I guess Kobe has quite a bit of gas left in the tank.

[SantaDora]

Don't crow too loudly yet. The Bulls are supposed to be a top team, the Lakers were without Bynum (now their main player) and the Bulls still had to rally to win by 2.

Watched most of the game and I agree. On paper, with the Lakers talent without Bynum - they should not have been in the same zip-code as the Bulls.

 

[huevonkiller]

Kobe had an ok game yesterday but age, and that wrist are taking a toll on him.

The Bulls are struggling a bit and so is Rose.

 

[jlprk]

You may be right. From what I saw in a report I just read on his China experience, he wasn't very productive. Apparently he's reached a buy-out agreement with his China club and has returned to the US looking for a new contract. Somebody will give him a shot, but probably not at anywhere near $9 mil.

I read that his teammate Patty Mills outshone Martin (paid much more than Mills), causing the coach to be replaced midseason.

 

[Draco]

Denver gets nothing. KMart is a UFA and the Lakers have a $9 mil traded player exception that can be used to sign a player even though they're over the cap.

It's a TRADE exception, not a free agent signing exception.

 

[magnifier661]

It's a TRADE exception, not a free agent signing exception.

This... A trade exemption can only be used to trade a player of equal or lessor value. Lakers are over the cap; so they couldn't offer that amount to an unrestricted free agent.

 

[e_blazer]

It's a TRADE exception, not a free agent signing exception.

True. I wasn't thinking straight. It would have to be a sign-and-trade deal where Denver received a pick (and their own traded player exception) in return for for facilitating the deal. There are probably better options for the Lakers, but I just thought about them when I saw that KMart had left his Chinese team.

 

[magnifier661]

True. I wasn't thinking straight. It would have to be a sign-and-trade deal where Denver received a pick (and their own traded player exception) in return for for facilitating the deal. There are probably better options for the Lakers, but I just thought about them when I saw that KMart had left his Chinese team.

They can't even offer a pick with the exemption. It can only be used for one player; without anything or other players involved. Example: you can't use TE + pick for said player. It must be 1 player for TE only. You could get creative like Portland did, when they used the TE for James; with another deal to buy their first rounder. Rumor had it that Phoenix wouldn't sell us the pick unless we took on James's contract.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

It's a TRADE exception, not a free agent signing exception.

So Denver could sign him and trade him to the Lakers for the exception and a pick (or $3M). But it's certainly clear that the Nuggets don't need him right now.

I also agree that the Lakers either need Dwight Howard or a complete tear-down. Unfortunately tear-downs never last long for them because they're a top free agent destination. Unlike us (which is why cap space isn't so valuable to us).

 

[e_blazer]

They can't even offer a pick with the exemption. It can only be used for one player; without anything or other players involved. Example: you can't use TE + pick for said player. It must be 1 player for TE only. You could get creative like Portland did, when they used the TE for James; with another deal to buy their first rounder. Rumor had it that Phoenix wouldn't sell us the pick unless we took on James's contract.

That's not right. Technically, there is no such thing as a traded player exception; the CBA talks about simultaneous and non-simultaneous trades. In other words, a non-simultaneous trade is one where a multi-team deal takes place in two parts over a period of a year or less. Here's an example from Larry Coon's CBA FAQ page from the previous CBA. As far as I know, there weren't any changes to this in the new deal:

Here is an example of a non-simultaneous trade: a team trades away a $2 million player for a $1 million player. Sometime in the next year, they trade a draft pick (with zero trade value itself) for a $1.1 million player to complete the earlier trade. They ended up acquiring $2.1 million in salary for their $2 million player -- they just didn't do it all at once, or even necessarily with the same trading partner.

https://webfiles.uci.edu/lcoon/cbafaq/salarycap.htm#Q72

 

[magnifier661]

That's not right. Technically, there is no such thing as a traded player exception; the CBA talks about simultaneous and non-simultaneous trades. In other words, a non-simultaneous trade is one where a multi-team deal takes place in two parts over a period of a year or less. Here's an example from Larry Coon's CBA FAQ page from the previous CBA. As far as I know, there weren't any changes to this in the new deal:



https://webfiles.uci.edu/lcoon/cbafaq/salarycap.htm#Q72

No you are right that you can accumilate the TE to higher value. What I'm saying is the TE can only be used for 1 player. So Lakers having a 9 mil TE means they can only aquire a 9 mil or less player in return. They can't use it for a pick and a player.

 

[Draco]

True. I wasn't thinking straight. It would have to be a sign-and-trade deal where Denver received a pick (and their own traded player exception) in return for for facilitating the deal. There are probably better options for the Lakers, but I just thought about them when I saw that KMart had left his Chinese team.

So the Lakers will have to give up assets to acquire a mediocre player. Yes as I said earlier, there are no magic fixes for this Lakers team right now, they made a stupid emotional trade and now have less talent on the roster. They had a stronger team last year when they got challenged by a poor playoff team missing their second best player (David West). Then they were swept in the second round. Kobe wasn’t the best player on the floor in either of those playoff series. When is that last time you could say that? I’d say the Shaq era when the player clearly superior to Kobe was on his own team. The Lakers dynasty is over. They are nothing special now, just one of the six mid-tier playoff teams in the west.