Divac leaving Kings, Rockets should give him a call.

Just so NO to the scruffy faced flopping b*stard.

 

He will help a ton but we wont be able to get him. We arent that smart.

 

He signed with LA..or agreed to terms...

 

The way he sounded in this article made it seem like he just wants to finish his career where he started it.

 

Vlade's wife is trying to be a actor, thats why he wants to stay in Cali. I think finding a backup f/c can be found cheap and also finding someone young would help also.

 

Vlade is 36 and is looking for the entire MLE from the lakers. Vlade isn't worth that much money anymore and is not the type of backup center the rockets need.

 

no to divac..

 

I'd take Vlade, but LA has the 'natural' advantage. Good luck in LakerLand.

BTW - now where does LA find the $ to fill oput its roster, veteran's minimums? Trading Butler?

 

I think he's worth 3mil per for 2, he is such a smart passer that I can see him helping TMac & JJ getting their open shots when Yao is resting.

He still avg 5.8 reb in 28 min on those old wheels, I think he is a smart rebounder as well.

If we can't get him (very likely), good for RudyT.

 

http://www.pe.com/sports/lakers/stories/PE_Sports_Local_nba_notes_19.57936.html

(Note the references to Mike James, Kenyon Dooling, and the chasing after Shaq of Malone and Russell.)

Divac returning to the Lakers

11:46 PM PDT on Sunday, July 18, 2004

By BRODERICK TURNER / The Press-Enterprise

Again, it came down to the Lakers and Clippers for the services of a player, and once again the Clippers lost to the Lakers.

Vlade Divac has decided to return to the Lakers, the same team that drafted him in 1989 with the 26th pick in the first round, sources said late Sunday night.

Kobe Bryant was also deciding between the Lakers and Clippers and chose Thursday to remain a Laker.


AP photo
Center Vlade Divac, whom the Lakers traded in 1996, will sign as a free agent, sources say.



The Clippers had more money to offer, but sources said Divac wanted to be a Laker.

Divac will get the mid-level exception of about $5 million, and Laker team sources said they might be willing to give the 36-year-old free-agent center a two-year deal.

The Clippers, after being shunned by Bryant, still have about $14 million to spend and were able to offer Divac millions more.

Divac, who spent the past six seasons in Sacramento, said the Kings offered him just $2.5 million.

"It's a bad feeling to make a decision that you don't want to make," Divac, who has kept his home in Los Angeles, told the Sacramento Bee on Sunday. "In the last couple of days, I've been coming to grips that I really might have to leave. But (the Kings) are looking at it from the business side, and I have to do that, too."

With Divac able to play center, Brian Grant can move from center to his natural position of power forward, and Lamar Odom can move to his best position of small forward.

The signing of Divac could help the Lakers' chances of getting Karl Malone to return. Malone, who had surgery on his right knee, said he will take most of the summer to make a decision on retiring or playing again.

The San Antonio Spurs have called Malone repeatedly, and the Miami Heat also is interested.

Divac probably will play 20 to 25 minutes per game, giving the Lakers a 7-foot-1 presence in the middle.

He spent his first seven seasons with the Lakers until he was traded in 1996 to Charlotte for the rights to Bryant.

It also opened room for the Lakers to sign a free-agent center by the name of Shaquille O'Neal, who was traded away Wednesday to Miami for Grant, Odom, Caron Butler and a first-round draft pick.

The Lakers are looking for a fifth guard, but because they are over the salary cap, they are having a hard time filling that void.

They like Mike James, a reserve with the NBA champion Pistons, but he wants more money than the Lakers can offer.

All the Lakers can give James is the minimum salary a four-year player gets, which starts at about $745,000.

James made $638,000 last season.

Keyon Dooling, a restricted free-agent guard with the Clippers, has expressed interest in the Lakers, but they aren't looking in his direction.

Sources said the Clippers plan this week to match the six-year, $45 million offer guard Quentin Richardson got from the Phoenix Suns.

Bryon Russell, the former San Bernardino High star who spent last season with the Lakers, said Sunday night that he hopes to catch on with the Heat.

The Lakers also are still talking with Slava Medvedenko about returning.

 

Top All-time Flopping frontcourt in the nba!! I could see Malone and DIvac setting bets before each game as to who can muster more flops successfully.

 

I can see the shoe deal in the making: the Nike flip-flop -- not only good for the court but for the bath area as well.

 

Their team nick name could be "The Dominos".

 

Ask yourself this.....why would Vlade want us...he can start for LA....he has no chance to start here. The most PT he can expect is about 12 per or so...I sure would'nt want to come

I dont think the Lakers are as bad off as most people think...

C-Vlade Divac
PF-Brian Grant
SF-Lamar Odom
SG-Kobe Bryant
PG-Gary Payton

You also have Kareem Rush and Caron Butler off the bench....not bad, lets compare to the rockets

C-Yao (better)
PF-Howard/Mo T (wash.....maybe leaning our way)
SF-JJ (LA)
SG-TMAC (wash)
PG-Lue (LA)

 

I think GP is just a flat out negative for the Fakers. At least Lue doesn't take away from the team. GP opted for his 5.8 mil because he knew there was no way anyone would go for anything in that area and his skills are deteriorating badly. I couldn't just have been the system he was in.

 

Eight years later, it looks as if Divac is going to get the chance to play with Bryant after all.

According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, the 36-year-old veteran is leaning toward a return to the Lakers.

Ironically, Divac would be replacing Shaquille O'Neal as the team's center. When Divac was sent to Charlotte back in 1996, acquiring Bryant was only a secondary consideration. The primary motive was to clear enough cap space to sign O'Neal away from the Orlando Magic.

And in yet another twist, Divac will be making the same free-agent decision that Bryant just made, albeit with a lot less fanfare. Lakers or Clippers?

"I just finished meeting with (Kings president of basketball operations) Geoff (Petrie)," Divac said, "and I told him it's going to be between the Clippers and the Lakers. I'm going to decide (Monday). There's really not any (financial) room to make a deal with (the Kings)."


He's a bit older, but Vlade Divac may be back in this uniform shortly. (Ken Levine / GettyImages)

Kings co-owner Joe Maloof seemed to agree.

"Vlade's probably not going to be a King," Maloof said. "Based on everything we planned earlier in the summer, we had our minds set on a certain (salary-cap) number we didn't want to exceed. It's $60 million, maybe up to $62 million, so there was only a certain amount of money we could offer. I think Vlade loves Sacramento and he likes L.A."

According to the report, the Kings were only willing to offer $2.5 million per year, while both the Lakers and Clippers had made offers in the neighborhood of $5 million, presumably in the Lakers' case the entire mid-level exception.
http://msn.foxsports.com/story/2585748

If Divac returns to the Lakers for the mid-level, it raises the question of what Karl Malone will do. Previously, Malone's agent Dwight Manley had suggested his client was willing to play for bargain-basement prices for one year, but not necessarily two.

Malone is also being pursued by the Heat (where he would be able to team up again with O'Neal) and the Spurs, who tried to sign the veteran power forward last off-season before he landed in L.A.

Divac's return would also say something about the Lakers' aspirations for the 2004-05 season. Bringing in a 36-year-old veteran is not a long-term solution at the center position, but makes sense if the team thinks it's close enough to contend for the Western Conference title. Given the depth in the West and the improvements made by Denver, Utah and Houston, those expectations may be unrealistic.


Spurs have already improved with Brent Barry. Signing Malone would put them over the top as the most talented and deepest team in the NBA. They really know how to run an organization over there.

 

No way Vlade plays outside LA again. His wife is an aspiring actress.