Our new podcast

This is awesome K Bros!! I'm living abroad in England at the moment, and i'm sustaining my US sports hunger mostly via podcasts. PTI and ATH, Bill Simmons, Galaxy podcasts, and now I have my Laker podcast. I'll look forward to this every week, haha. Keep up the good work guys, thanks.

Good podcast. The K Bros. are taking over the planet one blog and podcast at a time.

If we don't get Bynum signed by the deadline, we will pay a severe price in team personnel. If we don't sign him this month, he's going to end up getting more money than he's worth and we'll have to lose players like Vlad, Sasha and Farmar to keep him. This is an absolute. If he pushes for the max the team and the city loses big time. If he forces the club to make these kinds of player deductions so he can max out his bank account, the he has laid the foundation of discontent and ill favor in my heart, and I will not support him as I have hitherto. Nope. Wont do it. Nope. You big lazy max-contract baby calling for mama laker fan so you can suckle us dry! Nope. Earn your money, you big money grabbing baby.

Don’t be greedy and dumb Bynum. If you let your agent do all the negotiations for you, you’re acting in a reckless and selfish manner. This agent’s entire career is probably riding on Bynum getting a max contract. If he has only 3 clients, the other 2 probably don’t even sniff max money so I can see this David Lee eyeing Bynum’s payday as an opportunity to pay his own mortgage. He’s going to push Bynum with every last ounce of wicked counsel to try to get the max from Bynum, and if Andrew falls for it, he’s made a fool’s gamble, and he’s endangered the very good will that has made his career so fruitful thus far.

If you eat the fingers along with the cookie you probably wont get anymore cookies.

Come to think of it…if Andrew demands a max deal, why not start to look for a trade partner? Andrew and change for the #1 pick in the next draft?

Wes

on nicknames, Taylor Hicks would be proud of this one:

Goal Patrol! Woooooooo!

whatever happened to that guy anyway?

Wes,

His agent is the one who is demanding a max contract of $17 million, and appears not to be budging from it. The Lakers offered Bynum $10 million with incentives and really is a more fairer deal and helps the Lakers retain more of their personnel better not to mention to pay less than the luxury tax.

I wouldn't mind losing Lamar should it be necessary and if he doesn't go down to Mid-level exception.

But until his agent backs off and gets the better deal (unless something happens within the next few days it s very doubtable that David Lee will back off the demand for a max contract of $17 million) this will be a very hard thing to do for the Lakers.

-blitz

Is it too much to ask that a player start for a year before asking for a max deal?

Wes

Does Gasol make as much as Drew is asking? Gasol is shooting at a higher percentage and getting, at least before the Thunder game, as many points per game. Drew should not get and does not deserve much more than Pau.

I really would like Drew more if he showed some appreciation for the Lakers not making him play injured and giving him Kareem as a personal trainer. If he insisted on a contract that made us lose Lamar, I'd never forgive his selfishness.

GOoooOOO LAKERS!!!!!

Wes,

"Is it too much to ask that a player start for a year before asking for a max deal?"

I agree with you 100%. Drew's agent David Lee is being completely unreasonable.

I mean Bynum doesn't even have 82 CAREER starts yet, much less has he been the starter for a full season yet.

Trading Bynum isn't an option though. He'll be signed by next summer at the latest. LO is the guy who's most likely gone after this year.

Eric M,
On paper, that isn't actually a crazy idea. It actually could work, and you make a good point about Shaq. The thing is, I (and surely many more) who want to keep Kobe are thinking with our hearts, not our heads. Sure financially and maybe even logically it makes sense to not keep kob, but emotionally it doesn't make any sense.

The thought of Kobe in any other uniform (besides team USA) literally makes me sick. Kobe has the chance to be one of those rare stars who stays with one team their entire career. I'd hate to see that messed up. We have seen Kobe grow up, been together through the highs and lows of his career and life.

It's hard to imagine one player more beloved by his fan base, from the perspective of the fans, Kobe is "ours". Wouldn't it be amazing to have Kobe retire as a Laker. Go out on top after a 4-peat or so? I'd hate to see him ruin his legacy by playing for some other team the last few years like so many good players do.

Gabe,

"It's hard to imagine one player more beloved by his fan base, from the perspective of the fans, Kobe is "ours". Wouldn't it be amazing to have Kobe retire as a Laker. Go out on top after a 4-peat or so?

All true, and yes it would.
Problem is...If we have a team of Bynum, Farmar, and a 35 year old Kobe taking up 90% of the cap, there won't any money left except for a bunch of scrubs.

Oh well, Let's enjoy this year, next summer when we are bored we can talk roster.

Eric M.,

You beat me to the post! I have been thinking the same thing for the last few days. In terms of bang for the buck, hastening the post-Kobe era might be the route to go. Nevertheless...

