Garnett to Lakers?

[kaorder1999]

Reports are beginning to leak that the Lakers and Timberwolves are working on a deal that sends Garnett to LA. The deal does not include Kobe. Interestsing!

[KTA]

links?

[KTA]

never mind
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2916217

[kaorder1999]

Garnett to Lakers? (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2916217)

[charlesrixey]

certainly interesting, but if they are trying to pair kobe with garnett, it will be interesting, since they will likely have to give up a crapload of their young talent to make it equitable

[JR2004]

Originally posted by charlesrixey
certainly interesting, but if they are trying to pair kobe with garnett, it will be interesting, since they will likely have to give up a crapload of their young talent to make it equitable

We don't have a crapload of young talent. Our young talent consists of Bynum and Farmar and that's where it ends. If we keep Farmar all the better. It looks like this could realistically happen since Buss took time out of his busy womanizing schedule to call Glen Taylor and inform him he'll give Garnett an extension.

If this happens along with a couple of good veteran signings this summer the Purple and Gold vault right back up to title contender status.

[charlesrixey]

Originally posted by JR2004
We don't have a crapload of young talent. Our young talent consists of Bynum and Farmar and that's where it ends. If we keep Farmar all the better. It looks like this could realistically happen since Buss took time out of his busy womanizing schedule to call Glen Taylor and inform him he'll give Garnett an extension.

If this happens along with a couple of good veteran signings this summer the Purple and Gold vault right back up to title contender status.

yes, but how do they make it equal in the money department? They're going to have to give up bynum and a couple of others

who?

[JR2004]

Originally posted by charlesrixey
yes, but how do they make it equal in the money department? They're going to have to give up bynum and a couple of others

who?

Odom is gone in this deal. He's the biggest chunk of the money (Around 15 million or so last I checked I believe) that's necessary. I see Space Cadet being dealt as well if they need the money to even out. I'm all for him leaving ASAP. I really like Turiaf's attitude and hustle, but if you can net Garnett you have to ship him out if he's being asked for. Really everyone on the roster outside of Kobe should be up for grabs because most of them didn't perform at all after the all-star break.

Having KG, along with Kobe, is enough to entice vets to sign on to play much like what happened during the Shaq and Kobe glory years when guys took less salary (A lot was made up by guys like Fox through endorsements) to win rings.

[dogdad]

yawn

[JR2004]

Originally posted by dogdad
yawn

That's some amazing insight right there.

[BILLYFRED0000]

Well put it another way. The slackers are stuck and KG won't fix it by himself. It will make them the number 5 team in the west maybe the number 4 but that is all. Spurs, Mavs, and Suns are still 1 2 and 3 and it will be even money with the Rockets although I give the slackers the edge because of T-Macs back....

[Bull Butter]

Lots of off-season uncertainty for the Suns. Rockets won't get any higher than the # 4 or 5 spot until they find another scoring option

[jason]

Originally posted by JR2004
That's some amazing insight right there. he never contributes much...


garnet to the lakers = somebody else to steal the show from kobe so he can cry more - i dont think the lakers will get rid of him unless they get another mvp caliber player...d wade or dirk for example (and i know neither one of them will be leaving their respective teams)...

[dogdad]

Originally posted by JR2004
That's some amazing insight right there.
Lakers=boring
Kobe=boring
Jason=even more boring

[maestro]

i'd love this move for garnett...

he deserves to be on a winner...

[dogdad]

lakers are winners?????

[luvhoops34]

just more drama surrounding the lakers....yawn*

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by Bull Butter
Rockets won't get any higher than the # 4 or 5 spot until they find another scoring option I love the addition of Mike James. He is an improvement over Rafer Alston. If he can return to the form he had in Toronto, then the Rockets just got a lot better. Plus Bonzi is back and with a new attitude with his old coach.

I think the Rockets are significantly better next year.

[Phil C]

I hope Minnesota gets fair compensation. The NBA is known to put pressure to one sided deals when it benefits LA or NY or Chicago because of the heavey tv market draw. They forget that even though San Antonio has a smaller market draw that they make up for it in quality because you have many Texas oil millionares and fat cats that watch the Spurs and spend mucho money perhapts more than the quantity in the other cities.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by BILLYFRED0000
Well put it another way. The slackers are stuck and KG won't fix it by himself. It will make them the number 5 team in the west maybe the number 4 but that is all. Spurs, Mavs, and Suns are still 1 2 and 3 and it will be even money with the Rockets although I give the slackers the edge because of T-Macs back....
No way. Lakers automatically ascend to top three, pushing the Suns out.

Even if Suns owner Robert Sarver wasn't looking to get out of the luxury tax threshold by dealing either Amare or Marion for cap space, this Laker team would still be a huge problem for the Suns. Kobe came within five quarters of beating them by himself. If you throw in KG, I don't care who else starts, they're one of the top three teams in the NBA and the only team that truly scares me as a Spurs fan.

