The last couple of weeks Mitch & Co. have let two free agents slip right past them. The biggest needs for the Lakers are at PG and getting more size. A couple of weeks ago the Sacramento Kings traded a 2nd round pick for Jason Hart, and just yesterday the Nets acquired Mark Jackson for a mere 2nd Round pick. Neither are big name free agents, but they would have helped the roster situation. Jason Hart stands at 6-3, 185 and is a pure PG. Last year he had a 5 to 1 Ast/To ratio and averaged 5 assists per game in just 25.5MPG. He's also a solid defensive guard, who averaged 1.3SPG and shot a respectable 44.9% from the field. He's the efficient PG the Lakers need in their roster. His contract also expires 2 years, and he's a bargain at under $2M per season. Marc Jackson would have been great coming off the bench for the Lakers backing up the 4 and 5. He's one of the few centers left who plays physical, he's 6'10, 270lbs and can stroke the mid-range jumper. With Grant waived, and Turiaf out for at least a year, he would have been perfect. You can count on 12/5 from MJax every night. His contract also fits into the Lakers 2007 game plan as well, and is reasonable at $4.5M. The Lakers are obviously gambling on the Amnesty Rule cuts. However, there are no guarantees the players cut would want to come to Los Angeles. The Lakers are also trying to split the MLE on two players, and won't sign anyone past two years. In the meantime, solid role players are getting traded for practically nothing.
Patience is the key. The Lakers don't want to snap anyone up yet. We want the perfect player and so far, nobody we have come across is perfect for our team. We still have alot of time left and we are just waiting on something to happen. As the saying goes, "good things come to those who wait." Sure, its a risky game to play as we could end up with nobody, but that is a risk that Mitch and Jerry are willing to take.
Mitch and Jerry seem to be pretty risky guys considering the potential disaster season that could result of it. I mean Phil is great, and he's going to increase production out of everyone, and get them to play defense, and on the same page...but he can't rack up an assist, a point, or even a rebound so they better not much too much on him.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ilive4ball:</div><div class="quote_post">but he can't rack up an assist, a point, or even a rebound so they better not much too much on him.</div> Statistically, the players were OK. Sure we needed about 2 extra rebounds and 2 extra assists with a slightly better FG% from some players, but with Phil, and his emphasis on better shot selection, our FG% can go up. The players will rack up more assists with the system and players like Mihm will be taught to be aggresive so they will most likely grab more boards. Also, don't forget that last season, Caron was injured, Kobe was injured, Lamar was injured and Rudy left half way through the season. During the time we had a proper coach, we were in a playoff spot and I stil believe that if it wasn't for injuries or Rudy leaving, we would have made it to the playoffs but most likely gone out in the first round. Things happen for a reason, and if we would have made it to the playoffs, Phil wouldn't have been re-hired and we wouldn't have aquired Kwame Brown. Looking at it from that point of view, it was actually a blessing in disguise that we had injuries and the loss of a coach resulting in a disastrous season.
Patience is great, but I don't think the Lakers have the luxury of being patient. Kobe Bryant will be hitting his prime, and I'd like to see the Lakers start adding stable pieces to build around him. Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown are projects, Chris Mihm is not starter material, Brian Cook and Slava are a waste of height. Adding either Hart or MJax for a mere 2nd rounder isn't going to hurt the Lakers in the short or long term. The Lakers won't be in a position to get the "perfect player" until 2007, when they have some cap space. In the mean time they should try to put together a team capable of making the playoffs the next two years. This way the young players can get playoff experience and the Lakers will be a lot more attractive to veterans looking at a title run down the line.
Quick question, who are the Lakers going to try to get in 2007? I know they are bent over backwards about not giving any FA more than a 2 year contract right now. Are they going to go after LeBron or something?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">Quick question, who are the Lakers going to try to get in 2007? I know they are bent over backwards about not giving any FA more than a 2 year contract right now. Are they going to go after LeBron or something?</div> In another thread, I predicted the Lakers are going to go after Dirk Nowitzki if/when he opts out of his contract in Dallas. LeBron James would be on the list, but it's hard to see the Cavs letting him get away. Same goes for Amare or Yao, they should both be extended this year taking them off the market.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Raptors parting with Rose? Toronto will have to wait two years before Jalen Rose's massive contract comes off the books so the Raptors may elect to shorten that time frame by waiving the 11-year veteran. Rose is a player who likes to dominate the ball so rumors that the Lakers are interested in him should he become a free agent I think are probably just that -- rumors. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom -- both of whom need to play with the ball -- so adding Rose doesn't seem to be a fit. Rose would have to be a point forward in coach Phil Jackson's triangle offense, and he doesn't shoot the ball all that well from the perimeter on a consistent basis. He's known more as a scorer than he is a shooter. Signing Rose in the expectation that he can help them dramatically I think would be unrealistic of the Lakers, but there's no denying that they need talent. They've done what they could in the draft and they don't have the cap room to be major players in free agency for another couple of years, so maybe they take Rose to add talent and have something to work with when discussing possible trades with other teams.</div> Source Is Rose the mystery player the Lakers are holding out for?
