Will we be able to keep all the free agents next year

[pdub15]

Plain and simple Dr. Buss should have little concern about the Lux Tax. We have 3 draft picks. 2 off them should be decent in contributing. That means Shannon Brown ends up the odd man out. We won't use the MLE on him when vetran players like Rasheed Wallace, Jason Kidd, Wally Szczerbiak, and Drew Gooden could possibly be had for the MLE. Buss, Phil, & Mitch would take Kidd over Brown. Wally would be PJ's dream 3pt threat with the looks Kobe and Gasol could get for him. Gooden would definetly add killer depth with Odom. If Rasheed is willing to come off the bench than that is huge. Plain and simple one of those vetrans > Shannon Brown. I like the play of Shannon Brown but key decisions like this keep a dynasty going.

Best Scenerio:

1. Resign Odom & Ariza
2. Draft Wayne Ellington 1st rd
3. Draft Tyler Hansbrough 2nd rd
4. Sign Jason Kidd to MLE for 2 years.

Kidd/Fisher/Farmar
Kobe/Wayne/Sasha
Ariza/Luke/Morrison/Sun Yue(D-League 4 one more Year)
Gasol/Odom/Powell
Bynum/Tyler/Vet Min

[larry14r]

Plain and simple Dr. Buss should have little concern about the Lux Tax. We have 3 draft picks. 2 off them should be decent in contributing. That means Shannon Brown ends up the odd man out. We won't use the MLE on him when vetran players like Rasheed Wallace, Jason Kidd, Wally Szczerbiak, and Drew Gooden could possibly be had for the MLE. Buss, Phil, & Mitch would take Kidd over Brown. Wally would be PJ's dream 3pt threat with the looks Kobe and Gasol could get for him. Gooden would definetly add killer depth with Odom. If Rasheed is willing to come off the bench than that is huge. Plain and simple one of those vetrans > Shannon Brown. I like the play of Shannon Brown but key decisions like this keep a dynasty going.

Best Scenerio:

1. Resign Odom & Ariza
2. Draft Wayne Ellington 1st rd
3. Draft Tyler Hansbrough 2nd rd
4. Sign Jason Kidd to MLE for 2 years.

Kidd/Fisher/Farmar
Kobe/Wayne/Sasha
Ariza/Luke/Morrison/Sun Yue(D-League 4 one more Year)
Gasol/Odom/Powell
Bynum/Tyler/Vet Min

Expect one thing Shannon is still afforable while Kidd is not because if we resign Odom and Ariza then we won't be using our MLE. that's all you need to know. Also if we was going to use the MLE then I rather use it on a younger pg like Jarrett Jack.

[pdub15]

Plain and simple Dr. Buss should have little concern about the Lux Tax. We have 3 draft picks. 2 off them should be decent in contributing. That means Shannon Brown ends up the odd man out. We won't use the MLE on him when vetran players like Rasheed Wallace, Jason Kidd, Wally Szczerbiak, and Drew Gooden could possibly be had for the MLE. Buss, Phil, & Mitch would take Kidd over Brown. Wally would be PJ's dream 3pt threat with the looks Kobe and Gasol could get for him. Gooden would definetly add killer depth with Odom. If Rasheed is willing to come off the bench than that is huge. Plain and simple one of those vetrans > Shannon Brown. I like the play of Shannon Brown but key decisions like this keep a dynasty going.

Best Scenerio:

1. Resign Odom & Ariza
2. Draft Wayne Ellington 1st rd
3. Draft Tyler Hansbrough 2nd rd
4. Sign Jason Kidd to MLE for 2 years.

Kidd/Fisher/Farmar
Kobe/Wayne/Sasha
Ariza/Luke/Morrison/Sun Yue(D-League 4 one more Year)
Gasol/Odom/Powell
Bynum/Tyler/Vet Min

Expect one thing Shannon is still afforable while Kidd is not because if we resign Odom and Ariza then we won't be using our MLE. that's all you need to know. Also if we was going to use the MLE then I rather use it on a younger pg like Jarrett Jack.

Buss will use the MLE even if he resigns Odom & Ariza for a vet player like Kidd. Dr Buss is all about creating dynasties. Look at previous Laker championship teams under Buss. Vets like Michael Thompson, Ron Harper, & Mitch Richmond were brought in to be another vet presence for cheap to keep a dynasty going.

[Minhee]

Please cross off Mitch richmond, the guy just decayed at the end of the bench. He didn't contribute a single thing, the guy was as useless as Byron Russel was in the 04 season.

[KobeFan]

Let Kobe and his 14 year knees walk. No way should the team tie up $20M+

Build around Pau Gasol, keep Odom, Ariza, and Brown.

Bynum
Gasol/Odom
Ariza/Odom
Vujacic/Brown
FA PG/Farmar

I think that's a younger, cheaper, deeper team, that would be able to compete for championships.

[kevin_405]

This team is nothing with out Kobe..especially on the road..

