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

[long beach vincey]

The negotiations between Lamar Odom's agent and the Lakers took a turn for the worse Monday afternoon, but it didn't stop Odom from attending acelebration at the Nokia Theater for the release of the Lakers championship DVD.

Odom was about an hour and a half late, but said he wanted to attend to because ``These are my brothers. We have a whole DVD about our season, it just seemssurreal. You don't ever know when or how or if you're going to experience this again.''

It's hard to say if it was the traffic on the way to downtown L.A. that was causing the change in mood, but it Odom certainly didn't seem as calm orcool as he normally does.

Absolutely no one expected the negotiations to take this long and while he clearly wants to return to the Lakers, it was clear the process has worn on him.

``It's business, you know what I'm saying,'' he said. ``It takes a little bit of the fun out of the game, but it's part of it.''

Asked whether he felt at all unloved or unappreciated by the Lakers, Odom paused and said, ``Ummm, it's just the way it is. It'll pay off.''

He did however acknowledge a bit of disappointment the negotiations haven't gone as well as he'd hoped.

``It's crazy because if you think about my career and playing basketball and somebody trying to do all the things to help a team win a championship, I feltlike I've done that you know,'' he said. ``But it'll pay off. It'll pay off.''

Odom said he'd been laying low since the season ended and had made a point of not negotiating through the media because it was his intention to return tothe Lakers and he didn't want to influence the process taking place between his agent and the Lakers.

 

[mjsaver]

SERIOUSLY....

LBV what do you think about our chances of REPEATING w/o LO....???

Im thinkin slim to none if we cant get LO back...

Not just the talent, but the chemistry is what i fear...

Having to learn ARTES's personality & a replacement for LO wont be easy...

Hopefully he gets signed & none of this matter, just curious what other fans would think...

 

[MVP]

Originally Posted by MJsaver

SERIOUSLY....

LBV what do you think about our chances of REPEATING w/o LO....???

Im thinkin slim to none if we cant get LO back...

Not just the talent, but the chemistry is what i fear...

Having to learn ARTES's personality & a replacement for LO wont be easy...

Hopefully he gets signed & none of this matter, just curious what other fans would think...

It won't be impossible, it'll be harder definitely cause that will take the most versaitile weapon we have outside of Kobe off the team,but it can be done, I think we can still win the West, but as for beating the Celtics or Magic in the Finals, that may be really tough. Having LO will make thetask a WHOLE lot easier, but to say we have no chance of winning without him is a stretch.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

do it already Lamar...damn i think he owes it to us that we didnt trade him after all those trade talks...do it fool...if he aint with us hes against us

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

I'm scared.

 

[long beach vincey]

They could for sure still win without Lamar, but obviously it's going to be a whole hell of a lot tougher

The thing that really gets me is that Lamar has already been paid too much over his career. He's robbed some teams with the money he's ALREADY beenpaid. You would think the man would just be focused on his basketball legacy rather than the money. He isn't a young guy who has never gotten a big payday.

 

[noblekane]

%*$% u odumb!

 

[div1lbc]

I don't think Lakers fans should worry too much, I'm sure or I think Odom will come to his senses and realize the Laker's offer is more than fair.How can he pass on an opportunity to play with his boy Artest and be in a position to win more championships. Also, with the economy how it is today, he'snot taking that much of a pay cut from what he made last season. Plus, there are probably not that many other teams, if any that will offer him more than whatthe Lakers are offering since everyone is saving for the 2010-11 off-season.

I'm sure he'll realize that the Lakers' offer is the best out there but you never know, Odom has never been known to be the smartest guy.

 

[jrdnkiks213]

C'mon Lamar.


Sign already.

 

[dyyhard]

if Drew gets in early foul trouble a lot next season without LO...it's a wrap. we need LO. i'm not scared....the smoke will clear and he'll beresigned.

 

[jumpman jam]

Can't Lose Lamar Too, Mitch Better Make Somethin Happen, Quick . . .

 

[ledafuture36]

People on here really thinks if he leaves we can't go back 2 back? Yes it would be harder but c'mon.. Where are the minutes gonna come from? Artest isgonna play 35 Pau plays 35 Kobe plays 35.. If he leaves then Bynum just needs to step it up... He's the one who's minutes goes down if Odom resigns...I would actually like to see Bynum play in the 35 range.. He needs to get that experience at the end of games.. How else is he gonna develop? Don't get mewrong I want Odom back but what kind of a paycut is 11.4mil to 10mil, if he was serious in what he said then he would take 8mil a year.. Its not like hehasn't made his money.. My guess is that he doesn't want to come off the bench and this is his way of putting it on Lakers management like theydon't want him back... 8mil isn't a bad contract at all.. I'm suprised they offered him that considsering how there are over the luxury tax.. Plushis boy Artest took a HUGE paycut to play for the Lakers.. He's worth more then Odom or at least the same..

 

[goldmember]

Originally Posted by Div1LBC

Odom has never been known to be the smartest guy.

That's the thing!

