Better or worse?

[Marc]

You vote. Basically, Lakers replaced Ariza with Artest.

Is Artest an upgrade over Ariza? Can Artest produce as well as Ariza as a role player? Do you think Jackson can handle Artest? Do you think Artest can behave?

Will Bynum get any better next season?

You can add more general questions or thoughts about Lakers for next season if you wish...

[DEEP3CL]

Why are you concerned about the Lakers when you're a Spur fan......didn't think I knew huh ?

Your topic is so elementary, you only want guys to post so you can go run back to the Spur board and rehash thoughts of what we think.

[Marc]

I started the thread because i saw there was no poll about it and i was interested in reading what you think about it.

Personally, i believe Lakers got better and if there is someone that can handle Artest that is Jackson, lol.

And i was expecting Lakers to keep Ariza or Odom and add no one else. Artest going to Lakers came as a shock to me.

I am a Spurs fan and i also like Blazers and i would hate to see Lakes winning another title but i think it is more than possible. Maybe, probable...

[Slava]

Make up you mind bro! You can't be a Spurs fan, support the Blazers and then hope the Lakers don't win. You're more a Laker hater than any team's fan.

[ShowtimeFan]

Is is true that most Spurs fans are also huge fans of American Idol & Dancing with the Stars?

[DEEP3CL]

I started the thread because i saw there was no poll about it and i was interested in reading what you think about it.

We hardly ever have polls here, besides who cares about a poll on weather the Lakers got better or worse. Hell they just won a title and added a player who's played our scheme before and on top of that is hungry for a title. There's not too much to ponder when a team adds a player of Artest's caliber, and bring back most of the team intact.

Personally, i believe Lakers got better and if there is someone that can handle Artest that is Jackson, lol.

This is starting to be the most over stated term on RealGM, " can somebody handle Ron". You guys act like he actually needs a baby sitter on the court at all times. Phil coached Dennis Rodman, yes he was an eccentric guy but he came to play every night and busted his ass doing it. It's a reason he's one of two men to win multiple titles in a row on two different teams, but he was the first to do it until Robert Horry.

And i was expecting Lakers to keep Ariza or Odom and add no one else. Artest going to Lakers came as a shock to me.

And that's why you're an outsider and we're Laker fans, we know what's going on with our team. Pretty much every Laker fan KNEW it was a good chance Trevor was gone, simply because of his agent and prior negotiations with Bynum because they share the same agent.

I am a Spurs fan and i also like Blazers and i would hate to see Lakes winning another title but i think it is more than possible. Maybe, probable...

Only young guys have this complex, you clearly haven't invested the time and dedication it takes to root for only one team. Liking two teams gives you a safety net when the other fails. And as far as the Lakers winning another title.......it certainly can be done, but no one is looking that far ahead.

[hermes]

Is is true that most Spurs fans are also huge fans of American Idol & Dancing with the Stars?

hey dancing with the stars is good tv

[Tommy Trojan]

What kind of question is this? is this some kind of a joke?

[Marc]

I am a Spurs fan and i also like Blazers and i would hate to see Lakes winning another title but i think it is more than possible. Maybe, probable...

Only young guys have this complex, you clearly haven't invested the time and dedication it takes to root for only one team. Liking two teams gives you a safety net when the other fails. And as far as the Lakers winning another title.......it certainly can be done, but no one is looking that far ahead.

Blazers have Spurs as a model so it could make sense for me to be a Spurs fan and like Blazers too.

What i like most about the spurs is how they run things. They obviously can't spend as much as Lakers but they get things done.

About me haiting the Lakers, i think i only hate Kobe and i hate how they always get lopsided deals. This Lakers would not be where they are now if it wasn't for Wallace but pretty much everyone knows that. The guy is some kind of Lakers outside Agent or something, lol. He sends Gasol to Lakers for nothing and then, picks up Miles to screw up Blazers. He should get or something. He should get Yue's ring, LOL.

Anyway, i am sorry if i offended someone with the thread. No intention to troll or anything.

[SashAlex]

I am a Spurs fan and i also like Blazers and i would hate to see Lakes winning another title but i think it is more than possible. Maybe, probable...

Only young guys have this complex, you clearly haven't invested the time and dedication it takes to root for only one team. Liking two teams gives you a safety net when the other fails. And as far as the Lakers winning another title.......it certainly can be done, but no one is looking that far ahead.

Blazers have Spurs as a model so it could make sense for me to be a Spurs fan and like Blazers too.

What i like most about the spurs is how they run things. They obviously can't spend as much as Lakers but they get things done.

About me haiting the Lakers, i think i only hate Kobe and i hate how they always get lopsided deals. This Lakers would not be where they are now if it wasn't for Wallace but pretty much everyone knows that. The guy is some kind of Lakers outside Agent or something, lol. He sends Gasol to Lakers for nothing and then, picks up Miles to screw up Blazers. He should get or something. He should get Yue's ring, LOL.

Anyway, i am sorry if i offended someone with the thread. No intention to troll or anything.

Hey, you, smart boy, in 2004, when we traded Shaq, when Shaq was still on top, it was a lopsided deal. We traded one of the best Cs ever for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant who didn't even got to play for us good minutes. Then Caron Butler broke out the next year. Again, we gave up him and Atkins for Kwame Brown and Laron Profit ?! Isn't that a lopsided deal, man, we gave up Butler ! Yes, Kwame a least brought us Gasol later, and only because of his contract. Pau wanted out of Memphis, he wanted to go to a team that at least can make the playoffs. Memphis wanted an expiring, a big expiring contract and Kwame's contract came in handy. It happens ! Vince Carter to New Jersey was a lopsided deal, Vince Carter to Orlando was a lopsided deal etc. etc.

