LAKER STARTING CENTER: CHRIS MIHM

We went from Shaq O'neal to Chris Mimh because kobe wanted to be the man in LA. Geez, i love LA. Thanks again to kobe bryant, he has done great for the city of LA. Kobe's the biggest attraction in LA.......kind of like a circus act. Kobe and the South Central Globtrotters. 2 for 1 special on Keystone Light beer.

Keeping in mind my love for Da Fish...keeping in mind that I'm for resigning him...does anyone else see the irony in resigning him to start, when he left to begin with so he can start somewhere (and make mucho buckos as well)? How ironic.

Re: Chris Mihm. I certainly hope that ankle is workable...I mean I'd hate to think we resigned him for naught (why aren't other teams jumping up and down resigning him if it's ok...course there might be more in play lol). I know one thing, it may not be "proof" but I get the feeling that we're resigning him because KG is acoming. I know, I know, fat chance...weird cookie coincidence...but just watch lol.

Chris Mihm! Yes!!! That's bigger than Beckham. I'm going to run out right now and buy an authentic Chris Mihm home Sunday white jersey. Kupchak was totally right about good days being ahead of us. That guy's one hell of a GM who really knows what he's doing.

Shaq wanted to stop working out and playing basketball so that left kobe with a bunch of scrubs in LA. But then Shaq gets moved and THEN he decided he should go into CONDITION before the season starts....

Thanks Shaq!!!!

ANOTHER WHITE GUY????????????

I think Mike T is gonna have a heart attack.........j/k

I like mihm and i think he gives us a better chance to win than kwame.

We went from Shaq to Chris Mihn because Shaq gluttony, materialistic and uncontrollable desire for more and more money is all about he care.

Shaq wanted more than half of the cap's team.

Also KLbeast is forgetting that not only Kobe criticized Mitch in public...
Guess what: the big elephant did it to the press and in a very derogatory and personal way.

People in the Staples were tired of Shaq big mouth shenanigans.
He even tried to be physical with the poor old coach Text Winter, after calling for being a tourist in the court and not playing good defense.

Look how old and sick is becoming Pat Riley, trying to appease and motivate the Big Child. If Pat can find any sucker to take shaq bloated contract, he will get rid of Shaq in a hurry even sending him to neverland..

Wes-

Actually, I think the Bucks, hedging their bets in case Yi doesn't show up, signed that guy to a wafer thin contract.

BK

YES! Mihm is back and you know what that means!

It means Butterfingers Brown is now TOTALLY expendable! Ship his expiring contract ass OUT. Give him and Bynum and Farmar and our next #1 for O'Neal or give him and Bynum and Odom and Farmar for KG or trade him to Golden State for their trade exception or Dump him on the freeway but move his ass OUT!

With Fish back and Rony and Luke in the fold we will build a team with HEART that competes instead of whining and pouting. Mihm fits that picture as does Evans. Cook and Rad can shape up or ship out behind Kwame. Give us Competitors and Kobe will come around. Then watch us do some DAMAGE this year!

"Shaq's Big Challenge" tanks in ratings.

The program is a failure.

Nobody is watching!

No one knows for how much and for how long Mihm was signed for? Since this is a Kupchak signing (who may have a sub-conscious affinity for a tall, stiff white player being he was once one himself), I'd say it was for 12M for 3 years, with the 3rd year as a team option. Any other guesses?

"Mihm is almost certainly the best big remaining on the FA market (unless I'm missing a blue chipper somewhere). "

LOL! That was funny. Isn't Mihm the last one? I mean even a guy like Jake Voskuhl got signed by the Bucks before Mihm. Jake who? I mean is there another big still out there?

mike

This should be a pivotal year for the Lakers.

Can the Lakers compete with this rooster?

The big mistake was done when you know when.

And a team just doesnt get that many chances.

the questions

Can someone fill the middle? Kwame, Brynum, Mihm?

who will play PG? will Farmar with his playmaking capability final develop a shot. Or will he be another Jason Williams?

Will a SF finally learn some defense? Just stop the guy.

other spots are ok.

Green.

No, blue. (Aaaaaagggh!!)

BK

godchild:

I disagree with your assessment of Mitch’s performance so far this year, although you really have to include the Buss boys and Phil in the equation since we know the front office is a team effort. While I acknowledge that all the moves made so far have been the smaller and easier ones, I still think the front office deserves an A for not screwing up the obvious small moves and not giving in and making a bad big move, such as a disastrous trade of Bynum, Brown, AND Lamar for JO.

We’ve added some excellent depth with the draft and free agency giving us an improved roster of 14 signed players and a backup of 2 promising young players who’ll start the year playing overseas. We have added Fisher and Crittenden, which is a huge upgrade over Smush and Shammond at point, and Chris Mihm, giving us more depth at center. These players will not only make us better on the floor but they also let us trade a point guard or center without decimating the roster.

I would definitely prefer having Derek Fisher, Javaris Crittenden, Luke Walton, and Chris Mihm plus rights to Sun Yue and Marc Gasol than a crew of malcontents like Mike James, Steve Francis, et al. I would be interested in trading Cook and Vujacic to the Rockets for Head and Wells. Otherwise, I think the front office has done a fine job of positioning us in a favorable spot to move forward with the existing roster or take advantage of any promising big trade deal.

I still favor getting Artest and am hoping that the Kings will show more interest as they find themselves out of the playoffs as the trade deadline approaches. Kwame’s expiring contract should be more valuable then and his health hopefully will not be a detriment. But since this is a contract year for Kwame, I have a hunch he might come out and have his best year for the Lakers.

