As I mentioned before, the Lakers coaching staff doesn’t care about the final score during preseason games. The purpose of the preseason is to accustom various players to various positions and sets on the court. Also, the preseason gives the coaches an opportunity to see how certain players react to pressure at certain times.

The Lakers matched up with the Clippers last night at Fresno State and looked pretty damn bad. They couldn’t convert anything and most of the third quarter looked like a Derek Fisher bail out shot at the shot clock buzzer leading to poor transition defense. The Clips opened up an 18 point lead and looked destined to close it out early.

Then came the young guys. I realized that I really like the duo of Jordan Farmar and Trevor Ariza. They look really good playing together. Something about the chemistry between those two guys is amazing. I’m looking forward to seeing more of them in the future.

For the purpose of proving that the Lakers coaching staff uses preseason games as learning tools rather than to build winning records, lets take a look at the player minutes.

Kobe played a monstrous 24. Fisher played 17. Gasol and Odom played 16. And the final part of the starting lineup Trevor Ariza played 22.

Now to the steady reserves: Radmanovic with 23. Bynum with 21. Farmar with 18.

Now to the guys that might play this season: Mbenga with 7. Mihm with 12.

Now to the guys that will probably be on the team but not play: Karl with 15. Powell with 12. Sun Yue with 8.

Now to the guys that we know nothing about and most likely will be cut from the team: Heath with 11. Giles with 7. Crawford with 5.

Does that breakdown of minutes explain whats going on? Coby Karl will not be playing 15 minutes unless the Lakers manage to open a 40 point lead in the first quarter. Even then its questionable. The guys that will probably be cut combined with the guys that probably won’t play during the regular season combined for over 58 minutes. Thats over a full game of taking up a starters spot.

There are a few things I would like to see a bit more of though. I want to see more from Lamar Odom. If he can’t prove himself during preseason, how is he going to remain a starter during the regular season? I’d also like to see more aggresive Kobe mixed in with aggresive Bynum and Pau. I think it’s important that these guys bring some rage to the game and show to Lakers fans that they are capable of destroying what stands in their way.

Just give us a glimpse of what you’re capable of. PLEASE!!