Now that we’ve signed Ron Artest, lost Trevor Ariza & the G.O.A.T. – Phil Jackson – has passed his medical exams to clear his way to return as the Lakers Coach next year, the main focus of Lakers Nation is to see what the candy man, Lamar Odom is going to do.
The word coming from Lamar Odom’s camp “sources” is that Lamar is looking for a contract of about $10M a year, which is a $1.4 Million dollar decrease from last year’s salary. The Lakers are already $10M into the luxury tax, so if we do sign Lamar, we’re not only paying him $10M for his contract, but an additional $10M in taxes. I know it’s not fair to say that we’re paying $20M to sign Lamar, but in a sense, we are.
Some things to consider are before you pay Lamar his $10 Million a year. I know he brings the intangibles and all that, but let’s come off the high of winning a Championship a little bit and look at the facts this year.
1) Lamar was getting paid $14.1 Million to come off the bench. I know he was used as a starter part of the season because of Drew’s injury, but Lamar averaged:
- 29.7 Minutes a Game (compared to 37 & 36 Minutes by Kobe & Pau)
- Shot 49% from the field, which is his second best mark of his career, but came on his 3rd lowest Shot Attempt total in his 10 year career (not counting injured years).
- Average Box Score: 11.3 Pts | 8.2 Rebounds | 2.6 Assists | 1.0 Steals | 1.0 Blocks
- Played one truly great month in February when he carried the Lakers with victories over Cleveland and Boston on the road. Should have been named player of the month in my opinion.
- With that being said, Lamar is notorious as one of the most inconsistent players in the league.
2) Now that we take a look at what everyone has been saying is Lamar’s “Coming Out” season, the 2009 NBA Playoffs. Looking through my purple and gold glasses, I do have to say that Lamar seemed to come through in clutch situations and really made his mark in key moments – i.e. guarding the inbounds pass for Trevor to make those key steals, the dunk over Chris Anderson and playing through pain after landing hard in the Houston series. With that being said, I took off my glasses and looked at the numbers. I know they don’t tell the whole story, but they do say something:
- 32.3 Minutes a Game (compare to 40.9 & 40.6 minutes by Kobe & Pau)
- Shot 52.4% from the field on the 3rd most shot attempts on the team behind Kobe & Pau.
- Average Playoff Box Score: 12.3 Pts | 9.1 Rebounds | 1.8 Assists | 0.7 Steals | 1.8 Blocks
Now you have to remember, all these numbers usually come against the opposing team’s second unit and also in crunch time.
Also, one thing you have to consider is how important is Lamar relative to the rest of the team? Should he be getting this much love right now? I truly believe we have to watch out how much we spend now, so that we don’t price ourselves out when Pau’s contract is up in a couple of years. To me, the Spainard truly deserves a max contract because he comes to play every day and puts up the numbers to earn it.
If you want my honest opinion at this point, Lamar’s not worth $10M a year. If we sign him at this price, he will definitely be the highest paid, but best “never will be an all-star” player in the league.
BUT, worth is a relative term and as we saw that with Ron Artest signing for $6M a year which then set the market for Trevor to sign for $5.8M a year after his demands for a $7-9M a year contract.
So, with that being said, Lamar’s main competitor in the market was Hedo Turkoglu who just pulled a Carlos Boozer and recanted his verbal agreement with the Portland Trailblazers for a $10M a year contract to sign with the Toronto Raptors for something around $10.6M a year.
Both Hedo and Lamar are 6’10 Multi-Position Players. Both Players are 30 years old and are looking to cash in on their last big contract of their career. Both Players are coming off a NBA Finals run.
Hedo just set the market and I don’t think it is going to help the Lakers with their contract negotiations. The only chance we have is to compare Hedo’s numbers with Lamar’s numbers:
Hedo Turkoglu – Average Box Score 16.8 Pts | 5.3 Rebounds | 4.9 Assists | 0.2 Steals | 0.8 Blocks on 36 Min/Game
Lamar Odom – Average Box Score: 11.3 Pts | 8.2 Rebounds | 2.6 Assists | 1.0 Steals | 1.0 Blocks on 29 Min/Game
OK, the Lakers have no chance in negotiating a contract through numbers! The only other team out there that can offer Lamar with Championship hopes and a comparable salary are the Portland Trailblazers, who are the ones that just got hosed by Hedo.
For the Lakers to come out winners – It all comes down to Lamar wanting to stay in Los Angeles and giving us a Hometown Discount like he said he would earlier in the season.
For Lamar to come out a winner – Considering the economy this year, he might just have to take a $7.5 Million One Year Offer, then tap into next year’s spending spree where teams will be courting the services of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki and Amare Stoudemire, just to name a few.
So, this is the situation right now! You’ve got your ulcer medicine ready? This is going to be another tough few days for Lakers Nation!
*Update – ESPN C. Broussard reports that the Lakers are going to offer Lamar a 3 year $24-$25M contract*
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