NBA discussion thread

Originally posted by guy222
I think Lamar has had ample time to help. KR, I love to see a healthy Ariza play. He can beat out Walton

Lakers aren't panicking IMO. Aren't signing Turiaf, use that $ and u have a tough guy in KThomas coming off the bench and Artest in the starting lineup. Can u imagine 4 All Star Players

U always make good points KR, but remember having Andrew is great. He has to healthy and u can't play him and Pau 40 minutes a nite. That's where KT wil help

Hopefully, the Lakers will upgrade. Kobe's window is shortening. I wanna see my guy play 3-4 good years and get some rings. So sad, with that debacle

Kenny Thomas is unequivocally one of the 10 worst NBA players playing today. This guy is like a shorter version of Kwame Brown. He can't hit jumpers, his post game sucks, he fumbles three easy passes per game, he is too short to be a defensive presence, his attitude is the anti-Ronny Turiaf, and he is easily one of the more stupider players I've seen in the NBA. The ONLY thing he does well is rebound. He would be buried to the bench if the Lakers got him.

Originally posted by Smasandian
Your point is that he isnt worth the amount of money Bryant is making, but my point is that 10 million dollars isnt the amount of money Bryant is making but 21 million dollars.

Thats an extra 10 million dollars but compared to what 10 million dollar players get, Bynum could get that. Strangelove's point is if they want to keep Bynum, they cant go after Artest.

Exactly and look at all the big centers who have gotten stupid contracts: Dampier, Dalembert, Curry, Shaq. All are making 10 mill or close to it and Biyum was better than all them last season. Before he got injured, Biyum was a top 5 center. Certainly he needs to show it for a full season, but even if this coming season he's a disappointment, teams will still throw out 10 mil or more at him for the potential alone of having a guy who can effect both sides of the floor. If he has as good a season as last year or even better, teams will easily throw out a 14-18 mil a year contract. I don't see the Lakers being able to match that with the two huge contracts they already have in Kobe and Paul along with KT expiring deal which would easily go past the luxury tax and Buss doesn't like going past the tax.

Lakers haven't made any moves yet.. Yet..

According to Marc Stein, the Lakers are the faves at landing Artest

I've seen KThomas have a few good games. No one is worse than Kwame fumbling passes

Buried in the bench, who knows. Phil should be playing 10 guys

Lets look at a couple of options

Don't sign Artest...who's out there

Pargo...Lakers still haven't had a true speedy guard. Farmar relies too much on the jumper. But if he works hard, he maybe something special. Kwame can come back for $1M. He plays good defense. Just fumbles too many easy passes. Is Kurt Thomas available? He couldn't provide help in SA

KR mentioned Lamar for Kirk Hinrich. Lakers would've to take Dang. Chicago wants to trade Gordon and keep Kirk

Trade Odom for Artest and re-sign the Vujacic.

I'd like to see Ron also

Originally posted by Corndog
Lakers haven't made any moves yet.. Yet..

They've lost Turiaf, does that count?

Bayless had 36 points (with only 6 trips to the FT line), including the game winning shot. A nice LeBron-esque dunk too.

Originally posted by Lord Evolution
Trade Odom for Artest and re-sign the Vujacic.

But don't give Sasha a ton of money

Cool, Bayless is on the USA Select team now too! (He joins Aldridge)

Originally posted by BruceSkywalker
But don't give Sasha a ton of money

4-5 million seems about right to me. I don't like how the Lakers are low balling him. He was a big part of our run last season, while Luke and Vlad weren't, and they are making 5 and 6 million a year. We have a glut of small forwards, and we don't need either of them. I hope we can deal Luke, but that is unlikely because he brings absolutely nothing to the table, at least Vlad has a 3 point shot..

I hope someone takes Rad and Luke for free. Give Luke's minutes to Trevor

Sasha was. I think the $2.5M was fair. He hasn't signed an offer sheet with anyone else. Prolly because of the last two games against Boston. The measure of work should be based on a year progress and not two games, but its what have u done for me lately

Good luck Ronny. A $4M raise is silly. He's undersized and Laker fans saw how a 40 year old PJ Brown and a stronger Leon Poe outmuscled him

Hopefully, the Lakers can keep Lamar for less than the $14M. Kupchak isn't goin to pay that for the 4th option. If not, sign Artest

Otherwise, my Laker brethren we are looking at the return of Kwame and the legendary Devean George. Oh ****

Originally posted by Lord Evolution
4-5 million seems about right to me. I don't like how the Lakers are low balling him. He was a big part of our run last season, while Luke and Vlad weren't, and they are making 5 and 6 million a year. We have a glut of small forwards, and we don't need either of them. I hope we can deal Luke, but that is unlikely because he brings absolutely nothing to the table, at least Vlad has a 3 point shot..

