REPOST FROM LAST BLOG -

ESPN is reporting Luke Walton traded to the Knicks! Here's the link, enjoy:

http://tinyurl.com/2g9mqh

Luke traded?? As in, for whom or what??

Yahoo sports says PG Earl Watson looking at the Lakers. I just saw his 1 yr stats last year, not too exciting, don't know much about him.

Is he a decent pick up, any better than Jordan?

Art - FL Laker Fan

As I remembered, he always played good against us. That's all I know about him. I'd like to hear Laker Tom's view, point guards are his specialty, as he was one in school.

I clicked the link but I am at work so many sites are blocked!! But its all good. I realize it was just a joke after reading up on several previous posts...

Indiana Pacers make run at Jordan Farmar
Thu Jul 01,2010 9:11 AM ET By Kurt Helin
The Indiana Pacers need a point guard. Jordan Farmar is a point guard who wants to show he can run a traditional offense and not be tied down by the confines of the triangle.

The Pacers have reached out to Farmar, but have only offered a one-year deal, according to Mark Spears from Yahoo Sports.

Both Portland and New York have shown interest in him as well.

It's a little hard to project Farmar because in the triangle offense he was really asked just to be a spot-up shooter much of the time. And that's not his forte. But when he did get the chance to create in the offense off the dribble he seemed to force is own shot a little too much. Was that because he wanted to take his few chances in the offense or because that's who he is? We will see.

But there is no other guard you can get at this price who has two rings and played a lot of key minutes in the finals.

He is good leading the break, something he would do a lot in Indiana or New York. However, you can bet he wants more than a one-year deal.

Indiana Pacers, Jordan Farmar 2 comments

LTLF,

Even if there are a 1001 stories that Luke will be traded, would be traded or has been traded.....nobody will believe that ridiculous news. Who will be that GM who'd made that move? Why would the Lakers part their own logo to another team? He is the symbol of a Laker manana system of doing nothing but getting paid at big bucks. I don't hate Luke but this is aCHALLENGE from a fan's point of view. Season is over and our time to call a spade a spade. We spent $5M for nothing. Why? It is the time to call on a player who has been with this team since 2004, he has been overtaken by Ariza, by Artest and here comes Ebanks on the wing. Is this not enough embarrassment to cling on an underachieving dude? Luke, we want you to excel but at this we have to put you into shame for you haven't had any huge contributions to the team.

I'm glad Shaw's staying. I think this bodes well for a PJ return to glory. Just a feeling....

I wouldn't mind Earl Watson with the Lakers. yahoo sports are reporting that he's interested in playing for the Lakers and the Lakers are taking a look at him. I'm guessing he's not the first name on their list, but he's at least on their list.

For you Farmar haters, Watson is the anti-Farmar.

Team player. Much more of a passer than a shooter (bad shooter in fact). Good defender. He's not going to shut down Nash or Paul (nobody does), but he'd do a better job than Farmar or Fisher.

Swapping Farmar for Watson would be similar to last summer's swap of Ariza for Artest. It would be an improvement on defense, and a step down on offense. But then again, both Brown and Ariza were much better offensively with the Lakers, where they were left wide open a lot more frequently. Maybe with the Lakers Watson could improve on his 42% shooting (and 33% 3-point shooting for his career).

The one problem with Watson replacing Farmar is you're losing some shooting off the bench. Farmar hit some clutch baskets for the Lakers. He shot 40% from 3-point range for the playoffs, which tied Sasha for best on the Lakers. If not for Sasha and Jordan, the Lakers outside shooting would have been so poor that teams would have just packed in the lane and let them throw up bricks.

That's why someone like Blake (40% 3-point shooter) or Ridnour (38% 3-point shooter, 48% shooter overall) would be more practical for the Lakers.

I have a sick feeling about all this going on!! Hope they sign Fish and also a good point guard and we get PJ back for one more year and start GROOMING BShaw for 2011-12. I kind of like the toughness of Raja Bell but not much said about him lately. I wish we had our 3peat team in order. Also I hope we sign Shannon Brown.

Edwin Gueco,

>>> It is the time to call on a player who has been with this team since 2004, he
>>>has been overtaken by Ariza,

It's funny how you attack Luke for being wasted 5 million in a season where the Lakers managed to win a title despite his injury.

