I think Kwame Brown can do the same stuff Kurt Thomas can do.

We need to allow Kwame to look god awful and hopefully we can keep him for like 3 million per yr over 2 yrs. Give him a smaller version of the Brian Cook contract.

He's a brute by God's nature and that's hard to find in the NBA. He's just not your 3rd best player as Mitch Kupchak and Phil Jackson initially setup. Now that he can be a backup center he's fine.

We will have to let him go if he thinks he can command starters money.

As for Lamar Odom, if he is retained, I think 8-9 million is a good slot for him.
Generally no one re-signs with their team at an age under 30 for less so Lamar will walk for the money and the Lakers will be fine without him. Perhaps Lamar Odom could be packaged with VladRad to bring an LO replacement this coming summer if we'd rather make the CHAMPIONSHIP run without Lamar.
Get value for him early is the idea!!!

maxie,

>>>and the unnecessary pimping of him and others cost the Lakers
>>>players like Caron Butler(!!) – who was treated like some random
>>>disposable player.

Okay, while I agreed with most of your post, I think this part is patently false.
The Lakers traded Caron Butler because they wanted to use Lamar Odom
at the small forward (not Luke) and wanted Kwame to be their starting PF.
It would have been nice if Kwame would have been capable of playing PF.
Imagine how imposing a front line Bynum/Kwame/Odom would be. But
Luke had nothing to do with letting Caron go.

LakerLover,

You wrote: Fisher will look old and slow in this game against Paul- a quick PG, making play a zone even a better option.

I'm looking forward to this game. Similar things were said about Fish when it
came to Steve Nash and D-Fish was a FIEND against the Suns. I said the
addition of D-Fish was HUGE and so far, I'm looking like $$ in the bank on
this.

Go Lakers!
Go Kobe!

I know Grant Hill's a Sun, but I feel for him. Esp. since he's a former Blue Devil. He was just on his way to beating his personal consecutive streak for not being injured. Now he's out for 2 weeks for an appendectomy. His chart must be taller than him.

I'm sure the Suns will miss him. Aw shucks.

Lakerbake,
" think Kwame Brown can do the same stuff Kurt Thomas can do."

You mean other than scoring and rebounding.

"I guess that explains why Mitch recently made Isiah Thomas #1-10 on his speed dial. haha"

Exactly. It's like a poker game... the poor players (Isiah) lose to the better players (Buford).

This season we had what poker players would call dumping... intentionally losing their chips to their friends so that their friends can dominate the table with their large stacks. Stern does nothing. Of course, he's secretly very happy about the cheating because a contending Boston equals better ratings for the league.

I personally love the idea of Mitch having Isiah on speed dial. Fleece the suckers!

Is Kwame the best bust in the league?

I don't mean the biggest bust, as in the one who most spectacularly failed to live up to expectations. I mean the best player who was once a spectacular bust. My view is that all great busts look up the mediocre. A great bust who approaches mediocrity succeeds by his own crushed expectations. These people need to be identified so that we can point at them, laugh and feel better about our own inadequacies. In other words, it's all in good fun.

Essentially, the question is who has the best initial bustness to present crappitude ratio?

Using these guidelines, I have it Kwame and Darko, in a virtual tie behind Eddy Curry. Curry was a smaller bust and is now less crappy overall than either Kwame or Darko. Who else merits consideration?

No cheating, candidates have to be legitimate busts - you can't nominate a second rounder playing out of his mind and win on the theory that he transcended expectations. Again, like a wet T-Shirt contest, we want to see only genuine, spectacular busts.

The D,

I think that Shaq O'Neil is the biggest bust in the league.

Kwame is overpaid, but he is still a solid player particularly on defense and our team is on an upswing that I fully expect to continue for at least the next three years.

Shaq may have brought a championship to Miami, but his contract has crippled that organization and will do so for years to come.

GO LAKERS!

Hugo Boss,

I actually figured you were serious about the jersey. That's what made it funnier to me. haha

AK

I vote JJ Reddick and Adam Morrison. Two top picks. Barely average. Already busts in year two.

The D, Greg Oden, hands down. I did a quick jaunt through the latest drafts:

2002: Jay Williams
2003: definitely Darko
2004: Shaun Livingston and Luke Jackson
2005: I think of Bogut as a bust, #1 for HIM??? Come on... and Sean May AND Fran Vazquez who was drafted right after Bynum. Ohhh! That one's STILL gotta hurt!
2006: Adam Morrison, no doubt! and Shelden Williams
2007: Greg Oden - knee surgery and he hasn't played a game yet? C'mon! Portland can put on a brave face but this is an incredible disaster. You're looking at 3 years from now before he can POSSIBLY be an impact player - IF he remains injury free - see: SEAN MAY.

1331:

Also for everybody else who want's to see the game.

http://forum.myp2p.eu/viewtopic.php?id=24823

zen....

Good point about Kobe getting other players into foul trouble. While I don't think it can explain all of his sometimes questionable shot selection, games like last night take on a different tone because he got key players into foul trouble. Darko was off to a good start but then he and Rudy Gay had to leave the game with 2 fouls in the first Q. I thought that was a big momentum changer in that game.

Tonight in NO, the Lakers have to employ the "No Peja" defense. Someone has got to get in Peja's jersey ala Rick Fox. When Sacramento was good, Fox would make it his mission in life to stop Peja, even to the point of sacrificing his own numbers. That's known as playing a specific role. Those 3's that Peja is famous for are just killers.

