In The Refrigerator

Whither Smush?

Barring an improbable run at the end of the season and playoffs, the Lakers are likely to lose in the first round to either San Antonio or Phoenix. That will usher in a summer of debate as fans speculate on roster moves to improve the team.

The Lakers will be over the cap next year, but will gain enormous financial relief this summer when Brian Grant’s contract expires. If I were Jerry Buss, I’d be jumping for joy that I don’t have to pay someone $15 million anymore to vacation year round in Cancun…

The Lakers have 5 free agents on their roster: Aaron McKie, Shammond Williams, Rony Turiaf, Smush Parker, and Luke Walton. Aaron McKie won’t be back and will probably retire. There’s some chance that Shammond Williams will be back. He can provide low cost, veteran, back court depth. Rony will hopefully re-sign at a moderate price.

The number 1 free agent priority in the off-season (unless Kevin Garnett can engineer his way to LA) has got to be Luke. They are a much better team when he’s on the floor. Hopefully, they’ll open the purse and pay whatever is necessary to retain him.

That leaves Smush. Whither Smush?

He has been arguably the best bargain in the NBA during his tenure with the Lakers. He has started every game, both regular season and playoffs. Kobe Bryant has lost nearly as much salary in suspensions (approximately $432K) as Smush will earn the entire year ($798K). He is above the league average for guards in scoring, steals, and 3 pointers made. And I doubt any of us will ever forget his amazing steal in game 4 of the playoffs last year against the Suns.

But will the Lakers want him back? Will he want to be back? In a recent column in the LA Times, Mark Heisler reported that Smush is interested in the Denver Nuggets. Ira Winderman of Sporting News suggests that the Lakers don’t want him back. Smush can be a petulant player at times and he seems to be clashing with Phil Jackson more and more.

This is Smush’s big chance to cash in. Check out these numbers:

The Washington Wizards are paying Antonio Daniels $5.4 million. The Timberwolves are paying Marko Jaric and Troy Hudson more than $5.5 million each. The Hawks are paying Tyronn Lue $3.5 million and Speedy Claxton $6.8 million. The Bobcats are paying Brevin Knight $4.4 million. The Warriors are paying Sarunas Jasikevicius $4 million. The Grizzlies are paying Chuckie Atkins $3 million. The Suns are paying Marcus Banks $3.6 million to sit on the bench.

Given these numbers, can you see Smush signing for less than $3.5 million per year? And would you blame him for asking $5 million? I just don’t see the Lakers paying him that much. Jordan Farmar may be their point guard of the future. He’s certainly shown potential this year. They have Farmar and Sasha under contract next year for a combined $2.8 million. I could see them making a run at Chauncey Billups or Maurice Williams, but both are likely to be out of their price range.

It may be point guard by committee next year while the Lakers wait for Farmar to mature. On the other hand, the Lakers may turn things around, upset the Spurs in the first round, with Smush assuming the Derek Fisher role. In that improbable event, a happier, wealthier Smush may start at the point for the Lakers for the next few years…

Kobe The Thug

Picture a dark alley. Late at night. You’re minding your own business. Maybe whistling a show tune. (“I’m so pretty, I’m so pretty….” ) When out of nowhere, wearing jersey number 24, a thug leaps out, throws his arms up high in the air, and whacks you in the nose.

Kobe the thug? The league would like you to think so. They’ve suspended him twice now, each for the same “unnatural basketball action”. The question is, why? Even the player he hit recently, Marko Jaric of the Timberwolves, didn’t think he should be suspended:

"I haven't seen the replay, but if you ask me what I thought about the play when it happened, I don't think he did it intentionally, and I don't think players should be suspended for things that happen unintentionally, I think he was trying to draw a foul, and he swung his hand out to make it look dramatic, and he hit me by accident. He apologized right after."

Could it be that the league doesn’t want Kobe to rehab his damaged image? Young stars like Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are the league’s current hope for reclaiming the magic of the MJ era. Kobe once wore the mantle of Jordan’s successor, but his poor decisions one ill-founded night in Eagle, Colorado left him on the scrap heap of fallen sports heros. 

Yes, that was Kobe8. The new, improved Kobe24 leads the league in jersey sales and knows how to find an open teammate. I’d bet his Q score is on the rise, although I couldn’t find a recent reference to it.  Many of us fans have forgiven him and embraced the more mature player that he has become. 

But is the league ready to accept him back as a spokesman, its poster boy?  Or would they rather hype the still unblemished Wade and James? The recent suspension makes me wonder. 

Submarine Attack

The Lakers' season is being torpedoed by injuries.  The latest to go down is Lamar Odom (for a second time this season), this time with a torn labrum.  Expect him to be out for the season.  He missed 4 months in 2005 with the same injury.

To date, Kwame has missed 34 games.  Luke has missed 16 and will miss at least a few more.  Lamar has missed 21 and is likely out for the season.  Vlade has missed 5 and is out until the second round of the playoffs, if the Lakers are fortunate enough to still be playing.

And despite all of this bad news, the Lakers have stayed afloat.  Their season will be measured a success if they get out of the first round of playoffs.  That would be tangible progress from last year.  But in my opinion it already is a success.  They've already taken the next step.

They're a better team than last year's team.  Kobe's shots are down.  His shooting percentage is up. 
Luke has arrived (and let's hope they re-sign him this off season).  Bynum is arriving.  No one anticipated he would be this far along at this stage in his career.  And Lamar, when he's been healthy, has played close to all-star level.

I'm not sure what they'll do in the off-season.  Will they re-sign Smush or pursue a top-flight point guard like Chauncey Billups?  Will they re-visit the Jason Kidd trade?  Will Kevin Garnett engineer his way out of Minnesota and into a Laker uniform?  We'll see.  I, for one, would like to see what this team could do with another year of experience together under their belts, free from the injury attack that has scuttled our hopes for this year.

No Kidd for the kid?

The trading deadline past last Thursday and the kid remained a Laker and the other Kidd remained a Net. 

This was an enticing deal.  Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant would have made for an intriguing all all-star backcourt.  But would the Lakers really have won NOW?  Would the trio of Kobe, Kidd, and Lamar really have had that much more success than the underachieving Carter-Kidd-Jefferson partnership?  Maybe.  But probably not.  And Andrew Bynum would have been a very steep price to pay to find out. 

Should the Lakers have done the deal if they could have gotten Kidd for Kwame, Chris Mihm, Jordan Farmar, and a draft pick?  It seems they were intent on doing it if New Jersey would have pulled the trigger.  I'm not so sure it would have paid dividends in the long run, however.  Kidd has been injury prone in his career and he's not getting any younger.  But the real issue would have been the potential impact on re-signing Luke Walton at the end of the year.  With Kidd's enormous contract, re-signing Luke probably would have put the Lakers into luxury tax territory.  Would the Buss family have foot the bill?  I'm glad we're not going to find out.  Luke is the one Laker free agent that the team has to re-sign this summer.  Just look at what happened to the team when Luke went out with his sprained ankle... 

Now the Kidd deal the Lakers should have done was back when Kidd was a Maverick and a Kidd for Nick Van Exel deal was rumored to be on the table.  Can you imagine what a love triangle Shaq, Kobe, and Kidd would have been?  Kidd doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to teammates and/or women - remember the Toni Braxton saga with Jim Jackson in Dallas?  And the tabloid divorce going on now with his wife Joumana?  Kidd & Joumana.  There are far too many available actresses in LA for Kidd to be safe from scandal and intrigue!!!