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Now that he's signing with the Lakers, Derek Anderson will likely sign with Houston. Now if Finley will just agree to terms with Miami, all the rest of the free agents will fall into place.
Lakers Point to McKie
By Mark Heisler, Times Staff Writer
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basket...rts-nba-lakers
Ending their search for a point guard, or at least a Phil Jackson-type point guard, the Lakers have agreed to terms with another candidate no one could have predicted, Aaron McKie.
"We've come to an agreement," said McKie's agent, Leon Rose, from his home in Pennsauken, N.J., Sunday. "Everything will get done over the course of the next few days.
"The Lakers approached him with a nice offer. He had a long talk with Coach Jackson regarding the situation and the role he can play was something that appealed to him.
"Coach Jackson has had a lot of success with veteran big guards and hopefully Aaron can have the same kind of success and bring the team a defensive presence.
"He's also looking forward to playing with Kobe Bryant. He's known him a long time from their days in Philadelphia."
The agreement is for two years and $5 million. The Lakers had no comment.
The agreement with McKie is expected to end negotiations with Derek Anderson, another big veteran guard who received a similar offer but was expected to take less and sign with the Houston Rockets.
Having traded Chucky Atkins, last season's starter, the Lakers have been looking for a successor in Jackson's unconventional mold, in which size and at ude count more than youth, athleticism, scoring ability — or even any experience as a point guard.
In Jackson's triangle offense, the point guard is called the "initiator." He sets things up and makes the first pass but doesn't control the ball as much as a conventional point guard and doesn't have to be as good a playmaker.
When Jackson arrived with the Lakers in 1999, he benched starting point guard Derek Fisher, who had just gotten a five-year, $15-million contract, and brought in bigger, older Ron Harper to replace him. Harper had played shooting guard for his entire career until Jackson switched him to "initiator" with the Bulls in 1995 at age 31.
A shooting guard throughout his career, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound McKie will be 33 in October. He is known as a tough compe or with a stand-up-guy reputation but his career has declined sharply since he started for the 76ers, who lost to the Lakers in the 2001 NBA Finals.
Last season, new 76er Coach Jim O'Brien parked McKie on the bench for the first half of the season to go with younger players. McKie got back into the rotation, averaging 21 minutes a game after the All-Star break, but his 2.2 average was by far the lowest of his career.
Anderson offered the Lakers a younger (31), more athletic option, averaging 9.2 points last season in Portland, although he missed 66 games in his last two seasons there. However, the Lakers weren't convinced he was the defender and leader they wanted. Anderson is known as sunny and likable but his at ude was questioned by people in Portland. He reportedly didn't take it as a compliment when the Lakers asked him about it during his visit here two weeks ago.
Last week for the first time, the Lakers contacted McKie's agent, Rose. Until then, McKie had been expected to take a $1.1-million offer to back up Vince Carter in New Jersey.
By then, Anderson was reportedly leaning toward the Rockets, who could offer him only $1.7 million but made him feel he was the player they wanted.
The Lakers then made similar offers to McKie and Anderson, hoping to assure themselves of getting one of them.
With a $2.5-million slot left, the Lakers would like to add a small, quick guard or a big man. Their top guard prospect, former Laker Tyrone Lue, is expected to re-sign in Atlanta.
Still on the Lakers' list and available are former UCLA Bruin Earl Watson and former Laker Jannero Pargo. With a short list of big men to choose from, a return by Vlade Divac may be possible.
Now that he's signing with the Lakers, Derek Anderson will likely sign with Houston. Now if Finley will just agree to terms with Miami, all the rest of the free agents will fall into place.
Ddddddddddddddaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnn nn!!!!!!!!!!
Glad to get that out of my system.
Weird.With a short list of big men to choose from, a return by Vlade Divac may be possible.
LOL.
Yeahhhh Vlade!!!
Hanging tough.
A 30 some odd year old Aarong Mckie is your staring PG??
Id rather have Chucky Atkins.....
Would've been a nice fit in SA.
