<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The last two summers, the Lakers have chosen to spend what free agent money they had on Vlade Divac and Aaron McKie. That investment of $9.4 million so far has returned a combined 251 minutes played in two seasons, not even six full games. As they head into this off-season, the Lakers cannot afford to spend unwisely. They have limited options to remake their team with little salary-cap flexibility until Brian Grant's monster contract runs out after next season. "We have to make some large decisions about this team, about who stays and what we build our team around," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "But we feel comfortable that we have a nucleus and that we can go from there. "Hopefully, we can find some additional pieces that will make us a little bit better next year." They will have a mid-level exception that was worth $5 million last season and a biannual exception worth $1.75 million. The Lakers' top priorities will be finding a starting guard and a power forward, both of which they also could accomplish through a trade. The Lakers, however, have made preserving future cap flexibility a goal with every move since the O'Neal trade. Only Bryant, Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown are under contract past the 2006-07 season. The most intriguing decision for the Lakers this summer might come in opting to part with one of their centers. Chris Mihm started 56 games and was having a career season before suffering a severe ankle sprain in March. Brown averaged 12.4 points and 8.6 rebounds after replacing Mihm in the starting lineup. The Lakers have concluded that Brown is best suited as a center in the triangle offense and have $17.4 million invested in his development the next two seasons. Mihm will be entering the final year of his contract, but has been a more consistent player than Brown. Another factor comes with the Lakers hoping to get teenage center Andrew Bynum more minutes next season. </div> link: http://www.sgvtribune.com/sports/ci_3796512
If there are big changes, it'll be through trading...not FA. I hope we can get a good PG with our MLE.
Don't worry guys Mitch will make the move and sign old veterans that will give us another "252" minutes for the next two seasons.
