LAKERS OFFICIAL END OF SEASON THREAD: IT WAS FUN! THANKS FOR THE RUN LAKERS! LAKER FANS STAND UP!

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get better andrew...lakers had to face a tough schedule with him, but without him
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i'm hoping we go .500 at the very least till he comes back.
 
i shake my head in disgust every time radmanovic is in the game...he is useless when he is not hitting shots.
 
^

Here ya go

Jackson agrees to two more seasons

as Lakers coach

Coach Phil Jackson has decided to sign a contract extension that keeps him with the Lakers for two more seasons.

Jackson met Wednesday with Jerry Buss and informed the Lakers owner of his decision.

Jackson, 62, will get a modest raise from the three-year, $30-million contract he signed in June 2005, which was the richest per-annum coaching deal in U.S. pro sports history. Jackson is expected to make $11 million or $12 million a season in his new deal.

"Everyone connected with Phil is pleased with his decision, something that only he could make after considering all aspects of what it means to be a head coach," said Jackson's agent, Todd Musburger. "Obviously, he's up for it. There is a spring in his step."

Jackson declined to comment this morning, saying there would be an official announcement later in the day.

He will preside over a team brimming with the potential of 20-year-old Andrew Bynum, but also fraught with uncertainty until the Kobe Bryant situation resolves itself. Bryant has not stepped back from a trade demand and can terminate his Lakers contract in summer 2009 if he is not traded.

But Jackson has found an extreme comfort level with the Lakers. He gets along well with his coaching staff, lives only a few miles from the team's El Segundo training facility, and is a longtime companion of team executive Jeanie Buss.

Jackson is still a motivating force with players and has found his health to be acceptable, a key factor in his decision. Jackson repeatedly said he would wait to sign an extension until properly gauging his strength while recovering from a second hip-replacement surgery within a year.

He had his right hip replaced in October 2006 and had his other hip replaced in June, a procedure that took him longer than expected from which to recover.

He was privately concerned about signing up for more time on the road, what with the toll of sleeping in uncomfortable hotel beds and lugging bag after bag to city after city, none of which were guaranteed to have the steady weather of his Playa del Rey home.

He has managed to maintain his humor throughout an unpredictable season, pushing the Lakers past the Bryant ordeal to an above-average start while reserving the right to chide them when they lose.

He feigned shock when asked about his future with the team after a recent one-sided loss in Boston.

"Please don't ask me that question now after that horrible game," he said dryly. "That was awful. Now is a terrible time to ask me. I resign."

Jackson took over a team that went 34-48 in 2004-05, missed the playoffs for only the fifth time in franchise history and struggled to fill seats at home games down the stretch, finishing with 12 nonsellouts.

He helped guide the Lakers to a near-upset of the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2006 playoffs, although he acknowledged that last season's net result -- a docile five-game loss to the Suns in the first round -- was a step backward.

Jackson had a reputation for taking over only teams with Hall of Fame talent, but his career winning percentage has dropped from .725 to .699 during his second tour with the Lakers. He had won nine championships (including six with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls) in 14 seasons before rejoining the Lakers, but his career playoff win total has climbed from 175 to only 179 since his return.

His career record stands at 927-399.

The Jackson story has marked a riveting about-face by the franchise, which parted ways hastily with him after the Lakers' mini-dynasty sputtered in the 2004 NBA Finals against the Detroit Pistons. At the time, Buss suggested Jackson's methodical triangle offense had run its course, a revelation later described by Jackson as jarring and unsettling.

But Buss recently left the door wide open for Jackson's return beyond this season.

"If he feels up to it, then he will sign an extension, and hopefully, that's what's going to happen," Buss said in October. "I'm very fond of him."

In addition, Jackson has made peace with Bryant over the last couple of seasons after criticizing him in a tell-all book that came out in October 2004.

Jackson even appeared to side with Bryant this past off-season, granting a series of interviews in which he tweaked the Lakers' front office for not making big roster changes.