But you give Ariza a pass, when he missed most of a season and the Lakers LOST a title partly because of him not being there.

Why aren't you spewing this much bile about Ariza (or BYNUM for that matter) being wasted money?

Are you going to rant about them now, or are you only biased against Luke?

Anyone know if Jeannie has been with PJ wherever he is? Hopefully she's whispering sweet nothings into his ears..... Phil..... come back to the Lakers.... I'll make it worth your while.....

B Shaw, in his interview with Jim Hill, said Phil received a clean bill of health from his Dr.

So the health issue is off the table, and since Phil said health was the issue I guess we could count on his return.

Salary an issue? We'll know tomorrow.

LTLF,

Comparing Luke to Ariza, that is a stretch as if you are treating our Moon as a planet as big as Mars. Not a fair comparison at all. All I'm saying Luke must try his best to be at par with his teammates like Kobe, Pau, Artest and Bynum or even Fisher. He is a veteran Laker. There is no excuse of Luke just because of your patronage. There is no hating game here, this is a motivation through strong criticism. Love the Lakers or leave it with honor. It has been a crucial 6 years keeping with a professional bench warmer. He is no Luke but a fluke in the making. We want to save his remaining reputation in this next three years. Excel or please get out and go for another kind of job within the organization.

It looks like the Lakers 2010 playoff run has set the table for free agency... If you're tall, you're getting paid.

So far the only two reported signings are Drew Gooden - 5 years 32 million and Nikola Pekovic (a draftee center signed by Minnesota) for 3 years 13 million.

Teams seem to think that they have to get as many bigs as possible to have any chance at the Lakers front line.

LTLF,

Thanks for the additional info on Watson.

Maybe Blake will do a Ron Ron and come for less money for a chance to get to the finals. Whew, imagine going from the Clippers to the Lakers!

But then, isn't that important, we all know Bosh is coming to LA for Odom so the PG is almost a non issue.

And when Bosh gets here we can just have Ron take Odoms place as the 6th man until Drew gets injured then Ron can move back into the starter spot.
There, that should satisfy more than a few.

LeBron's Free Agency part 1...

7/1/10 Meeting with Caveliers owner Dan Gilbert:

James arrives at the Gilbert's office at 9:00 am with his agent/friend Maverick Carter. But before entering the conference room, James insisted on "striking a pose" picture. Both parties enter the confrerence room, but James insisted that there be a "high five line" with him and Carter doing a intricate hand slap, ending with a high chest bump.
As everyone was seating, James waited and before taking his seat, got all the sugar off the table and with a handful, threw it up in the air with both hands up high forming a 'V'.
Gillbert wasted no time in diclosing his offer, but when he said, "3 years for 99 mil, James gives him the "Trey sign" (hand in front of the eye peeping with the 3 fingers stickin up), meaning he wanted 3 more years.
Gilbert then asked James about his elbow, and James replied that it's all good, and he is wearing an arm sleeve because he wants to look like Kobe.
James then demanded, that the first and foremost term, is Cleveland gets rid of Delonte West. "We can't have a King with one of his knights doing his mother." Gilbert agreed, but added he will do 4 years maximum, which irritated James tremendously.
Carter said they would get back to them, as they stood up to leave. Of course James did not shake Gilbert's hand.

Mamba24 - LOL but not so terrible! If it was ME, I'd be right in there whispering those sweet nothings. She'd get her BF to remain in town at least another year, plus a shot at a 3-peat for the Lakers. Best of both worlds! WORK IT JEANNIE!!!Posted by: justanothermambafan | July 01, 2010 at 10:17 AM
*
Sounds god to me! Lol!
Mamba24(larrY)

I can totally understand Jordans desire to start somewhere, get a longer term deal and play in a different system. He wants to play, nothing wrong with that.

A player never knows how many years he has. Injury can ruin a career overnight.

I wish the Lakers had taken this past year to test him out more but they did what they did.

I hope he does well.

Good god I'll take it LOL! Good to see you on here Mamba24 - always a pleasure!

And thanks wes - but I still don't know what you're talking about... can you post a link for me? I musta missed that in the 80's.... selective memory.... too busy with "other stuff" LOL!

>>>Comparing Luke to Ariza, that is a stretch as if you are treating our Moon as
>>>a planet as big as Mars.

So you're saying that when Ariza is injured and lets down the team, that's okay, but when Luke is injured and lets down the team, that's unacceptable.

