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The 2009 NBA Finals is over. The Lakers won, beating the Orlando Magic in Game 5, 99 to 86. I wasn't too excited about this season's Finals from the get go. Well, because I'm not much of Laker fan (anymore*) to speak of and I knew that it was just a matter of time until they disposed of their Eastern counterpart whether it was going to be the Cavaliers or the Magic. - Enter the NBA off-season... and now the sadness begins...
*The last time I was a Lakers fan was back during the glorious days of the 6-pack. When Magic, Kareem, Worthy, Scott made showtime what it was and defined it as a style of play. In a way, the L.A. franchise still holds a soft spot in my heart, because it was during those years and because of those players that I fell in love with the NBA.
But before I get into that gloomy mood of missing NBA action and fantasy basketball altogether, in the spirit of sportsmanship, I reckon that appropriate congratulations are in order for this season's NBA World Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Congratulations to Kobe Bryant for proving to himself and the world that he can win a championship without the help of Shaq.
- Congratulations to Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for redeeming themselves and for showing that they are not as "soft" as they were dubbed to be last season.
- Congratulations to Derek Fisher for his showing he still has that "clutch factor" and making a huge impact on the Lakers' campaign for making their ownage of the Magic as swift and as painless (for them) as possible.
- Congratulations to Trevor Ariza for really shining in the entire Playoffs and being a true factor and team player on the wings, upping his game and proving that he is indeed an invaluable asset for almost any franchise.
- Congratulations to Phil Jackson for getting himself another Championship and now has passed Red Auerbach, winning 10 NBA Titles.
- Congratulations to the Laker fans around the world. Enjoy your team's Championship victory.
Interestingly enough, J.E. Skeets reports that Vegas already has the Lakers as favorites to do a repeat performance next season. My unbiased opinion is that while the franchise still has it in them to do a repeat, they will have a difficult time re-establishing themselves as a dynasty once again. While they still have the components to make it happen; the "Road to 2010" will have teams (many teams) upgrading their rosters with huge talent as the flurry of free agents and cap space fill-ups will be bubbling as early as the '09 season. More and more teams will become better equipped to deal with Playoff action and subsequently be able to challenge the new defending champs.
On the Fantasy Front:
Kobe Bryant was the NBA Finals MVP. He played a good game. Kobe will be Kobe next season. I don't think winning a Championship now will take anything away from his drive and competitive nature. He will play hard. He will play well. The question will be is "How well will he recover from his intended surgery to repair his broken pinkie finger?" Well we will all have to stay tuned in on his rehab for reports on that progress after he's actually gone under the knife. Assuming the outlook does look good, he should remain as a viable 3rd to 5th pick as far fantasy basketball.
Will the Lakers stay intact? Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza, two important components in their championship run, are now free agents. Will the franchise decide to keep them both?
My guess is that the Lakers will be inclined to keep Trevor Ariza. He is still young and is currently still improving his game as he gets more involved in their offense. He's only 23 and has a lot to benefit from the tutelage and trust of a good coach like Phil Jackson. He is a solid swing component and has improved his three point shooting. He's always had that defensive use on wings and he will prove to be even more invaluable as becomes a more well rounded player. I expect Trev to become a more viable in terms of fantasy basketball if he does remain in L.A., where he will get more opportunities to become an important cog in the Laker machine.
On the other hand, do they still need to hold on to Lamar Odom? His biggest asset as a player has always been his basketball I.Q. The problem is that he's never quite fit in very well in Jackson's triangle offense. Like Ariza, Odom is going to become an unrestricted free agent coming into the 2009 season. Should the Lakers welcome the freed up cap space with his departure? Or do a sign-and-trade deal with him and get a more suited front court back-up to Gasol and Bynum that will jell best within the offense? In order to remain competitive with the rest of the developing and improving franchises in both conferences, an option would be to let go of Lamar, who could still be useful to other wanna-be contenders, in exchange for a younger and less injury prone big man. Yes I know those are few and far between, but as I said earlier "the Arms Race is on!" Some strategy and good future planning will have to be employed by the LA big wigs to be able keep bringing home the bacon.
If Lamar does leave, his fantasy value will definitely depend on where he does end up playing next season. In a team loaded with superior (and younger) front court talent, he might find himself in a similar off the bench scenario as he did in the Lakers. Remember that his fantasy performance and consequently his value only got a decent boost when the officially (as far as we're concerned anyway) injury prone Andrew Bynum, missed a huge chunk of regular season games. If he (Odom) does stay (which I doubt) and Bynum gets his health/injury issues in order, then Lamar will be looking at a very late draft position in the fantasy draft once again.
Derek Fisher may have had his moment in the limelight, exhibiting some of his old clutch capability; but he sadly will not amount to much in terms of his fantasy value next season. There are just too many more viable guards on tap in the draft that are worth drafting at far higher positions than anyone should even bother picking up "Fish." He will remain undrafted except in the very deepest of leagues.
Thankfully enough, aside from KB24 we can count on another solid performer next season. That player is Pau Gasol. He played a cool 81 games, was in much better form than he was last year, and had a regular season average just shy of 20-10-1. Unless anything drastic happens over the off-season, you can count this Spaniard to be a solid late second rounder in most fantasy drafts.
As you may have noticed, I did jump the gun a bit and wrote a little something something about this season's Champions. It's just that little bit I can do to stave off the sadness and the boredom that accompanies missing the Fantasy NBA season. Until then, here are a few more things about the Lakers that you can be not-too-sad about...
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