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Lakers.com: The Los Angeles Lakers have requested waivers on guard Brandon Heath, it was announced today.
Heath, a 6-3 guard out of San Diego State spent last season playing in France for Entente Orleans 45 where he averaged 12.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 25 games. In five preseason games with the Lakers, Heath averaged 1.4 points in 8.6 minutes.
The Lakers preseason roster now stands at 17.
L.A. Times: Andrew Bynum’s agent will meet with the Lakers on Friday in hopes of agreeing to a maximum contract extension for his client, a process that so far has been “disappointing,” according to his agent.
The Lakers have until Oct. 31 to sign Bynum to a five-year extension, though agent David Lee said his discussions with the Lakers were “few and not significant.”
Bynum, who turns 21 on Oct. 27, has been slowly rounding into basketball shape in his first month back on the court since the center suffered a season-ending knee injury last January.
Bynum, who will make $2.8 million this season in the final year of his contract, can sign a five-year extension worth up to about $88 million, a financial figure that won’t be determined until the NBA’s salary cap for the 2009-10 season is announced next summer.
The Lakers are hoping to sign Bynum for a number closer to $78 million. They also want to better gauge his health and on-court activity over the final five pre-season games.
Continue reading ‘Bynum’s agent disappointed with contract talks’
L.A. Times: All indications are that the Lakers will open the season with 15 players, the maximum allowed by the NBA.
Early in training camp, the Lakers considered carrying 13 players, which would have given the team flexibility to pick up another player or two during the regular season.
But now it appears, based on their play in training camp, that backup center DJ Mbenga has earned a roster spot and that rookie guard Joe Crawford will get the nod over Coby Karl, who made the team last season as an undrafted rookie free agent.
Guards Brandon Heath and forward C. J. Giles also are pushing for a spot that may be hard to come by.
The Lakers already have 13 players under contract who are assured of making the team.
Crawford was drafted out of Kentucky in the second round by the Lakers with the 58th pick in the NBA draft. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard has to make the team for his contract to be guaranteed.
“It’s definitely more pressure coming in not guaranteed,” Crawford said. “You don’t know what these guys [the Lakers' coaching staff] are thinking every day. You just have to stay confident. You’re going to have some bad days, but you have to be strong and pull through it.”
Continue reading ‘Lakers probably will start season with 15 on roster’
ESPN: The NBA trading frenzy that normally seizes teams come February could be arriving a little early this season. Assigned to write a column on who could be traded during this season, I was surprised by the number of teams that seemed “open for business” on the trade front.
Here’s a look at 10 or so players (in no particular order) who could be on the move before the February trade deadline…
3. Lamar Odom, Lakers
Odom played the role of scapegoat for angry Lakers fans after L.A. lost to the Celtics in the Finals. He didn’t help his cause by showing up at camp out of shape. And he seemed to dig himself an even bigger hole when he criticized Phil Jackson for suggesting Odom might best help the Lakers by coming off the bench this season. In the past few days, Odom has backtracked and said he’d do what was best for the team, but most in the league think it’s only a matter of time before the Lakers find a new home for him.
The team spent some time this summer looking at a few deals, but nothing materialized. Look for the Lakers to restart those talks sooner rather than later. Jackson’s triangle offense is notoriously hard for recently acquired players to learn, and given Odom’s impending free agency, now seems to be the right time to move him.
A Marion-for-Odom swap might make the most sense for both parties involved, though I’ve heard there’s interest in Odom in quite a few cities, including Cleveland, Chicago, New Jersey, New York and Orlando.
Hoopsworld: Lamar Odom’s Salary Part II: I went to the expert to get a more complete breakdown on Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom’s salary. Cap guru Larry Coon was happy to oblige:
Odom signed a contract in the summer of 2003 with the Miami HEAT at a base salary of $58.5 million. In the original deal was a signing bonus of $5,781,576. According to the rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, signing bonuses are amortized over the life of the contract. In this case, Odom’s signing bonus counts on the cap an extra $963,596 - each and every year of his deal.
(One technical note - bonuses are not amortized over option years - player, team or ETO. In Lamar’s case this is immaterial).
Odom also benefited from a $7.425 million trade bonus when he was traded to the Lakers in 2004. That too is spread out over each year of his deal (except 2003/4 which was before the trade) - even though the money was paid up front. His trade bonus adds an additional $1.485 million to the cap each year.
To break it all down, Odom received $9 million base salary from Miami plus the entire $5,781,576 signing bonus for a total of $14,781,576 in his first and only year with the HEAT (2003/4). This manipulation from Miami was to discourage the Los Angeles Clippers from matching their offer sheet (Odom was a restricted free agent). The actual cap number for the HEAT that season was just $9,963,596.
Continue reading ‘Rumor: Can the Lakers Afford to Trade Odom?’
Inside The Lakers: The Los Angeles Lakers waived free agent guard Dwayne Mitchell Wednesday afternoon.
Mitchell, a 6′5″ 220-pound guard out of Louisiana Lafayette, was a member of the Lakers 2008 Summer-Pro League team in Las Vegas, where he averaged 6.7 points and 1.5 rebounds in 15.0 minutes over six games.
Mitchell practiced with the team on Wednesday morning and said that he was feeling good again after being limited for a few days with some soreness in his knee.
The Lakers roster now stands at 18.
O.C. Register: Welcome to Lamar Odom’s starting-lineup limbo, Andrew.
Unless Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol find a flow on the floor together soon, Bynum could begin the regular season on the Lakers’ bench.
“It has been mentioned,” Lakers consultant Tex Winter said of the coaching staff’s internal discussions. “We played pretty well last year without him.”
If Lakers head coach Phil Jackson were still toting that cane around, he’d have spent most of training camp pointing it up at Bynum and Gasol, both 7 feet tall, and what they have been doing wrong as a twin-tower tandem.
“Right now, they’re very clumsy; they’re not working well together,” Jackson said. “We’ve got a group that played very well together last year. There are some things that we have to discuss and see how long we drag this out – or how quickly we facilitate it, because I think we have got the ability to play exceptionally well if we use all our skill players.”
Said Winter: “The complexion of our team changes considerably when you’re playing Gasol and Bynum together. That’s going to be a real project to work that out so both those guys can play up to their potential and really show what they can do.”
L.A. Times: Everybody loves a winner, even during troubled economic times.
The Lakers season-ticket holders renewed at a 99% rate for the upcoming season, an impressive percentage during robust financial periods, but much more so given the current slowdown.
The Lakers were within two victories of winning an NBA championship last season, and their fans have followed, hoping for a continued uptick in the franchise’s fortunes. The Lakers are preseason favorites to win the NBA championship in the eyes of many prognosticators.
Season-ticket renewal averages across the league this season were about 79%. Some NBA teams have even had trouble collecting from fans.
The Lakers, however, had no such issues when money was collected over the off-season, despite across-the-board price increases, a relatively unsurprising action after the team paid almost $5 million in luxury taxes on last season’s payroll and faced a larger tax hit this season.
Courtside seats, think Jack Nicholson, were raised from $2,300 to $2,500 per game, an 8.7% increase, and seats in six lower-level sections between the baskets were raised from $230 to $245, a 6.5% hike.
Still, season-ticket holders expressed resounding interest in the Lakers’ upcoming season, which begins Oct. 28 at home against Portland.
Continue reading ‘Lakers’ season-ticket holders renew at 99% rate’
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