Official Speculation & Free Agency Thread (Part IX)

[WeAreVenom]

Why does everybody seem to suddenly think Brandon Bass is better than Glen Davis since that trade happened?

Because Otis was involved. He doesn't win trades you know.

That is part of it, though, I think.

If you make a 'Davis vs Bass' thread last year, Davis wins by a landslide.

But now that he's with Orlando and Bass is with Boston, all of a sudden, it's a 'brilliant' trade for Boston and a 'lateral move' for us. Pure bullsh*t.

[WeAreVenom]

I remember 2 weeks ago I asked the Suns board what they wanted in a trade from Orlando for MP and they said first round pick or Jason Richardson lmao.

Fans always overrate their talent (us included). Or at least overrate what they will get in return for them.

That's why I always feel like we have a shot at someone like Ellis or somebody. Look at what New Orleans almost traded Chris Paul for (if Stern didn't cockblock them). A meaningless 1st/Martin/Scola? Good package, but definitely possible to top.

Also, the Rockets almost gave those guys up for an old Gasol.

[MagicFan41]

I remember 2 weeks ago I asked the Suns board what they wanted in a trade from Orlando for MP and they said first round pick or Jason Richardson lmao.

Fans always overrate their talent (us included). Or at least overrate what they will get in return for them.

That's why I always feel like we have a shot at someone like Ellis or somebody. Look at what New Orleans almost traded Chris Paul for (if Stern didn't cockblock them). A meaningless 1st/Martin/Scola? Good package, but definitely possible to top.

Also, the Rockets almost gave those guys up for an old Gasol.

Wait. What? Are you trying to say BOTH sides of the trade were bad (for Houston and New Orleans)? That's pretty tough to do, since by nature of a one-to-one trade, one side usually wins, unless it's exactly equal, in which case it is a wash. It sounds like you're saying the Rockets were making a dumb move by giving those guys up, but then it sounds like you're saying New Orleans was dumb for wanting those guys? I understand you're saying there are better offers that could be had (like the Clippers one, even though I'm not anywhere near as gung-ho on that as everyone else from a pure basketball perspective - the REAL reason Stern wanted it was it makes the Hornets much easier to sell from a balance sheet perspective).

Anyways, the REAL point I wanted to make was that EVERYONE continually acts as though Odom is either IRRELEVANT (which obviously he isn't) or they simply don't realize he was part of that trade, and a BIG part of it. It was going to be CP3 for (Odom+Martin+Scola+Dragic+Houston's 1st). That's an amazing package for one guy who wasn't going to re-sign with you anyways. Why is Houston's pick "meaningless" btw? Isn't in protected for them if top 14, which it probably will be? If they gave up Martin+Scola+Dragic+1st for Gasol, they aren't making the playoffs in the West.

[WeAreVenom]

I remember 2 weeks ago I asked the Suns board what they wanted in a trade from Orlando for MP and they said first round pick or Jason Richardson lmao.

Fans always overrate their talent (us included). Or at least overrate what they will get in return for them.

That's why I always feel like we have a shot at someone like Ellis or somebody. Look at what New Orleans almost traded Chris Paul for (if Stern didn't cockblock them). A meaningless 1st/Martin/Scola? Good package, but definitely possible to top.

Also, the Rockets almost gave those guys up for an old Gasol.

Wait. What? Are you trying to say BOTH sides of the trade were bad (for Houston and New Orleans)? That's pretty tough to do, since by nature of a one-to-one trade, one side usually wins, unless it's exactly equal, in which case it is a wash. It sounds like you're saying the Rockets were making a dumb move by giving those guys up, but then it sounds like you're saying New Orleans was dumb for wanting those guys? I understand you're saying there are better offers that could be had (like the Clippers one, even though I'm not anywhere near as gung-ho on that as everyone else from a pure basketball perspective - the REAL reason Stern wanted it was it makes the Hornets much easier to sell from a balance sheet perspective).

Anyways, the REAL point I wanted to make was that EVERYONE continually acts as though Odom is either IRRELEVANT (which obviously he isn't) or they simply don't realize he was part of that trade, and a BIG part of it. It was going to be CP3 for (Odom+Martin+Scola+Dragic+Houston's 1st). That's an amazing package for one guy who wasn't going to re-sign with you anyways. Why is Houston's pick "meaningless" btw? Isn't in protected for them if top 14, which it probably will be? If they gave up Martin+Scola+Dragic+1st for Gasol, they aren't making the playoffs in the West.

