Lakers has pulled to offer for free agent Lamar Odom.

if Odom's Jekyll/Hyde pattern of performing lights-out some nights and completely dissapearing others (attributed by one LA Times writer to his sugar binges followed by the inevitable crash) factored into the decision. My two cents is that Laker brass knows all too well how close they came to losing the Houston series where Odom's inconsistency was one of the reasons it went 7.

-- Modified on 7/15/2009 5:44:48 PM

U don't screw around with Jerry Buss.  I think Buss was more than fair.  27 million for 3 years is damn good.  But u don't let an offer sit on the table and negotiate with other teams without talking to Buss.  I read that Lamar wants to take the Lakers offer but he hasn't convinced his agent.  Which makes no sense to me.  

Anyway, another case of a player (see Ariza) playing poker with Buss and going down the smokestack.

Bond

Another greedy agent screwing up the deal instead of working "for" their clients.  We'll just have to sit tight for now and see what happens.

Even if he goes to a serious contender, he will be playing against his ex-teammates in the conference or NBA finals.  He had better be real sure that team could beat the Lakers, and right now, I don't see anyone I could say with certainty that could, even without him.

Unless of course you want to take that outfit of yours out on the court when their last possession is happening...  

It's all part of the agent trying to look like he's negotiating for more money. Time will tell

Agents don't MAKE the deal, they just negotiate it.  There better not be too many athletes that let an agent drag them around by the dick and MAKE them go to another city.  Any athlete that stupid, deserves what they get.

apparently agents have a lot to do with it.

"Many in the Lakers' organization believe that Odom wants to accept Buss' offer -- and so do those close to Odom -- but he has failed to convince his agent."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-lamar-odom15-2009jul15,0,5773043.story

Also, disappointing radio interview of Ariza:

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/LOSANGELES-CA/KLAC-AM/070709%20Trevor%20Ariza%20.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=LOSANGELES-CA&NG_FORMAT=sports&SITE_ID=727&STATION_ID=KLAC-AM&PCAST_AUTHOR=KLAC-AM&PCAST_CAT=Arts_%26_Entertainment&PCAST_TITLE=KLAC-AM_Loose_Cannons

The biggest problem Riley has right is keeping Wade. Odom is the same type of player that Michael Beasley is, so that wouldn't really work out.

Perhaps he's a better player than negotiator.

If someone was offering me $9 mil, and I was paying someone to convince me not to take it, there better be pretty good assurance that a $10 mil offer was headed my way.

Then again, there's not a basketball player on earth that I think is worth 9 million dollars, unless I could grind him into fertilizer and grow a team of them.

Miami does have room to sign Odom.  He would have to take the  the mid-level exception of $5.8 million for this year (vs. the $9 and $10 million deals offered by the Lakers) but that deal would adjust to five years for $34 million according to the LA Times.

Miami is working on a 3-way deal with Utah and Memphis. The deal involves Carlos Boozer and will inable Miami to get more cap space.

See you still have to read it, didn't you.

... but we need to keep up for the '09-'10 season, and see how the teams are changing to make play offs, and how the champs are to defend their title!

Basketball season is never over for management, nor for the true fan.

and even *I* don't care how much you talk about the Lakers!

Like I said, the agent is the idiot.