http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2007/06/27/
2007-06-27_lakers_shift_sights_to_pacers_oneal-1.html

Lakers shift sights to Pacers' O'Neal

BY MITCH LAWRENCE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Wednesday, June 27th 2007, 4:00 AM

For the Lakers, no KG means Plan B.

With their bid to land Minnesota's Kevin Garnett all but dead, which can't make Kobe Bryant very happy, the Lakers yesterday restarted trade talks with Indiana about acquiring Jermaine O'Neal.

"O'Neal is available and the Lakers are interested," said an Eastern Conference GM last night. "That's what's being discussed now."(I SAY UGH talking here)

In recent weeks the two teams haven't been able to reach an agreement over which players would go to the Pacers for the 6-11 forward/center. The Pacers have insisted that the Lakers include teenage center Andrew Bynum in a deal with Lamar Odom, while the Lakers would be willing to part with Bynum only in a trade package for Garnett. But Minnesota wants more for Garnett.

With the Lakers moving onto O'Neal, the Suns stepped up their efforts to get Garnett. In a proposed three-way deal, the Celtics would get the Suns' Shawn Marion and Minnesota would land the Celtics' No. 5 pick in tomorrow's draft, along with a collection of players entering the final year of their contracts. For the deal to work, however, Marion would have to agree to a long-term extension with Boston. He can opt out of his contract after this coming season.

O'Neal had been part of a four-way mega-deal that would have sent Garnett to the Lakers. But that deal collapsed late Monday, reportedly because O'Neal did not want to go to the Celtics. There was also a question as to whether Boston wanted to pick up the remaining $63 million on O'Neal's contract over the next three years. But the source insisted that the Celtics are also involved in talks for O'Neal and would be willing to part with the fifth pick as part of a package.

The Pacers are open to moving O'Neal, although teams such as the Knicks who covet him don't have the pieces.

"He's an awful good player," team president Larry Bird said about O'Neal yesterday. "And anytime you've got a player of his caliber, you've got to be careful.

"If you do trade him, you have to get something back. Hopefully we can do something that makes our team better, whether it's Jermaine or whoever."

We don't have the pieces to get O'neal but somehow we definitely have the pieces to land Kobe with I SAY UGH taking Curry off the table in any possible trade scenario.


I won't even LOL @ that.



[Edited by - TrueBlue on 06-27-2007 10:34 AM]

A quote from today's Bergan Record on the Knicks draft plans:

Thomas still also could trade the pick before or even after he makes it -- although the market for a No. 23 pick, plus the unappealing bargaining chips he owns, seems slim.

Had it been the No. 9 pick the Bulls now own (the second straight lottery pick surrendered in the Eddy Curry deal), things might be different, as Chicago may spend it as part of a package to acquire one of the big-ticket players on the market.

Instead, the Knicks are hamstrung by the two-year commitments they still have to Steve Francis ($33.6 million) and Rose ($14.7 million), the two uninsured two years (plus a third-year player option) Quentin Richardson has left ($26.3 million) plus albatross deals with Jerome James and Jeffries.

Or as one league executive put it last week, "What do they have that anyone wants, Jerome James?"

But what do you expect after spending over half a billion dollars and trading away 4 potential lottery picks in 3 1/2 years?

Good. JO is a declining player, whom even in his prime could not lead the pacers anywhere.

Of course we don't have the pieces, I mean the lakers can offer bynum and kwame, I am sure that is more than enough, I mean the upside of bynum is out of this world, and Kwame is due for a breakout season, I mean we all have read this wrong, Kwame is on the rise!!!!!!! I mean who wants what the knicks have? David Lee? frye? those bums, why do I want them when I could have kwame?

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by tkf:

Good. JO is a declining player, whom even in his prime could not lead the pacers anywhere.

Of course we don't have the pieces, I mean the lakers can offer bynum and kwame, I am sure that is more than enough, I mean the upside of bynum is out of this world, and Kwame is due for a breakout season, I mean we all have read this wrong, Kwame is on the rise!!!!!!! I mean who wants what the knicks have? David Lee? frye? those bums, why do I want them when I could have kwame?

Actually it wouldn't be Kwame and Bynum it would be Odom and Bynum and pick, which the Pacers are recently reported to want both playerrs, just how bad do they want them. If Kwame's involved it's so the Pacers can unload Tinsley. No need for the Diva rant. Regardless league perception around the league aren't high on our assets and if we should so happen to get involved in a trade we're probably gonna get screwed.

Diva rant? LOL... talk about the pot...........

anyway, I could care less, the pacers are irrelevant and with moves like this, they are set to become more irrelevant... So it goes from the lakers getting KG (which I knew would not happen) to getting JO...... LOL.... Yea, whatever, I am glad our assests are not viewed as high, maybe we won't make the stupid mistake of moving them for hack players...