Horry willing to take paycut next season

Here is the recap from todays Daily:

Robert Horry wants to remain a Laker next season and for a few more seasons after that, but his future is not in his hands. The Lakers own the option on Horry's contract for next season, at $5.3 million. Horry, who makes $5.3 million this year, is hopeful that Lakers management will pick up his option and give him an extension. "If I had my way, I'd like for them to pick up the option and give me two more years," Horry said. "I just want to play three more years. That's what I see. Then I'll be 35." Horry is even willing to take a pay cut. "If they don't want to pay me that money, I'll take the mid-level exception," said Horry, referring to the exception that is expected to pay about $4.5 million a season. "Just let a brother know."

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...thoughts?

At this stage of Horry's carreer.....he's simply not worth the option, and for that matter the MLE.

The Lakers need to improve in athleticism, badly. Re-signing Horry with their valuable MLE is not a step in the right direction.

They need youth, quickness, and creativeness at the PG position which will most likely come from the draft pick this year. They also need to FINALLY solidify the PF position. They need a real NBA starting PF now. No more paper cutout PF's to start to "rest" Horry up for 7 months so he can get ready for the playoffs.

The Lakers first priority with the MLE should be Jwan Howard, not Robert Horry.

If the Lakers want to be loyal pick up his option and then offer him 2 years at the vet min. If the Lakers want to be smart, don't pick up his option and offer him 3 years at the vet min. The latter would be my choice because after this season that would mean that the lakers would be clear of 12 mill in cap space, therefore, allowing Mitch to manuver more freely......that is if he still has a brain and it hasn't been zen'ed away yet.

The bottom line is that the Lakers need to start rebuilding and they need to start rebuilding now. They need to start the transition from Shaq to Kobe and bring in guys who can play and allow Kobe to dominate and run the floor when Shaq sits. The transition is not going to be over night. It will take a good 3, 4 or maybe even 5 years to be complete, so they need to start now. If they wait too long Shaq will be too deep on the decline to have a smooth transition, and as a result we will have to suffer the consequences with seasons that would be similar to the start of the season this season.....except it will last for an entire season...for multiple season!

Couldn't have said it better myself LP, beautifully written...as much as I hate to say it, and in spite of all he has done for us, it really is in our best interests (in the long run) to let Rob go and start spending the $ on other younger, fresher blood. Like you said Shaq won't be around forever, and by continuing to build around Kobe little by little, I think we'll be much better off; and maybe by doing so (giving him more free reign) we can also convince him to stay after next year, when he can opt-out of his contract.....

Horry I love ya man but either hang up your boots or head to Houston 'cause you stint is finished in LA.

It saddens me to say, but you guys are right. We have to improve on our bench, as well as get a PF who's going to be around for awhile and can start and hold his own.

Luv ya, Big Shot Rob, but your time is pretty much up.

But guys look:
No Rob, no 3 peat............
cuz we lost game 5....... afterwards.......

True, Red, true, it goes w/o saying that he saved our skin in that series big-time...along with other series as well...but it was the play of our bench and supporting cast (or lack thereof) that got us in those positions in the first place, my man; we have GOT to beef it up, not just for now but the long haul as well, so we can continue this run for years to come!!! I will miss Rob but in the long run it really is for the best.....

o, i cant say goodbye!
hes been with us for as long as i can remember!

I can't believe what you guys are saying!! Robert Horry has been one of the MAIN REASONS why we've been winning the championships. He is a part of this dynasty, so why break it?? I'd say keep in w/ the minimum amount of pay possible, and invest in a better PF. Every other position is pretty much fine. It is ONLY the PF position that needs help.
Oh and to go off subject... how many more of you guys think that Pippen should come to the Lakers next year? YOU GUYS ARE RIDICULOUS!!! Do you guys actually believe that we need to have former CHICAGO BULLS players and a coach to be better? We are the LAKERS!! Not the BULLS. Get over it and move on!!

I AGREE!
I SAID THAT BOUT 3 POSTS AGO!

look: But guys look:
No Rob, no 3 peat............
cuz we lost game 5....... afterwards.......
_________________
Reddy

I, for one hate former bulls on the Lakers. I want the Lakers to improve man. Paying Robert to come off the bench and show up once ever 7 months is not a very smart move. We need a better PF, a real starting PF if we want him to be the 3rd highest payed Laker.

come on
its horry
he is our man in the playoffs......when its matters
who can be better?

you guys are forgetting one thing, Rob is 32. While I love the mans ability and clutch shooting, we need to move on.

