Lakers: Looking to Leap
 

The Los Angeles Lakers expect forward Lamar Odom to return to action Friday night against the Charlotte Bobcats. Odom has missed 21 games with a sprained knee; a stretch in which the Lakers went 12-9. Since then LA has played 42 games (27-15), just like that he has missed a quarter of the 2006/7 season. When healthy, the team won at an impressive 71.4%.

Considering Kwame Brown missed 11 during the same stretch, the Lakers have done surprisingly well without their starting front court. Without Odom and Brown, the Lakers went 7-4 (63.6%) which is better than they did before Brown's injury. Though difficulty of schedule certainly played a part, LA went just 5-5 without Odom culminating in the New Year's Eve win in which Brown sprained his ankle.

LA began the year at 15-6 before Odom's hurt his knee, but part of the team's success in that stretch had to do with 14 of the 21 games played at home.

If, however, the 71.4% win rate had nothing to do with schedule and reflects the level the team is capable of playing it . . . it still leaves the Lakers slightly below the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks.

In an interview with Lakers.com, GM Mitch Kupchak comments on the disparity:

"I wouldn't say we're the favorite in the west . . . We will continue between now and the trade deadline to look for possibilities, to put us in a position where we are on an even keel with a San Antonio or a Phoenix or a Dallas. I think we can beat them, but I think generally speaking, people would say that if we were to play a 7 game series against some of those teams, we might not defeat them. I am not content to sit back and let the trade deadline go by without looking at possibilities, because I do think we can improve ourselves."

The Lakers are not that far behind the best in the league. Given an opportunity to put themselves over the top, it sounds like the team is open to trade before the deadline.

The hard part is finding that deal.

Key to the Lakers making a move is keeping intact the core of what has already been a very successful team. Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum are essentially untouchable. Behind the top three, Luke Walton is a close fourth. Valuable role players like Mo Evans and Ronny Turiaf are unlikely to be throw-in pieces. Rookie Jordan Farmar has shown so much promise; he's probably safe unless the Lakers were getting a hall of fame point guard in return.

The Lakers also don't have a lottery pick this year to offer in lieu of on the court talent.

With so many restrictions, teams like the Memphis Grizzlies who are considering a trade of Pau Gasol probably don't have much to discuss with the Lakers.

Another factor getting in the way of trades is the luxury tax.

Kupchak comments on the dilemma to Lakers.com:

"The assets are our players; we have several players on one year, expiring, contracts. Other teams may look at that and say that's a valuable asset to them. Frankly, an expiring contract, all that really means is you have the ability to take back a player from another team that has more than 1 year on it and that team doesn't want that player. Unless that player for some reason is a great player that another team wants to get rid of, which I don’t know why they would want to do that, I don't consider one year contracts that valuable. I know a lot of people do, but we want to preserve our ability to sign Luke during the summer, so we're not looking to take back salaries that would alter our ability to sign back our free agents this summer. And we're going to have Luke, we're going to have Smush and we're going to have Chris Mihm, who I think is going to recover. But all our guys are on pretty good contracts, they're all young and I think they're all respected around the league so I think there are enough assets there to make a deal with a team, if you were so inclined."

It's difficult to estimate how much a player like Walton will receive as a free agent this summer, but it could be in the neighborhood of $6 mil in the first year. Parker is even harder to gauge, perhaps in the $4-6 mil range. Since Mihm still has to prove he can recover from a terrible ankle injury, he could end up playing in the $1-3 mil range.

There's no guarantee they keep them all, but unless the luxury tax goes up more than it did last year, a $69-70 million threshold may be difficult for the team to stay under even if they don't make a bold move using their last year contracts like those of Mihm, Aaron McKie and Shammond Williams.

One solution would be for the Lakers to send out a potentially expendable player with a multi-year deal like Brown (one year, $9.1 mil remaining) or Vladimir Radmanovic (four years, $25.0 mil remaining). Considering Brown's ability to defend the interior and Radmanovic's potential to spread the floor with his outside shot (potential he's yet to reach), LA isn't likely to just dump either player.

For the Lakers to find a deal, they'd have to improve enough to offset the loss of talent without going over the luxury tax. If the acquisition had the potential to put LA over the edge, perhaps owner Dr. Jerry Buss signs off on a tax payment.

The Bottom Line
The Lakers are indeed looking for ways to improve. It just doesn't seem plausible that they'll find exactly what they need at the price they're willing to pay.

Gasol would be a great addition but he doesn't appear to be in the cards. Others like Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Corey Maggette don't appear to be viable options as well. It's unclear if the Philadelphia 76ers are serious about moving Andre Miller.

The safe bet is that the Lakers do not make a move, but a lot may happen before the February 22nd deadline.

KEY NEWSLINES
Pioneer Press: "Kevin McHale has a handshake deal with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor to oversee the team's basketball operation and has been reluctant to say publicly how long he plans to continue in that capacity. Maybe he doesn't know. Taylor said Wednesday he expects McHale to continue but didn't know whether that includes next season. "He's never been on a leash," Taylor said. "I hope he stays. Nothing has changed between Kevin and I. You know we're very close." Will McHale return next season? "Let's wait and see," Taylor said."

Basketball News Services: "It’s commonly believed the Magic will be aggressive with their cap-space next summer that said – Go get Vince Carter. New Jersey is looking for their future; why not offer a package that includes Carlos ($4 million), Darko ($5.2 million) and Hedo Turkoglu ($5.8 million) – New Jersey gets something of real value for Vince, and the Magic get that impact player that opens up the game for Dwight."

Chicago Tribune: "Leaguewide, the Grizzlies continue to ask a high price for Pau Gasol. In the Bulls' case, that means two players from their young core, as well as salary-cap relief in the form of P.J. Brown's expiring $8 million contract and possibly a draft pick. General manager John Paxson has stated publicly he won't mortgage the organization's future for Gasol. Translated, that means he refuses to deal two young assets. But for now, the Bulls' philosophy goes beyond that—to refusing to include Hinrich, Luol Deng or Ben Gordon in any of the various parameters already discussed."

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