Odom expresses his desire to stay

[snaquille oatmeal]

The problem really is Luke and Sasha. Those guys got paid twice what they are worth.

Ariza deserves about 5. Bench players don't. Odom is worth about 8 Bynum is maybe 10, not 12. Gasol and Kobe are paid right.

I for one tend to disagree about Luke and Sasha.

I understand that Sasha has been sucking this year, but I think it is because he is trying to grow out of the catch and shoot single dimemtion he belongs in.

he has been trying to drive, trying to dunk, trying to put it on the floor and then shoot. that is not who he is and I blame the coaches for not calibrating his ego back into a catch and shoot offensive player.

if somebody was to b-slap him and remind him that we got rid of Vlad so he can become the main catch and shoot guy he would stop thinking and his focus and ability to shoot the 3-ball would get back to last years standards in a hurry and then everybody would be kissing the machines metallic a$$ once again.

as far as Luke is concerned, he does suck royaly when he is playing hurt, but when healthy (an I admit it is not often that he is not hurt [thanks Bill Walton]) he does a lot of unnoticeble things that really help the team.

is he worth the money he is getting paid? well, Phil seems to think so. would you argue Phil Jackson about the value of Luke Walton to the Lakers and expect to win that argument?

I personally do see some of the things that Luke does for the team and think he maybe overpaid a bit because he would not get the same money from other teams, but as far as his playmaking abilities in the triangle offense is concern I think he is a key piece to this team and would not be so quick to just dismiss him as garbage like many here do.

bottom line is that he is not a big time player that does Lebron-esque type of plays or a Battier quality defender (I know this fact really chaps the a$$ of many Lakers fans), but like Fisher his true value is untocible to the homer eye. here is just a sample of what I mean.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-lakers-walton6-2009jun06,0,631344.story

[Jajwanda]

Think about it this way, the two of them cost 10m together and in the future close to 11m. We got rid of Caron Butler not so much to get Kwame (who else was going to play MLE), but to prevent paying him heavy cash at the SF spot. We've paid that money and more.

A 10m a year player at those spots is a damn good player. We've got 2m a year players at both spots.

[LAKESHOW]

NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT KOBE.

he will redo and sign another contract.

he does deserve the 100M - 150M range money.

he will get it.

this is the last year of this team as we know it.

[Jajwanda]

Shutup.

[LAKESHOW]

ahahaha, take it easy wanda.

just want to wake LAKER fans up in regards to offseason moves. first of all, lets take care of business now. secondly, the money does actually flow through kobe. i believe he will sacrifice for the others. nevertheless, his contract is key to releasing more money for others.

hehehe, but just wanted to dampen the tons of off season threads before we actually hit the offseason. but that is the reality. kobes contract.

[Jajwanda]

I'm messing with you, more of that sarcastic "oh shutup" kind of thing.

I do disagree though since Buss and his co-owners have the cash available. They just need to be convinced that they can't win without Odom and Ariza and those two are making it clear that that is the case this series.

[dockingsched]

i don't think the lakers can afford to let odom walk.

[LAKESHOW]

CASH, i think im finally turning a corner on odom. 2 more games however are required.

[Mamba Venom]

Sign LO 1st
Sign Ariza 2nd
Sign Brown 3rd
Farmar?

CandyMan
The Goods
The Long arm of Lamar
The Human Swiss Army Knife
The Clippers Franchise

[Joe Kleazy]

We lose LO we lose alot of our flexibility and end up needing two players to replace what he brings. And that is even before we talk ariza who I think at a reasonable price we bring back. Although not too many teams will want to help us we need to move 1 or 2 of sasha, walton, ore morrison.

[lakersfanatic]

Man were getting closer and closer to that championship ring and the most likely potential of signing LO and Ariza.

Both of them are doing so well for us in the post season. I mean LO is stepping up as well as Ariza. I would have to say that without any of them, we probably wouldn't have gotten this far.

Sign them both mitch.. DO IT!!

GO Lakers!!