Vladimir Radmanovic was on Lakers radio AM570 promoting a weekend children back to school drive he was doing at Staples Center.
He also answered some questions about his mid-season lie to the lakers about how he got injured during the all-star break and also about reaction to Kobe’s media uproar.

Heres the audio:

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The Los Angeles Lakers added to the roster on Monday signing free agent forward Elton Brown. No, not Elton Brand (it might trip you up on the first read).

Brown spent last season playing for the Colorado 14ers in the NBDL where he averaged 18.4 ppg and 9.6 rpg. A year prior his was in Greece playing for Makedonikos Kozani averaging 13.3 ppg and 10.5 rpg.

Unfortunately for Brown the Lakers may not have room to keep him past training camp (barring a trade that opens up significant roster space).

With camp just a few weeks away, the Lakers have 17 players under contract (a recent report that second round pick Sun Yue had signed proved to be incorrect).

The following is an approximate depth chart (that will certainly change as the team nears opening night):

PG: Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar/Javaris Crittenton
SG: Kobe Bryant/Mo Evans/Sasha Vujacic/Coby Karl
SF: Luke Walton/Vladimir Radmanovic
PF: Lamar Odom/Ronny Turiaf/Brian Cook/Elton Brown
C: Andrew Bynum/Kwame Brown/Chris Mihm/Larry Turner

Although it would appear the depth is light at small forward, the Lakers can easily have Bryant, Evans and/or Odom play heavy minutes at the three if needed.

The center position is also a question mark. Will Coach Phil Jackson look to start the younger Bynum? Will Brown be at full strength following offseason surgery? How effective will Mihm be after over a year off with a bad ankle?

There’s still the Bryant question to ponder. While the team fully expects him to be at camp . . . they haven’t exactly addressed the concerns he voiced early in the summer. Adding Fisher and Crittenton to the backcourt will help but on paper the Lakers do not appear to have dramatically improved.

While Plan A (Kevin Garnett) and perhaps Plan D (Yi Jianlian) are officially dead and buried, Plan B (Jermaine O’Neal) and Plan C (Ron Artest) are still theoretical possibilities.

While there’s always the chance LA gets some kind of deal done before the season starts, at this point it would appear to be unlikely.

Should Bryant chose to continue his protest by skipping Media Day (or the like) . . . the Lakers will simply hold fast. They aren’t interested in dealing him.

While LA may not be among the elite teams they do boast Bryant, Jackson and reasonable depth at every position. How effective they’ll be as a team is difficult to anticipate.

They’ve got a chance to near 50 wins if healthy though the ceiling would appear to be the second round of the playoffs if they draw a favorable match up.

If they face the same level of adversity they did last season . . . the story may not end so gracefully.

Pincus, Erik. “Lakers: Elton Brown Signs.” Hoopsworld.com 17 SEP 2007 .

Here’s some recent video of Kobe’s trip to Manila, Philippines for his Nike promotion tour. You can see clips from Kobe giving fans an hour workout and going over fundamentals and shots.

Very loud background noise, you get a sense of how big Kobe is abroad.

enjoy.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Coach Phil Jackson agrees with Kobe Bryant — the Los Angeles Lakers need help.

“Kobe and I are very much in collusion in that we want to have an opportunity and we want this team to have an opportunity to succeed,” said Jackson, inducted Friday night into the Basketball Hall of Fame. “And one of Kobe’s complaints is to improve the talent and give him the teammates he can compete with. I’m in collusion with him on that.

“We’ve made some changes this summer. I think we still have to make changes to help us out.”

Bryant criticized the Lakers’ front office last May and asked for a trade. He later appeared to soften his stance, but hasn’t addressed the issue much lately, so it’s unclear if the two-time scoring champion still wants to leave the only NBA team he has played for.

The Lakers have re-signed center Chris Mihm and forward Luke Walton and added guard Derek Fisher during the offseason. Mihm was sidelined last season with an ankle injury.

