DJ Mbenga mback (and MJosh MPowell, Mtoo)
The headline's second half is admittedly a stretch, but silent M opportunities just too much fun to let pass.
Lakers.com's Mike Trudell is reporting that the team opted not to terminate the contracts of DJ Mbenga and Josh Powell by today's deadline, which guarantees both some cash for the upcoming season. No real surprise. For starters, GM Mitch Kupchak previously stated that "something unusual" would have needed to go down for either not to be retained. (Last time I checked, the world felt pretty normal.) Also, if DJ and Josh are cut loose, they'd need to be replaced. While neither is threatening to make an All-Star appearance anytime soon, who's a better option, particularly for less than a mil? Factor in how both are hardworking, solid teammates familiar with the system and unlikely to complain over sporadic PT, and we're now flirting with "no-brainer."
As BK and I mentioned during Josh and DJ's exit interview posts, it's easy to feel especially happy when the grinders of the NBA world find whatever stability and moments in the sun possible. Neither is the type to take it granted, so good for both fellas. Plus, "Hoover," the cat behind the "Banging with Mbenga" T-shirts campaign, gets the most out of his investment, which is always nice.
AK
i'm down with this. hopefully PJ can find some more time for these two cats. maybe give Gasol a bit more rest next season. gotta save him for the Playoffs.
Posted by: leonardbast | July 01, 2009 at 01:03 PM
Mgood!
Posted by: Charles | July 01, 2009 at 01:03 PM
WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!
Awesome!
What do we play for? RINGS!!!!
Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.
GO LAKERS!!!!
Posted by: Jon K. | July 01, 2009 at 01:04 PM
Good news. Not surprising, but still it's nice see us doing things that make sense.
Posted by: Benjamin | July 01, 2009 at 01:09 PM
What about Rudy Fernandez? He is unhappy about the conversations with Hedo...
I wouldn't mind him as a back up to Kobe or Small Forward.
http://tinyurl.com/lb4nvk
Posted by: Charles | July 01, 2009 at 01:11 PM
M happy for King Kong and Josh. They deserve it and hopefully they got a little raise.
If I was Phil, I'd use DJ more to bang the oppossing bigs to soften them up. He's got at least 6 fouls to give.
Posted by: Laker Phil | July 01, 2009 at 01:11 PM
Mawesome!
Posted by: ajax | July 01, 2009 at 01:11 PM
I like those guys. Good for them and for the team. Hopefully, is a sign that the front office will keep the team intact.
GO LAKERS!!!
Posted by: MrNano | July 01, 2009 at 01:29 PM
JOSH POWELL IS MUCH BETTER THAN LUKE WALTON!!
Posted by: pfunk36 | July 01, 2009 at 01:32 PM
Excellent! We need those guys if God forbid one of our BIG 3 (Gasol/Drew/Odom) goes down with an injury.
And for all you "get Artest" folks - WRONG. Yes he's a possible fallback if Buss is dumb or cheap enough not to pay to bring back Trevor or Lamar. But he's not. Don't forget our team AS IS won the Championship. Sign em up, bring em back and let's go get ANOTHER ring! Forget about individual stats, we have CHEMISTRY baby and we're the best team in the NBA just as we are.
Exception of course being Sasha Lose-his-swish. If we can dump him and his salary, Shannon plus either Sun or a cheap free agent would do as well or better backing up Mamba for us. Lose-his-swish adds nothing except offensive series that fail to score and defensive fouls.
Posted by: Jay Jay | July 01, 2009 at 01:38 PM
DJ and Josh are not luxury monsters, it is those who receive $ 5M and $ 6M which is worth $10M and $ 12M in luxury taxes yet playing WORST than Mbenga and Powell or just a bench warmer.
I don't have to name them, some of you adopt them as your favorite puppies and some of you hate them like your 2nd mother in law, all I am saying is the luxury tax burden that has to be confronted, they are carrying a total contract of $ 20.5M for four players only multiply that by 2 = $ 41M.
