Media Day Happenings

With so many articles about interviews, notes, sightings, etc. at media day, there is way too much to cover, so I will post links to a selection of various articles.

Los Angeles Times Lakers Blog - Lamar Odom's media day Q&A

Los Angeles Times Lakers Blog - Kwame Brown's media day Q&A

Los Angeles Times Lakers Blog - Lakers Audio: Derek Fisher

O.C. Register - Bryant eyes championship ... with Lakers

Inside So Cal - Kobe at media day

Inside So Cal - Phil Jackson at media day

Inside So Cal - Bynum at media day

Inside So Cal - Kwame Brown at media day

Inside So Cal - Chris Mihm at media day

Inside So Cal - Luke Walton at media day

Inside So Cal - Lamar Odom at media day

Inside So Cal - Derek Fisher at media day

Lakers Training Camp Preview

Training camp starts today for the Lakers, the official end to the offseason. The position depth chart for the preseason looks like this:

PG: Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar/Javaris Crittenton

SG: Kobe Bryant/Mo Evans/Sasha Vujacic/Coby Karl

SF: Luke Walton/Vladimir Radmanovic/Andre Patterson

PF: Lamar Odom/Ronny Turiaf/Brian Cook/Elton Brown

C: Kwame Brown/Andrew Bynum/Chris Mihm/Larry Turner

There are 14 players with guaranteed contracts, leaving Karl, Patterson, Brown, and Turner to fight for the last roster spot. Out of the 4, Karl is the most likely to get the last roster spot.

The main position battles will be at center and point guard. The starting center position is up for grabs, and anyone can get it. With the exception of Larry Turner, who is a camp invitee, all of the centers have held the starting position at one time or another. For the starting point guard spot, Derek Fisher is almost a lock to start, but it will be a battle between Farmar and Crittenton to be the second point guard off the bench. Farmar started at the end of last season, but Crittenton has impressed the team from his summer league play.

The Lakers will hopefully start the season as well as they did last season, and keep it up. Injuries derailed the Lakers' nice start last season, so the Lakers will hopefully have an injury-free season and get a favorable matchup in the playoffs.

Kwame Brown Arrested

Kwame Brown was arrested early Saturday morning in Valdosta, Georgia at 2 a.m. for disorderly conduct and interference of an officer. Brown was the passenger in a car that was driving the wrong way on a one way street.

Brown was arrested when he got out of control during the investigation. "He would have been interfering with the investigation the officer was trying to conduct at that time," says Lt. Bobbi McGraw with the Valdosta Police.

Both Brown and the driver are out of jail on bond. Brown showed up for time for media day, and no punishment has been given to him by the team.

Lakers Sign Andre Patterson

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent forward Andre Patterson, it was announced today. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

Patterson, a former UCLA Bruin who transferred to Tennessee for his junior and senior years of eligibility, played last season for the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League. In 50 games including 36 starts with the D-Fenders, Patterson averaged 10.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.62 blocked shots in 32.3 minutes.

Patterson also played for the Lakers 2007 Summer-Pro League team, averaging 4.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in four games. The Lakers preseason roster now stands at 18.

Kobe Shows Up For Media Day

There was initial confusion at the 10 a.m. start of the media day events, as all the players were there except for Kobe Bryant, who was missing. Things were cleared up when Bryant's spokeswoman, Catherine Sebring, cleared it up saying that he had a doctor's appointment. All eyes went to the door as Bryant showed up at 10:34 a.m.

Kobe said: "We purposely didn't say anything because we wanted to keep things to ourselves. There was just too much going on -- things get misconstrued. We don't need that. We don't need any distractions for the season. There was never a doubt I was coming to camp. They knew that, I knew that.

I was frustrated, so I blew up. Now, it's about taking this team that we have and take it to new heights. I think the important thing for everybody to understand is I want to bring a title back to L.A.

I'm ready to play. I'm in shape, guys look good. I'm ready to go. My job is to come out here on the floor, help us win ballgames.

I'm a soldier. It's not my decision to say whether or not we should fight the war. My focus and my mind has to be on this team. We have an uphill battle. I'm going to do all I can to help us win."