Podcast: Kupchak's Recent Comments about LO, Brown & Artest

by PURPLE AND GOLD FOR LIFE on Jul 10, 2009 6:24 PM PDT Comment 14 comments

Listen to Kupchak's most recent comments about the Lamar Odom situation. He actually gives a timeline for when he hopes to have LO signed. He goes into great detail about why the Lakers resigned Shannon Brown and about the signing of Artest. This man has made some amazing moves that have generated a title during Kobe's prime. I want more titles like any other Lakers fan but this man has truly redeemed himself and I think that he does not get the credit he deserves. Let's do it Mitch, sign LO and bring him back home.

http://my.lakers.com/blogs/2009/07/09/mitch-kupchak-podcast-on-brown-artestodom/

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the jury is still out on Mitch for me.

Sure he got us to the promiseland 2 years in a row, but he has given out some really terrible contracts, 3 to be precise.

1) Walton. Walton’s contract is so bad that he is virtually untradeable. It’s long, and its largely inflated. If he got rid of walton with kwame then I’d give him more respect.

2) Sasha. While I think the Sasha contract was a bit more fair, its still way bigger then Sasha is worth. Sure sasha was truly a machine in 08, but given the fact it was just 1 year, paying sasha 5mill is ridiculous. he had a good year. 3 should have been the max. I’m hoping just like every laker fan should that Sasha proves me wrong, and earns his 5 mil. Sasha definately still has a spot/role to fill. But if the Lakers dont get consistent bench production it will definately be Sasha, Farmar, and Lukes fault.

If Luke and Sasha didnt have such bad contracts, the lakers couldve brought in a matt barnes, or had money for a solid pg to relieve the aging Fish.

3) Bynum. Bynum is getting WAYYY overpaid. He is the biggest reason the lakers are over the cap, no pun intended. He plays essentially 6th man mintues, with LO taking starter mins off the bench. 15 mill is ALOT for a guy who is foul prone, AND injury prone. I really hope bynum continues to mature and get build his game, cuz right now he has a ben wallace sized contract, and we saw how crippling that is.

trading caron for kwame was stupid. kwame for gasol lucky, but sometimes i guess its better to be lucky than smart. We hit gold turning Vlad into Brown, Ammo, and cap relief. Getting ariza for evans, and cook was also a great trade for us. Right now I give Mitch a B.

by robi s on Jul 11, 2009 2:32 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

just curious. . .

Which GMs do you think did a better job than Mitch?

He’s obviously not perfect but I think it could be a lot worse.

by lazNirv on Jul 11, 2009 1:36 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

i definately agree

yea, sorry if i came off as negative, its a problem i have, but i dont think mitch has done a terrible job at all. He’s done some stupid things, but then again no one is perfect.

Other gms that i think are good, not saying necessarily better (well somewhat better)

-portland gm’s kevin pritchard has been doing a great job putting pieces together. He’s got a great young core that’s really versatile. they should be good for years to come unfortunately for the lakers

-toronto – Bryan colangelo of course. He is the new jerry west, cept without the championships, what he did in phoenix was great. Again they have a great core. Of course it depends on bosh, but if the raptors werent marred by injuries (oneal, calderon etc) they have a very decent team. He gets extra points for the fact he is in toronto.

-philly – Ed stefanski has done a wonderful job putting a group that fits. Green, Igoudala, Dalembert, Brand, Miller really had potential if they didnt get injured last year. The team also has a great bench.

Guys that i dont think know what they are doing:

-dallas – what they see in kidd i dont know, but losing nash was stupid and harris was their future, and howards value is dropping faster then the stock market

- gs – they let theyre heart and soul leave with baron for MONTA?! the team was great for nellie ball, but they keep letting guys go. getting magette was foolish.

-phoenix – kinda obvious, but kerr is one of the worst gms ive ever seen…he had a really good team, brought in shaq which hurt amare, traded integral players like bell and diaw, have had 3 coaches. o my, the list can go on and on

-denver…. sure getting chauncy was great, but i have a feeling it was more dumars doing. Im putting them here, because they have done NOTHING to improve their team. their team is a playoff contender, but not a finals contender. IF I were denver i would have gone hard for a defender. Trading camby is also a huge reason they are down here. It’s like denver wants to start rebuilding, but is “UNFORTUNATE” to have a winner already, but is still trying to rebuild.

-det – gordon and villenueva is the best you guys could do, when guys like lee, odom, miller are stuck taking huge paycuts cuz the money is gone? their backcourt is riduclously full for gordon. i thought they would have learned when they had rip and ai.

