The Lakers have "made it clear to the rest of the league" that Steve Blake or Chris Duhon are on the trading block and could be had in a deal, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein. No trades involving either player are imminent, but Stein wonders if the duo could draw more interest down the road when injuries begin to pile up around the league and outlooks aren't so "rosy."
Blake, 32, has suffered a dip in production since joining the Lakers two seasons ago, and still has two years remaining on his contract at $4MM annually. As such, Duhon could be the more attractive trade target for any interested teams. The 30-year-old hasn't been at the top of his game in recent years either and is also under contract for two more years, but his $3.75MM salary in 2013/14 is only guaranteed for $1.5MM.
Within Stein's piece, the ESPN.com scribe adds that if the Lakers are able to move Blake or Duhon, it's possible the team could re-add Derek Fisher to its roster, assuming the veteran point guard is still on the market. Considering the Lakers are ineligible to re-sign Fisher until March 15th, 2013, the one-year anniversary of their trade that sent him to Houston, it's very possible the 38-year-old will have found work elsewhere by then.
None of the three should be on a team that is trying to win it all. Fish could sign as an asst. Coach & that would be fine but they need a young man to fill in for Nash. They also really really need a three point shooter to open the floor for them…
Truth be told without the hype the Lakers have a “old”Nash, an “old” Kobe, an “injured” Dwight as well as an awkward Pau & who the heck knows with World. I am shocked every time I hear people talk about a super great season & them wining it all…… They tried the lets add the old guys a while back & it was sad to see & they sure as heck are doing the same thing again.
This season will be the same, only this time the old guys will break down & the propaganda will be “it was injuries”, never mind if they would have added YOUTH the injuries would not have happened…
Bad argument all around. Firstly, Lakers made the finals with the Payton/Malone squad…if making the finals is “sad to see”, then you are right. I on the other hand enjoy seeing the Lakers in the finals.
If you are trying to compare the Gary Payton/Karl Malone era to the Steve Nash/Dwight Howard era you have made a few errors:
Karl Malone was 40 when he became a Laker. Dwight Howard is in his prime and is the top Center in the game today.
Gary Payton and Steve Nash are very different players. Steve Nash has averaged 43% on threes in his career with 8.6 assists a game. Payton for his career averaged 31% on threes with 6 assists a game. Payton was not a good fit for the Laker system…Steve Nash is a great fit for what the Lakers need…a great 3 shooter and a distributor.
You’re aware that that team of old guys they got awhile back, made it to the NBA Finals before getting knocked out? So much for it being sad to see. Besides that team was plagued more by lack of chemistry than lack of talent, this team has all the talent and actually likes each other. I’m not saying guaranteed championship but on paper there isn’t another team nearly as talented as this one. Lastly the only player with an injury concern is Howard and I’ll take his injury concern over Bynum’s any day of the week. I understand that people want to invent ways to make the Lakers not seem so great but it just comes off as being a hater.
The Lakers have never done this before the team you speak of 03 – 04 team had no bench at all. If you remember Malone at 40 went down with a career ending injury and Medvidenko along with rookie Luke walton backed up the 3. You also had Payton who was a shoot first guy and had lost his defensive edge and refused to learn the triangle that team only had four former alstars this team has 6 former alstars Nash Kobe Meta Pau Dwight and Jamison thats 6! Dwight is going to be back at 100% and wont be playing in that crazy schedule that got him and many stars hurt last season. He has a better work ethic than Shaq so he wont be over weight like Shaq was in the 03-04 season and he is the best center in the league right now with out the foot work that he will learn from Kareem Darvin Ham Pau and Kobe. Nash unlike Payton who wanted to be the second option in scoring over Kobe is a pass first player looking to create shots for everyone else and has a higher IQ Nash is also still the best pick and roll point gaurd in the league he was able to make Dwights old back up center Gortat look good and Dwight is the best pick and roll big man in the league Metta is just all around better than Deven George period. Ebanks is better than Luke. Jordan hill better than medvidenko. Meeks can defend and score with the second unit. Pau is the best 7foot PF Nash and Dwight ever played. Kobe even as an older player showed that he can still out score everyone as he was second leading scorer last season only to Durant by 40 points and thats with missed games and Kobe can play off the ball which makes him and nash a dangerous back court. On defense Dwight is the best defensive big man and we never had a big that could defend the pick and roll Shaq could not defend the pick and roll. Metta is the best on ball defensive threes in the league and Kobe is still a top perimeter defender Mike brown is the best defensive coach. Phil Jackson also coached the 03-04 team and tried to do it with his ego Mike Brown is going to manage these guys with his humility and his ability to create a family type of environment and he hired Eddie Jordan a former NBA head coach and former Showtime Laker to help run the Prinston offense which takes a high IQ. So I dont think this has ever been done before 6 former allstars that fit perfectly two head coaches working together one a defensive specialist and the other an offensive specialist reloaded bench all with a great work ethic. Lastly they all are on the same page they have excepted Kobe as the leader of the team and Kobe is a whole lot more unselfish then he was in 03-04
GREAT breakdown!!! Really impressive points that I have considered after hearing all the hype about the strength and expectations of this year’s Lakers team. At first I wondered how a defensive-minded coach like Mike Brown could make the offensive potential of this new Lakers squad a real force in the league, but I feel much better with the mention of Eddie Jordan as the guy that will provide coaching leadership on the offensive side of the ball in the Princeton offense!
Thank you for helping to put my concerns to rest! Go Lakers!!!
Just read the 3 so called old and hurt names you just listed.
You would be a fool to count them out!!! Duh!!
The Lakers should move both Steve Blake and Duhon I think Blake makes the offense stagnate and we settle for threes when he is on the floor he reminds me of Chucky Atkins except he can’t run the break Duhon dribbles with his head down. This would force Mike Brown to develop Morris or sign a good free agent
I say swing both of um n sum in a deal for Jose Calderon
They suck rocks. Good Job Lakers,
I am not a hater, I am die hard Lakers fan since 1982, but unlike many fans here, I am realistic.With players like Blake, Duhon, Morris, Meeks, Goudelock, E.Clark , D.J-Odom and R.Sacre, we can not even win the West. And seven of our nine rotation players are way over their primes and already aged. Do you think 38 y.o. Steve Nash can guard a younger opponents like D.Ross, R.Rondo, D.Williams, Ch.Paul or R.Westbrook? Do you think a 33 y.o Paulina Gasolina can guard Kevin Durant, K.Love or Blake Griffin. What about 33 y.o. Meta against Lebron James. Oh,OK! Lebron is one of a kind, ha? At the second exhibition game agains the Blazers, 25 y.o. Nicolas Batum made Artest look like a joke.He was making shot after shot with MWP guarding him most of the time.
So, these are just few examples of how bad this “championship” team can be.Don’t set your expectations very high, because when you faul down from a tower, it will hurt you really serious.
The lakers can sign Fisher today if they want to, the writer doesnt know what hes talking about, Fisher can sign with the Lakers because he never picked up his player option for this season and got bought out by the rockets, it turn making him a unrestricted free agent and can come to the lakers if he wants to. “side note” he has been practicing at the lakers “and clippers” practice facilities all off season.
Yeah, at the time this story was published, it was still believed that Fisher had exercised his option as part of a buyout with the Rockets. A few days later, Marc Stein reported that that wasn’t the case, and that he was eligible to rejoin the Lakers, which we covered at the time: link to hoopsrumors.com…
— Luke