KG is the closest thing to a Duncan neutralizer outside of Rasheed Wallace, and Kobe's the most unstoppable player in the league. If they can win 45 games with a starting lineup of...

PG: Smush Parker
SG: Kobe
SF: Luke Walton
PF: Lamar Odom
C: Kwame Brown

...and absolutely no depth, then they can win at least-- at least-- ten more with a starting lineup of...

PG: Smush Parker
SG: Kobe
SF: Luke Walton (perfect situation for him... an outside shooter to take the pressure off Kobe and KG)
PF: Garnett
C: Kwame Brown

...and no depth.

Granted, I'm sure they'd like to see Parker in a reserve role and get some more toughness and rebounding in their reserves down low, but that's not a bad lineup. That's actually a lineup that the Spurs would hate to see. Much MUCH scarier than the boys out in Phoenix or up in Big D.

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
No way. Lakers automatically ascend to top three, pushing the Suns out.

Even if Suns owner Robert Sarver wasn't looking to get out of the luxury tax threshold by dealing either Amare or Marion for cap space, this Laker team would still be a huge problem for the Suns. Kobe came within five quarters of beating them by himself. If you throw in KG, I don't care who else starts, they're one of the top three teams in the NBA and the only team that truly scares me as a Spurs fan.

KG is the closest thing to a Duncan neutralizer outside of Rasheed Wallace, and Kobe's the most unstoppable player in the league. If they can win 45 games with a starting lineup of...

PG: Smush Parker
SG: Kobe
SF: Luke Walton
PF: Lamar Odom
C: Kwame Brown

...and absolutely no depth, then they can win at least-- at least-- ten more with a starting lineup of...

PG: Smush Parker
SG: Kobe
SF: Luke Walton (perfect situation for him... an outside shooter to take the pressure off Kobe and KG)
PF: Garnett
C: Kwame Brown

...and no depth.

Granted, I'm sure they'd like to see Parker in a reserve role and get some more toughness and rebounding in their reserves down low, but that's not a bad lineup. That's actually a lineup that the Spurs would hate to see. Much MUCH scarier than the boys out in Phoenix or up in Big D.

I say give 'em till the All-star break, we'll see by then... Garnett is used to the O going through him, Kobe used to it going through Kobe, so it'll take a while to adjust, but I agree they'll be in that top 3...

[big daddy russ]

By the way, bank on these things happening this offseason...

1. Marcus Camby being dealt from the Nuggets.

2. Either Shawn Marion or Amare Stoudemire being dealt from the Suns. Right now, it looks like Amare. He's nowhere near the player that Marion is (he's merely a finisher... think Antonio McDyess pre-injury, with exactly one go-to post move and a hitch in his movement when he's forced to go to his second move), reportedly has attitude problems, and has huge value right now.

3. Rasheed Wallace being dealt. Right now, a lot of the talk is surrounding Orlando. Can you imagine Orlando with a frontcourt of Dwight Howard, Rasheed, Grant Hill if he re-signs, and Darko as a change-of-pace backup?

4. Jason Terry staying put and Dallas being a 60-win team all over again.

5. The Spurs retaining all their key free agents (Oberto, Finley and Vaughn).

6. Golden State making a move during the offseason and Baron Davis coming into next season as healthy as ever.

7. Jermaine O'Neal going somewhere. He's been linked to LA, Boston, and several other destinations, but the most likely place for him to wind up would be New York. Unless Danny Ainge is even more of an idiot than I give him credit for, there's no way he should even think of trading the #5 and Al Jefferson (who's close to being as good as O'Neal) for the disgruntled PF. Indy and NY, meanwhile, have been desperate to shake things up but haven't found any partners who want to do business. It's a match made in heaven.

8. Chauncey Billups following Rasheed to Orlando as a free agent.


We'll see how many of my predictions pan out, but either way, big trades like a Garnett or Kobe deal are extremely hard to do. BUT, if the Lakers were to get Garnett and the rest of my preditions pan out, this is what all these moves will mean...