Is that right? I just want to be clear on your opinion.

Noah...

I didn't want to hear that thing. No way. But I do love Herzog and his wacky films. I remember a story I read in the early 80s in junior high school called "Miracles can Happen" about a plane crash in the Amazon where one woman survived and was rescued and eventually had some 65 worms pulled from under her skin. Well, that was the true story of Werner's filming crew that crashed while scouting "Agguire, Wrath of God."

So...

Justs here's a rick role in the middle of a bad song (look around the 2 min mark)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaNSgkEH1po&feature=PlayList&p=10AD3EF44FA88B17&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=24

Wes

>>>Maybe Blake will do a Ron Ron and come for less money for a chance to get
>>>to the finals. Whew, imagine going from the Clippers to the Lakers!

I think that's what Mitch is hoping for from EVERY player they're trying to sign (including Fisher and Shannon Brown).

They're hoping that Ron Ron will look like a shining beacon of hope. If you can go from as bad a rep as Artest had to being a respected champion, then an average player could expect to shine as well, if they're willing to sacrifice a little cheddar to get the prize.

Trolls... LOL!! Gotta love 'em!

LAKERS WON!!!!!

BOSTON SUCKS!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Ahhhhh... that feels SO good!

Wes

It just seemed like a "noble" death..

Forget waterboarding.. just play that Starship video..

Celtics troll,

>>>Steve Blake is the most sought after point guard on the FA market......lakers
>>>only have MLE.

Yeah, but Blake won't make a full MLE (and btw, Ray Felton is the most sought after PG in the FA market). Even so, I doubt the Lakers will be willing to pay more than about 3 million per for him, so I doubt they get him.

>>>So, good luck with Earl Watson and Devin Ebanks. Crittendon? Didn't
>>>even play with the Wiz!!

Trevor Ariza didn't play much with the Knicks or Orlando, but played very well for the Lakers (and then sucked again when he left for Houston).

Shannon Brown didn't play for Cleveland, Chicago, or Charlotte, but then hit 48% of his 3-pointers for the Lakers in the 2009 playoffs.

It makes most players' game easier when they play with great players and a great coach.

But then you wouldn't know about that. Nate Robinson hit 45% of his shots with the Knicks, but only 40% with the Celtics. Rasheed Wallace? Sucked with the Celtics. Marquis Daniels? Sucked.

So come on here and whine about the Lakers free agent shopping if you'd like. Meanwhile your sucky team hasn't won a title in two years and you're going to have to spend money hand over fist just to keep your existing core players who aren't good enough to make the role players better.

hugs.

LTLF, your defensiveness about Luke is hard to understand. If you can't see the difference between Ariza and Walton, then I'm not sure that it is possible to to have a dialogue with you, but here's a shot:

The Lakers picked up Ariza with high hopes, but low expectations (it was a low risk, high potential reward move). Same goes for drafting Luke in the 2nd round. That is about the only similarity between these two guys.

Since his acquisition, Trevor went out and improved himself (by, among other things, beating out Luke for the SF position...) and became an important contributor on the 2008 team. Then he got injured and didn't really get back in time to help the Lakers to the title that year. The next year, Ariza stepped up BIG TIME, not only supplanting Luke as a starter but providing absolutely critical plays (on offense AND defense) to help the Lakers win the title. Then, when his deal was up, the Lakers chose not to overspend, in large part because of the mistake they made with Luke, and let Ariza go.

Walton, by contrast, has been a total washout. The only "success" he had was when his team was so devoid of talent that Luke became the starter (by default), and once the team brought in different small forwards (and they brought in Mo Evans, Ariza then Artest because Luke was not up to par) Luke returned to his rightful place on the bench.

There is no period of time where Luke contributed to a title-winning team in the way that Ariza did. Moreover, Luke's contract was and remains (and will remain) an albatross around Jerry Buss' neck. I give Kupchak credit for what he has been able to do in the last few years to improve the team, but signing Luke to a contract of that magnitude (in annual pay and in years) was one of the worst moves in Laker front office history.

When you consider that Luke makes what Ariza makes in Ariza's "big" new deal, or what Artest makes now, you can get a picture of why fans direct their ire towards Luke. In Artest, we get the toughest defender on the team, and a guy who we could not have won a title without this year. Moreover, we also get a guy who had the worst offensive year of his career, and yet still did more than Walton could ever dream of doing in his best years.

