As part of a formality with any restricted free agent a team wants to retain, the Lakers extended qualifying offers to Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf.  By doing so, they now have right of first refusal, meaning if either signs another contract with another squad, the Lakers can match the offer within seven days.  The official announcement from the Lakers is below.

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Seeing the list of potentially available cats only confirms what's being said 24/7.  It isn't the most fruitful of free-agent crops this harvest time (unless you're a HUGE Francisco Elson fan).  Obviously, things could get more interesting if Elton Brand does indeed opt out of his current deal.  But even that shouldn't raise the pulse of Lakers fans, since the purple and gold remain unlikely suitors.  Same with Ron Artest, but even then, if he really means it about not taking less money, unless a sign and trade is in the works, no dice for the Lakers.

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There aren't a lot of guys on an NBA roster (much less the Lakers') in whom I've had less faith than Sasha Vujacic. Not because I didn't want him to succeed, or because I didn't think he worked enough to make it happen.  Quite the opposite on both counts. Nice kid, hard worker, great drive, hustles 24/7.  All elements that made me actively root for him, but not necessarily believe his well-documented ability to shoot lights out in practice (the dreaded "11:30" tag) would translate into quality play once the games actually started.  Mind you, Sasha always insisted he could play at the NBA level, assuming he got a crack at consistent PT.  But even if I did buy that theory (which I didn't), this season began looking like he wouldn't even get a chance to prove it, as Sasha started out buried on the depth chart, alternating between garbage time and DNP-CDs. 

Then a long-awaited opportunity emerged, along with my eventual need to bake some crow at 375 degrees for half an hour, slap it on a plate, and eat heartily.

As most of you know, Coby Karl overcame cancer twice before making it to the Lakers. That victory is one he shares with his dad, who also beat the disease.  Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News wrote a touching profile of their battle. It includes words of praise for the rook from Derek Fisher, who certainly knows how this situation can affect a family.

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After all, the ESPN.com basketball scribe gave the Lakers an "A" for this season's draft in his team-by-team grading, and they barely made a ripple in it.  And we thought it was just the American high school system suffering from grade-flation.

See whether you agree with his logic (which, truth be told, I actually do). 

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Andrew Bynum arrived at training camp in the awkward position of being at the center of a storm he did nothing to create.  An unhappy Kobe Bryant was caught on tape in a parking lot expressing an opinion that Drew's rear would be best served shipped to New Jersey for Jason Kidd. The front office reacted by making it fairly clear that unless the exchanged player was named "Kevin" or "Garnett," no trade would go down involving their third-year center, especially not in a blatant effort to appease their disgruntled star.  For his part, Bynum simply showed up at Media Day thick in body, from his serious summer workouts, and in skin, claiming not to be hurt by The Mamba's rant (even if he found the situation kind of "messed up").   

But then a funny thing happened amid the uncertainty.  Bynum began the year off the pine and found an immediate groove with Jordan Farmar, overmatching most second-string big men while anchoring an instantly prolific "Bench Mob." And despite regularly clocking equal or better minutes than starter Kwame Brown, Phil Jackson was content to keep playing him as a sub, both to strengthen the bench and keep him hungry.  But then an ankle and knee injury to the former #54 thrust Bynum into the starting five, a development that saw the youngster's production truly skyrocket.   

It was, in short, a struggle. 

On the heels of signing a generous - many thought overly so - six-year, $30-million deal after a solid 2006-07 campaign, Luke Walton came into camp this season with the increased expectations that came with the new contract and couldn't deliver, unable to find a groove on the floor as his role with the team changed and he battled health problems. And though by some of the comments on this site you'd think he was solely responsible for everything from each regular season and playoff loss to global warming to the weak dollar (all while clubbing baby seals in his spare time), there's no question Walton wasn't the player L.A. needed him to be for the majority of the season. 

Just before Thanksgiving, the Lakers sent Brian Cook and Mo Evans to Orlando for Trevor Ariza, a swap met with little buzz around town.  And the attention it did receive centered more around Mitch Kupchak finding a taker for Cookie's deal or if Sasha Vujacic could handle being Kobe Bryant's main backup than Ariza himself.  But after a week or so of acclimating himself, the L.A. native was worked into the rotation and began opening Lakers fans' peepers by sporting two skill sets not in great supply on this roster: Slashing and the ability to defend a variety of positions along the perimeter. December saw a brief starting stint before moving back to the pine in favor of Luke Walton, a move I didn't agree with.  I also didn't think it was a particularly big deal.  Especially since Ariza's reintroduction to the bench mob didn't really cost him much in the way of PT.

A broken foot in January, however, did. 

Not Joey Crawford the ref (although that could be hella advantageous), but a guard out of the University of Kentucky, who sported 17.9/3.6/2.1 numbers during his senior season.  I'm not much on lying to our loyal readers, meaning I won't pretend to know a ton about Crawford.  If anyone can put me in touch with Ashley Judd, that would be a huge help.  But in the meantime, as I try to learn more of the lad's game, I can provide y'all with a few scouting/pundit takes. 

DraftExpress.com
NBA.com
ESPN's Chad Ford

The official statement from the Lakers is below.

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There is no question that over the last two seasons, the Lakers have enjoyed an unbelievable bargain in Ronny Turiaf.  This year, at barely over $770K, Turiaf gave the Lakers over 18 minutes a night, and career highs in points (6.6), rebounds (3.9), blocks (1.4), assists (1.6), and free-throw percentage (75.3).  All that, plus epic sideline dances and other displays of his seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm for the game and his teammates. 

The days of supreme value, however, are over.  If the Lakers are to keep Turiaf, they'll have to pony up.  How much, I'm not sure.  L.A. can match any offer, but given the rarefied air Dr. Buss is breathing these days, well above the luxury tax, if another team makes a big offer, Ronny could very well be in another uniform next year.  I've never been good at predicting what a player might get on the open market, so I won't try.  Still, now that there's a business decision to be made about Turiaf's future in L.A., it's time to get to the business of figuring out what exactly Turiaf brings, putting aside for a minute how much everyone likes the guy.  (As well they should. If you don't dig Ronny-the-person, the problem is you, not him.)