|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Tickets at Ticket Master
The Glove and the Mailman were thrilled to finally suit up with the Los Angeles Lakers, even if one of the superstars they signed to play with, Kobe Bryant, was a no-show for the team's first full-squad practice.
Gary Payton and Karl Malone practiced with Shaquille O'Neal for the first time on Friday, although most of the focus remained on Bryant's absence from training camp at the University of Hawaii.
Bryant, who faces felony sexual assault charges in Colorado, didn't make the charter flight that brought the other veterans from Los Angeles on Thursday. The team said the star guard was ``under the weather.''
Lakers spokesman John Black said Friday that Bryant was expected to arrive in Honolulu late Friday night and be at practice on ticketmaster Saturday. He is expected to meet with the media following his first practice.
Even if Bryant is ``under the weather,'' Payton said he thinks his backcourt mate needs time to clear his mind.
``Let him settle himself down,'' Payton said. ``If you see yourself in the paper every day and people keep talking about you, you will have a little breakdown in yourself, too. So until he gets his mind right, I'm 100 percent behind him. He shouldn't come in until he gets his mind right so he can focus basically on basketball.''
Bryant is charged with sexual assaulting a woman June 30 in his suite at a mountain resort where she worked. He has said the two had consensual sex. Free on $25,000 bond, Bryant is scheduled to appear Thursday in Eagle, Colo., for a preliminary hearing to determine whether he will stand trial.
ADVERTISEMENT
``Kobe's dealing with a situation; we're going to let him deal with the situation.
Our situation is here on this basketball court for the ticketmaster Lakers,''
Payton said. ``When we signed, we were excited. I'm still excited. I'm going
to be excited when he gets here because it's going to be even better because
I know he's coming.''
Malone, 40, and Payton, five years younger, signed with the Lakers at discount prices in hopes of winning their first NBA championship.
Payton, a 13-year veteran, will be paid the midlevel exception of $4.917 million next year, while Malone gets the veteran's exception of $1.5 million.
Malone, who gave up a lot to sign at that low price, said he didn't second-guess his decision after learning of Bryant's case.
``I'm the kind of man that once I've made my mind up about something, I don't let anything change that. I don't think about, 'Oh, my God, what have I done?' I think about, 'OK, how many tough situations have I been in my life and I've always fought my way out of them.'''
Malone said he's facing an even bigger challenge, the death of his mother this summer.
``I've lost a whole lot more personally than a championship ring. I lost my mom,'' he said. ``So everything else right now is irrelevant. I'm doing this because this is what she'd want me to do, and I love doing it.''
After spending
18 seasons with Utah, Malone said it hasn't fully set in that he's a Laker.
``I'm sure that first game when we play Golden State here, it'll set in,'' he
said. ``But every day I learn the system, every day I take a pass from a guy,
every day that I get encouragement from a teammate, I'm ticketmaster going to
be a Laker real quick.''
The Lakers play Golden State on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Payton said he had a great time in his first Lakers practice as he began learning coach Phil Jackson's system.
``We've seen him win championships with this and now I'm a part of it. It's been good for me.''
The Lakers' string of three straight NBA titles ended last spring with a loss in the Western Conference semifinals to eventual champion San Antonio.
O'Neal looked to be a good shape, although he has a bruised left heel.
``Small thing,'' he said. ``I got a lot of rest this summer and worked out. So I'm cool. I'll always be cool.''
Said Jackson: ``That backboard's still up there but he grabbed it pretty hard a few times in demonstrative dunks. Explosive. He looked good.''
Every time O'Neal was asked about Bryant, he replied by saying ``CAT.''
The translation:
``Mean's Can't Answer That,'' O'Neal said. ``Meow. Meow. Meow, meow, meow. Meow,
meow, meow, meow, meow. ... Can't answer that.''