I look at the fact that the Lakers last played NO in November in the season's 3rd game as a positive. The Lakers are a much different, and I believe better team now. We'll see how it plays out. GO LAKERS!!!!!

Laker Lover

"I still ask this- if booster was such a great coach why did he start Smush the cancer for not 1 year but 2? I dont care if you have to go to the D league, everyone saw what a detriment to the team Smush was except ONE person- your 10 zillion dollar coach. Sorry thats just unforgiveable in my opinion."

if it could be all that easy. it probably isn't saying much but there was shammond williams, a broken mckie, sasha and farmar. the opportunity was there for those guys to take that job from smush but they didn't. besides, i don't really feel that it's phil's job to necessarily find the players. that would be mitch and his team of scouts. PJ just has to work with the ones he has on the team.

Guys...the Kurt Thomas for Kwame thing has been floating around the blog for about a month now and I still can't find any fault with it. Kurt is a tough as nails playoff veteran who I believe would give the Lakers a much better chance in the rough and tumble West. He's a man who knows what a hard foul is all about. Plus, playing for a team with a legitimate chance like the Lakers would rejuvanate and bring out the best in him. "Kalfee" Brown is just like a box of chocalates....you never know what you are going to get. I'd do that swap in less than a minute.

It's almost game time. I'm REALLY excited about this game.

Come on Lakers, pull out a win!!

Kwame=Kate Beckinsdale - both are beautiful, neither one can act... or score under the basket... LOL!

Kurt Thomas = Helen Hunt, a workhorse in her prime, haven't seen her in years...

also, I get the feeling people are just looking at Kurt Thomas' stats. You have to remember, he's on a bad team, there's LOT'S o' stats available on a bad team, a few extra rebounds/game, an easy basket when nobody cares about the score...

>>>>>>>They're required to put at least 3 players from each team on the ballot. So
Kobe and Lamar are obvious choices, but who beyond that?

Point taken. I didn’t follow the Lakers much last season, so I’m judging Luke by what I saw from him before last season and in this season. If he played most of last season like he has been for the past few games then I guess I could understand.

>>>>>>>I think there is some fan racial bias in the league, but I don't see that as
applying to Luke's situation.

From a fan and media attention standpoint, yes it does. Regarding his PT, not much but possibly indirectly.

>>>>>>>I also am sure there's racial bias in the other direction - was it Mike T who
commented that a team with 3 white guys on it can't possibly win a
championship?

Well comments like that are so blatant, outlandish, and obviously untrue to anyone not blind. But what’s often more insidious is latent, implicit bias that can be widely held yet stealth.

>>>>>>>Frankly, I view Ariza and Luke's contributions to the team as about equal
at this point. Luke is average on defense and Ariza is average on offense.

I agree there’s not a huge difference between the two, but right now I’d give Ariza the slight edge over Luke. Look at the stats – about the same even with less PT for Ariza. The offensive and defensive benefits that don’t show through stats give Ariza the edge in my opinion.

>>>>>>>The LA media did have a love affair with Luke because the team always did so poorly when he was out....

The LA media had a love affair with Luke once he was signed. I remember.

>>>>>>>I do not believe that PJ in anyway manipulated Luke's minutes because he was white.

Neither do I, which I mentioned in my post. I said PJ likes Luke but I think that’s more of a personality thing. I also said PJ couldn’t care less about a player’s color.

>>>>>>>I haven't seen the same elation with a Luke or even a Vlad or Sasha that we've seen with the Madsen/Karls of the line-up. Not even Medvedenko was the crowd favorite.

Also covered in my post. The blacks and the white non-Americans are not received the same way by some as the white American players. And Luke has and does get the elation, starting when he first became a Laker.

>>>>>>>Second, we traded Caron Butler, not because we thought highly of Luke, but only because we thought too highly of Kwame.

I’m not saying the adoration of Luke is why we lost Caron. I’m saying is that when there’s too much focus on mediocre players, really good players or potential players can fall through the cracks. It would be the same if Caron was just a FA who decided to sign elsewhere and Luke wasn’t on the roster at the same time. It’s about a comparison of the reception of the players relative to their skill and potential.

>>>>>>>Therefore, my formula is as follows: Crowd favorite = awkward white guy who's also a big underdog.
>>>>>>>The racial bias by the fans is that an awkward black guy who's an underdog does not get this type of reaction.

This is what I was getting at even with my Caron mention, because it’s not so much about Caron – he’s just one of the more successful recent ex-Lakers – but about the Devean Georges, the Kareem Rushes, and yes even the Slava Medvedenkos, Brian Cooks and Kwame Browns. Whether good, average, mediocre, or awful, there’s more a blasé or even frustrated attitude with these players unless they play consistently at All Star level – as if they can’t be just solid role players. Their bad games or plays receive more displeasure and are not excused. Their good games, skills, and attributes don’t get the same amount of hype.

Typically they are easily maligned or forgotten when they could have been or be more if given the praise, patience, encouragement and appreciation that would allow them to develop into solid players for the Lakers TEAM. Track Luke’s and Cook’s stats over the seasons. Compare the results to the difference in fan and media perception and reaction to them over the same period.

Point is, some people are more invested in seeing certain players succeed moreso than other players. That shouldn't be part of the equation is assessing what’s best for the team. On the same note we should be hoping that all players on the roster perform well and to the best of their potential. Kobe would again, the goal is championship – not proving or hoping that a few guys are good players.