PAIDNFULL23

Maybe we should try and get Kyle Lowry, he's the type of PG we need, a great penetrator, who can create shots for himself and his teammates, plus he plays with a lot of heart. What is Memphis gonna do with 3 young PGs?

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yamaneko

Wow, Clippers sit on the butts again and miss out. Clippers could have easily gotten gasol. Kwame and low first round picks? YUCK!

We have the expiring (at worst next year) contracts we could have offered such as maggette, brand, cassell, williams. This is really too bad. Gasol/Kaman would have been a great dynamic duo, perfect complements for each other. WHen is sterling going to fire baylor/and or dunleavvy so that we dont miss out on deals like this.

Hats off to kupchack who originally made some ridiculous moves but has since done a 180 degree turnaround, and pulled off great drafts and moves of late (Critt wasnt a smart pick, but hey, it got them gasol. lol).

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Showtime87

Come on yama, look at the reasoning behind this deal! The Grizzlies did not want talent in return. They wanted somebody they could dump after the season without catching any flack. They certainly couldn't do that with Maggette, Cassell or BRAND! They are simply trying to dump salary. And BTW: I'm going to continue to confront you every time you suggest Elton Brand should be traded or released from this team. It's your opinion and you're certainly entitled to it, but it makes absolutely no sense.

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“Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained... now everywhere is war.”
- Haile Salassie

REMEMBERING #44: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Gathers

yamaneko

Thats what Im talking about. We have the same things. Theres brand who at worst would be out next year, at best, he opts out, and they can work a sign and trade, thus giving them a lot better chance at using cap space (does anyone think with kwames expiring deal, a big name FA will be interested in signing in memphis?) Then theres maggette who also is expiring deal they could have had, very similar to kwames deal. Cassell as well. All as good if not better (due to sign and trade potential) for the memphis cap situation. Not sure how you cant see that.

Confront all you want, but its the only logical step to get us to a championship caliber team. Brand is not a superstar, cant carrry a team on his back, cant take nor hit late game shots, and is going to be asking for a superstar extenstion that will cap us out for years. I 100% guarantee that with brand at a max or anywhere near max deal, we will never win a championship, and wed be dang lucky to get to the WCF even . Its not just a guess, its a deduction based on brands entire career.

This is not a popularity or humanitarian contest. In that regards, we should give brand MORE than the max contract. The NBA is about winning a championship. And bottom line is youre not going to get there if you give superstar contracts to non superstar players. Even gasol is more of a star than brand...and is even cheaper than brand.

I also predict that we will miss out with 1 or more superstars b4 the trade deadline that we could have offered better deals to, namely, jason kidd, perhaps others.

Meanwhile, lakers all of a sudden are a championship team again, and probably will be for the next 3 years.

Bynum/Gasol/Odom/Kobe/Any PG

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LA68

It's not over yet ! You still have some moves you could make.

We all know Cassell has been talking to Rondo in Boston and now the Celtics will be pressured to shore up their PG. We all know Dunleavy can't stand Maggette. NJ is still trying to unload VC. A creative GM would take this into consideration and try something.

After all, Kupchak just traded a rookie, a retired player and a bum and got an all star. Anything is possible if you only believe....

leidout

Unfortunately we don't have Jerry West/Kevin McHale type alumni trying to dump some all-stars on us. Best possibility? Clippers make zero moves before the all-star break.

Showtime87

Apparently, you either don't understand what I said or you simply don't bother to read my posts entirely. The point for Memphis was not to get talent in return, it was to cut payroll - that's it. They wouldn't want impact players like Maggette, Cassell or Brand because they might actually help the team win games, which is NOT what they want. They were already a lottery team with Gasol, moving him was a way of:
A) cutting payroll for the future and
B) improving their chances of a higher draft pick next summer. What would be the point of trading for impact players who will improve your team when you have no intention of re-signing them in the offseason?