-miami – dwade is too good to be stuck with guys like jwill, rdavis, awright and whoever else they brought in to help in the past. the definition of one and done. sure they have good young players, but if im riley, i’m trading some of those (ala Boston) so that i can give wade real help now, not bandages like marion and j-oneal. if the heat werent in miami i’d say they were hopeless to in rebuilding.

last but not least….
UTAH -the team went from western favorite to lottery in a matter of 2 years. they had a young team that was good. they only needed one more piece and they couldnt get it?! its sad to see Dwill going through rebuilding when he’s still young. losing millsap is gonna hurt alot since he was the only reason they made into the playoffs with boozer out. I really doubt boozer will be trying for a team that he has pretty much already made clear he is not coming back to.

by robi s on Jul 11, 2009 2:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Here’s an interesting article from Yahoo Sports about NBA free agency’s winners and losers by Adrian Wojnarowski. He does point to good moves by Dumars & Colangelo. But here’s a small part of what he said about Pritchard:

The job wasn’t as hard when owner Paul Allen gave him tens of millions to buy up draft picks, but free agency is a far more level playing field. Truth be told, Pritchard has failed.

I still think Portland is a tough out especially if they learn to win big games on the road and Oden starts playing like he’s better than the supposed backup guy Prizbilla.

Fwiw he also pegged Odom & Ariza as free agency losers.

by lazNirv on Jul 11, 2009 6:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh yeah

I forgot to add that the Rockets blog/fans always say how great their GM Morey is. But they just finally made it out of the 1st round this year so I find it hard to be too impressed with him. I’m glad they’re happy with that.

by lazNirv on Jul 11, 2009 6:24 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I have asked some of their fans about that one.....

they think he has made quite a few “steals” or bargains. He probably has. However if I buy a broken down Volkswagen for 10 dollars it is a great bargain, but I still just have a broken down Volkswagen.

Well, sir, you are a cowardly son of a bitch! You just shot an unarmed man!.......Well, he should have armed himself if he's going to decorate his saloon with my friend. – Will Munny

by pslakerfan on Jul 11, 2009 6:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

GOOD POINT

hahah I agree, the rockets do have some good scrappy players but theyre whole team consists of great role players. At some point you gotta get yourself a superstar for the role players to compliment. they’re in a strange situation, its like they built the role players first, and now are waiting for a superstar to drop to them. Sadly they are too good to get a good lottery pick, and too bad to get deep in the playoffs.

But i must say, i do like the way landry, scola, brooks, and battier play. i definately love to trade walton, sasha, farmar for them.

by robi s on Jul 11, 2009 7:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

http://lakers.freedomblogging.com/2009/07/11/can-a-deal-for-odom-be-far-off/20501/

Lamar being offered around 8 million now, instead of the 7M Kupchak was initially offering.

The Lakers aren’t willing to part with that kind of dough because of salary cap and luxury tax issues. The deal the Lakers were reportedly offering was for around $7 million.

But the sides might not be as far apart as that. Ronnie Lester, assistant GM, told me Saturday he heard the Lakers are now offering "a little north of $8 million." He also said he expects a deal early next week.

by intuitive on Jul 11, 2009 7:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

hahaha wow, i was so happy to hear portland spent their last remaining cap room on millsap. THAT was stupid.

adding odom would have made them SCARY. blake (soon to be hinrich?) roy, odom, aldridge, prizbilla
w/ fernandez and oden off the bench.

Let’s just pray jazz dont match, which supposedly they arent. Millsap is good and all, but as the lakers showed last year, he isnt big enough to play with our twin tours, making him a waste of money.

POR missed a chance to fill their 3 whole with a great player that would fit their system, and hurt the lakers immensely. LO’s versatility is the only reason we’re going to be able to cle, sa, orl, and bos. As none of those teams have guy who can matchup with his size and speed, cept maybe rashard, but we use odom to shut him down too.

by robi s on Jul 11, 2009 8:03 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/did-yao-throw-artest-under-the-bus-to-bucher-24989

And some interesting stuff about Artest.

While talking to late-night, White Castle drive-thru companion and ESPN Radio host Jason Smith, Bucher said that Artest has not cleaned up his act as a person.

So why don’t we all know that Artest hasn’t (apparently) changed his volatile, oft-erratic ways off the court? According to Bucher, the Rockets were exceptional at covering up Artest’s alleged indiscretions.

by intuitive on Jul 11, 2009 7:39 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

lol i have a feeling artest will be all over town in la. and of course the media here is alot more intrusive and persistent. Hopefully someone liek Rick Fox will talk to artest about the do’s/don’ts of playing in LA, as they both obviously care/d alot about the other stuff LA has to offer.

by robi s on Jul 11, 2009 8:07 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Trevor is wearing #1 with the Rockets

Newly acquired Trevor Ariza will wear No. 1 but could not show the uniform at the news conference last week while details of McGrady’s uniform change were completed.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6526166.html

by intuitive on Jul 13, 2009 2:09 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs