Lakers swap Radmanovic for Morrison:
The Charlotte Bobcats traded managing partner Michael Jordan’s first draft pick on Saturday, sending struggling forward Adam Morrison and reserve guard Shannon Brown to the Los Angeles Lakers for forward Vladimir Radmanovic.
“We definitely wish him well,” Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins said of Morrison. “He’s a good kid and hopefully he gets an opportunity to play. You never know, he might get a chance to win a [championship] ring.”
Morrison and Brown were never a good fit. Morrison’s defensive deficiencies didn’t mesh with Brown’s style, and Morrison had failed to hit shots consistently, struggling in a starting role the past four games after small forward Gerald Wallace suffered a partially collapsed lung and a broken rib against the Lakers on Jan. 27.
He gives the Bobcats more depth up front. Higgins said Radmanovic will likely play both small and power forward.
“Being a 6-10 guy, obviously he brings some height as well as some athleticism,” Higgins said. “He’s guy that can make some shots. I think he will fit in with our current roster well.
The true sign of a Larry Brown first season team?
The move is the third trade the Bobcats have made this season in a roster shakeup under Brown, who is trying to get the fifth-year Bobcats to the playoffs for the first time. Radmanovic will become the 22nd player to suit up for Charlotte this season, an NBA high.
Thoughts On The Trade
Charlotte Bobcats
Another bad move from the Bobcats’ front office. They continue to sell out their future for role players on lengthily contracts and remove any possibility of becoming a good team in the near future.
Radmanovic is the best player by a huge margin in this deal, and a solid role player, who should help this team. The Bobcats should use him as a combo forward off the bench similar to the Clippers and Sonics, as a scorer, a 6th man type.
The problem here is the contract, the Bobcats just keep cutting off their options and with each solid role player that they acquire they also remove themselves from the running for a high lottery pick (they win more games). It’s a double blow (worsen cap space + draft picks) that will stop them from building a top side.
Los Angeles Lakers
Smart play from the Lakers. They’ve done well to cut a year of a midlevel salary off the books, and that extra cap space will help them in their efforts to re-sign both Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza this summer.
Short term, this season, does this deal help the Los Angeles Lakers? Absolutely not.
Adam Morrison has yet to show he’s an NBA level player - I don’t mean a starter or rotation player, I mean a 15th man on a roster caliber of player – Phil Jackson generally hates one dimensional scoring wings like Adam Morrison so he probably won’t even sniff a minute of court time unless something tragic happens for the Lakers. I expect Sun Yue to continue getting time ahead of Morrison as the Lakers player nominee for a victory cigar.
At first I thought this was the last year of Morrison’s contract, forgetting the Bobcats enabled the team option for another year in the offseason, and I was delighted at the move for the Lakers. The extra year downgrades it a fair bit, but it’s still better than the situation they were in with Radmanovic.
Shannon Brown is a decent 15th man who’s clinging onto a roster spot in this league for his dear life. He won’t sniff playing time either due to the Lakers vast options at shooting guard and small forward. He may be out of the league this time next year.
Meanwhile, the Lakers loose Radmanovic who was a solid role player for them. The coaching staff in LA didn’t like his intelligence, spacing, movement on the offensive end and this relegated him to 3rd string small forward status. So while he’s a loss, he’s not a significant one. Luke Walton and Trevor Ariza had those minutes locked down.
For the Lakers, the benefits of this trade have nothing to do with basketball, this is a salary dump.
Final Note – It looks like the Lakers still have more work to do on their cap situation before you should be confident about the Lakers retaining both Odom and Ariza, but this is a positive step in that direction.
Update: Some quotes and review from the Lakers side of the aisle
So it was a North Carolina connection through Jordan, Brown and Mitch Kupchak. The Lakers’ rationale, as just explained by Kupchak, was to unload a high-paid, unhappy-with-playing-time veteran, get two young players with upside and get “flexibility down the road with a shortened commitment versus Vladi’s commitment.”
Kupchak did not feel he was risking the Lakers’ title hopes this season by giving up Radmanovic, 29, for two players he viewed this way: “We don’t expect either player to make a contribution right away.” He did not see Radmanovic regaining playing time.
Also,
Phil Jackson said he did not have any discussion with Charlotte executive Michael Jordan to do the deal. But Jackson believes Charlotte wants Radmanovic in part because it is missing Gerald Wallace, who was injured by Andrew Bynum recently, as it tries to make the playoffs in Coach Larry Brown’s first season.
It is a clear statement to Ariza, who is currently splitting time with Luke Walton, that the Lakers are gearing up to reward and secure him this summer.
Dave,
I agree that this is an excellent trade for the Lakers. They knew the limits and potential of Radmanovic (29) who has a huge ego and very bad attitude. In my opinion they should have tried to break his contract after the lying he made for his snowboard? accident and get rid of him long ago, correcting the mistake they made of sigining him in such a contract.
Now, Morrison (24) – I agree here too – from what I’ve seen this “kidd” is trying but it is clear that he struggles big time to keep pace. But it is a gamble worth taking. They now have 3 players from the 06′draft and the best player is the one that was taken last among the 3: Morrison#03, Shannon Brown#25, Farmar#26, plus they pair 2 former #03’s with Gasol.
The Bobcats on the other hand, made – as you said – an other bad move, which is also described by the fact that thay have managed to gather a (league leading) trio of players from the 01′ draft – one of the worst drafts of the last decade (Diop #08,Radman #12,Gerald Wallace #25). Again, the 3rd player on this list has been the best by far.
Hi Guru, that’s a fun coincidence which each teams having three players from the same draft and in each case the last player taken being the best of the bunch. Nice find.
———————————————–
I thought this was an interesting post over at insidesocal.com/lakers
There’s another post there with some quotes from Radmanovic talking about how he’s happy to be in Charlotte. This isn’t surprising, all players hate not playing. The Triangle offense was never a good fit for him either. Hopefully Radmanovic can get back to his best in Charlotte.
ESPN also has those Radmanovic quotes.
A recent article in the LA Times worked out the financial savings (that I was too lazy to work out for myself
$17 million is a lot of money.
Also, a quote from Phil Jackson saying the Lakers miss Radmanovic
Phil Jackson never appreciated Radmanovic when he was with the Lakers. At least he’s learned his lessons after Vlad’s departure …. Luke Walton should never have been playing ahead of Radmanovic.