vi lakerfan,

>>>2001 No. Pick Brown agrees to deal with pistons(lol)
>>>how does that sound versus ...

Well, actually they should have put "Biggest bust in the history
of the NBA Draft Kwame Brown agrees..." Though it doesn't
roll off the tounge real smoothly.

If any team can take Kwame and turn him into a start, it's
Detroit. Ask Ben Wallace or Chauncey Billups.

phred,

>>>>>The NBA, where a guy who would be making $5.75/hr somewhere
>>>>>if he was four inches shorter getting another GM killing contract happens.

Actually, I think Kwame could get a job at In-n-Out for $11 per hour to start. Once he plays out his two years and is cut by the Pistons, do you think he would go overseas to play basketball? I doubt it. The guy has no drive. He is not really a basketball player, just a guy who grew too big.

Kwame’s a nice guy to hear him talk and articulate for someone who didn’t go to college. He’d do well at In-n-Out. LOL. A #2 with spread and lettuce, Kwame. To go, like you.

Tom

Pau Gasol is obviously a better player than Kwame Brown, hands down.

That's not my contention.

What I'm saying is that, within the basketball structure of the LA Lakers, particularly against physical teams like the Celtics, it's debatable whether or not Pau would have been as effective as Kwame.

In order to appreciate what I'm saying, you have to understand the difference between a good player and an effective player.

Dirk N. from the Mavs is perfect example of a good player that is not effective. You don't have to be good to be effective. James Posey isn't considered a "good" player, but he is effective in what he's suppose to do.

Pau is just the opposite. He's a good player, who isn't effective in what he's suppose to do, and that is proven by the fact that he never led his old Memphis team out of the 1st round of the playoffs, and he was roundly panned for his poor play during the championships.

Kwame, on the other hand, is not a good player, but in the right circumstances, he can be effective. We needed a defensive presence in the Celt series, and Kwame could have proven to be exactly what we needed.

Good versus effective. Pau or Kwame.

AK, I think for all the faults you see in kwame he provided a decent defense and rebounding. Looking at the Lakers lineup at present, theyre overloaded at sf sg position but could still use some help at pf/c and pg position. Are they really bringing over Sun yue? Who will provide back up at pf/c? I read a lot about Elton Brown why dont they sign him to replace Turiaf? He could come a lot cheaper.

Jus10,

"AK, I think for all the faults you see in kwame he provided a decent defense and rebounding."

Kwame's actually a pretty mediocre rebounder. He's a 7 foot center with great hops, great athletic ability, and plays VERY close to the basket, but he's only averaged 7 boards once in his entire career. His per 48 numbers always rank very low against other centers and typically among his teammates. He doesn't anticipate ball flights well, doesn't box out well and is typically a step behind in reacting.

I did (and always have) acknowledge Kwame's ability to body in the post. I don't think that talent alone can make up for the other shortcomings. He'll sometimes do a nice job showing on pick and roll, but he's a terrible help defender, not nearly as good of a shot blocker as he could be, and, as I said, not a good rebounder. Thus, his defense, as well as his game, isn't rounded enough to make a consistent difference, in my opinion.

AK

RICO TICO,

>>>>> My idea is , maybe we should keep one on the bench so we have a team that >>>>>scores even with our bench is in the game. The question is who ? The most
>>>>>likely would be Lamar Odom or Andrew Bynum . I like Bynum for he can run
>>>>>with the younger guys and make that BENCH MOB nasty.

>>>>> Any thoughts?

Well, you had a 50% chance of being right, but also had a 50% chance of being wrong. Sorry but there is NO way that Andrew Bynum is NOT going to start at center, especially after the Lakers sign him to $65M 5-year extension before the start of the season.

But there is a lot of support on the blog for Lamar becoming our 6th man so I do think you were on the right track there. The 2nd string five do look strong but remember that they will never play together. There will always be one or two starters on the floor.

Tom

LakerTom,

Is there some preconceived notion that a team with 6 white guys cannot win?

If there is, I haven't heard it.

I don't find it to be very interesting at all that we have 6 'white guys' on the roster.

You need to get back on your game. You're writing posts like you got Mike T on your mind.