Link:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baske...ep30nov30,0,5658287.story?coll=la-home-center
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lakers are looking very good right now..........but they were 23-11 to start the season last year, then collapsed.............with that being said, this rosteris a lot better than last years, interesting to see how things shape out
 
i put it in the edit sig spot but of course I still can't figure it out....one day i will figure out some of this stuff
 
Need to find a way to waive or trade Chris Mihm's contract, and get Jamaal Magloire out of Portland.
 
December 18th, 2007 [h3]Book 'Em, Dano: The Lakers in the '08 NBA Finals[/h3]By Ted M. Green | L.A. Confidential, Los Angeles Lakers, Column

I think I'll get in on all the annual end-of-the-year lists fun and liven up your day with a prediction for 2008:
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Lakers and Celtics in a throwback NBA Finals.

I know, half of you think I'm crazy and the other half think Jerry Buss slipped me the Kool-Aid. Well, I may be crazy, but I honestly haven't seen the good doctor in several years. And Kool-Aid is fattening, anyway.

Here are 10 reasons why why I think the Lakers getting to the championship series isn't nearly as far fetched as you or that hater Charles Barkley do:

1. It's not just Sasha's hair. The purple and gold are jelling as we speak, and I think this new chemistry they have is only going to get better as the season goes along.

2. They are developing a dominating presence and shotblocker in the middle, the 20 year old, seven-footer Andrew Bynum, who's on his way to becoming a monster.

3. Now third in the league in scoring, they're suddenly racking up points like the Phoenix Suns circa two years ago.

4. But when the games slow down in the playoffs, L.A. has got plenty of ways to get it in the hoop in the halfcourt, too.

5. More and more, the Lakers are stepping it up defensively, helping each other, communicating, jumping out on screens, playing the pick and roll, protecting the basket. It isn't a mindset quite yet, a modus operandi like the Spurs have, but it is evolving.

6. Who in the West is so good? I mean, really good? The Suns? Still cool to watch, but that party is over, or to quote the great Porky Pig, "Thaaaat's all, folks." Utah? You really see Mehmet Okur holding up the O'Brien Trophy? Dallas? Think four words that do not work together in the same sentence: Dirk Nowitzki and playoff pressure.

7. The Spurs are formidable, the obstacle for the Lakers, but they can't win every year, can they? Plus, Tim Duncan is starting to break down a little. Meanwhile, the Lakers are younger, faster, bigger and more athletic, with more guys who can score.

8. Depth also wins championships, and the Lakers may be the deepest team, 1 through 10, in the NBA.

9. Kobe Bryant's will should not be underestimated. Imagine it ratcheting up higher still when he knows he has a legit shot in the playoffs.

10. It's been 20 years since the last Laker-Celtic finals. With Boston at 20-2 out of the gate and that new Big 3 they've got in KG, Pierce and Ray Allen, it just feels to me like it's time for a renewal of the NBA's most famous rivalry.

I will tell you, as a rejoinder in rational thinking, that it was also 20 years ago, in 1987, that Prozac was introduced. Given their recent past, if someone forecasts the Lakers in the NBA Finals, you're probably thinking he could use a prescription. Something to calm him down.

It was also 20 years ago that Nike introduced "Air" into our commercial lexicon. Lakers in the Finals? The dysfunctional Lakers of Kobe, that John Kerry-esque Flip Flopper? Trade-me-yesterday-I'm-happy-today-Kobe? You're probably thinking my Air is all hot.

Laugh now, friends. But get back to me in June.

Ted Green is Senior Sports Producer for KTLA Prime News, a former sportswriter for the L.A. Times and National Sports Daily and, in truth, about the last man who would be accused of being a homer for anyone
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He makes great points...
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Bill Simmons must of been smoking some good stuff when he broke down those last 2 scenarios.
I like it though
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Clearly Jason Kidd wants to play with Kobe, but it is very complicated due to Kidd's contract.

Do it Mitch!
 
