Kupchak non-committal on extension for Odom

[Erik Eleven]

Battier would be the perfect fit to replace Odom, if they indeed decide not to extend him.

[Lost Angel]

^ but what if we win the title? then who's the best fit?


besides, with Odom's big expiring we should have the leverage.


it would take Battier plus Scola for me to consider trading Odom to the Rockets.



Yao, Odom, and T-Mac? that combination could be scary

[LAKESHOW]

whatever the case may be, odom is not worth the big price tag. if he wants to walk, let him walk. whats the advantage of having odom? his experience and knowledge of the triangle. i.e. just basically being around. i like kupchaks position here, non-committal. rony is huge, and his jumper is coming around. sasha has a niche on the squad. ariza was showing big time game and improvement before injury. add those 3 together, and odoms price tag, and we should not commit to him right away.

now blow folks away and surprise EVERYONE by living up to the "lottery draft" hype . . . finally . . . then seriously consider keeping him around. but thats all during the playoffs. shine there and at least take us to the WCfinals and then he'll have proven himself.

up to this point. lottery player. all of his big time skills and ability. he hasnt lived up to the billing. and this is career wise. dude still cant go to his right and make a right hand layup with consistency. what up with that? lets wait it out and allow his playoff production speak for the accumulation of his knowledge and career. thats right, career. up to this point, he hasnt had anything to point to that he can hang his career "hat" on. this is career time for lamar. show up these playoffs, and he could have a career here in LAKERland. take a dump during this playoff run, and he will be forever known and travelling journeyman.

[FLIPT]

forget odom!we have to re-up bynum.get artest in free agency,he said he would play for nothing as long as he's on a contender.odom is 28,he was suppose to be dirk-like comin out of RI.turns out he's a school bust.to quote KB"ship his %#s out of here"

[Erik Eleven]

Artest is clinically insane. For him, not having done anything really effing stupid in a long while means having the police at his house as recently as six-nine months ago.

Let's be real about him, and not compare his temporary non-craziness with his usual craziness or that of Rodman or Rider. One does not automatically qualify as a model citizen just by quitting attacking entire arenas a few years back. It's about track record, and his sucks.

Let's compare Artest to class act true warriors like Fisher, Battier, KG et cetera, and then we're looking at Artest in a healthy perspective. He is indeed insane, in my opinion, and I would never want him here for the price that he commands. Personally, I'd possibly ponder taking him on for the vets minimum, later in his career. For now, I'd be happy to see same division teams letting him wreck their chemistry.

[coach-bdj]

^ but what if we win the title? then who's the best fit?


besides, with Odom's big expiring we should have the leverage.


it would take Battier plus Scola for me to consider trading Odom to the Rockets.



Yao, Odom, and T-Mac? that combination could be scary

I would love to see Battier & Scola in a Lakers uniform!

don't know if H-Town would do the trade, but Yao/Odom & T-Mac would be scary! not as scary as:

Fish/Farmar
Bryant/Sasha
Battier/Ariza/Luke/V-Rad
Gasol/Ronny/V-Rad
Bynum/Scola

[coach-bdj]

-= original quote snipped =-


This is the town hall meeting for Lakers season ticket holders, so he's going to address these things when asked.

i was there and that was one of the first questions Bill McDonald asked. i never liked Bill, but i have to admit, he really didn't hold anything back.

[Cracked Fingers]

-= original quote snipped =-



I've followed the guy for awhile now, and he hasn't done so for some years now.

It's convenient to say because of his past, but, that's just not really there anymore from him. At least nothing that's been made public, and that is just a question mark at most, for like, speculation with little to no basis.

Oh he has still been the same psycho. Publicly questioning his coach (was fined for this), sitting out games over injuries the training staff knew nothing about, losing his composure and getting ejected.

You just don't hear as much about it since it happens in cowtown.

