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I think this series has proved again that the presence of veterans to complimet a young core is essential to win a championship. We did not have the luxury of attracting the likes of Posey etc last season but now that we're a legit contender, I can see some of the veteran players motivated to join us for a chance to play in the finals and we should be a free agent magnet over the summer. As such what veterans do you realistically expect the Lakers to add that could help us with 10 - 15 quality minutes in the playoffs stretch as well as provide leadership and mentor the young players that form our core?

I could probably list down

Alonzo Mourning (out of contract and might be motivated for another championship run)

Kurt Thomas, Michael Finley and Robert Horry (out of contracts at San ANtonio)

Lindsey Hunter (Out of contract at Detroit)

Juan Howard and some other useful bigs in Dallas

Eddie House and PJ Brown (I guess they'll both return to Boston)..........

Feel free to point out any other possible targets.

kurt thomas would be nice, but who would these veterans be replacing?

If Zo does decide to come back for another year, I can't think of a better mentor/backup center for Drew than him. Nobody competed harder, nobody cared more, than Alonzo. It would be a risk considering his recent injury history and age, but I would gamble that he could give us 10-12 minutes a night for 70 games or so. Too bad he wasn't five years younger and he'd be exactly what the doctor ordered. Even then, he's a risk well worth taking in my book.

Beyond him, I never, ever thought I'd say this because I've never liked his attitude and lack of discipline, but I wouldn't mind seeing us take a run at Artest. I won't go into too much detail as all the pertinent points have been covered elsewhere, but he has exactly what we're lacking in terms of defense, shooting and attitude. An even bigger risk than Zo, but one I would definitely consider. Otherwise, I'm not sure what defensive-minded swingman we can pick up who could solve our black hole at the 3.

Free agency is tough. Seriously, you have to credit Boston for cleaning up in terms of quality veterans. Posey, House, PJ Brown, Cassell, House, didn't every one of them contribute?

This series would have been a lot different if our benches were switched.

Slim pickings now.

Duhon or Lue, maybe. Big men, tough to find. Zo would be a godsend.

But you know the Lakers. They're going to be very conservative. We probably won't do much over the summer at all. We're so much over the luxury tax, I'm not sure we'll be active in free agency at all.

You know Mitch is thinking, "if Bynum and Ariza were healthy..."

If Posey makes it to the market, we have to throw a couple years of the MLE at him.

Trade Radmanovic and/or Luke to anyone who will give us anything. Are there any players with similar deals that teams could swap with?

If we do trade Odom, we have to bring in a player who can rebound too. If we trade Odom for Battier and Bobby Jackson, and we sign Kwame with the LLE.

PG: Derek Fisher/ Jordan Farmar/ Bobby Jackson
SG: Kobe Bryant/ Sasha Vujacic/
SF: Shane Battier/ Luke Walton/ Trevor Ariza
PF: Pau Gasol/ Ronny Turiaf/ Vladimir Radmanovic/
C: Andrew Bynum/ Kwame Brown/ Chris Mihm

Gone: Ira Newble, DJ Mbenga, Coby Karl


I'd still go with the MLE for another front court player for depth. I'll do my off-season post a little later. I really want Tayshaun Prince, but I don't know if there's a deal out there that will give us him.

milesfides wrote:Free agency is tough. Seriously, you have to credit Boston for cleaning up in terms of quality veterans. Posey, House, PJ Brown, Cassell, House, didn't every one of them contribute?

This series would have been a lot different if our benches were switched.

Slim pickings now.

Duhon or Lue, maybe. Big men, tough to find. Zo would be a godsend.

But you know the Lakers. They're going to be very conservative. We probably won't do much over the summer at all. We're so much over the luxury tax, I'm not sure we'll be active in free agency at all.

You know Mitch is thinking, "if Bynum and Ariza were healthy..."

It's kind of rather hilarious that a lot of us Real GM posters have been screaming for Eddie House and James Posey. I remember EE and I both wanting both those players the past couple years.

TylersLakers wrote:If we do trade Odom, we have to bring in a player who can rebound too. If we trade Odom for Battier and Bobby Jackson, and we sign Kwame with the LLE.

You and I are on the same page right here. Those moves would solve plenty of problems, and it still leaves us with our full MLE, which I wouldn't worry about spending unless we have a shot at Posey.

Bonzi Wells?

Bonzi might demand the full MLE, which is a luxury we probably will not afford unless we trade LO for expirings alone.

Like Miles mentioned Chris Duhon or Tyron Lue would be great additions to play fundamentally sound defense and hit the open shot or even as insurance for Fisher.

Mutombo might not leave Houston or else he'd be a nice addition for what he makes.

heres hoping the lakers try to convince gerald green to take the LLE

1. Whatever it takes to get rid of VladRad.
2. Mourning's staying in Miami; he's got his championship and will remain loyal. This has been made clear.

P.S. While Chris Mihm looked pretty bad in his couple minutes, we have to realize that the other bench guys were letting Pierce go at Mihm. It was kind of unfair of Phil to put him in that spot, especially with such little help. Why didn't we play Mihm with the starters to rest Pau?

The la times and other sources, like Roland Lazenby, reported that Mihm has looked great in practice. Tex Winters commented on this too. Mihm himself said he felt the explosiveness and lift coming back, and that he felt great.

Since Mihm is going to be with us another season, and it looks like he's FINALLY THANK YOU JESUS healthy, that would be a nice addition to our team. Maybe not the PJ Brown-type veteran, but a guy with some experience who can give us quality minutes.

And maybe I'm out of line here, but I'm going to reach way back: "remember when Mihm was a legit post presence, almost our go-to guy in the middle before he went down?"

And what if we get back Kwame...

Like the good ol' days.

Mourning sucks man. I guess this guy cannot walk anymore. He should really retire now. The Lakers should go for Kurt Thomas now. This guy brings impact on games. I like his defense, his rebounding and his mid range shooting when he was still in Phoenix.

I'd love to sign these guys but there are issues:

1) James Posey

- This would solve our issue at the 3 spot but i'm pretty sure he'll stay in Boston unless he wants the Full MLE, which i read would allow us to sadly choose between him and Sasha is this true???

2) Kurt Thomas

- Great back up PF, just what we need although i think he'll re-sign with the Spurs after their last run then again, the Spurs have to get younger in order to get out of the West so maybe we can convince to come to LA. We're on our way to a ring so maybe we can pick him up for the vet minimum.

3) Ron Artest

- I highly doubt he'll opt out but next year he'll be unrestricted so maybe then we can sign him!

4) Kwame Brown

- Many people criticized him but his low post defense is good enough to back up Drew so i think we should re-sign him for the LLE

no team with kwame brown will ever win a championship. you all saw the heart it takes to win in the finals.. and kwame definately does not have one of those.

Three words: Kobe is God.

apparently not.