[h1]How to get Kidd out of Jersey [/h1]

By Bill Simmons
Page 2
(Archive | Contact)

Updated: December 6, 2007, 5:55 PM ET

Wait, Jason Kidd reportedly skipped Wednesday's Knicks-Nets game with a migraine because he was trying to force a trade from New Jersey? Even if he refuted those reports on Thursday afternoon, I don't care: It's no secret that Kidd wants to play for a contender, and if you don't think this little "incident" gave me an excuse to waste an entire morning fooling around with ESPN.com's Trade Machine, you're crazy.

Here's what you need to know about Kidd: Fantastic competitor; makes everyone better; slipped about 33 percent defensively from where he was four years ago; someone who's significantly more effective when he's surrounded by good players and only needs to worry about doing Jason Kidd things. He'd only accept a trade to a contending team with a legitimate chance to win the 2008 or 2009 titles, which rules out three noncontenders who had the right mix of young players, draft picks and cap space: Memphis, Atlanta and the Clippers. You can also rule out the Bulls (who could have slapped together a Kirk Hinrich/Ty Thomas/P.J. Brown sign-and-trade offer) because Chicago's current situation isn't any better or worse than New Jersey's current situation. And you can rule out the Knicks because the Nets wouldn't take Stephon Marbury's contract back unless James Dolan Fed Ex'ed them an anonymous box filled with $40 million of unmarked bills.

[h4]THURSDAY NIGHT PICKS[/h4]Simmons: Bears +3
Sports Gal: ******** -3

Realistically, only the following 11 teams make sense as a destination for Kidd:

1. Celtics -- Impossible because they don't have any big contracts to make the deal work.

2. Spurs -- They don't need a point guard.

3. Suns -- Ditto.

4. Pistons -- Double ditto.

5. Hornets -- Triple ditto.

6. Nuggets -- They don't have a big contract to trade unless the Nets took back K-Mart (four years, $70 million remaining), which has about as much chance of happening as me breast-feeding my son tonight. You could make a half-hearted case for a straight-up swap with Iverson and Kidd, but why would the Nuggets give up on the Iverson era so soon, and why would the Nets move sideways like that?

7. Mavericks -- Impossible because Devin Harris just signed a big extension (making him impossible to trade) and I can't imagine why the Nets would want to touch Jason Terry's contract (five years, $48 million remaining) or Erick Dampier's contract (4 years, $41.5 million remaining). You could argue that "Terry + a giant expiring contract + two No. 1 picks would be a decent haul," but the Mavs don't have one of those Theo Ratliff-like expiring contracts and their No. 1 picks aren't appealing, anyway. So they're out.

8. Magic -- On paper, Kidd would be an upgrade over the Jameer Nelson/Keyon Dooling/Carlos Arroyo trifecta, but why would the Magic mess things up when they're playing so well right now, especially for an aging point guard making $20 million a year? I don't see it.

9. Rockets -- They couldn't put together the contracts to obtain Kidd unless New Jersey wanted to jump at the "Mike James-Rafer Alston-Kirk Snyder-Bonzi Wells-Luther Head-crummy No. 1 picks" pu pu platter, and even then, they'd have to waive three guys to make it work. Not happening.

10. Cavaliers -- They couldn't get Kidd without New Jersey taking at least one or two terrible contracts back. And I mean TERRIBLE contracts. Like, "the right to pay Larry Hughes $38 million over the next three years" level of terrible. That's not happening.

11. Lakers -- The only logical destination for four reasons: They have a giant expiring contract (Kwame Brown at $9 million); an appealing rookie point guard (Javaris Crittendon); a super-appealing young point guard (Jordan Farmar); one more tradable contract to make the deal work (Vlad Radmanovic, on the hook for nearly $25 million through 2011); and most importantly, a genuine reason to make the trade (keeping Kobe happy so they don't have to deal him). There's definitely something here, right?

Just one problem ...

(Hold on, I'm breaking out the Hubie Brown voice for this one.)

If I'm running the Nets, I don't want the Radman's contract because we already have Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson at the 2/3 spots playing 40 minutes a game. I want to clear Kidd for cap space, draft picks and a young point guard and that's it. In other words, a straight-up deal with the Lakers can't work and we need some help. Fortunately, we're allowed to make multiteam trades in the NBA, which leads us to our first pivotal question:

What team could use Radmanovic the most?

