Kudos for Rick Friedman, I completely agree with his obsevations. Let us all relax and go for the chase with this line up. I just want Kobe and Fish get a rest after the Boston game and use Javaris and Karl. Let Odom, bynum and Farmar proved their worth that we are the team to reckoned come playoffs time.

Many posters here give too much credit to the Season. This is just a round robin, the Lakers objective here is to win as many games they can go so that Kobe becomes a MVP contender. If Nash won 2x without being the top scorer, this is the time for Kobe if Lakers record are better than the rest. If not Kobe, then PJ as Coach of the Year.

So many of you give instant credit to Mitch Kupchak for doing nothing. Since when did you reward a student who is not doing anything in his homework and give him an A? Don't you think, praise should be given for the tedious work this summer of Drew and Farmar and not Kupchak? Secondly, we are evaluating too fast, speaking too often for every win and this is just the second month of the NBA season. Since when did we measure the Lakers based on season wins, that's only a fantasy in the Lakers Blog that if we win 55 wins we won the NBA Championship!!! If you are an oldtimer, if we did not turn out to be the top3 in the West then this team is a Failure. A Laker is like a Spartan, not a follower, not a mere contender but a proven winner. With regards to Mitch, he is not perfect too. As a GM, he traded insults with Shaq through the media. His role is a pacifier that could have resulted one more championship in '05 if he only maintained or balanced the tempers of his Owner, Shaq, PJ, retained Malone and Payton as well as Fisher. He traded them all for nothing! We missed that Championship in 2004-05, instead he rolled the dice with a white elephants like Brian Grant and old Vlade Divac and we could also include here Chris Mihm. We wasted cap space and traded our fortunes (Fisher and Payton) and got this Brown & Atkins and later on SMUSH & KWAME. Again, his will was tested last summer as a pacifier for Kobe and the Management, well what did he do to calm Kobe? Nothing! Therefore, the grade of Kupchak is "Average", he chose good players but made some lousy decisions as well. I still go for legendary Jerry West and Bill Sharman as the best GMs that built the Lakers with able (commentary) guidance of Chick Hearns. How about the tv and radio broadcaster Myers and Dedes combined, their role was to mold the opinions of the fans and management into one, have they done their job? Flat NO. All they have done is get their money and run.......! I wish we continue looking for replacement of the legend, in his honor and for the sake of Laker tradition of excellence.

Many of you in this blog think like a Clipper, Sonics, Blazers, Warriors....a slight win, you JUMP in excitement! Haha! If you are just be silent and warm, you exude confidence that leads to consistency. Consistency becomes a habit that pave way to perfection. Those are the Showtime Lakers.

LAKERS WIN! LAKERS WIN! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

NICE SHOT KOBE!

One more win and we advance........................................oh! I forgot.

inspired words Mr. Edwin Gueco.

Consistency is what separates us from the Lakers of old. We shall see.

LTLF
"Yes Crittendon is taller and a bit more athletic, but Farmar has shown more leadership."

I agree. More importantly, he has already shown that he can not only play with but elevate the play of both the starters and the bench mob. In other words, no more hypothetical speculation needed, the guy's PROVED he can play.

Having said that, I love Javaris too. Once he gets the playing time, I think he'll turn out to be a terrific asset, and maybe better than Farmar. But he's not there yet.

In my book, we've got two terrific guards for the future. I wouldn't trade either one of them.

How is Odom better at PF? He gets beat up down there. He is better the with the small forwards so he can abuse them down low.

Lakerbake,

>>>You are not going to get a better defensive presence big for Kwame Brown, nor a younger player
>>>because they don't make enough. Why take on a stiff and the young player to make contracts work and
>>>the contract of the stiff is more than 1 yr.

