GM unsure about bringing back Lamar Odom

I think this is more of a cap move if they don't sign him back.

Gasol and Kobe are already earning top dollar and Bynum is most likely next.

 

Yea, I read this. I know Odom playing good and all but I'm not sold on him yet. Lets see how well Lamar produces once Bynum and Gasol are back.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I know he's been playing out of his mind lately, but I still don't trust Lamar Odom. During regulation of Monday's Warriors game, he went to the line in the final few seconds with a one-point lead, endured a few taunts and standing-in-front-of-him maneuvers from Davis and Jackson ... and eventually, he had this weird smile on his face, almost like the smile a boxer gets right before he's about to get knocked out. Of course, he missed the first free throw. Mark my words -- there's going to be at least one monster moment in April, May or June when Odom has to come through in a humongous spot for the Lakers. And he won't.

(Follow-up to that story: In that same game, the Lakers were up two with four seconds left in overtime when Kobe got fouled. Three interesting things here. First, none of the Warriors came within 10 feet of him as he was preparing to shoot the first free throw. Second, he stared down all the Warriors around him, drained the first free throw and muttered "Game over, game over" to everyone who would listen. Third, he made the second one and that was that. The lesson, as always: It's good to have Kobe Bryant on your team.)</div>-Bill Simmons

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bynumite @ Apr 2 2008, 07:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yea, I read this. I know Odom playing good and all but I'm not sold on him yet. Lets see how well Lamar produces once Bynum and Gasol are back.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>I know he's been playing out of his mind lately, but I still don't trust Lamar Odom. During regulation of Monday's Warriors game, he went to the line in the final few seconds with a one-point lead, endured a few taunts and standing-in-front-of-him maneuvers from Davis and Jackson ... and eventually, he had this weird smile on his face, almost like the smile a boxer gets right before he's about to get knocked out. Of course, he missed the first free throw. Mark my words -- there's going to be at least one monster moment in April, May or June when Odom has to come through in a humongous spot for the Lakers. And he won't.

(Follow-up to that story: In that same game, the Lakers were up two with four seconds left in overtime when Kobe got fouled. Three interesting things here. First, none of the Warriors came within 10 feet of him as he was preparing to shoot the first free throw. Second, he stared down all the Warriors around him, drained the first free throw and muttered "Game over, game over" to everyone who would listen. Third, he made the second one and that was that. The lesson, as always: It's good to have Kobe Bryant on your team.)</div>-Bill Simmons
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Holy Crap that's hilarious, no one wants to piss Kobe off. Awesome.

 

Resign Odom for 8M... thats the only way we could keep him!

Bynum SHOULD only get 10M - 11M a year... Do your magic mitch!!! We shouldnt max him out!!!

KB24 should resign for 17M a year

We'd have enough to keep the team intact!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Black Mamba @ Apr 3 2008, 03:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Today's world is about money. Why would Kobe Bryant re-sign for $17 million/year when he is worth more than that? It's a game of numbers, despite what it may look like, that would be financially stupid for Kobe to do.

Odom, I completely agree with you, somewhat. I'd give him no more than $10 million/year. Kwame Brown was an overpaid role player who got $9 million this year, Odom's value is more than that.

Bynum can't be maxed out, he'll get a very similar deal to Dwight Howard's. He's too young to be maxed out or something like that, read up on the new CBA and you'll understand it. It's very confusing. He won't be getting less than $10 million/year.</div>

I have to concur and add that I have no problem with Kobe seeking the most money he can get. He merits wasting millions in Luxury tax, the guy plays through some ridiculous injuries among other things.

 

I would pay Odom his due, his value is unappreciated and I wouldn't want to see him go.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (junit @ Apr 3 2008, 02:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I would pay Odom his due, his value is unappreciated and I wouldn't want to see him go.</div>

He's just not worth more than 10 mil. We need to keep Bynum, Gasol, and Kobe our priority.

 

31-10-5 we need Odom.