I am sure Lakers will still repeat if they have the core group or a a patch-up " Ron Ron" (in case Ariza or Odom goes elsewhere) and couple of subs or inexpensive F/A's at less than $2m each. That's only $ 16M compared to $41M. That's a lot of savings, folks. Lakers become more nimble, quick, good shooters and reliable in defense. I am not familiar with the ramification of trades in combination with buy outs how it can be done.
I said before won't come back until preseason, but tempt to put this idea across to the organization and fellow Laker fans. I am not participating before because I disagree in venerating these players as our sports Gods or our source of livelihood.
Posted by: Edwin Gueco | July 01, 2009 at 01:40 PM
Aaron Rodriguez>PFRAUD36
Posted by: KB Blitz | July 01, 2009 at 01:42 PM
Whoops that should be Alex Rodriguez lol
Posted by: KB Blitz | July 01, 2009 at 01:43 PM
Erratum: Correction on my figures, I was reading 2010 contract instead of 2009, it should read $ 16.1M or $32.2 luxury taxes.
Posted by: Edwin Gueco | July 01, 2009 at 01:55 PM
Powell better than Luke? You're kidding me right?
Powell's on-court/off-court net was -23.3. For comparison's sake Mbenga's was -7.7, Farmar's was -9.8, Luke's was +1.9 and LO's was +16.4.
Posted by: giantsquid | July 01, 2009 at 01:56 PM
CONGO CASH!
Posted by: Joe Mama | July 01, 2009 at 02:01 PM
Pfunk36,
Tiny Url for the link.
Thanks
AK
Posted by: Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky | July 01, 2009 at 02:08 PM
MBenga (even MPowell) the Shaq Softener. He's a good center with 6 fouls to give. He's had invaluable experience last year so he should be more usefull this year, and Hoover and his 'Banging' gang must be happy.
Baywood
Posted by: Baywood | July 01, 2009 at 02:11 PM
Where can you buy the mbenga tshirts?
Posted by: Buck | July 01, 2009 at 02:17 PM
Congo Cash and J-Peezy still in the Purple & Gold!!!
WOOO HOOOO!!! Good stuff.
Now we just need LO, TA and SB to ink their deals. I've had about all the waiting I can take.
pfunk - Josh is better than Luke?? At what?? Initiating the offense? Passing the ball into the post? Ok - I'll give you hitting the mid-range jumper.... and he can probably jump higher.... !
sherrif - I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on the merits of bringing Bill Ron "I'm so crazy" Testes into Club Lakers. I would bet money that the front office and especially PJ absolutely do not want to deal with the circus that would follow him around, no matter what skill he may possess. The potential for distraction, not to mention disruption of the team's chemistry, is too huge.
We just won a championship for the love of god. Why in the world would a looney-tune like Artest be some kind of answer to the possibility of us losing LO or TA? During the Houston series, y'all saw the boy lose it - several times in several games. Not to mention taking the games way too personally and ended up shooting his team out of it. Do you really believe anyone can control this nut job? Or would even want to try? Really? I don't think anyone makes enough money to want that job.
Posted by: justanothermambafan | July 01, 2009 at 02:17 PM
Two important things to have in role players: work ethic and role knowledge.
Welcome mback guys....
Posted by: #4 | July 01, 2009 at 02:20 PM
Ok Fantasy talk now. Assuming we don't keep TA but keep Lamar and Shannon, would you go for this?
Also assuming that Portland has a stack of SF's and they sign Hedo T. I posted an article earlier that Rudy F was not exactly happy about the talks for signing the dude from Turkey. And Outlaw has always been linked to trade rumors.
Nba Trade Machine maintains the same URL.
Travis Outlaw + Rudy Fernandez for Adam Morrison. All their contracts expire 09-10.
Now I lay the pipe...
Posted by: Charles | July 01, 2009 at 02:21 PM
That's good news.
2 down, 3 to go before our work is done here on the blog
Posted by: Fatty | July 01, 2009 at 02:29 PM
For Laker Stats On court/Off court etc
http://tinyurl.com/6dqcqc
Posted by: giantsquid | July 01, 2009 at 02:35 PM
With each Kobe milestone it becomes increasingly apparent that it is much less about Kobe's supposed lack of marketability than it is about managing editors, and those who make marketing decisions have a personal bias against Kobe Bryant. It is to the point now that it is beginning to affect the integrity of the game's legacy.