The trade I was proposing wasn't a direct Kwame for younger player trade. It worked like this (and involved
some questionable factoids that have been stated on espn and other sports web sites):

-------------------------------------------------------

Part 1: Philadelphia wants to rebuild.
Philadelphia has some good young players and a little bit of cap space next summer. The report on most of
the sports sites is that Philadelphia wants to trade away Andre Miller and his 10 million dollar contract to
make more cap space for next summer, when they could make a play for one of the big free agents that will
be on the market. That report may be true or it may be just speculation. If it is true, then the Lakers could
offer Kwame's expiring 9 million dollar contract and a draft pick or two for Miller. That might be a bit of
a stretch, it might take Kwame and Crittendon, but I'd even consider that.

Okay so the result of part 1 is that Philly gets cap space and a draft pick or a young player for Andre Miller.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Part 2a: Atlanta needs a good PG.
They've brought in several point guards over the past few years (Speedy Claxton, Tyronn Lue, Anthony
Johnson, Salim Stoudamire, Acie Law), but so far none of them has done all that well for them. They've
mostly been shoot-first point guards who shot a low percentage. Acie Law is a rookie, so he could still
pan out for them, but if they could get a veteran PG who is one of the top 10 PGs in the league (i.e. Miller),
they would probably be willing to make a deal.

Shelden Williams is their second or third string PF, and they're only playing him about 12 minutes a game.
If he's the key piece in a trade, I'm pretty sure they'd give him up to get Andre Miller. Lorenzen Wright has
only played in 5 of the Hawks 25 games, so he's expendable as an expiring contract. When healthy, Speedy
Claxton has been their starting PG, so the third player for salary matching could be any of their backup PGs -
Tyronn Lue, Anthony Johnson, or Acie Law. If the Lakers had to give up Crittendon to get Miller, then I'd be
looking to get Law as the third player coming back from Atlanta.

----------------------------------------------------

Part 2b: Cleveland needs a good PG

One of the big trade rumors for months has been Cleveland trying to get Sacramento to trade them Mike Bibby.
If they're interested in Bibby, who has been injured all season, I'm sure they'd also be interested in Miller, who
has been playing great all season. The question is what would Cleveland be willing to give up to get Miller.
I have no idea. Maybe they would give up Larry Hughes, but who would want him? Same thing for Eric Snow.
Nobody would take back a way overpaid player with multiple years left for a player who's actually worth what
he's paid. If they'd give up Ilgauskas, then I'd do that deal, but they probably wouldn't do that. The next player
down the food chain for Cleveland is Drew Gooden. Now you're talking. They might be willing to trade him
away to get Miller, and he would be an excellent fit for the Lakers. They'd have to throw in one more player
to match salaries - Ira Newble, or Cedric Simmons maybe. If the Lakers have to give up Critter to get Miller, I'd
be asking for Boobie Gibson as the filler contract.

----------------------------------------

So the result of part 2 is that Atlanta gets Miller and gives up Shelden Williams or Cleveland gets Miller and
gives up Drew Gooden.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now put it all together, and the net result for the Lakers is that they give up Kwame and either draft pick[s] or
Crittendon and they get back Shelden Williams or Drew Gooden plus filler.

Since they would actually play the games and not be on the injured list, either Williams or Gooden would be
a better defensive presence than Kwame.

Hey AK/BK,

It seems the SPAM stuff got better.

Andrew Z,

Actually, my point was based on number over the last two seasons. What that means is this: If the number hold true like over the last 2 seasons then this little 9-6 span is going to breakdown. That's what my point really is.

The Lakers are actually 4-1 when Kwame starts this season. I don't count the Bulls game when he got injured.

Those wins are:

Phoenix
Utah
Houston
Detroit

We lost to Houston on opening night.

As far as Kwame not being that important. It seems to me that Mitch Kupchak and PJ seem to think differently. PJ, when Brown went down said repeatly that the Lakers are missing someone to seal the middle and knock people around. He said that's what Brown does for us. I'm not sure but didn't Kupchak mention how the Lakers will be alright when Brown comes back to anchor the defense? Yeah...I think he did! And you know better than the Pope? LOL! Guess that line!