Gabe, your points are valid and well-taken. Maybe Kobe's departure might be more bearable if he ended up going to Europe after all.

Oh well...in Mitch we trust!

Outstanding!
Bookmarked!

Downloaded it for later when I have free time away from that evil thing called work.
Living on the opposite coast leaves me little else than Celtic drivel, and that crap drives me up the wall.

Kobe could opt out and sign a 6 year. 20 mil per.

The benefit for Kobe: A long secure contract with his fav team.

The benefit for the Lakers: They keep Kobe until retirement.
It would help the Lakers a bit with the lux tax, and give them a little wiggle room for signings (like Duncan did for Spurs)

If we don't get Bynum signed by the deadline, we will pay a severe price in team personnel. If we don't sign him this month, he's going to end up getting more money than he's worth and we'll have to lose players like Vlad, Sasha and Farmar to keep him. This is an absolute. If he pushes for the max the team and the city loses big time. If he forces the club to make these kinds of player deductions so he can max out his bank account, the he has laid the foundation of discontent and ill favor in my heart, and I will not support him as I have hitherto. Nope. Wont do it. Nope. You big lazy max-contract baby calling for mama laker fan so you can suckle us dry! Nope. Earn your money, you big money grabbing baby.

Don’t be greedy and dumb Bynum. If you let your agent do all the negotiations for you, you’re acting in a reckless and selfish manner. This agent’s entire career is probably riding on Bynum getting a max contract. If he has only 3 clients, the other 2 probably don’t even sniff max money so I can see this David Lee eyeing Bynum’s payday as an opportunity to pay his own mortgage. He’s going to push Bynum with every last ounce of wicked counsel to try to get the max from Bynum, and if Andrew falls for it, he’s made a fool’s gamble, and he’s endangered the very good will that has made his career so fruitful thus far.

If you eat the fingers along with the cookie you probably wont get anymore cookies.

Come to think of it…if Andrew demands a max deal, why not start to look for a trade partner? Andrew and change for the #1 pick in the next draft?

Wes

Posted by: wesjoenixon | October 26, 2008 at 12:33 PM

==================================
Why does wanting the most money make him greedy? He and his agent I'm sure want the best offer he can get.

Why blast his agent? His agent is doing his job which is to get the best contract he can for his client. He works for his clint not Lakers FO. Suppose you were his agent, what would you do? Try to make deal best for your client or best for Lakers?

Any agent representing AB would be doing the same.

Go ahead in your mind and look for rade partner and see how fast there will be takers on that trade. 1st round draft pick. Good luck with that.

>>>Why does wanting the most money make him
>>>greedy? He and his agent I'm sure want the best
>>>offer he can get.

Well, I'd have to say that wanting to be paid among the top
20 players in the league when he hasn't played like a top
20 player for any extended period of time is greedy. Michael
Olowokandi played a few really good games. That doesn't
make him worth the max. Deron Williams has played two
seasons at an extremely high level. THAT is worth a maximum
contract.

The closest player this summer was Andrew Bogut. He had
pretty similar stats to Bynum, but he played a full season. He got
a contract for something like 55 million plus incentives that could
bring it up to 72 million. Bynum probably has a bit higher upside
than Bogut, but he also has a much higher risk of being regularly
injured. Thus a contract in that ballpark is appropriate

Asking to be paid considerably more than other players at
your skill level is greedy.

>>>Why blast his agent? His agent is doing his job which
>>>is to get the best contract he can for his client. He
>>>works for his clint not Lakers FO. Suppose you were
>>>his agent, what would you do? Try to make deal best
>>>for your client or best for Lakers?

Bynum is 20 years old. Did you know anything about business
when you were 20 years old? I didn't. When I took my first
job, I took the highest paying offer of the 5 offers I got. As it
turned out, it was a pretty boring job. I learned later that sometimes
accepting less money to work on a job that's more interesting
for you is a better working situation. Bynum's agent is steering
him toward what's best for the agent, though it may not be the
best for Bynum.

If the Lakers have a little bit more money to spend on good
players to put around Bynum (and Kobe & Gasol), then the
odds will be better that he will make it to the finals for MANY
seasons instead of 1 or 2 seasons.

>>>Any agent representing AB would be doing the same.

I wouldn't. Remember, during the Summer, Bynum specifically
said that he didn't need a max contract or anything. THAT was when
his agent stepped in and said yes he does want a max contract.

If I was Bynum's agent, I would explain it to him this way...

Look Andrew, you have enough potential that you could probably
get a maximum contract if you want it, though you might have
to play well through this season to get it. But since you've seemed
willing to sign for less than max, I will point out that if you sign
for less than max money, it would increase the odds that the Lakers
could keep a quality team of players around you. So tell me what
you want... more money or more chances at championships.