Shannon Brown agrees to 2 years, 4.2 million with the Lakers.

Portland is gonna do something this offseason. It's their only shot. So if they only manage to get LO, it's better than nothing. This is their only year to sign free agents since next year, Roy and LA's extensions kick in. Their owner is also rich as hell, so I'm guessing they just throw money at whoever. Better than nothing in their eyes.

But yeah, lukewarm doesn't sound too hot. For LO though, as long as his options are open, I don't think he signs yet, or else I'm guessing we already would've signed him.

 

I dunno, I can't imagine them throwing money at someone simply for the sake of spending money. If there isn't a move that makes sense for the team, they're not going to give cash to someone, especially with Aldridge and Roy's extensions kicking in, as well as Oden being up for an extension after next season. It would make no sense.

The only reason I could foresee Portland offering him a deal is to jack the price tag up on him and making the Lakers overpay for him. That's the only thing that would make sense for them to do because he doesn't make much sense for that team and their glut of young PFs that all have more potential than a 30 year old Odom.

 

LaMarcus doesn't like him apparaently, they also might not want to risk chemistry.

For Odom to get even close to 30 minutes they'd have to shift him to SF, where he hasn't played for a while and might lack the lateral footwork. Rudy would also want out.

 

Moving him would cause a lot of headaches, especially if Aldridge isn't a fan. They'd have to move either Rudy, Batum or Outlaw - and there isn't a guarantee they could do that. And I don't know if that's a risk that they'd want to take.

 

Yeah I dunno. I think it would be funny if Portland does sign LO though. He always likes to start shit with them. lol

 

I wouldn't mind Shannon in the Dunk contest.

 

If Portland gets Odom, we're not winning a title. We need his versatility off the bench, and he's a great insurance policy if/when Bynum (or Gasol) gets hurt.

We lose him, our bench is fucked, as is our frontcourt depth. I don't want to see Powell or Mbenga playing extended minutes, and that's exactly what would happen if we lost Odom. No fucking thank you, bring Odom back and don't let Portland snatch him from us.

 

I think we'd still be able to trade for another Power Forward by the deadline if we lost him. It is just so much more convenient for us if he stays here and I don't think it gives Portland much. I don't know if he can play the SF as well and they'll get an unhappy Fernandez.

 

Yes, we lose LO, we're screwed since we used up our MLE as well. I don't want to see DJ or JP filling in for Drew when he's injured, or when he picks up 2 fouls in the first minute against Boston, and then having to go up against KG/Sheed. LO is basically our bench. Without him we're screwed. Gotta find a way to keep him at all costs.

 

Now that we know we're paying a reasonable price for Artest/Brown, I wouldn't mind a 9 million a year offer. 4 or 5 years whatever, just end the drama.

 

I would have to disagree, I don't think we have the trading chips to bring anything worthwhile at the moment. The only appealing items we have are Farmar and Morrison's expiring deals, and those can only take us so far.

We really do need him back. Losing him hurts us a lot more than it would help Portland. I do think Buss will realize that we need him to win another title and I'm sure they'll reach a middle ground of some type. Until then, we just have to play the waiting game.

 

Since we have a lot of salary this year, and things level off after this season (Fish, AMMO, Jordan, and then Sasha next year), we could offer him a starting salary of 7-8 million and then gradually increasing to 9, 10 million by the time the contract ends. I think it has to be a 10% increase or something. Give him a 4-5 year deal, hell you just gave a lunatic the option to sign on for 5 years, LO won't hurt. That way you backload the contract while giving yourself some flexibility up front.

Our contract mistakes should be wiped off the slates in 2 years. From then on, Mitch just has to be smarter at evaluating contract year players and not overpaying role players. We can work on the budget that way.

 

Yeah but remember players can look even better here, we can find some quality depth and with the looks Kobe/Pau/Bynum we'll still get by. We won most of the playoffs without getting help from Bynum or Fisher.

 

http://blogs.pe.com/prosports/nba/lakers/#a507214

Looks like we did a great job.