Some things in life are about what you know, some are who you know. Today we’re in the who you know portion. When I worked for NBA.com, one of my colleagues was a fellow named Dave McMenamin, who has since
Some things in life are about what you know, some are who you know. Today we’re in the who you know portion. When I worked for NBA.com, one of my colleagues was a fellow named Dave McMenamin, who has since gone on to become the Lakers’ beat writer for ESPN, also appearing on Time Warner Cable Sportsnet to discuss the goings on of the purple and gold. Since the NBA is on All-Star break, I decided to holler at Mr. McMenamin and see if he might answer a few questions I had about the team and to provide some insight for Kauai’s Laker nation. Here is that Q&A with one of L.A.’s most knowledgeable sources.
David Simon: While many expected the Lakers to be a fringe playoff team this year, the injuries have been way too much to overcome. Nobody really saw 18-35 coming, so what is the team’s mindset right now, as best you can tell? What was their attitude to start the season? How has it changed and what goals do they to hope to reach after the All-Star break?
Dave McMenamin: Since most of the guys who are healthy for L.A. right now are still young and looking to carve out a career – players like Kendall Marshall, Wes Johnson, Ryan Kelly, Robert Sacre – doom and gloom hasn’t set in with this team just yet. Playing big minutes in the NBA, even if it’s resulting in 22 losses in the last 27 games for the team, isn’t something those guys are taking for granted so I think that’s delayed the doom and gloom process of totally setting in around this team. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told me this week that when the team was 10-9 with Kobe Bryant’s return just around the corner, there was a lot of optimism of what they could accomplish this season. As it stands now, the goals are much more meager – use the final 29 games of the season to evaluate the players who will become free agents come July 1 to prioritize who they want back; play hard and keep it competitive every night so they still sell tickets to games; and hope that no more injuries occur to this already ravaged roster.
DS: As happens every season, the Pau Gasol trade rumors are back again. Do you expect him to be dealt? Do you expect him to be with the team beyond this season? What would Kobe prefer and how much of his influence might the team take into consideration?
DM: Yes, I expect him to be dealt if the right deal is out there. The Lakers are seeking more than just salary cap relief by trading Gasol, however. If all they wanted to do was save money, the Andrew Bynum deal would have happened with Cleveland weeks ago. The team views Gasol as one of the few pieces it has that it can flip to acquire assets that will help them in the future. If the right deal doesn’t present itself, I still don’t see Gasol returning to the team beyond this season. He will still be looking for a salary in the $10-12 million range after making north of $19 million this season and the Lakers won’t be willing to pay that much, no matter what Bryant feels about him.
DS: Steve Nash has clearly been snake bitten since becoming a Laker. What has his attitude and mindset been this season?
DM: He’s been determined and committed to giving everything he has left inside him to try to position himself for one final stretch run in the league before calling it a career. He knows that once he walks away from the game, he’ll never be able to replicate the atmosphere that he so relishes in creating bonds with his teammates and pulling together to try to win games, so he is trying to get the most of whatever is left. He’s gone to extreme measures to do so, too. He left the team not once, not twice, but four times in season to make trips up to Vancouver, British Columbia to undergo two-a-day workout sessions with his personal trainer in hopes of getting his body right.
DS: Mike D’Antoni seems to be in yet another “wait for cap space” situation, as he was for a few years in New York. What do you think his goals are on a night-in, night-out basis with this young, depleted team? Does he seem to be happy (or at least content) or disenchanted?
DM: The saving grace of this season is that the Lakers roster is made up of “good guys,” as D’Antoni describes it. Last year he evoked Winston Churchill’s famous line, “when you’re walking through hell, keep your head down and keep moving forward,” several times – I guess that’s the affect Dwight Howard can have on people – but this season he’s done a good job of keeping things in perspective. No coach could win with the injuries the Lakers have suffered this season and I think D’Antoni realizes that.
DS: What is Kobe’s latest timetable and has he or the team given any indication of moving that further back, given the team’s place in the standings?
DM: Bryant should be re-evaluated sometime in the next week after the All-Star break. If he is cleared, he will begin on-court workouts (he’s been limited to the exercise bike so far). So, he’s still a few weeks away at a minimum. Bryant has said repeatedly that the Lakers’ record has nothing to do with how he prepares to play, so I would be surprised if he chose to shut it down completely if there wasn’t any sort of setback that would cause that decision.
DS: Kobe, Nash and Sacre are the only players locked into next year’s roster, though I think they’ll pick up Marshall’s option ($915K) and Nick Young will probably opt out to test the market. Since everyone else is unrestricted, are there other guys on the current roster who you’d be surprised to see in anything other than a Laker uniform next year? Anyone the team feels is an important piece moving forward?
DM: The three guys that I think have a good shot are Jordan Farmar, Jodie Meeks and Ryan Kelly. Farmar, because the Lakers know him and like him and realize he sacrificed $3 million in Turkey to come to L.A. this season. Meeks because he can probably be had at a reasonable price and he’s improved dramatically from last year to this year. And Kelly because L.A. already invested a draft pick on him, plus a ton of time developing him and 7-foot shooters are hard to come by. That’s not to say that Xavier Henry, Wes Johnson, Steve Blake and Jordan Hill have no chance of returning, I just think there are bigger hurdles for them – Henry’s health, Johnson’s inconsistency, Blake’s price tag and Hill’s oil/water fit with D’Antoni. Chris Kaman, safe to say, will not be brought back.
