Quick New Contending Plan

[Mindflayer]

Lamar and Critt/Farmer for JO. Why is this so difficult? throw in Kwame for Harrison if we need to make the $ work.

[Mamba Venom]

Odom is a good player and the best 3rd option in the league. He is a great rebounder. I love having Odom on this team. If the Lakers still had Butler this team would be a beast.


-> ----->The trick is to use LA's other pieces to get that great 4th player to team up w/ the Lakers trio

[Mindflayer]

Forget Butler. This is past. Butler>Kwame. Butler>Odom? We kept the wrong guy. The past is done. Lets move forward.

[numbas]

Lamar and Critt/Farmer for JO. Why is this so difficult? throw in Kwame for Harrison if we need to make the $ work.

ur insane why would u trade critt or farmar and odom and kwame for jermaine oneal and harrison,how are gaining from that plus losing a point of the future and farmer maybe the sisth man of the year for the lakers,the pacers r better without oneal in the lineup hes past his prime now hes had to many injuries

[Kirk Moon]

this team can contend with its current roster, we just need some more experience and recognition in our abilities.

[KObe Bryant]

We shouldn't trade Lamar.

[One Love]

We can compete but we are not a LEGIT contender TODAY... Remember the Boston game?

[TommyTheCat]

We can compete but we are not a LEGIT contender TODAY... Remember the Boston game?

your plan doesn't offer to make the lakers a contender today. it's based on getting under cap and finding a player next offseason..........that's also a crapshoot. there's no guarantee the lakers get a free agent better than LO this offseason. and the one time LO really shows up and is consistent is the playoffs.

so to me your plan is too risky. if LO would get shipped out in a package for a player that works well with the team, fine but i wouldn't trade him in the hopes to nab a free agent this offseason. most players take the money now days and only become ring whores after their skills have greatly deminished.

i think this lakers team will contend next season as is.

[numbas]

-= original quote snipped =-



your plan doesn't offer to make the lakers a contender today. it's based on getting under cap and finding a player next offseason..........that's also a crapshoot. there's no guarantee the lakers get a free agent better than LO this offseason. and the one time LO really shows up and is consistent is the playoffs.

so to me your plan is too risky. if LO would get shipped out in a package for a player that works well with the team, fine but i wouldn't trade him in the hopes to nab a free agent this offseason. most players take the money now days and only become ring whores after their skills have greatly deminished.

i think this lakers team will contend next season as is.

awsome post lol i agree on everything

[One Love]

Given our success with BIG trades and the amount of teams willing to make us better, we should simply wait for a steal, that is not going to happen...

I understand the thought process but we are forced to find a team that will work with us rather than have $10 million to throw at a solid player... We will get a player and that player will alos help appease Kobe...

You need to take risks to be great in todays NBA, period...

[LLcoleJ]

Given our success with BIG trades and the amount of teams willing to make us better, we should simply wait for a steal, that is not going to happen...

I understand the thought process but we are forced to find a team that will work with us rather than have $10 million to throw at a solid player... We will get a player and that player will alos help appease Kobe...

You need to take risks to be great in todays NBA, period...

nobody is saying we shouldnt take risks. However, we would need to trade and renounce a lot more than what you posted to get 10 million in cap space to use.

[One Love]

With Kwame and LO (assuming a trade) coming off the books, picking up Bynums option, assuming Mihm takes his $2.5 million player option and letting Sasha walk (All highly probable scenarios) our Payroll for '08 be $47,072,360.00... Obviously if we could throw Radman into the trade and dump is $6,049,400 next year it would be great but we could still offer a player more than the MLE which would be attractive next year given there are only three teams that can offer over $10 million... My guess would be the threshold will be around $56 to $57 million... I know we have to resign Turiaf but we could do that after signing a player (minimal tax exposure, if Buss was truly open to the Kidd deal than this would work)...

Obviously, if we could pick up a solid player for LO than I endorse the deal but I am just trying to be creative and reduce the amount of cooperation we will need from other teams that don't want to see the Lakeshow get better... Picking up a player the caliber of Maggette, Artest, Pietrus, etc... would be huge...

[LLcoleJ]

With Kwame and LO (assuming a trade) coming off the books, picking up Bynums option, assuming Mihm takes his $2.5 million player option and letting Sasha walk (All highly probable scenarios) our Payroll for '08 be $47,072,360.00... Obviously if we could throw Radman into the trade and dump is $6,049,400 next year it would be great but we could still offer a player more than the MLE which would be attractive next year given there are only three teams that can offer over $10 million... My guess would be the threshold will be around $56 to $57 million... I know we have to resign Turiaf but we could do that after signing a player (minimal tax exposure, if Buss was truly open to the Kidd deal than this would work)...

Ronny is not going to get the LLE from us. so your plan is to make these moves and let Ronny walk?
EDIT: you do know that we cant sign Ronny after the fact with the bird rights, right?

Obviously, if we could pick up a solid player for LO than I endorse the deal but I am just trying to be creative and reduce the amount of cooperation we will need from other teams that don't want to see the Lakeshow get better... Picking up a player the caliber of Maggette, Artest, Pietrus, etc... would be huge...