I agree with LP offer him 3 years at the vet minimum and spend the MLE on Juwan Howard or try for Keon Clark. If we are able to do that Rob will make his money in the playoffs where his contribution is invaluable, while at the same time not costing us 5.2 mil to warm the pine during the season, I'm sure you all agree that this could be money better spent.

On a totally unrelated topic, in regards to Arenas or Terry, my gut feeling is it is a flip of the coin decision and either would suit us fine especially if we can negotiate to aquire Juwan Howard and/or Keon Clark.

i would definitely go for arenas, cuz terry's more of a shooter. we need a guy that can be a threat offensively, but make plays, freeing up shaq and/or kobe. and i wouldn't want juwan howard on my team, the only reason he's getting his numbers now is cuz there's no one else on the nuggets. he's getting old too.[/img]

i'm not so sure why everybody is high on keon clark. especially in the triangle offense. we need PF that can shoot a respectable J so teams aren't saggin on Shaq so much. i like his shot blocking & rebounding, but i think those numbers go down in the triangle. i'm not a big juwan howard fan either, but he would b a major improvement over Walker/Madsen.

Keon Clark is a "Queen". Thats the bottom line. Lets look elsewhere.
PLUS... why is everyone wanting former Bulls players on our team?? Might as well call us the Los Angeles Bulls....

i think we need a Legitimate power foward, horry is getting too old to start during the season, plus we need to save him for the playoffs. madsen will get better but still get too many fouls and can make some poor decisions. the lakers need either Karl Malone or P.J Brown. I would chose malone because shaq wants him, phil said he'd like to have him, he can still put up decent numbers. if people think he is too old then my second choice would be brown but he cant score as easily. I personally hate juan howard and think he could do nothing to help the laker organization but could only be a negative thing. but we also need some other help. i think Pippen could help because of his knowledge of the triangle offense, leadership, and he proved in the 4th quarter of game five he can still be useful. And the lakers need to trade up in the draft. Tell me what you think and who you think we should try to get in the draft.

Here is how we get extra money.

Letting Shaw retire, dumping Samaki, Murray and Madsen and clipping Fox (we can re-sign rick later for the min. based on his recovery from the injury) then restructuring Fisher (from 3 mil a year to 1 mil a year) will free up 11.7 million dollars (not including the MLE) so we can use about 3 mil of that to keep Horry by extending him with a two year 6 mil deal. That leaves 8.7 mil and the MLE. We can use the 8.7 million to lure GA to the Lakers, or we can spread it around to sign Alonzo and PJ Brown and then use the MLE on Howard or Malone. The choices are there and we can easily do it. We could even do all that and use a SPLIT MLE on a few good vets like GP and PJ, whatever works, the point is improving while keeping Rush, Slava, Kobe, Shaq, Pargo, D-Fish, Devean and Horry and BOTH of our draft picks. No major changes, no changes to our starting line-up and we honor Horry's heroics with a contract extension...

one question Snakell, why the hell aren't you in our front office?

Pay attention to what this man has to say Jerry and Mitch.

Amen What's Golden.....I've been wondering that same thing for months, ever I first signed on to the OLD ClubLakers board way back when...he makes it sound so simple, sometimes I wonder what the hell Mitch and Jerry are thinkin'... :man7:

Don't mean to ruin everyone's perade, but even if the Lakers could "reconstruct" contracts (which is not allowed under the current NBA rules) The Lakers would still be over the salary cap. The 8 mill or so that SB found would be good for nothing. The Lakers couldn't spend it anywhere but on Jerry Buss's girlfriends....

The Lakers will be over the 44 million salary cap as long as Shaq is getting paid 25 million of it and Kobe is getting paid another 12 million of it. That's not considering yearly pay increases for the both of them either. The only thing saving money is going to do is MAYBE get us under the luxary tax (which is around 54 million a year, the lakers are currently at 62 million a year). And all that means again is that Jerry will have more money for boos and babes....

Basically there is no way in hell the Lakers are going to have more than the 4.75 million MLE, the 1.2 million LLE, and the 1.2 million Vet Min next year. That and all of the scrubs R' us salaries that they want (NBA minimum 500K or so).