 

I'm all for bringing back Odom if the price is right. I don't want to see us pay him anymore than $10mil because we're already going to have a ton of money invested in Kobe, Bynum and Gasol. Not to mention we'll be having to look at shelling out decent amounts of money in order to keep hold of Ariza and Farmar.

 

Lakers need to keep Ariza, Bynum, Farmar, Vujajic, Turiaf, etc.

Kobe and Pau will make 39.5 mill when Odom is a free agent, they don't have room to sign a guy who will never make the allstar team big money on top of Bynum going to get a big contract. The Lakers will probably have 50+ mill per year invested in Kobe, Pau and Bynum.

Offer Odom 5 mill, take it or leave it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Apr 5 2008, 07:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Lakers need to keep Ariza, Bynum, Farmar, Vujajic, Turiaf, etc.

Kobe and Pau will make 39.5 mill when Odom is a free agent, they don't have room to sign a guy who will never make the allstar team big money on top of Bynum going to get a big contract. The Lakers will probably have 50+ mill per year invested in Kobe, Pau and Bynum.

Offer Odom 5 mill, take it or leave it.</div>


Ariza needs to stay healthy, and we can always find more Sashas and Ronnys. Odom deserves much more than 5 million, we just can't go to the other end of the salary spectrum.

 

I forgot to mention Walton and Vlad Radman carry 10 mill together. So Kobe, Pau, Bynum + 2 role players is looking like 60$ mill.

60 mill, without Ariza re-signed, Ronny, Farmar and Fisher, and lets say they re-sign for an average of 3 mill and Vujajic re-signs for 2 mill, DJ for 1 mill. That is 75 mill, throw in a rookie contract, add on the contract you want to give Odom and you are looking at something close to 90 mill, which happens to be more than what the Knicks are overpaying for their roster.

It's amazing that a few months of Odom playing up to half his potential, and some people totally forget what the guy has been like for 3+ years, and what he will revert to when most needed.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lavalamp @ Apr 5 2008, 11:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I forgot to mention Walton and Vlad Radman carry 10 mill together. So Kobe, Pau, Bynum + 2 role players is looking like 60$ mill.

60 mill, without Ariza re-signed, Ronny, Farmar and Fisher, and lets say they re-sign for an average of 3 mill and Vujajic re-signs for 2 mill, DJ for 1 mill. That is 75 mill, throw in a rookie contract, add on the contract you want to give Odom and you are looking at something close to 90 mill, which happens to be more than what the Knicks are overpaying for their roster.

It's amazing that a few months of Odom playing up to half his potential, and some people totally forget what the guy has been like for 3+ years, and what he will revert to when most needed.</div>
That was because for 3+ years, he was relied on being the focal part of our offense. He was supposed to be the second option for our team, and obviously, Lamar Odom does not fit in that role. With Gasol, and Bynum coming back soon, Lamar will feel more comfortable with his role on our team. He doesn't want the spotlight. Lamar isn't the type of guy who wants all the attention. He just wants to come out and play his game, which is grabbing boards and getting his teammates involved. When mismatches occur, or when a scoring opportunity arises, he'll take it. But he's not going to go out of his way to create plays for himself because that's not how he is. Now, again, before we jump to conclusions on Lamar, we need to find out how well he will fit in with this team once Bynum comes back. He will change positions, and he will have to play a new role. I think if he proves he can co-exist with Kobe-Gasol-Bynum, then the front office will make a big effort to resign him. If not, then we'll find a replacement elsewhere.

Also, like Mamba said, Lamar loves this city. He loves Los Angeles and he even mentioned that he wanted to retire a Laker. Now, of course all this is just talk, and his opinion could change once the money comes in, but if I remember correctly, there was some talk about Lamar thinking about retirement this offseason. I believe it was mentioned during the JO trade talk that if Lamar was traded to Indiana, he'd retire. The bottom line is, Lamar loves Los Angeles. He loves his teammates because they have been with him through all the struggles he has had during the past couple of years (death of his son). I believe that if we offer him a REASONABLE contract, he would consider resigning with us instead of going elsewhere to pursue the big bucks.