Take a look at this ESPY promo.......Do you see what I see?
http://tinyurl.com/my56qa
Kobe has played in 6 Finals this decade (more than Shaq or Duncan) and won his 4th ring this decade yet despite this sterling record and overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to get back to the top some fat, pot-bellly, managing editor decided "Hey, despite all of this success, I'm going to make LeBron the face of the ESPY'S"........WTF??
There should be a TV show dedicated to plucking these "decision makers" from anonymity and asking them......."How did you come to the conclusion that LeBron should be the face on this ESPY add"?
Who are these people? Is it me?
......I'm just saying
Posted by: pfunk36 | July 01, 2009 at 02:37 PM
Get over it Jon K.
If they played for rings then salary caps and free agency wouldn't be issues.
WHAT DO WE REALLY PLAY FOR?
MONEY!!!! Ka-Ching
Posted by: Tata | July 01, 2009 at 02:41 PM
Fatty
3 down 3 to go. or kobe is just another quantity?
i like the outlaw+ rudy for adam. rudy is like gasol's little brother
and ron ron for the mle
and put back farmar in the D-league
Posted by: ouchhhhhhhhh | July 01, 2009 at 02:44 PM
looks like in the NBA MALL is the worst shopping day of the year. no team spent any cent yet. waiting for the last minute 50% OFF.
i hope David Lee will beg the Lakers to take Ariza. same with Odom. they r not in any conversation
Posted by: ouchhhhhhhhh | July 01, 2009 at 02:49 PM
KB Blitz.
i'm not sure if rob pelinka will take ariza or bynum as clients. look at who he represents. i guess is more like who HE will PICK.
Posted by: ouchhhhhhhhh | July 01, 2009 at 02:50 PM
Charles, interesting proposition with your Fernandez trade. do the salaries match up?
thank-you justanothermambafan and Jayjay. i'm completely against this whole Ron-Ron idea. if Mamba24 is on here, i'd ask for a "Just say no to Ron-Ron" bandwagon.
for the people that like Artest, think about this scenario: what if a team just won the Superbowl, and needed to replace a WR (due to injury, free agency or retirement). should they go after a headcase like Terrell Owens? or Plaxico Burress? or if they needed a QB, would they go after Michael Vick? most likely no, unless they were very, very desperate.
and just because PJ was able to handle Rodman (not to mention he also had Jordan and Pippen, two guys Rodman had to respect) doesn't mean that he can pull it off again with Artest. and the big difference between Rodman and Artest: Rodman won two rings before going to the Bulls. he knew what he had to do to win a championship, and what he had to sacrifice. he knew that he was only there for rebounding and defense, so he focused on that.
Artest = no rings. and i honestly don't see him ever winning a ring. why not? i don't think he's got what it takes, and what i mean by that is the intelligence, the fortitude, and having that innate ability to make your teammates better. oh yeah, and be willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the team.
and if Artest proves me wrong, well, i hope he does. i hope i have underestimated him. good luck Ron-Ron.
Posted by: leonardbast | July 01, 2009 at 02:56 PM
RON ARTEST AS A LAKER IS GUARANTEED RING.
imagine all the open looks he'll get with kobe
imagine the starting lineup of kobe artest paul and bynum
HIS PRESENCE ALONE ON THE COURT INTIMIDATES PEOPLE. NO ONE WILL EVER PUSH US OR BULLY US AROUND ANYMORE. HE'S THE PERFECT MISSING PIECE.
yes hes a headcase but this guy showed last playoffs he's a fierce competitor and a proven winner
even at 29 and a step slower he's still the ultimate LOCKDOWN DEFENDER we've always needed. hes still got another solid 3 years which is a perfect complement for kobe.
if bynum ever goes down i prefer him as a better insurance policy over lamar. he may not have the size but hes got the TOUGHNESS we always lacked (I REPEAT THE TOUGHEST GUY IN THE LEAGUE....i still have my doubts about lamar esp his consistensy but this would elimiinate all the questions about lakers being SOFT. lets not get too caught up about lamars one great postseason and dont forget 5 years of complete FUTILITY.
and come next year playoffs who better than to guard melo, pierce, lebron, carter... all the of the dominant elite teams have dominant scorers at the 3....