Anyway, I am not saying that this is a championship roster but one that should win 55 games unless they have an injury wreck like last year. For sure, it is much better than the roster a lot of us were so sure would win 55 games. So how can we say we don’t believe the team won’t win 55 games?

This Year’s Roster (14 Players including Mihm):

1 - Derek Fisher…Jordan Farmar, Javaris Crittenden
2 – Kobe Bryant…Mo Williams, Sasha Vujacic
3 – Vlade Radmanovich…Luke Walton,
4 – Lamar Odom…Ronny Turiaf, Brian Cook
5 – Andrew Bynum…Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown

Versus Last Year’s Roster (14 Players excluding Mihm)

1 – Smush Parker…Jordan Farmar, Shammond Williams, Aaron McKie
2 – Kobe Bryant…Mo Williams, Sasha Vujacic
3 – Luke Walton…Vlade Radmanovic
4 – Lamar Odom…Ronny Turiaf, Brian Cook
5 – Kwame Brown…Andrew Bynum

I think the team’s strategy at this point is pretty obvious. They believe this team can be pretty damn good although they aren’t going to come out and say that. They probably believe that the team as presently structured is one player away from being an elite team. And there are a lot of reasons to believe they may well be right. And worse case, they have done a good job of restocking the roster to better be positioned to make a big deal if the opportunity arises or the team does not play up to expectations the first half of the year. I am fine with that, provided that Kobe is.

Tom

I think the plan has been to re-sign Mihm all along and that Kupchak was just waiting for Fisher to clear waivers.

Unless the Pacers hold a fire sale on Jermaine O'Neal, let's not rush to make a deal. The price could come down if we're patient.

I, for one, would like to see how healthy everybody really is before deciding whom to ship out.*

For one thing, let's see how many minutes Mihm is actually good for, coming off his injury. We also need to see how quickly J-Crit can adapt to a real NBA match-up. All the Summer League reports are great, but the true test is yet to come.

* Of course Cook, Sasha, and VladRad can gladly be shipped off if anyone will take them.

"I'd trade for O'Neal, but not at any price. This team is better than people think"

I agree with you Bruce, been sayin' it all along...

"We have Mihm and I think it's good. Certainly, in NBA you can not have too many bigs and makes things looking interesting with Kwame playing in his contract year. We'll have some options Lakers Nation before trading deadline in February."

You are right, LAL_Fan, I think the Lakers ain't done trading yet, but it might not be until later in the year. Yes, they are gambling that their existing players will be productive and thus be more appealing to other teams that might want to trade with them, but they also take a chance that some players will suck, and then be left in a desperate situation come early 2008.

KL - I check in from time to time on this blog and it seems you are always on it...what about life balance? Don't you have other things going on that is worthy of your attention? Or is sitting in front of your computer slamming Kobe 24/7 so fullfilling? I think that you live to get a rise out of people, like being paid attention to, etc. For myself and suspect others, I have decided to ignore you, and scroll past your attention-getting bull$^^t. If everyone else were to do the same, I suspect you would leave this blog and find some other blog to lurk and and stir up trouble, and be paid attention to, you poor troubled soul. I hope one day you will grow up, or go see that doctor and take the Resperdal/Zyprexa/Seroquel you so desperately need for your delusions.
You can reply to defend yourself, but I'm done with giving you any more attention.

hubbit (not Hobbit)

LakerTom,

I'll have to respectfully disagree with your assessment of this team. Although it has marginally improved from last year's line-up, it's still basically the same team. None of the back-ups has shown the capability of stepping up consistently when a starter goes down. The Lakers are just an injury or two away from a repeat of the 2007 season.

"55" was last year's dream. With teams in the Western Conference improving, I can't foresee the Lakers getting close to 55 with this line-up unless Socks turns into a monster, Radmanovic regains that shooting touch, and Sasha becomes the second coming of Petrovic.

I hope Cupcake and the Busses have a plan in mind, maybe stocking up for a big trade, because this line up just won't get us to the promised land. Having said that, if this is the final Lakers line-up, I wish to God these guys will prove me wrong!

Anybody know who is supposed to be ready to play first among last year's injured players? Mihm, Kwame, Radmanovic, Odom?

For the people down on the Mihm signing;

Everyone wants us to sign KG or JO and thats fine. Either one would probably cost us both Bynum and Kwames expiring contract. So dont you kind of need another big if that happens? Who could we have signed in our price range that was considerably better? Mcglore? Moore? Neither one are all that. Cris was averaging 10 points and 6 boards before he got hurt, in 26 minutes a game, not bad numbers for a guy that will probably be coming off the bench. It was the right move to make with the $ that we had to spend.

MH

Chris ain't a force but he is a hard worker and a 2 sport athlete. Anyone that's ranked #1 in Texas in tennis at 14 and still hit the open 10 footer has skills.

Now that doesn't add up to optimistic but if his ankle is 85%, he's a good veteran addition. You can't have too many centers. We could get 20/10/ and 2 blocks out of the Kwame, Andrew and Chris trio.

I still think "the" move is simmering on a back burner. Mihm may be here because Kwame or Andrew are about to be gone.

Tom

surely you meant mo evans

mike t

"LOL! That was funny. Isn't Mihm the last one? I mean even a guy like Jake Voskuhl got signed by the Bucks before Mihm. Jake who? I mean is there another big still out there?"

i gotta admit that was a good one.

LOL, I find it hilarious that KL's life revolves around Kobe, a person he hates so much. No matter what the topic, you can be assured a Kobe jab will find its way there.

p. ang,

And you know the best part of that team? Luke Walton will be the LEADER!!

Hubbit,

KL=Jim Buss=attention whore