Lakers in No Rush to Make a Trade, By Eric Pincus and Chris Monjoy
for HOOPSWORLD.com, Nov 10, 2004, 04:56
These days, if you go to Staples Center to catch a Laker game, you need a program to keep all the new players straight. The 2004-5 Lakers are a radically different team than last season’s model. Gone is the power game, replaced by a young, run and gun team. Still, despite some big positives, the Lakers still have a number of issues to address. Eric Pincus and Chris Monjoy of Hoopsworld.com discuss the Lakers:
Chris Monjoy: So far, the Lakers look like they'll probably be a 40 to 45 win team. This road trip will tell a lot. If they go 3-1, they should make the playoffs, but they do need to make some deals. One thought I had was trading Kareem Rush to Denver. Rush has been absolutely dreadful in the first few games. Denver just lost Voshon Leonard for the season, so they need a spot-up shooting two-guard. Throw in that Denver also has an excess of bigs, and it's a possibility, right? I certainly don't think they could get Nene, but what about Nikoloz Tskitishvili? It would at least give the Lakers some more size. Would the Lakers be able to pull of a Walton and Rush for Nene deal? Or am I dreaming?
Eric Pincus: I'd love to see Rush go to Denver for Nene - even throw Walton in there. Unfortunately, that's just not going to happen unless Mitch Kupchak has compromising photos of Kiki Vandeweghe. Skita is interesting, but I think LA already has enough power forward projects with Slava and Cook. I don't think he's the answer. However, if it meant Kareem walking for nothing, send me Skita today.
CM: Tierre Brown is a decent offensive player, and Chucky Atkins has been adequate. Neither had been very good defensively. How has Marcus Banks been doing?
EP: In some respects I'd like the Laker point guards to be exposed on the defensive end. If the team gets by without too many problems, management might not be motivated to make a change. The Celtics almost put Banks on the injured list because he’s been so bad, but then Delonte West and Gary Payton both got hurt. Payton is playing but West is on the IR. I would bet a sizable chunk of money that Banks does not stay a Celtic by the deadline. Will he be a Laker? It’s hard to say. I wouldn't put much money on that one unfortunately. If anything did happen between the Lakers and Boston, it would be in December at the earliest.
CM: You know, the more I hear about Marcus Banks' playing, the less excited I get about him. If he's a turn-over-machine who makes bad decisions, the Lakers probably don't want him. When you compared Tierre Brown's stats to Banks', on the Dave Smith show before the season started in terms of their respective assist to turnover ratios, it was laughable. Unfortunately, Tierre and Atkins are probably no better than back-ups.
EP: The Lakers need someone to play defense on point guards. That is so much more important than individual stats. My opinion is the Lakers need to play poorly - so does Banks - to make the marriage work. If Marcus was succeeding in Boston, he wouldn't be available to LA. If the Lakers aren't getting killed by point guards, then there’s no need for Banks. Priority number one is a defensive point guard. Both Tony Parker and Keith McLeod (who?) of Utah cut up the Laker defense. Atlanta doesn't have a point so it was an easy win. Earl Boykins and Andre Miller had off-nights and with Mihm having a great game, LA wasn’t going to be beat. With Baron Davis, they had Kobe guard him but that only worked because their shooting guard, David Wesley, doesn’t have much height. He also isn’t an explosive scorer. When LA goes against teams with multiple scoring guards, Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton for instance, the Laker point guards will be exposed.
CM: I agree that the point is a concern, but I think the Lakers' most glaring need is a tough presence in the middle. They're a donut team right now, even though Mihm has been playing well. Karl Malone would be the only guy that could conceivably come in and bring some strength in the middle. It's too bad Brian Grant's body is so creaky, because he could have been that guy.
EP: I don’t think the Lakers are looking to bring in a tough inside player right now. In theory they have Malone penciled in later in the season. I can't see them making a move with Karl as an option. Long term size is clearly an issue.
CM: What will it take for the Lakers to do the Marcus Banks deal? Why haven’t they pulled the trigger on the Luke Walton for Marcus Banks offer the Celtics made?
EP: I think the Lakers were impressed and are still impressed by Tierre Brown which stopped any Banks deal in its tracks. It will take LA getting constantly torched by point guards to make a move. It will have to be so blatant that the front office has no choice but to make a move.
CM: Is the Devean George to the Bobcats deal still a possibility? Considering how well Jumaine Jones is playing (better than George ever did, quite frankly), George is clearly expendable.
EP: Devean to the Bobcats died when they found a cheaper alternative in Keith Bogans from Orlando. I heard that Devean is on the block and that the Blazers offered Patterson straight up, but LA had no interest considering the glut at small forward. Technically that deal doesn't work anyway since Patterson has a trade kicker. The Lakers would have had to send another player. It'll probably take George getting healthy and playing well, Rush to put up a few big games and show he's over the foot injury, and the Lakers losing some games with absolutely no point guard containment and no ability to fight through screens for Los Angeles to be motivated enough to make a move. There were stretches by the way where Devean was a strong player, but he never really recovered from his ankle injury.
