s_knight8

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sactokings16jan16,1,4066769.story?coll=la-home-sports

"I've been put on Earth for only one real purpose, to be there when we
beat the Lakers," said personnel director Jerry Reynolds, who also has
been coach and general manager. "Whatever it takes, however long it
takes, I'm here for the long haul."

"If somebody would have told me we would have the best record in the
league right now, I would have said, 'You're crazy,' " Coach Rick
Adelman said.

"I did not know what we had. We're in the same boat with some of these
other teams. We had five new players. Five of our top 10 last year
aren't here."

"That's a great offensive team," Miami Coach Stan Van Gundy said after
losing to it. "If you didn't have to play against them, they could
actually be fun to watch. From where I sit, they're actually miserable
to watch."

"For months I'd get up and just be depressed, just about the losing.
And then once I got over that, I realized how much money it cost me.
It's definitely personal." — Reynolds, on losing to the Lakers
in the 2002 Western Conference finals

"We had as good a chance as anybody," Adelman said. "I really thought
we were going to beat Dallas. They had never been able to guard Chris.
Whatever happened with the Lakers and San Antonio [in the other West
semifinal], we were right there with those teams.

"We had so many things happen and so many injuries, to win 59 games
and then get to the playoffs and suddenly, everybody was healthy. Then
to have him go down, that was a little bit difficult.

"But I wasn't as disappointed last year as I was the year before. Last
year, there were just things that were totally out of our control,
with the injuries we had and Chris going down. Our guys gave it
everything they had, we just didn't win.

"But the year before, [if] we make some free throws in the fourth
quarter [of Game 7] against the Lakers and [if] Horry misses a shot
[in Game 4] …

"That's the year I really felt we were right there. That's the one you
look back on and say, 'I guess it just wasn't meant to be.' "

"Rick's done a great job," Van Gundy said. "He's built a tremendous
offensive system around the talents of his guys. It's a very unique
system. You couldn't run it with everybody….

"It's a little bit like [Utah Coach] Jerry Sloan when he had [John]
Stockton and Malone. Because when you have good players, people
discount what you do coaching-wise.

"But it's not easy. There's a lot of guys out there who need touches
and that style of play — every time I look at it, as much as I
admire the way they play, that's a hard thing to coach. It's easy to
coach structure. It's a hard thing to coach freedom."

"It's a lot different," said Miller, now with his fourth team,
"because the offense, to be successful, you have to have that
chemistry. The way the ball moves and pops….

"It's always loose around here. I've never been in an environment
where you can be this loose and still play at such a high level. I've
been on loose teams but they're not playing at that high a level.
They're having fun but they're not able to play at that high level."

It's only January, which, the Kings understand too well, is not the
Lakers' best month. Reynolds likes to quote the old sage, Cotton
Fitzsimmons, who once told him, "I was coach of the month in January
and fired in April."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/8109895p-9042127c.html

"It never goes away," said co-owner Joe Maloof. "The sting is always
there. I want to beat the Lakers when they have all four Hall of
Famers healthy, but we'll take tonight, too. Let them know what it's
like to suffer."

"But we have to start punishing people," nudges Brad Miller, a
newcomer to this heated Kings-Lakers rivalry. "We're letting too many
teams back into games."

"We've always had situations," said Lakers general manager Mitch
Kupchak, "but the one thing we have going for us is that we try to
embrace our problems and deal with them. We try to do the right thing.
And we have stable ownership with Dr. (Jerry) Buss. We always figure
out a way to get through things, and we'll get through this as well.
None of these injuries is season-ending."

"They can beat up on us (today)," said Kupchak, chuckling, "and
hopefully we'll get in a couple blows."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/8109896p-9042125c.html

"I feel bad for them, but I don't care," Divac said of the Lakers'
woes. "We've been short-handed all year without Chris Webber."

"We have to win," he said. "There's no other way to put it. We have to
win."

But no disrespect for the media, Jackson insisted.

"Guys here just want to play the games and not have to worry about
talking to the media," he said. "We'd rather practice and go home and
chill with the family than do this."

Jackson was as surprised as his teammates Tuesday night when Kings
fans started the familiar chant of "Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!" when the
Heat game was still close. The Kings held on for a 90-86 victory.

"I was shocked," Jackson said. "You hear this, 'Beat L.A.!' and we're
about to get beat by Miami. ... It should have been, Beat Miami! But
that's how Kings fans are. It's OK to almost lose to Miami, as long as
we beat L.A. That just shows how the fans love the rivalry with L.A."

Jackson is sure to have his opportunities to check Gary Payton, the
last standing active Lakers legend.

"He's old school, but not old, old school," Jackson said, laughing.
"He's still a great defender. He can still score. Some people think
his game has fallen off. I don't think it has."


http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakerep16jan16,1,4774872.story?coll=la-home-sports

"Um, we're going to throw caution to the wind and go with some of our
youth," Jackson said. "We just have to patch it up as best we can."

