With all the craziness that surround the Lakers this summer we pretty much have the same team as last year. Except for Derek Fisher and Crittenton. With all that happened and Mitch not doing anything...The season doesn't look good for the Lakers. Do you think we will do anything or just sit back while other teams get better?
Hm, let's look at the pattern: End of the season, Kobe speaks up, wants changes to occur, Mitch and management say they will not return with the same lineup next season (exact quote, I will try to dig up the article), and changes will be made, Lakers make effort to persue Marcus Camby, Ron Artest, and Jermaine O'Neal Kobe demands a trade, Dr. Buss sits down with Kobe to reassure his status with the Lakers, Mitch feels pressure, and that's when rumors about Kevin Garnett started up Kobe frustrated with management, curses Mitch and Bynum, management still working with trades Kobe comes out and apologizes, keeps quiet, as a results, we sign Derek Fisher, and all is quiet ^ see the pattern? Since Kobe has apologized, and has not said much since then, the Lakers management don't feel any more pressure, and seem content with what they have
Unlike most everyone here, I don't think the roster needs an overhaul. We may not be the most talented team in the league at the moment, but what we lack in talent, I think we more than make up in depth. We have the personnel to compete against any team in the league assuming our chemistry doesn't suffer due to injuries. With the exception of a player like KG, I'm totally against gutting the roster to acquire an underwhelming star. Just doesn't make sense from management's perspective, Kobe be damned.
It looks like the Lakers only hope this year and probably for the next five years lies in Bynum and Farmar. This has to be Bynum's breakout year or he will get a Kwame bust label. If and it's a big if, Bynum gets significant minutes and can put up 16 and 10 before he fouls out then the Lakers can compete. Farmar has to become the starter and play some defense and get at least 8 assists a game while shooting a good three %. Odum needs to concentrate on defensive rebounds and stay healthy, 20-10 minimum for the Lakers to compete with the big boys. Defense and 3 point shooting from Walton. Kobe is Kobe. If Kobe sees potential not yet seen in Bynum and Farmar then he will stay interested, otherwise it's a long season and you can start hearing trade rumors again around the second half of the season. The bench is full of question marks, Evans is solid but can we get anything out of Radman, Turief, Mihm and Fisher. Can the subs play any defense at all? In Phil's system Crit probably spends time in the D-League, hopefully contributing by the second half of the season. Kwame and Sasha are worthless bench fillers. If we get anything out of the bench and Bynum & Farmar produce then the Lakers compete for the 5 or 6 spot in the playoffs. If not this becomes a lottery team again.
For some weird reason Mitch thinks that adding Derek Fisher will make us a winning team and he also thinks that with the team we have we could win 50 games and he must not see how strong the West has gotten lately.So expect the lakers to not get KG or JO...
<div class="quote_poster">Dark Hero Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">For some weird reason Mitch thinks that adding Derek Fisher will make us a winning team and he also thinks that with the team we have we could win 50 games and he must not see how strong the West has gotten lately.So expect the lakers to not get KG or JO...</div> He doesn't think adding Derek Fisher will make us a winning team. He thinks that by adding Derek Fisher, a former Laker, and a feel good story, he will be able to sell more tickets and maybe win over a couple of Laker fans. He also thinks this move will somewhat quiet down Kobe Bryant because the two are such good friends. It just seems so much like a typical Mitch signing: Divac, McKie, Radmanovic, and Fisher.
At this point, I have basically given up on the pipe dream of KG in purple in gold. I personally hope to god that we could somehow get Jermaine without giving up Odom. If we just trade for JO by giving them both Bynum and Odom, it kind of would put us in the same exact spot. There is no upgrade in that and we just lose our so called "Future Star." The only big move that at this point that seems relaistic is Odom+Bynum for JO. Which doesnot make us better. Odom now has experience in the triangle offense and if he stays helathy, he might be really effective. With saying that, it would take JO sometime to get used to the team, Kobe, and the triangle offense. If we kept Odom, we would have some saftey to fall back on till Oneal gets used to it. This is the best possible starting lineup we could get this offseason: Fisher Bryant Walton Odom Oneal
Mitch could have asked Kobe to shut up while he fulfills his request, or tries to anyway. It's really hard to trade a player when he's demanding it because your trading partner is just going to play hardball all day.
<div class="quote_poster">Anton Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Mitch could have asked Kobe to shut up while he fulfills his request, or tries to anyway. It's really hard to trade a player when he's demanding it because your trading partner is just going to play hardball all day.</div> Kobe also wanted to put pressure on the Lakers though; it isn't that simple.