Here are the plusses for the Radman: He's a quality 3-point shooter; he'd help any playoff team that likes to stretch the floor; and he's not afraid to break out a goofy hairdo or some goofy facial hair when you least expect it. The right team would use him like Orlando uses Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu.

So, um ... why couldn't the Lakers just send him to Orlando? They have the expiring contracts and need one more shooter for an extended playoff push. Vlad's contract isn't great, but it isn't terrible -- he's probably overpaid by about 15-20 percent, which gives him something in common with 60 percent of the guys in the league. If he plays 20-25 minutes a game for the Magic, they'd always have two killer 3-point shooters on the floor opening things up for Dwight Howard. If they wanted, they could even play Lewis, Turkoglu and Lewis together for a 3-point shooting orgy.

Now, if I'm running the Magic, I can't give up anyone good for Radmanovic for two reasons: I'm doing the Nets and Lakers a favor by helping out with this deal, and I'm taking on Radmanovic's mildly sucky contract. That's why I'd tell them, "I'll take the Radman off your hands, but I'm only giving up two expiring contracts (Pat Garrity and James Augustine at a combined $4.55 million) and that's it."

Voila! Suddenly we have the framework of a potential deal: Kidd to the Lakers; Radmanovic to the Magic; and three expiring contracts (Brown, Garrity and Augustine) plus Farmar (the guy New Jersey would want) or Crittendon (the guy L.A. would want to trade) and a future No. 1 pick to the Nets. That trade saves Jersey $4 mllion in 2008 and leaves them with $40 million committed to their payroll next season, allowing them to become a potential player this summer for Gilbert Arenas, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng or whoever else.

Just one problem ...

If I'm running the Lakers, I'm not giving up Kwame (one of our only guys who protects the rim, even if he's a little soft), Radmanovic (our only reliable 3-point shooter and someone who's playing well this season), Farmar (an excellent backup guard and a potential blue-chipper) AND a No. 1 pick while picking up an extra $5 million in salary and paying an extra $4 million in luxury tax just to get a 34-year-old Jason Kidd. In fact, I don't want to trade Farmar at all. That's a deal-breaker for me.

On the flip side, if I'm running the Nets, I need to get Farmar in the deal or dump even more salary in the trade. Which leads us to our second pivotal question:

Can we find a fourth team to make this work?

You betcha! Let's bring Minnesota into this baby, and not just because Kevin McHale is the reigning "Worst GM in the League" after Billy King was dumped by the Sixers this week. We need his help. Here's how we do it: We convince McHale to absorb Garrity's expiring deal and Sasha Vujacic's expiring deal ($1.7 million) and send Sebastian Telfair's expiring deal ($2.5 million) to the Nets. In return, the Lakers agree to take Mark Madsen's contract ($7.9 million total, expires in 2010) and include an extra $600,000 so the deal is a financial wash for the T-Wolves (and that's before they dump Madsen's contract from their books).

Now the Nets have to make the deal. They're getting a quality rookie point guard (Crittendon); they get to take four-month flyers on Kwame (to replace Nenad Krstic, who's still battling knee problems) and Telfair (finally coming home to the Tri-State area, although this might not be a good thing); and most importantly, they're saving nearly $6 million and giving themselves a chance to rebuild this summer around Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, their young guys, two No. 1 picks and Free Agent X.

Here's the final four-team trade: Los Angeles gets Kidd, Augustine and Madsen; Orlando gets Radmanovic; New Jersey gets Kwame, Telfair, Crittendon and a lottery-protected No. 1 from the Lakers in 2008; Minnesota gets Garrity, Vujacic and $600,000 from the Lakers.

Here's why each team makes the deal:

Minnesota: They dump the last two years of Madsen's contract without altering their nucleus or their payroll in any conceivable way.

Orlando: They acquire another killer 3-point shooter at a semi-reasonable price without touching anyone in their top eight.

