Lakers Thread

[Andrew]

I meant to say it's a good signing if it happens. I realise it's not official as yet.

[Fresh8]

Any signing should hinge on Sasha being traded. Hopefully it will happen soon.

And we can re-sign Shannon Brown.

[Andrew]

Ridiculous dunks aside, is there a great need to bring back Brown if they bringing in West?

[Jackal]

I'd rather have someone who is already familiar with the offense though. Going by the LA special on ESPN, the offense takes some getting used to.

[Fresh8]

Ridiculous dunks aside, is there a great need to bring back Brown if they bringing in West?

Just having someone who appreciates to be on a team and feels valued by his team mates leads to higher team morale. As Jackal alluded to, someone with experience of the offense and system in place. And Brown is not just about dunking, it's been well documented that he is working hard to become a better player overall. There's no great need to bring him back but he ranks high on the list of players that the Lakers could have got to fill his spot for the intangibles stated.

Having said all of that, I am very pleased to note that Brown is going to be back in LA! He's going to sign a 2 year deal. Very happy with that. He could have gone to New York or Chicago and had a much better opportunity for minute so I'm happy he's on-board with the notion of winning another ring!

[NovU]

Darn. The Lakers already was the best, and yet players still stacking up on their roster. Heat, Celtics and Lakers all got pretty good players at decent price this offseason.

I guess it's the trend that SAS was enjoying a few years back when they were a serious contender.

[NovU]

Random question, as I remembered reading about an article that is related to this matter.

Do you guys think will the Laker retire Shaq's Jersey, He's HOF for sure, and the finals MVP(3) with the Lakers.

[Jackal]

They should, he carried them to three championships while being the MDE. That's not nothing.

[Andrew]

They should and I imagine they will at some point after he calls it quits.

[Fresh8]

Lamrock and I were having a little chat re: retiring Lakers jerseys. Do the Lakers retire both 8 and 24 or do they choose one?

I'm thinking that they would choose 24 but I wonder if they would think of retiring both numbers.

[Patr1ck]

I wouldn't be surprised if they retired both.

[Andrew]

...which some Kobe fanboys would no doubt claim as proof that he's the best of all-time, since no one else has had a single team retire two different jersey numbers in their honour.

[Jackal]

...or some web admins would point out even though no one had mentioned(/thought of?) that yet.

[Andrew]

It's something I could see being said, that's all.

[koberulz]

...which some Kobe fanboys would no doubt claim as proof that he's the best of all-time, since no one else has had a single team retire two different jersey numbers in their honour.

I guess they can use that in response to the "MJ is on the 50 greatest players of all time list, Kobe isn't" argument.

[Andrew]

I suppose so. One inane argument deserves another.

[shadowgrin]

...which some Kobe fanboys would no doubt claim as proof that he's the best of all-time, since no one else has had a single team retire two different jersey numbers in their honour.

But Jordan had two different jerseys (Bulls/Wizards) retired as one by the Heat!

[Andrew]

True, but I just remembered that Nate Robinson has as many slam dunk championships as MJ and Kobe combined. Debate over.

[Fresh8]

Well, I wouldn't be surprised to see both either. I don't if that makes it more special than having just one number retired. If it came down to me, I'd be going with 24 because that's when Kobe was 'the man'.

[Andrew]

Agreed, if you're going to retire just the one number then I think #24 is the way to go. Or leave the choice up to Kobe himself.

If they did retire #24 then perhaps they could semi-retire #8 as well, including it in the banner and discouraging future Lakers players from selecting that number but not officially recognising it as retired.

[Fresh8]

Agreed, if you're going to retire just the one number then I think #24 is the way to go. Or leave the choice up to Kobe himself.

If they did retire #24 then perhaps they could semi-retire #8 as well, including it in the banner and discouraging future Lakers players from selecting that number but not officially recognising it as retired.

For sure. When I think of Kobe, I think of 24.

I'm sure he would choose to have 24 retired if he had to pick one. Wouldn't surprise me if he pushed for both.

[Murat]

24 needs to be retired... Kobe won MVP award and 2 Finals MVP awards with 24. 8 was not the leader.

[Andrew]

Phil Jackson may not be done after this season.

On one hand I could see him riding off into the sunset with his fourth threepeat and ending on a high, yet at the same time I could see him sticking around for a chance at four straight if he's feeling healthy enough. If the Lakers don't threepeat though, my guess is that he'll call it a day.

[Jackal]

If he does retire, I also hope Brian Shaw becomes the head coach. Watching Laker games you see he does a lot of coaching, sometimes Jackson is just looking around while Shaw is conveying his message to the players.

[Andrew]

Yeah he does seem a possible successor if this is Jackson's last year. He was drawing some interest from other teams this offseason though, if Jackson sticks around another year beyond this one perhaps we'll see him take an offer elsewhere.