The pursuit of Artest is fueled, no doubt, from Phil's disappointment with the lack of aggression, heart, and conviction of his so called number 2 player, the weak of mind Pau Gasol.

Since we need an effective SF, the wimpy Pau may just serve an unintentional purpose. At least he was good for one thing.

I'm someone who is opposed to trading LO. I think with AB and Pau his game could blossom to new heights. But just for kicks and giggles and for imagination's sake, what about a trade for T. Prince out of Detroit?

I haven't looked at the numbers and if more players would need to be included in the deal, but I do know that the Detroit FO is looking to unload players, and TP is near the top of their list. He'd give us very good D, good scoring (probably as much as LO), and decent rebounding. Plus, the man's not afraid to take it to the hole and he always hustles.

I've always been a big fan of his. Sure, he won't get in your face and scream his arse off like KG, but the man is a serious defender who could bea less volatile, and cheaper, alternative to Artest.

Just a thought.

-bozz-

didn't see this posted:

Vujacic switches agents again
July 15th, 2008, 7:15 am · Post a Comment · posted by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM
Anybody heard of any teams that have expressed interest in Sasha Vujacic? Perhaps Vujacic hasn’t either.

Maybe that’s why he has changed agents — again.

Vujacic used to be with Rob Pelinka (Kobe Bryant’s agent) before switching to Bill Duffy. Now, he is back with Pelinka, maybe with the hope that he will be able to attract a few offers some time before training camp opens.

Vujacic, a restricted free agent, was offered a one-year qualifying deal for $2.6 million by the Lakers, but seems to waiting on other teams to call. GM Mitch Kupchak was vague about being contacted by other teams regarding Vujacic, saying that several teams have expressed interest in Vujacic over the years.

Otherwise, it continues to be quiet around the El Segundo offices. The Lakers have until Thursday to match Ronny Turiaf’s 4-year, $17 million offer from the Golden State Warriors and all indications are that the Lakers will pass on the affable player.

Justa,

ESPN I think. July 25th. Not sure what time.

Good morning CRUE!!

Does anyone know when Team USA's first game is? And what channel will be broadcasting? I'm going through some serious b-ball withdrawal here.....

Are we done with the "trade LO for Bill-Ron" yet? Arrgghhh - I seriously hope so. Bozz - I'm intrigued by the idea of TP - what would it take for him as an upgrade to the defense? (Although in NO WAY would I want to give up LO to get him....plus he'd need a new nickname. No one on this team can be called TP!) It's an interesting thought, but is there a way to tweak the team with his addition as opposed to blowing it up to get him?

LakerTom - catching up on the thread I've learned something about you that is just on the other side of the "too much information" line....LOL!

justanothermambafan,

Like I said, I haven't looked at the numbers and logistics of the deal (if my boss finds out what I'm doing, well, let's just say that i'll have a lot more time to spend on this blog, if you know what I mean) but I'm guessing that LO would have to be part of the deal. Detroit won't want to take on Luke's bad contract. Vlad's a possibility, but he's not a centerpiece type of player when it comes to trades. Ariza and Farmar would definitely have to be involved if LO isn't, but I'd hate to give up on two promising young guys such as them.

I'm guessing LO and hopefully, hopefully, Vlad for TP and maybe someone like Maxiell (sp?) to give us some insurance if/when we lose Ronny. Dollars would have to match though, but I like that TP isn't a high-dollar type of guy.

I still say keep the team as it is and experiment with the Three Towers.

-bozz-

Leo,

Ron Bill Ron Ron is not mentally tough. He's a child on the verge of collapse at any given moment. We don't need any more psychological nutcases on this team.

Korey,

I'd love to see Igoudala in a Clippers uniform.

GO LAKERS!

Fatty,

That Mitch/Bill/Ron dialogue made my day. Keep it up.

85 days is too long.

I need Summer League updates. Hopefully Coby Karl scored 87 points today and pulled down 35 rebounds. Maybe that would change the subject away from Ron Bill Ron Ron d'Artest for a couple days.

GO LAKERS!

Andrew the K.,

So, seriously here. Seriously. Is it even financially feasible for the Lakers to resign Kwame Brown? Seriously.

GO LAKERS!

AK/BK - with all the lay-offs at the Times, I'm assuming you guys are not in any danger?

mrbarneydangles,

Right you are about Ron Bill Ron Ron d'Artest. Los Angeles just has too many distractions for him. I don't hate Ron Bill Ron Ron like I used to. I recognize now that he's like a child emotionally. He's not a bad guy. Just really immature and screwed up. I don't think he'd have a positive impact upon the chemistry/dynamic on the team.

GO LAKERS!

bozz,

>>>But just for kicks and giggles and for imagination's sake,
>>> what about a trade for T. Prince out of Detroit?

