Vlade Has A Posse
VHP is LA
Archive for March, 2008
March 30, 2008 at 1:36 am · Filed under Uncategorized
In the 2000-2001 season, despite being canned prior to the playoffs, Isaiah Rider led the Lakers in bench scoring with 7.6 ppg. Fast-forward seven years, and the 37 year-old retired baller is in trouble with the law yet again.
The 37-year-old Rider was driving a car that failed to stop at an intersection about 2:30 a.m. in the city’s Skid Row district, Officer Norma Eisenman said.
Officers checking the license plates discovered the car had been reported stolen from South Los Angeles, and Rider was arrested, police said.
He remained in the Los Angeles County jail on $25,000 bail, according
to information on the Web site for the county Sheriff’s Department.
So, for those keeping track at home, here is a chronology of Rider’s transgressions with the law:
1992: Rider was arrested for throwing a milkshake in the face of a Jack in the Box drive-through attendant on the campus of UNLV.
1995: Rider kicked the female manager of a sports bar and was ultimately convicted of fifth-degree assault.
1996: Rider was arrested for possession of marijuana. At the time of his arrest, he was also in possession of an illegal cell phone that had been hacked to charge calls to someone else’s bill
1996: Rider was arrested for gambling in public in Oakland.
2006: Rider was arrested on kidnapping charges after forcing a female friend into his car. Rider was charged with domestic violence and ordered to stay out of Marin County, Ca.
2006: Rider was spotted and confronted by an officer in Marin County a few weeks following his court order. While fleeing, Rider struck a vehicle.
2006: Rider was arrested in Alameda County after judges issued three bench warrants. Rider pled guilty to cocaine possession and evading an officer, among others; he was sentenced to seven months in jail, 120 hours community service and three years’ probation.
January 6, 2008: Rider was arrested on a no-bail warrant for unlawful firearm possession and separate $5,000 warrant for grand theft after a confrontation with a taxi driver in Berkeley.
March 5, 2008: Rider was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled narcotic substance, disobeying a court order, evading a peace officer, providing false information to a peace officer, and driving on a suspended license.
March 29, 2008: Rider was arrested in South Central, Los Angeles after failing to stop in an intersection. The vehicle was later found to be stolen.
“[Earlier this month], he told the court his life had spun out of control.” That’s the truth.
Ex-NBA player Rider arrested [SI.com]
Isaiah Rider [Wikipedia]
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March 29, 2008 at 12:37 am · Filed under Uncategorized
On January 4, I wrote a post on one of the best Lakers box scores of the season. Javaris Crittenton had 19, Andrew Bynum and D-Fish had 17, Jordan Farmar had 16, Kobe and Ronny Turiaf had 15, and Trevor Ariza had 11.
Well, tonight was probably the worst box score of the season. Not only did the Lakers get clowned by the 19-53 Grizzlies, but they did it in classic 2004-2005 season fashion. For those of you that haven’t seen the headlines, Kobe scored 53 points, his 23rd 50+ game of his career. I knew something bad was brewing when Kobe scored 10 of the team’s first 10 points, and Joel Meyers said something to the effect of "The Grizzlies have a one-point lead over Kobe" (please note the "something to the effect." I don’t remember the exact context, nor do I care to). Kobe had next to no offensive support tonight. Sasha Vujacic was the second-leading scorer with 14 points on 4-14 from three. Jordan Farmar put up 11, and I’ll let the screenshot speak for the rest of the guys. The Lakers lacked on the other side of the ball as well. Ira Newble got the DNP-CD tonight. I think that Newble’s defensive skill-set just might have been a factor in the three-point loss.
If there was anything good to come from tonight’s game, it would have to be Kobe’s demeanor. After racking up his 14th and 15th technical fouls on Wednesday, Kobe didn’t appear to have openly complained once tonight. That’s the way it should be. Today, sports talk radio was saturated with talk about how he has whined more this season than others in the past. He had a pretty stand-up outing tonight; I can respect that.
In the end, stand-up outings aren’t going to get wins. The Lakers are 4-4 since Gasol’s injury. As noted in my post earlier today, Pau could be back for Sunday’s match-up against Washington. He did an interview during the game with Patrick O’Neal and stated that his status is pending on how Saturday’s practice goes.
Stat of the night: The Lakers are 16-7 in games in which Kobe scores 50+.
