Kobe don't deserve a A with the way this team played in the finals. A- is good enough. Getting an A means you were close to perfect, and that last series Kobe and the rest of the guys were not close to perfect. If you were to break down kobe's season he gets an A for regular season, another A for the playoffs, and a B to B- for the finals. Not only that, the finals still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

If the lakers had even shown more tenacity Ill say yea those kids deserve their props. But we lose a game we were up 24, then we get kicked by 40 point in the last game of the year. No way that anybody on this team deserve an A. Thats utterly ridiculous to me. I live in Cleveland and people constantly throw that crap in my face. Its an embarrassment, and I have absolutely nothing to counter that with.

AK,

Admit it. You gave Odom an A- on purpose to keep what was already going to be a very lively discussion incredibly lively.

Lamar is an incredibly frustrating player because we can see his potential.

We see him outhustle and get really tough rebounds. We see him make some open jumpers. We see him clean up the glass and get lots of easy putbacks. We see him play great individual defense on good offensive players. We see him dominate Marion in the 05-06 first round of the playoffs. We see this guy when he's aggressive and when his head is in the game that is one hell of a player.

Those of us that have watched more than 10 games this season since we got Gasol have seen other things. We've seen Odom miss easy finishes after a great first few steps. We've seen Odom draw charges with his trademark leftward slide that people expect. We remember Odom saying not developing his right hand has worked so far so why change. We've seen Odom completely disappear in all aspects of a game for no discernable reason. We've seen sporadic defense, particularly bad help defense for most of his career. We've seen the brain farts at critical moments at the end of games. We've seen a guy that makes 14 M a year and is a critical part of our team play to 80 percent of his potential 25 percent of the time.

I feel like a moron, an overly open-minded leftie, a guy just looking forward waiting for a knife to be thrust into his back to be willing to give Odom one last chance. The line-up shouldn't matter that much, but I'm willing to give it a chance.

The Lakers management tried to trade Odom much of last year. There's a reason for it.

Odom's rabid defenders see potential that has as yet (in an 8 year career?) been unrealized. I see the potential too, I'm just mature and experienced enough to realize that some people just don't come through. I realize that patterns of behavior by individuals get repeated and expect that be the case. People don't usually change.

Lamar doesn't seem capable of long-term motivation. He steps up his game near the end of seasons and in the playoffs (until this year's Finals). He's missing something essential inside that motivates him to play hard and with his head.

In fantasy basketball, the best players to have are consistent. You can predict the impact that they have and they don't ruin you by totally disappearing for 1-7 games at a time. In real basketball, there are some parrallels.

I'd give Odom a B. He had maybe 20 games in which he earned his salary before Pau arrived. He earned it in most home playoff games (except the Finals) too. I'm scaling his grade based on expectations and making it higher than I otherwise would have because he did help so much in the playoffs and at the end of the season when we made our unlikely run to first in the West.

Someone (Odom himself most importanty) needs to take a look in Odom's head and clean out the junk. Does he want to be a player that wins multiple championships or is he happy just dogging it most of the time and playing hard when he feels like it?

Odom probably would fit best as our sixth man or on another team. You get ONE more chance buddy.

AK and all,

I know this is off topic but how many of the Celtics Free Agents can they sign. I know they have Posey, Tony Allen, Sam Cassel PJ Brown. They don;t have any of the Bird rights to these guys. I think the Celtics are a one hit wonder. They are way over the cap and they can't afford to resign all of these guys in particular Posey who was invaluable off the bench. I know the Lakers choked at the finals but i can say definitively they will be there next year.

MJT

Lamar is talented but flawed. He will have trouble adjusting to the 3, if that is the plan. Instead, they should take the 96 min/game for the 4 and 5 positions and divide the time between Bynum, Gasol and Odom based primarily on performance and matchups. If Lamar can give 6 minutes per half at the 3, then there should be enough minutes to go around. This would also allow all 3 to play aggressively on defense, knowing that the team will be OK if they get in foul trouble (a particular issue for Odom and Bynum historically).

