Wow! Payton now a Celtic, Fox going back to Boston, Lakers get a capable replacement, make the log jam at SF smaller, and get a big man. Good trade?
Payton and Fox are expiring contracts after this year. Basically Boston would be dumping Atkins' salary. Good move for LA. They get a backup C to go with Divac and Atkins is a nice PG. Still not sure what the heck Boston is doing. Man, can ANYONE figure out what Ainge is up to?
not after he traded for lafrentz, the worst contract in the nba. obviously they wanted some expiring contracts but they coulda just kept 'toine and had another expiring contract instead of raef's contract that runs until about 2025. so what is mihm's contract like? did he sign for the MLE? i guess i like this for LA. now maybe they won't wanna sign karla and i won't have to see rudy coach him.
Word from the RealGM boards is that in addition to the above players in the trade the Lakers are giving Boston a 2005 1st rounder and Boston is sending Marcus Banks to LA. Atkins Mihm Banks Fox Payton 2005 1st rounder
ok trade for lakers, still no backup pg, unless wat u say abt getting banks is true, if it is then thats a solid lineup, wont get em past first round imo. divac/mihm/grant odom/grant butler/george/walton bryant/george/rush atkins/banks*/rush? *-if realgm is telling the truth
If the celtics just threw in banks for what has the potential to be a pick around 20 or lower, they are even dumber than i thought.
Wow, didn't see that one coming.... I've always liked Mihm and Banks, and it's good to see another out of control ego leave the Lakers. Rudy's getting a nice little team to start anew with in LA. But does anyone know what's been going on with Malone lately? I haven't heard about him in a while...
What was funny about that link is that Bill Simmons got the inside information first, haha, Bill Simmons. Here's his take on the trade, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040806 , pretty fast, eh?
The first rouder is lottery protected and Boston also sends a 2nd rounder to LA. as reported by ESPN. Trade seems to favor Mihm. Another FA I wouldn't have mind seeing signed. Oh Well.
Nice move by LA. By adding a solid big body in Mihm (and also retaining Medvedenko a few days ago) they no longer will need to play Odom serious minutes at the 4 slot. Instead, he can more naturally play a point forward role out of the 3 slot. The Lakers now have tons of 4/5 options, with Mihm, Grant and Medvedenko all capable of playing both slots. Divac/Mihm/Medvedenko/(Grant, Cook) Grant/Cook/(Walton, Odom, Mihm, Medvedenko) Odom/Butler/George/Walton Bryant/Rush/Vujacic Atkins/Banks You may even get to see Odom running the point in the backcourt with Bryant to allow more minutes for Butler at the 3. Kobe's ability to guard anyone helps this case more. THe Lakers' roster now sits at 14 with an unsigned 2nd rounder still. I don't see many more moves for them- moving Payton pretty much puts the ball in Bryant's hands as Odom won't play selfishly. Moving Fox pretty much removes the last holdover from the Lakers' "dynasty" era, save for a young Devean George. I see this as a move to completely turn this into Kobe Bryant's team.
