When the Goin gets tough you....

After watching the Lakers get ransacked, raped, humiliated and emabarassed in the NBA Finals, Los Angeles Laker fans were left to ponder one thing this offseason....

 Whats next?

 The Lakers have been flirting with the idea of trading for Ron Artest for the past few weeks and the name I hear thrown around a lot is Lamar. After Lamar refused to show up in the NBA Finals Laker fans were simply fustarted with Lamar, including myself. Lamar has always been hammered for his inconsistency, but this year was by far his best all around year. Lamar had his best numbers as a Laker this year and it seemed as if he got better once Pau arrived. Before the Finals started I thought Lamar would be the Lakers key factor but it turned out he laid an egg and left Kobe and Pau out to dry. So the questions remians. Do you leave Lamar out to dry becase of one poor series or is thier another move to be made?

Lets revisit what occured in the Finals. The Lakers, their coaches and fans kept hitting and pointing to one major factor as to why Boston was wooping them; Boston was just plain tougher. See the Lakers have a lot of guys who no one would exactly call tough or agressive. Kobe, Sasha, Lamar, and Pau are all really good players but their more finesse than though. Think of the Lakers as more style over substance. In 2004 when the Lakers lost to the Pistons almost everybody said that Detroit was much tougher than the Lakers. I guess thats East coast ball for you, that grind it out boring stuff. But it does gets the job done against the weaker West Coast teams many a times ( Think Miami over Dallas) In the Boston series the celtics dominated the boards, got most of the hustle plays and got to the basket and free throw line a lot more than the Lakes did. 

Mitch Kupchack has been quoted as saying that the Lakers are and will be the most improved team when a guy by the name of Andrew Bynum comes back for next season. Here's the thing with that. Bynum will surely improve the teams defense down low by blocking shots which will enable the Lakers to get TOUGHER. He will also be a threat to score. ( Just a side note, I work at KCAL 9 sports and I have been told that Jerry Buss does not think that Bynum  Pau and Lamar can all play together)but thats besides the point. The problem with Byum is this; First, we dont know how good he will be since he has been injured for quite some time. Secondly, Bynum is very young and we are still unsure of how effective he can be especially in times like game 6 of the NBA finals. I mean come on are Laker fans really going to put all their hopes on Andrew to make them tougher? Lastly, Bynum is only one guy. Boston did not have have one tough player they had a hand ful of them ( Cough cough Garnett, cough PJ Brown, cough Perkins, cough cough cough Leon Powe, and dare I say JP's full name) The Lakers got out hustled by all those guys. So besdies for getting back Bynum, what is the answer? Sorry, some Laker fans may not like this but the answer is....

Sasha.

Listen, he's a great scorer, shooter, and just a funny Laker guy to have since hes been with us all those years. My friend always tells me that Sasha is like your little brother who you always want to do well. But Sasha is weak, lacks toughness, and probably gave up the biggest bucket of these playoffs to Ray Allen ( game 4 if your keeping score, let it rest at that) But he is trade value since many teams would love to have a shooter like him. The move here is to let Sasha go, let him sign elsewhere and now the Lakers could pick up a banger for the mid level exception. Here are just a few free agent names that would fit with the Lakers next year and be worth a mid level deal. James Posey, Kurt Thomas, Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes. All guys that are bangers, could hit threes ( K maybe not Thomas) but the rest could, and guys that can play tough D espicially in stopping other big players on other teams ( Cough Cough Paul Pierce) My favorite out of this group is Pietrus. He is tall, a very athletic defender, and can hit the three ball. Basically, Pietrus is like Sasha with great defense and reboundng.

I remember when the Lakers won the NBA title in 2002 and stayed pat and loyal to the thier fans and players by keeping everyone. The Lakers had a different problem that year. They were getting old. So as opposed to trading away guys like Horry and Fox that year, the Lakers stayed loyal pat and older. The result,; The Lakers lost in six games to the Spurs in the second round. So Laker GM's lets get smart and not make the same mistakes. If the Lakers are lacking that toughness, that hungry desire, than lets fix that. 

So why not Artest than who would certainly give the Lakers a lot of toughness? Well, Lakers would probably have to trade for Lamar, who I think was the Lakers X factor in the Western Conference playoffs, and I have high hopes that Lamar won't play that bad in the Finals if the Lakers get back their. Also, I do not think that the Lakers need to gut thier line up open to win ( think Phoneix Suns/ Dallas Mavericks) But some fine tweaking will suffice. Just a little trim around the edges. Some body that can come in, play some hard nose D, hit some big threes in clutch moments,and add in some veteran experience. Who exactly fits that description out there? Not sure, but thats not my job I leave that up to the Lakers managment.