WireTap:Jim Buss says itd be silly to trade both for Howard

[-Spyda-]

Jim Buss, who holds the title of Lakers VP of Player Personnel, addressed a report suggesting the
Magic were willing to trade Dwight Howard for Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

"Where does this stuff come from?" Buss said. "You'd have to be kind of silly to give up two All-Stars like that for Howard. Zero truth to it. We have never been asked for Andrew and Pau and we've never offered them. I think they know we'd either say no or they would sound crazy for asking."

Buss denied being unwilling to part with Bynum.

"Let's just say this," he says. "You have to give up something to get something. And I'm willing to give up something to get something.

"We've done everything within the rules that we could to explore this situation until we were just spinning our wheels," he says. "The player is still in control of his own destiny; he can block a trade just by saying I'm not going to sign a new deal and stay where he is.

"I personally believe now that we have the team that we will be playing with all season long."

Via Los Angeles Times


Read more: http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/21 ... z1hZ57uIEC

[JackFinn]

Here's the link from the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketbal ... feedburner

"What is Kobe supposed to say? 'Thank God, we got rid of Lamar'?" Buss says. "Of course he's going to be upset; everybody is going to be upset. Fans are upset and I'm right there with them. I'm a Lakers fan and I'm upset."

Now the reporter is relentless in not letting him off the hook:

" Lamar felt deeply hurt he was being traded. I'd feel the same way. It was a bad day and we expected him to miss practice because it was a bad day. I'm sure Pau was upset too. But it was more than that with Lamar.

"He told us he didn't feel he was going to be a Laker anymore even if he played with us. He said the same thing in an interview after he went to Dallas. We had to do it; we lost him. I'm sorry the trade was leaked publicly before it was completed. It wasn't our fault, but we lost him mentally."

And got nothing in return?

"When people say that, I don't understand. We were still trying to make another trade, and if we had acquired two players for Lamar, we could not have traded them in a package for 60 days. That would have restricted us. A draft pick allowed us more flexibility to make a deal."

But aren't the Lakers weaker without Odom?

"It's a fair argument to say so," Buss says, "but I don't believe that. I think what we've done to open up the floor with the outside shooting that we've acquired — it will only make Bynum and Gasol that much more dominant."

OK, so at the very least it was a salary dump.

"If we wanted to dump salary we could have gone amnesty with Metta World Peace or Luke Walton. But we never considered it," Buss says. Call him names as some do, but he does answer questions directly.

"I still like Luke. Mike [Brown] likes Metta, and I love him. We need to keep our pieces together, and maybe later by using pieces in a trade we can figure out how to get under the luxury tax."

[numbas]

Jim Buss, who holds the title of Lakers VP of Player Personnel, addressed a report suggesting the Magic were willing to trade Dwight Howard for Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.

"Where does this stuff come from?" Buss said. "You'd have to be kind of silly to give up two All-Stars like that for Howard. Zero truth to it. We have never been asked for Andrew and Pau and we've never offered them. I think they know we'd either say no or they would sound crazy for asking."

Buss denied being unwilling to part with Bynum.

"Let's just say this," he says. "You have to give up something to get something. And I'm willing to give up something to get something.

"We've done everything within the rules that we could to explore this situation until we were just spinning our wheels," he says. "The player is still in control of his own destiny; he can block a trade just by saying I'm not going to sign a new deal and stay where he is.

"I personally believe now that we have the team that we will be playing with all season long."

[Idunkonyou2]

It is pretty funny when the VP of Player Personnel doesn't even know his own team. Last time I checked. Bynum has never been in an allstar game or been voted to an allstar game, LOL!

Way to overrated your own player though.

Howard on the other hand, well lets just say he is on his way to the HoF.

[semi-sentient]

Pretty good interview. I've traditionally called him names but he sounds like he knows what he's doing, and he deserves a chance just like any other newcomer.

If they aren't considering any amnesties then it looks like they aren't concerned with their salary situation, which hopefully means we'll make good use of our TPE.

He's right about Odom as well. He checked out mentally and dealt with it in a very unprofessional manner. I still think we should have held on to him and offered a Bynum + Odom package for Howard, but oh well. What's done is done.

[TruSkool]

I'd love to hear lamar odom's comments on this

[numbas]

Pretty good interview. I've traditionally called him names but he sounds like he knows what he's doing, and he deserves a chance just like any other newcomer.

If they aren't considering any amnesties then it looks like they aren't concerned with their salary situation, which hopefully means we'll make good use of our TPE.

He's right about Odom as well. He checked out mentally and dealt with it in a very unprofessional manner. I still think we should have held on to him and offered a Bynum + Odom package for Howard, but oh well. What's done is done.

[Sedale Threatt]

Never thought I'd ever say this, but I agree with Jim Buss.

[BosssPlaya]

im watching the mavs/heat game.. they made a comment about LO.

LO had a convo with Terry and the dialogue went something like this

LO: " When the Heat get here, their gonna be coming after yall"
JT: "Yall? You mean us"
LO: " Ma bad, im trippin, thats what I meant"

Seems like he still hasnt gotten over the fact that he's a Mav and is still Laker @ heart IMO.

[kblo247]

Problems with what he said

- We don't have three all stars, we have two

If you are going to call Bynum a title he hasn't come close to earni in his career,mother you need to say we traded an all star away for nothing at all as Odom was flat out better than him the past couples, did more to win the ring, and produced more than Luc Longley like numbers when it mattered.

- Trading both Pau and Andrew for Dwight is silly

Who are we fooling? That is fair value. Pau and Andrew have never played well together on both ends for a prolonged period because they are both centers who needed Odom to compliment them. They never gained a two man game on either side the floor. Dwight is flat out better than the often injury prone big and guy coming off one of the worst playoff showings on bth sides the floor for a 20 million dollar player ever. It just is.

- Odom was gone mentally and had to be given away

Please, Odom has even stated he was pissed off because Jim would not tell him the same thing he told Pau. He would be a Laker, he might hear offers that improve the team, but he will be a Laker short of trading him for a certain type of players. Lamar has said that was what Jim told him he couldn't say. You got caught being unprofessional and bush league yet again as management like this whole summer, with Shaw, Lester, and many other people. Lamar heard he got dealt on the radio, you didn't even call him to talk out the situation, and he had to come to you and you couldn't even give a white lie like did Pau. You wanted him gone to give the pet project his chance to swim or sink is all. Either Byum steps up and proves he is worth an extension or ups his value to be flipped for Dwight, or he gets hurt like he always ahs back to high school and underachieves yet again, lowers his value, and LA looks like dumbasses when they have no one there to fill in for him without skipping a beat

Odom even said admittedly by the Mavs that you guys AE going to have them gunning for you, in reference to Dallas playing Miami. He didn't say we and had to be reminded that he wasn't a Laker anymore, and still says his heart will always have a place in LA and that having a Mavs jersey is weird

- Valuing picks

Please with that as well. You will sell those firsts to the highest bidder and get seconds so you don't have to have cap holds or give out guaranteed contracts.

[doozyj]

im watching the mavs/heat game.. they made a comment about LO.

LO had a convo with Terry and the dialogue went something like this

LO: " When the Heat get here, their gonna be coming after yall"
JT: "Yall? You mean us"
LO: " Ma bad, im trippin, thats what I meant"

Seems like he still hasnt gotten over the fact that he's a Mav and is still Laker @ heart IMO.

I think he just feels he is neither, probably a player who doesn't belong anywhere.

[semi-sentient]

Dumb ass shouldn't have requested a trade then.

