nice to hear about $8+M for lamar and Lamar should take it
Good move also on Sun Yue. I thinki it was a marketing move for NBA/Lakers in China for getting him on Lakers roster. they can save some money there.
Now we got to get Sasha to perform. He was overpaid for $5M a year.

Good to hear that AMMO is doing well - that would be great if he could become our 3pt specialist. Wouldn't have to carry the full load - just hit a few big ones here and there. Isn't expected to carry the team like in CHA.

What up with Sun? Is he making the choices or the Chinese govt telling him what to do. Would hate to see him go but it's not like he's had a chance to do anything productive yet.

I understand the concept of "priorities"...to put the reason for a possible non-pickup of the 2nd year of Sun Yue's contract/career on his absence from the summer league just as the reason why they won't pick up the 2nd year is lame. Granted he is a non-proven player in the NBA, but he is basically doing what his country is asking him to do. Do you recall when Yao balked, how great the backlash became? China and the United States are not the same.That's just a convenient excuse on why they won't pick it up. Geez, the guy is young, we don't know how good he will be when he gets acclimated to the NBA, but now we won't know. It's just not fair. Kobe and Pau and other NBA players spent last summer playing for their countries, granted they are proven players, and that Sun could have used the time and experience to grow, but no, they'll just use it as a reason, when the real reason is to save money. What did they do to Lamar when he spent last summer on the beach instead of working on his shot?The classy thing to do is let him go off and play for his country and keep him under the radar, and develop him for "down the road"...I would much rather have him feeding the post than a guy who tries to hard but has no talent, such as Wil Conroy....the Lakers are the ones to blame since they did not lay down the rules about what he is supposed to do during the offseason. I assume they did not. But looks like they are going to imply he did the "wrong" thing.

saw this on yahoo sports tonight:
Lamar Odom

His agent has been desperately trying to find a sign-and-trade around the league, but there’s little there but the Lakers’ offer of $7 million per season. Odom had a terrific playoffs and Finals on L.A’s championship run, but he has few options to make the Lakers raise their offer. Why has Portland so far sat it out with him? It still makes no sense.

Good news about Lamar.

Also good news about Adam Morrison.

If we get Lamar back AND Ammo can actually contribute AND we have Thriller on the team (which we do) AND we get someone of promise to replace Sun Yue (who can't play), then, well....

WOWZA!!!!!!

Super-awesomerific-plus-a-lot!

What do we play for? RINGS!!!!!

Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.

GO LAKERS!!!

SBPimp,

"The redemption story continues next year, with Ammo and Artest striving to get their careers back on track bringing more glory to the Purple and Gold."

Wouldn't that be something special?

What do we play for? RINGS!!!

Lakers Today... Lakers Tomorrow... Lakers Forever.

GO LAKERS!!!!

Praise Jesus, Buddah, Confusicous, Jahova, Allah, and Dr. Buss....we might finally have a resolution.

If the Lamar negotiations drag on any longer, my wife might divorce me. There are only so many times you can leave the breakfast table to click "refresh" on ESPN.com

I don’t know who this Fred guy is, but I suck at riddles. Can you summarize it in fewer than WE WON! Sorry, WE WON, man, I think I have this speech defect or something, I can WE WON ‘t type without WE WON! Just WE WON!....ah man, hey, if I see this Fred WE WON! Dammit, sorry. I’ll just have to WE WON get back to you.

Usted es un perdedor. Su equipo perdido.

Kevin Garnett tem relações impróprias com rebanhos animais

Wow, I’m so multilingual.

Er is één team dat de kampioenen van NBA is

它是所有關於愛

GO LAKERS!

Posted by: phred | July 11, 2009 at 06:51 PM

Lamar had a 4 year contract @ $11.4 total
Signed with Miami for 6 years @ $64 Mill

Averaged $10.5 per year over the last 6 years

If you can get $8+ mill for 3-4 years...sign it now before they change their minds.

As Artest says...if you can't live on $33 mill you can't live.

I honestly think Lamar Odom should not be re-signed. Odom, for the past 5 years did not play to commensurate with the money he was paid. He was, on many occasions a no-show. His performance was lackluster and underachieved for a player with the kind of salary he was drawing.
Odom played well in the playoffs. The notion that the Lakers could not have won without him is absurd. For the kind of money he was paid (compared to Ariza and his performance), Odom was NOT extraordinary.
The 2009/2010 competition is going to be fierce. The qualification to make the playoff and the seeding will be unlike the past season or seasons long gone. Our competitors are getting ready and shoring up their weaknesses. The Lakers have some glaring weaknesses that have to be mitigated. These include a bench that gives away leads, the point guard position that at several times in the past appeared to be outmatched, and a lack of a three-point threat that has become a must in the NBA.
My preference will be for the Lakers to let Lamar go or use him to get two quality players who could be counted on to consistently rebound and score or be a threat to score.
The team has the talent to win, but I do not think Odom’s talent can improve the team.

wesjoenixon....

that "thought" of yours about Sun....you made a feelings based on never seeing him play. We saw sasha brick for 3 years. Tell me, why no equal patience?