I like Tay a lot, and I'd love to get him. Only problem is, Joe
Dumars has said that he'll only trade any of his starters for
an all-star, and he's even more particular than that. He was
trying to trade Billups for Carmelo Anthony. Denver offered
Iverson and he said no thanks. So it can't even be just any
all-star. I'm pretty sure Lamar doesn't qualify.

I proposed a three-way trade yesterday that was basically
the standard Artest trade floating around, except that
Sacramento sends Artest to Detroit and Detroit sends Prince
to the Lakers. In other words...

Lakers send Odom and Mihm to Sacramento

Sacremento sends Kenny Thomas to the Lakers
Sacramento sends Ron Artest to Detroit

Detroit sends Tayshawn Prince to the Lakers

Does that work for you?

Of course the Kamenetsky Brothers aren't in any danger of being fired! The L.A. Times knows that if they go Laker Nation will march on the Times Headquarters and burn that place to the ground!

Posted by Jon K - Torch Bearer of the 2008 Laker Nation

LOL!

Goooooooooooooooooooooooood morning Blog!

Posting from work, eeek!

Hopefully it'll be a good day in Lakerland. I can see it now:

Mitch'll get a little more tan waiting on the beach for desperate teams offering some measely excuse of a trade for Lamar.

Lamar will have a great day designing some trendy threadsd to sport at next years PG interviews. Then he'll shoot 500 free-throws and work on his up-and-under move.

Luke will have shot 1,000 jumpers and worked on his funky white-boy post game. Then he'll grub down on some Waltonian fare.

Sasha will have sat by the phone all day, but the only person calling is his buddy Pau saying..take the 2.5...take the 2.5...then he'll work on getting a shot off AFTER he takes the ball to the rack.

Ronny will say, my heart is in LA, but the green is in the Bay. Then he'll do a little shimmy and call Andrew B.

Andrew B. will pick up on the other line and say, "Dang Ronny, you got a new heart and were playing again in like...6 months, dog. What's a fella got to do to get his knee back proper?

Trevor's sitting at home saying, I love LA!

Kobe's finger is magically regenerating in his newest shoe commercial. Like Wolverine regenerating!

Pau is playing badmitton on the beach saying, "Who's soft...OOOH! watch the birdie! Hey, lemme call Sasha V, "Take the 2.5....take the 2.5...."

Derek's at home with his family saying, I love LA!

PJ and JB are larking through a field of daffodils and poppies...well, Jeanie's larking and Phil's lurching.

Doc Buss is looking around his room saying...man, I know I put a playmate SOMEWHERE around here...Mitch?!

GO LAERS!!!!

Jamie Sweet,

>>>Luke will have shot 1,000 jumpers and worked on his
>>>funky white-boy post game. Then he'll grub down on
>>>some Waltonian fare.

Amen to that. If Luke works as hard this summer as Farmar
did last summer, he'll be lighting it up next year and earning
his paycheck.

>>>Sasha will have sat by the phone all day, but the
>>>only person calling is his buddy Pau saying..take
>>>the 2.5...take the 2.5...then he'll work on getting a
>>>shot off AFTER he takes the ball to the rack.

Actually, we don't want Sasha to take the 2.5. The best
situation for the Lakers would be if Sasha got fairly weak
offers and the Lakers offered something like 11 million
over 3 seasons and he took it. But I think he'll get a lot
better offers than that.

If Sasha takes the 2.5, then he becomes an unrestricted
free agent next summer and then the Lakers couldn't match
offers and they'd have to try and re-sign him and Bynum and
Ariza and Odom all at the same time. Better to get Sasha
to sign on for 3 to 5 years at a reasonable amount than to
take the 1-year tender offer.

Justa,

ESPN I think. July 25th. Not sure what time.

Posted by: "Pig" Miller | July 15, 2008 at 08:05 AM

---------------------
Pig,

Thx for the info!

I think I've figured out why there's no news on Sasha. It's just
a theory, but I think it makes sense.

It's all the restricted free agents. As of right now, all of these
restricted free agents are still un-signed:

Josh Smith
Andre Igoudala
Emeka Okafor
Luol Deng
Andris Biedrins
Monta Ellis
Josh Childress
Ben Gordon

and to a lesser extent

Nenad Krstic
Daniel Gibson
Carl Landry
J.R. Smith
Ryan Gomes
Robert Swift
Delonte West

Let's call the first list the A list and the second list the B list. Sasha also falls in the B list.

Everybody on the A list will get way more than MLE level money,
guaranteed. A few of the B-list players might also get more
than MLE level money, but only after the A-list players are all
signed and if teams still have more than MLE worth of cap space.

Some of the A-list players might be poachable - if a team with
enough cap space made a huge offer for Josh Smith or Emeka
Okafor, there's no guarantee that Atlanta or Charlotte would
match. It might not even take a huge contract to get Atlanta
not to match for Josh Childress, just a big contract.

There are still a few teams with big cap space - notably the
Clippers and Memphis, but also some of the teams that HAVE
those A-List and B-List free agents. If the Clippers poach Okafor,
suddenly Charlotte has cap space. If Memphis poaches Josh
Smith, suddenly Atlanta has cap space.

So everybody (teams, players, agents) are waiting to see what
happens with the A-list players. Once they shake out, that
will resolve who still has money and how much. Agents don't
want to sign their players to an MLE if they think they might
get more (even if they're mistaken in that respect). Teams don't
want to sign a 5 million dollar player if that will take up some
of the cap space that would have allowed them to sign an
A-list player for 12 million.

Once all of those A-list players are signed and accounted for,
that's when most of the B-list players will start to fall into place.
For example, if the Clippers don't manage to poach ANY of
the A-list players, then maybe they'd spend their 12 million
poaching two B-list players.

Note that there are also some key unrestricted free agents
that are holding up several teams' cash as well - I'll wager
Boston, Cleveland, and maybe a couple of other teams don't
make any other offers out of their MLE cash until Posey is
signed somewhere.

Note that it's kind of a game of chicken. If someone has offered
Sasha (or Boobie or Nenad) a 20 million over 4 years contract
and they've passed on it thinking they'll get more, then that
contract may evaporate depending on who's available and who
still has cash when things shake out and what sort of players
they're looking for.

For example, Houston started off free agency needing more
outside shooting. So imagine that Houston made an offer like 4 years for 17 million to Sasha and Sasha turned it down
because his agent told him he's worth at LEAST a full MLE.
Now Houston has signed Brent Barry, so they're no longer
looking for a player like Sasha.

Or it might shake out that a team that really needs more 3-point
shooting ends up with a bunch of cap space after the A-list
players are gone, so they offer Sasha 30 million for 5 years
(which the Lakers very likely wouldn't match).

So what's the best situation for the Lakers? Here are things
that help the Lakers:

1. If teams that are looking for more 3-point shooting sign someone else. Houston signed Brent Barry. Miami signed
James Jones. Those are two less teams that are likely to make
an offer to Sasha. Other teams with poor 3-point shooting
last season include the Knicks, Philadelphia, the Clippers,
Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, and New Jersey.

2. If the teams with cap space spend as much as possible on
the A-list players. If they use up all their cap space signing
the big names, then they won't have as much left to offer guys
like Sasha

3. If teams with no cap space spend part or all of their MLE. Knicks used their MLE on Duhon. Dallas spent their
MLE on Diop, Orlando spent their MLE on Pietrus, San Antonio
spent some of their MLE on Roger Mason. That's four less
teams that could offer a full MLE to Sasha.

hmm. that makes me think.

If I get time later today, I'll do a complete analysis of which
teams could possible offer Sasha as much as the MLE or
more. I think if Sasha got an offer similar to what Ronny
got, the Lakers would match it.

>>>Luke Walton is a bum! If I missed something please add!

From the Lenovo +/- stats at nba.com

The top 5-player combinations on ANY team in the league:

1. Garnett-Allen-Pierce-Perkins-Rondo - Celtics

2. Stojakovic-Peterson-Chandler-West-Paul - Hornets

3. McDyess-Wallace-Billups-Hamilton-Prince - Pistons

4. Jackson-Harrington-Davis-Biedrins-Ellis - Warriors

5. Hill-Nash-Marion-Bell-Stoudemire - Suns

6. Fisher-Bryant-Odom-WALTON-Bynum - Lakers

One of the main reasons the Lakers won was because of their
depth which allowed them to put a lot of other productive teams
on the floor.

But the most effective 5-player combination the Lakers put
on the floor all season (and the 6th best in the LEAGUE)
included Luke Walton.

In other words, the Lakers were at their very best this season
when Luke Walton was on the floor with 4 starters. Much of the
season Luke played with the bench mob, where maybe he
didn't play as well, but when Luke played with Kobe, Fish,
Odom and Bynum, the Lakers were more effective than with
ANY OTHER COMBINATION OF 5 PLAYERS THAT THEY
PLAYED.

Doesn't mean that Luke is the 5th best player on the team
or anything like that. What it does mean is that Luke's skills
complement the starters in such a way to make both them and
Luke more effective. If Luke makes a brilliant pass to Kobe,
Kobe catches it and scores. If Luke makes a brilliant pass to
MBenga, maybe Mbenga catches it, but isn't able to score.
If Luke makes a brilliant pass to Kwame, Kwame doesn't catch it.

Luke doesn't turn 4 average players around him into stars,
but if you put 4 stars around Luke, he makes them better.