It's NOT Enough to Just Resign Our FAs

[KingLakers]

We all want the Lakers to do more than just resign their FA's for example trading for Hinrich but people have to realize the Lakers financial situation at least for this coming season is pretty tough resigning is really the best the Lakers can do. Maybe next summer with a wide open PG position with Fisher and Farmar being FA's the Lakers will make that bigger move everyone wants.

[alfurd]

But I don't think Mitch ever stands pat... He is just content to wait for the right deal... He's always looking though. Not many teams want to help us though so it's kinda up to free-agency.

I've always thought that you don't hunker-down after you win it all... You make the right changes...

Well I'd argue that you can credit Mitch and his laid back attitude for possibly limiting the Lakers title run at the beginning of the decade to a three-peat, primarily through failing to inject youth and talent to a supporting cast that was eroding with age. Re-signing Devean George and our beloved hero Slava Medvedenko doesn't count. Not that I disagree with your points, it's a much different situation now with a young team and as well saw through most of the year the bench needs to become consistently better or the team will give up games because the level of play drops after the starting PG, SG, and SFs went off the court. It just got me thinking of what Mitch did the last time he was in a position to manage a championship team -- people said he had his hands tied because of Buss but if he doesn't get blame for that he shouldn't get credit for the current success of the Lakers either. Do not leave the bench neglected, Mitch.

does anyone think that maybe Ammo could have a breakout year this season if we give him a chance?

Living in Toronto I got to see quite a bit of Jason Kapono, who tried to do his best to be a better rounded player. Despite a genuine effort to improve his abilities were just too limited, and then he didn't shoot the ball as well as he did in Miami so nothing else mattered. Although Morrison's more of a scorer than a shooter he's facing similar challenges because of his physical limitations... he has to be able to come off the bench and shoot lights out because we already know he's quite frankly useless at the other end of the court.

[Danny Darko]

Good to see ya Alf^

Ammo never got to do much with a healthy knee, has been developing or regressing idk, but his diabetes is a little scary to me.

[Dr Aki]

mitch never stands pat

but take it one step at a time...

re-sign lamar, ariza, shannon first

THEN...

go after FAs, or work out some trades...

[NOODLESTYLE]

Depending on how much these players demand, it's still a good idea to resign these players unless we're hoping to sign or trade for a better player.

The Lakers won the title with Andrew Bynum who wasn't even playing at 100%. If he's able to maintain his health next season and continues to show improvement, then that makes the Lakers even better.

Lamar Odom is a huge mismatch for other teams off the bench. With his addition to the team, it adds even more weapons against other teams who are already making roster changes trying to compete with the Lakers. I like how we can have options to punish other teams trying to control Bynum, Gasol, and Odom. If healthy, any of these players can put up 20+ and 10+.

Trevor Ariza, still a young player that has room for improvement. Unlike Sasha Vujacic, he can impact that team in other ways besides being 1-dimensional.

Shannon Brown, has only played half a season in the triangle and was able to contribute. I don't know about you, but I really want to see how Shannon Brown develops with our team. He's young, has great athleticism, has a J, plays D...at least a solid bench player.

As for trades, if the Lakers bring back the same roster from last year they will technically have Mbenga, Powell, Yue, Morrison, Fisher, and Farmar who will have expiring contracts. This works in our favor with teams who are looking to cash in on the Free Agent Sweepstakes. I know the Lakers don't want to trade Fisher for sentimental reasons, but if Fisher plans on retiring after next season..the Lakers can technically just trade him to a team looking for cap space....then Fisher waits his amount of days, and resigns with the Lakers for the rest of the season.

Farmar + Fisher + Morrison = at least $12 million in expiring.

So the Lakers do have room to trade for more players, and the Lakers still have the MLE (unless we don't have the bird rights to Ariza, Odom, or Shannon Brown).

The question is if Jerry Buss is willing to pay those players they want, including those who could be added through trade or FA?

[KObe Bryant]

I agree trimming those walton, vujacic and ammo's salaries would help us get more tough players. And if we'll have the same roster next season, we could be easily scouted by teams.