Lived in SA for 18 years (die-hard spurs fan), now in LA....it's hilarious to see the Laker Dynasty fall apart and watch their fans hope for a comeback. The sports news is awesome, too. They gave up on the Lakers last year - it's all Dodgers news now. LA sports sucks major . The Dodgers suck, the Lakers suck, the city council ed up football, the Anaheim Angels changed their name to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim -- and LA rejects them -- so they only have a Soccer team and a hockey team (which nobody gives a about). HAHAHAHAHAH......
It's great driving around town with my SPURS decal on my back window....
(And I love bragging that the Spurs have 3 championships over 7 years rather than just 3....proving them a great team and franchise, not just a great team.)
Last edited by freemeat; 08-21-2005 at 09:51 PM.
Phil doesn't like small guards. He likes his guards on the big size, 6'5" - 6'7". Think MJ, Pip, Ron Harper. McKie is the prototype. This is a good pickup for them for the present.A 30 some odd year old Aarong Mckie is your staring PG??
Id rather have Chucky Atkins.....
Christie to Dallas
McKie to Lakers
Derek Anderson to Houston
Nick Van Exel to San Antonio
He has been an excellent defender over the years, when he was healthy, but he's not as quick as he used to be.
McKie may be called the "initiator" in Jackson's offensive scheme...
but when he's defending quicker guards such as Tony Parker, McKie will be called the "trailer" in Jackson's defensive scheme.
Well the fact that they are looking to get Earl Watson there will be good for them. A point tandem of McKie/Watson gives them two different still of PG's and they should be effective.
Lakers = 9 or 10th slot in the West. Unless they lose to the Spurs in the first round....HAHA .....Lakers suck.....
Earl Watson is a different story. Whoever signs Earl is getting one very fine player. He's been one of the toughest 4th quarter and end of quarter players the Spurs have had to deal with over the last couple of seasons.
Before the free agency period started, most analysts thought he'd get the full MLE somewhere. As things are looking now, he probably won't. He'll likely get an offer starting between $2.5-3.5M. I wish the Spurs were in the mix. Beno could hone his skills in practice.
Anderson offered the Lakers a younger (31), more athletic option, averaging 9.2 points last season in Portland, although he missed 66 games in his last two seasons there. However, the Lakers weren't convinced he was the defender and leader they wanted. Anderson is known as sunny and likable but his at ude was questioned by people in Portland. He reportedly didn't take it as a compliment when the Lakers asked him about it during his visit here two weeks ago.
Finley to Miami
NVE sounds like a pretty good idea.
NVE is a bit more nut case than Pop could handle imo. As many clutch shots he hits, he jacks up 5 times more than that.
Uh, not to rain on your parade but, the task of getting 3 in a row still by-far supercedes getting 3 in 7 years.
Debatable. The Lakers threepeat was essentially with the same mix (Shaq, Kobe, Fish, Fox, Horry were there in all three). The Spurs had one common factor : Duncan.Uh, not to rain on your parade but, the task of getting 3 in a row still by-far supercedes getting 3 in 7 years.
99 was Duncan plus an active DRob, Elliott, Avery
'03 was Duncan plus an aging DRob, Parker, SJax, with Manu off the bench
'05 was Duncan plus Manu plus Parker plus key role players like Horry and Bowen
So the Spurs have managed to manufacture championship squads multiple times even with different pieces which is tougher than having the same core for 3 years.
But if the Spurs win one more, they'll have the most no. of les in the post-Jordan era, and the pre-eminent dynasty of the day.
I agree that getting 3 in a row is a bigger accomplishment than three in seven. We will now see if the spurs can man up an get multiple les since they will have the same core for the next 5-6 years.
As much as I hate Lakers (call me a top-10 laker-hater if not #1
It's a lot easier to 3-peat when you had Tim Duncan injured for one of them.
I'd rather have Earl Watson than NVE. I'd like either one, but if it were my choice I would like Earl Watson. I wonder what Watson is going to get. Did the Cav's sign a point already? If not, then he might go there. He may even go to Miami if they can't sign Damon Jones. It will be interesting.
Damn, I'm gonna miss seeing McKie warming up the bench at Sixers games this season........
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