Go Lakers!

troy,
"With the exception of SAsha, there is no defense for the Laker white players. "

LOL! Just a little racist there. Gasol sucks? Hardly. Borderline all star, who helped the Lakers to a superb record during his time with the team. Mihm sucks? I suppose if you consider that he hasn't contributed for two years because he's been injured, and if you ignore the level of his play prior to his injury, you could say that. Walton sucks? Seeing as he was playing through injuries all year, and the previous year he played fairly well, you can't say that, accurately that is, either. Vlad is mediocre - very good shot, not much defense, but he doesn't "suck." Karl - too soon to tell with him.

Like all racist comments, this one was stupid, and a reflection of the person who made it.

p ang

>>>>> 6 and a half white men. Forget Farmar?

No, but everybody but Staples and the Fool consider Farmar to be black. And it’s really something that nobody talks about because it has its roots in the infamy of slavery in this country where 1 drop of black blood defined a person as a slave and thus property.

But it’s even more insidious than that because I am half-Chinese and half-white but have always been considered to be Chinese by everybody since I was a child. My nephew is half Mexican and a fourth Chinese and fourth White but is considered to be Mexican.

It’s a reason why so many Americans who are multi-racial like myself are thrilled to have stars to root for like Tiger Woods and Derek Jeter and Jordan Farmar, not to mention a future bi-racial president in Barrack Obama, who understands what it is like growing up in between cultures. Hopefully, he won’t be too black and or too white to get elected.

Tom

Edwin,

>>>>>Kwame is slow and all muscle but his defensive stop has a quantum liability
>>>>>that he gives away in offense. He creates T/O's like Walton in bunches,
>>>>>can't make a decent shot no way should we compare him to Pau Gasol.

LOL. You definitely have a way with words, Edwin. Quantum liability! The perfect adjective and noun to define Kwame. Bravo!

Tom

LakerTom-

Perhaps our standards for In&Out are different. I haven't lived in SoCal for several years now, maybe that aren't the pinnacle of burger providing that they once were. I would, to be fair, as he has shown an ability to show up for work every day and not complain, start him as a table wiping guy and let him move up to the guy who has to decide when to stop flipping to onions for a second to check the fries. I think he could do that. But how much does that guy really get paid?

AK- Hopefully, this day won't go down in history as the day that the great AK had nothing better to do that get in a semantical argument with Faith. Jon K made a much more dubiouser and silly statement, if you had just waited a few posts. I agree, she dissed Chandler, but her analogy was arguable. I have nothing but respect, but jeez. One day, you tempt the gods by slighting Kobe his plus, the next day, you ask inhuman exactitude from one of the best. Come on, jeez, I say again.

Oh yeah, I was inspired by the haikus, I'm working on a sonnet. Errrbody hold their breath now.

THE SON OF ODIN DECLAREST; TIS ALL ABOUT THE LOVE

WAIT, WHAT? WHO IS THIS SON OF ODIN SHNITE?

GO LAKERS

Okay, JUS10

Ronny signed for I believe just less than 5 mil/annum. Kwame signed for just over 4 mil/etc

not really what I would call significantly cheaper. But considering how everybody else just jumped up to smack you simultaneously, hey, welcome to the blog, man.

If by chance you aren't new to this, than just say you are and take the excuse. Just my advice

THE LOVE IS SITTING AROUND AND WONDERING WHY BASEBALL ISN'T AS INTERESTING AS IT WAS WHEN THE LAKERS WERE OUT IN THE FIRST ROUND.

GO LAKERS

Jon,

>>>>> Life is filled with tragedy. It happens.

You’re an amazingly empathetic (and at times a belligerently hostile) blogger but I love you, but please stop it with the sympathy for Kwame. The Detroit that you and I know ain’t going to be where Kwame spends his $4M per. Most likely he’ll end up in a chick-filled mini-mansion in Grosse Point while you’re stuck in your every day digs in dismal Cleveland. And he won’t be worrying at all about those mean, ungrateful fans in LA.

Tom

Hear, hear Edwin Gueco.

There is no room for the race card here. It's 2008.

Go Lakers!

troy,

>>>>>You are making excuses, eloquent and articulate yes, but they are still
>>>>>excuses. With the exception of SAsha, there is no defense for the Laker
>>>>>white players. All of them suck, and that's been proven by their play.
>>>>>Lets call it as we see it.

