RealGM

Great! Thanks! LA TIMES for making it clear how much he should be getting in the free agency world.

What do you guys think he's worth. I was hoping we could get him for maybe 5-6 mil but I guess according the awning ratings, he's worth about 8mil and i'm pretty sure since he is defensive minded, a lot of teams would like to have him in their arsenal. Can the Lakers afford him as well as trying to resign LO?

Adaptive Ariza

After making only five of 18 three-point attempts last season, Trevor Ariza has already made 39 of 116 (33.6%) this season, including two in the final minutes as the Lakers pulled away from Golden State with a late surge Wednesday in Oakland.

By his own admission, Ariza wouldn't have had the confidence last season to put up a couple of long-distance shots with the game on the line.

"I'm not even going to lie to you -- probably not," he said. "I've matured. My teammates and coaches have definitely given me a bunch of confidence."

Ariza, also one of the team's top defenders, will be an unrestricted free agent after this season and is one of the Lakers' top off-season priorities. He makes $3.1 million this season and might be able to at least double his salary with his new contract

RealGM Note: Ariza is ranked 90th in season FIC and with a Reina Value of +152%, he 'deserves' to make almost $8 million.

LOL Don't be Surprised if Adam Morrison is word 10 Mil after next season

Lakers are know to make players better in the system with the only exception being Kwame Brown of course.

MLE. Anything more and we drop him and give him to a lesser team. By lesser I mean any team in the league. Shannon Brown is gonna replace him! Better man defender by far. Ariza is unmatched off the ball though. Who else is better than him?

Westchester High, UCLA... He's not going anywhere. Ariza is LA through-and-through. He'll get the Luke, Vlad, George deal.

Speedlot wrote:MLE. Anything more and we drop him and give him to a lesser team. By lesser I mean any team in the league. Shannon Brown is gonna replace him! Better man defender by far. Ariza is unmatched off the ball though. Who else is better than him?

You really think that?

I think he is worth 5-6 million a year in today's economy but I think he will be offered around 7-8 by some team.

MLE

In this economy, he's going to have to take it or leave it. If Odom is going to take less money, then so should he.

Yep, I'd be absolutely stunned to see anybody shell out $8 million per for what is essentially a role player. Hell, I'm thinking we're going to get a nice discount on Lamar just because there's going to be so little cash being floated around, and he's a legitimate starter.

Once this year's season tickets expire, which were all purchased before the financial isht hit the fan, I'll bet at least half the teams in the league will be in dire financial straights. They're going to be just trying to keep their head above water, let alone shelling out an excess of cash for a reserve with one good season under his belt.

Ariza worth 8 million?

GTFO. Not the way he's been playing.

I wouldn't be too worried, in this economy and with 2010 looming on the horizon, nobody is going to spend too big to get him. The same goes for Odom.

Nobody would imagine the 8mil coming into play but i think some team will just offer it to him just like turiaf. Now turiaf made a good choice for his future. I'm thinking if it's on the table Ariza would probably have to take it for the business point of it.

I think LO would take less but how much... enough to keep ariza as well i hope. I know he owns restaurants in LA so that's a plus sign right there that he's seeking to stay...

I hope Mitch doesn't give them anything more than 4 years either. I'm equally concerned with Kobe's opt out clause too.

the lakers have overspent in the past and will probably do so again. especially on contract year players: check: walton, sasha and bynum as three current contracts that may have been higher than what they could have received otherwise. bynum definitely looks like he should be 'worth it' but due to his injury concerns, he may have been signed for less in the off season. who knows, maybe they feared he'd leave for the thunder who need a center and have a lot of cap space.

buss isn't as free spending as proven spenders: cuban, dolan or allen, and i imagine many would wish they had an owner that would pay the price to keep a great Team together. i don't think buss is like that so we'll see who stays and who goes. it would be nice if kobe made a move like garnett in taking a (significant) pay cut in order to keep his team competitive. garnett is making close to 25m this year and will go down to 16.4m next year.

as others have mentioned, the economy will probably be in worse shape when the next luxury tax and cap comes into discussion so that will help negotiations for the lakers and the league.

certain salaries next year:

gasol- 16.5m
fisher- 5m
sasha- 5m
walton- 4.8m
morrison- 5.2m
bynum-12.5m
farmar-1.95m
---
50.95m

say kobe opts out, which he probably will and takes a pay cut.

kobe-20m (70.95m)

odom gets around 8m, which is probably a reason a cap on what he should get (78.95m)
ariza gets 6m, which is more than double his salary (84.95m)

5 roster spots left:

yue- 750k
1st round pick- 800k
2nd round pick- 800k
powell- 1.2m

--
final 88.5 m
(that's roughly about 17-18 million over the luxury tax)

if these numbers are even close to being accurate, i don't see buss wanting to pay that much in luxury tax penalties. it would be nice if us fans didn't have to worry about this stuff. granted, we aren't the ones signing the checks.

the big questions are how low will kobe go to keep this team together
how low will odom go to stay in la
ariza deserves a raise but how much? will he go for the big payday or take a lot less to stay with la?

that's why i just try to be thankful for the success now and hope they can take advantage of what they have.

something slightly above the MLE sounds about right for the upper limit for his contract, seeing as everyone is going to be throwing the MLE at ariza

im was hoping for a sasha-type deal here or even a turiaf-type deal if we can swing it

but trevor's that important to our bench mob

He should get paid Bowen type money, because he fills a Bowen type of role (in terms of how important he is to this team). I'll be very disappointed in him and Mitch if he's not a Laker next season. Make it happen! Both of you.

Let's just hope that Ariza realizes that being on this team is a once in a lifetime golden opportunity opportunity to NBA lore immortality. His stats would rot away in the "who cares?" files on a lesser team, making more money. See Turiaf. Think he wants to be a Golden State Warrior, really?

i love Ariza, but hes getting pretty overrated nowadays. 8 mil? the max I'd go with Ariza is 5-6 mil. Anything more than 5-6 mil than bye

He is worth the MLE and I think the Lakers' will give it too him. Adam Morrison will be given his walking papers in the form of a buyout this off season IMO.

The Odom factor, might be a long deal with a small yearly average salary. Who knows Kobe might take an 8 year deal for 12 million a year to keep him.

Along w/ Ariza coming back I would hope that Shannon Brown, Josh Powell are offered contracts because they provide really good depth that is needed in a long NBA season.

lakeshow248 wrote:He is worth the MLE and I think the Lakers' will give it too him. Adam Morrison will be given his walking papers in the form of a buyout this off season IMO.

The Odom factor, might be a long deal with a small yearly average salary. Who knows Kobe might take an 8 year deal for 12 million a year to keep him.

Along w/ Ariza coming back I would hope that Shannon Brown, Josh Powell are offered contracts because they provide really good depth that is needed in a long NBA season.

A buyout of Morrison seems counter productive to me since he will be an expiring next season, better to see if he gets his confidence back, move his contract, or use the space for signing others.(unless I misundertood his contract length)

Ariza might get 8, but not from us. The Warriors would do it, but then again they suck and their salaries are horrible. Other teams might go that route but the economy is going to have a say. If the NBA is lending 15 teams money to stay afloat and people are trying to keep cap space for a star in 2010, then I don't see him leaving for a large offer at all.

Ariza's earned his respect from us fan before he got injured and especially now that he's been healthy this season, but I would like to see what he can do in the playoffs in order to properly determine his worth. Like others have mentioned, the whole MLE is what he deserves.

MLE baby!

let's not be like Boston

give him his due