<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ace2k2:</div><div class="quote_post">Its obvious Payton wants his ring. He knows the lakers are rebuilding right about now and knows they wont win it all. Hes probably trying to go with Shaq to Miami. Afer all Miami needs a PG and payton might be what they need. Payton will not get traded he wil leave on his own. He will buy him seflf out. He doesnt want to lose Shaq( the man who recruited him). Also Kobe isnt a good recruiter because hes a seflish little ***** and not a very good leader. Dont get me wrong Kobe is a GREat player top 4. I also remember reading a post that had a good point. MJs teamates played cards with him even tho he was a biotch too but MJ was respected. Kobe isnt respected. Shaq was good at recruiting bringing them in because he also was respected. That i probably why Payton wants to leave. Malone will also leave. Possibly signing with the Heat too and the Heat will become last years lakers but better. lol im just hoping.</div> A couple things here. Miami needs a point guard? Really, when did this happen? Last I knew, they had someone named Dwayne Wade down there. You know, played at Marquette, had a triple double in the Elite 8, got 3rd for Rookie Of The Year and was completely overshadowed by the LeBron and Melo talks. The kid was phenomenal during last season and was brilliant in the playoffs. So, I think that point guard problem is covered. Payton could back him up maybe. Unless they want to screw things up and move Wade to shooting guard, but I doubt they do that. The other thing, I do believe Payton has to be traded. He decided to take his option and stay for the final year of his contract because at that time, he thought Shaq would stay. So, the only way he's going anywhere is if the Lakers were to trade him.
Did any of you guys see Cuban on Kilborns show? He ( Cuban) said the lakers never even asked for Dirk or would even return calls?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ace2k2:</div><div class="quote_post">Its obvious Payton wants his ring. He knows the lakers are rebuilding right about now and knows they wont win it all. Hes probably trying to go with Shaq to Miami. Afer all Miami needs a PG and payton might be what they need. Payton will not get traded he wil leave on his own. He will buy him seflf out. He doesnt want to lose Shaq( the man who recruited him). Also Kobe isnt a good recruiter because hes a seflish little ***** and not a very good leader. Dont get me wrong Kobe is a GREat player top 4. I also remember reading a post that had a good point. MJs teamates played cards with him even tho he was a biotch too but MJ was respected. Kobe isnt respected. Shaq was good at recruiting bringing them in because he also was respected. That i probably why Payton wants to leave. Malone will also leave. Possibly signing with the Heat too and the Heat will become last years lakers but better. lol im just hoping.</div> 1. The Lakers are far from rebuilding with Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant (assuming that trade goes through and they resign Kobe)...you forget that that is the backcourt of a team that went to the second round of the playoffs...plus it would actually be better for us if we could deal payton and devean in a package for a bigman so im very open to trading payton...miami, however, has no need for him and i can't see why they'd want him...also the lakers would have to agree to a buyout so umm yah...and i have a feeling there is something the lakers could do under the CBA or through the NBA about a player exercising a 5.4 million dollar option and then demanding a buy-out when they had teh option to just decline the option... 2. you call kobe selfish...but whos the man with teh 30 million dollar contract and 64 million dollar 2 year extension demands...and then he goes and bitches about his teammates suck...oh yah...thats shaq...not kobe...shaq is EVERY BIT as selfish as kobe if not more... 3. and how do the heat become last years lakers but better if they sign payton and malone...they have...a year older payton, a year older and much more injured malone, a year older and probably fatter shaq, a rapidly declining eddie jones, and a budding star in dwyane wade...i suppose their role players are still pretty good but i don't really know how well they could perform on a consistent basis against the west...guys like malik allen and udonis haslem were effective in the eastern conference playoffs but i can't really see them holding their own against the likes even backup western conference power players...true eddie jones is still better than devean george, but kobe is far better than wade (and believe me i love wade's game), and is the bench they're left with really that much better than the lakers bench from last year after they lost skip> dont really think so...
Good I hope he gets traded he did not do well at all this season especially in the playoffs when we needed him most. We might get an ok trade out of it. I hope the Lakers dont sign Malone he wasnt that good this year as well.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Should the Shaquille O'Neal trade to Miami go through, as expected, you can safely expect Gary Payton to seek his own escape from the Lakers. League sources told ESPN.com on Sunday night that Payton will push this week for a buyout of his contract if the Lakers complete the proposed trade with the Heat that would bring Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, Caron Butler and a future first-round pick to Los Angeles Payton, sources said, has serious reservations about what the Lakers can achieve without a recognized power player joining them in O'Neal's place. Without O'Neal, sources added, Payton has lost the teammate who lured him to Los Angeles. Lakers sources, however, indicated that the club would be reluctant to let Payton go without compensation.</div> I was listening to a radio show today and gp said he has no intentions to request a trade or buyout his contract. He says he likes the players aquired from the shaq deal. He hopes kobe and malone will re-sign and is looking forward to proving himself next season after the embarassing playoff performance he put on last year. He wants to stay with the lakers
ESPN just reported this too. Guess Rudy T is a good talker. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1840056
GP is going to come back strong...the poor playoff performance must be eating at him and he probably wants to make up for it, we all know that he's a fierce competitor.
Geez....I like the quote Payton made. It's about a committment. If you sign that multiyear contact, I'd expect for that player to live up to it and play it out to the best of his ability. And also, just like what Mel mentioned, a golden opportunity to mold Sasha into a great guard in this league, and what's a better guy to learn from than Gary Payton? Heck, if we're lucky, he might teach him ways of how to trashtalk his opponents. And also, check out this quote: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Becoming the coach, he says he's going to give me the freedom to play the way I played in Seattle. So I'll be OK with that, so as long as we get a team together.</div> Perhaps a glimpse of Payton in his old Seattle days?
I agree that we should get Dampier...throw Payton out to the dogs, and hope Fisher wants his spot back. Look into picking up a few role players, and then you'd have Fisher, Kobe, Odom, Grant and Dampier as the starting five...not bad, compared to how everyone predicted it would be without Shaq. That is, unless Kobe leaves...then it's over.
If the Lakers were going to trade GP it wouldn't be now. He had a mediocre year and got owned in nearly every matchup during the Lakers' playoff run. He's still a quality guard, but far from elite and you wont get someone of his calibre in return. I liked the point that someone made about Shaq leaving. It really shows Payton's loyalty that he would stay despite doubts about the lack of a low-post prescence (and please dont try to argue that the Odom/Grant combo will get them anywhere). I am somewhat annoyed that nobody has pointed out the fact that Shaq recruited GP and Malone and then skipped out when things got rough. While fueding with Kobe Shaq went so far as to say that GP and Malone joined the team for "one reason, to play with me". He made their year difficult, and then ditched them. Props to GP for staying.
Plus payton has played on teams wtih nearly no low post presence he did have alittle of it in Seattle but nothing even close to Shaqs ability.