[ClubLakers KB8]

How about getting back the title winning team, letting them grow (not like they are old), and adding a HEALTHY Bynum. He wasn't even a factor and we played great. When he comes back to pre-injury form, which will happen, the championship team adds the best "piece". There were times when he was a negative influence on the court and we STILL won the Finals in 5 games.

Some people just want it all....

[spree2kawhi]

all I'd do about this team, considering its cap situation, assuming all three players are re-signed, is aggressively look for a point guard upgrade. this is necessary and quite possible after this draft.

hinrich would be just perfect, but way too expensive. get some defensive minded, tall point guard who can shoot. that's pretty much all that's needed. ariza as a point guard. fish and farmar can't be the answer there.

other than that, there are some cool names out there, like sheed and so on, but considering how hard it's going to be financially to re-sign odom and ariza, the only thing I'd do is address th PG spot

[Kilroy]

But I don't think Mitch ever stands pat... He is just content to wait for the right deal... He's always looking though. Not many teams want to help us though so it's kinda up to free-agency.

I've always thought that you don't hunker-down after you win it all... You make the right changes...

Well I'd argue that you can credit Mitch and his laid back attitude for possibly limiting the Lakers title run at the beginning of the decade to a three-peat, primarily through failing to inject youth and talent to a supporting cast that was eroding with age. Re-signing Devean George and our beloved hero Slava Medvedenko doesn't count. Not that I disagree with your points, it's a much different situation now with a young team and as well saw through most of the year the bench needs to become consistently better or the team will give up games because the level of play drops after the starting PG, SG, and SFs went off the court. It just got me thinking of what Mitch did the last time he was in a position to manage a championship team -- people said he had his hands tied because of Buss but if he doesn't get blame for that he shouldn't get credit for the current success of the Lakers either. Do not leave the bench neglected, Mitch.

I don't know how much Mitch could do with all the players we had under contract and Shaq demanding more money... They brought in Payton and Malone, which was definately a gamble, but had it paid off, we'd have been solid for a couple years... That was a very risky move. Not something a laid-back guy pulls...

I agree that it would have been nice to have some young talent in the mix, but Kobe and Fish were pretty young at the time and Shaq was still in his prime. Slava, George, Cook, Pargo, Rush, weren't the best, but they were young and since we'd been in the finals for 3 years, we weren't getting too much out of the draft. We also got Walton that year... I know I'm in the minority here, but I think that was an excellent pickup...

[alfurd]

Actually, I think bringing in Payton and Malone is a move that a laid back guy pulls off, or any style of GM for that matter. But I wouldn't focus on the laid back part when he signed Mitch Richmond and Isiah Rider, and then later on dealt Caron Butler for Kwame Brown. Guess what I was trying to say was that there wasn't much of a process to bring in talent, even old guys to some extent. His only real moves outside of signing temporary summer league players were re-signing Devean George (had to take the chance the way he had played in the playoffs), trading for Rush, and finding Pargo. The run ended at a three-peat, then GP and Malone basically asked to be signed.

(Don't want to turn this into a hatefest and Mitch doesn't deserve it so I won't get into it, but I'd even argue that the process to building this championship team was very shaky.)

I mentioned age in my previous post because a problem by the third year of the three-peat was the aging of key role players... and then we found out big time that we couldn't guard PGs. Aside from retaining our players who are up for big contracts, the question this summer is more in terms of whether the bench is good enough when it was so shaky during the season. Different factors to account for from seven or eight years ago, but pretty much the same issue in terms of maintaining a strong supporting cast as we don't know how much longer they can bail out the team, Kobe in particular of course. So when Mitch says...

"... if we’re lucky enough to resign (Odom, Ariza, and Brown), we’d have 13 assuming we exercise options for D.J. Mbenga and Josh Powell. Right now we’re assuming (Mbenga and Powell) are on our team next year. It would be something unusual where we wouldn’t exercise their options, we think they’re both valued players. If that’s the case, we’re at 13, and I don’t anticipate we’d go above 13" (link)

...it's a little concerning when the last time he was in this position he brought in summer league players, washed up vets, and... Samaki Walker? And you mention the contract situation back then, but it's pretty much just as bad if not worse now.

