the first line is
"EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -- Kobe Bryant said he plans to stay with the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers even he if opts out of his contract this summer." ???
Ok, I'm about to get "hate mail" for saying this BUT..........I would sign Ariza and.........Ron Artest. Odom played huge....but I really don't trust him once he signs a new contract.......gotta also say that he is bound to start having medical problems from his candy diet sooner or later....it scares me!!!!!!
as i have been saying for a few months now his best option money wise is an extension, so the answer is, no, yes. maybe? it's complicated here's the quick and dirty he makes more if he stands pat.
current contract
$23,034,307 in 2009-10, $24,806,250 in 2010-11
opt out new contract
$22,325,625 in 2009-10 , raises up to 10.5% yearly (negotiated) but this contract starts to nip at the over 36 rules so it would have to be a five years max or it screws up the lakers salary cap even more and costs him moneys now that would be tied up in an escrow account
extend current contract 3 years
$25,452,984 first year of extension and total $83,614,781 over three seasons. and carries the terms of his current contract.
it's all in the same ballpark he's not going to get gobbs of extra money heaped on him under any of the scenarios, we are talking about a 1 million dollar per year difference in all 3
the 4th option is let the contract run it's course and sign a new one but that one would then be subject to a new CBA and that's a complete guess as to what is going to happen with that.
all my numbers came from an article on another website of which i cannot link here to. the ones i came up with a month ago were similar so thse are solid numbers, close enough for discussion at least
Ok, I'm about to get "hate mail" for saying this BUT..........I would sign Ariza and.........Ron Artest. Odom played huge....but I really don't trust him once he signs a new contract.......gotta also say that he is bound to start having medical problems from his candy diet sooner or later....it scares me!!!!!!
lol i think you are overspeculating a bit on this candy diet thing.
I don't care if Odom scores or not now. The fact is he takes pressure off our guards with his handling...his shooting and offensive moves got a lot better, and his rebounding and unselfishness have always existed even when he first came to the lakers.
C'mon DK, I trust you watched the rockets series. Artest was not just a black hole but the whole milky way if I ever saw it.
lol i think you are overspeculating a bit on this candy diet thing.
I don't care if Odom scores or not now. The fact is he takes pressure off our guards with his handling...his shooting and offensive moves got a lot better, and his rebounding and unselfishness have always existed even when he first came to the lakers.
C'mon DK, I trust you watched the rockets series. Artest was not just a black hole but the whole milky way if I ever saw it.
I thought Artest played great on a disabled team, he fought hard every minute and really kept them in the game....now if you switch he and Odom in that series it's Lakers in 5. The guy I wanted the Lakers to take instead of Crittendon, Brooks played ok too Your argument is just like the bashing of Kobe when people said he shot too much....what else can you do if youre playing with nothing around you? Artest is much more consistent than Odom.
Dude ate $75 worth of candy after practice......and I don't mean expensive Godiva Chocolates!!!! lol
I thought Artest played great on a disabled team, he fought hard every minute and really kept them in the game....now if you switch he and Odom in that series it's Lakers in 5. The guy I wanted the Lakers to take instead of Crittendon, Brooks played ok too Your argument is just like the bashing of Kobe when people said he shot too much....what else can you do if youre playing with nothing around you? Artest is much more consistent than Odom.
Dude ate $75 worth of candy after practice......and I don't mean expensive Godiva Chocolates!!!! lol
i've always liked artest too, but the problem with your idea is that it places a lot of trust in the knees of andrew bynum. and i'm definitely not ready to do that.
odom is great because he makes our team complete no matter the circumstances we find. literally, for spells he can play one of four positions, despite his shortcomings.
I thought Artest played great on a disabled team, he fought hard every minute and really kept them in the game....now if you switch he and Odom in that series it's Lakers in 5. The guy I wanted the Lakers to take instead of Crittendon, Brooks played ok too Your argument is just like the bashing of Kobe when people said he shot too much....what else can you do if youre playing with nothing around you? Artest is much more consistent than Odom.
Dude ate $75 worth of candy after practice......and I don't mean expensive Godiva Chocolates!!!! lol
lool Dude, Artest shot the basketball when 4 guys were guarding him. He kept shooting when there were passing options.
If Odom was on the rockets instead of Artest, the series would have been closer in a sense that we wouldn't have blown them out, because odom is a good passer and he would have made other guys better such as battier, Aaron Brooks and so forth.
If there is any consistency in artest, its consistency of being a black hole. JVG who is a great coach repeatedly kept on saying "Artest with a terrible shot....Artest with terrible shot selection.....artest keeps making poor decisions".
Artest ruined any chances of an amazing upset on the lakers lool.
I know you used to coach bball, and no disrespect but Im gonna go with JVG on this one considering hes a rocket lover.
i've always liked artest too, but the problem with your idea is that it places a lot of trust in the knees of andrew bynum. and i'm definitely not ready to do that.
odom is great because he makes our team complete no matter the circumstances we find. literally, for spells he can play one of four positions, despite his shortcomings.
I'm not worried about Bynum's knees at all, I think MBenga can play as well as Bynum did in the playoffs (Not as well as Bynum at his Beasting Best).
And yeah Lakerfreak, i'm still coaching and winning championships and yeah I think Artest would play better on the Lakers.....I think he would make us completely unbeatable just as I said the Bulls would be when they got Rodman......a lot of people argued with me on that one but I swore they would break the season wins record and they did!!!! Yeah.....don't give me the Jordan G.O.A.T stuff blah blah blah....that's obvious......but he couldn't win it alone.
Last year it was Artest is a Cancerous nutcase that no one wants......at least I haven't heard that garbage yet.
I'm not worried about Bynum's knees at all, I think MBenga can play as well as Bynum did in the playoffs (Not as well as Bynum at his Beasting Best).
And yeah Lakerfreak, i'm still coaching and winning championships and yeah I think Artest would play better on the Lakers.....I think he would make us completely unbeatable just as I said the Bulls would be when they got Rodman......a lot of people argued with me on that one but I swore they would break the season wins record and they did!!!! Yeah.....don't give me the Jordan G.O.A.T stuff blah blah blah....that's obvious......but he couldn't win it alone.
Last year it was Artest is a Cancerous nutcase that no one wants......at least I haven't heard that garbage yet.
my point was if bynum goes down we need odom to step in at the pf spot. he and pau are a really impressive option.
mbenga is a good third center off the bench but not a go-to player for a team with championship aspirations.
artest couldn't consistently play the pf spot. one of our biggest advantages is our height and versatility
We saw too many times this season Artest throw games away having to be "the man". He's not the man nor will he ever be the man and until he realizes he is a role player that is the 4th or 5th option at best he'll never fit in anywhere.
Kobe lit the guy up like a cheap tiki torch and Artest just fell into the trap like he always does then to top it off was a no show for the most part in the Houston series. Artest is fine right where he is now, he's does far more for the Lakers being a Rocket then he would being a Laker
The man is 31 years old now, been in the league going on 11 seasons, on his 4th team and people are still waiting for him to find his niche, the team where he can shine. It's not coming folks, his best defensive days are over (both steals and blocks far below his average this past season), this season he had one of his worst seasons ever efficiency wise.
This is not the type of player you waste even the MLE on or sign to a contract of any length, Lakers need to take positive steps. Let the Rockets sign him to another 9 million per year contract. The Lakers don't need him for that kind of money.
Re: Odom or Ariza 2010?
Re: Odom or Ariza 2010?
Your argument is just like the bashing of Kobe when people said he shot too much....what else can you do if youre playing with nothing around you? Artest is much more consistent than Odom.
