The Official Los Angeles Lakers thread

[Sccit]

the salary cap for next year is $60 mil and the lakers are already sitting at $63 mil

right now the best thing they could do is trade Gasol ($19m) and do a sign+trade on Bynum ($16m) to free up some cap space and get some youth back in return. Sessions is opting out after this season but is hoping to re-sign

after watching the Lakers in the playoffs for the last 2 years i'm not sure Gasol and Bynum can cut it, they are way too inconsistent, can't really count on them for shit

well, gasol has drastically subsided, while bynum is still growing, learning, and improving...people forget, bynum is still 24 years old. dude has some strides to make, no doubt. the maturation process was tough to endure, but i believe he will return with a new mindset come next season.

[rayallen0]

someone pull up those "Sessions is gonna be huge for us" posts.

[Hack Wilson - real]

someone pull up those "Sessions is gonna be huge for us" posts.

lol

[Hack Wilson - real]

[Sccit]

someone pull up those "Sessions is gonna be huge for us" posts.

to be fair, sessions was killin it in the regular season...this was his first ever playoffs and he choked. but it's not like mike brown was allowing him to operate...the reason we got sessions was so that he could break down defenses. the offense our coaching staff used wasn't involving him enough once the playoffs came around. mike brown is just as much to blame for sessions failure as sessions himself.

[Hack Wilson - real]

i see them trading Bynum for Howard and trading Gasol for a bag of potato chips

[Sccit]

i see them trading Bynum for Howard and trading Gasol for a bag of potato chips

hope bynum doesnt get traded...will come back to haunt the lakers in a few years. kid is still developing, growing, and maturing. the way i see it, this playoff run was his learning experience ala Kobe's airballs vs. the Jazz. if we trade Bynum, we will cry when he becomes the most dominant player in the league.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

someone pull up those "Sessions is gonna be huge for us" posts.

Sessions was a huge positive this season. Like NIK said, this was his first time in the playoffs and it shook him. Give him an entire offseason/season to get into things and he'll crazy. Even so, it the Lakers would be wise to search around for another PG if for no other reason than because Blake is shit. If the Lakers could find a way to swing a Deron Williams trade, I'd be a very happy man. Jim Buss will never trade Bynum, though.

[LooN3y]

someone pull up those "Sessions is gonna be huge for us" posts.

i never bought into sessions, i dont trust a PG that cant/ or that does have a natural shooting stroke. i knew kobe was still going to be a major ball handler, yea sessions been bringing it up court, but its only half the time, with kobe bring it up the other half of the time and which is usually the most important moments.

if we had a PG that was a confident/good shooter it would give us wonders.


and also, sometimes during the game, i've seen kobe get set up real nice for some long jumpers, but he holds it for a couple of seconds, draws the defender, and than takes a horrible/difficult shot. y has he been passing on this wide open looks? is he just not feelin it at that spot? or what not.

[un0mic]

Wowzers

[BLUNT TYME]

thank you OKC for putting us out of our misery, thank god next season will be a normal season

[7even]

Sessions just shitted on the Lakers by not picking up his player option.

Kupchak said if Sessions gets a big enough offer to leave, the Lakers still would have freed up "dollars to go another direction." Nigga sounding desperate there.

[Sccit]

Sessions flopped hard.. It's not like he would be a huge loss

[The Watcher]

http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?autoplay=true&vid=1264733&filter=real-sports-with-bryant-gumbel&view=null

[The_Ripper]

Deron Williams, Chauncey Billups, Leandro Barbosa and Ramon Sessions Linked to LA?

The Los Angeles Lakers are in need of a point guard.
 
Ramon Sessions filled the duties admirably after being dealt to Los Angeles part way through the season, but he has now opted out of his contract and may not return to Los Angeles.

Lakers executive Jim Buss said earlier this week that his organization wanted to bring Sessions back, and then planned no other major moves.
 
But any seasoned Laker watcher knows that personnel decisions in Los Angeles are made via an alchemical process of discussion between the Buss family, GM Mitch Kupchak and mega-star Kobe Bryant.
 
Deron Williams has a player option with the Brooklyn Nets and it has been suggested that he may attempt to opt out of that deal to join the Lakers.

Given that Williams will be opting out of a $17.8 million dollar payday from the Nets for the 2013 season he definitely won't be taking a pay cut to make a move. As the Lakers don't have anywhere near that money remaining under the cap or otherwise, don't expect Williams to go west.
 
Williams himself told ESPN on Saturday that he had narrowed his list all the way down to remaining in Brooklyn or going to Dallas. There were reports that the Lakers attempted to interest the Nets in a sign and trade deal involving Williams and Pau Gasol, but that never materialized.
 
If the Lakers do get the deal that they want, their back court will look different, and a whole lot cheaper.
 
Obviously Bryant will return, and the Lakers will probably be able to resign Sessions. The guard, who arrived via trade in mid-season, opted out of his deal because he felt like he could get more money in a longer term deal.

Session will probably command three to four years at $6 to $8 million per year, which won't leave much room for a third guard to help share the load.
 
The Lakers will be left to pick among some of the cheaper "journeyman" type players who will be available. They could attempt to reach out to Chauncey Billups who may have the best credentials among the available free agents.
 
Billups is a free agent after an ACL tear cost him most of his season. Depending on his recovery, he might be an attractive option.
 
Los Angeles could also look to an old nemesis like Leandro Barbosa. He was a thorn in the sides of the Lakers for most of the 2000s when he was the sixth man for the Phoenix Suns. He certainly isn't as talented as Williams, but with his speed he could become a great change of pace in the backcourt for the Lakers.