Grizzlies 114, Lakers 111 [Fox Sports]
Taking a look at one of the best Lakers’ box scores in quite some time [VHP - 1/4/08]
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March 28, 2008 at 3:06 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
With a 13 point loss to the Bobcats and Kobe’s anger management issues fresh in the minds of Laker Nation, here’s some potentially good news.
Today, Lakers.com posted a video documenting Andrew Bynum’s rehab process.
If you don’t have three minutes to blow on, basically, music video of a dude working out, here’s a synopses:
"On Monday, Andrew continued to workout the knee through a series of of
weight-training exercises aimed at strengthening the area where the
injury occurred. The center also ran for several minutes on the team’s
Alter-G treadmill that simulates low gravity situations. Since the
machine controls what percentage of body weight a player runs on, it is
less physically demanding for an athlete returning from an injury."
The knee has had 11 weeks of healing, and from the looks of thing in the video the recovery is going smoothly.
The high point of the video was finally getting to see this $75,000 treadmill that we’ve been hearing about for the past few months.
Inside Andrew Bynum’s Rehab [Lakers.com]
Also, after reports of Pau Gasol’s return being pushed back to Wednesday, the LA Times is reporting:
"Center Pau Gasol might return Sunday against Washington after a pain-free day with his sprained left ankle.
He did some one-on-one drills Thursday with assistant coach Kurt Rambis
at the team’s training facility. Some post moves still bothered him
when he made quick turns, but he felt "pretty good," he said. "I’ll
just wait until probably Saturday to go through a full practice, see
how it feels."
Latest Kobe stopper could be whistle away [LA Times]
Finally, Kwame Brown will make his return to Staples tonight. Kwame hasn’t seen minutes in the Grizzlies’ last four games, but when he does, he’s good for anywhere from 0 to 8 points — 8 being his high since the trade. On the other hand, Javaris Crittenton might be factor of sorts in this game. Since the trade, J-Critt’s high is 22 points and he’s seen increased playing time in the past couple of games. Regardless, I’m excited to see Crittenton ball again… AND, I’m more excited to see the greeting Kwame gets
IF he manages to sneak into the game.
Grizzlies at Lakers [Fox Sports]
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March 23, 2008 at 1:11 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Los Laguneros contra Los Guerreros — Domingo. Domingo. Domingo.
That’s right.
Tomorrow is Noche Latina en La Ciudad. We’ve seen a few teams rock the “Los” in front of their respective name, and the Lakers will be the next. The occasion goes hand in hand with the 7th annual ‘Fiesta Lakers’ at the L.A. Convention Center. Aside from that, I can’t find any other info.
The feedback on the jersey is mixed. From an aesthetics standpoint, I think the ‘Los’ looks too crammed up there. From a culture standpoint, I think it’s wrong to criticize the jerseys (unless you pull the “monetary ploy by the NBA card”). According to Wikipedia, the Hispanic and/or Latino demographic makes up 46.5% of Los Angeles’ population, plus Latino art and culture plays a big role in what makes Los Angeles Los Angeles.
My understanding is that the Warriors will don the famous “The City” unis. That’s kind of unfortunate. “Los Warriors” would have been interesting.
Los Lakers Jerseys Coming Sunday [The Lakers Nation]
Lakers Store Items [Lakers.com]
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March 21, 2008 at 9:22 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I guess it was the 11 hours I spent in front of the tourney today, but I missed this:
Press Release: The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent forward Ira Newble to a
10-day contract, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch
Kupchak.
Newble, currently in his eighth NBA season, most recently played for
the Cleveland Cavaliers and Seattle Supersonics, averaging 4.2 points,
2.7 rebounds and 15.5 minutes in 43 combined games this season,
including 13 starts. [Lakers.com]
We talked about this about a week ago, and sure enough, the Lakers pulled the trigger this morning. Sounds good to me. The guy is a solid defender and that’s what the Lakers were looking for.
(more after the game)
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March 21, 2008 at 9:16 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Adam Morrison, watching the Zags getting dropped by Davidson, isn’t letting a season-ending torn knee ligament get in the way of his hair.
If I could proclaim a picture as the "picture of the first round," this would be it… without a doubt.
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March 21, 2008 at 11:32 am · Filed under Uncategorized
[10:17am] After spending all day yesterday budgeting my time between important work and school related things and zoning into the opening rounds of the tourney (the best two days in sports), it feels really good to have today off. I’ve got a packed day of nothing but pizza and basketball. You get to join me.