Whoops forgot about Odom and Dragic.

Either way, with that roster, they would be 9th seed too-good-for-the-lottery,too-bad-for-the-playoffs. Stuck in limbo, and if the Rockets were actually able to follow through with their Gasol/Nene combo, it probably would've been a bad pick. Maybe not bad, but probably in the late teens.

So, yeah, New Orleans would've been kind of dumb for trading that package, because they would, in no way, be contending, also would've been screwing their immediate future. The package they actually got was amazing.

The Rockets' plan was actually better, now that I think about it. A Gasol/Nene combo would've been lethal.

[MagicFan41]

Whoops forgot about Odom and Dragic.

Either way, with that roster, they would be 9th seed too-good-for-the-lottery,too-bad-for-the-playoffs. Stuck in limbo, and if the Rockets were actually able to follow through with their Gasol/Nene combo, it probably would've been a bad pick. Maybe not bad, but probably in the late teens.

So, yeah, New Orleans would've been kind of dumb for trading that package, because they would, in no way, be contending, also would've been screwing their immediate future. The package they actually got was amazing.

The Rockets' plan was actually better, now that I think about it. A Gasol/Nene combo would've been lethal.

But a Gasol/Bynum one for us with better pieces around it than Houston would have isn't? This idea that New Orleans is now somehow going to be a contending team anytime soon is a complete and utter joke in my opinion. They will be exactly what the Timberwolves, Wizards, Clippers prior to CP3, Sixers, etc all have been. They will be stuck in that mid-level range as well....yes, even with Gordon and a good lottery pick or two. Just like the Cavs will be irrelevant for at least another 5 yrs+.

If the Nuggets HAD gotten Nene, I still think a Dragic+Martin+Scola+Nene combo is better than nobody+Gasol+Nene.

So you are saying if the Rockets gave up all those pieces and then simply had Nene+Gasol they would be "in the late teens" (which would make them basically like a 6 seed in the West - when they didn't even make the playoffs last year, and this is arguably a downgraded roster)? The Lakers,Blazers,Denver,Mavs,OKC,Memphis,Spurs, and probably Hornets post-trade would've probably had something to say about that. Either way, this is the deepest draft in like a decade, and any pick in the teens is probably going to be a very solid pickup. Had the Rockets NOT landed Nene (as they didn't), that team would've been probably a bottom 5 team in the West pretty easily.


Also, do people not realize that you DO have to actually fill out your roster from year to year, especially with the upcoming 90% of cap salary-floor? I mean, everyone acts like you can just have nobody on your roster and then suck and then get high draft picks and then you're set for life with a bunch of guys on rookie-scale contracts. You simply aren't allowed to do that. So you would then have to artificially OVERPAY for guys to fill our your roster to make up the remaining salary. Why wouldn't you rather pay guys anyways who are probably on undervalued or at-value contracts in Martin/Dragic/Odom/Scola? If those guys supposedly aren't that good anyways, then you'll still get a pretty good draft pick. I just think it's funny that guys think you can just bottom out your whole team and not pay anybody anything to tank. Ideal, but not allowed. Then, if you don't get FAs or good draft picks, everyone rips into you for having a bunch of crappy players on overpaid contracts. Lol, having your cake and eating it too I guess.

Plus, if you forgot about Odom+Dragic, and that team including those two is still as you claim a 9th seed team....then wouldn't your thinking hold that the team without those two would've probably lost an extra 5-10 games in a season and be a crappy team anyways, and get the high draft picks regardless? I don't see how that's all that much different than what you were saying they got with that Clippers deal.

[MagicFan41]

New Orleans is just going to become the new Golden State probably. I mean look at all the talent that team has:

Curry, Monta, Dorell Wright, David Lee

That's 3 all-star caliber guys with some decent other players on the team too. And they have been one of the worst teams in the West for years now. I foresee the exact same thing happening to New Orleans.

[MagicFan41]

Look at the past 20 years of champions or so, and name me ONE that quickly "rebuilt through the draft" after tanking for a while. The only one that comes close is the Spurs, and they just got really really lucky that they got to pick up arguably the best PF of all time (and that ONLY happened because David Robinson, one of the top centers in the league at the time was injured all season so they sucked). Sort of like what is going on with the Colts in the NFL right now. However...