So it would be best to get it out of our minds.....we are going to improve significantly in only two ways....the MLE and the draft....

ok then seeing as we can't do it the way that SB suggested here is my plan.

1. Trade Pargo, Rush and future draft pick to GSW for Gilbert Arenas.

2. Sign Juwan Howard or PJ Brown with our MLE. I'm tending to lean more toward Howard because he will keep opposing PF's honest.

3. Resign Horry to the vet minimum.

4. Trade our picks 24 and 32 for somewhere higher in the draft. Draft a backup SF/SG.

5. Let Brian Shaw retire.

6. Cut Fox and then resign him to the vet minimum. If he loves the Lakers as much as he says he does he will do it.

7. would consider getting rid of Slava and signing Horace Grant as a backup for Shaq. He won't get much PT but that will suit him fine.

So lets look at our line up for next year then;

PG - Arenas/Fisher
SG - Kobe/drafted player
SF - George/drafted player
PF - Howard/Horry/Madsen
C - Shaq/Grant/Madsen

Our only weakness would be at SF any thoughts on how we can do this better? I'm not sure if we will be able to restructure Fox and Horry's contracts, butif we can we could use money saved to entice GA, therefore allowing us to keep Pargo and Rush.

Thoughts?

whats golden wrote:ok then seeing as we can't do it the way that SB suggested here is my plan.

1. Trade Pargo, Rush and future draft pick to GSW for Gilbert Arenas.

2. Sign Juwan Howard or PJ Brown with our MLE. I'm tending to lean more toward Howard because he will keep opposing PF's honest.

3. Resign Horry to the vet minimum.

4. Trade our picks 24 and 32 for somewhere higher in the draft. Draft a backup SF/SG.

5. Let Brian Shaw retire.

6. Cut Fox and then resign him to the vet minimum. If he loves the Lakers as much as he says he does he will do it.

7. would consider getting rid of Slava and signing Horace Grant as a backup for Shaq. He won't get much PT but that will suit him fine.

So lets look at our line up for next year then;

PG - Arenas/Fisher
SG - Kobe/drafted player
SF - George/drafted player
PF - Howard/Horry/Madsen
C - Shaq/Grant/Madsen

Our only weakness would be at SF any thoughts on how we can do this better? I'm not sure if we will be able to restructure Fox and Horry's contracts, butif we can we could use money saved to entice GA, therefore allowing us to keep Pargo and Rush.

Thoughts?

just a few thoughts.....

1. GS would NOT accept the ludacris trade of Rush and Pargo and a future number 1 for Arenas....NO WAY. If they wanted to trade Arenas, which would be stupid on their part, they could get a hell of a lot more for him than Rush and Pargo and a future late first rounder. The only way Arenas will be a Laker next year is if he pulls a power move. Arenas would have to say "trade me to LA, or I'm walking and leaving you with nothing. "

2. The Lakers CANNOT recunstruct contracts under current NBA rules. NO WAY can they cut Fox and resign him for less. They got to do that with Shaw because his contract was non-gaurenteed. Fox IS gaurenteed.

Thanks for clearing that up LP, I wasn't sure if anything could be done about Horry and Fox's contracts. As for the Pargo, Rush and future draft pick trade lets float it, GSW can only say no.

No problem buddy. One thing though. The Lakers can reconstruct Horry's contract, not Fox's. The Lakers have a team option on Horry's 5.3 mill at the end of the season. They can easily not pick it up and offer Horry the vet min at 1.2 mill or let him walk....that's what I would do.

The F-troop on the other hand....we're stuck with them for better or for worse till '06. Unless SOMEBODY takes them off our hands in a trade, which is very unlikely for several reasons. Fox is injured and will be injured for most of next season, and even if he wasn't who would want a 35 year old SF that is arguably the worst finishing SF in the league? Fisher? Now that he's making his shots again he might be of some value in a trade. I hate the guys game, but I think Fisher would be a tremendous third gaurd. He makes his open 3's and he's got heart. You need guys like that on your bench if your going anywhere. I just don't want him to start for the love of god!

This offseason will be interesting. It's going to be a make or break offseason for Mitch. Mitch needs to address the PF situation ASAP....NO MORE OLD FART FILL IN'S MITCH. Don't think PJ think Howard. Don't think Cabarkapa think Misan or Barbosa. Enough with the overdoing of fundementals. We have enough Rick Fox's and Fisher's on our squad already. Think Athletes and creativity for once!