PARROTS
LOL

I say Corey sign a one year deal with the lakers, which will make lamar expandable. Once lamar leaves after this season, we use some of that money to pay corey and Bynum. The truth is that we can't keep Kobe, Bynum, Gasol and Lamar with the kind of money they are making and will be making.

Guys don't forget I do love lamar, but hes really not needed not this point.

LakerTom,

According to LA Times: "Earlier Monday, they established right of first refusal by giving qualifying one-year offers to Vujacic ($2.6 million for next season) and Turiaf ($1 million).

If the Lakers do not sign Vujacic, they will explore other options. The most they could offer a free agent would be the mid-level exception of about $6 million a year for up to five years."

***********************
A cute language of a right of first refusal @ 2.6M and Turiaf 1M. The answer: I REFUSE and forget my previous statement that I would like to Laker for Life...so up the ante to 2.7 nope......2.8... plus film contract nope...it's too late to haggle.... to be continued tomorrow. Mitch reiterated before calling it a night that Lakers could refuse them. Both whispered in unison in French and Slovenian: "big deal".

C's....dude.....you're killing me. How much more pain are you going to inflict on us?

I have to admit, if the LA won the chip, I would be all over the Suns Fans at their blog.

Enjoy your time on top buddy, it may be another 21 years before it happens again.

-Blkthght06

I wouldn't be so quick to jump on the Clips bandwagon. Elton Brand, Baron Davis, Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette are all injury prone, not to mention, Shaun Livingston hasn't played in over a year and we don't even know if he'll ever be the same player again after that gnarly knee injury. If I had to put my money on it, I would guess that at least two of those guys will be out 15-20 games next year and any team with thtat many games missed by pivotal players will get crushed in this conference.

GO LAKERS!!!

Breaking News:

BOSTON CELTICS made an offer to KWAME BROWN.

Lakers are in deep trouble with PERKINS, KWAME and POWE pushing Gasol, Turiaf and Odom out of the paint. Lakers frontline are way too soft.

Aloha A.K

You are absolutely right about some of the comical Baron Davis trade proposals on the blog. But another reason that they wouldnt happen is, the Lakers probably wouldnt want the trade. On paper the Kobe/Davis back court sounds great but the fact is, they do not compliment each other. Both players need the ball to be effective. Most people just look at the star power of a player and not really if they would fit. While Baron can distribute, he is more of a scoring point guard. The reason the Celtics big 3 worked is they complimented each other with differnt skill sets. Kobe/Davis have basically the same skill set, though Kobe is better at it.

Same thing holds true for Artest. Great defensive player but a 42% life time shooter and only 32% from 3 point land. He wouldnt be much of an asset in the triangel at the 3 spot.

Good work in the reality check department. Keep it up.

MH

I'm with yooo on this one except for they can't sign Maggette if they want to keep Brand. But yea, theres no way this makes them contenders or anything close. I see them having the same success the Warriors have had recently. A good and solid team with a cap in the second round and the possibility of not making the playoffs. Realistically, I see them getting ousted in the first round.

I'm still stoked on this deal. It makes basketball a lot more fun in LA when theres two good teams. I'm a pretty big Baron fan (except when he blows kisses at the Lakers expense) so I'm excited to have a reason to watch Clippers games.

LAKERS will always be #1 in LA, but I look at this as we just got an annoying little brother to deal with. Oh well. Bring on another tough team in the west.

Lamar = Laker for Life

GO LAKERS

luigi,

It's bad move for the Lakers Blog as AK is a secret Clippers fan and used to think the Clippers were the better team until reality proved him wrong. Now he will be riding that horse again, until injuries derail the Clippers and Baron as usual.

Tom

Edwin,

"C'mon AK, you're joining the chorus line on Vlad, Farmar and Luke."

I didn't "join" the chorus. I was actually the one who started it by saying your trade was wholly unrealistic.

"You just gave Farmar a B+ which will be an equivalent of junior Baron Davis (you see both are Bruins) but added the fire power of Vlad."

That's incorrect, because I didn't grade Jordan against Davis. I graded Jordan against my expectation for himself and as a bench player. He's nowhere close to Davis right now, meaning his grade would have been much lower if that's the scale you're talking.

"They still have Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Biedrins, Barnes and Harrington not bad. Better having a bird in one hand than having none and go for hunting."

Right. Which is exactly why there's no need to clog up their cap bringing in players not as good.

AK

Why are we talking about signing Maggette or Davis? Davis is a shoot-first point guard and Maggette doesn't play D.

LAKERS INTERESTED IN JAMES POSEY, BRENT BARRY
by Mike Bresnahan for the LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers2-2008jul02,0,4362357.story

Here is excerpt from the article:

***********

The Lakers continue to wait for Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf, but they have fall-back plans in case their restricted free agents don't re-sign with them.

The Lakers have talked with representatives of Boston small forward James Posey and veteran San Antonio sharpshooter Brent Barry to gauge the free agents' interest.

Posey, a key reserve for the Celtics, is expected to draw the full mid-level exception of five years and about $30 million, though the Celtics have said they consider signing him an off-season priority.

