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.

Lakers Pull Offers for Odom

The Lamar Odom saga has taken a new twist. The Lakers yesterday pulled their two offers on the table for Odom, saying that they were growing frustrated with him and his agent, Jeff Schwartz. The two offers are reported to be around $9MM per year for four years, and around $10MM per year for three.

According to a report today in the L.A. Times, people within the Lakers organization, and people close to Odom, however, believe that Odom wants to re-sign with the Lakers and accept one of the offers. However, his agent isn't convinced of that. Well, last time I checked, the agent works for the player, not the other way around. If a player says he wants to sign one of the contracts, it's the agent's responsibility to make sure that happens. The agent is an adviser and a negotiator, nothing more. The agent isn't the decision-maker, the player is.

Last weekend Mitch Kupchak admitted he was growing frustrated with Odom and his agent, and at the time didn't like his chances of being able to re-sign Odom, although he had hoped for a resolution 'in a couple of days.' Well those couple of days have come and gone, and no resolution has been reached, unless you count the retraction of the two offers the Lakers way of saying, ' we have reached a resolution.'

The Lakers say they will be more than willing to re-open negotiations, but Odom and his agent will have to come to them, and the two offers pulled yesterday are no longer on the table. Any new offers made by the Lakers could very well be for less than those retracted yesterday.

This all has an eerie similarity to the Dodgers situation with Manny Ramirez this past spring, doesn't it? I would guess the Lakers have grown tired of the lack of communication from the Odom Camp, and are ready to move on. It also appears obvious the Lakers have no intention what-so-ever of getting into a bidding war with themselves, as there are no other known offers from any other team for Odom. There does appear to be some lukewarm interest from at least four other teams (Dallas, Miami, Utah and Portland), but no serious talks have apparently taken place, and no offers have been made.

My advice to the Lakers is this: if re-signing Odom is going to hinder their chances of re-signing Pau Gasol when his contract is up in two years, I pass on Odom. Odom's a nice role player to have coming off the bench, and when he's on top of his game, and focused on the task at hand, he's one of the best players in the game. But his inconsistencies make him a liability. Gasol, to me, is a much more important piece of the puzzle for the future beyond the next two years. Let Odom walk, I say.

Stay tuned as this may get even stickier before it all irons out.

Looking to Next Season, Tomorrow's Draft, Phil & Kobe

Now that people have had a chance to let the title run sink in, and enjoy the parade and the hoopla that came with it all, it's time to look ahead to next season. The Lakers, like most NBA teams, have some things to take care of that need to be addressed.

The first order of business is tomorrow's draft. The Lakers have the 29th pick of the draft/first round, but it is becoming more and more apparent that they don't want to add any more guaranteed contracts to the payroll, so chances are pretty good at this point that pick will be dealt. They also have two second round picks (Nos. 42 and 59). Part of the reasoning behind all this is they want to re-sign two of their own unrestricted free agents, Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom, both small forwards who were two key components of their title run.

I was sure, that because of the uncertainty of whether or not they could re-sign both Ariza and Odom, the Lakers would use that first round pick and draft some insurance at the forward position, such as 6'9' Georgetown power forward DaJuan Summers, or possibly even go for point guard depth and draft UCLA's Darren Collison, even though Collison's size doesn't really fit into Phil Jackson's likeness for bigger guards. Either way, late word suggests the Lakers really aren't expected to make a splash at the draft tomorrow night in New York.

The only certainty of tomorrow's draft, by the way, is that L.A.'s other team will be drafting Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin with the first overall pick. After that, the rest of the draft is a crapshoot.

Back to the Lakers. The Lakers have made it clear that they will do everything in their power to re-sign both Ariza and Odom. And both players have said they not only want be back with the team, but that team also expressed the same willingness to want them both back. Whether or not they can actually do it remains to be seen. Both players, especially Ariza, will command a hefty pay raise in free agency this summer, so the Lakers will have their work cut out for them to try and get them both re-signed.

The Lakers very own human highlight reel, Shannon Brown, is also a free agent, and it is believed the Lakers want him back, as well.

The situation with Phil Jackson is more simple. He's either coming back, or he's not, but health issues have put any decision on hold until early July. There was speculation as early as yesterday that the Lakers might allow him to coach only home games, and let assistant coach Kurt Rambis coach road games. But GM Mitch Kupchak shot that idea down today saying if he comes back, he'll coach all the games. There will be no in-between. My guess is as good as anyone's but my gut tells me he will be back next season.

