Never - Smush is still sulking but the Glove's available, haha. Javaris got dealt to Washington and he's playing like, 4 minutes a game or something.

Edwin - actually, Luke was shooting the three pretty well... um, for part of one year, two seasons back.

I'm going to ignore any posts suggesting giving Sun Yue, Chris Mimh, or Mbenga, more playing time, bring back Coby Karl, or trading Walton, Vlade, Mimh. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

EJK,

"AK, How is Gerald Wallace "definitely a player that would make sense"? Is his defense that much better than Trevor's? Is he going to stop Paul Pierce, something that's impossible to do man-to-man? His weaknesses are ballhandling and outside shooting...those weaknesses negate any positives that he would bring to our roster."

Yeah, from the games I've seen, I do think Wallace is a notable upgrade over Ariza defensively. Can he literally shut down Pierce by himself, night in and night out? Probably not, but like you said, that's borderline impossible, so the question is irrelevant. But I think he could do a better job slowing him down than Ariza, which by definition makes him an upgrade. And while he's not an incredible shooter, he's improved over the years.

"And how is he an upgrade over LO? LO's a PF, he can handle the ball, and grab rebounds. With LO gone, Josh Powell becomes our backup PF and we're left with 4 SF's. Are you comfortable with that idea?"

All in all, yes. You're correct that Powell is a step down from LO, but I also think Wallace is a step up in a lot of ways from Lamar, particularly in consistency and defense. And considering he's bringing down almost 8 boards a game, I don't think the Lakers would lose much rebounding. Plus, Walton and Vlad can both play the 4 if need be. So the overall positives could outweigh any overall negatives.

To clarify, I'm not saying I'd sign off on this, no questions asked. It would depend on who else the Lakers had to bring in to match salaries. And I'd have to really make sure Wallace is who I wanted, since he's got a VERY long deal. And I'm not even positive I'd wanna trade LO to begin with. But if I did decide to trade Lamar, I do think Wallace makes sense, in terms of fit and players supposedly available.

AK

TRUTH,

"LOL...That's a good one. What team could he possibly start for?"

Well, off the top of my head, Miami, Milwaukee, Clippers, Sac and G.S..

He could help out every team in the league in some way, shape or form!

He just so happens to be helping the best team in the West right now!

goodness MARC GASOL is cute. the thicker gasol is nicer looking than the skinny gasol.

If we're going to make moves with an eye towards beating Boston, Gerald Wallace is simply not the answer.

I think our offense, moreso than our defense, was the problem against Boston in the Finals. Aside from our reluctance/inability to mix it up with Boston's big men, our inability to hit outside shots killed us. With Boston's seal-the-paint defense, they allow good looks from the outside. That's why LO was so ineffective in that series -they were practically daring him to shoot, but he tried to drive and often drew offensive fouls.

We need players who can consistently hit outside shots, particularly midrange ones, to beat Boston. It would also be helpful if we had a player besides Kobe who can create his own shot in order to make the Boston defense pay for focusing on Kobe. I don't see Wallace helping us at all in that regard. And that's why I'd rather have guys like Mike Miller, Caron or Nocioni in any potential LO trade.

DT, I could see Paul "4evaFakin" Pierce trying to Post up Ariza as he is seemingly must stronger...But we'll see what their (Boston) gameplan is..I surmise they continue to use their physicality as a psychological 6th man to try and intimidate & defend against our bigs....

I don't really want to watch a massacre...We need to be competitive against them. I don't think Boston has played any competitive ball in a while, everyone is seemingly afraid of them..Kinda like how teams used to play against the Patriots before certain teams like the Ravens & finally the Giants got a clue and beat them with their own medicine...

To me, having a said Gerald Wallace and Trevor Ariza is the equivalent of what Houston did in signing RonRon and having Shane Battier already in a Uni....Can't hurt, only help..They do diff things on the floor, and Ron has playmaking skills, is a willing and able passer.....Trevor is still a work in progress in those areas..Plus, Ron brings an East Coast physical swag that Lamar is lacking outside of his penchant for an occasional crazy outfit!! I just having this feeling Lamar doesn't have that Mojo we need, when was the last time he actually got an capitalized an AN-1???? He is a horrendous finisher, at this point, I would say Luke is a better finisher by far than Lamar...