Moreover, he is a defensive liability . He was always getting burned by guys when he was younger and faster when he was with the Lakers, now that he is older it will only be worse.

Glue guys and locker room guys are total bs. It is guys with skill who win the game. Fisher has none. Never did, never will. The guy hits one lucky shot against San Antonio and people love him. In reality, Utah is loving it that they got rid of his salary and some chump GM over paid for him.

I also agree that Fisher is going to cost us on pick and rolls and that he will be exploited in the playoffs. But I am not convinced that we make the playoffs without him this season. I can’t see how our locker room hasn’t been fractured by Kobe this off-season. Fisher is the the perfect guy for this situation, as he has the respect of everyone involved and is capable of contributing enough on the court to maintain that respect.

Unless the Lakers can add an impact anchor in trade and Jackson actually practices pick and roll D for once then the season is over before it has begun. All a team will have to do in the playoffs is pick and roll LA into the ground then the Lakers are shredded wheat and go golfing in May.

Fisher brings the positives of leaderhip, knowledge of the triangle, clutch playoff shooting, infectious hustle, smart anticipation for flops and steals, confidence of Kobe and Jackson. But let’s not neglect the negatives. Extra crispy defensively, nuclear testing on an island, one of the worst p/r defenders in the league, will chronically go under nearly every screen, and on offense lobs post entry and is comically bad in transition and finishing.

He has great positives and fits as a transiton to when Crittenton can take over. Though I believe Duhon in trade could have filled the same role. The problem is Fisher’s negatives are fatal.

On a team where pick and roll is already the Jackson kryptonite adding Fisher and not adding an anchor will once again be the cause of an early playoff exit. Signing Fisher mandates landing KG or JO, Bynum lacks the read/rotate skills to anchor. If the Lakers fail to land Garnett or Jermaine imo they will fail in 2007-08, they will not survive Fisher’s defense.

1) The current Laker payroll stands at 58,430,946.00. With the signings of Crittenton, Walton and Fisher, we could go as high up as 68M, making us already above the tax threshold.

2) Walton has reportedly agreed to make his 1st year salary at 4M in order to help the team stay away from the tax territory.

3) Fisher’s reported salary is as follows:
yr1 – 4,300,000.00
yr2 – 4,644,000.00
yr3 – 5,015,000.00

4) Crittenton has already signed for 1,285,200.00 on yr1 and 1,381,560.00 for next year.

5) Assuming we sign Mihm, we will be paying dollar-for-dollar for him.

6) The payroll next year (without Mihm) will be 62,851,319.00 well above the projected salary cap which will be around 57-58M.

7) While sporting a 62.8M payroll, the lakers are still without Kwame, Sasha, Mo Evans and Ronny Turiaf.

Assuming next year’s threshold will be at 70M, we will have 7.2M to sign for Kwame, Evans and Turiaf and perhaps Sasha.

9) Assuming we are able to sign the 4 of them to the 7.2M remaining, we still have to sign a rookie contract and prepare for Bynum’s upcoming extension.

10) What money are you talking about? We have no money to get KG, unless he takes the MLE next year of around 5.6M. And we will be paying dollar-for-dollar for that.

Taking it further to 2010, assuming Kobe is still here, we will be sporting a 50.2M payroll STILL WITHOUT Kwame, Odom, and now, Bynum’s extension.

Just a thought… Hope it helps.

I still feel it is in Lakers’ best interests not to trade for any of the big names mentioned so far-KG,J.O’Neal or Gasol. gasol is too soft and wants to be the focus of offence,Jermaine is too fragile to pin Franchise hopes on. As for KG….
If KG wants to be a Laker he can do so next yr w/out costing the Lakers anything other than money. Forcing a trade this yr means gutting the Lakers of bigs and the remaining roster will not contend for anything. Further,next yr a number of decent to very good free agents will be available,so he may end up helping Minn more by subtracting his salary than by being traded for a misc assortment of not-spectacular talent.

It has become obvious that Lamar cannot be traded for a “star” w/out other Laker assets having to be included.The Lakers are not deep enough that they can trade away 2 rotation players for 1. On the other hand Lamar is a big enough talent that he should be able to bring in a solid starter and a talented young,one of whom has to be able to play the Initiator role.
Two young players who might work as the Initator are Dorrell Wright or Josh Childress. Both defend,pass extremely well,can run and rebound and have no outside shot whatsoever. A viable trade w/Miami might look like Lamar and Evans/Sasha(salary and roster fodder) for Wright,Haslem,Walker and a second.
The Lakers would be far better defensively by end of yr w/Kobe,Wright,Haslem,Kwame teamed w/whatever PG gets the nod-I’d imagine Crittenton because of his 3pt shot.Bench of Fisher/Farmar,Walton,Radmanovic,Turaif and Bynum is not too shabby. Not a contending team,but almost there and young enough to be together for several yrs run. Add KG next yr(or sign one/two of mant decent bigs next yr and just do what Silas successfully did in Charlotte-run waves of bigs at the opponents),or have Bynum turn into a Bill Cartwright-type center and the Lakers can make their run. This rosy scenario does depend on several things-Crittenton to show potential to be big PG,Farmar to develope into Fish II,Bynum to become at least a 15-18PPG,get the big rebound and throw an elbow or two Center,a Wright to become Pippen-lite,Radmanovic to show he can score off the bench. This season should be about answering such questions,and if too many of them are wrong,blow up the team in March.
(BTW,Wright is at Kobe’s camp and the two are reported to have good chemistry when on court on same team,and Wright challenged Kobe good-naturedly when they were on oppossing teams.)

We’ve finally got ourselves our first Laker VETERAN. Yes, he was a #1 Laker draft pick at a higher level than either Jordan or Javaris. Yes, he’s proven himself in the clutch in the playoffs. Yes, he proven himself on the NBA market–and Reed explained why. Yes, he is known all over the world–but he won’t look down on any one. I doubt that Phil will ever call him a slug.

I think he may still teach some newer Laker fans what it means to be a Laker.

Welcome home, Derek. We missed you!