Mavs: not even close, all trades and FA signings and spending lots of money and sticking with their guy, and their guy sticking with them

Lakers: name me one guy the Lakers have drafted in the past 10 years who did anything for them - and if you say Bynum, I want you to be the first one who welcomes him with open arms, because 99% of the people on this board hate on him relentlessly because of his injuries, so you can't be in both boats at the same time. Plus, Bynum was only acquired because the Lakers sucked for a few years after Shaq, even with one of the all-time-greats in Kobe, so this should be another sign that just when you have a superstar, it doesn't always mean you contend. And the Marc Gasol draft pick and/or Kwame that landed them Pau doesn't count either. That was bush-league ridiculousness that doesn't happen for anybody but the Lakers.

Spurs: They were always contenders since Duncan, which I discussed, and their draft picks weren't ever high, they just drafted well late, but that completely refutes the idea of tanking, and supports my idea of keeping talent around and simply scouting better. Spurs meaningful draft picks after Duncan were: Ginobli 57th, Parker 28th, Scola 55th, Salmons 26th, Barbosa 28th, Splitter 28th, George Hill 26th, Blair 37th. So yeh, not exactly tanking and getting high picks. Simply amazing drafting (mostly internationally).

Heat: they were probably the closest to doing the tanking and rebuilding thing with the Wade draft, but they also got very lucky in being able to trade for Shaq that year, and still have some good veterans around those 2 as role players. Plus, we all know what happened after Shaq left...the Heat haven't been exactly relevant in the past 5 yrs. This past year they simply had a friend-concocted, Riley orchestrated coup in which one of the top players (if not the top) in the league in Lebron came to join arguably the best SG in the game in Wade, and then their lil lapdog friend in Bosh, another all-star joined them. That was a first, and it probably won't ever happen again, so that's not much of a case study. Plus, if we got rid of our superstar, nobody would be coming here to join him anyways. Irrelevant.

Pistons: the only guy they really drafted was Prince and Darko (which everyone laughed/laughs at with gut-splitting force) - everybody else on that perennially contending team (Rip, Rasheed, Ben Wallace, etc) was acquired through either trade or FA signing. They simply put together a great team of tough-nosed guys, some young, some older, who played well together.

Lakers a decade ago: They got the steal of the century in being able to trade Vlade for Kobe (they didn't really tank and rebuild through their own draft picks), as well as being able to steal Shaq from us. Then they had a bunch of good older role players surrounding those two. So both Lakers dynasties of the past decade didn't rebuild through tanking and drafting

Bulls: Yeh, if you want to consider "rebuilding through the draft" to mean getting the greatest of all time and then waiting 8 years for him to win his first one? Don't forget he wasn't drafted 1st either. So just because you have high picks doesn't mean you're getting a championship piece. Just ask the post-Jordan Bulls who "rebuilt" with Elton Brand as the #1 overall pick in 1999....followed by #4 pick Marcus Fizer and #7 pick Chris Mihm in 2000. Followed by #4 pick Eddy Curry in 2001. Followed by #2 pick Jay Williams in 2002. Yeh, hall of famers, all of them... The key pieces of their championship runs (Kukoc was drafted 29th overall - Pippen was drafted by the Sonics and traded to the Bulls for Olden Polynice, one of the worst trades ever - Rodman was acquired late in his career as FA I believe) weren't really built up through the draft. In fact, the Bulls SUCKED at drafting with super high picks for years, as I just mentioned.

Rockets: I don't exactly think Hakeem, one of the greatest centers ever to play the game, 10 years later counts as "rebuilding through the draft". Hell, the very year before the Dream, the Rockets had the #1 pick as well, and they drafted Ralph Sampson, so that should show just how wrong the experiment could've gone. It took them 10 years after drafting Hakeem to pick up Horry with the #11 pick and Cassell with the #24 while surrounding them with guys like Clyde, Maxwell, Kenny Smith etc before even the Dream won a championship or two.

Even a lot of the other teams that were contenders but didn't win it over the years weren't typically substantially built through the draft: Jazz, Nets, Sonics, Knicks...