I don't think that has changed. Bynum has improved defensively...not doubt...but he doesn't seal the lane and gives up a lot of position.

If the physics of the game continue to play out the Lakers might be dropping 2 out of the next 3 games.

That's what I said isn't it? The Lakers without someone to seal the lane or protect the rim will be like 5-5 over 10 games or 6-4 over 10 games. That means something like 12-8 over 20 games or maybe 11-9. Right now were 9-6? So my number are really pretty much on track.

mike

zen, don't jinx it! lol, jk.

Actually it did.

To me the Kidd trade is simple. We not only show we're capable of getting that deal done, we also add to our arsenal. I'm sure we may live to regret it, but champions never worry about oh what if, they win.

LT Laker Fan, physically Javaris has a much higher ceiling than Farmar. Mentally, I can't make a judgement because Javaris hasn't played much. Phil has had high praise for Javaris, something that is quite unusual for Phil so... where there's smoke there's fire... at least to me... Last time I remember an old time (successful) coach standing by a young player without much experience was Bill Parcells standing by Tony Romo...

How about Parcells going to Miami? I LOVE that! Parcells will take over the draft next year, wonder who the coach will be? Wouldn't it be funny if it was Schottenheimer? LOL!

anyway... Phil's staying for 2 more years after this, I actually don't see them trading Farmar OR Javaris this year but if Magic Johnson is really going around saying that Kidd is coming... then there's no reason to keep them both if Kidd starts and Fisher isn't getting traded anywhere, one of the reasons he supposedly signed here was to be HERE! in LA. LOL! so he's not going anywhere and then there just wouldn't be enough playing time available. Farmar wouldn't be happy playing 10 minutes/game so he would seem to be the most likely to go.

this really is a crossroads decision for the Lakers, do they stay young and go after a PF or bring in Kidd and lose some of their youth and bench? or stand pat, which doesn't seem to be a realistic stance, even during this winning streak.

Lakerbake,

>>>NO ONE WILL GIVE UP A MORE VALUABLE BIG MAN FOR KWAME BROWN, not going to happen!

Okay, I already showed you one way to get a better big for Kwame with the Andre Miller three-way.
And of course it assumes that media reports about Philadelphia wanting do get rid of Miller's contract
to get cap space next summer are true. For all I know, Philly may be thinking of keeping Miller and
want to dump off Samuel Dalembert's contract to get cap space. In that case, a direct Kwame for Dal
trade would work, but then the Lakers would be saddled with his 10 million plus for the next four years.

Here's another way to use Kwame's expiring deal to get a big who will actually play. Again, it makes
assumptions based on media reports that may not be true, so you can take it with a grain of salt.

Reportedly Dallas is considering trading for Jason Kidd, and Kidd is interested in going to Dallas. Reportedly,
New Jersey would want Devin Harris back, but they'd want some salary cap relief as well. The problem is,
Dallas doesn't have any big expiring contracts. If you put together all 5 of Dallas' expiring contracts, it adds
up to about 6 1/2 million. Even if Jersey were willing, I doubt Dallas would give up 7 or 8 players to get
Jason Kidd. At the other end of the scale, all the big contracts Dallas has that would work well for salary
matching are multi-year contracts (Josh Howard 4 years, Erick Dampier 4 years, Jason Terry 5 years, and
I'll assume they wouldn't be willing to give up Dirk).

So what if the Lakers helped Dallas and New Jersey out by injecting Kwame Brown's big contract into the deal?
As part of a three way deal, the Lakers could send Kwame Brown to New Jersey and Dallas could send the Lakers
a player or two to match Kwame's salary.

So what could the Lakers get out of that deal?

1. not likely: Josh Howard. If Dallas were willing to give up both Howard and Harris to get Kidd, I'll wager
New Jersey would rather have Howard than Kwame's expiring contract. But if Dallas was willing to give him
up and Jersey would rather have the cap space, Kwame for Josh Howard works for me.

2. also not likely: Jason Terry. I wouldn't mind having Terry. He's an excellent shooter and could play both
guard positions, but the Lakers are in pretty good shape, so I wouldn't give up Kwame to get Terry, unless it
was Terry and a big, and even then, I'd cringe at JET's 5 years of remaining contract. Besides, I think Dallas
would rather keep him.

3. The more likely big chunk of salary: Jerry Stackhouse or Trenton Hassell. They both have three year
contracts, but the Lakers could probably find a use for either one. It would be at the end of the bench for now,
but they both have some useful skills.

4. The most likely payoff: a young big (or two). This would be the main thing of value the Lakers would be
getting back in the deal -- one or more players from this list: DeSagana Diop, Brandon Bass, Nick Fazekas.
Preferably Diop or Bass, because they could put in some productive minutes sooner than Fazekas, though
I think Fazekas has the biggest upside of the three.

So, in this scenario, Dallas gives up 4 or 5 players to get Jason Kidd, and the Lakers help them out by trading
in Kwame's expiring deal for one longer contract (Stackhouse or Hassell) and one young big (Diop, Bass, or
Fazekas).

Mike T,

Having Kwame in the line-up does help because it just adds to the depth of our team. I think having him start is better than Bynum (although Drew is changing that) because we can hide Kwame's atrocious offense better with the first unit.

Either way, having a fully healthy roster can't be a bad thing.

I think having Kwame Brown a Laker would be awesome if he could play at least 70 games in a season and get paid $4-$6 million a year.

I can't believe it Mike T! You actually give credit to Chris Mihm for those two wins? He's worse than Bynum is! Bynum has an impact whether he starts or not..Besides it's who finishes the game that really counts.

Kwame Brown for Al Harrington

Kwame Brown and Ronny Turiaf for Peja Stojakovic

Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, and Coby Karl for Ron Artest and Mike Bibby

I know he's a Hall of Famer, but I do not give up Farmar for Kidd. He's 20 million and no guarantee, and Farmar has that competive spirit that can't be coached. He's a true professional in the making. This team is coming along nicely. I wouldn't mind another low post defender who can score (read: NOT Kwame, Mike T.), But there are very few circumstances where I would want to trade Farmar. He's going to be too good, and he's cheap rigt now.

Edwin,

"btw, Faith and Rick are my paid cheerleaders haha!"

Actually, I'd do it for free. But I was unable to turn down your offer of compensation, for fear you might be insulted if I refused your generosity. You are always a class act.

Mike T,

The answer to your question, "Does pointing this out make you angry? And if it does...why?" is no. I'm not angry. I apologize if anything in my tonality implied that.

I'm just sharing that my head is ready to explode from all the exposition about Kwame's value. I hope he comes back, plays well, and contributes.

That said, while I don't discount the adage that past is prologue, the growing chemistry on the team is so dynamic right now that the Lakers are no longer the same team that started the season, or even the one that played a month ago.

No matter what happens in tonight's matchup against Cleveland, there is a momentum that can not be ignored. If they lose, they will learn from their mistakes. If they win, they will still learn from any mistakes and have new positives to build on. Every day that Kwame doesn't play separates him from what is happening now. It will take him ten games to acclimate to the new rhythm of the team.

Let's focus on the play of the active roster. That's all I'm saying.

Some people here just insane. How in the world you can judge JCritt from couple garbage minutes he played. Yes he shows some nifty moves, so what? For 2-3 minutes he was good, how about 20-25 minutes per game?
How about playing with 1st unit? People so quick to make a judgement, like "keep Critt, trade Farmar" Thanks God Mitch shows he has brains to do right thing without temptaion to do popular one. Remember trading Shaq? Who is the fool now? I can tell you who - Pat Riley seating on 60M Shaq's salary for the next 3 years without ability to upgrade roster around Wade. We're building for many years to come, not for one and done. We don't JKidd with his massive contract. What we neeed it's player like Artest, lockdown defender and smart scorer or PF a la Grant.