Rasheed Wallace anyone?

[EiRON]

I think T-Mac still has some gas left in the tank. If he can get healthy and sign w/ the Lakers then the Lakers will be winning more championships.

[Dr Aki]

if he can get healthy?

tmac is done, his knees are shot, his back is shot, his eye is shot, his fingers are shot

[hermes]

We should try to get Mcgrady instead. I've seen a vid in youtube that McGrady wants to play with Kobe Bryant.

PG. Kobe
SG. Tracy McGrady
SF. Lamar Odom
PF. Pau Gasol
C. Andrew Bynum

:O. I just popped a boner

pass, big time

he'll never be healthy, and money doesn't grow on trees in a recession

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

Rasheed doesnt rebound and shoots low percentage 3s all day. No thanks

Jason Kidd is no longer a very good defender, and he cant shoot. His assists would be down in the triangle. He would put up 9, 5 and 7 on 40% with average defense. No thanks

Quoted for Truth.

Not to mention the Lakers will be busy giving any available money they have to Odom and Ariza this coming offseason. Obviously the payroll matters with they way they dumped Mihm and Vlad.

[what would jack bauer do?]

I've been thinking of getting Rasheed all year long. He'd be perfect for us. He's still one of the best on the ball defenders and if he was mentally stronger he would've been on level with Duncan. I think he would guarantee a dynasty for us.

I also would much rather have Renaldo Balkman over Trevor Ariza. I wish we could swing a sign and trade to swap those two players. Ariza is terrible on the ball except for against lebron. I mean trevor does a lot for us, but I just know we're going to pay him way too much this season. Ariza is good off the bench and should make bench money.

[That Nicka]

I also would much rather have Renaldo Balkman over Trevor Ariza.

lol wtf..............



Jason Kidd was a complete liability out there today.. you can guard him with any swingman... He had 9 assists but he would only get 6-7 in the triangle.. his defensive impact was minimal, and he had 3 turnovers and 3-11 from the field.... only for vet minimum. if at all.

[bobcatsinfour]

I also would much rather have Renaldo Balkman over Trevor Ariza.

LOL, do you even watch basketball?

[Dr Aki]

if powell left for a big contract after his deal is done

sign me up for renaldo balkman anyday, gotta have that energizer bunny guy off the pine

[what would jack bauer do?]

I also would much rather have Renaldo Balkman over Trevor Ariza.

LOL, do you even watch basketball?

Yep I do, do you guys watch basketball other than just Lakers games? Ariza is clearly a product of the system. We can turn any player that has a little niche into a great role player here in LA. Don't get me wrong Ariza is great off the bench and at gambling after the ball, but he is quite possibly one of the worst on the ball defenders I have ever seen. He's literally Smush Parker bad. It's just not as noticeable because we have good players in Gasol, Fish, and Bynum to cover it up instead of Kwame Brown, Smush, and Brian Cook.

If you ever watch Ariza try to actually play honest defense on a guy you'll notice his man gets by him at will or they draw multiple fouls on Ariza in a heart beat. There are a hand full of small name players across the league that play solid defense and have their niche just like ariza does. I would actually take Bogans, Balkman, Willie Green, Sefolosha, Joey Graham, and Mardy Collins over Ariza. You want to know the common theme between all those guys? They have all proven they have the mental toughness and physical ability to tell themselves they're not going to let their man beat them. They're all great on the ball defenders unlike Ariza and they would all thrive in a position like Ariza's where he's asked to do so little on the floor. They all have superb lateral movement and body control/strength unlike Ariza. All those guys are attainable with our minimal assets. Guys I also want over Ariza would be any of Battier, Garcia, Pietrus, or Nocioni, but landing them would require a bigger trade.

But yeah in a close game Ariza is a liability when he guards good offensive swingmen. He has his niche against speedy pg's using his length but other than that he's going to be an overpaid product of the system the summer. I don't trust Ariza at the end of the game when he has to play real defense. In almost all the playoff-style defensive games we've had this year Ariza has failed horribly to put his "passing lane" defense into any use.

Don't get me wrong I know there is value to what Ariza does and if I had a choice I'd take a combination of Ariza and any of the other players I named over Luke. I'm just saying Ariza doesn't have that late game veteran savy we need. I definitely think Ariza can improve over time, but why should we hope and gamble when we're ready for championships now?

[Dr Aki]

ariza doesnt fail as hard as u portray him, and how can he have that veteran savvy? the dude is 23!!

his primary role is to keep kobe fresh by taking the opposing team's primary swingman/guard so that kobe can go to work on the offensive end

he fulfills the role of long, mobile defender and he is easily better than our other defender who we need to relieve fisher: jordan farmar

farmar is at least better than smush parker is all aspects. how can you possibly compare ariza to smush

[what would jack bauer do?]

^^The thing is... Ariza primary role isn't to keep Kobe fresh. He usually never gets another elite scorer as his assignment. He usually does most of his work against lesser bench guys.

As far as vet savvy goes it's more of a combination of things than just that savvy, but savvy is a part of what I'm talking about. Ariza is a 5 year NBA vet. He just doesn't have that toughness we need. Yes he's athletic, but he doesn't play with any type of physicality. That's what's important to me at critical points in the game; can he get tough and make a legitimate defensive stop? I'm not talking about going for the glory and getting a block or a steal, but just hand in your face contested shot defense. Nicolas Batum already has that and he's a rookie. Courtney Lee already has that and he's a rookie. I'm not entirely sure it's something a player can learn, Mardy Collins and Balkman have had "it" since college.

As far as comparing him to Farmar yeah... Farmar is equally as bad as Ariza on defense. The difference between Farmar and Ariza is Farmar doesn't gamble on defense, he just gets beat a lot. The similarity between Smush and Ariza is they both gamble for the ball 90% of the time and at critical points in the game they simply can't play consistent man to man defense. Ariza does have the upper hand in that he's probably the best player in the league in playing the passing lanes. And he has some exemptions in that his length works well against speedy point guards. And he's good against Lebron because lebron's game isn't "cross you over" deceptive, it's more of a I'm just going to "out-athlete" you straight to the bucket. And also when you play Lebron you basically concede that he's going to beat his man to the bucket so you don't notice Ariza getting beat cause you're overloading against bron.

Trust me, I'm not defending Farmar though. He has some great physical tools too, but old man Fish has him beat on defense and fish has lost a bit of the quickness he had 8 years ago. I think both Farmar and Ariza can improve, but I don't know man.. I just rather get the personel that is a sure shot in the clutch while we're playing for championships.

[That Nicka]

dude you are trippin

[Joe Kleazy]

I'm not going to say this guy is right, but he does make a point and seems to have done his research. I think we can all agree that due to the shi*** contracts we have given out over the years that we would like to get what we pay for once in a while. I do agree about rather having true man to man defense being played rather than passing lanes.

The thing that also comes about with what he is saying is that these guys he has recommended wont cost sh** and we could probaly have two for what we will end up paying ariza, and I like trevor.

[LAKESHOW]

how did this go from sheed, to tmac, to ariza and balkman.

anyhow, we dont need any 7footers jackin 3pters all day long.

TMAC would be an interesting prospect, if health issues pan out.

the bottom line? at cut rate prices. if a deal for a cheap rate is there, take it.