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poppintags08
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Post subject: What could have been if we kept Butler and Grant.
 Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 03:30 AM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Jun 23, 2007
Posts: 1409
  
votes: 14
Status: Offline
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The Butler trade, along with the Divac's signing killed us.
Had we kept Butler and not signed Divac's, we would have had enough cap space to keep Brian Grant's fat contract. We would have gone into that season 2005-2006 with a lineup of:
Smush/Mckie
Bryant/Sasha
Butler/Walton
Odom/Cook/Turiaf
Mihm/Grant/Bynum
With new coach PJ, we win about 45 games as we did, but this time we actually defeat the Suns in the playoffs when we were up 3-1 and advance to the second round to meet the Clippers. We beat the Clipps in 7 to advance to the WCF to meet Dallas. We lose to the Mavs in 6. Great season for the Lakers and their fans.
Following season, last summer 2006-2007 we draft Farmar. Grant's contract would now be a huge expiring deal at 15 million. The Bulls got PJ Brown's expiring for Chandler, why not us for Grant? Bulls would've included Duhon or salary purposes and the Lakers send Sasha along with Grant to CHI. We never sign Radmonovic to the MLE, don't need him.
Last year, Lakers lineup could have been:
Smush/Duhon/Farmar
Bryant/Evans
Butler/Walton
Odom/Turiaf/Cook
Chandler/Mihm/Bynum
Very likely scenario for that team to have taken place last year. I can envision us winning 55 games and being the #4 seed last season. We beat either the Jazz or Rockets in the first round, face the Warriors in the second round, beat them, but then lose in the WCF to the Spurs in 7 Games. That's back to back WCF appearances.
This summer, Kobe never makes any trade demands, and once KG was available, he sees that LA is on the verge and wants to join so he tells the Wolves his #1 team is the Lakers. We get him with an offer of Odom, Bynum, and a first for KG. Smush most likely flames out again and is let go by LA. Now our new lineup coming into this season 2007-2008 looks somthing like this:
Duhon/Farmar
Bryant/Evans
Butler/Walton
Garnet/Cook
Chandler/Turiaf
This team claims the best record and goes on to destroy everyone in the playoffs including the Spurs and Suns to claim the Lakers first title since Shaq departed. We go on to win multiple titles with this nucleous and are known as the post Shaq dynasty. |
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mambamonk87
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Post subject: RE: What could have been if we kept Butler and Grant.
Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 04:05 AM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: May 25, 2007
Posts: 1810
Location: Los Angeles/San Diego CA
votes: 16
Status: Offline
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what could have been if the all star team of payton kobe malone and shaq stayed together:
at least one more championship. sigh. |
_________________
“We're rock stars. We're Lakers. We're always sexy. We've always got sexy going on in everything we do.”
- Lamar Odom
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BaadMaster
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Post subject: RE: What could have been if we kept Butler and Grant.
Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 05:26 AM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: May 05, 2007
Posts: 1031
votes: 21
Status: Offline
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| And if I bought Apple stock back when it was 18 and kept it until today, I would have enough money to buy seats next to Jack Nicholson. |
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poppintags08
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Post subject: Re: RE: What could have been if we kept Butler and Grant.
Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 11:44 AM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Jun 23, 2007
Posts: 1409
votes: 14
Status: Offline
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BaadMaster wrote:
And if I bought Apple stock back when it was 18 and kept it until today, I would have enough money to buy seats next to Jack Nicholson.
My statement isn't a "what if" it's more of a "what could have been" because we actually had the players in Butler and Grant unlike your statement of "what if" you owned apple stock which you never did. We had those players, and had we kept them, the path would have been very similiar to the one I put down. It's not some "what if" dream sequence where we get Jordon and Lebron considering we never had them or were going to have them. It's rather a very realistic path for the Lakers had they not traded away those players. Grant's expiring deal get's us a good player in return last summer. Then this summer we could have made a better play for KG.
Get it? Good. |
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vinny808
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: What could have been if we kept Butler and Grant
Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 05:39 PM PST
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Big-Time Laker Fan
Joined: Aug 11, 2007
Posts: 889
votes: 14
Status: Offline
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actually in the 05/06 season, the only real all-star/ good player is Kobe..., and a okay Odom. Butler was not that good yet. He might not have progressed the way he has if he stayed on the Lakers, since he was overshadowed by Bryant. I doubt we would have gone that far.