"It's a lot of fun," said rookie Brian Cook, who played 39 minutes
over the last two games. "It's a good experience for me. I'm going to
be ready now, no matter what. And when the other guys get back, you
never know what's going to happen."

"Whatever players come back, we'll welcome their return, there's no
doubt about it," Jackson said. "[But] we can't be looking over our
shoulders playing ball. We just have to play with who we have and
that's it."

Ime Udoka, signed by the Lakers on Wednesday to a 10-day contract, has
a sister, Mfon, who played 25 games for the WNBA's Houston Comets last
season.

"She did her part," said Ime, who played six minutes against the
Nuggets on Wednesday night. "I've been trying to catch her."


http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~28541~1894471,00.html

"I'll try to practice a little more Sunday, and hopefully I can go
next week," Shaq said.

"He's been training well, doing things that'll really change where he
reaches for his energy or his power," Jackson said. "That's going to
be a little different. But we think the economy of motion that he'll
develop will be good."

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~29583~1894455,00.html

"It's easy. That's how you're supposed to walk," O'Neal said. "When
you're in pain all the time, you just want to ease the pain. It's not
a major adjustment. I just have to walk like I used to walk."

"I just wanted him to be in traffic and to get on the court and touch
the ball and feel bodies around him and rebound and do some things
like that, reaction things," Jackson said. "He looks fine. He looks
like he's close."

"It was going to be hyped up a week or so before if everybody would
have been here," Gary Payton said. "But now it's not like that. They
probably think that they got an easy one, because we've got a lot guys
out. But we're not going in there and just lay down. We're going to go
in there and play hard."

Behind Medvedenko and Payton, Kareem Rush and rookie Brian Cook, and
with a more disciplined offense, the Lakers routed the Denver Nuggets
by 26 points Wednesday. The Kings are in a different class, but
Jackson said his patchwork lineup can succeed with a similar effort.

"Yes, we can compete with them," he said, but added, "What it takes is
a heady game, and we may not have enough experience on the court for
them."

nic caciappo

Thanks for all the posts. Great reading. Go Kings!

Nic

s_knight8

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-sactokings16jan16,1,4066769.story?coll=la-home-sports

"I've been put on Earth for only one real purpose, to be there when we
beat the Lakers," said personnel director Jerry Reynolds, who also has
been coach and general manager. "Whatever it takes, however long it
takes, I'm here for the long haul."

"If somebody would have told me we would have the best record in the
league right now, I would have said, 'You're crazy,' " Coach Rick
Adelman said.

"I did not know what we had. We're in the same boat with some of these
other teams. We had five new players. Five of our top 10 last year
aren't here."

"That's a great offensive team," Miami Coach Stan Van Gundy said after
losing to it. "If you didn't have to play against them, they could
actually be fun to watch. From where I sit, they're actually miserable
to watch."

"For months I'd get up and just be depressed, just about the losing.
And then once I got over that, I realized how much money it cost me.
It's definitely personal." — Reynolds, on losing to the Lakers
in the 2002 Western Conference finals

"We had as good a chance as anybody," Adelman said. "I really thought
we were going to beat Dallas. They had never been able to guard Chris.
Whatever happened with the Lakers and San Antonio [in the other West
semifinal], we were right there with those teams.

"We had so many things happen and so many injuries, to win 59 games
and then get to the playoffs and suddenly, everybody was healthy. Then
to have him go down, that was a little bit difficult.

"But I wasn't as disappointed last year as I was the year before. Last
year, there were just things that were totally out of our control,
with the injuries we had and Chris going down. Our guys gave it
everything they had, we just didn't win.

"But the year before, [if] we make some free throws in the fourth
quarter [of Game 7] against the Lakers and [if] Horry misses a shot
[in Game 4] …

"That's the year I really felt we were right there. That's the one you
look back on and say, 'I guess it just wasn't meant to be.' "

"Rick's done a great job," Van Gundy said. "He's built a tremendous
offensive system around the talents of his guys. It's a very unique
system. You couldn't run it with everybody….

"It's a little bit like [Utah Coach] Jerry Sloan when he had [John]
Stockton and Malone. Because when you have good players, people
discount what you do coaching-wise.

"But it's not easy. There's a lot of guys out there who need touches
and that style of play — every time I look at it, as much as I
admire the way they play, that's a hard thing to coach. It's easy to
coach structure. It's a hard thing to coach freedom."

"It's a lot different," said Miller, now with his fourth team,
"because the offense, to be successful, you have to have that
chemistry. The way the ball moves and pops….

"It's always loose around here. I've never been in an environment
where you can be this loose and still play at such a high level. I've
been on loose teams but they're not playing at that high a level.
They're having fun but they're not able to play at that high level."

It's only January, which, the Kings understand too well, is not the
Lakers' best month. Reynolds likes to quote the old sage, Cotton
Fitzsimmons, who once told him, "I was coach of the month in January
and fired in April."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/8109895p-9042127c.html

"It never goes away," said co-owner Joe Maloof. "The sting is always
there. I want to beat the Lakers when they have all four Hall of
Famers healthy, but we'll take tonight, too. Let them know what it's
like to suffer."

"But we have to start punishing people," nudges Brad Miller, a
newcomer to this heated Kings-Lakers rivalry. "We're letting too many
teams back into games."

"We've always had situations," said Lakers general manager Mitch
Kupchak, "but the one thing we have going for us is that we try to
embrace our problems and deal with them. We try to do the right thing.
And we have stable ownership with Dr. (Jerry) Buss. We always figure
out a way to get through things, and we'll get through this as well.
None of these injuries is season-ending."

"They can beat up on us (today)," said Kupchak, chuckling, "and
hopefully we'll get in a couple blows."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/8109896p-9042125c.html

"I feel bad for them, but I don't care," Divac said of the Lakers'
woes. "We've been short-handed all year without Chris Webber."

"We have to win," he said. "There's no other way to put it. We have to
win."

But no disrespect for the media, Jackson insisted.

"Guys here just want to play the games and not have to worry about
talking to the media," he said. "We'd rather practice and go home and
chill with the family than do this."

Jackson was as surprised as his teammates Tuesday night when Kings
fans started the familiar chant of "Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!" when the
Heat game was still close. The Kings held on for a 90-86 victory.

"I was shocked," Jackson said. "You hear this, 'Beat L.A.!' and we're
about to get beat by Miami. ... It should have been, Beat Miami! But
that's how Kings fans are. It's OK to almost lose to Miami, as long as
we beat L.A. That just shows how the fans love the rivalry with L.A."

Jackson is sure to have his opportunities to check Gary Payton, the
last standing active Lakers legend.

"He's old school, but not old, old school," Jackson said, laughing.
"He's still a great defender. He can still score. Some people think
his game has fallen off. I don't think it has."


http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakerep16jan16,1,4774872.story?coll=la-home-sports

"Um, we're going to throw caution to the wind and go with some of our
youth," Jackson said. "We just have to patch it up as best we can."

"It's a lot of fun," said rookie Brian Cook, who played 39 minutes
over the last two games. "It's a good experience for me. I'm going to
be ready now, no matter what. And when the other guys get back, you
never know what's going to happen."

"Whatever players come back, we'll welcome their return, there's no
doubt about it," Jackson said. "[But] we can't be looking over our
shoulders playing ball. We just have to play with who we have and
that's it."

Ime Udoka, signed by the Lakers on Wednesday to a 10-day contract, has
a sister, Mfon, who played 25 games for the WNBA's Houston Comets last
season.

"She did her part," said Ime, who played six minutes against the
Nuggets on Wednesday night. "I've been trying to catch her."


http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~28541~1894471,00.html

"I'll try to practice a little more Sunday, and hopefully I can go
next week," Shaq said.

"He's been training well, doing things that'll really change where he
reaches for his energy or his power," Jackson said. "That's going to
be a little different. But we think the economy of motion that he'll
develop will be good."

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~29583~1894455,00.html

"It's easy. That's how you're supposed to walk," O'Neal said. "When
you're in pain all the time, you just want to ease the pain. It's not
a major adjustment. I just have to walk like I used to walk."

"I just wanted him to be in traffic and to get on the court and touch
the ball and feel bodies around him and rebound and do some things
like that, reaction things," Jackson said. "He looks fine. He looks
like he's close."

"It was going to be hyped up a week or so before if everybody would
have been here," Gary Payton said. "But now it's not like that. They
probably think that they got an easy one, because we've got a lot guys
out. But we're not going in there and just lay down. We're going to go
in there and play hard."

Behind Medvedenko and Payton, Kareem Rush and rookie Brian Cook, and
with a more disciplined offense, the Lakers routed the Denver Nuggets
by 26 points Wednesday. The Kings are in a different class, but
Jackson said his patchwork lineup can succeed with a similar effort.

"Yes, we can compete with them," he said, but added, "What it takes is
a heady game, and we may not have enough experience on the court for
them."

brink

it's a sad thing to watch a man go to his grave with his life's purpose
unfulfilled... ;-)

nic caciappo

Thanks for all the posts. Great reading. Go Kings!

Nic

brink

it's a sad thing to watch a man go to his grave with his life's purpose
unfulfilled... ;-)

nic caciappo

......until this year. It's a great thing to see a good guy like Jerry
Reynolds see his wish come true THIS YEAR!

Nic

peter l

Jerry Reynolds always has his tongue firmly planted in his cheeks, whatever he says.

gary collard

Cheeks? Has he got one of those split tongues that are so popular with the
tattoo and piercing set these days?

--
Gary Collard
SABR-L Moderator
gmcollard@yahoo.com

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is
like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the
handle."
-- Winston Churchill