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SPORTS/tSge Cliarlotte
Thursday, May 11,2006
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Continued from page 1C
in this league, you spend a lot
of time in coverage. He’s
looked fine in the first (week
end) of practices and we
think he’s a guy who has a
bright future for us.”
Where Anderson will fit
this season is a work in
progress. The Panthers, who
lost Witherspoon to free
agency and Brandon Short in
a salary-cap move, will start
two new outside linebackers.
Na’il Diggs was signed away
from Green Bay and Thomas
Davis is moving full time to
linebacker after splitting
time last year at safety.
Anderson wll figure into the
mix in addition to playing
special teams.
“I’m just trying to figure out
how everjdhing is going to
shake out,” he said. “Of
course, one of my goals is to
come in and start playing,
Currie spices up preseason
Continued from page 1C
6-28 record last year,
Charlotte will need her to
acclimate as soon as possible
due to the brevity of a
WNBA season.
“I think I need to pick it up
as quickly as I can,” Currie
said. There isn’t a lot of
preparation time before the
season starts and I think I
can do that. Muggsy works
with me a lot in practice and
this system isn’t too difficult
that I shouldn’t be able to.
All of us new people are
learning the system and
adjusting to it pretty well.”
Currie has the added bene
fit of playing in a starting
lineup that includes four
starters from last year. With
Bogues limiting veterans’
minutes in preseason, the
floor time has helped Currie
make the pro transition
smoother.
“It’s good to be out there
with them,” she said. “I get
to practice with them a lot,
they help me a lot. They
know the game, they know
this system a little bit, so
they do whatever they can to
help me adjust and fit best
into the system.”
Currie, who led Duke to a
couple of Final Four appear
ances, isn’t shy about her
expectations for Charlotte.
With feUow rookies TVe’sha
Fluker and LaToya Bond
expected to make major con
tributions as well, the goal is
to help take the Sting out of
the basement and back to
respectability.
“I think we’ve come a long
way since the beginning of
camp and I think we contin
ue to get better every day in
practice,” she said. ‘We won’t
accept losing. We forgot
about last year. This is a new
year, and we’re looking to do
a lot better.”
Robinson’s impact still felt
Continued from page 1C
Americans,” said Lofton. ‘’It’s important just
understanding what he went through, under
standing how the game was, the trials and
tribulations he went through. I’m just hon
ored to be a part of the game right now and it’s
all because of him.”
Newcombe was a former teammate of
Jackie’s and was the second African-
American to join that Brooklyn team.
The Jackie Robinson Foundation was estab
lished in 1973 by Rachel Robinson and some
close friends. San Francisco Giants slugger
Barry Bonds was on hand and shared a few
words with some of the scholars. He even
gave a photo op to them. ‘’This is your Kodak
moment,” said Bonds to one of the scholars.
‘’So take it.”
“They’re (JRF Scholars) throwing out first
pitches in ballparks all across the country,”
said Sharon.
“We don’t just dispense money to kids going
to college; they become part of the Jackie
Robinson family. We see them once a year and
work on leadership development,” she added.
Some scholars from the JRF include Jonas
Cleveland of Carnegie Mellon University,
Landon Dickey a freshman at Harvard was at
Fenway in Boston and Tracy Hadnott, a
senior at Stanford was at the As in Oakland.
JRF scholars have a 97 percent graduation
rate.
Ra3Tnond Pounds is a JRF scholarship
recipient. The Cleveland High School (Los
Angeles) graduate threw out the first pitch at
Dodger Stadiiun to Lofton.
“’It (the scholarship) means a lot. I am grate
ful for it and it’s an honor just representing
his name,” said Pounds. “’It is putting me
through college.” Poimds is a political science
major at UCLA
Robinson was very proud of oiu young peo
ple. He thought they were very important to
society. “’Jackie always said, “’Get the kids to
listen, not hear, listen, then theyll learn,” said
Newcombe.
Lakers left to ponder what
went wrong in playoff loss
After going up 3-1 on Suns,
LA. implodes at worst time
Bryant
Continued from page 1C
“I don’t know what to say,”
coach Phil Jackson said after
his team was routed 121-90
Saturday.
“Tb be honest, I think some
of us came out
a little over
whelmed,”
Luke Walton
said. ‘We’re a
better team
than we
showed and
should have
moved on.”
But the
Lakers didn’t. Instead, they
lost a playoff series after
holding a 3-1 lead for the first
time, and the Suns became
just the eighth NBA team to
rally from such a deficit.
Jackson, the $10 million
coach brought back this sea
son to try and restore the
Lakers to their previous
greatness, made strides with
a yoimg team.
The Lakers went 34-48 and
missed the playoffs during
the year he was gone, but
improved by 11 games this
season and returned to the
postseason.