The Lakers had hoped to land Kevin Garnett, but Minnesota traded him to the Boston Celtics.

The Lakers haven’t won a playoff series since 2004, when they appeared in the NBA finals for the fourth time in five years. They were 42-40 last season to finish seventh in the Western Conference, and lost to Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.

Before leaving Los Angeles for the induction ceremony, Jackson told radio station KLAC he felt misled by a member of the Buss family.

“We were promised by Jim Buss we’d have big changes. We’ve yet to see that,” Jackson said. “We’re still looking for that. And we still are looking for that big boost in our team. So we hope we still have one more (move) in us to include a player that really can play … the kind of role that you have to have to win in this game, someone who can (score) and play defense and do the things on the floor to help us win.”

Buss, a vice president, is the son of Jerry Buss, who has owned the team since 1979. The Lakers have won eight championships since that time.

Jackson, who turns 62 later this month, denied a report that he was considering retirement. He has one year remaining on the three-year, $30 million contract he signed in 2005.

“I have an outstanding offer to return,” he said. “I’m going to see where my health holds up and that’s basically where I’m at. It’s important for me to be active.”

Jackson underwent his second hip replacement surgery in June.

While the Lakers expect Bryant to join them Oct. 1 when they travel to Hawaii for the start of training camp, he hasn’t been clear with his plans.

“There’s some recoup that has to be done between Kobe and his teammates,” Jackson said. “When he gets back from Asia, hopefully they’ll sit down together and talk about that.”

AP. “Jackson, Bryant on the same page regarding Lakers’ talent.” Associate Press 09 07 2007 09 07 2007

Laker’s general manager Mitch Kupchak was on Los Angeles am570 radio today.

The main topics discussed were if that management felt the need to please Kobe Bryant, due the comments made this summer about him being unhappy with the current Laker team, and the recent media buzz saying that he may not report to training camp. Mitch Kupchak replied that he doesn’t feel that Kobe will not report to training camp, and every player under contract will be in Hawaii this summer. Also he emphasized that the whole organizations goal is to build the team around Kobe Bryant.

Other topics discussed in the interview were his thoughts on Chris Mihm and Derek Fisher returning this season, the western conference competition, and about Phil Jackson renewing his coaching contract.

Here is the podcast audio from the interview:

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Lakers head coach Phil Jackson will be inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend.

He was on the Los Angeles am570 sport radio show, loose cannons this afternoon. Some of the key topics discussed in the interview were whether he has involvement in the off season decisions that the Lakers make this summer. He stated that he did and went on to talk about the resignings of key players like Chris Mihm, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton.

Phil emphasized that Mihms rehab was a lengthy process, and he has worked really hard to get back to where he should be. When talking about Derek Fisher, he said that he was one of his favorite players. And Luke Walton is an example of team basketball, and has taken him as a son.

When asked if Lamar Odom’s play was a disappointment since he’s been a Laker, Phil said that he has told Lamar on many occasions that he loves having him on the team. He believes that he is a very compassionate teammate and respects everybody. The one thing that made a lot of sense was when he said that often people expectations of Lamar’s game play is a total misrepresentation of what it really is. Phil really believed that last season could have been Lamar’s best performing season, but was halted to reaching that due to multiple injuries.

Phil said he never thought he would make a good head coach, and actually took the job as an assistant by default. But took the liberty to put himself in situations where he could learn the discipline of being a head coach, like coaching basketball in Puerto Rico.

The question of Andrew Bynum came later on in the interview. Matt “Money” Smith asked, “what do you think of Andrew Bynum?”
Phil replied, “I think he is a great talent……but he is still a kid.” He went on to say that he is under a lot of pressure to produce highly this season, especially since being mentioned by the media in trade talks for seasoned veterans and all star players like Jermaine Oneal. Phil believes he has the potential to be an all star caliber player, but that is yet to be seen.

Here is the full podcast of the interview, enjoy and let me know your thoughts:

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