[Dexmor]

First off all Odom is an absolute beast when being a third option and something tells me he will be even a better 4th option. The Lakers have the best scorer and player in the league, a dominant center who needs his touches because you have to force feed a dominant Center espially one who is the next Kareem and has so many post moves that are unstoppable. They have Gasol who is one of the best scoring pf in the game. He is at very least a top 10 scorer at the 4 spot maybe even top 5 and no matter what 4 is guarding him they are at a disadvantage except maybe KG but Gasol has dunked and just outplayed KG many times. His first rookie career high came against KG who he says he models his game after. Usually if you have a 30 point a game scorer with 2 dominant big men and your the 4th option your either not going to score or be unhappy like Marion or basically be wasting your talent or be a 6th man.
Odom is the only player in the league that will probably put up better numbers being the 4th option, play better in every way and be happier.
I also think there is a good chance that they might be able to get him at a discount of around 4 year 40 million dollar extension because he won't get alot more then that anyway and I think he is very happy in LA now which is lucky for us because I don't think he was before.
He is such a great all around player when he is not a second option that he can do so many other things when the other 3 are scoring and with his rebound and all around game he never needs plays called for him. I actually think if he did have plays called for him he woould do worse. The only other better fit would be Marion but with his personaility it wouldn't work.
On the court having twin towers is amazing havin 2 guys who can rebound at 7 feet tall blocking shots and scoring is amazing when it works which it clearly will seeing as Gasol has a great outside game and can be played. Having Odom as your sf who is the best rebounding sf and 2 bigs and a rebounding sg makes them unstoppable once they are healty.
The only negitive side of Odom playing the sf spot is he can't help Kobe on D which is really bad but they can and should let Fisher guard the better of the backcourt player. Him guarding the 3's is a liabilty on any other team but when you have one of the best shotblokers in the league with another 7 footer who can also block shots and will get more shotblocking optts with people blowing by Odom and not wanting to go by Bynum they will probably attempt to take to Gasol and he is a shotblocker. I fully expect him to average 2 blocks in the playoffs and Bynum when he gets full minutes next year will lead the league in blocks as long as Bynum plays 34 minutes or more which he surely will because even if Phil doesn't plan on starting Bynum Bynum is way to good to come off the bench.

The way to kee Odom and be able to sign Bynum to the max or close to max contract is to get Ronny to sign for cheap which he probably would considering they stuck by him and he is so in love with the Lakers. Sasha might try and get the full midlevel but I honestly believe we will be able to get him for 5 years 25 million or maybe cheaper. The only other guy they need to secure is Farmar and he unless he brakes out into a star we will be able to get him for a reasonable price being from Cali imo.

The way I see it all they need to do is keep Bynum,Gasol,Odom,Kobe,Farmar, Sasha, Ronny . I know Fisher and Luke are neccissary and I was very close to putting them on the list but I think they can survive without them. Next year Farmar will be able to start over Fisher.I don't know if he will but he probably should be starting next year. He is a true pg and averages 10 points in 20 minutes so he probably would be a nice 15 point a game scorer with the minutes who is a true pg with a great 3 and he is fast which you need with a pg in the west.
Instead of resigning Ariza for 5 million or so all they need is an Ira Newble who would probaby sign for the min.
When the Lakers succed this year Radman will be tradable and so will Walton (I am not sold on not keeping Walton) but if they get rid of those 2 guys and get role players who are kind of old who just sign on for a championshop chance and sign for real less they would save almost 10 million. They need to get cheap guys like James Posey. Instead of resigning Mihm they keep DJ Menga. All they need is a Sasha, Farmar, Ronny off the bench to have a good bench and the rest can be Newbles and players like that.
That is how they can keep Odom by thinning out the bench and getting rid of some of the midlevel contract guys to save money for Odom.

The only thing I can see them doing to save money and what could also be good for the team would be to get a guy like Shane Battier or a defensive sf who is an above average starter who is all about defense.
They should also sell there first round picks unless it's a steal to save money like the Suns. I was Odom's biggest critic but I love the new Odom as a third option and a 4th option would be even better.


I say keep all 4 even if we have to sacrifice fan favs like Walton and our rookies. Sorry for such a long post.

[TonyMontana]

STAR is that you ?

Oh wait it is you .

[rhp1990]

I also think there is a good chance that they might be able to get him at a discount of around 4 year 40 million dollar

thats a discount? lol i like odom too, but gerlad wallace, josh howard, ginobli, artest make less then 10mill a year

[kno]

Given the players this team currently has, the only SF I would replace Lamar Odom with would be:

Josh Smith

And since that doesnt seem too likely to happen, i'd keep Odom.

[Gerald3Wallace]

^ would love to have josh..

i guarantee (or hope) odom will take a smaller contract to stay witht he lakers...and i bet bynum comes out saying he dont want max money yet so he can keep everyone intact (ala arenas, al jefferson)..

odom 4 years 41 millions

1st year 7.5 mil
2nd year 9.5 mil
3rd year 11.5 mil
4th year 12.5 mil

[milesfides]

it's mostly about the tax, but if Odom plays every night with the aggressiveness he played every night, we'd be killing it on the way to the ring, and Odom would be placing himself as an essential member of a dynasty.

