[::2009 Champion LAKERS OFF-SEASON THREAD Vol. Boring Non-News Days Causing In-Thread Tension::]

[ag 47]

Relieved.

 

[three6mafia2007]

Originally Posted by DontStepOnMyShoes

Sasha is ready!

U already know!

 

[blackmamba08]

CandyMan back on board.

 

[frenchblue23]

For some reason, I can't do Authentics, they are a little too long from what I'm used to. Wouldn't mind wearing one if it was a gift though.

I should have taken advantage of the Team LA summer sale this past weekend

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by ledafuture36

Originally Posted by purpleRElGN

john hollinger's latest article?

[h2]Odom finally ends his L.A. drama[/h2]

From New Orleans all the way to Portland, basketball fans in the Western Conference are feeling a whole lot less optimistic than they were just 24 hours ago.

Except the ones in L.A., that is. They're breathing a huge sigh of relief. After a monthlong drama in which Lamar Odom's seemingly certain return to the world champions somehow became a 50-50 proposition, he relented and agreed to rejoin the team Thursday on a four-year deal worth as much as $33 million.

The Lakers will have a team option on the final year, potentially making it a lucrative trade chip should Odom break down between now and then. (I won't repeat myself here, but for more on the increasing use of funny money at the end of contracts to sidestep the cap, read the end of my missive on the Andre Miller signing).

Of course, it never should have come to this. Odom was a vital cog in L.A.'s championship machine, a chameleon of sorts who could score, rebound or set up others depending on what the situation required. He was vital in another sense, too -- any team with championship-caliber talent needs at least a few players who are willing to accept fewer shots and/or minutes for the greater good. Odom did that by agreeing to come off the bench in a contract year, and as a result the Lakers' had the league's most potent frontcourt rotation.

Add in that everyone thinks he's a swell guy, that he's one of the few people alive who might be able to get into the head of new teammate Ron Artest, that the Lakers were offering more money per year than anyone else, and that Odom has spent most of his adult life in L.A. and clearly didn't want to go anywhere else, and it seems a foregone conclusion that Odom would stay. Why was the Miami option ever in play?

Yet it was. Unfortunately for the rest of the West, cooler heads prevailed after emotions became heated enough that the Lakers were tempted to walk away and Odom considered taking a five-year deal from the Heat that likely would have returned less money over the life of the deal (this calculation depends on what he might earn four and five years from now when his Lakers contract expires, so we don't know for sure).

Although the second-tier Western teams weren't direct participants, the Odom saga was a big, big deal to all those teams aspiring to make a run to the Finals. Every last one of them was praying that Odom would head to Miami and leave the Lakers at the altar.

It wasn't just that L.A. would have lost Odom, it was that it wasn't going to be able to come up with a replacement. The Lakers already used their full midlevel exception on Artest and had no room under the salary cap, so the absolute best they could have done would be to offer the veteran's minimum to a ring-hungry vet or use their $2.5 million trade exception from last year's Chris Mihm giveaway to acquire an unwanted scrub from somebody else.

Basically, L.A. would have been left using Josh Powell as its primary frontcourt reserve, and although the Lakers could have papered over the shortcoming by using Artest and Luke Walton at power forward when either Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum was out of the game, that was still removing a source of strength from their arsenal.

This was the opening teams such as San Antonio and Portland hoped to exploit with their own huge frontcourts, feeling they could wear down L.A. with their size rather than the other way around. This was the matchup issue teams such as Denver wanted to go away, with Odom frequently creating dilemmas for the Nuggets bench. This was the depth New Orleans hoped wouldn't be a factor, removing the frontcourt game of three-against-two the Hornets faced every time last season. This was the guy Dallas hoped wouldn't be on the floor when the Mavericks unleashed their five-greyhound lineup in the fourth quarter and could run Gasol and Bynum into submission. And this was the ballhandling perimeter player nobody in Utah's macho frontcourt trio could cover.

Odom's not an All-Star, and he's only the fourth-best player on the team. But the combination of his unique skill set and the restrictions of the salary cap combined to make him the league's most important free agent this summer.

