Fatty - Glad you posted that quote from Bob Young. I laughed out loud reading it this morning. Shack would make the $20 mil worthwhile if he did send Stern a note like that!

I think bynum is out of his mind if he thinks he's worth a ton of dough. What's he done except have a few good games against undersized opponents? RIght now Robin Lopez is a better playa at a bargain price.

rdlee,

>>>Maybe we could use a younger version of James Posey
>>>or Bruce Bowen type of player? Actually, I'd take
>>>Michael Cooper in his prime.

There are two current Lakers who have a chance to get to
that level... Ariza's got the defense he just needs to improve
his three point shooting. Or Sasha's got the 3-pointers, he
just needs to keep improving his defense.

Fatty,

How much do you get in promoting Scott Boras? Just kidding. In the first place, all these players wanting for more money while our financial systems are ailing is just a bad business pratice in the main street. People in the unemployment lines just cringe their heart w/ envy. I could lump these greedy players in the company of greedy CEO's wanting for bailouts and golden parachutes, after converting their company into a foreclosure real estate firm. If Drew is impatient and could not wait till the end of the season, in a hurry to close the deal now .....or else, he entertains offer sheets of other teams, I find that selfish. I'm the person who believes that nobody in this world is indispensable whether your name is Bynum, Kobe or Gasol somewhere, somehow, there is always a person better than you are. Drew @ age 20 should wait and let all negotiation go thru without any hassles or hastes. If Lakers were good enough in picking him up @10th seed three years ago as a raw HS player with limited basketball exposure, he was developed into a fine center by one of the Laker best at the Lakers expense, he should do likewise in recognizing the good fortune obtained from this team. So far, he has not done anything significant for the Lakers during the 2 1/2 years stay and it is only this year, Lakers will see dividends from what they have invested. Problem with young people negotiating thru blog, media interviews like that Big Ego (not all young people of course), they don't look at the big picture, it is always me and me alone mentality.

Like for example in the case of Turiaf's, his heart ailment was discovered after joining the Lakers, now he makes good money w/ other team, he should be grateful for the good deeds extended by the Lakers. First, they saved his life and Second, they opened new opportunities for him to make good money. Therefore my advice to the beast called by many but to me he is a mere chihuahua, "just play good basketball and let the chips fall in its place within a reasonable time".

Jon K,

>>>Payroll/Expenses versus profit/increased franchise value...
>>>
>>>Where's the point where the Lakers begin losing money
>>>by having too high a payroll?

Well, Forbes published numbers in January of 2007 for
all of the NBA teams. They reported that for 2006, the
Operating Income of the Lakers was 33.3 million.

There are a couple of differences between then and now.
At that point they were well under the luxury tax in salaries,
but they also weren't making it all the way to the finals.

To estimate the break even point, you have to make some
assumptions and make a guess. For example, you have
to estimate how much income they get for each extra playoff
game at Staples (including concessions, souveniers, etc).
And you have to guesstimate what the Luxury Tax level
will be.

I did a guesstimate early in the summer and I think what
I came up with was somewhere around 92 million. When
you add the luxury tax to the salaries at that point, it would
eat up that 33 million profit as well as some additional profit
for playing 8 to 10 more games.

If it gets to 100 million in salary, I guarantee that the Lakers
would be losing money (unless they raised all the ticket
prices by 50% or something drastic like that).

So think about that 92 million estimate. Right now the
Lakers salaries for next season are $64,612,011 according
to Hoops Hype. That doesn't include Odom, Ariza, Mihm,
Powell, Mbenga, Karl, Yue, or Crawford, and only includes
the qualifying offer for Bynum.

So let's start at the top. Assume Bynum gets a near max
contract (as most people here are predicting). Then his
first year salary will be somewhere around 14 million.

That puts the total salary around 74 million (taking out the
qualifying offer and adding in the big contract).

Let's say Lamar would be willing to take a pay cut and
re-sign for 10 million per year (which most people here say
he is worth).

that puts the total salary around 84 million for 9 players.

Yue's second year is probably around 800K and it's guaranteed,
so let's call it 85 million for 10 players.

The Lakers also get to keep their draft pick next season,
and that player (whoever they are) will cost about a million.

So now it's 86 million for 11 players.

The league minimum is 13 players, so lets say they let
Ariza and Mihm and Crawford and Josh Powell walk and
they find 2 guys who will work for a league minimum (a
little under 500K).

So that brings it up to 87 million for 13 players.

And if the Lakers go all the way to the finals and thus
play a lot of extra games at Staples, then Buss makes
around 10 million dollars. But if by some miracle Grant
Hill stays healthy and Lopez really does start to play as
well as Duncan and the Suns upset the Lakers in the
first round, then Buss loses money.

And they'd be stuck in that situation for at least until 2011
when Kobe's, Pau's, and Vlad's contracts expire.

Now compare that to the sort of trades I've mentioned for
Lamar. Let's say the deal is Lamar and Joe Crawford for
Stromile Swift, Eduardo Najera, Sean Williams, and their
first round pick.

Next season the Lakers would have two extra front court
players (Swift and Williams) and a defensive backup SF.

After that, Swift expires and walks. The Lakers keep Najera
and Williams, but for less than 5 million combined. Add in
2 million for their two draft picks (or if you're lucky the Nets
get lucky in the lottery and it's 3 million).

That's 81 million for 13 players.

That's STILL a lot of money, but at that level the team would
still make a profit even if they lose in the first round. And
with a core of Kobe, Pau, Bynum, Fish, Farmar, Vujacic,
Rad, Walton, Yue, Najera, Williams, and 2 first round
guys, they'd probably be better than a first round team.

Remember... Buss let Robert Horry walk. He let Derek
Fisher walk. He will have no qualms about letting Lamar
walk.

Long Time Laker Fan,

Thanks for the breakdown. It was pretty enlightening.

One thing, however, let's say Buss takes the risk and is only making $5 million a year, but the Lakers are able to establish a multi-Championship Dynasty because of that high payroll.

How would that affect the perceived financial value of the franchise which Dr. Buss could borrow against to raise money through funding other outside entrepeneurial ventures?

I mean, if he's only earning $5 million in net profit, but he's raising the value of the franchise by $25-30 million, that's something to consider too, right?

GO LAKERS!