The Los Angeles D-Fenders open their 2008-09 season in the NBA Development League on Friday, Nov. 28 at 3:30p.m. (PT) when they host the Bakersfield Jam at STAPLES Center.

The D-Fenders-Jam contest is the first of 50 regular season games for Los Angeles, 24 of which will take place at STAPLES Center. The D-Fenders will also take part in the 2009 NBA D-League Showcase that will take place from Jan. 5-8 at McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah. Also noteworthy on the 2008-09 NBA D-League Schedule is the All-Star Game and Dream Factory which is part of NBA Jam Session presented by adidas at NBA All-Star 2009 in Phoenix.

Other highlights of the D-Fenders home schedule include games against the NBA D-League Champion Idaho Stampede on December 12, 16 and January 27; expansion team and West Division rival Reno Bighorns on November 30, January 22 and April 9; expansion team Erie BayHawks on April 3; and the freeway series against the Anaheim Arsenal on December 10, January 25, and March 6.

The NBA D-League will continue to have three divisions for the 2008-09 season. The Central and Southwest divisions will feature five teams, while the West division will have six. The D-Fenders will play in the West division.

Click here for the complete 2008-09 D-Fenders Schedule

Click here for the 2008-09 D-Fenders Printable Schedule Calendar

Coby Karl can't walk into a gym anymore without being recognized. That's what a year in the NBA, especially with the Los Angeles Lakers will do to you. He used to be able to play basketball without the whispers in the audience. With a year of NBA experience under his belt, people around the league are starting to notice "George's son."

Last year Coby Karl made the Lakers roster after impressive Summer League and training camp performances despite going undrafted out of Boise State. The Broncos all-time leader in games participated in 17 games with the Lakers during the 2007-08 season as well as appearing in 17 games with the D-Fenders. He also became the second NBA player in league history to play in a D-League and NBA game in the same day when he suited up against both the Tulsa 66ers and Atlanta Hawks on February 19th (fellow Lakers teammate Jordan Farmar achieved this feat during the 2006-07 season for the Lakers/D-Fenders). Karl knows that he is more prepared this time around thanks to his experience in the NBA and D-League. "Being in the NBA for a year, you get used to the speed of the game and you can see things and anticipate all different things whether it is offensively or defensively," Karl explained after his Lakers team faced the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, July 19th at the 2008 NBA Summer League presented by EA Sports.

Being the coach's son (Denver Nuggets Head Coach George Karl) that he is, Coby knows the importance of improving his game during the summer time. He has learned that this is the time when you get in the gym and work out some of the kinks in your game. He knows exactly what he needs to do to get better. "I am trying to improve the finer details. Passing skills, shooting, ball handling and my focus. I need to concentrate on taking better care of the ball," he said.

As a second year member of the Lakers summer league team, Karl is the lone veteran on the roster with only a year of experience at the NBA level. That means on the offensive end he is the only one that has in game experience running Lakers head coach Phil Jackson's "Triangle Offense" on a team that had minimal practice time to master the complex offense. Asked if he likes having to play the role of coach on the floor to his NBA Summer League teammates due to his knowledge of the triangle, Coby responded "I try not to be too overbearing because the coaches have to do their job and I have to do mine. If guys come to me with question, of course I am happy to help them out because I understand how difficult it can be, especially with pretty much only three (3) days to learn it. So I try to help as much as I can, but also I need to let the coaches do their job."

Coby has had a quick turnaround since we last saw him and the Lakers in the NBA Finals last June. During that short time he has been keeping busy though. "I went to visit some friends in Boise and Denver, and then I came back to L.A. to workout. We didn't really have a break in between so it seems like a pretty long process. A lot of basketball," he said. Then he added with a smile, "but that's basketball."

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When the 2008 NBA Summer League presented by EA Sports began, the Los Angeles Lakers squad brought with them something that is the first in the five-year history of the NBA Summer League. The Lakers entry into the NBA Summer League was coached exclusively by the D-Fenders coaching staff (their D-League affiliate). D-Fenders head coach Dan Panaggio and his assistants Chucky Brown and Rasheed Hazzard, who led the D-Fenders to a 32-18 mark good for the second best record in the D-League, were chosen to lead the Lakers in Vegas.

