[外電] Source: Odom agrees to help Lakers defend their crown

[LamarOdom7 (我要盡全力幫忙KOBE老大)]

The Los Angeles Lakers will defend their championship next season with one of
their key players still aboard.



A league source tells TNT's David Aldridge that free agent forward Lamar Odom
has agreed to return to the Lakers next season, accepting the team's
multi-year offer and spurning a five-year, $34 million offer from the Miami
Heat. The decision ends a month's worth of agony for the Lakers, who had
signed Ron Artest early in the free agent period but lost starting small
forward Trevor Ariza to the Rockets in what became, essentially, a trade.

But losing the 29-year-old Odom, who was a key part of Los Angeles's run to
the championship, would have been a serious blow to the Lakers' hopes of
repeating. Kobe Bryant, who has yet to sign his contract extension while
waiting to see what happened with Odom, had made it clear he considered
Odom's return essential.

Odom and the Lakers had spent the last few weeks squabbling over a new deal,
with the Lakers offering him his choice of a three-year, $27 million deal or
a four-year, $36 million deal. However, the fourth year of that deal was only
partially guaranteed, giving Odom just $30 million guaranteed for the
contract. When Odom balked at both options, Jerry Buss, the Lakers' owner,
pulled both offers off the table, and formal negotiations stopped for a few
days.

However, Odom's agent, Jeff Schwartz, and Lakers general manager Mitch
Kupchak continued informal talks on a daily basis, and negotations were once
again under way by last week. The Lakers had reduced their offer to Odom,
however, according to a source.

Odom accepted a role coming off the bench when Ariza had starred late in the
regular season and Playoffs, but he was still viewed as a starter by the
team. His length and versatility, combined with that of power forward/center
Pau Gasol, made the Lakers very difficult to defend at the offensive end and
quite hard to score on at the defensive end. He averaged 11.3 points and 8.2
rebounds last season for the Lakers.

The Heat had offered Odom its full mid-level exception, and hoped that Odom
would be swayed both by the opportunity to play again with Dwyane Wade and by
the lack of a state income tax in Florida, which would make Miami's offer
closer in actual dollars to the Lakers' proposals. Team president Pat Riley
and Wade put the full-court press on Odom in a Monday meeting. But when Odom
left that meeting without signing, it became apparant that Miami didn't get
it done.

Odom was apparantely too comfortable in Los Angeles, where he could be an
important part of the team without having to be the Lakers' first or second
option, and where he's spent nine of his 10 NBA seasons. (He played his first
four seasons with the Clippers, and after one year in Miami, was sent back to
Los Angeles in 2004 as part of the Shaquille O'Neal trade.)

Not getting Odom is an equally strong blow to the Heat, which had hoped
luring Odom back to Miami, where he had one of his best pro seasons alongside
then-rookie Wade in 2003-04, would help convince Wade to remain with the Heat
after this season. Wade is expected to opt out of his deal at season's end
and explore free agency, though he could return to Miami. The Heat did not
match a two-year, $6 million offer sheet given to free agent forward Jamario
Moon last week by Cleveland in hopes of keeping cap room available for next
summer.

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 140.96.157.239
推 sVs:搶到了~~~
推 henry32021:終於完結篇了
→ Verlander35:簽下Odom最大的好處是把阿泰暴走的風險壓到最低了
→ Verlander35:沒Odom 球隊需要分數有時要容忍他進攻 但現在不用了
推 krazymilk:明年如果有個健康+成熟的Bynum~ 湖人真的有點強大 @@
推 benson:比起阿泰風險 Bynum的不確定性的風險影響更大 現在不用怕了
推 u2gogowin:結束了~~~
推 behero:推暱稱 XD