Finally, if you want to know why this blogger will always dislike Luke, you need look no further than the fact that this many years into his career and you are hard pressed to find a single area where Luke's game has improved. Is he a better shooter? That's laughable. Better defender? Hardly. Better ball handler? Still stares at the ball when dribbling the way most 6th graders do. There is nothing that this guy does better today, in his "prime", than he did 4 years ago. THAT is the problem. He's Devean George, without the athleticism.

So, please, spare us the ridiculous analogies to Trevor Ariza or Andrew Bynum....

Hey Justa,

Where's everyone at today?

First of all, girls don't "sweat". We glow.

Second - I have always believed my team would win it all. Check the threads. Check the live chats. I'm a real fan who had faith in her team no matter how close it may have seemed to be, because I KNEW we were better than your team. And we still are better and we will be back for the 3peat while you and your kind wallow in delusion and doubt for another couple of decades.

Third - don't come on here & insult Jon K. He's a better man than you will EVER be. (Well - you're not a man, but hopefully you understand my point). He's got more going on his litte finger than you do in your entire body.

Fourth - I am now in full starvation mode as it pertains to you and your kind.

And before I sign off - WE WON!!!! LAKERS WON!!! BOSTON SUCKS!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Hollinger's picks for the best sleeper free agents (from the ESPN chat):

"I like CJ Watson and Morrow from Golden State. I like Nate Robinson as a sixth man if it's not costing me much. Mike Miller and JJ Redick should be good pickups. If Knicks cut Bill Walker I'd jump on that. And I think Jordan Farmar could be a revelation in a different system. Udonis Haslem and Ronnie Brewer should be good values too. "

Wes
...and just to run this into the ground.. I'm sure he prepared somehow for the likely outcome of living with those animals.. and that he went out singing..

..back to Yeats:

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress...

>>> blah blah blah...
>>>When you consider that Luke makes what Ariza makes in Ariza's "big" new deal,

Look, I could waste more time refuting all the ridiculous stuff you spew.

You're wrong.

About basically everything.

I'll keep this one short. Luke doesn't make what Ariza does. Luke got a contract that started at 4 million dollars. Ariza's contract started at 5.8 million. Ariza's contract started at 50% HIGHER than Luke's contract. Luke's raises are higher and there are 6 years instead of 5, but the average per year for Ariza's deal is still about 20-30% more than Luke makes.

Get it? You're wrong.

Edwin - No worries. I was just clarifying. The thinking about the Lakers giving Farmar a qualifying offer is they would have the rights to match any offer given by another team. It could've set up a scenario where the Lakers would have more control and leverage over Farmar's future, which could help with trade negotiations and maybe picking up some more money. But the Lakers pulled a classy move. Both the Lakers and Farmar mutually agree the relationship is best that they go their separate ways so by letting Farmar walk he has more flexibility to shop himself around other teams.

MM

LTLF,

You are a funny man. Lewsters was off in salaries by "20-30%", and you try to discredit everything else he wrote (which were ALL FACTUAL). C'mon dude, you're better than that.

Thanks Justa. The suspense is just maddening. Anyway, I'm enjoying the verbal jousting between you and the lunatic, lol. Try and take it easy on him, they just lost in the finals. Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

nemaia - nawww.. I'm done with the jousting - verbal or otherwise. There's no point in trying to talk sense into a troll. Just by being here they announce they just don't get it. We're LAKER fans here - on a LAKER blog - go figure!

Anyhoooo - gotta work on my caption for the pic on the next thread! Good luck!

>>>Moreover, we also get a guy who had the worst offensive year of his career,
>>>and yet still did more than Walton could ever dream of doing in his best years.

Your ignorance overfloweth...

Walton's best year - starting at SF for the Lakers in 2006-07 season
11.4 points, 5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 47% shooting, 39% 3-point shooting

Artest's season with the Lakers last year:
11.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 41% shooting, 36% 3-point shooting.

So basically, in the comparison that YOU SPECIFICALLY INVITED, Luke scored more points, got more rebounds, got more assists, and shot higher percentages than Artest.

Artest did beat Luke out in steals, 1.4 per game to 1.0 per game.

----

Artest is a much better player than Luke. No question.

