Thread: What will the New Lakers lineup be?

Originally Posted by carendt242

fusion will disagree w/ me but Orlando will not trade Dwight. the GM likes to gamble and that is one gamble i'd take too. and there's no way i'd trade for Bynum w/ his history of health issues. and who wants Odom? perennial under-achiever.

besides, if the CBA contains either a franchise-type tag, it may be very hard for Dwight to leave. if there's an amnesty clause, allowing the Magic to shed Arena's contract from the cap, there's instant salary cap room, and Dwight's wanting to stay will increase substantially.

if the CBA contains *both*, game over - a proper PG will be brought into town & Orlando will be contending for a long time.


Orlando is the one team that has the most to gain by an owner-friendly CBA. it would essentially be a bail-out package for their risky gambles.

- chuck

Smith won't trade Howard now. He'd be a fool to, what with the CBA variables you mentioned that might come to fruition.

But if the CBA doesn't drastically change other than the expected reduction in the salary cap, Orlando might pursue a trade when the deadline rolls around in February of 2012. We've seen 5 top tier players move in the past 12 months - - LBJ, Bosh, Stoudemire, Carmelo and Deron Williams. The first 3 left their former teams with either nothing (Suns b/c Stoudemire opted out to become an unrestricted FA) or essentially nothing (huge trade exceptions for the Cavs and Raptors). On the other hand, both the Nuggets and Jazz got a combo of useful players/young talent/draft picks for trading their stars. If I'm Otis Smith and Howard shows no interest in reupping, I see the writing on the wall and get some worthwhile return for Howard leaving.

The reality is that there hasn't been an NBA champion in decades that didn't have at least 2 or 3 top-flight players on their roster, with a solid supporting cast:

1) Bulls had MJ & Pippen, with Ho Grant, then later Rodman.
2) Lakers had the Magic & Kareem combo with Michael Cooper and Byron Scott alongside; then Shaq in his prime paired with Kobe; then Kobe with Gasol.
3) Celtics had 3 HoFers in Bird, McHale and Parish paired with solid guards in Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge; then Pierce, KG, Ray Allen and Rondo.
4) Spurs had Duncan and the Admiral; then TD, Parker and Ginobili.
5) Heat had DWade and Shaq.
6) Pistons had Isiah, Dumars, Rodman, Mahorn and Vinnie; then Chauncey, Rip, Ben Wallace and Tayshaun (sum is greater than the parts with the 2004 champs).
7). Rockets had Hakeem with a young Robert Horry, then got Drexler for their second championship (lucky for them that MJ was retired trying to play baseball).

The Magic don't have a championship caliber roster right now, and Howard knows it. No help is coming as they're well over the cap currently. Loyalty is a warm and fuzzy thing, but it won't get Howard a ring. Unless something dramatic happens with his surrounding cast, he leaves after next season for a better situation.

I'd be surprised if amnesty occurs. It rewards the big market and more successful teams, and provides very little return for smaller market squads and those who've been savvy with managing their rosters.

Originally Posted by carendt242

if you're talking about the 'amnesty clause', it could work something like:
- team drops player
- player still gets paid in full
- and the player can now be signed to a 2nd contract by another team (double payday)
- but team doesn't have to count the salary against its cap

so if you have a team that likes to spend $$$ (Orlando, LA, Dallas), they'd sign someone up to replace the amnesty contract (essentially paying 2 people for the price of 1.)

That would be something that could work, but making the contracts into something else, without giving the players their deserved money (contractually wise) would be a problem in any case now.

But we will have to wait for the finals to go through, see if the CBA will be resolved until next season starts. Hopefully it does, don't want to come over there and find out there are no NBA games then!