The depth in the guards/ forwards are next to nothing..smush/mckie? kobe/sasha?...Butler/Walton?... all but Kobe were not formidable NBA players in 05-06. Butler was not that good yet. Definately not fast/ not good enough to beat the suns. |
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poppintags08
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Post subject:
Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 06:54 PM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Jun 23, 2007
Posts: 1409
votes: 14
Status: Offline
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| The point is the Lakers path would have been much better had we kept Caron Butler and had we never released Grant considering he would've had a huge expiring contract last year. No matter how well Butler would have played in LA, it's much better then trading for Kwame. Butler played great alongside Arenas and Jaimison, why not Kobe and Odom? |
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Janglesjr
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Post subject:
Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 08:19 PM PST
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Big-Time Laker Fan
Joined: Jun 17, 2007
Posts: 809
votes: 8
Status: Offline
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I like the thinking that has gone into this, but I'm not sure why we keep harping on past situations. I would rather look forward to the future, which is something we still have some control over, as opposed to looking at the past which we have no control over. Unless of course you have a flux capicitor and your name is Michael j. Fox.
Did we get rid of Brian Grant? I know we used the Allan Houston rule on him, but maybe I'm a little confused as to how that works. Getting rid of Caron Butler was a bad move, especially for what we got. But I cannot disagree with the FO for letting go of Brian Grant. Dude was old and was done with. |
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vinny808
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Post subject:
Posted: Nov 27, 2007 - 08:33 PM PST
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Big-Time Laker Fan
Joined: Aug 11, 2007
Posts: 889
votes: 14
Status: Offline
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Smush/Mckie
Bryant/Sasha
Butler/Walton
Odom/Cook/Turiaf
Mihm/Grant/Bynum
is very weak in all positions depthwise. Also Mihm and Turiaf would be injury prone soon after. That leaves us with an Old grant to play center, and a very weak unconditioned Bynum who was not doing so good for the first two years. In all positions you have smush who was not so good, and a very old mckie once again too. That roster above had no depth.
Also Mihm and Turiaf would turn injury prone soon after. That leaves the Lakers with bare bones. Brian Grant was averaging an all time low of 3 and 3. Waiving him saved the Lakers 30 million dollars, because having him on the Roster would mean they would have to pay luxury taxes. And who would actually Trade for Brian Grant's 3 and 3 10 mil a year?
PJ brown in 05-06 was still known for being a productive smart veteran. averaging numbers like 10 and 8 rebounds. Brian Grant on the other hand already had bad knees and averaged numbers like 4 points 3 rebounds. Big difference.
I'll tell you what else happens when we go back into the past, Kobe breaks his legs and retires early, Caron Butler becomes an all-star in LA now that Kobe is gone, the Clippers draft Farmar instead of the Lakers. PJax leaves the Lakers because Kobe is now gone and coaches the Magic instead. The Lakers go for 15 and 63 or something like that. With that poor record, the Lakers draft Greg Oden in the summer of 06...hahaha.
so they have
Oden/ Mihm
Bynum/Turiaf
Odom/Walton
Caron/ Sasha
JCritt/ Fisher
3 or 4 years later and win the chaamps! thats my sci-fi fairy-tale blast to the past version 1.2. Can you say twin-towering, inside-outside, triangle game?
No but ya, sorry, good insight. I'm just playin with the idea. |
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Lakers4Kobe
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Post subject:
Posted: Dec 04, 2007 - 06:43 AM PST
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Laker GM
Joined: Aug 01, 2007 Age: 16
Posts: 2764
Location: Sydney, Australia
votes: 25
Status: Offline
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| butler was never at the level he is now when he was with the lakers. he improved in washington because he was given so much more playing time. |
_________________
Many teams try and fail to amount to what the Los Angeles Lakers have accomplished in their 60 years in the NBA. They truly are the greatest franchise in the history of professional sports.
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A.J
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Post subject:
Posted: Dec 05, 2007 - 01:12 AM PST
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Big-Time Laker Fan
Joined: Nov 03, 2007
Posts: 738
votes: 4
Status: Offline
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| i already started a forum on this a while back and evryone hated me for it |
_________________
General Manager of the Denver Nuggets
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Axle
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Post subject:
Posted: Dec 07, 2007 - 01:45 PM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Feb 15, 2007
Posts: 1463
votes: 2
Status: Offline
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Butler we should have kept, Grant was a big mistake to take him in the first place because of his fat contract and his physical condition was not the best.
Malone and Payton was another big mistake. That is what happens when a team gets a bunch of old players. Their legs are gone.
We can't dwell on what if or what could have been. That is history and we got to move forward, and maybe learn from our mistakes. |
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weezy1
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Post subject:
Posted: Dec 07, 2007 - 06:48 PM PST
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Die-Hard Laker Fan
Joined: Oct 18, 2007
Posts: 1853
votes: 3
Status: Offline
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| we dont need to look at what couldve been |
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