Lakers at the Deadline: Hello New Energy, Good Bye Familiar Faces
By Hector Diaz
We all know Kobe can win without Shaq–he has won 2 championships without the recently retired big man.
The real question now is this: Can Kobe win without Derek Fisher and Luke Walton.
I’m serious.
Fisher and Walton do have as many rings as the Black Mamba, don’t you know. The Lakers seemed determined to upgrade their roster with the two trades that occurred just hours before the trade deadline by sending away what I consider the Legacy Lakers–not too explosive to be legends, but they hung around just long enough to be Lakers for life.
The first trade sent Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, and a lottery-protected first round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Ramon Sessions and Christian Eyenga. With all due respect to Luke, who else forgot he was still part of the active roster? He almost seemed to be a Lakers staple, much like Gary Vitti and Jack Nicholson. (yes, Jack is an honorary Laker for his many years there, much like Luke) I almost forgot that, unlike Jack, Walton could be traded.
As sad as it is to see Walton leave, it was a necessity for the Lakers to get the big trade that they wanted. Forget about the blockbuster trades for a Dwight Howard or Deron Williams; these are the types of trades that make up championship teams.
Sessions is the point guard the Lakers have secretly yearned for the entire season. He’s explosive and productive to a certain degree. He’s definitely not a star, but he is the role player that can take advantage of Kobe’s career in its autumn. The newly minted Laker has averaged 10.5 points and 5.2 asissts per game, which is astronomical considering that Fisher has avergaed only 5.9 points and 3.3 assists per game. Giving away Walton seemed almost unfair (he didn’t do much, if anything) and Kapono’s production seemed to dwindle as the expectations of his homecoming became somewhat overwhelming.
The second trade of the day brought more sadness than jubilee to many in Lakerland. Derek Fisher was traded to the Houston Rockets with the first-round pick, acquired from Dallas in the Lamar Odom trade, for center Jordan Hill. This is definitely a trade made for the long haul. Fisher has 2 years left on his contract, which would be spent not doing much. Fisher knew that when he signed this lucrative contract, that the last couple of years would be very difficult considering his salary.
Jordan Hill could be a trade experiment, much like Shannon Brown became all those years ago. Since he only has one year left on his contract, the Lakers are simply taking him out for a test drive before they commit to him for longer. His production is fairly decent, averaging 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. If the Lakers don’t like him, then they would be free to pursue other free agents or simply reduce the salary cap, something they have been accustomed to doing since the offseason.
The one factoid that stands out in all the recent dealings are draft picks. The Lakers began the day with 2 first round draft picks for this upcoming draft, their and Dallas’, and now they have none. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak is making sure that if the Lakers are serious about contending for another championship this season that they are going all in. Take into consideration that the Lakers don’t develop their own players that often. The only ones of note are Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum considering that Luke and Fisher, who were also Laker picks, are no longer part of the team.