Expectations High With Bynum Back

At the beginning of last season for the Los Angeles Lakers, fans never would have thought that the team would make it all the way to the NBA Finals. It looked like another early playoff exit for the Lakers. But Andrew Bynum exceeded everyone's expectations and was a major part of the great start of the season. Then Bynum went down with a knee injury in January to end his season.

The Lakers needed help at the center position with Bynum out, and general manager Mitch Kupchak pulled off one of the biggest steals in NBA history by trading Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol, and draft picks for Pau Gasol on the first day of February. Gasol would help the Lakers win 22 of 27 games with him in the lineup. The Lakers made it to the NBA Finals, but would fall short 4-2.

So with Bynum returning this season to pair up with Gasol to form a frontcourt that will be scary most teams to go against, the Lakers are the odds on favorites to win the 2009 championship. Bynum is excited to be back, even saying that he wants to make the All Star team. If Bynum is determined enough to make the All Star team, you know he will be a force to be reckoned with this season. And barring major injury to any Laker rotation players, the Lakers will be the 2009 NBA champions.

Los Angeles Lakers Training Camp News Roundup

Lots of news from the Los Angeles Lakers has happened in a span of a week, most of it having to do with training camp beginning. And you know what training camp means: the NBA season is right around the corner! Here's a news roundup of highlights from the Lakers.

A rundown of the Lakers' events and expectations for the 2008-09 season

Hoopsworld has 5 analysts preview this upcoming season's Lakers

What the options are for the Lakers regarding Lamar Odom

Phil Jackson Q&A part 1

Phil Jackson Q&A part 2

Phil Jackson Q&A part 3

Luke Walton debuts with his NBA.com blog

Sights from training camp

ESPN's forecast for the Lakers

Lakers Resign DJ Mbenga

The Lakers have resigned center DJ Mbenga today. Press release below:

"The Los Angeles Lakers have re-signed free agent center Didier “DJ” Ilunga-Mbenga, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.

Mbenga, a 7-foot, 255 pound native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Lakers last season on January 21 and February 1 before signing for the remainder of the year on February 11.

In 26 games with the Lakers, Mbenga averaged 2.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.62 blocked shots in 7.8 minutes while totaling four points and five rebounds in 10 minutes over seven postseason games.

Earlier in the season, Mbenga signed with the Golden State Warriors on November 17 after spending three seasons with the Dallas Mavericks prior to their request for waivers on him October 30. In 16 games with the Warriors prior to his release January 6, Mbenga averaged 1.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.63 blocked shots in 8.1 minutes.

After signing with Dallas as a rookie free agent in 2004, Mbenga, 27, played 79 games over three seasons with the Mavericks, totaling 106 points, 75 rebounds and 35 blocked shots in 374 minutes. In his rookie year of 2004-05, he averaged 4.10 blocks per 48 minutes played while improving to 5.00 blocks per 48 minutes in 2005-06. In 2006-07 he was limited to just 21 games after missing the first 16 games of the year with a left foot tendon strain and suffering a torn right ACL 2/7/07 vs. Memphis.

In 121 career games including two starts, Mbenga is averaging 1.6 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.50 blocked shots in 5.8 minutes.

The Lakers preseason roster now stands at 19."

Sun Yue Almost Sent To Memphis

In an interview with Los Angeles Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, he revealed that recently signed Chinese guard Sun Yue was almost part of the Memphis trade that brought Pau Gasol to the Lakers. Kupchak said, "Memphis also wanted Sun in the trade, but we wanted to keep at least one of those 2 guys so Memphis wanted Marc [Gasol] and we are happy that we were able to keep Sun Yue, because we liked him when we drafted him."

Other topics of the interview include how well Sun speaks English, his humor, another nickname, and the process that the Lakers had to go through to sign a player from China. It's an interesting read if you've ever wondered what NBA teams have had to go through to sign players like Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and now Sun from China.

Read more about the interview here.

Assist By Ref

Here's a fun Laker video to watch until there's some new Laker news: