Kobe addresses the Olympics, Ronny and Sashas.

[TonyMontana]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketbal ... 1372.story

"I think winning a gold medal is more important because you're playing for your country," he said, repeating what has become a kind of mantra. "You're not playing for a region or a state or a brand. You are playing for the United States of America."
There was no joy on Bryant's face, however, when the subject turned to a Lakers loss on Friday -- when the team declined to match a four-year, $17-million offer sheet given to reserve forward Ronny Turiaf by the Golden State Warriors.
"I'm sad about it," said Bryant, who has been talking to Turiaf daily about the situation. "I wish we could have kept him. I love him as a person, I love him as a basketball player and I hate to see him leave. I just wish him all the best."He would much rather have stayed with us, but that's the nature of the NBA, man."
Bryant, like the rest of his organization, is waiting for the second shoe to drop. Sasha Vujacic, the reserve guard nicknamed "The Machine" because of his proclivity for cranking up shots, is, like Turiaf, a restricted free agent.
Vujacic has yet to come back to the Lakers with an offer sheet and, in recent days, General Manager Mitch Kupchak has been negotiating with Rob Pelinka, Vujacic's agent, about a new contract.
"I'm optimistic that we can re-sign Sasha," Bryant said. "We definitely should. He's turned into a fantastic player for us and I would hate to see us lose two of our key guys off the bench."
Bryant's optimism may be bolstered by more than just hope since he and Vujacic have the same agent.

It seems that Kobe might know something we dont about Sasha possibly not getting signed by the Lakers, and he obviously seems upset that we coulndt sign Ronny, but I hope that we are looking for someone else that can step in and give us what Ronny and Sasha brought to this team.
Lets hope and have faith in our F.O.
But it does bother me that we werent able to sign Ronny and I hope that we dont lose Sasha.

[TommyTheCat]

i can understand the loss of ronny with the scarce minutes the lakers have to offer him.......so dollar for minute that contract didn't add up...................especially if the lakers keep odom this season which would further diminish ronny's minutes. i'm really glad you posted that article because i'm thrilled to read that mitch is currently negotiating with boooyabitch's agent.

[Italianhanger]

he has to understand that ronny going up to the warriors was his choice to get more money
the lakers arent going to strap their future on a guy who only gives them 15mins a game and might of given them even less minutes this upcoming season with more guys being healthy
i think sasha is going to stay..havent heard much of any interest for him, then again childress(sg/sf) going to Greece can bump sasha's value even higher

[hermes]

sign sasha mitch!

[Jajwanda]

I' still believe there's a chance that we could get some serious value for Vujajic in a S and T if we are doing nothing else this year. Mitch may be playing with those possibilities.

He could for example go to Philly and say can we have Jason Smith+Willie Green for a 2nd+Sasha S and T.

That would somewhat solve our problem at backup SG and gives us the necessary PF depth to make an Odom deal possible.

Then again this is Mitch, he's not the most creative GM. He takes what he can get at bargain pricing (Gasol) and otherwise we should not really trust his FA decisions. Draft though I like...

[TonyMontana]

Both of you guys make valid points, as far Ronny Tommy I agree but you have to look at what Ronny brought to the table as a player on the Lakers, his energy, his heart dedication to the game and this team. I dont blame him for leaving for more money and you can clearly see that Kobe feels the same.
As far as Sasha, Hanger.............. I think Sasha wants and is willing to take less money to stay in LA and YES there arent too many teams knocking down his door trying to sign him.
I think Sasha is an Attention WHORE....LOLL and he wants to stay in LA and having the same agent as Kobe gives us a reasurance that Kobe might and will affect Sasha decision on him resigning with LA.

[Jajwanda]

You're probably right about Sasha.

What's most curious in this scenario is the backup front court situation. Right now Mitch has had little interest in any veteran big man which would likely mean that Odom is his preferred backup at PF and in the front court. Now that's just perfectly fine, however if he's going to be playing 25-30 mpg at the PF position with Gasol playing C at times how could he possibly also play the SF position?

I truly think that that is speaking volumes about what his future is here and why they let Ronnie go.

[TommyTheCat]

25-30mpg is pretty close to starting minutes. i would think that odom plays 15-20mpg at pf and the other 15 or so at sf.

[Minhee]

sasha wants to be by PV's abercrombie.

[Jajwanda]

Tommy that would be nearly idiotic because to play SF effectively Odom would have to lose a significant amount of weight. If he loses weight to anywhere around 230 or lower he will be completely ineffective and probably get hurt at PF. Don't make the mistake of thinking that he can play SF and PF at the same time with ease. He's only able to play PF for us effectively (latter 05-06, latter 07-08), when he's put on weight that's made him a major defensive liability at the 3 and also affected his shot.

He can only have one role otherwise you'll be seeing Leon Powe, box him out like a joke when we run our second units.

[hermes]

lebron is a sf, and he's like 300 pounds

[TonyMontana]

Tommy that would be nearly idiotic because to play SF effectively Odom would have to lose a significant amount of weight. If he loses weight to anywhere around 230 or lower he will be completely ineffective and probably get hurt at PF. Don't make the mistake of thinking that he can play SF and PF at the same time with ease. He's only able to play PF for us effectively (latter 05-06, latter 07-08), when he's put on weight that's made him a major defensive liability at the 3 and also affected his shot.