New Jersey: They unload an unhappy star making nearly $41 million this year and next; save $6 million and pick up a No. 1 pick; take a four-month flier on a "talented" young power forward (I used quotes because I'm not a Kwame fan); weaken themselves sufficiently for a lottery run this season and set themselves up for a 2008 summer spending spree. Considering they had no other viable options for Kidd, that's a pretty good haul, no?

Los Angeles: First and foremost, they don't have to trade Kobe now because this would make him happy. Second, they landed Kidd without giving up Farmar (a huge victory since Farmar is going to be good). Third, they're a legitimate contender with a nucleus of Kobe, Kidd, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum (playing extremely well) and solid supporting guys like Derek Fisher, Farmar, Luke Walton, Rony Turiaf and Trevor Ariza. Fourth, they improved their team chemistry exponentially with Happy Kobe, Happy Kidd and Always-Happy Mark Madsen. Fifth, the playoff money and general goodwill in L.A. from a Kidd trade offsets the significant financial undertaking (an extra $7 million added to the 2008 payroll that's doubled by the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax). And sixth, factoring in Kobe's player option for the summer of 2009, their top three guys (Kobe, Kidd and Odom) would all be coming off their cap after 2009, giving them a two-year run to contend for a title and tons of flexibility afterward.

Now that's a great trade. My only regret is that ESPN.com's Trade Machine wouldn't allow me to work a fifth team into the deal. Really, we can only make four-team trades? Let's work on this. There has to be a way that Vujacic could end up on the Celtics, and Tony Allen could go to Miami, and maybe Dorrell Wright goes to the T-Wolves. ...


This of course will NEVER happen, but just imagine : a nucleus of Kobe, Kidd, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum (playing extremely well) and solid supportingguys like Derek Fisher, Farmar, Luke Walton, Rony Turiaf and Trevor Ariza
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Hey, I can dream right
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Check out this good article about how much longer Kobe can play in the NBA:
Endurance test

Kobe, a 12-year vet, scoffs at idea that he'll slow soon

How many years can Kobe Bryant remain a dominant star? As a 29-year-old in his 12th NBA season, the assumption has been that he senses his biological clock ticking away and that he may have only three years of supremacy left in him -- which would explain why he's in such a hurry to win now.

But Bryant doesn't see it that way. He takes offense at predictions that he'll begin to decline at 32.

"You're telling me I only have two or three years left,'' he said when I approached him with the theory last week. "Tell me that. I want you to.''

In other words, he's happy to use the shrinking-window theory as inspiration to prove everyone wrong.

The issue of his longevity is hard to assess because the league is still trying to define players like Bryant, who jumped to the Lakers from high school as an 18-year-old in 1996. Does the league take his birth certificate at face value? Or is he viewed as being 32 or 33 in NBA years because he started his career so much earlier than the college-raised players of previous generations?

"Kobe's won three championships in a row from October to June, and that's a lot of basketball at a high level. So there is a lot of mileage,'' said Nets point guard Jason Kidd, who teamed with Bryant for USA Basketball in August. "But seeing him this summer and the way he takes care of himself, he's always preparing himself to play and be the focal point.

"It would be interesting if you compared his minutes. Don't look at the field goal attempts -- just the minutes, and that will be what it's all about.''

Taking Kidd's advice, I chose seven shooting guards and small forwards who rate above Bryant on the NBA's all-time scoring list and looked at how old they were when they had played roughly as many regular-season and postseason minutes as Bryant should amass by the end of this season (see chart, above right).

"It's silly,'' Bryant said of such comparisons. "It depends on the person.''

Of course, he's right. Bird had a far more brittle career than Bryant. Dantley was primarily a low-post player, while Miller was a catch-and-shoot scorer who played without the ball. The best comparison is with Jordan, but even that one was skewed by Jordan's "retirement'' from the Bulls for almost two years in the prime of his career.

I spoke with four executives from NBA teams, and three of them said they viewed Bryant as if he were actually a 31- or 32-year-old player because of his NBA mileage. But even if Bryant is more worn than the typical 29-year-old, one of the execs warned that he shouldn't be written off prematurely.