Let Kobe and his 14 year knees walk. No way should the team tie up $20M+

Build around Pau Gasol, keep Odom, Ariza, and Brown.

Bynum
Gasol/Odom
Ariza/Odom
Vujacic/Brown
FA PG/Farmar

I think that's a younger, cheaper, deeper team, that would be able to compete for championships.

[pdub15]

Please cross off Mitch richmond, the guy just decayed at the end of the bench. He didn't contribute a single thing, the guy was as useless as Byron Russel was in the 04 season.

Mitch was a key vet in the ear of the young guys. Many times it isn't the vet on the court that makes a big difference. So many times it the vet that is at the end of his career in the young guys ears keeping them in focus to consistently contribute. Byron Russell was a product of Sloan's system which is a big difference. When grabing vets it isn't always about the stats.

[daddyfivestar]

Keep 'em all and make 1 trade:
Farmar + Morrison + 1st for the trouble, to a team looking for 2010 cap space and has 2011 contract (Salmons? 6.4) like Chicago needing room for Bosh or Amare.

Then exercise DJ (950k) and Powell (950k)
Re-up Odom (3/27m at 8.5, 9, 9.5)
Ariza (Sasha type deal, 5m per)
Brown (2 yr/ 5m at 2, 3)
Kobe (5 yr/ 107m starting at 17.5 with 10% increases takes him through 2014, his 18th season)

14 players @ 86 mil

C = 13.48 mil for Bynum, DJ
F = 35.75 mil for Gasol, Odom, Ariza, Luke, Powell
G = 35.98 mil for Kobe, Fish, Sasha, Brown, Salmons

Yue and one of the 2nd rdrs fill out the roster.

Buss needs to pony up for the Dynasty.

[pdub15]

Keep 'em all and make 1 trade:
Farmar + Morrison + 1st for the trouble, to a team looking for 2010 cap space and has 2011 contract (Salmons? 6.4) like Chicago needing room for Bosh or Amare.

Then exercise DJ (950k) and Powell (950k)
Re-up Odom (3/27m at 8.5, 9, 9.5)
Ariza (Sasha type deal, 5m per)
Brown (2 yr/ 5m at 2, 3)
Kobe (5 yr/ 107m starting at 17.5 with 10% increases takes him through 2014, his 18th season)

14 players @ 86 mil

C = 13.48 mil for Bynum, DJ
F = 35.75 mil for Gasol, Odom, Ariza, Luke, Powell
G = 35.98 mil for Kobe, Fish, Sasha, Brown, Salmons

Yue and one of the 2nd rdrs fill out the roster.

Buss needs to pony up for the Dynasty.

I like it if the the 2nd rd pick is the 42nd pick and the pick is Hansbrough to add depth to our bigs (injury insurance type of pick). PJ could go to a big back court during the parts of the game with Kobe & Salmons in the back court. Or just go to a big line up against a physical team like Boston (Kobe, Salmons, Odom, Gasol, Bynum). PJ could have some fun and really create some line ups that create mismatch nightmares for other teams.

[spudwebb]

Lakers are already at $74 mil without Ariza and Odom. Those 2 will put you close to $90 mill next year. Buss has shown he is inclined to be a cheapskate in recent years and with the economy as it is, I don't see him paying that much luxury tax. Sasha, Luke and Morrision combining for $15 mil looks ugly.

[larry14r]

Lakers are already at $74 mil without Ariza and Odom. Those 2 will put you close to $90 mill next year. Buss has shown he is inclined to be a cheapskate in recent years and with the economy as it is, I don't see him paying that much luxury tax. Sasha, Luke and Morrision combining for $15 mil looks ugly.

Well not all true because Morrision and Sasha have shorter contracts, and Luke has the worse one of the three. So in short we did the crime we must do the time.

[daddyfivestar]

Lakers are already at $74 mil without Ariza and Odom. Those 2 will put you close to $90 mill next year. Buss has shown he is inclined to be a cheapskate in recent years and with the economy as it is, I don't see him paying that much luxury tax. Sasha, Luke and Morrision combining for $15 mil looks ugly.

which bring it back to the point that in order to keep Odom, Ariza and Brown, Kobe must opt out and take less AND some sort of Morrison/Farmar deal out must occur. That is the only way to get the payroll in the 85m range.

The good news is Powell (950k), Mbenga (950k), and Yue (730k) are inexpensive bench players next year. Toss in at least one other rookie and four of the at minimum 13 roster spots eat up less than 3.5 mil. Get on it Mitch. Oh wait, the season is still going.

.

[KObe Bryant]

Ariza is worth of the Mid Level Exception. We all know he gets increase in his salary for the next seasons. So if Powell's a free agent, He'll just be worth a million a year. I don't think Mbenga is worth 1 Million , he'll be fine with 90K. Shannon Brown is worth 1 million. Lamar will sign for less like 9 Million. We trade Farmar and Morrison for the 14-16th pick in the draft and use Rookie Exception. Can we use two exceptions in one season? Correct me if I''m wrong. What do you think?