These past few days we've all seen some serious cash handed out to 2nd and 3rd tier players in the league. Ray Allen - $15 Million Per Michael Redd - $16 Million Per Larry Hughes - $14 Million Per Bobby Simmons - $9.4 Million Per Joe Johnson - Max Offer on the table from Atlanta You might be asking yourself, how do these deals effect the Lakers? Next summer Caron Butler will become a top 10 free agent, and is likely going to want the same type of money as the players above. Obviously, most of those players are not worth the contract, but the market price has been set, and the Lakers will have to break the bank to re-sign Butler. It looks like the Lakers are going to be forced to choose between Lamar Odom or Caron Butler this year. It appears Butler and Kobe have better chemistry than Kobe and Odom, but Odom is obviously the more talented player and his size makes him even more valuable. Another problem the Lakers might have to deal with if Butler is traded, is an upset Lamar Odom. After hearing rumors Butler was traded, Lamar Odom expressed some disappointment to Mitch Kupchak. This prompted the Lakers organization to hold a press conference to let everyone know the rumors floating around had no substance. So now the Lakers have to worry about the risk of Odom going into a funk if Butler is traded or not re-signed next summer. Odom was already shaken up after being traded from Miami, and it showed in the way he played last season. He didn't play with the same excitement and energy when he was on the Heat, and coming back to LA had to remind him of his dark days as a Clipper. I don't think he can deal with it mentally if Butler is traded. So what are the Lakers going to do? You have Kobe and Odom making the lion's share of the money, not to mention Brian Grant's contract. - Should they overpay to bring back Butler and keep Odom happy? - Should they trade Butler now for something, and risk Odom going into a funk? - Should they trade Odom instead? - Should they trade both?
Well, I'm not sure. Is Caron an unrestricted FA? If he is, he's probably as good as gone. If he isn't, when Free Agency starts next year, they have to make him a good offer as quick as they can, before any other team can give him a ridiculous offer sheet.
This is an interesting aspect that I hadn't ever thought about- good insights...personally I think are two options are these: 1) Trade Lamar Odom- obviously he won't be happy but he'll be somebody elses problem. We could probably get fair trade value in return for him, everyone knows how good he is. I'm not sure who we'd trade for though... 2) Trade both Lamar and Caron...this would gauruntee we'd get a better deal in return, plus perhaps we could trade for player(s) with expiring contracts which would take a **** load of money off the books. Personally I think that Lamar and Kobe will have a much better season this year if they are both injury free. I beleive that Phil Jackson will utilize Odom much better, and convince him that he and Kobe can be better than Jordan and Scottie. Whether this is true or not doesn't really matter as long as Lamar thinks it is.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, I'm not sure. Is Caron an unrestricted FA? If he is, he's probably as good as gone. If he isn't, when Free Agency starts next year, they have to make him a good offer as quick as they can, before any other team can give him a ridiculous offer sheet.</div> He will be restricted since he's on a rookie contract and will get a qualifying offer. Another option I forgot to include is a 1 year deal, and then allow Butler to become unrestricted, similar to what the Grizzlies did with Stromile Swift. It's hard to let Butler go from a personal perspective if they do indeed trade him. He's done everything the Lakers have asked for, he's been a team player, and his work ethic is off the charts. He's great interacting with the fans and always makes himself available for interviews and is involved with a lot of charities. I think you can label Butler as a "glue" guy for the Lakers. Yet he is not as talented as Odom. Is he worth as much as a max deal with what he brings to the team? On the other end of the spectrum you have an emotional, immature player in Odom, but with tremendous talent. He was the main piece in the Shaq deal and Phil Jackson has high expectations for Odom next year. How much patience is the team willing to give Odom next season and how healthy is his shoulder? Another question, how long can the Lakers afford to wait to make a decision on Butler or Odom?
I think they should trade Odom. Something about LA just doesn't bring out the best in him. If Phil wants to make a new generation Chicago Bulls team, he's going to have to have a SF that plays defense (Pippen), and thats Butler, not Odom.
Let Caron play for the $ <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">Well, I'm not sure. Is Caron an unrestricted FA? If he is, he's probably as good as gone. If he isn't, when Free Agency starts next year, they have to make him a good offer as quick as they can, before any other team can give him a ridiculous offer sheet.</div> If Caron is a free agent next year, let him play like it. He should have his best season prior to free agency. Then if and only if he proves he can play in Phil's system, resign him. If he asks for too much, then replace him with Peja S. who is also a free agent and wants to come to LA.
i never knew peja wanted to come to LA? but still, lamar odom basically has locked up the small forward position cuz phil basically drools over him.
Caron doesn't look like the selfish kind, yet people used to say that about Boozer. I don't think he has earned a huge lucrative contract like that and unless he comes in here averaging 20, 5, and 5 I don't think we should pay him a huge lucrative contract. He needs to earn his keep, I believe he will be coming off of the bench so I don't see him having the opportunity to average 20, but 15 off of the bench would be perfect. 6th man of the year = Caron Butler?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting yao ming:</div><div class="quote_post">i never knew peja wanted to come to LA? but still, lamar odom basically has locked up the small forward position cuz phil basically drools over him.</div> Peja has been wanted to come over since Divac slipped back on the LA uniform.
I'm not sure Peja would be a good fit here anyways. he's a small forward which were already stacked at. Caron, Lamar, Luke Walton, Devean George... And besides. I pray Vlade isn't still around by the time Peja is a FA. He's too much money for what he doesn't do.
It seems with all of these massive contract signings going out there that you will have to overpay for Caron, a max extension seems unreasonable for Butler IMO. He seems like a good piece to keep as Shape said that he has good chemistry with your building block. At least it cuts down the number of holes to be filled to 3. First I would think that it should be determined how effective a Phil Jackson coached 2005-2006 Laker team can do as it stands, if the team seems to be taking strong strides in the right direction then keep the chemistry. Otherwise, Give Odom a larger share of ball-handling duties and increased role in the offense, hopefully he will regain some value that he lost since the 2004-2005 season. Then possibly trade him for a piece that will cohere with Kobe better.