But in your ignorance, you made about a dozen claims about Luke that are all just patently false.

I don't mind being critical of Luke. I frequently am.

What I don't like and frequently defend, is when people flat out lie about Luke and his impact on the Lakers.

Luke contributed more than Ariza in getting the Lakers to the finals (and within 2 wins of a title) in 2008. That year, if Bynum had been healthy, the Lakers would have won a championship with Luke as the starting SF and Ariza out injured.

And over the course of the season, Luke contributed just as much as Ariza to the 2008-09 championship team. Sometimes it was as a starter. Sometimes it was off the bench. In the finals, Luke hit 80% of his shots to provide some scoring off the bench.

But people like you want to dismiss all of Luke's contributions and overstate the importance of anything Ariza did.

That's what pisses me off.

"Your ignorance overfloweth...

Walton's best year - starting at SF for the Lakers in 2006-07 season
11.4 points, 5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 47% shooting, 39% 3-point shooting

Artest's season with the Lakers last year:
11.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 41% shooting, 36% 3-point shooting.

So basically, in the comparison that YOU SPECIFICALLY INVITED, Luke scored more points, got more rebounds, got more assists, and shot higher percentages than Artest."

I guess I now see where LTLF is coming from. Take a completely irrelevant set of numbers from 3 years ago and compare those to today and Luke and Artest are a wash. This kind of "analysis" is beyond amateur. In case you forgot, and as a "long time Laker fan" I assume you did not, the Lakers in 2006-07 SUCKED. So, Luke, playing on a very bad team, averaged what Ron Artest did while playing on a virtual allstar team. Yeah, that's a valid comparison.

If you want to be fair, you should compare each player's 2006-07 stats, in which case you would see that at 18.8ppg, 6.5 boards and 3.4 assists, Artest was about twice the player that Luke was.

Using your own logic, Luke's 2.4ppg, 1.4 boards and 1.3 assists in 2009-10 ought to suggest to you that he is a radically worse player now than he was a few years ago, right?

>>>LTLF, really, I'm wrong about everything? Please tell me why Luke Walton is
>>not a starting small forward in the NBA?

Well, YOU claim that (and I quote) "and once the team brought in different small forwards (and they brought in Mo Evans, Ariza then Artest because Luke was not up to par)"

Well, you are at least right that the Lakers did bring in other small forwards.

So at the start of the 2007-08 season, Radmanovic replaced Luke as the starter. Radmanovic played so crappy that they replaced him with Luke as the starter and gave Ariza all the backup minutes.

But, as with most of your imagined facts, you have the story skewed. First of all, they replaced Luke with Vlad Radmanovic. They had hired Rad at the start of the 2006-07 season, but he couldn't pick up the triangle fast enough, so Luke won the starters job and kept it until he got injured in January of 2007. [Do you remember any of this, or did you just start watching the Lakers during the 2009 playoffs?]

Maurice Evans was already playing for the Lakers in the 2007-08 season, but he's a shooting guard, not a small forward. Near the trade deadline of that season, they traded Evans and Cook for Ariza. Part of that was to dump off Cook who was overpaid and sucky, but part was to clear out Evans to give more minutes to Sasha who was starting to play like the Machine.

(as an aside, remember now that Luke had 11.4 points, 5 rebounds and 4.3 assists for the 2006-07 season as the starting SF).

During the 2007-08 season, Rad averaged 8.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, but did manage to shoot 41% from 3-point land. Compared to Luke's 14.1 points, 5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists, he sucked. But the change in SF wasn't the real story on the team. The big change was that Bynum was starting to play well in the first half of the season, and when he got injured they added Pau Gasol late in the season.

At the All-Star break, Radmanovic (who was already sucking) injured his leg in a snowboarding accident and was out for most of the rest of the season. Then Ariza ALSO injured himself and was out for the rest of the regular season and most of the playoffs.

From there to the end of the season, Luke played injured to help carry the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference and all the way to the finals, but without Bynum they didn't have enough to beat the Celtics. Ariza (making 3.1 million compared to Luke's 4 million) got injured and thus couldn't help.

At the start of the 2008-09 season, Phil once again started Radmanovic, the highest paid SF of the 3. But Rad sucked so bad, that he eventually went back to Luke as the starter. The Lakers were doing fine with Luke starting, but Ariza was struggling with the bench players. So Luke volunteered to let Ariza take his starting spot to help out a teammate and the team overall.