So young boy, the reason you brought about hating the Lakers is absolutely stupid because that's not the reason you hate our fave team. Maybe you hate the Lakers because we kicked your buts almost everytime we met in the playoffs in the playoffs ? That sounds more realistically to me.

Now, go home please and stop making such stupid and useless threads.

[LAL4Life]

This Lakers would not be where they are now if it wasn't for Wallace but pretty much everyone knows that. The guy is some kind of Lakers outside Agent or something, lol. He sends Gasol to Lakers for nothing

That's just pure ignorance. The Lakers were in 1st place in the West before Bynum got injured and Gasol was traded, so to say they wouldn't be where they are now is not necessarily true (although Pau did make us a hell of a lot better )

Second, people need to get off the idea that we got Pau for nothing. The Grizzlies are a junk franchise that was going nowhere, and wanted cap relief. Not only did they get Kwame's $9M expiring, they got Javaris Crittenton (just ask some Laker fans here how we wish Farmar would have been traded instead), Marc Gasol (who was Europe's best player at the time and put up big numbers as a rookie last year), plus 2 firsts. Did the Lakers win the trade? Absolutely. Did the Grizzlies trade him for "nothing"? Hardly.

[miggs]

I'm so sick and tired of ppl saying we got Gasol for nothing and that had it not been for that trade we would've been looking up at the upper echelon teams, BS!!! Ppl love to hate on LA, that's just the way it is, it's always been that way. Mitch saw the opportunity to bring in Gasol and lose out on a sure thing like Marc Gasol, a prospect in Javaris, and serious cap relief in Kwame. We gave up some good pieces when you look at it from a GM's perspective and not some NBA 2K9 GM Champ. It's not our fault that other teams' trades don't result in a banner like us. GO LAKERS!

[Mamba Venom]

Bynum is going to be so much better
so is Brown, Vujavic, Farmar

Artest, LO, Kobe, Gasol the same

Fish will show his age but I think we take care of that in Feb

[Dexmor]

Is it possible to not know who is better Artest or Ariza? I don't think Artest will be a role player either unless that role is being the 2nd-3rd depending on the night best player on the team and guy who guards other teams best player. Kind of a big role dont you think?

[kooner]

We got better than last year but so did other teams they also got better but some got way better. We need to trade ammo's and farmars expiring for a good player who will contribute and put us over the edge again.

[Marc]

Only young guys have this complex, you clearly haven't invested the time and dedication it takes to root for only one team. Liking two teams gives you a safety net when the other fails. And as far as the Lakers winning another title.......

http://www.nba.com/lakers/history/year_by_year.html If you are a Lakers fan young or old you certainly do not have that problem, LOL.

Lakers losing seasons (12 in total, 3 since 1992):
2004-05 34 48 .415 l 1993-94 33 49 .402 l 1992-93 39 43 .476 l 1975-76 40 42 .488
1974-75 30 52 .366 l 1966-67 36 45 .444 l 1960-61 36 43 .456 l 1959-60 25 50 .333
1958-59 33 39 .458 l 1957-58 19 53 .264 l 1956-57 34 38 .472 l 1955-56 33 39 .458

Unless you were a fan by 1957 i bet you can be a pretty happy fan, LOL.

Celtics had 11 losing seasons since 1993. As much losing seasons as championships won by Russell.

[DEEP3CL]

Been a fan for 3 decades, but I could care less about the losing season's because whats more impressive is the fact the Lakers have only missed the playoffs only 5 times in frachise history. That's less than any team in the league.

[Dexmor]

Yeah people saying we got Gasol for anything is really really annoying. If Marc Gasol wasn't a good player it would still be annoying but he can ball. And im sure the lakers could have made the deal keeping Marc if they woudl have known.

[daddyfivestar]

Apparently Nothing =

10 mil cap space
56 mil owed to Pau that was avoided
4 1st round picks
- Marc Gasol (surefire lotto pick had LA not wisely snatched him)
- 1st via Wiz (for Javaris Critt trade)
- 1st via LA (Darell Arthur)
- 1st via LA (2010)

Here's what Wallace had to say 2 days after the deal about it...... from espn true hoop column:

He also just had Grizzlies' GM Chris Wallace on his show to tell the tale of the Pau Gasol trade.
Wallace has long been a refreshingly candidly interview. He says, for instance, that Marc Gasol "has emerged as a real force in European basketball ... that I believe would have been a first-round pick this year."
On his three-headed point-guard situation with Mike Conley, Jr., Kyle Lowry, and Javaris Crittenton: "We're gonna lock these three guys in a room and see which two emerge, and then we'll trade somebody at some point."
He also adds that the 2008 pick is top-three protected and the 2010 pick is top-six.
TrueHoop reader Sean first let me know about this interview, and points out that if you believe what Wallace says about Marc Gasol, then essentially the Grizzlies got four first-rounders, and a mountain of cap space, for Pau Gasol.

[Marc]

When Lakers traded for Pau, Marc was just a filler. Later, he proved to be decent but it was far from being a lock. And Memphis ended up using the cap space in crap like Randolph, LOL.

But Lakers fans should not get angry if other people think they got a championship because of some trades (obviously, it is more than that).

A championship is a championship no matter what, LOL.