RealGM

First, I'm a laker fan that just wants to see the team get better and better.

Would you consider the following trade to the 76ers?

This works in the trade machine, btw.


Elton Brand

for

Morrison (5 Mil expiring)
Vujacic (3 point shooter)
Josh Powell (our 3rd string PF, small expiring contract)
MBenga (our 3rd string C, small expiring contract)

Why 76ers do it?

This would save Phily a couple million on the difference in trade amounts and gets them 7 Million in expirings. Vujacic expires the year after that, and might be a good 3 point shooter in their offense.

Why lakers do it?

Brand becomes our backup PF/C. We can be patient with him and don't really need his full output for a year or two. We can rehabilitate him and hopefully when in the championship run, he comes alive. I don't think it hurts our depth in any way as he would be a better 3rd string PF/C then both Powell and MBenga combined.

What do you guys think?

let's worry about a PG before we fix what is not broken.

snaquille oatmeal wrote:let's worry about a PG before we fix what is not broken.

Yeah, I agree. I like the idea of picking up an aging ex-allstar point guard that wants a run at the championship. But I just don't see any qualified PGs out there that fit that description who would be available. Andre Miller is probably available, but his one big flaw is that he is not a great shooter, and I think that's a requirement in the laker's offense.

This thing with Brand though, even though we don't really need him, is that it seems like a classic laker move in the vein of Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Bob Mcadoo, etc.

Yeah, because the Karl Malone-GP move totally worked out well...

StarneyBinston wrote:Yeah, because the Karl Malone-GP move totally worked out well...

Karl Malone don't ree with that 'er statement.

well as much as our bench sucks..we still need one. And considering he is a jump-shooting PF.. he would be our 3rd stringer at the 4. It sounds sexy to have him on the team but it's not practical.

As Snaq said.. we need a PG if anything.

brand comes off the bench? will hurt his ego.

You know how much Brand makes? Lakers are looking to shed cap, not add to it.

Were already a championship team..the only moves well make are subtle moves that are cheap yet effective. No need to go drastic.

The comparison to Karl and Payton falls short when you look at the contracts they have and the massive deal brand has.

Fisher - waived
Morrison
Sasha

for

Elton brand

for

hinrich

Bynum plays 35 minutes a game. Pau plays 32 minutes a game (and thats probably going to increase). Odom plays 31 minutes a game (thatll come down to maybe 28).

Brand has about 3 years left on his contract at about 17 million a year. How much sense does that make for someone that will barely play? I was going to say, yes -- as long as Odom is being traded for him. But looking at the contracts, that doesnt even make sense. 17 million a year for a backup? or 8 million a year? Easy choice... No way

Phil X wrote:The comparison to Karl and Payton falls short when you look at the contracts they have and the massive deal brand has.

Well, there's a risk, but after healing a bit more, and while on a championship run, he could easily turn back into a 20/10 guy. Those kind of guys are hard to find and nice to have around. Especially if, God forbid, either Bynum or Gasol goes down in injury this year - it's happens so often though, it's almost likely to occur.

I think though realistically this year, we can find him 20 minutes or so a game. That would be perfect for his recovery actually.Then maybe more minutes in the playoffs if he is strong and doing well.

Then we just pick up a couple players on waiver wires, maybe Gaffney, and we are good to go again. Brand can fill in for both Powell's and Mbenga's minutes and I'm sorry but Vujacic is easily replaceable at this point for a min vet. We need a couple bodies, but I don't think it's that big a deal or hurts our run this year in any way at all.

That Nicka wrote:Bynum plays 35 minutes a game. Pau plays 32 minutes a game (and thats probably going to increase). Odom plays 31 minutes a game (thatll come down to maybe 28).

Brand has about 3 years left on his contract at about 17 million a year. How much sense does that make for someone that will barely play? I was going to say, yes -- as long as Odom is being traded for him. But looking at the contracts, that doesnt even make sense. 17 million a year for a backup? or 8 million a year? Easy choice... No way

It's a lot of money granted. But it gives us some leverage for when Pau's contract comes up. And frankly it's not my money, and the lakers haven't shown any limits to spending at this point, so I'm not going to worry about what they will or will not spend. If the lakers manage to revitalize him and he helps us win a championship this year, then he might be a nice trading chip next year if we want or we hold him in case we lose Pau. Or maybe we trade Bynum. I don't know. It gives us another potential all-star and a lot more options though, maybe.

They say you can't have enough good big men

In a three way with a PG coming to us yes but straight up for Brand with that horrible contract, umm.. no!

j-far wrote:In a three way with a PG coming to us yes but straight up for Brand with that horrible contract, umm.. no!

Yeah, I would be for that as well. Someone better than Hinrich hopefully though.

Walton
Vujacic
Morrison or Fisher(he would be bought out
(i dont know if we would need to add picks or money, maybe rights to Chinemelu Elonu )

for

Brand

if we are trading for brand, we need to get rid of out worst contracts too.

That Nicka wrote:Bynum plays 35 minutes a game. Pau plays 32 minutes a game (and thats probably going to increase). Odom plays 31 minutes a game (thatll come down to maybe 28).

Brand has about 3 years left on his contract at about 17 million a year. How much sense does that make for someone that will barely play? I was going to say, yes -- as long as Odom is being traded for him. But looking at the contracts, that doesnt even make sense. 17 million a year for a backup? or 8 million a year? Easy choice... No way

we could always reduce their minutes to keep them fresher for later on.

Bynum (28)/ Brand (20)
Gasol (27)/ Odom (16)/ Brand (5)
Artest/ Odom (...)

The_Commish wrote:Walton
Vujacic
Morrison or Fisher(he would be bought out
(i dont know if we would need to add picks or money, maybe rights to Chinemelu Elonu )

for

Brand

if we are trading for brand, we need to get rid of out worst contracts too.

I bet Philly would probably go for that. They like the idea of getting Vujacic actually, so they might not mind Walton either. I just assumed we might want to get rid of the big guys since they clearly wouldn't get any more playing time with Brand there.

sfernald wrote:It's a lot of money granted. But it gives us some leverage for when Pau's contract comes up. And frankly it's not my money, and the lakers haven't shown any limits to spending at this point, so I'm not going to worry about what they will or will not spend. If the lakers manage to revitalize him and he helps us win a championship this year, then he might be a nice trading chip next year if we want or we hold him in case we lose Pau. Or maybe we trade Bynum. I don't know. It gives us another potential all-star and a lot more options though, maybe.

They say you can't have enough good big men

not re-signing Pau

trading Bynum

That still doesnt change the fact that we'd have 17 million dollars sitting on the bench. He would never play. Or he would split time with Lamar -- which would leave them both disgruntled and they'd probably demand a trade. We dont need (extra) drama in the locker room. We're playing for a championship, not experimenting in chemistry class.

Okay wait. So we're going to add a player we don't need? What for? It's absurd.

First off, with Philly signing Iverson to me that at least says they're trying to make the playoffs...so why would they in turn trade Brand for nothing?

That's not even coming at it from a Lakers standpoint. Guy has a huge contract and has injury issues. No way. For anyone.