U PEOPLE GETTING TOO CAUGHT UP ABOUT KEEPING THE SAME TEAM. I REALLY DONT MIND LOSING EITHER LO OR TA FOR ARTEST.
HE WANTS TO PLAY HERE BADLY. HE WILL NOT DISAPPOINT. DONT FEAR CHANGE PEOPLE IT IS GOOD AND WE NEED IT.
Posted by: yellofever | July 01, 2009 at 02:57 PM
pfunk,
>>>JOSH POWELL IS MUCH BETTER THAN LUKE WALTON!!
Well, I guess the torrent over discussing Kobe taking a pay cut
is over. pfunk is back to whining about Luke.
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | July 01, 2009 at 03:02 PM
pfunk36
i like the irony of the last few and new faces of the NBA:
Le Bron, Oden, Roy and the new Griffin
i do not care how players look, but i will say that the 4 of them r not the prettiest bunch. even if they made the GQ cover.
Posted by: ouchhhhhhhhh | July 01, 2009 at 03:04 PM
hey edwin- are you gettting a bit snippy about contracts? remember the love, man. we just won a title. bad time to complain about salary.
a couple of points 1- somebody, sorry, don't remember who, made a good point- we are not paying extra just because of one of two guys. we are paying luxury because of all of the guys on our team, and we should allot blame proportionally. if kobe has 30% of the teams payroll, kobe is responsible for 30% of the luxury tax.
"adopt them as our favorite puppies"- if luke walton was one of our puppies, what the spca did to artest would be a slap on the wrist compared to what they would do to this blog for animal abuse. hell, michael vick would be looking at us in disgust and shaking his head sadly 'man, those are some sick, heartless (*^#s'
i did see the article about rudy fernandez. it seems to me that portland would much rather let him go back to europe than let a rival like the lakers get a hold of him, especially for the peanuts he's being paid. would be cool, though.
Posted by: phred | July 01, 2009 at 03:09 PM
pfunk- serves you right for paying attention to espn in the first place. what did you expect?
Posted by: phred | July 01, 2009 at 03:10 PM
There should be a TV show dedicated to plucking these "decision makers" from anonymity and asking them......."How did you come to the conclusion that LeBron should be the face on this ESPY add"?
Posted by: pfunk36 | July 01, 2009 at 02:37 PM
***
pfunk36 - I love the TV show idea! Let's have the television decision makers squirm as much as the political decision makers about the choices they make. Heck, one could argue they have more impact on modern America than politicos do these days anyway!
Posted by: Chris | July 01, 2009 at 03:11 PM
yellofever
i agree
leonardbast- u r talking about artest like he will replace kobe as the man of the team. it is not the case
also i'm sure he will respect kobe and gasol and also fisher. and we have Mbenga to clothesline him during practice if necessary and sun to throw a bucket of ice as a fresh wake up call.
Posted by: ouchhhhhhhhh | July 01, 2009 at 03:15 PM
>>>I don't have to name them, some of you adopt them as
>>>your favorite puppies and some of you hate them like
>>>your 2nd mother in law, all I am saying is the luxury
>>>tax burden that has to be confronted, they are carrying a
>>> total contract of $ 20.5M for four players only multiply
>>>that by 2 = $ 41M.
Really? You sure of that Edwin Gueco?
How is it that the Lakers are scheduled to pay those four players
20 million in luxury tax WHEN THE LAKERS ARE ONLY DOWN
FOR ABOUT SEVEN MILLION IN LUXURY TAX???
Are you suggesting that Buss should pay extra luxury tax
for those guys even though he doesn't owe it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Contracts lower than the
MLE are NOT what puts you in luxury tax territory. What puts
you in luxury tax is 23 million to Kobe, 16.5 million to Pau,
and 12.5 million to Bynum. Those three players alone account
for 52 million in salary - that's 75% of the way to the luxury
tax limit for THREE PLAYERS.