@ our line-up if we dont get him back.. Kobe aint getting any youngerand Gasol can't and shouldn't be playing 40 mins a game.. One thing i love about this team is they have versatility.. and it's one of ouradvantages in terms of match-up problems.. Odom gives so much versatility in this team than we thought especially when we have that walking foul trouble (Drew)in our team..

... i'll worry about it when we know he's really not comingback.. damn..

 

[truewarrior23]

We can't lose LO...

 

[ledafuture36]

Yeah well Artest still gives us some versatility.. He can play the 4, but I see what you're saying...

 

[ledafuture36]

Its not like our starting 5 is horrible
Fisher
Kobe
Artest
Pau
Bynum

You know if we lose Odom Lakers will make a trade and get a good back up big.. I really do want Odom back bad but its not doom and gloom if he leaves.. Westill have the best 5 in the L but our bench will suffer.. But they would make a trade.. I mean we do have 3 PG and I'm sure Mitch has been on the phonesetting something up if Odom does decide to leave... Do you think its just a coincidence that NO team in the L has offered Odom a contract? Obviously otherteams think he's asking for too much.. Now if Odom signs for the same amount we offered some where else then you know it was about starting and not aboutbeing wanted..

 

[iminchucks5]

^NO

we NEED LO. we need LO off the bench vs rasheed
we need LO in case Bynum becomes injured
we need LO in case Gasol gets injured
we need LO in case Artest gets injured.

its that simple..if lamar is gone..i dont think we have any good pieces outside of artest kobe gasol bynum to trade for anything good.

 

[ledafuture36]

^ so what you're saying is that if we don't get Odom back we should just not play the season cause we have a 0% chance of winning a title? So thatmakes us a lttery team? Look I want Odom back, I've stated that 3 or 4 times but we gotta look to doing something else if hr decides to be a $#@..and Ihonestly don't think we should put ALL our eggs in Odom and I'm sure Mitch isn't either..

 

[iminchucks5]

^ lol no where in my post suggest that..im saying odom is important to our team and hes going to be a huge part if we want to repeat next year..the task wouldbe a lot easier if hes on board. Im saying if the celtics are healthy i dont know if we can beat them if we dont have a good bench. LO IS our bench lol

 

[ledafuture36]

^ so do you think Mitch will not make a move if Odom signs somewhere else? I do agree that having Odom back makes our team better but I also believe this gamethat is being played by Odom is because he doesn't want to come off the bench.. If 10mil a year was a reasonable price why haven't any other teams comeknocking on Odom's door?

 

[iminchucks5]

because odom already let it known that he dont want to play anywhere else. thats why the only teams interested are the teams that wants to !*$* us over. andrealistically what other forwards are out there that we can sign? none as versatile as odom of course. and like i said, we dont have anything outside of ourstarters that other teams would want, especially if odom walks.

odom came off the bench almost the whole year, and he came off the bench in the playoffs..it earned him a ring..im 99.8& sure he doesnt mind coming off thebench now since it made the team that much deeper

 

[ledafuture36]

So what you're saying is that Odom is the most talented free agent forward this year but NO team will offer him a contract because he's a Laker forsure? Hmmm does not really make sense... If he's for sure a Laker then what are you worried about? And if Odom really didn't care about starting andwas sincere when he said he would sign for less, why is he asking for 10mil when he made 11.4mil last year? Is that really a good dicount?

 

[iminchucks5]

Originally Posted by ledafuture36

So what you're saying is that Odom is the most talented free agent forward this year but NO team will offer him a contract because he's a Laker for sure? Hmmm does not really make sense... If he's for sure a Laker then what are you worried about? And if Odom really didn't care about starting and was sincere when he said he would sign for less, why is he asking for 10mil when he made 11.4mil last year? Is that really a good dicount?

odoms has made it known in public that he plans on sticking with the lakers with all this "discount" talk thats why other teams thinkingthey have no chance...and i am not worried..thats why i said im 99% sure he will sign with us. Im just letting it known that we are not a better team withouthim. and correction..hes made $14.1 million last season..not 11...so 14 to 10 IS a discount

 

[ledafuture36]

Well the article posted on the last page said 11.4 but who cares.. You would think that other teams would notice that we are not offering him the $ he wantsand step up to the plate regardless what Odom stated publicly... No one has offered him a contract for 10mil a year cause he's not valued by teams at 10mila year period.. I'll bet you if Odom does sign with another team it's for the same amount of $ the Lakers offered but he thought the "team wantedhim more".. Look at what Ariza did.... He's asking price is high for a reason...

 

[th0mas cr0wn]

Originally Posted by ledafuture36

People on here really thinks if he leaves we can't go back 2 back? Yes it would be harder but c'mon.. 8mil isn't a bad contract at all.. I'm suprised they offered him that considsering how there are over the luxury tax.. Plus his boy Artest took a HUGE paycut to play for the Lakers.. He's worth more then Odom or at least the same..

exactly

Why are dudes always so pessimistic on here

we can still win withoutOdom, it'll just be a tougher road but we can still run %$$% don't get it twisted

but I do believe that things will work out and he will come to his senses and re-sign. there is no better situation for him to be in than in LA, he can'tbe THAT dumb