He can only have one role otherwise you'll be seeing Leon Powe, box him out like a joke when we run our second units.

I disagree I think L.O can and will play S.F specially in P.Js rotation.
Keep in mind last year he did play S.F for us specially when we went with a smaller lineup.

[BitonKOBE]

i think its interesting how unambiguous KOBE is about whether a gold medal or an nba title is more important to him. of course his answer might be biased by the fact he's achieved the latter three times already. still i cant wait for olympic basketball. the best player in the game trying as hard as he can to make his legacy by playing the best defense in the tournament. not to mention splashin in a few clutch ones yay.

i literally cannot imagine the FO not signing vujacic. but anything is possible i guess.

[crazyeights]

Yeah, but I still wish the best player in the game could have won both the gold for the US and a 10th banner for Staples.

[TommyTheCat]

Tommy that would be nearly idiotic because to play SF effectively Odom would have to lose a significant amount of weight. If he loses weight to anywhere around 230 or lower he will be completely ineffective and probably get hurt at PF. Don't make the mistake of thinking that he can play SF and PF at the same time with ease. He's only able to play PF for us effectively (latter 05-06, latter 07-08), when he's put on weight that's made him a major defensive liability at the 3 and also affected his shot.

He can only have one role otherwise you'll be seeing Leon Powe, box him out like a joke when we run our second units.

personally i don't like the idea of odom playing sf at all but it's going to happen if he's not traded. if you think the idea stinks that he plays both sf & pf, how do you like the idea phil's been tinkering with of odom playing sf & sg?

[milesfides]

I question the assumption that Turiaf's minutes would be limited. First of all, Odom's own future isn't secure. If Odom leaves, we're thin up front. Turiaf can back up both spots. Every team, especially the competitive ones, has a backup big man who gives some energy, production, etc. That guy is not Mbenga, and it certainly hasn't been Mihm.

Moreover, I know some people are expecting Odom to play a lot of minutes at PF, but I'd disagree. If our team succeeds with Odom on the roster, he's going to have to do it as SF. We want to play our strongest lineup as long as possible, including Bynum and Gasol in the frontcourt.

Certainly there will be times when Odom will play the 4 when Bynum or Gasol goes to the bench. But we didn't trade for Gasol to play small ball. We want to impose our team, our style of play, on other teams. We want Bynum pounding it inside, we want Gasol cutting them up from the high post, and we want Kobe to do his thing. Odom's future will depend heavily on his ability to fit into this, to contribute. If Bynum and Gasol can't work together, then we have major problems. But if they work together, as they should in theory, then Odom must be able to succeed at SF, because we're not going to beat Boston with either Bynum or Gasol on the bench.

Not matching G.S.'s offer for Turiaf was a short term financial decision. It saves them money this year. But when Odom is gone, we're going to have a basketball hole, and the Lakers are going to have to use some cash to find a backup big man. The more capable, the more money.

Letting Turiaf go was not a good long-term decision.

Anyways, not signing Turiaf certainly does helps Sasha's future as a Laker, and I expect him to stay unless he gets a big offer. One reason why teams might not be pursuing Sasha is that Mitch may have indicated he'll match any offers. It's certainly possible, since he played a larger role in the playoffs than Turiaf.

[MAMBAEMD]

I agree that we'll miss Turiaf (both short term and long term) but the Lakers could not match that contract offer sheet (4 yrs for $ 17 mil) They are already in luxury tax territory and that would have actually cost them twice as much if they had matched.

I think they want to keep Sasha if they can. Kobe and Phil both like wht Sasha brings. But I doubt they match a ridiculous offer ( $5 mil per r)
I wonder if Sasha has had any offers from NBA team. Keep in mind he may get lucrative offers from Europe too and decide to bolt.

[Mamba Venom]

Ronnys hustle impacts all players and coaches

[Slava]

Ronny lost his game just when it mattered the most and which is precisely why his extension was overlooked. If he had a game changing sequence in the playoffs, things could have been very different. Other than his uninspiring show in the finals, his bad series against the Jazz really underscored his impact. His role is to step in when we were getting out hustled and he got terribly outplayed in that aspect by guys like Millsap and then Leon Powe.

Now does he have potential? Yes he does but the fact is that he got a deal that was out of our price range and while it does look bad losing him considering other options available, I'll have to reserve judgment on this deal until the trade deadline closes.

[TommyTheCat]

Letting Turiaf go was not a good long-term decision.

i'd like to see the crystal ball you're using to determine that. the lakers have some flexibility with odom being a big chip to either move this season or maybe resign next season. if odom remains in the picture, ronny's pretty much useless unless there's an injury up front. i don't expect odom to get major minutes at pf but imo 15mpg seems pretty realistic. that would leave ronny with next to nil assuming gasol slides to the c to spell bynum on occassion. either way, ronny is not worth 8 mil per year as a backup..............especially if odom stays.