[h1]SHELBURNE: Odom's dealings with Lakers sound too familiar[/h1]
By Ramona Shelburne, Columnist
Updated: 07/15/2009 11:23:59 PM PDT
Haven't we heard all of this before?
Pulled offers? Angry owners? Hurt feelings on both sides?
A breathless fan base hanging on every blog post and tweet?
It's like a game of free agent negotiating Mad Libs.
Take all the stories written about Manny Ramirez about five months ago. Replace Ramirez with Lamar Odom, replace agent Scott Boras with agent Jeff Schwartz, Dodgers with Lakers ... and continue with the story.
It all seems rather dramatic right now, with Lakers owner Jerry Buss angrily withdrawing his contract offers to Odom just five days after general manager Mitch Kupchak told an L.A. radio station that "there is no replacement for Lamar Odom" and sources on both sides of the negotiations acting like the only thing left to decide was which day the news conference would be held.
But the world hasn't turned upside down in the past five days. It only seems that way because both sides are hard at work leveraging their respective positions.
The only constant in the talks is the only thing that should ultimately matter: the Lakers and Odom need each other more than anyone else does.
Which was the same constant in Ramirez' protracted negotiations with the Dodgers last winter.
The Lakers can offer Odom more money than anyone else.
The Lakers don't have the money to go after anyone else of comparable talent without making a trade.
Which means everything in between is cosmetic.
It just might get a bit dramatic and scary before it's all resolved.
So what are the next moves?
The Lakers made their power play Tuesday by publicly confirming they had pulled their offers to Odom and revealing the financial specifics of those offers so fans and sports-talk radio hosts around the country could dissect the situation for the next few days.
Odom's camp did not return messages. So with just one side of the story out there, it certainly seemed hard to understand why they'd pass on a three-year, $30 million offer or a four-year, $36 million offer when the best anyone else in the NBA could do was five years and $34 million via the mid-level exception.
After their statements Monday and Tuesday, the Lakers seem content to let Odom make the next move.
Kupchak said Wednesday he had nothing to add to what the team had said Tuesday night and would not reveal whether he had any new discussions with Schwartz.
"I think what (public-relations director) John Black said Tuesday pretty much characterizes our position," Kupchak said.
Schwartz once again did not return messages left on his cellphone and Odom made no public statements.
But that's understandable because the only plays Odom and Schwartz have left to get the Lakers to raise their offer or extend it to five years (what Odom cares most about) is by waiting.
The three teams to keep an eye on are Utah, Portland and Miami.
Utah because it has until Friday to match the offer sheet Portland signed Paul Millsap to, as is widely expected around the league.
Portland because if Utah matches the Millsap offer, the Blazers will have enough cap space to meet Odom's asking price.
The Heat because sources in Miami confirmed the team is willing to pay Odom five years and $34 million, but probably only if it can also trade for Utah's Carlos Boozer.
All three of these scenarios will likely take until at least Friday to be resolved, which means Odom has to decide how long he's willing to twist in the wind for that fifth year.
Give the Lakers credit for putting the pressure on Odom. If Odom does indeed decide to wait and see how those other moves around the league play out, it will be an uncomfortable wait.
The only gauge on Odom's personal feelings about the situation came Monday, when he attended the premiere of the Lakers championship DVD at Club Nokia.
"Negotiations take time and we'll hopefully be able to reach an agreement," he said. "That's how negotiations are. Sometimes you're right on the same page and sometimes you're way off, that's just part of it."
Several times, Odom mentioned he did not want to antagonize the Lakers with his comments, a clear indication he wants to return to the club.
But at 29, with a birthday coming up in November, he also wants to sign as long of a contract as he can.
A league executive said Schwartz is determined to land his client a deal better than the five-year, $38.6 million contract Dallas agreed to with Shawn Marion.
If you look at their careers, abilities and statistics head-to-head, that seems more than fair.
But fair is a word both sides use in the news conference after a deal has been reached, not when they're still sitting across the table from each other.
And so a breathless city waits along the rails as the Lakers and Odom go heads-up.
The good news is, it hasn't been that long since we watched all this play out with Ramirez and the Dodgers.
So get out your Mad Libs, sit back and wait. There should be a few good chuckles along the way.
So Lamar wants a better deal then what Marion got. Let's see what happens.
So, no, I've never given it any thought.
