[thetruthParticipant]

south beach or back in LA

[McWinningParticipant]

back in La.

[gatorheelsParticipant]

LA

[FutureoftheGame]

Miami. Something went wrong this offseason with him and the staff. They wont give him the money and now that they have Artest and Morrison looks like he could come in and shoot, they probably wont try to get him back if he is going to be lil bitch.

[thetruthParticipant]

ends up in miami. simply because miami has recruited him harder, wade really wants him back. i dont see kobe or phil begging like the heat are.

[FutureoftheGame]

Is this whole page in italics for everyone else??

[R-Dot-13Participant]

i think he ends up in miami

and yes, it is in italics.

[McWinningParticipant]

i think hell stay because at the end of the day hell realize hell get as much money as the heat would give him. and hell probably win a championchip.

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

LA ~ $$

[BasketballGuru24Participant]

I Think He will leave…..simply because Miami, wants him more right now…….but midway through the season he will miss l.a and request a trade

[Da1potParticipant]

He’s going to go to Miami. Better stats, more money for him. The Lakers need to try harder because he just might very well be the difference between them repeating or not. Even if he comes to Miami though, the Heat will only make it to the second round at absolute best.

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

miami is a pawn in the chess match that is the lamar odom negotiation

[llperez]

I’m a laker fan and would love to see him back, but I think he ends up i Miami. And I think he will regret it in the long run. The thing I don’t get is that Odom was saying all last season that he wanted to return to the Lakers and that he would give them a hometown discount, but then he turned down 9 mill per to ponder an offer for like 6 mill per in Miami. Buss has been playing hardball this offseason with Ariza and now Odom, so I think he is gone. As long as Bynum can stay healthy, the Lakers won’t miss Odom too much.

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

exactly, he’s not going to take the 6 million from miami, but he’s also not going to take THAT much of a hometown discount (9 mill)… it’s called leverage, and Odom has it because there is another option that he’s supposedly strongly considering and the lakers can’t afford to lose the guy

[llperez]

I don’t think Odom has nearly as much leverage as you think. Artest, Gasol, and Bynum are the starters and Odom did’nt really step up last year until Bynum went down with the injury. If Bynum can stay healthy, Odom is more or less a luxury rather then a necessity. Keep in mind that Artest can also create offense and defend multiple positions. Buss played hardball with Ariza when he stalled at the initial offer. The Lakers are not going to raise there offer, especially when no one is offering more. Odom will have to take it or leave it because I highly doubt the Lakers budge on their stance. It was just reported today the Las vegas bookies are considering the Lakers favorites next year regardless of whether Odom returns.

[Knicksboy34Participant]

La just lowered the deal for Odom today…

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

i hope odom goes to Miami and LA doesn’t make it, I think that LO and Ariza’s contributions to that Lakers team are WAY underrated…. to see them get shafted by the lakers is a little sad, especially considering the fact that they play in LA and make plenty of money. I don’t see the Lakers winning the championship with Bynum/Gasol/Artest… not that they aren’t talented on paper, I just don’t see those guys playing together very well.

[llperez]

I respect that opinion, but I would’nt say the Lakers shafted them. Ariza accepted less money to go to Houston then what LA offered, and if Odom goes to MIami, it will also be for less money then what LA offered. Keep in mind whatever the Lakers pay them will be doubled due to the luxury tax. No question losing Ariza and Odom will hurt, but if Artest fits in, Bynum plays the way he did before the injuries these last 2 years, and Farmar and Brown can steal some minutes from Fish, then I still feel comfortable with their chances of winning it all. Oh yeah, and they have Kobe and Gasol who are still playing as well as they ever have. Still, it will suck to see Odom go, he was one of my favorites.

[xbadgerhustlerParticipant]

u know your LA news wayyyy more than i do, lol. good point on the signing at other places for less… although, just because they took less money elsewhere, doesn’t mean they didn’t feel shafted by the lakers… i believe ariza signed for the MLE and that’s what Odom would sign for too so they took the maximum money they’d be able to get out of another team…

the lakers definitely still have a good chance with Pau and Kobe. I am a firm believer that Ron Artest is way overrated and has maybe the worst shot selection in the league. I don’t know how I feel about him trying to play the triangle, he’s more of a 1-on-1 guy where the triangle needs movement and decision making (in artest game there isn’t any decision making because he generally only entertains one option, taking an ill-advised jumper)

[OrangeJuiceJonesParticipant]

This guy’s trying to decide between playing 30 minutes a game as a sixth man on a championship team, or playing 35 minutes a game on a team that might not even get past the first round. He should just go back to L.A. and end this nonsense.

[auberParticipant]

Miami baby it’s a tax free contract.

[llperez]

It’s only tax free in the 41 home games, the rest the games would receive the same tax that an LA contract would. I read that that tax savings would add up to well less then a mill per year of the contract. So, if the Lakers offered 9 mill per year(which is the consensus rumor, although it might have been pushed back down now) then he would have made more in LA then getting the MLE from Miami. So the tax is only a small part of the situation.

[Author]

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