Lakers Acquire Adam Morrison, Ship Vlad

We expect some wacky trades now; watching the fastest team in the league trade for a 57-year-old Shaquille O'Neal tends to mess up your sense of perspective on these matters.

But even in this ~~Brave~~ Frightening New World, you can never be prepared for a headline like "Lakers acquire Adam Morrison." Nevertheless, the Lakers have acquired AmMo and Shannon Brown, sending Vladimir Radmanovic to Charlotte. And really, Morrison and Phil Jackson might be a perfect match.

Morrison, as you'll remember, loves Metallica, has diabetes and cries at inappropriate moments. Jackson loves a project, especially mental. Forget Kobe -- Phil is having fun coaching these Lakers precisely because he can try every day to figure out how to conquer Lamar Odom's brain. For a self-styled Zen master psychoanalyst, it's like a Pandora's box of transmissions.

Some cases (like Kwame Brown) are too hopeless; Vlad Rad might fit in that category as well. But Morrison ... who knows? Jackson surely relishes the opportunity to break him, sort the pieces out and put it all back together. If he does, he might be rewarded with a nice bench scorer, though the benefit isn't likely to materialize this season.

The real benefit for L.A.? Cap space. Radman's deal extends into 2010-11, assuming Vlad's in a position to pick up his $6.8 million player option. (Magic 8-Ball says: Duh.) Morrison's deal is smaller and comes off the books a year earlier; AmMo would be a restricted free agent in 2010. With three giant salary players (Kobe, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum) next season and beyond, the Lakers do need to watch their flexibility a bit.

For Charlotte ... well, I stopped trying to figure out Charlotte's basketball motives a long time ago. I suppose Radmanovic helps the perimeter play. But you'd think Morrison could have done that, or maybe Matt Carroll, a sharpshooter the 'Cats traded a couple weeks ago for a guy (DeSagana Diop) who has played a total of 130 minutes since arriving and is signed through 2013. Is there a big Serbian community in North Carolina?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-07-2009 @ 4:55PM

david49 said...

No real suprise since he was 3rd string after luke and ariza and i believe he was making more than either of them.

2-07-2009 @ 7:24PM

ANGEL said...

Excellent move Mitch to fortify an already elite bench unit. Move out of the way senior Celtics, here comes the Black Mamba!

2-07-2009 @ 9:12PM

mcjesus666 said...

good move, clear cap space to resign ariza and mabey odom if he'll take less to stay. they also get another big back up point to play some garbage minutes and save fisher and farmars legs. as for morrison...who knows? no one expected much from trevor. we'll see.......

2-08-2009 @ 1:10AM

Edgar said...

Phil Jackson has become from psychic to psychotic as a result of too much attention being thrown at him. His time is finished in coaching and doesn't need to show anymore of his antics. He's a what we call a setting pretty coach who rely mostly on his players abilities and not on his coaching prowess. The Laker players has been playing together for at least 3 yrs now (excluding Gassy Gasol) and yet there's no sign at all of any cohesiveness. They're still playing like they're only together for six months. It's a happy ending getting rid of a Diva (Radmanovic) but a sorry mess taking this guy Adam Morisson in return. Instead of getting a bulky player to play 5 or 4, they're taking a player who doesn't have enough size for those positions. How can they improve their defense without bangers. They cannot be Champion this year because they're still playing the same old way. Lebron (Roid) James and the Cavs might be the Champs this year.

2-08-2009 @ 6:41AM

ddrombo said...

I don't know, maybe it was just me but I liked Vlad. Sure at times he was a martian and didn't know what was out there, but you had one thing with him, a known commodity. You know Vlad can hit the three ball and his defense wasn't really horrible, he was a half decent on the ball defender, pick and rolls may be a different story. Brown isn't really a PG and who knows if Morrison can even contribute, but I guess when you have Ariza, Vlad becomes expendable. Although I think Jackson should of had Ariza in the the Boston game a little more than Walton.

2-08-2009 @ 10:42AM

patnalmb said...

mj has never been able to pick any good players
he is not gm was a great player but
no judgement on talent

2-08-2009 @ 11:40AM

FRANK said...

Great move for the Lakers !

2-12-2009 @ 7:06PM

Val said...

Vlade is worthless! Sure, he can get on a 3 point streak once in a while but when you factor in all the fouls, bad passes, fumbling and mishandling the ball . . . all those turnovers!!!
Good Riddance . . great move to the Laker management.