What Brown Can't Do For You

Shannon Brown has opted out of the final year of his contract by declining his player option and electing to become a free agent, whenever that may be as the players will be officially locked out as of midnight ET tonight.

Brown joined the Lakers in the middle of the 2008-2009 season in a trade deadline deal with Charlotte, along with Adam Morrison, for Vladimir Radmanovic. He averaged about eight points a game the last two seasons.

BREAKING: Locked Out!

The NBA has locked out its players today.

The current collective bargaining agreement ends tonight at midnight ET.

The sides are far apart in negotiations on all major issues.

This includes salaries to salary cap, revenues to revenue sharing.

All league business has been suspended.

Free agency has been put on hold.

Games could be lost, as well.

Last lockout in 1998-99 resulted in a shortened 50-game season.

Talks could resume in next "two to three weeks."

It's Official

Well, that didn't take long.

Just drafted F Chukwudiebere Maduabum of Nigeria has been traded.

Maduabum will take his services to Denver.

In return, Lakers get a future second-round pick.

We hardly knew ye, Chuky!

Laker Draft Picks

As mentioned earlier, Lakers had four second-round picks in tonight's draft.

Here are the players they drafted:

• 41st: G Darius Morris, from Michigan
• 46th: G Andrew Goudelock, from College of Charleston
• 56th: F Chukwudiebere Maduabum, from Nigeria (go ahead, try to pronounce it!)
• 58th: F Ater Majok

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has already suggested either Maduabum or Majok could be traded later tonight, with the other going to Europe.

Lakers are also still waiting on whether Shannon Brown will exercise or decline his player option.

This could greatly affect the training camp roster and whether or not Gouldelock has a chance to make the team or not.

Meanwhile, Cleveland took Duke G Kyrie Irving with the first overall pick.

Arizona F Derrick Williams went second overall to Minnesota.

And two UCLA players were drafted, as well.

F Tyler Honeycutt was drafted in the second round by the Kings with 35th pick.

G Malcolm Lee was drafted by the Bulls with 53rd pick.

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And finally, from the "Say what?!" files...

Ron Artest has filed paperwork in L.A. to legally change his name to...

Metta World Peace.

No joke.

Read about it here.

Draft Day Has Arrived

As usual, Lakers aren't expected to be big players at the draft.

They have no first round picks again.

But they have been trying to trade up to get into the Top 5.

And yesterday a rumor surfaced that they had made an offer for the second pick.

That pick is held by Minnesota who is expected to take Arizona forward Derrick Williams.

The rumored offer was Lamar Odom for Kevin Love and the pick.

As of right now, it looks like it's not happening.

However, trading Odom might not be a bad idea because he has a very attractive contract.

And if it meant getting Love and drafting Williams?

Well, that could fill two holes created by moving Odom.

One other rumor worth mentioning...

Odom and Ron Artest for Andre Iguodala. Would you do that one?

For now, Lakers have four second round picks (41, 46, 56 & 58).

My guess is that will be the extent of their night.

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Other tidbits...

Brian Shaw has been named Associate Head Coach of Indiana Pacers.

Matt Barnes has exercised his option and will return next season.

Bill Macdonald and John Ireland headline new Lakers broadcast teams.

Macdonald joins Stu Lantz as TV play-by-play guy, replacing Joel Myers.

Ireland replaces Spero Dedes on radio and will team up with Mychal Thompson.

Former Laker Center Shaquille O'Neal has retired after 19 seasons.

We Have a New Champion

Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks on a job well done as they defeated the Miami Heat tonight 105-95 to clinch the 2011 NBA Championship in six games and earn their first ever NBA title.

Dirk Nowitzki was named series MVP.

I gained a lot of respect for this Mavs team as they had to go through the two-time defending champion Lakers to get this far. The Mavs earned this title.

My congrats also go out to all the Mavs fans out there here in DFW. As a relatively new resident here (four years) transplanted from L.A., I've come to know plenty of Mavs fans and they are some of the best fans in the world. So enjoy the win and the championship, and enjoy the parade in a couple of days. And as a reminder, from a Laker fan who didn't celebrate like a fool in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 or 2010, please celebrate peacefully with class and dignity! In other words, don't burn down your city!

This Just Totally Irks Me

You know, I somehow expected this from Lebron James.

He already comes across as an arrogant, immature, pompous ass.

No wonder people are losing all respect for the guy!

But Dwayne Wade, too? I expected better from him...

Beautiful sportsmanship. Seriously...

This just exemplifies why I'm rooting hard for Dallas to win this thing.

One more win!

Two and a Half Months

Ok, so I stole that title from the CBS hit sitcom. So sue me!

But yes, it's been a while, so let's get right to it and recap from where we left off...

We knew the Lakers got the two-seed and drew New Orleans in first round.

We knew they lost Game 1 at home.

They won the series in six.

They drew Dallas in the next round, and got slammed.

Dallas swept them in four games, and it wasn't pretty.

Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom committed stupid, ugly fouls in Game 4.

Bynum has been suspended for start of next season.

Pau Gasol simply didn't show up at all in the playoffs.

Quest for Three-peat Part II came to a crashing end.

Dallas is now playing Miami for the NBA title.

Series is tied 2-2, and the series has been closer than that!

Dirk Nowitzki is in "beastmode"; Lebron James has been MIA.

Phil Jackson retired; Mike Brown (yes, really, that Mike Brown!) was hired to replace him.

So long, triangle offense.

Moving forward in the off-season, here are five things the Lakers need...

• Kobe healthy
• Younger and quicker point guard (Chris Paul or Deron Williams, anyone?)
• Shooters who can make their shots
• More consistent bench play
• Dwight Howard

All that said, everything is peachy in Laker-land.

In the meantime, we wait for a new champion, free agency and a possible league work-stoppage.