bad Lakers.....bad nba players

kwame, madsen, adrian branch, coop as a rookie, brad holland, ...but I'll stop here, because these guys actually got a chance to play, wereas sun was on a talent loaded team, came to camp with mono, had to adjust to the "bright lights", then injury.....if given the equal chance to learn . adjust and develop, I would listen to your opinion, but until then you are stating an unfortunate fact, and you are willing to abandon a player who coud have been a very unique player. Your opinion, differs vastly from mine. People a few weeks ago were talking about nate robinson.....you know, Farmar has enough issues getting the ball into our big men....just as when Magic had to step down because of his medical condition, the offense struggled feeding the post with the smaller Sedale Threatt, trying to run the same plays and feed the post players. Me I'd take a bigger player at any position and try to utilize the size advantage. You can't say anything about his skills, because we were never able to watch him develop or adjust his skills, adjusting to the NBA style, and physically maturing. WESJOENIXON, congrats, the first blogger to state "the obvious" Sun Yue was a wasted 2nd round Laker draft pick. Which is like saying....if the Lakers woundn't have drafted him, they could have had him anyway......and he would have been a wasted invite to training camp. Basically why you bothering, wasn't the championship enough to keep you happy for a few weeks? Look, you have to fill out your roster, and he's paid minimum and in LA, for an NBA player, that is probably even hard to get by on. Take the blue pill, it's a 10 mg. valium.

Auntie Crust,

Why see this as the Lakers doing the "wrong thing"? I see it this way. Sun Yue struggled last year. The Lakers need to decide whether to sign him for next year.

If he plays summer league they take a look at him there, maybe he can show something that convinces LAto sign him.

If he doesn't play in summer league they go by what he did last year, and they don't sign him.

Pretty simple, and no villians neccessary.

Next.

Odom should be paid at least 10M. Lakers are over the salary cap because they overpay a number of players such as Bynum, Shasa, Luke. That is the front office’s fault. Don’t claim on the economy.

If Lakers want LO back and productive they should make the guy happy to offer him at least 9M. If not let LO go and pray for Bynum, Shasa, and Luke to be better next year so that Lakers still win without having Kobe playing 40min per game.

human,
"we don't know how good he will be when he gets acclimated to the NBA, but now we won't know."

You could say the same thing about hundreds of other players. Sun Yue got more of chance than many do, and in his limited time on the court last season, showed nothing that indicated that he will turn into a halfway decent NBA player. Based on that, there are likely plenty of others out there who are better choices for the Lakers.

Jon Barry is the worst Laker player ever.

Well, any delays and procrastination will soon end. On the Laker side, they have to make a decision on the roster before August 1st with few quality F/A still in the market. On Odom side, he is running out of options of teams offering 10M and above. Blazers will use their cap on Milsap, others opted for inexpensive routes or limited their choices only to MLE. I think anything north of 8M maybe bump it to 8.5M may seal the deal to save face to an indefatigable agent of LO.

Luke's contract is finally coming back to haunt us.
The guy is seriously overpaid.
Today, he would be lucky to sign a 3 year deal at 12 mil.
He has got to be the luckiest NBA player.
He plays for the Lakers.
He has a 6 year 30 mil contract.
He lives by the beach.
Man, life is good for that dude.

Memo to Luke and Sasha.
Improve your 3 point shooting (ala Trevor).
If you don't:
Look to be moved.
Don't allow the ring to make you lazy.

On Sun Yue, China and the Lakers are not on the same page. Lakers treat Sun Yue is treating this player as a developing player applying for a position in the roster. He needs a lot of exposure to NBA life, more weight on his lean posture of strength, more abilities needed to compete with experienced college hoopster, more internment with his teammates defending the NBA title. Well, with China, they have only one position that he is a national player and NBA ready. Being a member of the national team, he will learn more in China than settling or adjusting in the D League. For avid fans like us, we want integration of global players but Lakers is not a place to get interned on learning the basics of NBA. As i said before, Lakers adhered to the philosophy of competing as a perennial contender for Championship, not a developing team for young players. Once developed, Lakers acquire these players through trade or free agency. This has been the trend of this organization over the years.

In the case of the Celtics, they forced the issue of competition by craving for old players who are past due their prime and recycling them. They did great job in 2008 with P J Brown, Sam Iam, Posey and some of their superstars. The year later, the old recyclers became ambitious and moved to other team in lure for bigger bucks. In their desire to compete, Celtics tried again in the 2009 playoffs with Marbury and Moore. It didn't help them this time. This year, they placed their bets on Rasheed Wallace. From the Pistons's GM Dumars views, he has seen the best years of 'Sheed, he opted for younger players in Villanueva and Gordon. Let's see how it will work out this season. Well, Celtic has to pare up with the changes in competition, Magic and Cavaliers improvement. I think it will be a stiff competition in the East. In the West, Lakers may experience difficulty in defending the title, if Odom does not come back. On the other hand, they equally have difficulty in paying him at his desired price in a plaguing economy and double effect in luxury taxes.

