http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_7273202 EL SEGUNDO - Add another name to the roll of the injured. Kobe Bryant injured his right wrist during the Lakers' 21-point exhibition loss to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. He received treatment Wednesday and said he hoped he could play in Friday's exhibition finale against the Sacramento Kings in Las Vegas. Bryant has spent much of training camp monitoring tendinitis in his left knee, but his wrist injury is the first serious setback he's suffered this month. "My knee is OK, but my wrist isn't too good," he said. Bryant's wrist injury might not be much of a concern for him and the Lakers if not for a lengthy list of injuries to other starters and potential starters. Forward Lamar Odom has been ruled out of opening night Tuesday because he hasn't recovered sufficiently from offseason left shoulder surgery. Odom is not expected to play for another twoweeks, which means he might miss four games. Centers Kwame Brown (left ankle and right shoulder) and Chris Mihm (right ankle) have played only limited minutes during exhibitions because they're slowly rebounding from surgeries. Forward Luke Walton did not play Tuesday because of a strained right hip, but he might be ready to play Friday against the Kings. All of which leaves the Lakers in a precarious position, with opening night rapidly approaching. The Lakers picked up a practice today when their exhibition rematch against the Jazz in SanDiego was canceled Advertisement Click Here! because of wildfires in the area. However, Bryant is unsure what to expect when the Lakers start the season. "It's tough to say because we haven't had our core guys out there, so it's kind of tough to gauge," he said. "We have a lot of young players still trying to find their way through the offense, through the system. It's tough. We were all hopeful that (Odom) would be ready for the start of the season, but we have to get him healthy." Bynum booster: Lakers coach Phil Jackson didn't want to answer a question about teenage center Andrew Bynum's defensive improvement during training camp. Bynum had three blocks and six of his eight rebounds came on the defensive end Tuesday against Utah. "Don't ask me that," Jackson said with a chuckle. "It's just a situation where I want him to remain positive." Jackson paused for a moment before continuing. "His offense is really coming along," he said. "His teammates are finding him. I'll point out to him, `If your teammates are finding you for those easy dunks underneath the basket, then you've got to help them out at the other end of the floor. It's your responsibility as a center.' He hasn't quite grasped how indebted he is to these other guys from that standpoint. That's a learning process." Jackson then delivered the goods. "(Tuesday) was one of his and our better defensive games," he said. Because of the injuries to Brown and Mihm, Bynum might be the leading candidate to become the Lakers' starting center - at least to start the season. Starting lineup shuffle: Jackson said he might alter his starting lineup for Friday's exhibition, and those might be the fiveplayers who start in Tuesday's opener against the Houston Rockets. "I might put Luke in there instead of (Vladimir Radmanovic)," Jackson said. "I might put Kwame in there instead of Chris. Those are the changes. (The opening night lineup) would probably be the lineup I start on Friday, but you can't guarantee that." Look for a starting five Friday of Bryant and Derek Fisher at guard, Walton and Ronny Turiaf at forward and Brown or Bynum at center. If they click, you can expect Jackson to start them against the Rockets.
did anybody else notice that, in the past two days, the following people got 'injured:' - Kobe Bryant (wrist) - Josh Howard (wrist) - Ben Wallace (ankle) - Kirk Hinrich (ankle) - Tyrus Thomas (foot) - Joakim Noah (ankle) methinks that is awfully curious.