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No you can't have him
Anyone think he would be a good addition this off-season to fill in the starting small forward position? I still can't believe we're paying Bruce 4 million. I like the guy but that's just too much.
No you can't have him
Well, Laker owner Jerry Buss says he'll pay the luxury tax to keep this Laker team together...If you want a good ex-Laker, try for Rony Turiaf, he would fit with the Spurs.
you can take Sasha though
Yes, I've been saying this for 2 years. I thought the Spurs made a mistake by not going after him when he left Orlando a couple of summers ago.
Actually, he would probably be a cheaper version of Kurt Thomas. But Buss will have to pay tax because that team is going to get too expensive and no one is taking Walton's horrible contract.
The Grizzlies would. Walton for OJ Mayo sounds fair...
Take Sasha. Ariza is my man-crush.
Actually, the mistake was in the 2004 draft, when the Spurs traded up to 42 to select an 18 year old, 6-8 small forward from a small technical college in Viktor Sanikidze.
The very next selection was another 6-8, 18 year old small forward but who only played at some school called UCLA: Trevor Ariza.
c'mon man.
Bruce has dont heaps for this club and if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have those championships.
Now THAT was a blunder, although you can't blame the organisation.
Sanikidze over Ariza is a shame as Ariza has now proven he's a darn good player.
But hey, it goes to show that european talent isn't ALWAYS good for the spurs.
More importantly though, we don't know what will become of Sanikidze...
Touche'
Another example of the Spurs mining the bottom of the international talent pool - ad nauseum - at the expense of domestic talent. With the way he's developed, Ariza would have been a perfect answer to the "long-three" question that has been plaguing this team for years.
So did I. I thought the Spurs should have gotten him a couple of seasons ago to be groomed by Bruce. I don't want him because he's playing good ball now. i thought he was a decent prospect before he ever joined the Lakers.
Stupid stuff from the Spurs to not give him a go. I think I read at the time his offensive game was too raw so the Spurs weren't interested. He would have been a good fit.
It is easy to say. There is a reason why Ariza was still available late in the draft.
Since 2000 the Spurs have drafted some US players in the 2nd round.
Marcus Williams, James Gist, Randy Holcomb (traded on draft night), Bryan Bracey, Chris Carrawell. The jury is still out on Gist and Williams, but where are the others?
Late in the second round there are very few gems (US or not) and you are very competent/lucky if you can find one.
He sucks at Defense
Ariza and Odom are both in the last year of their contracts....and both would likely command big money...
Lakers payroll is over 70 millions next year.
Chances we land one or both of them ?
Double Bingo......
You are correct. The Laker payroll will be $75M without Odom or Ariza. No chance at Odom. He'll command premium dollars.
As for not getting Ariza when he "left" Orlando "a couple of years ago", that would have been difficult. He was traded to the Lakers last year, for Cook, I believe. If you're going to at the front office, you should have your facts straight, and it should actually be someone they missed.
I am sure that they will do what it takes to re-sign Ariza. He is really turning out to be a nice player and LA would be foolish to let him go. Odom is a different story though. He might want more money than LA is willing to offer. That being said, I don't know if I would want Odom. He is incredibly inconsistent and has a habit of coming up empty in the playoffs.
Too raw? You got to be kidding. They can't be serious. Anyone drafted in the 2nd round isn't a ready-made talent. I saw him a few seasons ago and he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Now he's drilling open 3's. That's why the strategy is called developing young talent. It was still a gross oversight on the part of the Spurs.
Ariza returning to LA is a near-lock. No worries about that from LA. They'll meet any MLE offer with ease.
LO is the one not likely back but unless a team has major cap space, he may re-sign for LA cheaper.
Buss doesn't want to pay over $100 mil in salary/tax but he's always paid after a ring. If LA wins it all, I expect both back. No matter what though Ariza stays. Mitch has been after him since that draft.
And the trade was Cook and Evans for Ariza.
That may be, but that doesn't mean you stop drafting and developing talent. If the Spurs decided to take that approach, they never would've found TP and Manu in the first place. Furthermore their strategy of exclusively bypassing domestic talent, from '99 through '07, to focus strictly on international talent hasn't exactly panned out well either. As for the specific 2004 draft, all I know is that Viktor Sanikidze isn't even in the NBA. Ariza has developed into a nice player.
Why do you think they stopped drafting and developing talent?
They found TP and Manu as you said. If you go further Beno, Scola, Splitter... all have talent. They were probably just thinking Sanikidze was a better pick than Ariza.
I agree they were wrong on that one. I just said it is easy to say. Their previous US draft pick did not pan out either.
Just one more thing, on that draft they could have pick Noccioni.
Even in the international pool there was some talent available.
You can't always predict who will become a legitimate NBA player.
Looking forward to the next CBA and a hard cap.
I thought that was a very underrated trade. Now it turns out it was an awesome trade.
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