Yes I am aware that OKC is a nice anomaly of how it CAN be done, but that's an extreme rarity. They got the #2, #3, #4 picks back to back to back, and drafted basically perfectly. Almost never ever happens. Greg Oden anybody? Even Memphis was partially built through trades (anybody hating on that Marc Gasol trade all that much NOW?). It simply isn't the norm. For every team like an OKC, I can name you 10 that failed miserably.

You can go back many many many years and find little to no teams that ever won a championship historically by doing it that way, at least not anytime remotely soon after (and look, we almost did it with Dwight, and now look, 7 yrs into it....just like the Cavs almost did with Lebron, they both want out). Gone are the days of the NBA where guys like Jordan, Hakeem, Stockton/Malone, Ewing, etc all stick with their teams so that if you draft them, you have their careers to put guys around them. It's a different beast now.

[IGotDaMagicInMe]

Interesting stuff. . .

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/ ... eir-teams/

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/ ... -nba-team/

[tiderulz]

Interesting stuff. . .

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/ ... eir-teams/

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/ ... -nba-team/

his opinions are horrible

[MagicFan41]

Interesting tidbit:

In the last 23 years, only 2 #1 picks have won a championship (I may be wrong, I think that's correct....but at least not in their primes) - Shaq and Duncan.

And only 3 #2 picks have to my knowledge (Chandler, Kidd and Mourning) - and Kidd and Mourning did it at the VERY end of their careers.

And only 3 #3 picks have to my knowledge (Chauncey, Pau and Sean Elliott) - I think Adam Morrison officially did with the Lakers, but I'm not even going to count that.

Just interesting that in 20+ years of drafts, in the top 3 picks, there have only been like 8 that have become champions? That's almost 70 picks in the top 3, and only 8 champions, and only Shaq, Duncan, Pau, and Chauncey really were key pieces in their prime.

[eyriq]

The legend that is Ryan Anderson is beginning to grow!

The Magic do have something of a secret offensive weapon off the bench in big man Ryan Anderson. After three NBA seasons, Anderson has developed a very effective offensive repertoire that includes a surprisingly effective dribble-and-drive game for a man his size and a deadly outside shot that translated to 39 percent accuracy on over five three-point attempts per game last season. His stat line reminds me of a younger Troy Murphy, only Anderson can actually play a bit of defense. When Magic GM Otis Smith acquired Anderson along with Vince Carter in a trade that sent Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie to the Nets in June 2009, few could have predicted Anderson would be the most valuable piece in the deal.

http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2011/12/2 ... tdown-9-7/

[BadMofoPimp]

Keep in mind in regards to rebuilding through the draft that there are probably 25 of 30 other teams out there doing the exactly the same thing. Any teams top 5 draft pick could turn out to be Kwame (1st) or Darko (2nd) instead of a Wade (5th). It is gambling either way. There are no guarantees that a team could end up with a Brandon Roy or Greg Oden at the same time.

Hence, losing Dwight could condemn this team to eternal mediocrity. This could be their last shot at a championship. I think they should keep Dwight for one more run with this team. Then, Dwight may consider staying. There is about a zero chance of finding another player of this caliber.

[jadewbj]

Just saw Kyler from Espn post that there are rumors that Lakers are trying to put a trade to get Derron. Just another crazy rumor, but things could get batsh@& crazy!

Come on Otis, do something!!!

[j_n]

Interesting stuff. . .

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/ ... eir-teams/

http://weaksideawareness.wordpress.com/ ... -nba-team/

An intresting topic but the writer doesnt seem to be very informed about the magic and seem to twist the truth in order to push his agenda.
Im not one to usually give props to otis but the huy just kills him in order to make a point.

the following were just flat out wrong:
1. trading mobely for christie was defintly not a wash, that deal buried our hopes to make the playoffs that season and it ended up upseting our franchise player at the time(steve francis,) and we ended up amnestying christie, hugh fail.

2.dooling was solid with us, that was a wash, not a fail.

3.trading an expiring and a mid round pick for darko and arroyo was a good move, not a fail.
the fail was reouncing darko's right in order to overpay for shard.

4. resigning nelson for his current deal was defintly a win, not a fail, and he doesnt seem to know that his deal was for less than 7 a year, as opposed to over 8 like he claimed.

5.drafting redick at 11, in that weak draft is a win, not a wash.

6.tradind for alston almost won us a championship, that was defintly a win and possibly the best deal otis ever made.