Finally, there's Kobe Bryant. This much we know: he will be back next year, and the year after. He does have an opt-out clause in his contract, and there was speculation he could do that to renegotiate his contract to save the team some money to allow them to re-sign Ariza, Odom and Brown. But even if that scenario played out, Kobe wouldn't get that much less than he's already making, and the Lakers wouldn't save that much on Kobe to free up addition money to re-sign Ariza, Odom and Brown. That said, its very likely Bryant will not use the opt out, and play out the final two years of his contract.

Obviously, the Lakers do have a lot issues to settle before training camp next season, but I'm pretty convinced that everything will work to the Lakers favor, and all of this talk will have been for naught.

Kobe, Shaq & P-Jax Reunited

Well, for nostalgia purposes anyway. The Big Three, as Shaq might have once called them, reunited on the same team for a one night only affair tonight, and it was apparently a rousing success! Of course, nothing could possibly top the pre-game Kazaam-like performance by Shaq as he danced, and razzled and dazzled a raucous Phoenix crowd. Shaq, the class clown of the NBA, did not disappoint in entertaining the fans, before, during, and after the game.

So could this all lead to one last hoorah for the Big Three as the Lakers make their run towards their possible 15th NBA title this June? Maybe, maybe not. There's no indication the Lakers are interested in Shaq's services with Andrew Bynum ahead of schedule in his recovery (and rehab?) from a torn MCL in his right knee. But one thing we do know, Kobe and Shaq, like they did for eight years together until five seasons ago, dominated tonight's All-Star Game in Phoenix, where Shaq calls his NBA home these days, and took home the co-MVP honors.

In the end, Kobe finished with a game-high 27 points on 12-23 shooting (very Kobe-like) along with four rebounds, assists and steals apiece. Shaq finished with 17 points and five boards and dominated the middle in his 15th All-Star Game appearance, second most in NBA history. The West All-Stars routed their East counterparts 146-119, blowing the game open in the third quarter. Amare Stoudemire added 19 points, while four others, including the Lakers' Pau Gasol, chimed in with 14 apiece for the West. The East was led by LeBron James' 20 points, with Paul Pierce and Dwayne Wade each adding 18 each.

And while Shaq said he missed the old times the two, or three if you include Phil Jackson, had together, Kobe was particularly ho-hum about it, saying it was fun for the one night while it lasted. It was quite obvious after hearing Kobe talk about it afterwards, even after Shaq had plenty of compliments to pass around about Kobe, labeling him as the best player in the league, that this was, indeed, just a one-night stand.

The Lakers will continue their title quest Tuesday at Staples against Atlanta. And with the trade deadline this Thursday, all eyes are on Phoenix as rumors have been swirling around the league that Shaq and/or Stoudemire could be on the move. Just don't expect Mitch Kupchak and the Lakers to be calling Steve Kerr.

A Ho-Hum Draft

With the 58th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers select...

Joe Crawford? Ok. I don't know anything about him, have never seen him play before, and didn't even know who he was before last night. And still, he'll probably never wear a Laker uniform.

The Lakers waited all night to finally get a chance to make some noise, if only just for the sake of having their name heard. They traded their first rounder, the 27th pick overall, to Memphis in the Pau Gasol trade back in February. With the pick, Memphis selected Donte Green, whose rights they shipped off to Houston in exchange for the rights to big man Darrell Arthur.

I'm pretty sure Mitch Kupchak would still do the Gasol trade a hundred times over.

Lakers Sign One, Re-Sign Another

The Lakers have brought back one of its own, officially signing point guard Derek Fisher. The Lakers have also re-signed center Chris Mihm.

While I love Derek Fisher, and I think his veteran leadership is something the Lakers desperately need, I just don't quite understand the Lakers giving him $14 million. I'm also a blown away at whatever their reasons are for bringing back Mihm. Mihm didn't play in a single game last year due to injuries and yet they waste money on one of the most inconsistent players who has ever played for them. Mitch Kupchak continues to find more and more ways to give every single Laker fan false hope, and the Mihm signing, moreso than the Fisher signing, provides plenty of it. I sure hope Mitch has something else up his sleeve that we don't know about, like finding a way to get KG from Minnesota, or pulling a rabbit out of his hat and getting both Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest. (I know, I know... WISHFUL THINKING! Ha!)