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July 12, 2006
Roster math
The Lakers have spent their free-agent allowance, signing Vladimir Radmanovic and Shammond Williams to contracts on Wednesday. Radmanovic gets a deal for the maximum midlevel exception (five years and $30.2 million) while Williams will cost the Lakers their bi-annual exception (one year and $1.75 million). They still could sign a player for the league minimum or complete a sign-and-trade deal, though the second option is unlikely.
So far, the Lakers have added four players with guaranteed contracts this summer - - Jordan Farmar, Maurice Evans, Radmanovic and Williams. Smush Parker and Ronny Turiaf both are locks to make the team, although they do not have fully guaranteed deals. That leaves the Lakers with something pretty close to a 15-man roster.
C Kwame Brown/Chris Mihm/Andrew Bynum
PF Lamar Odom/Ronny Turiaf/Brian Cook
SF Vladimir Radmanovic/Luke Walton
SG Kobe Bryant/Maurice Evans/Aaron McKie
PG Smush Parker/Shammond Williams/Sasha Vujacic/Jordan Farmar
They could buy out the final year of Aaron McKie's contract - - getting almost no return on a $12-million investment in Vlade Divac and McKie the last two seasons - - and choose to keep one of their younger players from summer league. Or they could give Laron Profit the chance to make the team out of training camp.
The Lakers will introduce Williams this afternoon at their practice facility. One of the big questions for general manager Mitch Kupchak will be if his roster is set for next season and just how improved the Lakers will be with largely minor changes.
"We don't anticipate any more free agent signings,'' Kupchak said Wednesday. "Having said that, this time of year, there's a million phone calls regarding trades. That remains a possibility, although we don't have anything about to happen."
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I was totally disappointed to see Radmanovic will not be bringing the No. 77 he wore in Seattle to the Lakers. It would have been the highest jersey number in team history; Dennis Rodman wore No. 73 during his time in purple and gold. Radmanovic decided to go with No. 10, which he wore as a teenager in Serbia.
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Talked to Smush Parker for a couple of minutes at summer league Tuesday night. If anyone knows about summer league, it's Parker. He played for a different team (Detroit, Orlando, Indiana and the Lakers) each of the last four summers before this year. Parker's been in New York and said he has been playing a little bit on his own.
Posted by Ross Siler at July 12, 2006 11:34 PM
Comments
If anybody has a dream about Lakers, it will be just a dream. For a coach known for game strategy, player motivation, and psychological push to fail so miserably in the absolutely advantageous 3-1 situation, there will be no light on the Lakers for as long as he is at helm. This coach has lost all of his credibility as far as my concern.
Posted by: reminder at July 13, 2006 10:22 PM