You're welcome to be a Luke and Sasha hater, but it's disingenuous
and PATENTLY FALSE of you to ascribe the luxury tax problem
of the Lakers to their contracts (let alone Farmar's tiny 2 million
dollar contract).
You know how many Jordan Farmars you could hire and
stay under the luxury tax? 34. If you were even allowed to
have 34 players on your team.
You know how many Andrew miss half a season Bynum's
you could hire and stay under the luxury tax? 5
You know how many Kobe's you cold hire and stay under the
luxury tax? 2
5 million and less for a role player who contributes some of
the time but not all of the time is very reasonable. People who
contribute every night are more rare and they make more
money. Usually a LOT more money.
I challenge you this, Edwin Gueco. Find 5 players in the NBA
who are not on their rookie contract who make 5 million or less
this season who you think would be better for the Lakers than
Sasha or Luke.
C'mon. Show me this vast reservoir of great near allstar
players that make 3 or 4 million a year. I dare you.
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | July 01, 2009 at 03:17 PM
justa, other amateur psychologists- I'm hearing what you guys are saying. Artest is a bit more of a risk for bizarre behavior than say, grant hill. but has their even been a team that lost a title because they had a fruit loop on their team? ever? I can't think of one. the spurs won with stephen jackson. the pacers have gotten worse since they traded away jackson and artest. even the jail blazer teams a) had a whole bunch of personality issues and b) still almost beat us in the playoffs, and I assert they they did not play too far below their talent level.
finally, I am making these arguments under two assumptions 1)if kobe, mitch and phil all agree to have artest on the team, who are we to argue? if they don't want artest on the team, who are we to argue? I'll defer to them. and 2) if artest will sign with us for the MLE, he's taking a pay cut to play with this team, and he might be cheaper than ariza. ok, three points 3) if we get artest, every other team in the nba is going to think 'uh oh, the lakers just got better'
Posted by: phred | July 01, 2009 at 03:18 PM
>>> I am sure Lakers will still repeat if they have the core
>>>group or a a patch-up " Ron Ron" (in case Ariza or Odom
>>> goes elsewhere) and couple of subs or inexpensive
>>>F/A's at less than $2m each. That's only $ 16M
>>>compared to $41M.
NAME THEM.
Name these role players who will replace Farmar and Walton
and all the other white players you so hate.
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | July 01, 2009 at 03:19 PM
giantsquid/justa
When I say Josh Powell is a better player than Luke Walton......trust me......I know of that which I speak.
I don't need stats.......when I have my eyes. When I saw Josh play huge down the stretch against San Antonio this season, when I watched him playing pick n roll basketball with Kobe and him hitting big shot after big shot on the road down the stretch......that's all I needed to see.
Posted by: pfunk36 | July 01, 2009 at 03:23 PM
hmm. it just occurs to me that on the artest issue i have taken the same side as taliq, laker truth, and yellofever, and I am disagreeing with jon k, justamamba, laker tom and dave m. this is a bit disconcerting.
oh well, like i said, I'll defer to kobe, phil mitch and dr buss on this one, ultimately. I just hate to see artest dismissed as a crazy person. so far as i've heard from anybody that knows him or plays with him, he's a pretty stable, genuinely nice guy. I hate to bag on him.
and yeah, i'm going nuts with the posts the last couple of days. i'm applying for jobs, and i'm supposed to be writing cover letters, phoning references, and working on resumes. apparently it is even more of an inducement to procrastination than having three papers and a final due.
Posted by: phred | July 01, 2009 at 03:28 PM
Lebron and Artest met to discuss a move to the Crabs.
Posted by: Thirty2 | July 01, 2009 at 03:29 PM
>>>Travis Outlaw + Rudy Fernandez for Adam Morrison. All >>>their contracts expire 09-10.
Charles,
If Portland were stupid enough to agree to that deal, I'd be all over
it. The problem is, what benefit does it give to Portland? If all
the contracts expire at the same time, and clearly both Outlaw
and Fernandez are better than Morrison, what are they getting
out of the deal?
What they really want is a starting quality SF and PG. They
might be interested in Farmar as part of a deal, but not so much
Morrison.
They might be willing to do Jordan for Rudy, but if Rudy is
unhappy about his minutes going down from 26 per game
that he was getting in Portland, how's he going to feel about
them being less than 20 backing up Kobe & Trevor?
