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

With the LLE, or vet's minimum, who?

I agree Kobe/Ron/Pau/Drew can still contend. But look at the bench, look at the depth if LO leaves. We have none. LO is basically our bench, it's no coincidence that we struggled last year whenever the starters were pulled. The bench would give up a double digit lead in minutes, because they sucked. It only got better later on when LO started stepping up and playing better.

LO averaged 30 minutes per game last year. You can't honestly tell me with a straight face you'd be comfortable with Josh Powell playing those types of minutes, or that you'd be comfortable with JP being the first man off the bench to match up with KG/Perkins/Rasheed when Drew gets in foul trouble in 2 minutes, can you? I don't mind JP as the 3rd string PF, but as the primary backup? Forget it.

With LO, in my eyes, we're the clear cut favorites to win the championship next year. Without him? I don't see much that separates us from Boston, or San Antonio for that matter. We'd still contend, but the road will be much tougher. And I honestly don't expect the LLE or vet's minimum to be able to pick up anyone worth a damn, or anyone who's going to be that much of an upgrade over JP. Trades are always an option, we can always hope to dump AMMO/Jordan's expirings on someone, but it takes two to tango. No telling if there will even be a market for those two, or what type of player we would get in return.

That's why I believe LO is so crucial. Our biggest strength last year was our length and play by our bigs. Lose LO, you lose all that. The MLE was supposed to be the backup plan for either LO or Trevor, not both.

 

I doubt any of them sign for LLE money. Those guys will go MLE or higher.

McDyess is rumored to have a 3 year MLE level offer by the Spurs (only makes them stronger):

http://www.freep.com/article/200907... Spurs become leader to sign Antonio McDyess

Marion definitely is not an option, neither is Lee.

Gooden will most likely command MLE money, or close to it, none of which we can offer.

Which leaves Joe Smith as the only option. He may return to the Cavs when it's all said and done, and he's nowhere near as productive as Lamar Odom.

 

Do you expect Bynum to blow his knee again? Because that is the only way we get in trouble, but we've also upgraded at the SF position. Maybe we also get more production out of the 1 with Brown getting more time? Or with Fisher just being fresher for the post-season.

I think we can get a solid backup with our trade pieces, we don't need a star.

 

I don't expect Drew to blow his knee again, but there's nothing convincing that'll lead me to believe he'll stay healthy for an entire year. Nor has he proven he can sustain a high level of play throughout an 82 game season + playoffs. He only played at a high level for a couple of weeks last year, and the season before that as well, before getting injured. Can he do it for an entire year? He hasn't come close to proving that. Too many questions to bank the season on him.

Brown will be an upgrade in the backcourt, but is it enough to offset the potential loss of LO? Pau/JP, DJ/Pau if Drew is out or gets into foul trouble. I don't care who you have in the backcourt, Perkins/KG/Sheed will have a field day.

Morrison + Farmar, neither are special players. They only have value because they're expirings. You have to bank on a 2010 team willing to shed salary to get a deal done. Quite frankly, I don't know what type of players we could get from that package, nor is it guaranteed we would get anything beneficial in return. I'm not willing to open up the season with JP/DJ as backups, wishing and hoping we can strike a deal before the trade deadline. That seems irresponsible for a team hoping to repeat as champions.

 

Hey I'd love to get the LO thing over too, it would be a tough road without him but Boston doesn't scare me like the past. I think we have the edge on them.

I've heard fans say how we need to sign LO just to get back to last year's level. Well last year a lot of things didn't go according to plan and we still won it all.

 

Once again, it takes two sides to tango. Besides Kobe, Pau, Drew, Ron, and Shannon, I fail to see any players on our roster another team would covet to give up a talent like Marion, or a David Lee. LLE and vet's min are our only realistic options, and we won't find any upgrades there.

But when it's all said and done, I don't see LO leaving so all this is moot. If he does leave, I believe we'll find ourselves in a tough situation.

 

Rondo/Pierce/Ray/KG/Perkins

Very good starting 5. The only question is if KG is back to form, but reports are he's doing fine, and I don't see why he shouldn't be. Boston will be out to prove something next year, I don't expect to see them fall of at all. They'll be motivated and ready to play.

Then they go out and sign Rasheed Wallace to further improve their chances. KG/Perkins/Rasheed is a top front court in the league.

We don't have to resign LO to win, nor have I been saying that. Resigning LO, in my eyes, makes us clear cut favorites to win the championship. If we lose LO, we will still contend, but I see nothing separating us from Boston or San Antonio.

We had LO (allstar caliber talent when he's focused) and Trevor (solid role player).

If we replace that with Ron Artest (allstar caliber talent) and a solid role player (in place of Lamar), I think we'd be fine. But with the MLE already gone, we have very few choices. That's my only problem. The MLE was supposed to be used as a replacement for either LO or Trevor, not both. LLE and vet min can get us guys like Josh Powell, or Brian Skinner. Minutes here and there, fine. 2nd string backup? No way.

 

Only if he agrees to it, and the only city I see possible is Miami.

Again, I think all this moot, because at the end of the day, I see LO returning anyways. The only team that's a threat is Portland, and I doubt they spend all their money on him. I just don't think some of you realize how important LO was for us last year.

 

Overrating? Really? When Drew picked up his usual 2 fouls in the first couple of minutes in the Finals, who was there to step up? LO was probably the 3rd most important player (yes ahead of Ariza) on our team last year. If we lose him, we lose a very crucial part of the roster.

 

I agree with Brian on this one.

If we lose Odom, we might be only the 2nd best team in the league behind Boston. Because there will be tiems when Bynum gets early foul trouble, and if we don't have Odom, then it will be tough. And, as what was stated, Odom is pretty much our bench. Shannon and Luke (Sometimes Farmar) are the only ones actually producing, but they can't produce anywhere near the Odom can.

 

Well since he's our last FA and we know what we are paying our other players, I'd offer him 8-9 million for 4 or 5 years. He'll probably take that.

 

Once again, I have no problem with losing LO if we could find a solid replacement. Scrubs and journey men as our backup bigs are not gonna cut it. Sorry.

 

I think that Odom can agree with an 8M deal since he can't get better offers.

Let's just hope that his agent isn't as stupid as Lee.