If Lamar is to play at all at the 3, he MUST improve his outside shot, AND he must develop a low post game to take advantage of height mismatches. He had his worst problems in the Finals against Boston's small lineup when matched against Posey. He became passive, fearing to drive and pickup a charge. Even when he got a low post entry pass, he had no moves and looked to pass only, even with a major height advantage.

The Lakers should make an offer to Maggette for the full MLE. He wants to stay in LA after all. But, more important than getting him, it probably guarantees that he stays away from the Spurs and Celtics, both of which can only offer he same. If he can get full MLE from the Lakers, then he will try to get more elsewhere, but if he can't, he'll stay in LA rather than going to our competitors. If he comes here, then Walton should be traded (packaged with Mihm?) and Rad goes into deep freeze (he's untradeable, unless we take back a bad contract).

Passionate Laker Fan,

"I don't know who is worst in their Lakers blind love:
you, your brother, or Vic The Brick."

I'm pretty sure Vic The Brick wins.

AK

The ball movement of the whole team is just much better when LO is on the floor compared to when he is on the bench. The moments in the Finals and other series, when the Lakers were left standing around and going one-on-one was when LO was in foul trouble and sitting on the bench. Watch your replays-you can bet on it.
Its also the same reason why LO is often the starter that PJ likes to leave on the floor when the other 4 players are bench players. Even more than Kobe.
Sure, one can argue that LO is overpaid for being the "glue", "the facilitator", etc. but that is not our problem. If the FO wants to pay him the money-good for us.
You can have too many stars in a team wanting the ball and not have enough balls to play with. That has been proven time and time again in the NBA. In Kobe, we already have one of the players in the NBA that most dominate the ball. Add Bynum and Gasol and we truly need a Lamar type who thrives as the 4th option and willing to do the dirty work of rebounds and defense.
Of course, LO has his weaknesses.
He has a problem with bigger, heavier PFs and that's fine bec. he can counter with better quickness and ball handling. He has a problem with smaller SFs that have quick lateral movement but he can counter with his height and length. In a way, he is a tweener, that is a bit of a compromise between a stereotype PF and a stereotype SF.
But that's something for the coaching staff to exploit.

I hope he works on his 3 pt shooting during the summer as a big improvement in this area will immensely help spread the floor when Bynum and Gasol are playing twin towers.

I hope the coaching staff consider using LO as a sixth man next year and use the sixth man award as an incentive. And I hope that LO has a strong enough ego to accept the possibility of not starting every game. LO's ideal position is really backing up Gasol in PF, and backing up Ariza or Posey in SF, coming in according to matchups. As a super sub for 2 or even 3 positions, he can still average more minutes than a normal starter in the NBA.
The possibility of using LO as a tall PG a la Magic has also been hinted by the FO. This may also work depending on the matchups.

AK,

“There is absolutely no reason to panic, no reason not to see how Lamar plays with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol (or even off the bench as a sixth man) before deciding that he absolutely "can't" fit. If that's indeed the case, his contract won't be any less expiring in February than next week.”

Thank you for a brilliant job on Lamar’s report card. The “A-“ almost brought tears to my eyes because I feel so strongly that Lamar deserves more appreciation from Lakers fans, especially us on the blog who should have seen enough this year to be Lamar fans. The Lamar critics need to “chillax” as you suggested.

I was happy to see that you also think Lamar can fit and be a valuable component to the upcoming Lakers championship teams. His unique character, versatility, and skills are a perfect fit for needs of this team. I’m with you in that Lamar may end up coming off the bench as the Lakers 6th man instead of starting, but I’m fine either way because I know the guy is going to do whatever the team needs, be it points, boards, assists, defense.

The Lakers actually are confronted with major contract issues on every front and Lakers fans have to be grateful that Jerry Buss has not shied from ponying up whatever cash it takes for the Lakers to build a championship team. We are lucky that the Lakers are in a market where they have the resources to pay heavy luxury taxes and still rake in profits. If the Knicks are the Yankees of the NBA, the Lakers are not far behind.