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | July 01, 2009 at 03:29 PM
oh, ok. I think that somebody was LTLL. nailed it, as usual. I would feel a huge inferiority complex if I wasn't way funnier than that guy. kidding, LTLL, kidding.
an interesting article from kelly dwyer
http://tinyurl.com/lrbogb
I'm really not sure who's side he's on. It's probably the most back handed pro artest argument i've ever heard though.
"Lebron and Artest met to discuss a move to the Crabs.
Posted by: Thirty2 | July 01, 2009 at 03:29 PM "
ok, i'm not sure what i think about that one. I might be thinking that if he goes to cleveland for the MLE we're screwed, or that cleveland might be interested in him because they don't want him to go to us...
but on the other hand, a team with shaq, lebron and artest? mike brown might need to stock up on a lot of his psychotropic drugs of choice right now.
Posted by: phred | July 01, 2009 at 03:38 PM
Based on what I'm hearing, I hope all of the big rumored deals
go down as the teams making big offers want them to:
Portland gets Turkoglu for big bucks
Memphis gets David Lee for big bucks
Detroit gets Charlie V and Ben Gordon for big bucks
Oklahoma City gets Brandon Bass for big bucks.
If that happens, 90% of the >MLE level money will have dried up.
So there would be no team left who could offer Trevor or Lamar
some stupid huge contract to tempt them to leave.
Once the big money goes away, then the Lakers will have
the most money to put on the table for them. Their only other
option would be to get a huge offer from another team and get
the Lakers to agree to a sign-and-trade, and in that case, the
Lakers are gonna want something serious back for them.
Phoenix wants to S&T for Lamar? Give us Amare. Or give
us Barbosa, Pavlovic (partially guaranteed contract), and a
couple of unprotected first round picks
San Antonio wants to S&T for Lamar? Give us Bonner and
either Mason or Hill (or both). And maybe throw in a draft pick or
two while you're at it.
Boston wants to S&T for Ariza? Sure. We'll take Rondo off
your hands, along with Scalabrine's & Tony Allen's expiring
contracts.
You get the idea. If all the big money dries up, then Ariza
and Odom have to either accept whatever the Lakers offer
them, accept the MLE (which will be less than what the Lakers
offer them), or get some team to make a trade that's favorable
to the Lakers.
Please please please - somebody get Hedo, Charlie, Ben,
and Brandon a pen and get them signing.
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | July 01, 2009 at 03:41 PM
farmar for rudy would be interesting. hell, i would throw in shannon brown, and probably d fish. let portland shuffle playing time between mediocre pgs for once. oh, right, they had sergio rodrigues, steve blake and jarret jack. they would probably be used to it.
nah, don't see it happening. can portland afford to make an offer for nate robinson? that would worry me.
Posted by: phred | July 01, 2009 at 03:41 PM
They might be willing to do Jordan for Rudy, but if Rudy is
unhappy about his minutes going down from 26 per game
that he was getting in Portland, how's he going to feel about
them being less than 20 backing up Kobe & Trevor?
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | July 01, 2009 at 03:29 PM
also- he might be perfectly happy if we gave him a raise. portland isn't paying him squat.
Posted by: phred | July 01, 2009 at 03:42 PM
phred,
regardless of topic, i will take yellowfever, LAKER THRUTH, and Taliq vs. Jon k. laker tom, dave m, justa and ex.
also, for the past weeks, i'm wondering how many Lakers fans=shaq fans=odom fans r paying lip service to Kobe as Finals MVP, 4 rings and all the icing on the 15 'ship. maybe BK will answer that.
Posted by: ouchhhhhhhhh | July 01, 2009 at 03:43 PM
phred - I feel your Bill Bill love and will agree to disagree. I really hope we don't sign him, but I will cheer for him if he ever wears the P&G. How's that?!
pfunk - did your eyes show you Luke passing into the post for the assist (or the hockey assist)? Did you eyes show you him playing some pretty solid defense, especially during the Finals? Just asking....
Posted by: justanothermambafan | July 01, 2009 at 03:44 PM