Los
Angeles Lakers on a 2-0 winning streak
By Oscar Gardner
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
 Leon
Smith exhibited an aerial assault on the
rim while warming up in front of a packed
pyramid, which included former New York
Knicks star Patrick Ewing and New Jersey
Nets’ Richard Jefferson. Tomahawk dunks
followed by 360-degree dunks filled the
air by way of Smith’s lanky 6-10 frame.
Smith was only able to watch the action
from the end of the Los Angeles Lakers bench
because head coach Kurt Rambis didn’t call
Smith’s number 22 to enter the game. His
line of statistics was filled with zeros
and a DNP (did not play).
“I’ve got 14 guys on this team, it’s hard
to get all of them in,” said Rambis.
Smith was a first round draft pick in 1999
by the Dallas Mavericks. Straight out of
Martin Luther King High School in Illinois,
Smith was supposed to be a future all-star,
but before playing one game with the Mavericks,
he was released from the team. In the same
year he tried to commit suicide by taking
over 200 aspirin pills and had to appear
in a Chicago court on misdemeanor charges
of violating an order of protection, criminal
damage to property and aggravated assault.
Now trying to make an NBA roster this year,
Smith will spend the summer with the Lakers
in an attempt to get picked up by them or
another team.
Smith had a front row seat to watch the
Lakers defeat the Mavericks 91-84, Monday.
The Lakers were led by point guard Jannero
Pargo’s 21 points, seven assists and four
rebounds. Kareem Rush added 21 points. Pargo
and Rush are the only two players who were
on the Lakers’ roster last year.
Rambis was also pleased with the draft picks,
Brian Cook and Luke Walton. He felt they
were picking up the triangle offense very
well, considering they only practiced twice
and had one shoot around this summer. Rambis
said that Walton in particular has good
vision on the court. The Lakers will
head into Wednesday’s game against the Golden
State Warriors with a 2-0 record.
Rookies Marquies Daniels and Josh Powell
scored 20 and 17 points, respectively, for
the Mavericks. Atlantic Coast Conference
Player of the Year Josh Howard contributed
nine points and six rebounds.
Media filed into the gym for this meeting,
but not for the game, hoping to get a reaction
from the players and coaches about the Kobe
Bryant situation. Bryant has been linked
to sexual assault charges by a 19-year old
girl at a resort near Vail, Colo. He turned
himself in on the Fourth of July and posted
bail for $25,000 that same day.
“The thing that shocks me the most is that
this is about Kobe,” said assistant coach
Jim Cleamons.
Rush was very adamant about his feelings
about the allegations. “If you know Kobe
you wouldn’t believe this,” said Rush. “He’s
so focused on basketball, when we go on
the road he never goes out.”
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