<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Lakers, short on veteran backcourt help, were one of a half-dozen teams that showed interest in acquiring guard Derek Anderson after he became the first player waived under the "amnesty" provision, Anderson's agent said Wednesday. Anderson, who has averaged 13.1 points and 3.7 assists in his eight-year career, was released by the Portland Trail Blazers as part of a one-time opportunity for teams to waive a player by Aug. 15 to reduce their luxury-tax payouts. Anderson, 31, will still get paid $18.8 million over the next two seasons by the Trail Blazers, but he is free to draw a second salary from another team, possibly the Lakers. "In our minds, that's a pretty good fit for him," said Anderson's agent, Tony Dutt. "That's a good situation. They want to go short [in contract years], and we want to go short." Anderson probably would accept a two-year deal if it was for the full midlevel exception of $5 million a season. The 6-5 Anderson made a career-best 38.4% of his three-point attempts last season, but he sat out 66 games over the last two seasons because of back problems. He is currently in good shape and healthy, Dutt said.</div> Source This is great, both sides are on the same page. Get it done Mitch!
It would be an amazing pick up if the Lakers were to get D. Anderson this is good news for Laker fans.
DA would be a great addition for the Lakers. they are in desperate need of a point guard which is a position DA can play. the only problems is if he gets injured, which seems to happen to him a lot.
i agree, derek is the type of player that makes everyone around him better...a definite player that phil jackson would like to have on his team.
As I said in the other thread. Derek Anderson would be a good pickup and currently is the best we could do.
yeah, it would be a great signing, and IMO, it will be done. i guess the only issue would be those two year contracts mitch is always giving.
I think this is all but done. The Lakers are interested in Anderson and vice versa. It's all paper issue now, how much does he want? I would think not that much, he is getting almost 19 mil from Portland over the next two seasons. Do you think he'd settle for about half the MLE?
I would love DA to be in the roster. he'll bring leadership at the point and create great plays. he can shoot too. i think his biggest contribution would be his veteran leadership.
Nope, Antonio Daniels wanted more time then we were willing to give him. This time, both parties agree that short term is best. It looks like it will be done.
To whoever suggested half the MLE- despite the fact that he's going to make almost 20 mil over the next two seasons from the blazers, his agent tony dutt said it will have to be the whole MLE. Half isn't going to cut it, and I hope mitch doesn't risk losing DA by trying to Low-ball him.
I was just going to mention him in a new thread before I saw this. He can play both guard spots which is great assest. He's also got the height that PJ likes to play point in the triangle. His biggest weakness is his health, but when he is healthy, he can flat out produce.
