Nash ruins cap space?

[TonyMontana]

The 2nd pick is hindsight, didnt' really think it would amt to much but seriously why the hell did we give up 2 1st rd picks? for a near dam 38yr old at the time.

This is what really bothered me about Nash and how stupid Buss and Mitch were to sign Nash!

[dockingsched]

i can see people complaining about the protection on the pick, but who cares if the lakers gave up that 2nd 1st for nash. they would've given it up for Howard anyway if they had it.

[dockingsched]

Okay, maybe not ruin but...

According the the wiretap, Nash is unlikely to come back for the rest of the season. His last game was the game that disqualified him from the medical retire provision which would have allowed the Lakers to release his salary from their payroll and not have it hit their cap.

Granted--it was a bit of a long shot for the Lakers to get the provision since an NBA doctor has to rule that Nash can't play, but its getting incredibly difficult to defend Nash at this point. I was a Nash apologist, but after this its damn near impossible to defend him and his decision to keep trying.

Are there any Nash apologists left?

i think your misunderstanding of the situation is giving a grossly unfair take on Nash.

first and foremost, medical retirement is not a choice. Nash can't just choose to have doctors rule him unable to continue to play. doctors cleared him to play at the time so how are we as fans even discussing that he should have been looking at medical retirement instead?

next, with medical retirement nash could've had his pie and ate it too by not playing and getting paid. now if he wants to get paid he has to play. damn that nash for not just running off with a bunch of money.

lastly, the guy has a guaranteed contract and just not bother anymore but the reason he's not playing isn't because he's lazy or unmotivated or trying to steal checks. he's been hurt and he's trying his best to play the game he loves, why have a problem with that?

That's fair to an extent-- but it assumes that medicine is an exact science-- which in many ways it can be but when it comes to pain management its not. If he's in too much pain to play, which seems to be the case-- why not sit it out? Its not like that 10th game was crucial to the Lakers' success.

Again, I'm not saying I hate Nash for this, I'd love for Nash to return full strength next year but its becoming apparent that this wont be the case. If anything, why not sit out the entire year if he really wanted to come back full strength?

he had already sat out several months and was cleared by doctors with several months still to go in the season.

after working his ass off to try to get back, i'm not really sure how you can argue he should have sat out without the benefit of hindsight.

[indilakeshow]

i think your misunderstanding of the situation is giving a grossly unfair take on Nash.

first and foremost, medical retirement is not a choice. Nash can't just choose to have doctors rule him unable to continue to play. doctors cleared him to play at the time so how are we as fans even discussing that he should have been looking at medical retirement instead?

next, with medical retirement nash could've had his pie and ate it too by not playing and getting paid. now if he wants to get paid he has to play. damn that nash for not just running off with a bunch of money.

lastly, the guy has a guaranteed contract and just not bother anymore but the reason he's not playing isn't because he's lazy or unmotivated or trying to steal checks. he's been hurt and he's trying his best to play the game he loves, why have a problem with that?

That's fair to an extent-- but it assumes that medicine is an exact science-- which in many ways it can be but when it comes to pain management its not. If he's in too much pain to play, which seems to be the case-- why not sit it out? Its not like that 10th game was crucial to the Lakers' success.

Again, I'm not saying I hate Nash for this, I'd love for Nash to return full strength next year but its becoming apparent that this wont be the case. If anything, why not sit out the entire year if he really wanted to come back full strength?

he had already sat out several months and was cleared by doctors with several months still to go in the season.

after working his ass off to try to get back, i'm not really sure how you can argue he should have sat out without the benefit of hindsight.

do you really think he was ready to come back? he played one game and now he's back to not even being with the team. What was the point? Doctors may have cleared him, but getting clearance to play is pretty easy. I'm sure at some point either you, a family member, or a friend has encountered dealing with a team trainer or doctor either at the high school or collegiate level. All you have to say is, "I'm in pain, but I can play through it." There, you've been cleared to play. Only you know your pain level. All I'm saying is Nash was hasty to come back for his own personal gain over the team's betterment.

[Kilroy]

I believe he played 4 games... Did great in one and so/so in the rest.

I respect the Lakers for not worrying about the cap hit and letting him make his own choice if that is really what's going on.
But if they discussed it at all, I don't see how offering him his full salary not to play that 10th game and taking the medical waiver, wouldn't have been a solid sell... Dr's go somewhere between 50% and 90% on how a patient feels when it comes to an injury like his... They could be convinced to say anything.

I would love to see Nash play at his old levels with us, and I'm a pretty optimistic guy about those things most of the time... But at his age, and with everything else that's going on, I can't see it happening.

That said, it shouldn't really effect our plans too much to pay him out.

[AdonisDeMarion]

He needs to go

[KingLakers]

Nash doesn't hurt cap space it's actually better for his contract to just end after next season than stretch out for 2 more seasons after that. If he's healthy next season he'll be the starter In name only with Farmar if he's back taking the bulk of the mins and Exum if he's the lottery pick getting sometime at PG also.

[Doormatt]

Is this thread serious? KOBE is ruining our cap not Steve **** Nash. It's amazing how disrespectful this fan base is to Nash. He deserves way better than what people are saying. We were never going to contend next year, there's absolutely nothing bad or wrong with having Nash. Kobes contract is the one that is **** us and people aren't even pointing it out.

[GeorgeDillion]

To be fair people point out the "Kobe Albatross" in every thread accept this one. I like Nash a lot but after we tossed Fish out and he was eventually waived by Houston, caring about Nash being tossed out has little to no effect on me.

[Ckay]

[Jakay]

Meh, David Robinson and his year off while they got Duncan.

Same idea, at least. Twenty games left, they'd better not start playing Kobe and Nash now.