 

All this debate over something very simple.

If Lamar is let go, it's because the Lakers fiscally could only keep three huge contracts. Faced with that dilemma, and given Kobe-Gasol-Bynum-Odom, who would be the odd man out if you had to make the decision? Simple as that.

As for the 'we can find Sasha's all over the league', that is utterly ridiculous. It's amazing to me how we tried and tried for all these years to find a shooter - we made bad trades to acquire them (Jones for Rice), overpay to bring them to LA (Radman) - and yet they never work out the way we want them to. We finally get the shooter we are looking for, and one who plays defense no less - and all of a sudden they are easy to find around the league? Are you freakin joking? and to suggest Coby Karl could be Sasha's equal? that's as ridiculous as saying we have another Bynum with Mbenga. (btw, Karl has never shot above 40% from the college 3pt line, he is more of a scorer than a shooter)

Fact:
Amongst guys who have MADE more than 100 3pters this year, Sasha is 5th in the NBA in accuracy at 44%, behind Nash, Gibson, Peja, and Antony Parker. Of those four ahead of him, only Parker plays defense, and none of them have to come off the bench cold and shoot the way the Machine does.

I get the whole 'lets keep Odom at all costs' thing, but dont cut down the other guys as if they're a dime a dozen when that is absolutely not that case

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Black Mamba @ Apr 6 2008, 02:36 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>It's not that hard to find a shooter in this league, it's a case of having an incompetent GM (up until Gasol trade) who wasted the MLE on washed up veterans. Sasha is easily replaceable. I don't want to replace him, but I don't think we should pay him anymore than 2.5 - 3 million/year. He's a pesky defender, but I wouldn't say a good one. A good defender can guard the pick and roll, our guards can't seem to grasp that concept.

I don't think we overpaid for Radmanovic. It's a matter of getting him into the game early and leaving him in there to work through his mistakes. His stroke is right there with Sasha's for the most part. Shooters are going to have their off nights. When healthy, Radman can give us a nice outing on offense and he's proven to be a decent defender WHEN he's got things going offensively, it translates over to his defense.

Coby Karl's got the reputation of being a shooter, that's what everybody talks about when he's mentioned. The one outing of meaning full minutes that he had this year, he was a rally starter. He had a key block, played tight defense, and nailed a three. He's got a nice stroke, and if Phil gives him the opportunity, it is my opinion that he could produce for us. I'm not saying he's better than Sasha, I'm saying that if Sasha wants more than his worth, let him go. Karl can come in and knock down shots.

It's not about keeping Odom at all costs, it's about giving him his worth. The argument started when it was mentioned to pay Odom $5 million/year...take it or leave it. That's more absurd than saying Bynum < Mbenga. We've got to pay Odom his worth, which is about $10-12 million/year.

Mbenga > Bynum :- ).</div>

you're calling Jerry West an incompetent GM? He was reaching for shooters for the longest time for the Lakers to no avail .

And I have to research this, but I've been a heavy Lakers watcher since the early 90's, when they started to actually shoot the three (they seldom shot it in the showtime era), and I haven't seen a Laker shoot the three ball better than Sasha has this season. I'm pretty damn certain he is on the verge for breaking the single season franchise record for 3pt accuracy. And if that's not the case, whoever does have the record shot (and made) a whole lot less threes .

if it's so easy to find shooters of Sasha's caliber, then why is sasha leading the freakin LEAGUE in 3pt shooting accuracy off the bench

btw, you trying to deflect Sasha's defense into the pick n roll makes absolutely no sense, given that they dont even run the pick n roll against him for him to defend. That's like saying Kobe isn't a good defender for the same reason.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (junit @ Apr 3 2008, 02:50 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I would pay Odom his due, his value is unappreciated and I wouldn't want to see him go.</div>

Well IMO he is due 7 - 9 M a year... As long as we have Kobe, Gasol and Bynum... Odom would be our 4th priority... i am sure he knows that