rondo did not appear in the Lakers’ season-opening loss vs. the LA Clippers, sidelined with a sore calf, and the offense was sloppy. The Lakers shot 43.5 percent as a team from the field and had 14 giveaways to only 20 assists.

Rondo said he first started to feel some pain in his calf the day before the Lakers’ last preseason game vs Golden State. Rondo was able to participate during Thursday’s practice at “full speed” and “didn’t look impaired at all,” said Vogel, but his chances to play in tonight’s game against the Jazz are yet to be determined.

“He looked really good,” Vogel said. “He looked fresher than everybody else. A little bounce in his step, which is good. But, you know, it’s not how he feels today, it’s how he feels after today’s workload. Right? So we’ll see how he responds to what he’s doing today and make that decision tomorrow.”

Bradley was able to impress the coaching staff when he got to run with the starting unit during the preseason, sources told ESPN, dropping 18 points on an effective 7-for-9 shooting in the Lakers’ dominant 126-93 preseason win over the Warriors on Oct. 16. With Rondo not available, the next choice was to insert Bradley into the lineup which we may see more of, depending on how much Rondo starts at PG.

James finished with only 18 points, going a poor 7-19 from the floor. He also added 10 rebounds and 8 assists vs the Clippers. James played his worst minutes in the 4th, only making one shot on four attempts and committing 3 turnovers in the last frame.

James focused on targeting Anthony Davis in the post much of the game, something that worked for the offense but became less-effective as the game played out. With this being said, I’m more than confident that this duo will be nearly unstoppable once they learn how to play together more effectively. Plus, it was Davis’s first official game as a Laker.

“I think if there’s one thing that stands out, is when they started bringing soft help in the post, we didn’t respond to that well enough in terms of our spacing,” Vogel said about his team. “There’s simple counters, and if they’re going to sit in AD’s lap, with the shooters that we have out there, we should be shooting open 3s, if we’re spaced appropriately in those situations.”

Rondo, the 21st pick in the 2006 draft, is now entering his 13th campaign. Last year, he averaged 9.2 points on 40.5% shooting (35.9% from 3) with 8 dimes and 5 boards in his first season in LA. He stated that a starting role on the team is not something he is worried about.

“My preference is what coach Vogel wants me to do,” he said. “I’ll be cool with that.”

Vogel said there still could be games where Rondo comes off the bench and Bradley starts, depending on matchups.

10/21/19

By: @OOSSports

What you didn’t know about “The Crossover”

If you are an avid follower of the NBA, you have probably seen the legendary play of AI crossing up MJ countless amount of times. What you probably didn’t know, are the events that lead up to the infamous play. You will not believe what happened about a month before this iconic moment in NBA history.

Growing up, Iverson was obsessed with MJ and the 90’s Bulls. Who wasn’t? But his love and passion for the Bulls was on a whole different level, he wanted to be Michael Jordan. He called himself MJ’s number one fan, and would stand as close as possible to the TV when MJ was playing to the point that his mother said she was afraid of him possibly going blind. When he saw MJ lose to the Knicks and the Pistons, he would apparently sit their and weep. He would get so angry when Jordan lost that the behavior started to annoy his father, who apparently would tell his son, “Why are you crying over him? You don’t even know that guy!”

Deep down inside, Iverson felt like he did know him though, “It felt like he was a part of me.” The Georgetown product went on to go as the #1 overall pick in the draft to the Philadelphia 76ers and his impact was immediately noticed. In just his very first game against the Bucks, AI put up an impressive 30 points showing that he belonged in the league.

His second NBA game had a much different atmosphere and vibe, as he found himself playing against his hero MJ and the reigning champion Chicago Bulls on November 2nd, 1996. Iverson was in complete shock when he first saw Jordan step on the hardwood. He described that first encounter by saying that, “He really didn’t look human, he didn’t look like he was real to me at all, he looked like he was glowing!” He even got to see Jordan receive his 4th ring before the game. Iverson knew he still had a job to do, but unfortunately he did not play as good as he had to start the season as the Bulls easily blew out the 76ers as not much was said between the two.

On December 21st, 1996 the Bulls were in town. This time Iverson played his childhood hero for the second time. He played much better this time, dropping 32 points to MJs 31. AI’s scoring effort was not enough and the result was the same, with the Bulls easily coming out on top. Not much was said once again. This time Michael Jordan expressed his thoughts on the rookie, saying AI was confident and was relatively complementary of Iverson saying he liked his attitude and skill set but still needed improvement. As the season went on, the Bulls continued to dominate and Iverson continued to make his case for rookie of the year.

When the 1997 All-Star game came along, that is when he met his idol. For AI, the experience is definitely not what he wanted or expected it to be. Iverson was preparing to play in the rookie game at All-Star weekend, and suddenly he crossed paths with MJ. Right after they made eye contact, Jordan simply said, “What’s up, you little b***h?” Clearly, Iverson was very confused so he immediately tried to shake it off by saying, “Alright man.” When Iverson was a teenager growing up, he used to tell his friends and family, “If I get the greatest player to ever play the game on me, i’m gonna try my move on him!”

After MJ called him a “little b***h”, it is safe to say he was going to try to get him the very next time they faced off. On March 12th, 1997, he got his shot. With Jordan’s words still fresh in Iverson’s head, you could tell he was on a mission that night and was not backing down to anyone. Throughout the game, MJ and AI were both getting buckets, but they never guarded each other until Jordan hit an and-one layup on Iverson. Moments later, AI got the last laugh, and a laugh that would be heard for many years to come. Allen Iverson got his shot to try his best move on the greatest player in the world, and it worked.

Iverson went on to share with us, “All I saw was him and I just backed up, gave him a little one and he went for it. And I was like oh yeah, I got his ass now!” He also said after the game that he knew it was a good move, but he really didn’t know how big of a deal it was until little kids would come up to him and say, “Hey, are you the guy that crossed Jordan?” Then, it hit him that he did something special. Years later, Iverson was at a Hornets game and Michael Jordan invited him to sit with him in his box as Allen Iverson expressed his admiration for his childhood hero telling him how much he loved him. Jordan apparently responded, “You don’t love me! You wouldn’t have crossed me like that if you loved me!” The two apparently remain great friends to this day and have a great deal of respect for one another. They say to never meet your idol, but I guess that doesn’t apply to AI.