Does Mitch have a history of attending AA meetings because the way this offseason is going (it started off well with PJ) I have come to only one logical conclusion; Him, Jerry, Jeanie, and Phil have had a lil too much pimp juice if u kno what im sayin...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">There's no reason for Toronto to waive him. They are about 9 Million dollars under the luxury tax.</div> They might waive him to simply free up a roster spot on the team. I'm not sure the Raptors are actually under the luxury tax figure either. On hoopshype.com the projected salary figure for next season is $55,233,170. This does not include Eric Williams, Pape Sow, Jose Manuel Calderon, or Loren Woods. Also the Raptors are going to spend around $3Million to sign Duhon or Bonner. So when you include those contracts, they should be just over the $61Million threshold, putting them in the luxury tax range.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ilive4ball:</div><div class="quote_post">Does Mitch have a history of attending AA meetings because the way this offseason is going (it started off well with PJ) I have come to only one logical conclusion; Him, Jerry, Jeanie, and Phil have had a lil too much pimp juice if u kno what im sayin...</div> No I don't know what your saying but are you trying to imply that Jerry gets it on with his daughter? <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Raptors parting with Rose? Toronto will have to wait two years before Jalen Rose's massive contract comes off the books so the Raptors may elect to shorten that time frame by waiving the 11-year veteran. Rose is a player who likes to dominate the ball so rumors that the Lakers are interested in him should he become a free agent I think are probably just that -- rumors. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom -- both of whom need to play with the ball -- so adding Rose doesn't seem to be a fit. Rose would have to be a point forward in coach Phil Jackson's triangle offense, and he doesn't shoot the ball all that well from the perimeter on a consistent basis. He's known more as a scorer than he is a shooter. Signing Rose in the expectation that he can help them dramatically I think would be unrealistic of the Lakers, but there's no denying that they need talent. They've done what they could in the draft and they don't have the cap room to be major players in free agency for another couple of years, so maybe they take Rose to add talent and have something to work with when discussing possible trades with other teams.</div> I read that aswell, I didn't think I'd post the speculation as most the posts after would be like "I need some evidence. That ain't gonna happen." I can definatly see this move happening, but where what position would Rose play? We already have Lamar at SF, Kwame at PF. Four options: 1). Put Rose at PF and move Kwame to C: I wouldn't play Rose at PF because of his height, at 6-8 he'll get dominated. If Lamar struggled, I wonder how Rose will find it. 2). Put Rose on the bench and have him come on for Lamar: He's too good of a player to come off the bench. We need his offence. 3). Keep Rose as a PG: I like this idea. If we aquire him, I love the thought of a 6-8 PG. 4). Move Lamar to PF again and put Rose as SF: I have been waiting to see Lamar dominate as a SF. He didn't do as bad as a PF, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Alot, better then alot of other "natural" PF's in the NBA. However, Lamar couldn't stop the other PF's on defence. Kwame will do a much better job as a 7'0 PF. So far, I like option 3 the best. Would it work though? PG= Jalen Rose SG= Kobe Bryant SF= Lamar Odom PF= Kwame Brown C= Chris Mihm Well, looking at that line up, I love every position apart from the C! Lamar grabbed more boards as a PF then Chris Mihm. Lamar would have done a better job at C then Chris Mihm! Hopefully Chris Mihm can average 8 rebounds and 12 points for us.
Laker_fan it has to be option 3, with Rose starting at PG. He's been on the BDSS a few times expressing he would want to play with the Lakers, and get the opportunity to play with Kobe.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting playmaker14:</div><div class="quote_post">Why not put Kobe as the pg and Rose at SG. However, this move will take shots away from Kobe.</div> Kobe wouldn't mind all the scoring depending on how he performs. If Kobe play's bad, the Lakers play bad as it normally means about 15 points less then we should have. I like the idea of sharing points, that way, if one player plays bad(Kobe), it won't affect the whole team as we still have another player(Rose) to depend on. It increases our chance of getting points. Another point I would like to make is that Kobe will get his shots of no matter how many shots the other players take. He gets about 7+ points a game from the free throw line anyway. The final point is that when Shaq was on our team, they both managed to get 20+ points a game throughout the whole season. This probably means that Shaq took alot of shots aswell, most likely more then Rose will take.
Toronto isn't going to use the amnesty on Rose, they are going to use it on Mourning's bought out contract. By doing this, Toronto doesn't lose a player and will definitely stay under the luxury tax. I wouldn't have minded a trade, Rose for Grant + draft pick or a young player. Its too late now though, b/c Grant is waived.
Rose's point guard skills are overrated in IMO. They tried that experiment when he first came to the Raps and it didn't work at all. He's become too used to holding the ball and he doesn't run the fast break very well. He may have had PG skills when he came into the league, but he's converted into a SG/SF since then. If the Lakers were to get him, the best lineup would be option 4, with Rose at the 3.
If this move we realistic, option #3 is a great lineup. The only hole is Mihm but that doesn't matter because there's only three or four really good centers in the League anyway. At the PG, we'd have a huge mismatch, at the SG we'd have a huge mismatch, not because of size but just cause it's Kobe. SF, once again we'd have an advantage cause LO is tall and versatile, PF I think we'll be solid, and then center is the only real weakness, and Cmihm ain't even that bad. This is a mute point however because Rose isn't coming.....Diaz anyone? ; )
I dont think the center is very important in the triangle anyway. Look at what the bulls had. Cartwright, Longley and Wellington? Hardly a good center. I think Mihm is an upgrade. This season is going to be real interesting. We need that big combo guard and I think our lineup will work for Phil.