Tom

lamars dilemna has always been inconsistency,he's great only around the basket but cant score or defend against bigger opponents he cant be an sf coz he's slower than most and cant score with consistency on the perimetr. If they're going to play him as a small forward his numbers wil go down and worse he cant defend against the likes of paul pierce. There is a surplus of sf in lakers lineup its only fair to say they have to move somebody and he is the only tradable sf they have. I believe its time for an upgrade no matter how bad we feel and they should trade him for marion no other.

To everyone talking about Lamar deserving a lower grade because being a third option means playing below his "potential," as I said before, I just don't see it that way. I think people for years have incorrectly evaluated/wished for what to expect from LO. Scoring isn't his M.O., and to try to force him into that role works against how he plays best. To me (and maybe just to me, I guess), that's not failing to meet potential as much as the potential being viewed in the wrong way.

In the meantime, Lamar is one of the best rebounders in the league, handles the ball in a way that creates mismatches, runs the break, works as a defender against a variety of positions, and does a lot of other stuff that many legit superstars don't. Why is it that none of those skill sets count towards meeting his "potential," but failing to score 20 ppg as opposed to 14-16 (which isn't exactly horrible) somehow damns him to "underachiever" status, no questions asked?

AK

An open letter to the "glass is half empty crowd,"

The Lakers are blessed to have Lamar Odom. An unselfish player, a reluctant star, we must remember how much trouble he causes the opposition:

He dominates shorter PF's with his quickness and length - does anyone remember Boozer's struggles? He is tough enough to cross-match opposing centers - did Perkins or Okur or Faberto "blow up" against us? He is quick and savy enough to control "freakish athlete" PF's - did Kenyon Martin excel against him? He has one exploitable weakness on DEFENSE, and that is being matched up against 7-ft players who's game is based on jumping over their man and releasing the ball at the top. Currently there are THREE such opponents worth mentioning - Garnett, Rasheed, and Lamarcus Aldridge:against those 3 players a double team may be necessary.

But against the other 26 teams? Lamar has one of the best defensive +/- numbers of any forward in the league. He is a decent FT shooter (could improve), an instinctive passer, and, pound-for-pound the most skilled rebounder in ALL of BASKETBALL. Then put the icing on the cake: how many 6'10" forwards that actually PLAY 6'10" can clean the glass and then lead the break? How many players in the league can literally play any of five positions on the court?

And although not an all-star, please consider the list of all-stars that have struggled against the rare speed/strength/length combination that is LO:

Marion
Garnett
Brand
Boozer
Bosh
Z. Randolph
D. West
Artest
Antawn J.
C. Webber
Dirk No-wits-key.

I can remember all of the above throwing up terrible numbers against LO during the last couple seasons on a least one occasion each.

Lamar's versatility make him perhaps the best 6th man prospect in the entire league. Think of Toni Kukoc, only substitue the former's 3pt game for Lamar's rebounding ability.

To those that think that assembling an "all-star" team will guarantee wins, well, that has been tried many times over, and the verdict is in: Knicks, Nuggets, to name a couple. Winning teams succeed because of a careful blending of talents and egos. Keeping this in mind, who in the entire world would be an improvement over Lamar Odom? He has played hurt, he has worked hard to improve, he is a team-first mentality, he has taken tough assignments.

I couldn't ask for anything more. Lamar will work to improve even more during the offseason because he wants to be here and he wants to win. And keep in mind that the young man has only JUST NOW entered into his competitive prime. The rest of the league is nervous - because the Lakers are very much on the verge of doing something really special...

respectfully
HIGH CHEESE

AK,

“There is absolutely no reason to panic, no reason not to see how Lamar plays with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol (or even off the bench as a sixth man) before deciding that he absolutely "can't" fit. If that's indeed the case, his contract won't be any less expiring in February than next week.”

Thank you for a brilliant job on Lamar’s report card. The “A-“ almost brought tears to my eyes because I feel so strongly that Lamar deserves more appreciation from Lakers fans, especially us on the blog who should have seen enough this year to be Lamar fans. The Lamar critics need to “chillax” as you suggested.

I was happy to see that you also think Lamar can fit and be a valuable component to the upcoming Lakers championship teams. His unique character, versatility, and skills are a perfect fit for needs of this team. I’m with you in that Lamar may end up coming off the bench as the Lakers 6th man instead of starting, but I’m fine either way because I know the guy is going to do whatever the team needs, be it points, boards, assists, defense.

