http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5700038237 Lakers, get this done. Win the championship. Lamar, keep playing your ass off. Jerry Buss is a winner. If Lamar keeps stepping up, and Lakers win this 'ship, he'll do anything possible to keep this core together. Looking towards free agency, there are not many teams out there that can offer him big money, and I don't see why any team would. Lamar already said he'd be willing to take a paycut, and he loves it here in LA. Hopefully both sides can agree and he'll be back next season. I admit I'm not the biggest Lamar Odom fan, but I'd still rather keep him around rather than finding a replacement. But then again, he's just strung together a couple of nice games. I'm willing to bet if he starts playing like shit in the next two, my opinion will change. I'm wishy washy, just like Lamar's game.
Bring him back. The chemistry on this team is incredible and I don't think you'd want to break up the core with how well we've played recently, and really all season minus a few speed bumps.
Let's have some actual contract numbers. How much and how long would you sign Odom for? How much and how long would you sign Ariza for? How much and how long would you sign Shannon Brown for? How much and how long would you sign DJ Mbenga for? How much and how long would you sign Josh Powell for?
Odom - 4-5 years, 6-8 million/year Ariza - 4-5 years, 5-6 million/year Brown - 4 years, 3 million/year Mbenga - 1 year, minimum Powell - bye bye :] I think we can find a good backup in the draft or through the vet minimum. I was high on Powell, but he really fell hard.
Lamar - 3 years 7-8 mill/yr Trevor - 4 years 5-6 mill/yr Brown - 2-3 years 2 mill/yr Both DJ and JP have team options next year, and are signed to the minimum. They are cheap and will most likely be back.
Are you sure JP has a team option? I thought he was an unrestricted free agent after this season. I think only DJ and Sun Yue have non-guaranteed team options? I'm just wondering what the team is going to do with guys like Luke ($4.7M), Sasha ($4.9M), and AMMO ($5.2M) after this year? They are eating up a lot of cap space without offering much production.
Yeah I'm pretty sure JP has a team option. I read about it on LG somewhere. Him, DJ, and Sun have team options, I believe. Of the three I think Sun probably won't be back, unless he really improved. As for the others, 4.7 mill for Luke isn't that bad actually, if he can continue to play like this consistently. AMMO is an expiring. Sasha has one year left. I think they will be shopped, but if we cannot retain either Lamar or Trev, I expect AMMO's expiring to come in handy, along with Farmar/Derek (5 mill expiring) to trade for a replacement.
I think you have to sign Ariza for what you project him to be and Odom for what he's currently worth. A lot of us compare Ariza to former Laker, Caron Butler, and I think a deal similar to Butler is warranted. Butler signed a 5 year, $46Million extension with the Wizards. His salary started at around $8M and caps out at $10.5M Lamar Odom is harder for me to put a number on. He's a valuable piece to our team, but his inconsistency bothers me and how valuable is he going to be if Bynum stays healthy? I feel Odom is more of an insurance policy against Bynum or Gasol getting injured and a luxury for us on the roster. How motivated will he be making less money and having a Championship ring? These are questions you don't have an answer for and that scares me for signing Odom long term and for anything above the MLE. As for Brown I think a 3 year deal worth $5M with a PO for next season would work out well. Give him just under $1.5M to $1.8M next season and the opportunity to opt out and earn more the following season when the Lakers no longer have AMMO or Fisher on the books.
That can mean a lot of things. What does he define as an offer he can't refuse? We'll see what happens.
I think Lamar is a guy who would warrant about a 4yr deal worth $6-8 mil per, maybe giving a PO or TO for a 5th year. I would love to agree with Shape in regards to Trevor's contract, but I can't see paying him Caron type money yet. He hasn't proven that he's worth that money, even though he is showing the potential to be worth it. Maybe sign him to a short, 2yr MLE deal and then renegotiate with him after we see what he can do with a full season as the starting SF. At this point, I'm just not comfortable giving him Caron type money until we see if he can put up 15/6 and 2spg for a season. As far as Shannon goes, I'd say giving him a 3yr deal worth about $5-7 mil would suffice for him. He's been solid, but again, I want to see what he can do in a full season for us.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=adande_ja&page=Odom-090606 He's not about the $$$.
