JamFan ALERT - IT IS BEING REPORTED THAT AL HARRINGTON HAS BEEN TRADED TO INDIANA - IF THE LAKERS WERE A PLAYER IN POSSIBLE TRADES, THEY APPARANTLY HAD LITTLE CHANCE BECAUSE ATLANTA REPORTEDLY DID NOT WANT TO TAKE ON ANY CONTRACTS.
Recently in our Topbuzz Forum, I spoke of how I felt that every morning, GM Kupcake wakes up thinking about how he is going to bring in a Legit Power Forward to the Lakers roster. But with the deal trading Al Harrington from Atanta and Indiana going down, I was wondering who the Lakers could possibly trade for.
Al Harrington is rated by most all NBA analysts as the #1 free agent available. But he has had a more that difficult time securing a deal. Because every team is now having salary cap issues, Al fired his old agent to bring in someone who could help put together a sign and trade deal. The first target was Indiana, and a couple of days ago it was reported that this deal was all but done. Now the reports are that deal is dead.
Al Harrington averaged 18.6 PPG, 7 RPG, shot 45%, impoved his 3 point shooting to 35%, had 3 assists and over one steal per game. His only glaring statistical deficiency is lack of blocked shots. His NBA efficiency rating was a stellar +17.11. By comparison, KG's EFF is +30. But these numbers mean that several teams will be interested. Including the Lakers, who reportedly has already been in negotiations with Atlanta at some point.
At 6'9" 245 lbs, is Al Harrington the legit PF that the Lakers need? Well, many believe that Lamar is better at SF than PF, especially on defense. With Kwame playing his best at the center position and laker coaches speaking recently about Lamar playing point forward, we could see Kobe and Lamar at guard, Vlad Rad at SF, and Al Harrington fitting in quite nicely at the PF position. That would be a formitable lineup.
Today, an Atanta newspaper is again promoting the possible trade scenarios that have been reported out there with the Lakers on the top of the list. Their take is.......Hawks trade options
# 1. Do a sign-and-trade with the Lakers for Chris Mihm, Aaron McKie, Brian Cook and a future first round draft pick.
Mihm is making $4.2 million this season, McKie $2.5 million and Cook just $1.5 million. All three have contracts expiring after next season, meaning the Hawks would have the option of re-signing them if they fit in well with their young talent or letting them move on at season's end. The draft pick is the cherry on top.
If the Lakers get this deal done, they get it done with players who might not be here in a year anyway. They are also players that are expendable. With Laker officials speaking about Chris Mihm as the 3rd string center, he seems like the odd man out. And we didn't miss him that much when he was out with injury last season. In fact the Lakers played much better during that stretch. Aaron Mckee has been injured and worthless when he was available. I still like Brian Cook, but as our 3 point shooting specialist he seems to have been replaced by Vlad Rad, and Turiaf can back up at PF.
So if the Lakers were able to pull off this deal, the players we would lose, we wouldn't miss that much and we would give up probably a low first round draft pick. But we already have young players we are trying to develop in Farmer and Bynum. Also a 3 for 1 trade makes roster space available for some of the other young talent that we will have to let go like Devin Green or JR Pinnock.
If we do not go for the Al Harrington trade, then who would we bring in to play PF? Who is out there that we could get
that could make a difference? If we do not bring in a legit power forward and Kwame stays at center, who do we move to PF? Lamar, defensively, is not the best choice and Mihm would be playing out of position at PF, even though I actually think he could do it. As usuall more questions than answers.
I'm Jamfan, and that's my opinion. What's yours?