We wanted to see grovidh
out of a young basketball
club, and we saw that at the ,
end of the season,” said
Jackson, whose team went
11-3 to finish the year, turn
ing a 34-34 record into a 45-
37 mark.
We had some momentum
coming into the playoffs, and
we played a good series
against the Phoenix Suns,
discounting this last, final
game,” Jackson said. “We
have to make some large
decisions about this team ■
about who stays and what we
build our team aroimd.
“But we feel comfortable we
have a nucleus and we can go
from there. And hopefully, we
can find some pieces that will
make us a little bit better
next year.”
The Lakers played their
best ball of the season in the
first four games against the
Sims, giving superstar Kobe
Bryant more help than he
could have expected in taking
a 3-1 lead.
Game 5 in Phoenix was a
wipeout. Then, playing at
home, the Lakers had a great
shot to win Game 6. But
Shawn Marion rebounded a
missed shot by teammate
Steve Nash and got the ball
to Tim Thomas for a game-
tying 3-pointer, forcing over
time. The Suns went on to
win 126-118.
Then came the disastrous
Game 7 in Phoenix.
“It’s aU growth for us, it’s all
evolution,” said Bryant, who
scored 23 points in the first
half of Game 7 but just one
after that. “I think at the
start of the season, nobody
expected us to be here. I think
the growth that we have, the
talent that we have, the
upside, is good.
“Kwame Brown obviously
has a lot of talent and a lot of
potential. He’s going to work
hard this summer; he’ll be
better next year. Lamar
Odom has stepped up and
really turned himself into
being one of the best players
in this game. We have some
good pieces in there.”
Brown and Odom made
great strides in the last two
months, but both looked out
of it in the last game, combin
ing to shoot 7-of-24.
Odom said he planned to
“watch this game over and
over this summer.”
“Know what it feels like to
lose a game like this on some-
bod/s home court the way we
lost it,” he said. ‘Take that
hurt with you in the sum
mer.”
Smush Parker emerged
from journeyman status to do
a decent job opposite Bryant
in the backcourt. But for the
most part, he played poorly in
the last four games, failing to
contain Nash and shooting 7-
of-37.
‘We didn’t want to be going
this early, but it’s a step fur
ther than they were last year
and next year we’re going to
be a step further than we are
this year,” Parker said. “It
was a successful season. No
one thought we would be in
this position. Unfortunately,
it had to end this way.”
And unfortunately, the way
the season ended will be the
way it’s remembered by
many inside and outside the
organization. Bryant’s 35.4-
point scoring average - best in
the NBA in 19 years - and
staggering Sl^point perfor
mance are simply footnotes
now.
So deficient on the inside a
year ago, the Lakers have a
trio of 7-footers in Brown,
Chris Mihm and young
Andrew Bynum.
Brown blossomed while
pla3dng center after Mihm
severely sprained his right
ankle March 12. As it turned
out, the absence of Mihm
against the Suns perhaps
made a difference. There’s no
telling when the 18-year-old
B3mum will be ready to help
on a consistent basis.
Less than a week ago, local
fans were eagerly awaiting
what appeared to be a likely .
first playoff meeting between
the Lakers and Clippers.
The Clippers did their part.
The Lakers didn’t.
“I’m not disappointed,”
Clippers star Elton Brand
said about not playing the
Lakers.
Then, with a smile, he
added: “They’re disappoint
ed.”
whether that’s special teams
or defense, we’ll find that out
later in the season.”
Davis already likes
Anderson’s work habits,
which he said will accelerate
his acclimation.
“He’s a pretty good cat,”
said Thomas Davis, who is
expected to start at outside
linebacker. “He seems to be
pretty smart and he goes
home every night and he’s
studying and coming back
and answering questions, so
that’s always good.”
Davis said he’s leaning on
the veterans in order to soak
up as much as possible dur
ing coaching sessions, which
continue next month in
Charlotte. The learning
process will continue
throughout training camp.
“I liken it to going from JV
to varsity,” Fox said. “(The
NFL is) bigger, stronger and
faster and the game’s played
fast because you’ve got veter
ans who’ve been doing this
for a while. The biggest accli
mation is mostly mental
where they’re learning a new
terminology, kind of like
learning a new language and
they’ve got to put in extra
time so they can get caught
up fast. The guys who do that
will have the most success
being young players.
Anderson hopes to be one of
them.
“There’s a lot of opportunity
for new guys to come in and
.play right off the bat” at line
backer, he said. “We’ve got a
lot of leadership with Dan
Morgan and Thomas Davis,
but you’ve got some spots for
some new guys.”
Including an artist.
From pros to pee-wees,
your source for Charlotte sports
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