LO Works for His Agent Now? And Jerry Will Lower Offer?

Backup PF/C would be fine.

Drew Gooden, Chris Wilcox, or Joe Smith, if they accept the vet's min. Personally I think they can get more than that on the market, but who knows.

Bottom line is, I'm not a big fan of LO, but you don't lose him for nothing. Teams around the league are improving, especially in the east. I could care less about the West, but in the end, we're in it to win a championship, not to win the WCF.

I really hope a sign and trade can be worked out, just to bring more talent, or added depth to this team. Our bench last year was pretty much shit, with the exception of LO. He was basically our second unit. I don't see Gooden/Wilcox/Smith bringing the production LO gave us.

Bottom line is, I don't think we can afford to lose him for nothing. Obviously if a trade can get worked out with AMMO to bring in someone like... Hakim Warrick? I wouldn't have a problem. But with contenders around us improving this offseason, we can't stand around and lose talent for nothing (although this isn't management's fault, they have been more than fair, which makes things even more frustrating).

Hopefully something gets done. But I'll trust Mitch/Jerry to make the right decisions.

 

I disagree, our Bigs more than matchup if Andrew stays healthy, we are already improved from last year if that occurs. Again I want Lamar just in case Andrew gets hurt again because he hasn't shown a body of work yet, stamina, and he might have to adjust a bit before he figures out playoff speed? Along those lines. If we get any mediocre backup Big (I consider Powell to be completely unreliable) at the deadline or before, that is fine with me too. We've just waited too long so we should just sign Lamar at this point.

 

Are you sure that's right. I could be wrong but I'd bet just about anything that if he signs in LA, he pays California tax on all of his salary. I travel a few months out of the year for my job and I've never had to file taxes anywhere else.

 

Good question brah, I'll look it up then. :O

 

I disagree with you Hue, while our frontline starters of Pau and Drew may be awesome, Drew is still unproven in the course of a whole season, and if we don't have any other good backup PF/C or Odom in the team, then when Drew picks up his fouls, our team will suffer. I doubt that Drew suddenly becomes able to control his fouls at the start of the season. I think it'll be a gradual thing, so we are gonna need better players at the PF/C position.

 

That's the big thing. If Drew stays healthy. In two years where we've given him big minutes, he's been out for practically half the season, both years. Drew is a question mark. I still believe in him, but he hasn't proven anything. What if he goes down again?

His play in the postseason wasn't encouraging at all. IF Drew can stay healthy, and IF he can put up 20/10 numbers, like he's done for a couple of weeks in his career, then yes, we'd be fine. I agree. But those are ifs. He hasn't played, or put up allstar like numbers consistently. Just a couple of weeks in his entire career. And who's to say he can keep that up for an entire season plus playoffs? He has yet to show us he can play an entire season without a dropoff in play. The potential is there, but so far, that's all he is. Potential. I'm not ready to bank our championship on him next year, when he has barely proven anything. That's my whole issue. I'm also not even counting on his fouls, which he sometimes racks up at a ridiculous rate.

If LO walks to Miami or Dallas for MLE money, I'm not gonna blame the management, because they did everything possible to try to keep him. I'm happy with the way they have handled the situation, but to me, you cannot convince me we're the best team in the league, or that we're favorites to win the championship, if we just let a talent like LO walk for nothing in return. Joe Smith or Drew Gooden (if we can get them), are solid depth. But I still don't see what we have that separates us from Boston/Cleveland/Orlando. The west doesn't really scare me (SA is the only challenge), but that's not the point. We're trying to win the championship, not the west.

 

Drew was not healthy in the playoffs, when he was fine he's able to play 30 minutes a night. He can easily average 15/10 if LO is gone, he just has injury problems. We're improved at the PG position, SF position, and starting frontcourt if Drew stays healthy.

Get me two Joe Smiths for insurance and I'd call it a season. Heck, one is enough, maybe zero. ;]

 

We won in the Finals in five games with no Drew, Shannon, or Artest.

 

Random as hell, but when I look at Artest's Jersey I think of 3 + 7, Ariza and Odom's impact in one guy possibly. ;] I think we'll be fine, we had no depth in the playoffs this year and we still took it all (think 02 Lakers sort of?).

 

Artest is a beast!

 

Yeah, as what Brian said, I'm not really down on Drew's health and consistency, although I'm on the optimistic side that it won't happen again since both injuries were actually cause by teammates. The first by Odom and the second by Kobe. But that doesn't remove the foul trouble and remember when in last season, it took Drew such a long time to get in sync. What are we gonna do in the first 2 months in the C spot if Bynum ends up being mediocre for the mean time?

 

Injuries aren't my only issue with Drew. It's also the ability to stay on the floor by not picking up fouls. And playing at a high level consistently, which he hasn't done (couple of weeks doesn't count). I also question his durability, if he stays healthy an entire year, how's he gonna look going into the postseason? I like Drew, I still believe he will be a special player, but he's 22 years old. Bigs take time to develop, and not too many bigs come out and dominate when they're 22.

 

Yeah but we won with Odom playing 30ish minutes a game in the playoffs, and without his help being needed for a good portion of the playoffs.

 

Which is exactly my point, we're not even sure if Drew can mirror Odom's production because he keeps on getting kicked out of the game cause of the foul trouble which causes him to lose sync from the game. If we don't get a capable backup at the frontcourt, who will we fall-back on when Drew gets those fouls?

 

As I've said, Artest will have Odom's impact. We don't have to replace LO fully.

Also remember Farmar himself lost us 2-4 games by himself? Just with minor upgrades we could be set.