The Lakers actually are confronted with major contract issues on every front and Lakers fans have to be grateful that Jerry Buss has not shied from ponying up whatever cash it takes for the Lakers to build a championship team. We are lucky that the Lakers are in a market where they have the resources to pay heavy luxury taxes and still rake in profits. If the Knicks are the Yankees of the NBA, the Lakers are not far behind.

Tom

Posted by: LakerTom | July 04, 2008 at 03:42 PM

"...almost brought tears to my eyes...."
Like Hannibal Lecter, you, my friend, are insane.
Repeat after me (to recover your sanity):
PAU/LAMAR/LUKE/VLADIMIR= NO RINGS!!!

lets watch the superbowl.....where the pats lose---

hahahaahha

still laughing at my loss at the superbowl...
next yr..will be the pats yr..if they can cheat again..

he led the team in rebounding, was second in assists, was third in scoring and fg%. what more do you freaking want from the guy. he just wants to be a team player and he's damn good at doing it.

i know the exasperation when you see him use his patanted carryover dribble and take 2 freaky long steps to go from the three point line to a layup like the defense isn't there. and then he does it a couple more times so you know it's no fluke.. and then he shuts back down, deaf to your screams.

but whatever, we don't have to rely on him for scoring load anymore and his salary goes down after next season, at this point you're just haters.

hey passionate. who do you want on pf instead of pau/lamar. who's going to take lukomir, and what god awful contract will we get in return.

i would also like to apologize to you on behalf of the lakers for going to the finals and only being within one possesion of a lead in the final minutes of 3 of their loses.

our team sucks, we need to get a gm like memphis who's willing to cull the weak, or tough aggresive players like denver that get fired up at the end of games when they're down. oh wait...

Faith,

“Are you sure? If he improves just a smidge on his numbers...Lakertom will give him the max haha, jk. Joking only.”

I guess I deserved that even though I do not think we will have to give Drew a max deal. We’ll get a discount for the early commitment and for being the Lakers and Drew’s team and end up paying him somewhere around $70M for 5 years and all will be fine.

The Lakers really have no other reasonable option than to sign Drew to an extension of his rookie scale contract before October 31. Otherwise, Drew would have a clear path to become a free agent in two years if he wanted with the Lakers not able to stop him.

As for Lamar, I agree with AK that we will find a place for him either as the starting small forward or coming off the bench as a 6th man. Once his role has been established and Lamar continues to play like he did this year, he will get his extension.

Since he is not a 1st round draft pick on a rookie scale contract like Drew, where contract extensions can only be signed the summer before the final contract year, Lamar can sign an extension (really a new contract) anytime he and the Lakers reach agreement, which I expect Lamar to do sometime during the season next year.

I think Lamar would be willing to sign for something around $36M for 3-years, which would be a significant discount over his $14.5M salary for next year. I also think the Kobe will opt out after next season to sign a long term deal for around $20M per year much like Shaq did for the Heat after he was traded. Of course, Kobe will still earn his pay but the Lakers will save around $5M per year, maybe $10M including Lamar.

Jerry Buss is not stupid. The Lakers are able to pay more in salaries and luxury taxes than any team in the league other than the New York Knicks and still make a profit. The big win, however, is the appreciation in the value of the franchise, now worth $560M. Winning championships will only fuel bigger increases in the value of the franchise and give the Lakers even more resources with which to pay players.

Lamar really made some great leaps as a player this year. I remember him taking extra practice shooting free throws and following through with clutch free throws in games. He also made great strides this year in learning how to play without the ball, especially cutting to the basket. He also learned to play much smarter by cutting down on the outside shots and aggressively going to the rim every play to shoot a high percentage. And I think we all saw Lamar use his right hand more this year than ever before.

Tom

I can't wait for the day after the Lakers win the championship next year. I would love to see what everyone says about Lamar then. They'll probably say something like, "if we had someone else instead of him we would have won by more," or "yea, we won this year, but with Lamar there's no way we repeat."

think Lamar would be willing to sign for something around $36M for 3-years, which would be a significant discount over his $14.5M salary for next year.

