Lamar Odom - Free Agent

Go after Lamar Odom for a front line of (Hawes, JT, Odom)?

  • Yes, go after Lamar.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Pass on Lamar and go after Hedo.

    Votes: 10 21.7%

  • Pass on both & go after someone else.

    Votes: 36 78.3%
  • Total voters
    46
P

Peter_Gibbons

Starter
With all the talk of Hedo at SF, what about Lamar Odom?

He is a match up problem for almost every team in the league, can take the ball inside, shoot from up to 18 ft. Most importantly, he REBOUNDS.

He has stated that he would like to resign with the lakers but thats under a perfect scenario. The lakers are already well over the salary cap. Bynum's contract balloons starting next yr.

They also have to resign kobe. kobe is not going anywhere but he will not take anything lower than max for a veteran of his experience for 5-6 yrs. That will look up even more $.

ARIZA - the lakers will have to resign him too and his agent already said even before his playoff performance that he is seeking $7-$8 million. Thats before his game changing steals and 13 pt second half to get the lakers back. I know he is overrated for that kind of money, but they will take it if someone is willing to pay.

So Odom is most likely the odd man out in terms of $. He is around 30 and on his last leg looking for his last long term contract. After all the championship emotions boils over, he will go to whoever gives him the most $.

So should we go after him? Thats the discussion.
 
The better option is not wasting cap space on guys who aren't impact players and are on the wrong side of 30.
 
what's with all of these free agent threads that are targeting players who are good now? we won't be contending for a while and should be targeting hidden potential/young guys so that they can be at their peak when this team actually matters again.
 
Vlade4GM said:
The better option is not wasting cap space on guys who aren't impact players and are on the wrong side of 30.
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On second thought though.... how often do you get to sign a very good player for a reasonable amount and get him at his prime during the entire 5-6 yr contract?

That really only happens when you draft a player and he develops and you resign him.... like Kevin Martin. Otherwise, the player usually has been around the block and developed along the way.

At 30, either of these guys still has 3 yrs of their prime. Thats about all you can ask for. Most long term contracts that players sign always takes them into the "old" stage of their career. If we are waiting for free agent players that are just at the begining of their prime and has already developed to be very good players.... I don't think we'll ever get that.
 
Peter_Gibbons said:
On second thought though.... how often do you get to sign a very good player for a reasonable amount and get him at his prime during the entire 5-6 yr contract?

That really only happens when you draft a player and he develops and you resign him.... like Kevin Martin. Otherwise, the player usually has been around the block and developed along the way.

At 30, either of these guys still has 3 yrs of their prime. Thats about all you can ask for. Most long term contracts that players sign always takes them into the "old" stage of their career. If we are waiting for free agent players that are just at the begining of their prime and has already developed to be very good players.... I don't think we'll ever get that.
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Well players like that may or may not be available but that doesn't make wasting cap space on guys who are too old for a team in the early stages of a rebuild a good idea. I'd rather just see what options we have next year, and there will be more options next year with more free agents and more cap space.
 
I actually really like LO as a player, but have 2 problems with us signing him.

1 - He'll want way too much money to come to a bad team. A contender might get him for slightly more than the MLE, but for us to outbid the other teams we would have to pay him 8-10 million a year and he's not worth that to us.

2 - His age. Not only is he already 30 and our window probably won't be open for another couple of years. But I just see Lamar aging badly. He's always had a reputation of being lazy and inconsistent, but does well because of his combination of size, strength, athleticism and fluidity. However, as those start to decline, I'm just not sure he has enough skill to fall back on. He should have a couple of good years left in him for a contender, but I see him losing it quickly when it does go.
 
Past the age of players we should covet, and while he's definitely very talented and multifaceted, that combination plus his age operates best under playoff teams--I don't think he'd want to start anew, especially after winning a championship.

Hedo is more plausible, if only because of his connections with us during the glory days
 
Lamar is not only old, but more importantly he is too inconsistent. He just disappears at times.

I would love to have Ariza, and he probably along with Gasol are the only Lakers I've wanted this entire decade.
 
Sptsjunkie said:
I actually really like LO as a player, but have 2 problems with us signing him.

1 - He'll want way too much money to come to a bad team. A contender might get him for slightly more than the MLE, but for us to outbid the other teams we would have to pay him 8-10 million a year and he's not worth that to us.

2 - His age. Not only is he already 30 and our window probably won't be open for another couple of years. But I just see Lamar aging badly. He's always had a reputation of being lazy and inconsistent, but does well because of his combination of size, strength, athleticism and fluidity. However, as those start to decline, I'm just not sure he has enough skill to fall back on. He should have a couple of good years left in him for a contender, but I see him losing it quickly when it does go.
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Well I'm going to disagree with you on the skill part. I think he's very skilled. He's an excellent passer and has good Basketball IQ. However I agree with everything else you said. I'm not sure if he's lazy, but he is very inconsistant. I've always thought of him as a rich man's Billy Owens.

But he's going to want a 5 or 6 year deal at around 10 mil a year. Maybe more. He's already played in over 600 games, so he's probably got about three years of production left in him, if that. It just doesn't make sense for the Kings.
 
bajaden said:
Well I'm going to disagree with you on the skill part. I think he's very skilled. He's an excellent passer and has good Basketball IQ. However I agree with everything else you said. I'm not sure if he's lazy, but he is very inconsistant. I've always thought of him as a rich man's Billy Owens.

But he's going to want a 5 or 6 year deal at around 10 mil a year. Maybe more. He's already played in over 600 games, so he's probably got about three years of production left in him, if that. It just doesn't make sense for the Kings.
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You're right, "skill" was the wrong word to use. I guess instead of saying he was unskilled, I should have said, I don't think he has the right skill set to be effective as he ages. A lot of his game is based upon being too fast for opposing PFs and too strong for opposing SGs. As his speed decreases, he cannot score in enough ways to compensate. He's been a very inconsistent shooter throughout his career. I just see him going downhill quickly.
 
Hedo supporters.... for discussion..

What makes Hedo any different than Odom in terms of both being 30 yrs old and both playing a style of game that somewhat requires speed. Both are skilled players.
 
I love both of them but don't think that they would be right for the team right now. Better if we look for someone a little younger...
 
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