As had become apparent over the past few days, the Lakers were not interested in paying hyphy superstar Ronny Turiaf $17 million over four years. Thus, the Frenchman has relocated to the Bay Area and will suit up as a key cog in Don Nelson's big-man rotation for Golden State. Andris Biedrins expects to remain the starting center in Oakland (if he ever re-signs) and Al Harrington should be the default power forward (if he doesn't get traded). But Turiaf certainly isn't light years behind either on total basketball offerings -- it wouldn't surprise me to see any of them starting 50+ games and Golden State still have a decent season.

Meanwhile, we haven't really addressed what the Turiaf exit does to the Lakers. It was believed by several pundits/reporters that the Turiaf exit would create the necessary cushion in payroll to allow the addition of an albatross contract in trading for Ron Artest. While missing Turiaf's $4 million makes Kenny Thomas' $8 million functionally easier to swallow, it sure doesn't make the poison pill any more palatable.

And as Scott Howard-Cooper notes, losing Turiaf leaves L.A. a bit understaffed in the frontcourt. Behind Andrew Bynum (who happens to be coming off a serious-enough injury), there's Chris Mihm (who happens to be coming off a string of serious-enough injuries). Beyond those two, there's Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, the prospective trade bait for Artest (or any other stud small forward L.A. seeks). If Bynum's not ready, and Odom's gone -- that's a weak frontcourt (even with the addition of Thomas or Mikki Moore). Turiaf averaged almost 19 minutes a game. Who picks those up?

As it is, Odom can expect to play plenty of backup power forward to go along with his possible starting role at the three. A three-man big rotation excluding Mihm seems most likely, unless Mitch Kupchak can find a suitable sub this summer.

If you were one of the millions who followed Brett Edwards' FanHouse live blog, you'll remember Phil Jackson's marvelous Chris Mihm Experience in Game 5's second quarter was well-received by Lakers fans. According to the Orange County Register's Kevin Ding, even the celeb fans loved it!

Actor Denzel Washington, usually the picture of cool in his courtside seat at Lakers games, stood up Sunday night in the second quarter when no one near him was up or saying a word. With urgency that was no act, he yelled across the court toward the Lakers' bench after Chris Mihm air-balled a hook shot: "Phil!"

What's better, that Denzel -- who starred in one of the better 90s movies with a real live NBA player, no offense to Shazam -- felt the need to talk a nine-ringed coach off the ledge, or that he does so by screaming out said coach's first name only, with no further instruction or qualifications? I can't decide. Poor Mihm. I guarantee he didn't ask to go in the game.

(Via TrueHoop.)

Kobe Bryant has said all along that he has his teammates to thank for winning the MVP this year. Luke Walton asked Kobe at the press conference if said teammates would be receiving any gifts for their help in getting him the award, and Kobe answered by dropping over nine grand per teammate in getting them custom-made Swiss watches.

... Bryant dropped some serious cash on luxury watches for his teammates as a sort of ``thank you'' for helping him win the MVP award this season.

The watches, each hand made by Jaeger-LeCoultre watchmakers, were flown from Switzerland straight to Los Angeles and personalized with an engraving of the year and each player's name.

The price tag on each watch was over $9,000

This is certainly a nice gesture from Kobe (in addition to picking up those expensive dinners), but I have a question. Did everyone get one of these watches? Like, even Ira Newble, Coby Karl, and Chris Mihm? I'm guessing they did (for the sake of team unity and all), but it would have been funny if Kobe decided to stiff them like Tom Brady did with a few of his linemen when he was passing out the Audis.

UPDATE: Nate Jones sent me this link to Kobe's site, which has pictures of the team dinner and the actual watches. He also mentioned that based on the press release at the bottom of the page, it's clear that the watch-maker is getting plenty of publicity from this, so much so that Kobe might not have even had to pay for the expensive gifts.

After leaving Sunday's game with an injured left knee, Kwame Brown underwent an MRI on Monday that revealed a sprained MCL. The Lakers refused to provide a timeline for his return, but the Los Angeles Times pointed out that other players with the same injury usually miss about two to four weeks of action.

Brown has started six of the seven games he's played in this year, although he's averaging just under 24 minutes a game. Andrew Bynum and Chris Mihm will pick up the slack in his absence. From the Times:

"Kwame gives us a defensive presence out there, but I think Andrew and I need to take that upon ourselves, shore up the middle and provide offensive punch in there too," Mihm said.

Brown may be the best defender of three, but I'm not convinced his absence is a net loss for the Lakers. Getting Bynum extra minutes, in particular, is only a good thing: he's already averaging 9.7 boards per game despite playing just 24 minutes a night. You always have to worry about consistency with young players, but theoretically he should be good for a double-double each night until Brown returns.