-The death of Jermaine O'Neal's career.
-The resurrection of Stan VanGundy's.
-The East with one legitimate title contender (Orlando).
-The Nuggets realizing that their time is not now, but three years from now. They take a temporary step back with some more youth to go along with the fire of AI, but are a better team because of it.
-The Mavs again earn the best record in the NBA.
-A Warriors/Mavs second-round playoff series looming. I expect the Warriors to knock the Suns out of the playoffs in the 4 vs. 5 Western Conference first round series and the Mavs to struggle against another eight seed in Denver.
-Houston and Utah getting better with age, but not good enough to trump the three teams at the top of the pile.
-The Spurs winning about 55 games and earning the third seed in the West. That's the unlucky draw the Rockets get.
-The East again being a one-horse show. But at least this team will be better than the Pistons . That's right, I still firmly believe that Cleveland had no business being in the Finals.
-Cleveland winning another 50 games. Most of those wins (just like last year) come at the hands of teams they're legitimately better than. Teams like Indiana, Boston, New York, and, yes, Toronto. Most of their 30 or so losses, on the other hand, will come at the hands of teams that they're legitimately worse than. Teams like San Antonio, Dallas, Los Angeles, Golden State, Orlando, and Houston. Notice where the majority of the 'better' teams are located.
-Finally, Kobe will take all the LeBron talk personally and ask PJ if he can guard LeBron whenever they meet up. Jackson agrees, and Kobe (being one of the three best perimeter defenders in the league) absolutely dominates LBJ on both ends of the court. He'll Bowen LBJ on that end of the court and exploit James' pathetic excuse for D on the other, cementing his place firmly above James' in the hierarchy of NBA players.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by Gobbla2001
I say give 'em till the All-star break, we'll see by then... Garnett is used to the O going through him, Kobe used to it going through Kobe, so it'll take a while to adjust, but I agree they'll be in that top 3...
The reason Kobe wanted J-Kidd so bad (look up the video taped-rant that's been leaked to the press by some college kids) was because he was tired of running the offense in place of Parker. In Minny, the offense actually ran through their backcourt... Ricky Davis, Randy Foye, and Mike James.

Plus Garnett is much more willing to defer than Shaq was. They'll be alright together.

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by big daddy russ

-The Spurs winning about 55 games and earning the third seed in the West. That's the unlucky draw the Rockets get. The Rockets were 2-2 against the Spurs this past season and they should have a better team this year.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
The Rockets were 2-2 against the Spurs this past season and they should have a better team this year.
Sorry J-Dog, I just don't believe in regular season records whenever it comes to the Spurs in the playoffs. I've followed the Spurs waaaay too long to get caught up in that stuff.

[burnet44]

Originally posted by dogdad
yawn

by far the best post on here

[charlesrixey]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
Sorry J-Dog, I just don't believe in regular season records whenever it comes to the Spurs in the playoffs. I've followed the Spurs waaaay too long to get caught up in that stuff.

everyone knows the regular season is the most important part of the year, DUH!

:rolleyes:

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
Sorry J-Dog, I just don't believe in regular season records whenever it comes to the Spurs in the playoffs. I've followed the Spurs waaaay too long to get caught up in that stuff. Neither did the Dallas Mavericks...;)

I'm just saying that the Rockets under Van Gundy matched up better against San Antonio than just about every other playoff team because of the way they play.

That may change this year with a new system.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by JasperDog94
Neither did the Dallas Mavericks...;)

I'm just saying that the Rockets under Van Gundy matched up better against San Antonio than just about every other playoff team because of the way they play.

That may change this year with a new system.
LOL, I see where you're coming from. But Dallas hasn't had the kind of playoff history the Spurs had.

Remember the Nuggets back in 2005? How they did great in the regular season matchup against the Spurs (what was it, 3-1?) and drew them in the first round? Denver even won game one, but SA dismantled them in the next four.

It was the same with Phoenix (the Suns went 3-1 against SA) back in the 2003, Memphis (also went 3-1) back in 2004, and just about every playoff team since (Dallas went 2-2 against them in 2003, Seattle went 2-2 back in '02, etc, etc). They're just one of those rare teams that is absolutely geared to not care about regular season records. The only team it ever mattered against was the Kobe/Shaq Lakers (the Spurs went 4-0 against LA during the 2003 regular season, when they went through the Lake Show to win their second title), but aside from Kobe and Shaq reuniting, I've put too much worry into regular season records (Spurs only) for my own good in the past. I've learned my lesson.

[JasperDog94]

Originally posted by big daddy russ
LOL, I see where you're coming from. But Dallas hasn't had the kind of playoff history the Spurs had.

Remember the Nuggets back in 2005? How they did great in the regular season matchup against the Spurs (what was it, 3-1?) and drew them in the first round? Denver even won game one, but SA dismantled them in the next four.

It was the same with Phoenix (the Suns went 3-1 against SA) back in the 2003, Memphis (also went 3-1) back in 2004, and just about every playoff team since (Dallas went 2-2 against them in 2003, Seattle went 2-2 back in '02, etc, etc). They're just one of those rare teams that is absolutely geared to not care about regular season records. The only team it ever mattered against was the Kobe/Shaq Lakers (the Spurs went 4-0 against LA during the 2003 regular season, when they went through the Lake Show to win their second title), but aside from Kobe and Shaq reuniting, I've put too much worry into regular season records (Spurs only) for my own good in the past. I've learned my lesson. I completely agree about the post season being different than the regular season. It's a totally different ball game when you play the same team over and over again in a series. That's when it becomes a game of adjustments and the Spurs have proven that they are one of the best at making adjustments and exploiting the other team's weaknesses.

[burnet44]

while the Mavs just exploit the off-season
yeah I know they WENT to the finals