FanHouse Josh Powell

One of the things that makes the Lakers one of the league's best teams is the size and skill of their two biggest frontcourt players, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. But Gasol has yet to play a game for the team in this young season, and now it looks like Bynum will miss some time as well with an elbow injury.

Both players are listed as doubtful for Friday night's game against Memphis, and if neither ends up being able to go, the Lakers will be forced to use some rather interesting lineups.

LOS ANGELES -- An excited, capacity crowd anxiously awaited the final chance to celebrate last season's NBA Championship with its beloved Lakers. The team held a ring ceremony, before unveiling their 15th championship banner, which was hanging behind a black curtain high on the back wall of the Staples Center.

It was an exciting start to the night, but the excitement ended there, as the quality of the opening night opponent (or lack thereof) made it easy on the defending champs and a yawner for those in attendance. The result was a lackluster, comfortable 99-92 win for the Lakers in their first game of the 2009-10 NBA season.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Shannon Brown, a member of the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers, is one of the most popular players on the team. Besides his basketball skills, Shannon gets a lot of attention, especially from his teammates, because of his resemblance to singer Chris Brown. In this FanHouse exclusive we hear from Shannon, Josh Powell, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic as they all tell us about the Shannon Brown - Chris Brown saga.

Check out the video after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

NBA superstar Kobe Bryant not only loves playing the game of basketball but also teaching it. In this exclusive FanHouse report, we catch up with Kobe at his basketball academy where hundreds of young basketball players aged eight to 18 got a chance to learn from the best.

Kobe said that when he attended basketball camps as a kid, the big names would show up only on the first and last day, so at his camp, he's always around. We also hear from his Lakers teammate Josh Powell and some of the young campers, including one who said, "If LeBron is King, Kobe must be God."

Check out the video after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Close to 90,000 hardcore Lakers fans packed the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to celebrate the Lakers' NBA championship, among them USC's Pete Carroll, the Lakers girls, politicians, cops and Los Angeles' best and most unpredictable fans.

In this exclusive FanHouse video, NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant spots me in the crowd and gives me a shout-out. We also meet the cast of characters that make up the mozaic of Lakers fans, from the adult man who walks around with a Kobe action figure, to the fan who says he'll kill an Orlando fan after the parade (jokingly, we hope), to the fans who called out of work sick to be at the parade. This is one video you wont want to miss.

Check out the video after the jump.

PHOENIX -- Less than an hour before the Suns were set to tip off their nationally televised game with the Lakers, head coach Alvin Gentry got the call in his office from the team's head athletic trainer. It was bad news: Steve Nash would be unavailable, due to an ankle sprain that would force him to miss his third straight game.

Gentry was optimistic about his team's chances anyway, and as it turned out, he had good reason to be. The Suns got a balanced effort from several players, and behind 33 points from Shaquille O'Neal, they beat the Lakers 118-111.

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With Jordan Farmar out for the next couple of months after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus, there have been discussions about whether the Lakers will look to make a move to bring in a backup point guard. The pickings are pretty slim out there at that position -- just ask the Suns. But if this rumor is to be believed, it would appear that the Lakers are trying to deal for a warm body nonetheless, and it's a familiar one: former Laker (and two-time NBA champion!) Tyronn Lue.

While Bell and Ridnour have health and injury issues, Tyronn Lue doesn't have either. But Lue's status appears to be up in the air as well. It is believed the Bucks have an offer on the table from the Los Angeles Lakers for Lue, with the Bucks receiving veteran big man Chris Mihm in return.

Most Laker fans remember Lue's time in Los Angeles fondly for some reason, but all I can remember is Allen Iverson stepping over him in disgust after hitting what was effectively the game winner in overtime of Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals. It's not like he'd be expected to play extended minutes though, and in fact, it's possible Lue would never see the court.

The Lakers are still a solid eight players deep (nine if you count Vladimir Radmanovic) even with Farmar sidelined, so this would only be an insurance move in case another guard were to go down with an injury. The Lakers are loaded with semi-serviceable bigs Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga, so dealing Mihm for a guard to sit on the bench seems like a logical move, and a harmless one at that.

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Cup of Coffee
Ronald Murray got the starting nod for the Pacers last night. This is not shocking because he's been getting minutes. It is odd though, that a team in Indiana's position would rather give Flip run than let Travis Diener develop further; presumably this could also be a move to let Diener get more comfortable in the role he was used to. Or something. Regardless, Flip certainly has value as someone who will score points and pick up threes while hurting your percentages and not really giving you many assists from the PG position. If that's something you're interested in.

Hot Cakes
Z-Bo represent! Zach Randolph scored 21 points and pulled down 14 boards while starting at center against the Pacers on St. Patty's Day, showing us what he should have been doing all along in the Eastern Conference. Were it not for that stupid Eddy Curry and those meddling kids. Randolph's shooting percentage was looked about as appeasing as a Guinness at 6 a.m., but that should improve some as he takes more shots in the post. Still, he's going to have a nice run to close out the season for fantasy owners.

Josh Powell put up a double-double last night against the defenseless Al Jefferson, going for 10 points, 12 boards and two blocks. Powell is a low end center, obviously, but you could do worse around playoff time. Of course, beware the insanely high rate with which he picks up personal fouls as those aren't always "great" for court time. He should see plenty of run until Chris Kaman returns.