"Kobe is such a workout fiend, and there's nobody in our league as single-minded as he is,'' this team president said. "With his toughness and his mind-set, I would not put it past him to find a way to keep dominating for a long time.''

Then there was the one dissenting executive who cautioned against the entire theory, noting that there isn't enough data on players in Bryant's position to be able to draw a conclusion. This assistant GM believes -- as does Kobe -- that Bryant's NBA minutes may be far less relevant than his physical age.

Bryant has already adapted by becoming more of a perimeter threat, much as Jordan became over the latter half of his career. Jordan clinched his sixth championship with a jumper at age 35.

"Kobe could play at this level for a long time,'' Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "Not only has he become a great jump shooter, but he's also developed that fadeaway [from the] post that Jordan developed. But it obviously depends on what's around him. If he has to carry the load, then that shortens his longevity.''

While Jordan was surrounded by positive energy, a negative -- and surely draining -- aura has enveloped Bryant in recent years.

"I just wish more people would celebrate Kobe, I really do,'' Rivers said. "Of all the guys in our league, that bugs me more than anything, that it just seems like we spend so much time trying to tear him apart and I think we're missing how great he is. And I think it's a shame.''

Bryant said he has relied more on his jumper because of the NBA's defensive rules -- and not because of his advancing age.

"The rules are completely different now,'' said Bryant, comparing his era to Jordan's. "I've always been able to shoot the ball, but the rules have changed since he played in terms of playing a zone defense. You have to be a jump shooter now because there's no way you can get to the basket -- particularly myself because they just stack guys up. I wish we had the rules they had back in the day where you could isolate guys and you could go to the basket anytime. But now you have to be able to shoot.''

The evolving science of athletic training should also enable Bryant to extend his career. Jordan took personal training to a new level by working year-round with Tim Grover. Now Bryant is raising the bar again.

"The techniques that we have available to ourselves now, the level of treatment that we have available is basically around the clock,'' Bryant said. "I have a solid team of five or six guys and women that are very capable in different areas: chiropractor, neuromuscular therapist, dietician, chef, yada, yada, yada.

"It's a lifestyle. If you want to continue to play at a high level, you have to make certain sacrifices. I mean, you can't have a burger every damn day.''

Bryant has learned to adjust his workouts over the years. "As you get older you get smarter, watch your diet, change your program a little bit. If you're willing to adapt, you can play for a long time.

"I work a lot smarter, more efficient, and it's not as taxing on your body. In the past it was just balls to the wall -- running and running and running and running, and jumping and plyometrics and all that stuff. If you're older, you don't need to do all that stuff. It's just about maintenance and injury prevention and staying in shape.''

Regarding Bryant's approach to the backstretch of his career, I don't think he's interested in winning just one more championship. I'm sure that he wants to win several of them. He wants to win more rings than Jordan's six and go down as one of the great players in the league. He was talking in those terms when I first met him a decade ago, and I would think his resolve has only strengthened since then.

So in that sense, the window is indeed shrinking. Say he is playing at as high a level as Jordan was at 35; that gives Bryant only seven seasons in which to win those four rings. If that's the way he's looking at it, then of course he's going to want the Lakers -- or another team -- to seize on his skills and exploit them to go for championships now, for their benefit as well as his. And the more talent he has around him, the longer he'll be able to extend his career at this level.

"I roll with it a little bit when they say there's a [two-to-three-year] window,'' Bryant said. "No way, no way. Barring injury or something like that, if you're willing to adapt, you can play for a long time.''

So how long can he play at his current level?

"I don't know,'' Bryant said. "We'll figure it out. I have a great staff of physical therapists and trainers, and we'll figure it out and work through it.''
LINK:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/11/29/kobe.longevity/index.html
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This came from Magic? Yeah, not happening then. I'd love to see us pull it off, but I don't see how. *fingers crossed*
 
^ It probably isn't but damn thats a nice big 3. Hopefully that keeps kobe happy and in la because I believe right now he will walk after 2009.
 
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