First, I appreciate your courteous response and apologize for the tone of my comments. I really didn’t mean to be disrespectful of your opinion. In fact, I do understand the point that you are trying to make, which is that Kwame might have given us some of the toughness that Pau didn’t against Boston. And that might be valid except for one big problem: Kwame is not now nor has ever been a “tough”? player. Even Phil called him a pussy. Have you ever seen him act in anger towards another player? Or glare like KG? He’s just a big body who can keep another big body out of the paint but that is the extent of his ability.

That is where your entire argument goes awry. If it were Ron Artest, bloggers would be choosing sides. But with Kwame Brown, everybody is saying you’re crazy but don’t really mean it; they’re just amazed that anyone besides the fool would post what you did. But I understand where you are coming from and it is a valid point of view and strategy. You just chose the wrong guy to use it on. Like I said, if it were Ron Artest we were talking about, it’s a different story. Understand what I am saying? Your logic is right. You just unfortunately applied it to the wrong player.

And the wrong situation, because I could conceive of a situation where the Lakers were being dominated inside by a player like Shaq or Duncan in their primes. But Boston didn’t beat us with Perkins. It was their overall experience and tougher play than the Lakers as a team. It was a team problem and attitude more than any individual player, although the Beast would have changed the entire situation. So again, your theory is a very solid but it doesn’t work well when you apply it to the wrong player and situation.

Hope that shows that I was listening and appreciated your posts and comments. Thanks.

Tom

troy,

PS. The “white guys” reference was just a jab at political correctness and the coincidence that “tough” Boston had no white players while “soft” LA had 6 of them. Nor was it an assertion that the white players are the worst on a team in a black dominated sport. It just so happens that when we got rid of our worst 3 players, who were at that time all black, we just happen to end up with a bunch of white guys in the 10 to 15 slots of the roster who make too much money.

Of course, this all belies the fact that we know that “white men can’t jump.” LOL.

Tom

Glad Kwame got some money, I do like the guy, but Joe D must be loosing marbles to give him 4 mil a year. Now I would not have given Ronny 4 a year either, but if I was picking between the two, Ronny quick.

I like Kwame though, and I have since he was drafted. I always felt like he got a bad rap for a decision he had no part in. MICHAEL JORDAN is the person to blame for Kwame Brown being the #1 overall pick in the draft, not Kwame. What was he supposed to do? Say,"Naw, that's ok Mike, I'll just sit and wait a few picks, I aint quite #1 material. Yeah right. So I rooted for him from the beginning. But I must say, he frustrated me when he was a Laker because he seemed like he felt his mistakes were no big deal. He'd miss a rebound and do that damn clapping of his hands he would do after every misstep and I would just want to throw the tv. I hope that he has better luck in Detroit.

troy,

There is one other thing, this stuff about good player versus effective player. I just read michael’s excellent response to you on Pau’s performance in the Finals and he is right. Again, I think you had a sound idea, which is that there is a big difference between being a good and an effective player. You see, Pau although he is soft is a “very” effective player. He was not as effective as he could have been if he had not thrown up all those damn weenie shots, but somehow he got the job done, maybe not good enough to win the series, but nowhere nearly as bad as portrayed by the media and the blog.

You’ve got some solid concepts that you have expounded but you just need to be more careful and analytic about the players and situations to which you apply them. Sometimes you just have to take the hits and come back better armed the next time. Good night.

Tom

Edwin,

>>>>>This is just my comment on racial posts, there is no need for defense of
>>>>>white guys, black guys, asians, euros as Lakers. Call it a spade, a spade.”

I was really just jesting with everybody about the white guys thing but couldn’t believe the “call it a spade, a spade” comment in your post, which was otherwise very serious. I have to confess, when I started reading it, the comment made LMAO. I know it was not politically correct to take it like I did but you do know the origin of the quote, don’t you? At any rate, after I finished reading the rest of your post, I was embarrassed for my earlier laughter. Sorry if I started something with my “white guys” stuff. And yes, I agree that race has no place insofar as judging players or bloggers. I’ll try and be a good boy.

But – is it true that most white and female bloggers are fundamentally better typists? LOL. Sorry, to be honest, I’ve even laughed at a few racist Asian jokes in my time. Not very PC. My wife just grits her teeth in public company and hopes for the best.

