Five Reasons the Lakers WILL Make a Trade

Last week, we took a look at the major reasons that the Lakers would NOT make a trade at this year’s deadline.  While those were some pretty good reasons, there are some very good reasons for why the Lakers WILL make a trade this season, especially after recent events.  Let’s take a look at those reasons and try and settle this “trade or don’t trade” debate once and for all:

Fire up the trade machine, Laker fans, trading season is now open!

1. Derek Fisher REALLY sucks (and Jordan Farmar isn’t much better). Say what you want about Derek Fisher’s heroics and leadership ability, but he has no business starting and logging heavy minutes on a championship team anymore.  He currently has the fifth worst PER out of qualified point guards in the NBA, besting only Jannero Pargo, Chucky Atkins, Jamaal Tinsley and Anthony Carter.  Fish gives the team almost nothing on offense and has been a bad defender for years now and only gotten worse this year.  Jordan Farmar has never been consistent enough to step up and replace Fisher and Phil Jackson clearly prefers using Shannon Brown at the off-guard position, so the Lakers need to do SOMETHING to find a point guard that can give them something now.  Not to mention that Fisher and Farmar are both free agents this off-season, so the Lakers would be wise to pursue their “point guard of the future” now via trade rather than hope they can find someone willing to take the mid-level exception after the season.  Quick, someone get Kirk Hinrich on the phone!
2. Ron Artest is broken. Now that Ron Artest is playing with two bad feet and no real prognosis for when he will get better, the Lakers have to consider finding themselves some additional depth at small forward.  The Lakers really only have Luke Walton behind Artest now, though they could shift Lamar Odom there, although Phil Jackson is often reluctant to do so.  Therefore, the Lakers are taking a big chance that Ron-Ron’s health won’t take a turn for the worse as he tries to gut it out through these injuries.  Nobody wants to see LA head into the post-season with Luke Walton logging 35+ minutes per night.
3. The bench still can’t score consistently. Jordan Farmar and Shannon Brown have both have had their moments lately, but when push comes to shove, the bench mob can’t be counted on to provide an offensive spark on a regular basis.  Kobe and Pau are great and all, but they are still going to need the bench to do something on offense when one or both of them aren’t in the game.  The bench mob has had their chance to prove themselves and it clearly isn’t going to happen for them if it hasn’t happened this far into the season, so some outside help is definitely required.
4. You can never have too many shooters and the Lakers don’t have many. It would be a huge boost to the games of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant if the Lakers could do a better job of spreading the floor but right now they only have one regular shooting over 36% from three-point land, Ron Artest.  Teams are pretty much just daring the Lakers do beat them from three and they aren’t paying for it nearly enough.  Add in a real spot-up shooting threat and the Lakers might finally be able to shake the waves of stagnation that plague their offense so frequently.
5. Jerry Buss is rich, bitch! At the end of the day, the only real reason the Lakers wouldn’t want to make a trade is because they don’t want to pay more luxury tax money at the end of the year and the years following.  But guess what?  Jerry Buss has plenty of money and it isn’t like the Lakers struggle financially.  I know basketball is a business and the owners like making profits, but I just don’t think it is in Jerry Buss’ DNA to allow the team to head into the post-season with holes in the roster solely because he wanted to maintain his profit margin.

Tags: Andrew Bynum, bench mob, Derek Fisher, Jerry Buss, Jordan Farmar, Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Pau Gasol, Phil Jackson, Ron Artest, Rumors, trades