What's up kids? I'mmm baaaack.

That's right. After the long, arduous, and HOT summer that followed a pretty chilling Lakers embarrassment in the Finals, I'm back here to spew my numbers, info, and dry humor out on you all.

If you didn't read my stuff last season, let it be known now, I'm NOT here to ramble on about how great Kobe is, I'm NOT here to defend the history of the Lakers organization, and I'm certainly NOT here to get the fanboy juices flowing.

What am I here for? To serve as a conduit for your hungry brains in need of an aggregation of Lakers news, notes, and oddities. ...All laced with my occasional wit and smart ass attitude.

Vlade STILL has a posse, and the posse has no agenda. Welcome home.



As documented throughly by a trip thought the VHP archives, last season was a roller coaster in Lakers Land. Well, the ups and downs of a trying, injury-laden season has lead us to this coming Tuesday. Preseason game one of the 2008-2009 season.

Ronny is gone, but Sasha is back.

Kobe and Pau are tired, but Andrew is at full health.

Phil shaved the beard, but grew out the hair.

Sun Yue is finally a Laker, but has mono.

Kobe wants to go to Europe... buuuuuut, it was "just a joke."

These are the story lines that will finally be partially laid to waste on Tuesday. We will finally have the numbers and pictures to back up everything we've heard for the past three months.

The off-season was a long one for Lakers fans. Perhaps the 'so close, yet so far' nuances of the NBA finals left fans in a perpetual state of anticipation for the coming season, waking in a cold sweat at 2am in the middle of August... waiting... just waiting to finally doze off for the night on a high note.

There is NO DOUBT that the Finals didn't go as planned for the Lakers, I could go on forever about that, but now, finally, is the time to buckle into another rousing season of NBA action.

Shifting back into the classic VHP style, let's get up to date on what's going on right now.

Perhaps, one of the most interesting stories of the off-season came out of the LA Times last week:

Forget about that Lakers frontline of Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

Odom has been shifted to ball-handling guard, part of an experiment conducted by Coach Phil Jackson in a monthlong petri dish called exhibition season.

Odom, who has already clashed with Jackson in training camp, has brought the ball up court for the Lakers in their first two days of practice.

Derek Fisher has shifted to a shooting-guard role on offense and Kobe Bryant has moved to small forward. [LA Times]

Well, aint that something? After all of the drama surrounding wether Lamar would even start this season with the new-look line-up, Phil drops this bomb. This is an idea that I like. Not only can Lamar handle the ball well, as evidenced through a small portion of last season, but the mismatch that this would create would be unprecedented. A 6'10" point guard taking the ball down and making plays has the potential to throw off an entire defensive effort.

Also coming out of camp:
Sasha Vujacic suffered a moderately sprained left ankle Tuesday after coming down on the foot of DJ Mbenga on a drive to the basket.

Vujacic, who signed a three-year, $15-million contract in the off-season, is expected to be out a few days.

"I think he's going to be all right," Jackson said. "It's one of those weird ones. There's no swelling, but he's got some obvious discomfort." [LA Times]

That's about it for now... aside from Chris Mihm being deemed 100% for the fist time in a few years.

The Lakers take the court Tuesday night against the Jazz at 7pm on KCAL 9, locally.

Thanks for reading, everyone!