The Lakers have signed 30-year old point guard Steve Blake to a 4-year, $16 million dollar deal. Blake played in 80 games (38 starts) for the Clippers & Trailblazers last season in which he averaged 27.0 minutes, 7.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. He has now played in 499 games (299 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 25.7 minutes, 7.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. Blake is a good shooter as he is a career 39.3% shooter from three point range. Blake will either be replacing Derek Fisher as the starting point guard or Jordan Farmar as the backup depending if one of them re-sign with the Lakers. This was a very good signing for the Lakers as Blake is a pretty good basketball player.

The Lakers have not given a qualifying offer to 23-year old point guard Jordan Farmar making him an unrestricted free agent. Farmar played in 82 games (0 starts) for the Lakers last season and he averaged 18.0 minutes, 7.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He has now played in 301 games (2 starts) in his four years with the Lakers and he has averaged 18.1 minutes, 6.9 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Farmar has not closed the door on the Lakers but if he gets a starting job somewhere he is as good as gone.

24-year old shooting guard Shannon Brown has opted out of his contract for the 2010-11 season thus becoming a unrestricted free agent. Brown played in 82 games (7 starts) for the Lakers last season and he averaged 20.7 minutes, 8.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. He played in 100 games (7 starts) in his two years with the Lakers and he averaged 18.4 minutes, 7.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Brown has played the best basketball of his career with the Lakers but backing up Kobe Bryant doesn’t lead to big numbers on the stat line. I think Brown will go to the team that offers him the most P.T. and cash.

With Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Ron Artest and Andrew Bynum eating up most of the salary cap the Lakers will be looking to add cheap talent to the bench. The Lakers are still thinking about whether or not to bring back Jordan Farmar (restricted free agent) and/or Derek Fisher (unrestricted free agent). If the Lakers let those two guys walk maybe they can bring in some combo of Nate Robinson, Earl Watson, Carlos Arroyo, Jason Williams and Keyon Dooling to handle the point. The Lakers need cheap help on the bench at almost every position so look for guys like Michael Finley, Jerry Stackhouse, Tracy McGrady, Roger Mason, Luter Head, Keith Bogans, Marquis Daniels, Rodney Carney, Ike Diogu, Shelden Williams, Anthony Tolliver and Chris Hunter to be considered. Don’t expect the Lakers to make any big moves to help them defend their NBA Title.

The Lakers have selected 22-year old forward Derrick Caracter with the 58th overall pick of the NBA Draft. Caracter played in 27 games (22 starts) at Utep in which he averaged 14.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He played in 80 games (36 starts) in college and he averaged 10.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. The Lakers don’t have a ton of depth on the roster so Caracter could get some P.T. in 2010-11.

The Lakers have selected 20-year old forward Devin Ebanks with the 43rd overall pick of the NBA Draft. Ebanks played in 34 games last season for West Virginia and he averaged 12.0 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He played in 69 games in his college career and he averaged 11.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Ebanks could get some minutes off the bench for the Lakers in 2010-11 but he will likely be brought along slowly.

Derek Fisher (unrestricted) and Jordan Farmar (restricted) are both free agents this summer and it will be interesting to see if the Lakers bring them back. Fisher is a big shot taker and maker when the playoffs come and he wants to return in 2010-11. But if he gets one last big offer to play for someone else he might leave. Farmar might get a decent offer from another team that is willing to give him a legit shot at a starting job. I think the Lakers would like to bring him back but I don’t see them overpaying to do it. Shannon Brown has a player option for 2010-11 and it will be interesting to see what he does. He might get more money/playing time from another team which might mean more to him than playing for another ring. Time will tell. D.J. Mbenga and Josh Powell are both unrestricted free agents and the Lakers would likely get them to come back at their price. Adam Morrison is a restricted free agent and I don’t see him coming back to the Lakers if anyone gives him an offer over the NBA minimum because he isn’t much of a player.

Shooting guard Kobe Bryant won the MVP Award for the NBA Finals for the second time in his career last night. He played in 7 games (all starts) in the NBA Finals for the Lakers and he averaged 41.1 minutes, 28.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game. He won the MVP Award despite only shooting 40.5% from the floor but that’s nitpicking as he was the best player on the floor in this series. Bryant played in 23 games (all starts) this post season for the Lakers and he averaged 40.1 points, 29.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been going up against a tough Utah Jazz team in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, but they have a 2-0 series lead.  The Lakers have taken control of the series thanks to Kobe Bryant putting a ton of pressure on the Jazz.  Kobe has really picked up his play this round and as helped the Lakers take a 2-0 series lead.  Through two games, Bryant is averaging 30.5 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks.  He his shooting 54% (22/41) from the field and 94% (17/18) from the line.  The Lakers have also been doing a great job slowing down Jazz star point guard Deron Williams.  Williams was perhaps the best player of the first round, but the Lakers have slowed him down some.  In round one he averaged 25.8 points, 11.3 assists, and 2.7 rebounds while shooting 49% from the field.  In two games against the Lakers so far, Williams is averaging only 19.5 points, 8.5 assists, and 1.5 rebounds on just 36% shooting.  With Kobe on top of his game right now and with Williams struggling some, the Lakers should feel very confident going into game three tomorrow in Utah.

A lot of people were starting to jump on the Oklahoma City Thunder bandwagon after the Los Angeles Lakers lost two straight to the Thunder, including a 110-89 blowout loss in game four.  Those people got a reality check in the Lakers 111-87 blowout victory in game 5 last night.  I don’t mean to take anything away from Kevin Durant and the Thunder, who have shown they belong in the playoffs, but after the Lakers went up 2-0 they kind of went into cruise control against the young Thunder.  The Thunder proved they aren’t a team that will just roll over and let the Lakers breeze through the first round, but the Lakers are still the much better team and they proved that last night.  Kobe Bryant only scored 13 points on 4-9 shooting, so it wasn’t like Kobe took over and had one of those nights were nobody could stop him.  He did show off his defensive prowess though, shutting down the Thunder’s super athletic point guard Russell Westbrook.  Last night it was a Lakers team that showed off their depth and dominance, with 10 different players scoring and five in double figures.  They held the Thunder to 37% shooting and got 21 points off of 17 turnovers, while holding Durant to just 17 points on 5-14 shooting.  The Thunder definitely deserve some respect, but for the people that thought they were actually going to upset the number one seeded defending champions in the first round need to wake up.  I expect the Lakers to wrap up this series in game six and they are still my favorite to win the 2010 NBA Championship.