Ariza NEVER took the starting spot from Luke. Luke GAVE the starting spot to Ariza, because Ariza wasn't able to carry the bench mob the way Luke could.

Luke Walton started at SF for the Lakers for most of the 2006-07 season. In 2007-08, he started 31 games (less frequently than Radmanovic, but more frequently than Ariza). In 2008-09, he started 34 games for the NBA champion Lakers - more starts than any other Laker SF including Radmanovic and Ariza. So for 3 of the last four seasons, Luke Walton WAS the most frequent starting SF for the Lakers.

In 2009-10, the Lakers had All-Star calibre talent in Ron Artest, so it wouldn't make sense to start Luke.

You ask me why Luke isn't a starter. I would retort to you that other than when they had Artest, Luke WAS the defacto starting SF for the Lakers in recent years.

THAT is the true story of "who got to start at SF" and why for the last few years for the Lakers.

(Mo Evans? Really? Do you really know that little of what actually happened the last few seasons?)

LTLF, I have probably been watching Laker basketball longer than you, and if you continue to delude yourself into thinking that Luke graciously "GAVE" his starting position to Ariza, and THAT is the reason Trevor took over (as opposed to Trevor being a substantially better player than Luke), then I guess this is futile.

Frankly, I can't understand how someone who clings to such a false memory would continue to support Luke. You mean a guy with more talent had so little drive that he GAVE UP his starting job to a lesser talent? You want THAT guy on your team? If Luke is such a "giving" man, perhaps he should "give up" the remaining years on his contract since he has been radically overcompensated for his limited contributions under this contract....

Moreover, if your recollection of history was correct, PJ should have been fired on the spot for playing not one but two (Radman, who you accurately described as playing crappy, and Trevor) inferior players over Luke.

And, as for this:

"In bizarro-world, if Luke had played last season like he played the season before he got his contract (11.4 points, 5 rebounds, 4.3 assists), do you agree that half the teams in the league would gladly trade for him with his remaining contract?"

This hypothetical is so outlandish that it cannot be responded to seriously. If Luke had the ability to average those kind of numbers on a good team (as opposed to a crappy team like the one where he DID average such numbers) then he wouldn't be Luke Walton....

Do you really want me to write a 500 word essay disproving every slander he throws at Luke?
Posted by: LongTimeLakerFan | July 01, 2010 at 11:53 AM
=====================

Please no!

Are you hobbitmage in disguise

:)

LTLF, well, perhaps we can agree on one thing: it would be a truly wonderful thing if Luke could follow in Grant Hill's career path in terms of resurrection.

Where we part, I think, is in our view of how likely that is. The season you keep referring to (his best) was to me a total aberration, and one that is unlikely to ever be replicated unless TWO things occur: he stays healthy; and he plays on a horrible team. To me, his career average of 5.4 ppg is a far better indicator of what he is likely to produce in the future--if he can stay healthy--and that's not something that gets me too excited....

this was written:
Walton's best year - starting at SF for the Lakers in 2006-07 season
11.4 points, 5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 47% shooting, 39% 3-point shooting

Artest's season with the Lakers last year:
11.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 41% shooting, 36% 3-point shooting.

So basically, in the comparison that YOU SPECIFICALLY INVITED, Luke scored more points, got more rebounds, got more assists, and shot higher percentages than Artest."

I guess I now see where LTLF is coming from. Take a completely irrelevant set of numbers from 3 years ago and compare those to today and Luke and Artest are a wash. This kind of "analysis" is beyond amateur. In case you forgot, and as a "long time Laker fan" I assume you did not, the Lakers in 2006-07 SUCKED. So, Luke, playing on a very bad team, averaged what Ron Artest did while playing on a virtual allstar team. Yeah, that's a valid comparison.

my response: umm ... this is logically/factually incorrect.

The comparison *specifically* compared Luke's best numbers 3 yrs ago to
Artest's numbers this year. Therefore, it is an accurate comparison as
invoked by the original poster.

the original statement was: Moreover, we also get a guy who had the worst offensive year of his career, and yet still did more than Walton could ever dream of doing in his best years.

MIKE MILLER IS GOOD BUT WE NEED DEFENCE TOO WE HAVE TO GET RAJA BELL AND MABE TRACY MCGRADY