Tom
Posted by: LakerTom | July 04, 2008 at 05:09 PM
You, sir, are insane.

Oh, and AK:
I love the choice in picture of LO letting out a primal scream.
The irony:
He does not play with the passion displayed in that photo.

you're an idiot
you're a moron
you're insane

I DISAGREE WITH THE MORON WHO IS INSANE AND AN IDIOT.
OR DO I AGREE WITH THE MORON WHO IS INSANE AND AN IDIOT

Fatty,

If you read the previous threads, there were two groups of misguided posters to whom I was really addressing my Drew comments to in my response to Peter Maguire:

The first group were bloggers who didn’t feel that Drew deserved to be offered a max or near max salary. He needs to show us more or show us he is healthy, which he now is. Suggestions were made that $9M per year would be fair, regardless of the fact that Drew might feel insulted by the offer. One blogger even suggested that we let him walk if he’s only about the “Benjamin’s.”

The second group felt that there was no way we should give Drew an extension at all because he has not earned it yet and we should just wait and match what he gets as a restricted free agent. These bloggers don’t realize Drew can just accept our qualifying offer, play out the year, and become an unrestricted free agent we lose for nothing.

The true issue that everybody needs to know is that if we do not sign Drew to an extension before October 31, he will have a clear path to becoming a free agent and we will either end up paying much more to keep him or lose him as a free agent. So in a sense you are correct that this is a moot issue because the Lakers will extend him.

I just want everyone to be aware of what the realities are and why we MUST sign him before the start of next year. That is worth blogging about in my mind.

Tom

HIGH CHEESE.

Welcome. Excellent post, especially the list of players who Lamar has defended well. Good to have another fan who can back up his take. Lamar deserves to be appreciated. Thanks for chiming in. Look for more from you in the future.

Tom

AK,

"Kobe says he is better than KG."

Thanks for the explanation. I apologize to the Times.

Can't you stay out of trouble. LOL. I love your work on the blog but maybe you should consider switching to become a writer for one of the tabloids. You could write their all of their headlines and generate mucho clicks. LOL.

Tom

DOCTORS CLEAR LAKERS BYNUM
by Janis Carr for OCRegister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bynum-season-knee-2084686-foot-lakers

“The knee looks wonderful and we are anticipating that within a short period of time, he will start training," Bynum’s agent Lee said. "The doctors told him the knee was doing better than expected."

Andrew plans to go to Atlanta in two weeks to start his summer workouts with Sean Zarzana, the same trainer that he worked with last summer. Andrew says there is no pain or discomfort whatsoever in the knee now and he is eager to start training to get ready for training camp in early October. Expect him to show up as the new improved Beast.

This is great news for both Andrew and the Lakers, who must sign Drew to an extension before October 31 in order not to risk losing him to free agency. Drew is asking for an $80M 5-year deal which extend his contract and would begin the year after next.

While I think the Lakers will be able to get a discount from Drew because of committing to him long term and because he wants to be in purple and gold, it would be a bonus for the Lakers if Drew was willing to commit to a 5 year deal rather than to a 3-year deal plus player option like Chris Paul just did with the Hornets and LeBron, Wade, and Bosh did in their last contracts in order to be able to opt out and sign an even bigger deal as a free agent with the same or a different team.

It is a positive sign that Drew’s agent is looking for a 5-year deal. It shows that Drew really does want to stay with the Lakers and we want to lock him up for as many years as possible, which in this case is 5-years. The 5-year deal will end up saving the Lakers considerably compared to what they might have to pay if the deal was just for 3 years.

Tom

Hey, blogmunity!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July!

Lamar Odom = Laker for Life.

GO LAKERS!

The decision to keep LO or lose LO will be decided early in the season.

I think if our record isn't up par to what we think it should be (as an org), or a "piece" is perceived to be missing...then LO (as the only viable trade piece, one we're somewhat willing to lose)...will be traded.

It also depends on how he as a player does...if he plays well...you're talking extension.