He also never mentioned that otis aquired tpe for hedo and gortat but list the fact the ock did so with lewis as a hught win.

All in all, its hard to look at everything that otis have dont and say that he did a terrible job becasue it doesnt work that way, almost non of his moves were truly terrible(the mobely ariza and lewis trades are the exceptions).

Imo, waht makes otis a bad gm is that he usually have the right idea but always lose the negotiation.
aquiring lewis was a good move but no one would overpay him like otis did, same goes for glen davis.

trading for j rich was a good move but no one would absorb hedo AND give away a pick.

trading francis was a good move but we defintly could have gotten more for him, even at the time

The problem with otis is that he simply ignores levrages in negotiations, it seems that his entire thinking process begins and ends with whether player x could help my team and if im better off making the deal rather not, and Imo thats the reason GMs and agents always gets the upper hand when negotiating with him.

[tiderulz]

The legend that is Ryan Anderson is beginning to grow!

The Magic do have something of a secret offensive weapon off the bench in big man Ryan Anderson. After three NBA seasons, Anderson has developed a very effective offensive repertoire that includes a surprisingly effective dribble-and-drive game for a man his size and a deadly outside shot that translated to 39 percent accuracy on over five three-point attempts per game last season. His stat line reminds me of a younger Troy Murphy, only Anderson can actually play a bit of defense. When Magic GM Otis Smith acquired Anderson along with Vince Carter in a trade that sent Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie to the Nets in June 2009, few could have predicted Anderson would be the most valuable piece in the deal.

http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2011/12/2 ... tdown-9-7/

where is this dribble and drive game that he talks about? i havent seen it.

[OhioRock3]

The legend that is Ryan Anderson is beginning to grow!

The Magic do have something of a secret offensive weapon off the bench in big man Ryan Anderson. After three NBA seasons, Anderson has developed a very effective offensive repertoire that includes a surprisingly effective dribble-and-drive game for a man his size and a deadly outside shot that translated to 39 percent accuracy on over five three-point attempts per game last season. His stat line reminds me of a younger Troy Murphy, only Anderson can actually play a bit of defense. When Magic GM Otis Smith acquired Anderson along with Vince Carter in a trade that sent Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and Tony Battie to the Nets in June 2009, few could have predicted Anderson would be the most valuable piece in the deal.

http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2011/12/2 ... tdown-9-7/

where is this dribble and drive game that he talks about? i havent seen it.

Dribble AND drive? I haven't seen him dribble yet

[iTs JusT zo]

Look at the past 20 years of champions or so, and name me ONE that quickly "rebuilt through the draft" after tanking for a while. The only one that comes close is the Spurs, and they just got really really lucky that they got to pick up arguably the best PF of all time (and that ONLY happened because David Robinson, one of the top centers in the league at the time was injured all season so they sucked). Sort of like what is going on with the Colts in the NFL right now. However...

Mavs: not even close, all trades and FA signings and spending lots of money and sticking with their guy, and their guy sticking with them

Lakers: name me one guy the Lakers have drafted in the past 10 years who did anything for them - and if you say Bynum, I want you to be the first one who welcomes him with open arms, because 99% of the people on this board hate on him relentlessly because of his injuries, so you can't be in both boats at the same time. Plus, Bynum was only acquired because the Lakers sucked for a few years after Shaq, even with one of the all-time-greats in Kobe, so this should be another sign that just when you have a superstar, it doesn't always mean you contend. And the Marc Gasol draft pick and/or Kwame that landed them Pau doesn't count either. That was bush-league ridiculousness that doesn't happen for anybody but the Lakers.

Spurs: They were always contenders since Duncan, which I discussed, and their draft picks weren't ever high, they just drafted well late, but that completely refutes the idea of tanking, and supports my idea of keeping talent around and simply scouting better. Spurs meaningful draft picks after Duncan were: Ginobli 57th, Parker 28th, Scola 55th, Salmons 26th, Barbosa 28th, Splitter 28th, George Hill 26th, Blair 37th. So yeh, not exactly tanking and getting high picks. Simply amazing drafting (mostly internationally).