Posey, though, is studying his options, primarily on championship contenders that include the Lakers, said his agent, Mark Bartelstein.

"I would say so," Bartelstein said. "When you get a taste of a championship, you want to keep winning them. The Lakers are a great team."

*************

Tom

Aloha Michael H. and others

For the sake of argument, whether it is Davis or Arenas with Kobe, I think they would share the ball for a common good. You have been precluded with their roles with GS or Wizzards where they are the go-to-guys. When Elgin played with West, that was the problem, will they share the ball? They did. When magic joined the Lakers as PG and Kareem as the star center, will Kareem accept the role of Magic as the leader, he did for the betterment of the team.

Now with regards to playing a mini GM for the good of the team, rather than kill the idea, you guys should empower it and improve it and make it viable. As fans sometimes we have a tendency to embrace our players too much that we don't want to release them. I remember this kind of fascination when Smush was our PG, with Kwame, with Cook. it took the eruption of Volcano Kobe to wake everyone's senses. Hey, we just lost the Finals and culprit was Defense. Is this the time to think of "what-if" trade scenarios & not at the middle of the season or during the playoffs? Talk trade as long as we want, think of the possibilities, think outside the box of the realm of your understanding.... who in this blog predicted Ariza for Evans and Cook? None. How about Gasol for Kwame and draft picks? None. but it happened, so if what are being aired are not possible, then make suggestions enhance it rather than kill them. The problem is that you are all playing like a Chief Justice who knows everything without any ideas to supplement. Now if you like the team as-is, then give a chance to others who are making suggestions for the betterment of the team's defense.

Aloha Edwin

The Lakers are doing exactly what they should have done with Luke. They made a low offer to each. They had to do that so they can match any offer that these guys get. Now Sasha and Rony will test the market and if the Lakers can decide to match or not. If we had done that with Luke, we might have had signed him to a more resonable contract.

MH

I don't buy the idea of star players not being able to "share" the ball. If the Lakers had Kobe, Baron Davis, Lebron James, Dwight Howard, and Tim Duncan, I'm sure that they'd learn how to play together. They said the same thing about how Garnett, Allen, and Pierce couldn't play together, but I knew that they could. If the Lakers had Kobe and Baron, they would figure out how to make it work. That would be a "good problem" to have. Not that it would or could happen, because it won't, but it wouldn't be a bad thing.

"Share the ball"?

Your Starlet was winning champoinships and he couldn't share the ball with Shaq "Kobe Can't Do without Me" O'neal.

True UNSELFISH playahs like KG, Pierce and Allen are unselfish stars.

Your Starlet only cares about himself.

hahahhahahahhhaha

Keep California dreamin'

Go C's! I can't wait until next season when my C's pound on yous azz.

haahahahhhhhhhahhahahahahah

Beno Udrih agreed to stay with the Kings for a 5-yr contract at the MLE. Him being a guard (from Slovenia at that) taken 1 spot after Sasha, is the MLE Sasha's market value? I would think so as I like Sasha's game on both ends of the court. Do it, Mitch!

Laker Tom,

"When AK started his Clippers smack (Clippers better at every position except shooting guard – Kaman over Bynum, Brand over Odom, Livingston or Ross over Jordan Farmar, Anybody over Smush), how could I not respond back since the teams’ records and direct matchups were virtually the same that year. My position was always that the Lakers were the better team, Bynum would eclipse Kaman, Odom would be as valuable as Brand, and Farmar would be a better player than Livingston or Ross. I would say that each of those cases ended up in my and the Lakers favor. The Clippers imploded and bombed while the Lakers built a championship team. Of course, AK will see it differently but the truth is pretty obvious."

Okay, first of all, it was never "smack," which I was never quite able to explain to you. My rooting interest is always with the Lakers. I just don't hate the Clippers and assessed their team as better at the time. Obviously, I was wrong about the Clippers ability to sustain what they did in 2006. But my assessments player to player aren't quite as off as you're making them, nor exactly the way you're remembering them.

I never said Kaman would definitely end up the better player over Bynum, just that he was more ready AT THE TIME to contribute than Drew (which he clearly was, go back and check Drew's second year stats vs. Kaman's of that season). As for now, Bynum might be better (although Kaman's pretty good, if you're being honest), but I never doubted Bynum would be very good or maybe even better than Kaman over time. Go back and check my comments on him during his rookie season if you need verification.

As for saying LO is as valuable as Brand, you're entitled to your opinion, but I can say with a lot of confidence that the majority of GMs don't agree. Neither do I. LO may have been as valuable in his own right on this particular Laker team, but against each other, Brand wins.

Farmar v. Livingston is also a tough comparison to truly make, in that Livingston has never stayed healthy. If you want to use that as points in Farmar's favor, that's a legit argument. But if you check out their stats, they're fairly comparable. Farmar is the better shooter and scorer, but Livingston is the better playmaker and defender.

Also, I wouldn't have compared Farmar to Ross, since they don't play the same position.

AK

Aloha Michael H.