It would be hard for Buss to break up a team when Odom is playing like he's just as important as Pau or Bynum.

But yeah, we still need to see how Odom plays when Bynum returns. Nobody can predict how his game will shake out. When we had Bynum, Odom was disappointing. When we got Gasol, Odom started to play very well.

With both Bynum and Pau, who knows?

To be determined.

[islander009]

Depending on how we do in the playoffs with the healthy lineup, but assuming that all goes well. I do see us keeping LO with a reasonable offer possibly 2 years or so. We will keep Ronny and Sasha I believe they will sign with the lakers. I do think that if a team decides to overpay for Sasha the lakers will let him go. But I do think its the right time to let LO play for his contract just like everyone else. I mean Ronny and Sash are playing for more money so why not let him play out to stay on the team.

[Dexmor]

It is worth it to pay Odom 10 million a year then paying guys like Sasha and Ronny a combined almost 10 million.
I would trade Odom for an Artest (Smith is not coming) or even a Shane Battier or some great defensive sf who is close to a star.
But if they can't it's worth keeping him espially with DFish there who can guard the better of the guards so Kobe doesn't have to. They should try and trade Radman for an expiring contract, let Mihm go for an expiring contract and use DJ as the backup. Use Ira instead of Ariza. They should sign a vet free agent who will take less money to play for the championship favorites in LA because the Lakers will be the favorites next year regardless of what happens this year in the playoffs so they should sign a James Posey type steal.
They should use there second round draft pick and use him and guys like Coby Carl, Ira Newble and bench players who don't cost much. They need to sign a D-League player for the min.
There starting lineup is absolutely perfect and if they keep Sasha and Ronny for a very cheap price him and Farmar make them still have a good bench.
Another thing is having all 4 stars including Odom that is makes them the favorites next year and makes them a team that can win at least 60 wins and makes them the favorite. If you take Odom away they are not the favorites unless they get a really good sf for cheap and I can't see that happening.
Also everything is more expensive in N.Y. and Cali espially tickets so like the Knicks they need to be o.k. with being way over the salary cap espially espially since they could even still raise ticket prices with a team who plays in LA and is the best team in the league. Plus having 4 stars means alot more Jersey sales and things like that.
Like I said to before from a basketball standpoint the 3's can blow by Odom but that will just make AB the shotblocking leader and Gasol will get more blocks from the people who blow by Odom plus he can learn how to play D like Camby when he guards the wings and just stand back and not be all over him and use his length.
On the other side we will be able to run better then the Suns and Warriors with they sf getting 10 boards and the sg getting 6 boards and the 4 and 5 getting 20 plus boards between them
If they don't keep Odom because of money that would be the cheapest dumbest move eveer.
I hope it is just strategy saying they are not sure so he plays really hard. They are clearly better then everybody with Odom but without him they are not the favorites imo.
They need to keep Odom bottom line and I believe they will.
And they could always have it were he makes the most money the last year or 2 of his contract. Plus I don't think insentives for great play doesn't count against the cap.

And yes this is star and Dexmor is for Dexter Morgan, best show on T.V.

[dub81]

I honestly think that Odom is the odd man out. We need a defender at the 3.

[B-Scott]

I think the word (option) is a little overated. There is no guarantee Gasol or Bynum has a better playoff series against teams like the Hornets, Spurs, Jazz or whoever we play in the playoffs.

There might be situations where Pau Gasol is struggling against the Spurs or Suns frontline and we go with Bynum and Lamar up front and Lamar has a better series. Or Bynum could be struggling and we go with Gasol and Lamar up front.

Lamar will be 3rd or 4th option on some night and on others he could be the 2nd option. Depends on the matchup.

Lamar for Shane Battier is straight up out of a Dave Chappelle skit. This is a joke right?

Can Battier step in and play PF and drop 16 and 12 with Gasol or Bynum out the lineup?

Battier is a 9 and 6 player

[Gerald3Wallace]

Battier is a 9 and 6 player

but he does play great defense..but honestly tho..i wouldnt trade odom for battier...

we have ALOT of weapons when everyone is healthy...plus...ariza is our battier next year..so ill pass on odom for batter