Sasha though isn't worth the type of money he wants. Are for Luke, he is injured so I doubt anybody would want that buster. Vlad does have a 3 poit shot but he disappeared too.

Originally posted by guy222
I hope someone takes Rad and Luke for free. Give Luke's minutes to Trevor

Sasha was. I think the $2.5M was fair. He hasn't signed an offer sheet with anyone else. Prolly because of the last two games against Boston. The measure of work should be based on a year progress and not two games, but its what have u done for me lately

Good luck Ronny. A $4M raise is silly. He's undersized and Laker fans saw how a 40 year old PJ Brown and a stronger Leon Poe outmuscled him

Hopefully, the Lakers can keep Lamar for less than the $14M. Kupchak isn't goin to pay that for the 4th option. If not, sign Artest

Otherwise, my Laker brethren we are looking at the return of Kwame and the legendary Devean George. Oh ****

Kwame and Devenn George ftw

Originally posted by BruceSkywalker
Sasha though isn't worth the type of money he wants. Are for Luke, he is injured so I doubt anybody would want that buster. Vlad does have a 3 poit shot but he disappeared too.

Sasha is a two dimensional player who can still improve. If we're willing to pay Bynum the max based on his good half season and potential, then we can pay Sasha, who is one of the purest shooters in the league, 4-5 million. He's the prototypical triangle point guard, a reliable back up to Kobe at shooting guard, and our teams 3rd best perimeter defender. Ronny I don't believe was worth that type of money, but Sasha is. I know people say shooters come a dime a dozen, but it seems that we never get them, and one that can play defense to boot? He shot the highest 3 point percentage in Lakers history last season, that is worth something. People would be more willing to pay him what he is asking for, if we didn't have the two bad contracts of Luke and Vlad, but I'm going based on what I think he's worth, not what we can pay him. We have no replacements for him lined up. With Turiaf gone, we still have Mbenga and Mihm if we want to go down that road, there is no one to replace Sasha if he leaves. I know people still have the bad taste of the finals in their mouths, but everyone on our team played bad, not just Sasha, who along with Kobe, single handedly won game 3 for us.

Originally posted by guy222
I hope someone takes Rad and Luke for free.

Unfortunately, there are two sides to a trade, we would HAVE to give something to the other team. 😆

😄

Great points. Like I said, teams prolly saw his last two games. Kupchak said he's goin to do all he can to keep Sasha. I just don't see him goin higher than $3-3.5M range

I hope the Lakers don't bring back Kwame and George

Sasha is a two dimensional player who can still improve. If we're willing to pay Bynum the max based on his good half season and potential, then we can pay Sasha, who is one of the purest shooters in the league, 4-5 million. He's the prototypical triangle point guard, a reliable back up to Kobe at shooting guard, and our teams 3rd best perimeter defender. Ronny I don't believe was worth that type of money, but Sasha is. I know people say shooters come a dime a dozen, but it seems that we never get them, and one that can play defense to boot? He shot the highest 3 point percentage in Lakers history last season, that is worth something. People would be more willing to pay him what he is asking for, if we didn't have the two bad contracts of Luke and Vlad, but I'm going based on what I think he's worth, not what we can pay him. We have no replacements for him lined up. With Turiaf gone, we still have Mbenga and Mihm if we want to go down that road, there is no one to replace Sasha if he leaves. I know people still have the bad taste of the finals in their mouths, but everyone on our team played bad, not just Sasha, who along with Kobe, single handedly won game 3 for us.

I hope Sasha improves, but the only way does that if he lear5nes to shoot 10-15 foot jump shots and 2 foot jump shots instead of always camping out at the 3 point line. As a Laker fan, the needs to improve if they want to win a title. I didn't see how returning with the same team will accomplice getting a title.

They will improve with Andrew

If Mihm signs and they sign Mbenga; Both can back up Andrew and Pau

Originally posted by BruceSkywalker
I hope Sasha improves, but the only way does that if he lear5nes to shoot 10-15 foot jump shots and 2 foot jump shots instead of always camping out at the 3 point line. As a Laker fan, the needs to improve if they want to win a title. I didn't see how returning with the same team will accomplice getting a title.

We were 2 games away from winning the Finals, and that was without Bynum and a healthy Ariza. All we have to do this off-season is re-sign our free agents and we're set. People were saying we should have gotten James Posey, fact is, we didn't need him. The only question mark going into next season is if Lamar can play the 3 with Pau and Drew down low. If we don't trade him for Artest before the season starts, I think we should wait and see how it pans out, if it doesn't, we're going to be sitting pretty at the all star break with his huge expiring contract. We might get another steal like we did with Kwame. But like Mitch said, Sasha is the biggest priority, we need him back.

Agreed

Hopefully, Sasha can take wats offered

MVP for Bayless. Lets just keep the talent rollin in Portland.