With Odom, the Lakers are the clear favorites to win the West and are more or less a 50-50 shot to repeat as champions in a presumed final against Cleveland, Orlando or Boston.

Without Odom? That opened the door for everybody else to get into the fray, offering a *%*** in the armor just large enough that the other contenders all felt they had a realistic shot at breaking through.

Now? Now teams are depending on some other stroke of good fortune for them (or a bad one for the Lakers) to get in the race. It might yet come -- we haven't played any games yet, and seasons take all kinds of crazy twists and turns. But from this moment forward, the Lakers are overwhelming favorites to win the West … just as we had assumed they would be before all this drama started.
http://insider.espn.go.co...ohn&page=odom-090730

This dude Hollinger wrote his damn article off my posts.

You owe me money John.

LO baby, NOW, we can get down to business, it's time to work, and get that sweet 16.

We are officially, the best team in the NBA on paper, right now, AND the defending champs with 11 of 12 players coming back.

4th year team option.

 

[CP1708]

Yuku is pissin me off today.

 

[92]

Originally Posted by bright nikes

KenJi714 wrote:

---

yall sound like ladies in here smh . Odom suddenly became Lakers # 1 player

 

[MambaMentality824]

Gasol is happy LO is back

 

[kb8sandiego]

Ultimate Laker fan and Skateboard legend Eric Koston and Kobe in the extended Nike SB PRod commercial.

 

[pdoggy85]

Anyone else having trouble with the 40% off code at Lakersstore?

 

[hunter2k4]

KB8sandiego wrote:

---

Ultimate Laker fan and Skateboard legend Eric Koston and Kobe in the extended Nike SB PRod commercial.

�Genius!!!!!!

�noticed�Kobe�rockin' a Blackberry (at least it looked like a BB Bold)... thought he was more of an iPhone guy

��

 

[mcp4556]

LO staying with the lakers, so does the 2010 championship.

 

[blackmamba08]

That commercial was

@ Kobe

 

[guttagetsbusy]

LO back good *%** yo

I can relax a lil now

 

[nimo007]

Originally Posted by hunter2k4

KB8sandiego wrote:

---

Ultimate Laker fan and Skateboard legend Eric Koston and Kobe in the extended Nike SB PRod commercial.

�Genius!!!!!!

�noticed�Kobe�rockin' a Blackberry (at least it looked like a BB Bold)... thought he was more of an iPhone guy

��



Commercial was

I guess Erik koston did really leave Lakai... Remember the fake press conference

BTW Mitch will be on espn 710 in 15 mins.

 

[dyyhard]

^ thanks for the heads up...caught some of it...

one thing was that Mitch wanted Phil to call Lamar a few days ago to ask him to sign and Phil couldn't get a hold of Lamar.

thanks for the vid Kbsandiego

 

[ctdaprince]

Originally Posted by KB8sandiego

Ultimate Laker fan and Skateboard legend Eric Koston and Kobe in the extended Nike SB PRod commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/v/tBWRfhBlX24&hl=en&fs=1&http://www.youtube.com/v/tBWRfhBlX24&hl=en&fs=1&

this commercial is hott

 

[codex57]

Originally Posted by CP1708

We are officially, the best team in the NBA on paper, right now, AND the defending champs with 11 of 12 players coming back.

Considering the replacement we got, I'll take the loss of that last player from last year's team any day.

 

[CP1708]

^
Yeah, no.

 

[nimo007]

Mitch isn't sure ifthe team has room for Sun Yue, let's see what happens.

 

[Chester McFloppy]

Shut up.

 

[CP1708]

I know you ain't talkin to me. I know this.

 

[Chester McFloppy]

Don't flatter yourself, turbo.

Artest > Ariza

 

[CP1708]

^
Again, yeah, no.

 

[Los Angeles]

Originally Posted by NIMO007

Mitch isn't sure ifthe team has room for Sun Yue, let's see what happens.

He shouldn't have been given that 2 year deal to begin with.