As far as Brand goes, I'm not talking at all about his personality or demeanor. I'm simply referring to the solid, consistent production he's given this team since he got here in 2001. You must be as short-sighted as all those fans and coaches who have consistently snubbed him over the years in terms of all-star consideration. All he has done is average 20 pts, 10 rebs, 2.5 ast, 2 blks and 1 steal per game over the course of his career. Not to mention his MVP caliber season, the year HE led the Clippers to the brink of the WCF! But I guess you think they would've been there with or without him, right? Just because he's hurt this year, don't completely write the guy off! I don't know if you're just assuming that his production will drop off because of the injury, or if you're just not paying attention to how good he actually is, but there aren't many players in this league who have done what he has over the last 8 seasons. This franchise was nowhere before Brand got here and you think they're going to be championship contenders with him gone? By the way, if you're seriously expecting a championship anytime soon, you've got a lot of disappointment coming. This team has never seriously contended for a title (oh yeah, besides the year Elton almost got them there) and they probably won't in the next couple of seasons. But without a player like Elton Brand to anchor the frontcourt and run the offense through, they're going to be in terrible shape. Even Donald Sterling knows that much!

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“Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained... now everywhere is war.”
- Haile Salassie

REMEMBERING #44: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Gathers

leidout

You're fooling yourself cuz of your Laker bias. This trade is worse for Memphis than a Cassell + Maggette trade would've been. Cassell wouldn't resign with Memphis if you put a gun to his head, end of problem there. As for Maggette, he'd be fighting for time with a ton of players there and that's not the situation he'd want to be in again, he'd easily find greener pastures elsewhere. Salary dump problem solved, and we also could have provided more picks for Gasol as well, all of which would've been higher for Memphis.

It would've given us the front court of Brand/Gasol/Kaman, before the deadline we could move Brand or Kaman for a guard who fit well with the team. Doesn't really matter now tho, Lakers ended up with a better player than either of our big guys.

yamaneko

Oh brother. So now youre going to say memphis is purposely tanking? Theyre already owners of about the worst record in the league, no way is there any point in "trying" more, not to mention purposely tanking in this situation is something completely unproveable. Brand is an impact player? How when hes probably not going to play again this season? Kwame >>>> a brand who is on the injured list. Cassell an impact player in that offense? And im sure they must have figured maggette would mean tons of wins on that terrible team, heck look how many games we have won since we have him this year...oh...wait.....

Kwame's contract is just as expiring as cassell. Maggette or brand also good chance of being expiring deals and at worst, great trade bait for sign and trade. (much better than just open market). Even if you could call a cassell an "impact" player for memphis which is down right laughable, if they REALLY thought he was going to win games for them, then they just do what everyone else (including them) have done this year ,and buy his deal out.

You also need to get off your brand train. Hes a great player, but youre missing the point. NOT WORTH MAX MONEY. I AM looking at his history, and he hasnt led us to anything. His "mvp" type year was thanks to a healthy sam cassell, and thats pretty much a given in as much as the year before cassell came, what did brand do, then the year after, when cassell was injured, what did brand do. WIth chicago nor clippers brand has not been able to carry the team on his back. Hes just not on the level of duncan, gasol, garnett, etc. Those guys i would pay max money to, Brand i would not.

We especially do not need to pay max money to brand when we have kamans big deal, and how much less on the dollar we will be getting from kaman, when brand comes back. Brand has proven his whole career he is not a superstar max money guy, he has proven that he cant carry this team anywhere except not being as bad as we were in the late 90's. Maybe youre satisfied with just being a borderline playoff team. However the organization and most other fans will only be fully satisfied when we have a championship. When you have a mix of guys that obviously will not get you a championship, then you dont give them a raise and lock them in, you try something new. Does arenas guarantee a championship? no, but its better than status quo with what we know already doesnt work.

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PAIDNFULL23

You would give Gasol max money but not Brand? I don't see the sense in that, Gasol is 0-12 in playoff games. I wouldn't say that Brand is a max player either but to say that Gasol is, is a slap in the face to Brand, who is without a doubt a better player than Gasol.

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“Hit him with a Glock, put him in a coma/Now what that boy got? Uh, glaucoma”

Lil' Wayne


Predict the Clippers November Record Champ

NewAgeBaller

Exactly, thats the stupidest part of the deal.. Why make it with THE LAKERS, and where the best piece you get in return is a POINT GUARD, probably you're best set position??

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ElMarroAfamado

yup i think you got it right on with the gasol thing, and as far as Elton being traded.....unless its for a Gilbert Arenas, or another all-star, i would not do it....and the thing about his contract situation is i dont think extending Elton for the long run is going to make us a winning franchise.....i really want them to do anything that amounts to wins NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO....Sam leaves and Elton stays then what? we arent going anywhere with corey maggette, our only bright spots are al and kaman but if i were sterling id be jealous the lakers pulled this trade off and get the ****ing trades going with this team

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