May 29th: Odom, Mihm to the Bulls? "Brandon Roy works out for the LA Lakers" "Lakers Looking to Move Up?"

[Phil]

Marion, Odom may be Bulls’ best chance for summer trade

snippet:

he Bulls haven’t had any serious discussions with the Los Angeles Lakers about Odom. But the Bulls would love to plug him in at power forward, and it seems apparent that the 6-foot-10 Odom isn’t meshing well with Kobe Bryant.

Odom averaged 17.1 points and 9.7 rebounds in 2003-04, his lone season with Miami. He scored 14.8 points for the Lakers this year, shooting a career-high 48.1 percent.

The trouble here is finding a deal that would suit both sides. It’s hard to imagine Lakers coach Phil Jackson endorsing Odom for the No. 2 pick, since he’s looking to make quick progress. The Lakers could gain around $10 million in cap room for 2007 from that deal.

Perhaps the Lakers feel Tyson Chandler could improve their interior defense. Chandler, Chris Duhon and the No. 16 pick for Odom is an idea, though Chandler has more money left on his contract than Odom’s $40.6 million over three years.

[Phil]

Sam plays general manager


snippet: 10. Chris Mihm, Lakers: The Bulls once thought Jamal Crawford was better and flipped in that 2000 draft. The Lakers are starting to realize they don't have many moves, so what about a switch with Tyson Chandler? The Lakers would have to throw in extra bodies, and they might not have enough to make it work. Mihm can play a little in the post and score, though he's hardly the answer.

[Phil]

Riley Refused to Give Up Wade for O'Neal
Jerry Crowe
May 29, 2006

MIAMI — If you wondered why the Lakers did not insist on Dwyane Wade being included in the trade that sent Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat two summers ago, Pat Riley said Sunday, "They did."

But Riley held firm.

"I thought the deal was fair," said Riley, the Heat president and coach, of the July 2004 trade that sent Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant to the Lakers. "Giving up all three of those guys? Dwyane was the one guy that we didn't want to let go. Not that we had a crystal ball, but we felt there was something there that might be better even than what we'd seen."

Wade, who averaged 16.2 points as a rookie two seasons ago, has since blossomed into an All-Star, averaging 24.1 last season and 27.2 this season.

While the Lakers failed to reach the playoffs a year ago, Wade and O'Neal took the Heat to within one victory of the NBA Finals. This season, the Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs and the Heat again reached the Eastern Conference finals. Wade, Shaq & Co. lead the Detroit Pistons, two games to one, going into Game 4 tonight at AmericanAirlines Arena.

O'Neal, hoping to avoid the conflicts that marred his time with Kobe Bryant, met with Wade soon after the trade was completed, Riley said.

"I think the genuine respect level from Shaq to Dwyane, Dwyane to Shaq, right from the beginning, has made those guys a perfect duo," Riley said. "They've got a great feeling for one another and great respect for each other.

"Dwyane was a young, coming player, had not really established himself … and Shaquille just gave him the platform and said, 'Go get it.'

[Phil]

Lakers Looking to Move Up?

Rodger Bohn

Contrary to published reports, Brandon Roy will not be working out only for teams selecting in the top five of this year’s Draft, as members of his camp had stated earlier. DraftExpress learned this week that Roy has already worked out for the Los Angeles Lakers, and will be in New Orleans sometime in the near future.

With no lottery picks in this year’s Draft, many might wonder why a top-10 prospect in Brandon Roy was willing to work out for the Lakers this past week. DraftExpress has been told by numerous sources on the West coast over the past few weeks that the Lakers are exploring the option of moving up, and are interested in both Marcus Williams of UConn and Brandon Roy of Washington.

Roy joined Brazilian Marcus Vinicius Vieira De Souza (Marquinhos), UCLA’s Aaron Afflalo and Rice’s Morris Almond in a four man workout in Los Angeles earlier this week.

A source who was at the workout broke it down into great detail for DraftExpress, stating that it was the team concept and elements of the Triangle offense that the Lakers were mostly looking at. “The L.A. workout was all about trying to see how players understood the basketball concepts of spacing, use of pick and roll, of pin downs, back screens….seeing which players knew when to curl, when to flare. Which players knew how to set up a down screen. All that kind of stuff.”

The players then went into a one on one series, where it was basically a draw across the board. Our source told us that it was a bit of a “wrestling match” and that “nobody really stood out in the one on one drills.”

From there, the four joined Craig Hodges to run some of the concepts of the triangle offense and the pinch post. The source describes the drills: “When they started playing two on two and pinch post, none of these kids ran pinch post because of their lack of height. In the college game, there weren’t too many schools running pinch post for 6’5, 6’6 kids. Basically when you get the ball in the high post, and out of that, you run back screens and play a three man game with the other two on the weak side. Craig Hodges was the third man in the game. They would pass the ball back to Hodges and run ball screens and back cuts, creating a triangle.”

In this drill, Marquinhos reportedly looked very good. There were some notable factors however, as the source stated that Marquinhos had an immediate advantage due to the fact that this was most likely the first time the three college players would had never have run anything like this in college. Marquinhos was reportedly familiar with the Triangle due to the fact that his team ran it in Brazil.

Here are the individual player breakdowns based on what our NBA source told us:

Brandon Roy:

Roy reportedly had just a decent workout for a player who most consider a lock to be picked in the top 10. He did extremely well on the vertical leap test, hitting 41 inches off of one step. The source went on to rave about the Washington star’s jumpshot, stating “His jumpshot is really pretty. Its great looking, he’s got a high and quick release, and it’s really effective. His pull-up is exactly the same. He doesn’t fade and he has great control. The whole thing is pretty.” Roy also measured out at 6’6 in shoes, and is apparently a bit longer than he looks, coming in with a 6’9 wingspan. Shooting and leaping aside, everything else seemed to be pretty average for Brandon. He didn’t stand out in the one on one drills, and seemed to struggle grasping the triangle offense.

Marcus Vinicius Vieira De Souza (Marquinhos):

Marquinhos measured out very well at 6’10 with shoes, with a 6’11 ½ wingspan and a 34 inch vertical jump. He shot the ball well from the outside and looked good in the two on two portion of the drill. The source was pretty clear that Marquinhos really showed in the two on two drills that he was the best fit for the triangle offense due to his size and skill package.

Morris Almond:

Almond mentioned numerous times that he had one more year left, leading one to believe that he was surely going back to Rice. He reportedly had a very different looking jump shot, and it was clear that he hadn’t had the coaching that the other three had received, and also is still adapting to the higher level of competition he is seeing in these workouts. Morris was praised for being a great kid with an excellent head on his shoulders, and should be fine after another year of polish in the NCAA.

Arron Afflalo:

Our source was least impressed with Afflalo of the four by far, stating he was “a bit of a joke”. He mentioned that although the UCLA sophomore looked fairly quick in the drills and was quite knowledgeable, he was still a pretty average player in terms of NBA potential. He was also unimpressed by his shot, stating “I didn’t like his shot, and I didn’t like his release. He didn’t really have much of a pull-up jumper and could really only shoot from a stand still.”

[Phil]

LINK

Word on the Street: Orlando Pre-Draft Camp Invites, Simmons Gone

Rodger Bohn - Director of Prep Scouting
Jonathan Givony - President
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May 29, 2006
The latest truth and rumors from around the world of the NBA draft.

Cedric Simmons hires Andy Miller and Justin Zanik as his agents, an early look at nearly half the Orlando pre-draft camp invite list, Brandon Roy works out for the LA Lakers, Europeans begin to pull out of the draft, and much more.

[LaLakers999]

any PG trade news phil?

[RedSnapper]