With due respect to your opinion on Luke, a $4m offer for one year was just right but at increasing rate at 30m for 5 years that is just too much. Lakers are now held imprisoned on Luke's contract, that was a blunder according to Mike T and others who pointed that last year. I agree. anyway since you mentioned it, we are just analyzing its effects. Luke's contract should have been tied with the tenure of Phil Jackson b/c his effectiveness was supposedly in the triangle. With regards to Ronny and Sasha, they start with low but 2.6m for Sasha and 1M for Ronny with the right of first refusal is not a respectable offer. I hope Sasha signs tomorrow now that he's meeting with Mitch.

How many players now who are restricted that can help the Lakers defense? IMHO, Iguodala is one but hard to get, another one is Emeka Okafor of Bobcats, I'm sure Mitch and Lester are calling and evaluating possibilites unless you ask you never know what will be the answer. I'm sure other teams are also asking if they want to trade Kobe or Bynum - that's a ridiculous question for Mitch. It is the time of the year to dream big and inquire if ridiculous scenarios are possible, why pre-empt the reply?

Baron Davis has been waiting his whole life to play in LA again! Do you know how dead the lakers are?

The lakers were looking so promising, but shall not recover from the blow of Game 6. The Clips will be making Billy Crystal the new and much improved Nicholson.

Billy Crystal's uncle produced some fine jazz after all.

Fairweather Fatty wrote;

LTLS
[wasn't aware Clips gave up rights]

Actually AK was correct in that they have not as of yet renounced Magette’s rights (post 7/1/08; 8:28 PM). But they are expected to do so soon.

I wrote earlier:

"And while I do not think the Celtics can get Magette for the MLE, I admire Boston for not merely resting on their laurels and trying to continually improve themselves.

In light of this, the Lakers would be wise to do likewise by offering their full MLE to someone like Magette as well. Luxury tax penalties notwithstanding. "

F.F.--- “Why do you think the Celts would not get him?”

The assumption from all I have read of his desires is that in addition to wanting to get away from Dunleavy, he naturally wants the big contract as well. For certainly more than what he had with the Clippers anyway.

F.F.--- “Celts not resting on laurels?!! What an odd thing to say.
And you admire the Celts?!”

Perish the thought F.F. :)

As with any true Laker loyalist, I hate the Celtics with a passion. But nevertheless I have to commend my adversary here for going out and pursuing a good player like Magette in spite of their heavy payroll and luxury tax issues. And not being content with merely standing pat with last season’s roster as the Lakers seem to be doing. By looking for ways to improve themselves for next year.

F.F.--- “The offer for Maggette, is if they are losing FA Posey and they don't want a drop off in their play. That's not resting on laurels, that's trying to make up for the loss of Posey, House, Brown, and Parker.”

I thought the Celtics were looking to acquire both Magette along with resigning Posey and House. Not sure about Brown and Parker.

Is this not possible?

F.F.--- “If Maggette is having trouble getting more than the MLE from anyone, then why would he ignore the Celts offer?”

“What contending team can you name that can offer more than the MLE for Maggette?”

While I think it is safe to say Magette has no interest in playing for another lottery team. I haven’t heard anything about his overriding concern to necessarily play for a championship contender either.

Therefore the consensus I’m hearing is possibly Philadelphia?

F.F.--- “Besides, Ainge implied Maggette's agent called him interested in playing for the Celts like many other FA's are doing.”

If that is the case, then I would say that we’re (Lakers and their fans at least) are in some trouble then.

A lot of names are being thrown around but aside from Posey, I'm still looking for a good defensive FA who isn't over the hill. BD is flashy and all but trust me, you don't want him. He's not particularly good on defense... he just gambles a lot on steals. And you'll start hating him the minute he settles to chucking up 3's. Not to mention you might not even have a chance to hate him cuz he's out as usual with an injury to his knee. $65 million for 5 years? What a risky, long-term contract on an injury-prone player! With the Lakers' track record on injuries, I don't think I want that.

Still looking...

if clippers get BD theyd be dangerous. And the celts wil like it coz by the present system of elimination the clips would be one more team in the west that would rough up teams in the west before going into the finals. That would mean toughr games. I hope the lakers would try getting BD. They can trade odom radmanovic and farmar for marion and haslem then their lineup would be like this Davis/fishr pg Kobe/shasha sg Gasol/haslem pf Bynum/mihm centr. I think bynum doesnt deserve an 80m 5yr deal the most he deserve is 7 to 9m pr year. If his agent gets greedy trade him for marc gasol and two 1st round pick

Amazine_Happens said:

"The Lakers should get every available player on the market/trading block and stockpile 25-30 players on the roster."

That sounds pretty good to me.

Edwin Gueco,

>>>For the sake of argument, whether it is Davis or Arenas
>>>with Kobe, I think they would share the ball for a
>>>>common good.

Then obviously you haven't heard Gilbert Arenas comments on the
subject. Last summer someone asked hi if he could play on the
same team as Kobe Bryant and his response was something to
the effect that yes, he thought Kobe could adapt his game around
Arenas' game.