With only Portland left with cap space, looks like his leverage is down to taking someone else's MLE (San Antonio) to force the Lakers to up the anty to $10 mil per. What else can he do? On the other hand, if SA flips the MLE to him, and he accepts it, the balance of power just shifted big time back to SA. Duncan, Ginobilli, Parker, RJ, and Lamar? Goodness! And Lakers losing both Lamar and Ariza and replacing them with Artest. That is going to siginificantly hinder their transition game. They lose 2 gazelles and replace them with a plodder. It also means that Bynum and Gasol are on the court together along with Artest for major minutes. You can't hardly run a fast break with that unit. They turn into a halfcourt setup team in one offseason. Can anyone else see this happening? With this in mind I am wondering if there is some incentive for the Lakers to figure out how to do a S&T with Ariza to the Rox (yes, I know he is BYC, but we have a trade exception and other parts that may make it work) for Artest, so that they can keep their MLE and use it on a guy like Shawn Marion, a racehorse option to Odom if Odom decides to run off to the Spurs or Blazers.
Oh man, if that happened, they would have like an all-star lineup. parker/gino/rj/odom/duncan. They will have the best starting lineup and its not even funny!!
Think about it. What is Odom's leverage to get his money besides signing off for Portland's $9-$10 million or another team where he could shift the balance of power to that team. And what better team could he shift the balance of power to but to the Spurs with their current roster.
I was actually hoping Portland would get Hedo, and then Raptors throw money at Odom, at the very least jacking the price up for LA.
I'm not a salary cap expert, but a SnT between the Rockets and Lakers might work. I don't know why the Lakers would want to keep their MLE unless they have a free agent PG in mind (or maybe just keeping Shannon Brown). Either way, it would give both teams more options going forward. Odom is the only significant free agent left but I doubt he's leaving LA. Maybe the Cavs go after him.
The Rockets have nothing to gain by signing Odom. I mean it would weaken the Lakers but it doesn't put the Rockets close to winning a title. The best thing to do is bite the bullet this year with Yao out , have cap money next summer and a potential lottery pick next year and come back the season after guns blazing.
I hope the Cavs throw some money at Odom. The Lakers are stacked as it is. I doubt Odom leaves LA, but it would be nice. That's what they get for taking Artest away from us .
I doubt Odom signs with another team. He still knows that the Lakers is his best option when it comes to winning and monetary issues.
I think Odom and LA have already worked out a deal. How else can you explain these teams fighting for Hedo before Odom? I think teams went after him and were told that he was perfectly happy in LA.
