Tag: Los Angeles Lakers

Odom headed to Besiktas during lockout

Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom will join Besiktas Istanbul during the lockout.

Sportando.net reports that Odom, the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2010-11 willthat already includes New Jersey Nets guard Deron Williams.

Besiktas originally had targeted Brook Lopez, who decided against playing overseas. Odom instead became their target.

ESPN.com reports that Odom will join the Istanbul-based team as early as next week if the NBA lockout continues. Their first target, ESPN.com reported, was.

Sportando reports that Odom will make about $2 million during the contract.  

Odom averaged 14.4 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 32.2 minutes per game for the Lakers last season.

What we’re missing tonight with the lockout

I can’t wait. Three games to start the season. It should be great after all that excitement still so palpable from last season’s playoffs.

Oh, that’s right. We’ve got the lockout. We’ll be missing three games. Two of them would have been televised, and the other one would have been available on my free preview of NBA-TV like always.

Chicago and Dallas would have started things off tonight at 7 p.m. Derrick Rose vs. Dirk Nowitzki. For good measure we would have seen the Mavericks’ championship banner raised to the rafters of the American Airlines Center. And after that, we could have seen Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In between those breaks, we could have switched over to watch Houston at Utah.

Instead, we’ll be able to watch “The Biggest Loser,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “Body of Proof.”

My wife will be happy. She usually doesn’t get too excited for NBA basketball much before Christmas.

But missing these first three games really drives home the point that we’re really missing games now.

Enjoy those reality shows tonight.

And don’t curse David Stern and Billy Hunter too much while you’re watching them.

Shaq vows to ‘handle’ Barkley on upcoming NBA broadcasts

Shaquille O’Neal is as anxious to see the end of the NBA lockout as anybody else.

O’Neal will move on to his new career as analyst for TNT after his retirement earlier this year from the Boston Celtics.

In his new role, O’Neal told the New York Times he will be able to snatch airtime in the broadcasts from the bombastic Charles Barkley.

“I’m going to get all the airtime,” O’Neal told the Times. “I’m going to handle him like I’ve always handled him. I’m going to knock him out if I have to.”

We think that O’Neal is jesting, but considering his spirited rivalry with “The Round Mound of Rebound” earlier in his career we can’t be sure.

Here’s a You Tube video of one of Barkley’s confrontations when he was playing with Houston Rockets and O’Neal was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.