Now that Odom's got his contract, are the Lakers done?

[TitleMaster]

Let's face it fellows, the truth is that Odom doesn't want to play for Kobe; he simply wants a paycheck. I'd seen this sort of behavior, among former employees, who used to be star performers, completely mail in their roles, after a management re-org.

Likewise, with a guaranteed paycheck and Ariza not around, the Lakers are back to their '08 self, where we'd toasted 'em in the finals. I repeat, the Lakers do not have a wrecking ball crew around, just a hyped Bynum (this is not a problem for either Perks or Rasheed), a medium-to-soft Gasol (again, not an issue but a person to keep an eye on), and a half-asleep Odom who'll pass the ball back to KG, as soon as Kobe gives him a dirty look.

[Eja117]

Come to think of it I think the Lakers/Cavs games should be interesting this year

[fairweatherfan]

They're done, all right 

[cornbreadsmart]

i hope i'm wrong but i'm surprised people still think bynum is gonna play the way he has. the dude has serious potential.he stays healthy it's trouble. i agree odom is a joke. he almost makes me feel better when he checks in the game. i just always expect him to screw up.playing devil's advocate i' say pau gasol is not soft AT ALL. i think kg made him look that way in 2008 but i don't expect kg to be quite that player while gasol has improved a bit.
  kg was a nightmare for pau,then. let's see if he's still that dominant vs. him.
  i'm actually not completely sold on ron artest. i think so much of the laker success for the coming season is how much the referees allow artest to foul BEFORE his man catches the ball.if they're not on top of this and apply different rules to him than any other player(i thought rodman got this treatment). his offense is'nt pretty though.it's aggressive but i dunno.. choppy i guess?

[Tai]

Let's face it fellows, the truth is that Odom doesn't want to play for Kobe; he simply wants a paycheck. I'd seen this sort of behavior, among former employees, who used to be star performers, completely mail in their roles, after a management re-org.

Likewise, with a guaranteed paycheck and Ariza not around, the Lakers are back to their '08 self, where we'd toasted 'em in the finals. I repeat, the Lakers do not have a wrecking ball crew around, just a hyped Bynum (this is not a problem for either Perks or Rasheed), a medium-to-soft Gasol (again, not an issue but a person to keep an eye on), and a half-asleep Odom who'll pass the ball back to KG, as soon as Kobe gives him a dirty look.

 

I don't know about Artest, but don't become like ESPN and try to make a mountain out of a mole hill on Odom. Until it's clear Odom wants to go out of his way to not perform as well as he can, I'm going to mark this has nothing more than speculation and conjecture.

I'd love for the Celtics to beat the Lakers has much as the next Celtic fan here, but I don't think Odom will try and be a distraction. You mind providing me a link saying that Odom doesn't want to play with Kobe, btw? I'm sure he wants to get paid as much as the next NBA player (BBD anyone?), but I wanna know how that translates into not wanting to play with Kobe.

And Artest. I'm sure Kobe signed off on him going to LA. Any possible distraction he could be is also speculation. He didn't seem to be a problem in Houston, at least.

[liam]

The Lakers are done this year because of San Antonio. the Spurs if healthy will beat the Lakers. They added players and last year didn't have Manu. the Spurs are the favorite to win the west in my mind. The Celtics / Spurs finals.

[JSD]

Let's face it fellows, the truth is that Odom doesn't want to play for Kobe; he simply wants a paycheck. I'd seen this sort of behavior, among former employees, who used to be star performers, completely mail in their roles, after a management re-org.

Likewise, with a guaranteed paycheck and Ariza not around, the Lakers are back to their '08 self, where we'd toasted 'em in the finals. I repeat, the Lakers do not have a wrecking ball crew around, just a hyped Bynum (this is not a problem for either Perks or Rasheed), a medium-to-soft Gasol (again, not an issue but a person to keep an eye on), and a half-asleep Odom who'll pass the ball back to KG, as soon as Kobe gives him a dirty look.

So you think Ariza is more effective at this point than Artest?

[Fafnir]

Let's face it fellows, the truth is that Odom doesn't want to play for Kobe; he simply wants a paycheck. I'd seen this sort of behavior, among former employees, who used to be star performers, completely mail in their roles, after a management re-org.

Likewise, with a guaranteed paycheck and Ariza not around, the Lakers are back to their '08 self, where we'd toasted 'em in the finals. I repeat, the Lakers do not have a wrecking ball crew around, just a hyped Bynum (this is not a problem for either Perks or Rasheed), a medium-to-soft Gasol (again, not an issue but a person to keep an eye on), and a half-asleep Odom who'll pass the ball back to KG, as soon as Kobe gives him a dirty look.

So you think Ariza is more effective at this point than Artest?

I do. Artest is a better defender at this point, but not by much.

Ariza is a higher efficiency, lower usage player on offense. He's a much better fit for a Lakers team that already has three players who will take up the majority of possessions.

[JSD]

Let's face it fellows, the truth is that Odom doesn't want to play for Kobe; he simply wants a paycheck. I'd seen this sort of behavior, among former employees, who used to be star performers, completely mail in their roles, after a management re-org.

Likewise, with a guaranteed paycheck and Ariza not around, the Lakers are back to their '08 self, where we'd toasted 'em in the finals. I repeat, the Lakers do not have a wrecking ball crew around, just a hyped Bynum (this is not a problem for either Perks or Rasheed), a medium-to-soft Gasol (again, not an issue but a person to keep an eye on), and a half-asleep Odom who'll pass the ball back to KG, as soon as Kobe gives him a dirty look.

So you think Ariza is more effective at this point than Artest?

I do. Artest is a better defender at this point, but not by much.

Ariza is a higher efficiency, lower usage player on offense. He's a much better fit for a Lakers team that already has three players who will take up the majority of possessions.

Ok, I agree with that. Artest is going to want his shots to a degree. So you think he's a better fit for that Lakers team? I would love to see a chemistry issue come up this season in LA.

[Fafnir]

Let's face it fellows, the truth is that Odom doesn't want to play for Kobe; he simply wants a paycheck. I'd seen this sort of behavior, among former employees, who used to be star performers, completely mail in their roles, after a management re-org.

Likewise, with a guaranteed paycheck and Ariza not around, the Lakers are back to their '08 self, where we'd toasted 'em in the finals. I repeat, the Lakers do not have a wrecking ball crew around, just a hyped Bynum (this is not a problem for either Perks or Rasheed), a medium-to-soft Gasol (again, not an issue but a person to keep an eye on), and a half-asleep Odom who'll pass the ball back to KG, as soon as Kobe gives him a dirty look.

So you think Ariza is more effective at this point than Artest?

I do. Artest is a better defender at this point, but not by much.

Ariza is a higher efficiency, lower usage player on offense. He's a much better fit for a Lakers team that already has three players who will take up the majority of possessions.

Ok, I agree with that. Artest is going to want his shots to a degree. So you think he's a better fit for that Lakers team? I would love to see a chemistry issue come up this season in LA.

I don't know, apparently Odom is one of Ron's best friends. They played on the same AAU teams and all that since they were in middle school. That could help him keep it together.

I do think there will be games they lose because Ron decides to take a number of bad shots. But for at least one year it'll work well enough...