Comments on proposed trades including one for Carlos Boozer

You have some problems in your trade idea:

*Lakers Trade Caron Butler, Chris Mihm, Vlade Divac and 10th Overal Pick to Utah for Carlos Boozer, Kirk Snyder and 27th Overall.

Let's start with timing on this one - once you trade Mihm and Divac, the Lakers have Cook as their starting C. You solve this by signing Gadzuric as a MLE FA. However, that to me is crawling too far out on a limb - if you don't sign Gadzuric, then the Lakers have a massive weakness in their starting line up. If you wait until you sign Gadzuric, then the Lakers will have already drafted and can't trade the #10 pick.

To me, you are trading way too much to get Boozer. Centers are extremely difficult to get and Mihm is one of the better young ones. I am really hoping that having started for a season will encourage him to really work hard this off-season. The rumored trade for Boozer is Butler, #17, Atkins, Vlade, trade X for Boozer and Borchardt, which is a more reasonable cost.

*Lakers Trade Chucky Atkins, Brian Cook, Sasha Vujacic and Miami Heat 2006 First Round Pick to Grizzlies for Jason Williams, Dahntay Jones and 19th Overall Pick.

I am not really certain the point of this trade as neither Atkins or Williams are a solution for the Lakers. I am not a big fan of Cook or Vujacic, but I am not certain that you can get much better with the #19 pick. Seems more like player churn, which is counter-productive.

*Lakers Trade Slava Medvedenko, Devean George, and 2nd Round Pick(37) to Pacers for Jonathan Bender and 17th Overall Pick.

As I said before, I like this trade.

Free Agency
Dan Gadzuric(MLE)
Tony Delk(LLE)

I don't like the idea of Delk. I would much rather give the time to a young player. If it costs the Lakers some games, so be it - it improves their draft position. The Lakers aren't trying to win it all next season - they are trying to position themselves to be a contender in 3 to 5 years.

Posted here at LG.net