[10:22am] Here’s what’s on the viewing palette for me today ( CBS KFMB - San Diego):
Window #1
Davidson - Gonzaga | 9:25am
Window #2
San Diego - UCONN | 12:00pm
Window #3
Oregon - Mississippi St | 4:25pm
Window #4
Arkansas - Indiana | 6:40pm
…and we can’t forget about Sonics @ Lakers at 7:30pm.
[10:25] My bracket stayed fairly intact yesterday. So far, I’m 14 of 16. I had BYU beating A&M, and for some stupid reason, I had George Mason beating Notre Dame. Other than that I’m perfect. I called that K-State game. I called it.
[10:29] All of the games are at halftime (i snooze buttoned it through most of the first half of the window one games… how sweet is it to set your alarm for basketball??), sans the (2)Tennessee v. (15)American game, where American is pushing the Vols in what should be a fun second half for us.
[10:35] My picks for the morning window are: Davidson over Gonzaga, Tennessee over American, Miami over St. Mary’s, and Drake over Western Kentucky.
[10:39] This is shaping out awesomely. ALL of the games right now are close. Gonzaga 47, Davidson 42. Tennessee 37, American 34. St Mary’s 32, Miami 27. Western Kentucky 47, Drake 38. With the scores right now, I’ll win 1/4 morning games. terrific.
(live updates throughout the day)
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March 18, 2008 at 7:15 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Before your brackets go final in one day, 15 hours, 23 minutes, and 20 seconds (as of right now), you just might want to consider one more thing. Travel.
I know, travel distances and home court advantage situations in the tourney often get the nit-picky tag, but we all know that home court advantage can mean a ton.
Ryan Tate with Pro Dunk Hoops (apparently they sell basketball hoops) has created the NCAA Geo-Tournament Project, described as “an ongoing project that seeks to identify geographic trends during the NCAA’s Division I Mens basketball tournament.”
It might just be the stat-geek in me, but I really find this useful.
Here is some of the stuff that he’s found:
Teams closest to home base throughout tournament
1. The University of Texas(2) fans must travel an average of 221 miles
to each venue
2. The University of Texas Arlington(16) fans must travel an average of
263 miles to each venue
3. The University of Memphis(1) fans must travel an average of 422 miles
to each venue
Shortest Trips to the Final Four
1. The University of Memphis(1) - 716 miles
2. Mississippi State University(9) - 800 miles
3. Austin Peay State University(15) - 884 miles
Longest Trips to the Final Four
1. The University of Arizona(10) - 4780 miles
2. University of San Diego(13) - 4734 miles
3. Baylor University(11) - 4068 miles
Shortest first leg
North Carolina University(1) - 20 miles
Longest first leg
Cornell University(14) - 2306 miles
Travel isn’t something that most people consider when filling out their bracket — especially in the early rounds. Just throwing it out there.
Happy Tourney everyone!
NCAA Geo-Tournament Project [Pro Dunk Hoops}
March 14, 2008 at 7:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Ugh.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Pau Gasol sprained his left ankle and needed
help limping off the court in the first quarter of the Los Angeles
Lakers’ game against the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.
Gasol was running into the lane looking for a potential offensive
rebound when he appeared to step on teammate Vladimir Radmanovic’s foot.
Gasol
came up lame, favoring his left leg, as the Hornets took the ball the
other way, then was helped to the locker room after New Orleans scored
and the Lakers called timeout.
Lakers officials said the 7-foot
starting center, who is averaging 19.2 points and 8.6 rebounds this
season, would not return to the game. [Fox Sports]
But,
NEWS ON PAU- X Rays are negative. So that’s good news. [LA Times Lakers Blog]
I have to run, but I’ll hook up some updates tonight.
This is definitely not a good start to the roadie…
March 13, 2008 at 1:21 am · Filed under Uncategorized
“The Los Angeles Clippers today signed free
agent guard William “Smush” Parker. Per team policy, terms of the deal
were not released.”
There you have it. In lieu of Sam Cassell’s buyout, the Clipps signed Smush Parker — a real classy dude.
In nine games with the Heat this season, Smush averaged 4.8 points, 1.7 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game. Smush also happened to (reportedly) injure a 41 year-old female valet attendant over a $12 fee this past November.
That said, Smush makes his triumphant return to the glitz where, for two seasons with the Lakers, he put up a little over 11 ppg. Despite my harsh words for Parker, this isn’t a bad move by the Clippers by any means. They’re a team facing a big rebuild (considering the rumors), and he’s a semi-proven guy with adequate experience.
Clippers Sign William “Smush” Parker [Clippers.com]
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