I wouldnt do all that to get guys like Maggette or Pieturs... no thanks and they are not worth that much. And we dont need a SF. Unless its a signifgicant upgrade.

We need low post scoring and defense at the 4 and absent of any other deal I would prefer to get Odoms 14/9 at this point.

I like Ronny and I dont want to let him go to chase some Maggette or Pietrus deal.

[ALL HAIL]

I agree with One Love.

Although I like Odom and think he is a good role player, I'd much rather let him go now to increase the possibility of signing Elton Brand, J.Oneal, Marion or Artest outright.

I think it's possible to dump Odom, Radmanovic, Walton, Mihm, and Farmar for:

J.Will, R.Davis, Haslem, Mourning, E. Barron, and a future 1st Rd Pk

In my opinion, we would still be a top three or four seed without Odom, Farmar, Walton, Radman, or Mihm.

I'd sign Ruben Patterson to a 2 yr veteran's minimum for SF insurance and our team would look like this:

Fisher - Crittenton - J.Williams
Bryant - Vujacic - Karl
Bynum - Brown - E.Barron
Haslem - Turiaf
Ariza - R.Davis - R.Patterson

This team would NOT be a tanking team. This team could still be upper echelon in the West even going to the conference finals (Bynum is the gauge).

Following One Love's model, in the off season I'd renounce all free agents (Vujacic, Brown, R.Davis, J.Williams, E.Barron, Mourning) except Turiaf, Karl, and Ariza (if he opts out). Resign Turiaf and Ariza for 3 yrs 4 mill per and Karl for 2 yrs .5 per

Our payroll as of July 1st after resigning the aforementioned players would look like this:

Kobe - 21 mill
Haslem - 6.5 mill
Fisher - 5 mill
Ariza - 4 mill
Turiaf - 4 mill
Bynum - 3 mill
Crittenton - 1.5 mill
Karl - .5 mill
Patterson - 1 mill
'08 1st Rd Pk - 1 mill

That's 47.5 million on the payroll.

If One Love is correct and the salary cap is set at 56.5 million, that leaves 9 million to throw at Artest (a strong possibility), Marion (a good possibility), Brand (a slim possibility), or O'Neal (a long shot).

If they bypass Patterson entirely, dump the '08 1st Rd Pk, and opt to renounce Karl then we are left with 11.5 mill to throw at Artest, Marion, Brand, or O'Neal.

I think the extra 2.5 mill increases our chances for Brand tremendously and moderately increases our chances of signing O'Neal.

The draw would of course be playing in L.A, playing with Kobe, playing for Phil Jackson, playing next to a LEGIT young big man, and after watching this team advance in the playoffs this year, a chance to be a part of something really special ala the Celtics.

The way I see it, considering all the factors, it is really not that big of a risk.

We all know Artest and Marion will definitely be available and although I may be alone on this one, I feel this team without LO, Farmar, Walton, Rad, and Mihm can still be very good transformed into this team:

PG - Fisher
SG - Bryant
C - Bynum
PF - Haslem
SF - Ariza

G - Crittenton
G - Vujacic
C - Brown
F - Turiaf
F - R. Davis

- J. Williams
- E. Barron

- Karl
- R. Patterson

I'm done.

[LLcoleJ]

Its not matter of agreeing with One Love or not. If you follow the plan setforth we cannot get under the cap that much without losing Ronny. Do you guys get this?

[ALL HAIL]

No I don't get it. Please explain.

[LLcoleJ]

No I don't get it. Please explain.

I have in this thread so you can catch up on that if you need to.

However, to give you the quick breakdown...


Given the parameters of the deal here.. we would NOT be under the cap 10 million to sign anyone. We would have to factor in Ronnys salary before our cap is set. Lets say 3-4 a year ( he will get here or on the open market) So that is maybe 6-7 million in cap to sign players which is not much more than the MLE so there would be no prime time player coming on that.

We cant renounce Ronny and then resign him using his bird rights. They are lost if we renounce him and he would be a UFA and we would have about as much rights to him as anyone. At that point we would be over the cap and we could only offer around the vet mins. Please remember that if we are able to get under the cap to sign a player we cannot use the MLE and or get the MLE in that regard.

You either get capspace or an exception but not both. This plan would have to involve us letting Ronny walk and since we would have traded LO, I sure hope we get one hell of a 4 for 6-7 million per or just a tad more than the MLE.

[ALL HAIL]

You obviously didn't read my post. I completely understand that you can't renounce then resign. I am proposing to not renounce Turiaf, Ariza, or Karl. With the trade I propose that leaves 9 mill left over.

Read my post if you have the time (it's long) and correct me if I'm wrong about anything and offer you r opinion on whether a deal like the one I propose is fair to both teams.

[Slava]

Phil, I might be wrong but can we not use our cap space first and then resign our own free agents using their bird rights? Isn't that what Milwaukee did with Charlie Bell this year?

[ALL HAIL]

No, Phil is right. You have to either COMPLETELY renounce your free agent, meaning they are gone FOREVER or at least a full season (correct me if I'm wrong) or resign your free agent first and sign another free agent with the remaining money.