Heat: they were probably the closest to doing the tanking and rebuilding thing with the Wade draft, but they also got very lucky in being able to trade for Shaq that year, and still have some good veterans around those 2 as role players. Plus, we all know what happened after Shaq left...the Heat haven't been exactly relevant in the past 5 yrs. This past year they simply had a friend-concocted, Riley orchestrated coup in which one of the top players (if not the top) in the league in Lebron came to join arguably the best SG in the game in Wade, and then their lil lapdog friend in Bosh, another all-star joined them. That was a first, and it probably won't ever happen again, so that's not much of a case study. Plus, if we got rid of our superstar, nobody would be coming here to join him anyways. Irrelevant.

Pistons: the only guy they really drafted was Prince and Darko (which everyone laughed/laughs at with gut-splitting force) - everybody else on that perennially contending team (Rip, Rasheed, Ben Wallace, etc) was acquired through either trade or FA signing. They simply put together a great team of tough-nosed guys, some young, some older, who played well together.

Lakers a decade ago: They got the steal of the century in being able to trade Vlade for Kobe (they didn't really tank and rebuild through their own draft picks), as well as being able to steal Shaq from us. Then they had a bunch of good older role players surrounding those two. So both Lakers dynasties of the past decade didn't rebuild through tanking and drafting

Bulls: Yeh, if you want to consider "rebuilding through the draft" to mean getting the greatest of all time and then waiting 8 years for him to win his first one? Don't forget he wasn't drafted 1st either. So just because you have high picks doesn't mean you're getting a championship piece. Just ask the post-Jordan Bulls who "rebuilt" with Elton Brand as the #1 overall pick in 1999....followed by #4 pick Marcus Fizer and #7 pick Chris Mihm in 2000. Followed by #4 pick Eddy Curry in 2001. Followed by #2 pick Jay Williams in 2002. Yeh, hall of famers, all of them... The key pieces of their championship runs (Kukoc was drafted 29th overall - Pippen was drafted by the Sonics and traded to the Bulls for Olden Polynice, one of the worst trades ever - Rodman was acquired late in his career as FA I believe) weren't really built up through the draft. In fact, the Bulls SUCKED at drafting with super high picks for years, as I just mentioned.

Rockets: I don't exactly think Hakeem, one of the greatest centers ever to play the game, 10 years later counts as "rebuilding through the draft". Hell, the very year before the Dream, the Rockets had the #1 pick as well, and they drafted Ralph Sampson, so that should show just how wrong the experiment could've gone. It took them 10 years after drafting Hakeem to pick up Horry with the #11 pick and Cassell with the #24 while surrounding them with guys like Clyde, Maxwell, Kenny Smith etc before even the Dream won a championship or two.

Even a lot of the other teams that were contenders but didn't win it over the years weren't typically substantially built through the draft: Jazz, Nets, Sonics, Knicks...

Yes I am aware that OKC is a nice anomaly of how it CAN be done, but that's an extreme rarity. They got the #2, #3, #4 picks back to back to back, and drafted basically perfectly. Almost never ever happens. Greg Oden anybody? Even Memphis was partially built through trades (anybody hating on that Marc Gasol trade all that much NOW?). It simply isn't the norm. For every team like an OKC, I can name you 10 that failed miserably.

You can go back many many many years and find little to no teams that ever won a championship historically by doing it that way, at least not anytime remotely soon after (and look, we almost did it with Dwight, and now look, 7 yrs into it....just like the Cavs almost did with Lebron, they both want out). Gone are the days of the NBA where guys like Jordan, Hakeem, Stockton/Malone, Ewing, etc all stick with their teams so that if you draft them, you have their careers to put guys around them. It's a different beast now.

/ Gets spoon fed great players for next to nothing/ Pure luck franchise that that is in dire need for 10 years of extremely bad luck. Every franchise has to deal with long periods of mediocrity. Its way past their turn. Let the curse begin!

[iTs JusT zo]

Disgruntled players + Kobe Injury/getting older +(if) dwight doesnt go = beginning of the 10+ year curse that they badly deserve

[iTs JusT zo]

Disgruntled players + Kobe Injury/getting older +(if) dwight doesnt go = beginning of the 10+ year curse that they badly deserve

/ their fans deserve

[MagicFan41]

Lol, yeh right....this is the LAKERS we are talking about

Latest Rumor is they are going after Deron. Knowing the Lakers, and Otis, and Dwight/Deron....here is my prediction of what is going to happen at the deadline:

http://basketball.realgm.com/tradecheck ... de/5957817

I wouldn't be shocked in the least.