Tom

Had to resign Sasha.

Every combination with our second two best players in the frontcourt (but who can't shoot from distance) involves Kobe going to small forward when Bynum or Gasol rest and that will bring in two deadly shooters in with Odom and one of the big guys at center. That will let us rest our front court line-up for 3/5 of the starters by bringing in Sasha, and then of coarse we need Sasha for when Kobe goes out. That’s 4/5 of the resting of the starting rotation that Sasha can cover without showing any weakness. That and with Fisher and Farmar switching off at point, and you can see how we have an extremely strong team (much more than just last year) with seven of our most solid players rotating. That was our biggest problem last year, our bench mob, got wrecked against the elite teams of the league. Of course over the season we’ll need Carl, Mihm, Luke, etc. to cover the grind of the season, Memphis’s, and garbage time.

If everyone stays healthy, we will no longer have to watch the bench mob get spanked against the top teams, but rotate the front court starters one at a time in the playoffs. That means Sasha is critical. Then if we can get Ariza as a lock down defender, we have a great team without any more additions. Of coarse, that’s if everyone stays healthy, so we can use an additional front court addition who has a jump shot, defense, and that can play both power or strong forward. That can be Artest next year (“trade” Vlad to Siberia if he doesn’t shape up to make the money work next year). Until then Sasha will be the huge sixth man.

richard,
your an idiot. prince aint that good. The trade is lop sided, and the Lakers would lose points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Where is your logic coming from?
http://virgotex.files.wordpress.com/
2007/11/logic-youre-doing-it-wrong.jpg

America, the land of opportunity....

Kwame got a good payday....it's amazing thought to think of all those people in this country (or world), who work hard, try to do a good job, and will never see that kind of paycheck...If someone is willing to pay it, then you can't blame him for creating it. Personally, I have an empty feeling in me now, thinking of the $4 million dollars that I will never make because of genetics. Including what the Lakers paid him, that's like $7 million a year over a 5 year span.

I had In N Out yesterday, they pay higher wages than other "fast food" businesses, however, the workers there really work hard. There's something funny about that company too, they put scriptures on the cups and the wrappings for your food...sad, maybe they're trying to subliminally affect their consumers. Personally, many people rave about their burgers. I will agree that the ingredients are fresh, however they are giving you less fries now than before....my girlfriend and I used to have plenty with one order, now 2 orders of fries barely cuts it. Don't slam on me, because there is plenty of ethnic talk on this blog, but there does not seem to be a proportionate amount of minorities that work for them. Their typical workers are white, 20 to late 20's...I did not see any minorities working at the one I went to yesterday, and in my neighborhood (20 miles East of Downtown Los Angeles, you would expect to see a little more representation of minority employees. I think they probably weed them out in the hiring process. Which is fair, if done fairly. Does not make it right, but as long as it is fair...I'm not screaming for affirmative action here, just making observations, for those of you who don't know what In N Out Burger is about. It is very popular, at lunchtimes you will see cars lined up 5-8 deep, waiting at the drive thru, as most of them are drive thru, they do have sit down one's as well....It's not the greatest burger, but it is fresh, it is consistent, and it is reasonably priced. Most importantly, it does not reek of that fast food smell, that will linger in your car as you drive home, and remain there for an extra day or 2. Personally, I kinda like Fatburger....

Back to the blog....Kwame...what a lucky MOFO (master of financial offerings.....) I guess he won't have to worry about lifes silly things, like how much things cost....that's just for people who aren't in the NBA....

Sorry if I offended anyone...his deal was kinda shocking...

The problem with kwame is his hands . he cannot catch a ball. you have tobe able to do that in order to be effective. even though you're just a defender sooner or later the ball will be given to you. and that turn over will lead to a great offense by opposing team. that is the greatest liability in basketball, i think

If the lakers could have signed Kwame for $2 mil a year it would have been great to have him but someone was always going to offer about 4mil - we were never going to get him.

I wish him luck but Kwame's officially become a journeyman now.He's not expected to become anything anymore and will play well.Watch.

Tom,

Loved your gutsy post from the white man's disease angle. You are qualified to write from this angle.

Whoever Kwame's agent is should be voted to the Sports Agent All-Time Hall of Fame/Shame. $4 million?