Lakers do what's best for their young players

[acbaylove]

They don't get all them rookies next year.. they just get the regular picks nba teams get, the bobcats picks will take a while.. Im not sure about the first, but the 2nd is in 2008 or something if I recall right..

To me it looks like Lakers are giving good players for more decent players.. like trading quality for quantity..

Shaq --> Odom, Grant, Butler, Pick
Payton --> Mihm, Atkins, Jumaine
Rush --> 2 2nd round picks

Not sure if this is a good strategy.. I mean only 5 players can play at a time, huh?
What's next? Trading Kobe Bryant for the entire Atlanta Hawks Roster?

Man i personally i think you are disrespecting Lakers trades too much.

Shaq? He wanted a contract extension. If Lakers signed him, bye bye salary cap for the next 5 years, and probably bye bye Kobe. So imo they did the right thing, and i'm very happy they did it. Odom and Butler are two good players (with small contracts), and Grant has a huge contract about to expire. Perfect for us, perfect to be under the cap in 2007. On a side note, Lakers record without Shaq is 12-8 (0.600) in the WC, Miami's record with Shaq is 15-7 in the East Coast (0.682)..... and Shaq is making the worst numbers of his career (lowest in points since he joined the NBA, maximum in TO since his rookie year, lowest steals since he joined the NBA, lowest in assist since 1998, lowest in rebounds since 1998, lowest in FT% since he joined the NBA, lowest minutes played per game since he joined the NBA, etc..).

Payton? C'mon, the same guy who was benched by Phil Jackson in all the 4th quarters last year? We received Atkins (not a great PG, but a good backup PG, imo, who's scoring just 1 point per game less than Payton..), Jumaine Jones (who's playing great basketball and just made 22 points in a quarter -7/8 from 3pts- yesterday night), and Mihm (25 points last night, very good season for him till now). Plus a pick.

They are two great trades for us, imo.

About Rush, like i said, we can say everything we want, but the only fact not arguable is that Rudy T didnt like this guy and that he liked Bobbit more than him. So..............

[7even]

On a long term basis the first 2 trades are good trades. Still, the scheme is: Quality for Quantity, which can still be good.

[acbaylove]

Well.. nobody offered Duncan of Kidd of Shaq and Payton.. Once you decide to trade them players, you gotta accept the best deal possible. And Lakers did it, imo. Yeah, quality for quantity. But considering Lakers are building a new team from zero, i can accept it for now.

[eS El Duque]

good for Rush