Although they are D-League coaches, they do not lack experience with the NBA game. Panaggio spent four years as an assistant coach with the Portland Trailblazers from 2000-2004 and was a head coach for the Blazers Summer League team twice as well as acting as an assistant coach four times (three with the Portland, and one last summer as an assistant with the Lakers). Brown, who spent 13 years in the NBA with 12 different teams, will be coaching in his first Summer League along with fellow rookie Summer League Coach Rasheed Hazzard.

According to Panaggio, the trio got the opportunity to come to Vegas due to the successful season of the Lakers, including a long playoff run and a trip to the 2008 NBA Finals. "I think we owe it to the fact that the Lakers made it all the way to the Finals and would have had a real quick turnaround. So Phil probably thought that some of those assistants needed some family time, which I think is great, and so we get the opportunity," he stated.

Assistant Chucky Brown is also thrilled to be in Vegas due to the successful season of the Lakers. "The Lakers Coaches had a long season and needed a little time off and we were fortunate enough to be asked to do it and it has been a great experience," then he added with one of those patented Chucky Brown smiles "and I'm glad they couldn't do it."

With the Lakers taking 15 guys to Vegas, the D-Fenders coaching staff had little time to waste in teaching them the intricacies of the Lakers and
D-Fenders famous "Triangle Offense" as well as the philosophy of the team's defensive system. Brown was impressed with the way the guys were performing noting, "I liked what Joe Crawford did, I liked what Coby Karl did, I like Dwayne Mitchell's intensity on defense, and I like Nik Caner-Medley's intensity. There were quite a few guys who I got to see play that I haven't had a chance to watch this closely."

While the coaches are hard at work in Las Vegas, this is not the only basketball activities they had planned for the summer. Brown attended the D-League Pre Draft Camp in Suwanee, Georgia earlier in the summer and joined Panaggio in Orlando, Florida for the 2008 NBA Pre Draft Camp. "Scouting, working players out and little bit of rest here and there," said Panaggio describing the typical offseason for a coach. "Basketball and family, that's my summer," proclaimed Brown, who is looking forward to going back home to North Carolina to spend the rest of the summer with his wife and three daughters before he heads back to LA to get ready for the D-Fenders upcoming season.

The Lakers finished 2-4 in Summer League action and were led by
(D-Fenders alum) Coby Karl's 13.8 points per game, Lorenzo Mata-Real's 6.5 rebounds a game, and (D-League alum) Dwayne Mitchell's hot hand, who shot 61.9% from the field.

D-Fenders guard Darren Cooper recently took time away from his offseason workout schedule to visit the Hollywood Boys & Girls Club. "Coop" spent most of his time with the teenagers, first speaking with the group and then shooting around with the teens in their indoor basketball court. Before leaving, he received the grand tour of the Hollywood Boys & Girls Club by Athletics Program Coordinator Michael Adams and some other members of the club.

Having already received the D-Fenders "Hero Among Us" Award during the 2007-08 season, Adams was thrilled to have a member of the D-Fenders visit with the youngsters. "This was a great event," Adams said. "Darren is just starting out his professional basketball career and our athletics program is also just getting started out. It's nice to see someone else who is also trying to build from the ground up because we can all learn something from each other."

Cooper started his visit by discussing his path on the hardwood leading him to the D-Fenders. From growing up in Portland, OR to how he joined his first basketball team when he was six, all the way to the present where he practices in the same facility as the Lakers (even telling the teens about how he practices against some of the Lakers). Darren then went onto speak about the necessity of an education and how not everyone is going to always to be able to rely on basketball. He taught the teens about the importance of treating people with respect, never believing the naysayer's and to always give a 100% percent effort in everything that you do.

The crowd listened to Coop as he told his story and then answered all the questions that the kids threw at him. The questions ranged from how old he was when he first dunked a basketball all the way to who his favorite NBA player is (past and current), even talking about who his best competition he had ever played against (he was quick to respond that it was hands down KB24). When all questions had been answered, Coop reached behind the table and surprised all the teens with gold D-Fenders T-Shirts and spent the next 30 minutes signing anything the kids could find to autograph.

Once the teens had all of their autographs, they took Darren over to the Clubs new basketball court. Earlier this season, as part of the partnership between the NBA and Toyota ("Project Rebound"), the Lakers resurfaced the hardwood floor in the gym. Darren showed the kids a few of his moves, draining several 3-pointers and even showed off his hops by finishing off gym time with a slam dunk that brought the kids to cheers.