[The Laker Kid]

Lamar is one confused little kid running out of lollipops

[Sedale Threatt]

Who are we fooling? That is fair value. Pau and Andrew have never played well together on both ends for a prolonged period because they are both centers who needed Odom to compliment them. They never gained a two man game on either side the floor. Dwight is flat out better than the often injury prone big and guy coming off one of the worst playoff showings on bth sides the floor for a 20 million dollar player ever. It just is.

It's not a matter of fair value. It's a matter of what the team would look like if we pulled off such a deal. If we had another young cornerstone, I'd do that deal in a heartbeat.

But unfortunately, we don't. We'd have Dwight Howard, 33-year-old Kobe Bryant and a bunch of warm bodies. In other words, almost zero chance of winning a title.

Yeah, it would be nice to have a piece like Howard to build around moving forward, but I'd much rather try to win now for a couple of seasons rather than sacrifice for the future.

[hondaaccord]

Dwight Howard is one of the few players in the league who is unstoppable offensively. If Dwight Howard learns how to shoot free throws he is the most efficient scorer in the league by far. Not to mention he is the best defensive center in the league and stays healthy.

[semi-sentient]

Howard is not unstoppable offensively... not even close.

[Doormatt]

Hes unstoppable as a finisher, and that's what his role is offensively.

[dockingsched]

orl and LA are in full on negotiating through the media mode.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Problems with what he said

- We don't have three all stars, we have two

If you are going to call Bynum a title he hasn't come close to earni in his career,mother you need to say we traded an all star away for nothing at all as Odom was flat out better than him the past couples, did more to win the ring, and produced more than Luc Longley like numbers when it mattered.

- Trading both Pau and Andrew for Dwight is silly

Who are we fooling? That is fair value. Pau and Andrew have never played well together on both ends for a prolonged period because they are both centers who needed Odom to compliment them. They never gained a two man game on either side the floor. Dwight is flat out better than the often injury prone big and guy coming off one of the worst playoff showings on bth sides the floor for a 20 million dollar player ever. It just is.

- Odom was gone mentally and had to be given away

Please, Odom has even stated he was pissed off because Jim would not tell him the same thing he told Pau. He would be a Laker, he might hear offers that improve the team, but he will be a Laker short of trading him for a certain type of players. Lamar has said that was what Jim told him he couldn't say. You got caught being unprofessional and bush league yet again as management like this whole summer, with Shaw, Lester, and many other people. Lamar heard he got dealt on the radio, you didn't even call him to talk out the situation, and he had to come to you and you couldn't even give a white lie like did Pau. You wanted him gone to give the pet project his chance to swim or sink is all. Either Byum steps up and proves he is worth an extension or ups his value to be flipped for Dwight, or he gets hurt like he always ahs back to high school and underachieves yet again, lowers his value, and LA looks like dumbasses when they have no one there to fill in for him without skipping a beat

Odom even said admittedly by the Mavs that you guys AE going to have them gunning for you, in reference to Dallas playing Miami. He didn't say we and had to be reminded that he wasn't a Laker anymore, and still says his heart will always have a place in LA and that having a Mavs jersey is weird

- Valuing picks

Please with that as well. You will sell those firsts to the highest bidder and get seconds so you don't have to have cap holds or give out guaranteed contracts.

link or it didn't happen

[The_Trade_Seer]

I never thought I would say this but JIM BUSS IS MUCH, MUCH SMARTER THAN MAGIC JOHNSON!

For Magic to say on tv today that the Lakers should trade Bynum and Pau for D12 because you have to do whatever it takes to get Dwight Howard is just (Please Use More Appropriate Word), I'm sorry but it is ... absolute stupidity!

I am thankful that Jim Buss is in charge and not Magic Johnson ... wow ... I still can't believe I'm saying that!

Many of you on this forum have been watching hoops for a long time ... to me, what Magic is advocating is akin to a team 15 years ago offering Chris Webber and Shawn Kemp for Shaq or a team in the 80s offering David Robinson and Barkley for Olajuwon ... it's madness.