LakersFan,

As much as I would love to see Hinrich in a Laker uni i just dont see Chicago accepting that deal. They might be more inclined to do it if Boozer wasnt available right now, but Boozer is exactly the piece they've needed for years and I don't think they move Hinrich any place else until they know they don't have a shot at Boozer or another quality big man.

>>>I understand the concept of "priorities"...to put the reason
>>>for a possible non-pickup of the 2nd year of Sun Yue's
>>>contract/career on his absence from the summer league
>>>just as the reason why they won't pick up the 2nd year is
>>>lame.

I disagree. Last summer, Sun Yue skipped the summer league
to practice with the Chinese team for the Olympics. That's at
least understandable. Then he came into training camp with
mono and missed all of training camp. Now he's missing summer
league again to play with the Chinese team.

This year there are no Olympics. But there is a great need
for the Lakers to see Sun Yue playing real minutes with other
players at the NBA to nearly NBA level. They need to evaluate
whether he is someone worth paying a million and a half to keep,
regardless of the fact that they have 3 competent point guards
on their roster.

Sun's choice to skip the Summer League to practice with
the Chinese team says to me that he doesn't really want to
be in the NBA that badly.

For comparison, look at Adam Morrison. This is a fourth year
player. Most guys don't play in the Summer League past their
second year. Stars (e.g. Derrick Rose) play 1 year and are out.

But due to injury and such, Morrison is an unknown commodity.
But he really wants to play in the NBA. Wants it so much, that
he's dropping any foolish sense of pride, setting aside other
priorities and playing in the summer league to show people
that he not only can play, but that he's a better player than most
of these heralded rookies.

The NBA is not just some club that you can join or unjoin any
time you want to. It takes not only talent, but hard work and
dedication to want to make the NBA and stay in the NBA.
Morrison is showing that dedication right now, Sun Yue is not.

Before the draft, there were rumors that the Lakers were
shopping Farmar (remember the rumor of a trade offer to
Houston?). If Farmar gets traded off as a salary dump or
maybe as part of a package to bring in a better starting PG,
then maybe I could see them keeping Sun Yue around. But
if the Lakers start the season with Fisher, Brown, and Farmar
on the roster, then I think Sun Yue's time as a Laker is finished.

Q : What do you get when you rearrange the 9 letters in the name of LAMAR ODOM?

A : DOOM ALARM

Panic stricken Laker fans {and the front office} are hearing it ring loud and clear right now!!!

I am of a mind to cut Sun Yue some slack (Mono, injuries, impossible lineup to crack, Jackson's avoidance of playing rookies, living in a new country, etc.) We are speaking of a Laker team that put up with Slava Mendvendenko and Sasha first 3 years.

Think about something you are good at and think about trying to prove to people in 1 to 2 minute spurts about a dozen times in one year and see how much you accomplish

He would get cut from the team because he is just not better than all the other 13 guys. Note that the other 13 guys on this Laker team are pretty good.

I wish he gets more of a chance. If people just look at his talent, he's a pretty unique player that just isn't ready yet, but may be if given the chance. If he has the resolve, he may make it in the league, but who knows.

>>>Hinrich is available via trade....
>>>
>>>We send Chicago Morrison, Farmar and 2 # 2 picks for
>>>2010 for Hinrich

The only problem is, what Chicago wants most is a scoring
power forward. Here's the deal I suggested yesterday (inspired
by the Portland-Utah-Chicago rumor).

Consider what each team wants here:

Utah wants to dump off Boozer and free up some cap
space so they can match the Millsap offer without going
into luxury tax.

Chicago wants a power forward who can score in the post.

Lakers want an upgrade at the point guard position.

Lakers send Farmar and Sun Yue to Chicago
Lakers send Adam Morrison to Utah

Utah sends Carlos Boozer to Chicago

Chicago sends Tyrus Thomas to Utah
and...

Chicago sends Kirk Hinrich to the Lakers.

Everybody gets something of what they want. With Utah,
they get 2.6 million in cap savings, and they get Tyrus Thomas
and Adam (leading summer league in scoring) Morrison.

Chicago gets Boozer, and they get Farmar to backfill Hinrich's
spot.

Lakers get Hinrich, and give up 4 things to get him:
1. the previous backup PG
2. the previous 4th string PG
3. Adam Morrison's expiring contract
4. their salaries increase by 1.7 million (3.4 million with tax)

The one mitigating factor is that Hinrich's salary goes down
each year instead of up, so he'll balance out some of the
increasing contracts of the other Lakers - they'd have had
to pay more to keep Farmar and Morrison than Hinrich's
second year with the team.

-------------------------------------------------

And if that doesn't give Utah enough cap relief, then how
about this:

Chicago sends Tyrus Thomas & either Roberson or Taj Gibson to Utah
Chicago sends Hinrich to the Lakers

Utah sends Boozer and CJ Miles to the Bulls

Lakers send Jordan Farmar to the Bulls
Lakers send Utah their choice of one of Sun Yue, Powell, or MBenga

That gets Utah between 2 & 3 million more in cap space,
and gives them another low-salaried backup player.

Wes...I'd say William "Smush" Parker wins that one. I at least like Sun Yue as a guy.