I am a life long Laker fan, since ?91. I usually post in this board, and i got to tell you it?s slow and boring over here. I dont know if its because of the Lakers season this year or Most of you have things to do which i doubt but that wont stop me from posting. Now that I got your attention I would expect it to be more ?upbeat?. Anyhow, All is not lost, in fact the Lakers aren?t even in bad shape. This year the Lakers were handicapped by a badly unbalanced roster. It was easy to see. Over half the roster are small forwards. George, Odom, Butler, Jones, Walton, plus Slava and Cook that play small forward despite their size. This took away a huge amount of flexibility. Odom was forced to play out of position at power forward which he can?t do in the WEST. Everyone else besides George was sharing time. There was no option of moving Bryant to SF in certain situations either. Added to the SF log jam was a lack of a true point guard. Add the injuries to Vlade, and George and the season started in a mess and ended about the same way. If I know this, so does my uncles organization. All those banners at Staples weren?t accidents. With the talent available trades will be made this off season, and maybe the Lakers will take a ?best player available? in the draft that will make a difference. I think you can say your farewells to Odom. His contract is bigger than his contribution and he has the most trade value on the roster. Butler is playing on his rookie contract and is almost as good, and free in comparison. Look for the Lakers to move Odom, and try to move Cook and Slava, maybe George, and to pick up a decent (Boozer or better) young power forward. Ditto with a true point guard. Chucky is just an undersized 2 guard, hanging around the arc and bombing away. He may stay as a back up, or get shipped as well. Sadly there is no way short of murder to move Grant and his HUGE contract for another year. With a core of Bryant, Butler, and Vlade (?) with Mihm as a back up, and the addition of a PF and a PG, the Lakers will be fun to watch next year. With some playing time together and a coach that stresses defense (Coop?) they could even do some damage in the playoff?s. And no we did not forget about bitch Fukchak, in fact, we are striving hard to get rid of him and name Phil Jackson the new GM. This isn?t the first time the Lakers have re-tooled. As my uncle Mr. Buss would say, Give it some time!