CM: I watched the Lakers game against the Spurs and it seemed the Lakers mostly stuck with the Spurs. The big positives that came out of that game was that both Kobe and Lamar looked really good. It's too bad that Caron Butler was in foul trouble the whole game. Save for a few nice threes from Chucky, the Laker point guards were terrible.
EP: The Spurs beat LA badly in one quarter, but otherwise the Lakers were competitive. Duncan wasn't dominant and Odom was a mismatch for Tim - a nice sign. What killed the Lakers was guard penetration, fighting around screens, and that stretch in the second where the Laker bench let the Spurs do absolutely whatever they wanted.
CM: I know this is tough to say, but to me, the Lakers' comeback hopes truly ended in one play. They were down by ten, with about seven minutes left, Kobe drove the lane and set up Kareem Rush for a wide open three-pointer. Rush shot up an airball, which lead to a fast break the other way. Suddenly, instead of being down seven with momentum, the Lakers were down by 12. Even though, they got within six after that, that was the moment that killed it for them.
EP: That Rush airball was a momentum killer. It took the air right out of the building. Rush has never looked worse, even as a rookie. Hopefully he'll get his legs and confidence back so he can drum up some trade interest. That foot must really be bothering him because he's just a non-factor.
CM: I just wonder, though, regarding Rush, who we could trade him to. I don't know what the Lakers could get back. Boston is out, because they don't need a shooting guard. So here's the big question, do the Lakers wait and make Rush part of a package to get Jason Kidd? To make that work, they'd probably have to
swap Brian Grant for Alonzo Mourning and add Devean George, Chucky Atkins, Jumaine Jones to make it work under CBA rules. I think this is probably a long shot. What are your thoughts?
EP: There's absolutely no way the Nets take Grant for Kidd, BUT like you said, the Nets are motivated to get out of Alonzo's huge contract. In some parallel universe, I could see such a deal going down, but I would say that it's extremely, extremely unlikely. My thought is that the Lakers just got out from an aging superstar with injury problems' contract. Do they want to take on another in Kidd? Besides, does he fit? That is to say, can he play defense on the quick guards, can he play without the ball as Kobe and Odom initiate the offense? Can he spot up and hit the open three? I don't think Kidd is the right fit, and I'd be very surprised if the Lakers would go that route. The Nets would be better off sending him to Portland or any team who has a player with a big expiring contract.
CM: So what do you think the Lakers’ best option is?
EP: Let’s break it down by position. At center there's Vlade, Mihm, and Brian Grant, so is there a need? I mean, there's nothing dominant inside like Shaq, but LA will probably limp along with those three. At power forward, it's Odom, Cook, Slava, and Grant (plus possibly Malone). With Karl still in the picture, I don't see LA moving for a power forward, either. The Lakers would have to give up on a project like Cook or Slava to bring in someone else, and I don't think they're ready to do that. Slava, by the way, is a BYC contract, which makes it difficult to move him. Clearly, LA doesn't have any needs at small forward, assuming that Butler is untouchable, which he may not be. Even if they move Caron (which I don't expect), Odom, Kobe, Walton, and Jones fill the deepest Laker position. At shooting guard, LA can't really be looking for anyone else, considering Kobe will be notching 40+ mpg.
The need is obvious at point guard, however, the team has to be convinced of a few things: that Sasha isn't ready to contribute this year and that Tierre and Chucky won't be able to defend a lick. Although Kobe can defend point guards, will that be enough to succeed against the quality teams and throughout the playoffs? If the answer is no, then perhaps the team uses their trade bait this year to make a move. Chucky is the obvious expendable piece but with a two year deal, but he's not a very attractive bait.
I'm just not sure if Kupchak feels the Lakers have a lot of needs right not despite the obvious weaknesses.. They may want to let this team play a few months before changing that opinion. For now, losses will be blamed on the team figuring out their chemistry. As far as what is out there at point guard, VERY, VERY little. Larry Hughes as a combo point guard is potentially my favorite choice, but he has his flaws, and he's probably not available. He's never succeeded as a point guard in the NBA, but he seemingly has the skills needed for the Laker job. Other choices include Antonio Daniels and Earl Watson, but neither is likely. To me, Marcus Banks is a simple solution, but I don’t know how much legs that deal has any more. The Lakers don't want to carry more than three pure point guards. Perhaps if Malone does return and Tierre gets cut to make room, the Banks deal goes down . .. but we'll just have to wait and see. It won't be before December but if something goes down it's more likely to happen at the trade deadline in February.