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James Posey, the Celtics' highest-priority unsigned veteran, is seeking a four-year contract, an NBA source said yesterday. Posey, 31, is treating negotiations as if this could be his final contract and has been in talks with Detroit, the Lakers, New Orleans, Cleveland, and Washington. No team has been willing to offer a deal beyond three years. -- Boston Globe

A four year deal? That's it? Do it Mitch!

The Lakers continue to be regarded as the favorites for Ron Artest as they offer Lamar Odom.

Their willingness to swallow the remaining two years and $16.5 million of Kenny Thomas' contract is considered the only holdup. Via SI.com

This one is a little tough for me. If we are not willing to resign Ronny for 4.2 per year then why would Mitch be willing to take on Thomas' contract. Even so, it would be a good move. I would also like to bring L. Mata into training camp to see what he can do & maybe we can keep Sasha. Potential line up:

Fisher/Farmar/Crawford
Kobe/Sasha/Karl
Artest/Ariza/Posey/Walton
Pau/Thomas/Vlad/Mata
Bynum/Mihm

With Crawford, Karl, & Mata speding time in the D-league.

is there a reason why we have a new thread here? We have both Artest and Posey thread with this info in it.

hmmm who would you guys rather have, posey or artest?

Ron Ron.

I would love to see Artest in a Laker uniform. Let's go out and get it Mitch

get both

As much as I'd love for the Lakers to get captain Ron,
I don't want to take on KThomas' contract at all. This
just in...No one else wants to take it on either, that's
why the Lakers are the favorites!

I think Artest has a little better offensive game, but
obviously his defense is far superior to Odom. Lamar
fits within the offense better, Artest is more of a break
down, one on one, cog in the offense guy from what I
can see. It's gonna take Ron a while to get our offense
down IMO. Lamar has it down, the Lakers have invested
all this time in him, and his 14M contract comes off the
books at the end of the year. What you guys want the
Lakers to take on new 18M contract in KT for the next
two years, along with a behaved Ron and hopefully a triangle
saavy smooth Ron? Sorry this is like a freaking car-lease that
you buy once the lease expires, where you get screwed twice.

Don't get me wrong I love to have Artest, but not at this MSRP.

hermes wrote:hmmm who would you guys rather have, posey or artest?

It depends because if we signed Posey with the MLE then we still could trade Odom for a point guard like Billups. Which roster would you rather have?

Billups/Fisher/Farmar
Kobe/Vujacic
Posey/Ariza/Walton
Gasol/Radmanovic
Bynum/Mihm


Fisher/Farmar
Kobe/Vujacic
Artest/Ariza/Walton
Gasol/Kenny Thomas/Radmanovic
Bynum/Mihm

Tommy Trojan wrote:I would love to see Artest in a Laker uniform. Let's go out and get it Mitch

Me too Yeghbar........

Did you really say you'd want Mata on the roster? That's ridiculous. I'd rather have Larry Turner from last year's Summer League then Mata. Mata is a B-U-M

Can someone that knows more about KT than I do explain this - is he done or is he overpaid? Is there a chance that we can get something out of him or is there just no chance whatsoever that he gets PT?

blix wrote:Can someone that knows more about KT than I do explain this - is he done or is he overpaid? Is there a chance that we can get something out of him or is there just no chance whatsoever that he gets PT?

Yes he's overpaid, and undersized 6-7, but he can still contribute. He's strong and tough, but oft injured. He gets boards. When's he's healthy he can get 6-10 boards a game and score 6-13 points and get to the line.

I think there is a chance that if we take on Kenny that he can give us something. He could replace Ronny at the very least with rebounding and scoring. He is good around the basket. He actually killed us 2 years ago in a game up in Sac. Just destroyed us.

His contract is bad ( as a result of this massive deal he got from either PHI or HOU like 5 years ago) but its only got 2 years left. He is overpriced for what he gives - and its a tough pill to swallow - but he would get us Ron and he could help us off the bench.

So the risk is essentially whether or not he can stay healthy and contribute....I say do it. Not like we haven't shown an ability to play through frontline injuries. Adding toughness is crucial.

DubaLakers wrote:

blix wrote:Can someone that knows more about KT than I do explain this - is he done or is he overpaid? Is there a chance that we can get something out of him or is there just no chance whatsoever that he gets PT?

Yes he's overpaid, and undersized 6-8, but he can still contribute. He's strong and tough, but oft injured. He gets boards. When's he's healthy he can get 6-10 boards a game and score 6-13 points and get to the line.

I disagree, I have seen him play a lot and I dont think he is overpaid when you look at a lot of fwd in this league that are getting paid more than him and what they contribute to their teams.
He brings toughness, rebounds, and great interior defense night in and night out.
I think with the addition of him and Artest to our lineup is defiantly going to fill the gap that was so greatly needed last year when we faced teams like the Jazz, and in the finals against the Cs.
Im all for both RonRon and K.T and you have to look at the window we have right now with our youth and Kobe, this is something we really need to focus on if were going to Contend.

DubaLakers wrote:As much as I'd love for the Lakers to get captain Ron,
I don't want to take on KThomas' contract at all. This
just in...No one else wants to take it on either, that's
why the Lakers are the favorites!

I think Artest has a little better offensive game, but
obviously his defense is far superior to Odom. Lamar
fits within the offense better, Artest is more of a break
down, one on one, cog in the offense guy from what I
can see. It's gonna take Ron a while to get our offense
down IMO. Lamar has it down, the Lakers have invested
all this time in him, and his 14M contract comes off the
books at the end of the year. What you guys want the
Lakers to take on new 18M contract in KT for the next
two years, along with a behaved Ron and hopefully a triangle
saavy smooth Ron? Sorry this is like a freaking car-lease that
you buy once the lease expires, where you get screwed twice.

Don't get me wrong I love to have Artest, but not at this MSRP.

WHy is everyone hating the fact that Thomas will be part of teh deal?

Sure, his salary is horrible, but you guys do realize that after next season, the guy is a huge expiring contract, right?

You know what that means? With like 3/4ths of teams (yes, exaggerating, but the actual number is huge) of teams tryna clear cap space for teh huge FA market of '10, Thomas will be an AMAZING asset to have on this team. Not because of his production, but because of the miriad of teams willing to trade for him to clear up that extra 8mill off the cap to sign the Lebron James, Yao Mings, Josh Howards, Dirk Nowitzkis, Tracy McGradys, and Dwyane Wades of teh NBA.

It happens seemingly every year. A whack team has a disgruntled star who wants to go to a contender. WHat does that whack team want? Expiring deals, picks, money, and potential.

Kenny Thomas can be a savior in a sense if next year doesnt go as planned and Pau doesnt get his first ring.

Kno wrote:
You know what that means? .

another chance for mitch to work his magic?

DO IT MITCH!

if the lakes were to take on thomas, they would most certainly never use him as a way of bringing in more high priced contracts. they'd simply let him expire while bryant/gasol/bynum/artest gobble up all the money the lakers have. talking about thomas' deal as a way to get more players next yr is really irrelevant.

We should sit tight... We are already $4 million over the luxury tax threshold and the addition of Ariza and Bynum will help us substantially... Don't forget, Artest will want $10 million next year and Thomas is due $8 million therefore it will be expensive... We need to send Luke or Radman (redundant) for an expiring... Bynum is coming up as well...

L. Mata-Real would be a good replacement