He was a new GM at the time so he doesn't deserve to be walked all over now. Just saying, there some concerns even while the Lakers were dominant and I'd like to think of them as lessons and not just memories.

[Jajwanda]

Creating a healthy cap situation is part of improving the team. Options are limited this off-season and for that reason things are even more limited than in any year prior to this.

[scoobs07]

If Im Kupchek, I would consider bringing in a free agent point guard other then Shannon Brown. Dont get me wrong, I love Shannon Brown's game. However, I wouldn'y be suprised if Mitch thinks outside the box a little bit and brings in a more established NBA player like Luther Head. The guy has proven to be an excelent three point shooter and good defender. Shannon hasnt really sold me on his perimeter shot yet. Could be a risky move for Mitch., when you consider Ariza, Walton and Kidd (if signed) are not "pure" shooters. Sasha and Morrison are, but they suck. Fisher is, but cant defend anymore.We need a "pure" shooter that could play 20-28 mpg and play good defense. I think that person could be Luther Head.

[larry14r]

If Im Kupchek, I would consider bringing in a free agent point guard other then Shannon Brown. Dont get me wrong, I love Shannon Brown's game. However, I wouldn'y be suprised if Mitch thinks outside the box a little bit and brings in a more established NBA player like Luther Head. The guy has proven to be an excelent three point shooter and good defender. Shannon hasnt really sold me on his perimeter shot yet. Could be a risky move for Mitch., when you consider Ariza, Walton and Kidd (if signed) are not "pure" shooters. Sasha and Morrison are, but they suck. Fisher is, but cant defend anymore.We need a "pure" shooter that could play 20-28 mpg and play good defense. I think that person could be Luther Head.

No thanks we been down that road before.

[Anklebreaker702]

If we could some how talk Artest to signing for peanuts, i'd love that.

[doozyj]

If we could some how talk Artest to signing for peanuts, i'd love that.

I don't think Ron Ron will sign for peanuts, maybe Coco Puffs of Fruit Loops. Then you never know.

[lakerz12]

As I'm sure many have said already, improving isn't all about adding new personnel. We will improve drastically if Bynum plays well and there is a good chance Ariza, Brown, and Farmar will continue to get better as the season progresses.

[LAKESHOW]

if some of you guys think brown is good now, what if he improves his game? adds more to his game? gets better during the offseason? what if farmar just had a "sophmore" slump, and breaks out big time next year? that is we have RIGHT NOW 2 point guards for the future . . . LONG INTO THE FUTURE. we know fish is a MIGHTY contributor to this team, and he is now goin down to his final chapters as a player, but if we have his replacements already here, then there is no need to move anywhere as far as point guard is concerned. resign ariza/lamar and we are ROCK SOLID with that combo for years to come. the only thing that we have had a gaping hole since shaq left is, well the center position. and bynums improvement in that area is huge for this team. THATS IT. but like brown and farmar, we quite possibly have the center of our future, already on the team. no need to make moves. CHEMISTRY is king here folks. and i for one am willing to give an opportunity to these young players first who are here. the opportunity for them to grow. the chance to prove themselves first, before gettin someone else that opportunity.

[spree2kawhi]

it's funny, imo, charlotte fans are underrating felton, i just posted it on their board, but you guys are overrating fisher and farmar. the lakers need a legitimate starter at PG, one who is tall, can shoot and play D effectively. I would say shannon brown is really nice, but the starting point guard position is THE major weakness of this team.

artest obviously should not be mentioned here, this team is fine at SF. but starting point guard??? man, is there a team weaker at PG in this league? this team has three backups. farmar's ceiling is overrated, too. i'd say keep fish, brown and go after a starting point guard for this system.

I looked through a list of players in the league fitting the needs and possibly being available. it's quite a short list but I think the following would be interesting:

Hinrich (the perfect fit imo)
hughes (too expensive)
lou willliams
ramon sessions
willie green