He is a very important pc of this team. Hope he stays and PJ lays off of him.

Vladimir Radmanovic!!! Where to start?

First thing, Vladimir has a tendency to downplay his shortcomings and mistakes. He's an excellent shooter, but is extremely guilty of "fake hustle" (Mark Jackson was right on). That being said, he brings a lot of versatility to the team with his shooting and athleticism. His ability to rebound and initiate the break without an outlet (similar to L.O.) is very valuable. I would say even with all his short comings, I want to keep VladRad around. But there's still that whole contract thing.

In my Sasha Vujacic exit interview comment I stated that we should look to move some of our bad contracts. So I will now list our most expendable guys and add why they are so expendable.

NOTE: This does not include Coby Karl, DJ Mbenga or Ira Newble

Trevor Ariza (3.10 M)
Trevor, is definitely not known for his offense and scores primarily off of hustle. When he's on he can take a lot of defensive responsibility out of Kobe's hands. I like him, but 3M is a lot to pay for a hustle guy. Still a keeper.

Chris Mihm (2.50 M)
This contract is appalling. It is very rare for a guy to come off an injury this bad and be able to contribute. I can't believe we paid 2.5M with a player option to find out if he will or not. Granted we didn't know we'd get Pau or Bynum would be this good, but still too high. Melvin Ely makes 0.8M and he's an able body. His contract needs to be dumped or bought out.

Luke Walton (4.00 M)
Everybody is going to hate me for this. Luke is great at playmaking, but that is really the only basic basketball attribute that he makes a difference in. He's not a good shooter, he's not very athletic for the 3, and he is not big enough to guard real 4s. If we step outside of our typical Laker fan box we notice that 4 million is high for a guy who primarily makes plays, but can't drive. He and Lamar Odom basically have the same role and Lamar is much better at everything. This is what happens when a guy has a great season in a contract year. Sasha has done the same, but he is too competitive for the momentum to stop. We can live with Luke's contract, but it will make keeping Turiaf and Vujacic harder. I think a trade for a smaller salary and a guy with a more defined role is better. Preferably a guy who can defend the post.

Vladimir Radmanovic (5.63 M)
The highest paid of my group and while he can play like a 5 million dollar player at times, most of the time he falls short. However he is the most unique of the group. His 5 million dollar contract is probably warranted by that fact. It is a bad one, but he is a very athletic guy for 6'10" and is one of the best shooters for his height. I would like to keep him, but contracts like Walton and Mihm are going to make it hard to retain both Sasha and VladRad.

Ronny Turiaf (0.77 M)
Ronny wraps up the guys that we can afford to let go, but the reason for him is mainly because of the salary he will probably make. Turiaf is a decent defender, but he easily gets into foul trouble. He is not the best rebounder, but his energy and will power make him more valuable than his skills do. I also like the fact that he was someone willing to put guys on the floor. He challenges every shot in the paint aggressively. He is a bit of a liability on offense, because he settles to often for his long jumper and scores mainly off hustle otherwise. He will probably make 2 - 3 M next year. Anything else is probably over paying and shouldn't be matched. With Bynum back we will add the extra rebounding we would lose. If we can dump Luke and Mihm's contracts then retaining Turiaf fits the bill, however if we can't we would be best to part.

I think VladRad makes our offense more dynamic, but we have to consider our cost too. We have bad contracts with Radmanovic, Mihm, and Walton. I personally think atleast two of these need to be moved to keep the ability to retain our developing players within. Sasha and Turiaf are restricted this year. Bynum and Farmar are on the horizon. Sasha is a definite keeper this year. Bynum isn't going anywhere and we would love to keep Farmar. Something has to be done.

On another note, I initially thought Mitch Kupchak was impotent as a GM before landing Gasol, but he has drafted great. I think Crittenton will be a good player also.

What do you guys think of the contract situation and my analysis?

enough with all the offensive talk.
this team needs D.
a stopper with range. a ron artest.
a tayshaun prince. a james posey.