FanHouse Chris Mihm

A season ago, the Lakers made a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies near the trade deadline that brought them Pau Gasol, and with him came a trip to the Finals. For the second straight year, L.A. has traded with Memphis, although this one shouldn't impact either team in any significant way.

The Lakers sent Chris Mihm and cash to the Grizz, and received a protected second round pick in the 2013 draft in return. Mihm only received garbage time minutes on a Lakers team that has the best record in the league, and with his contract up at the end of this season, L.A. was able to at least get something for him before he became a free agent this summer.

With Jordan Farmar out for the next couple of months after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus, there have been discussions about whether the Lakers will look to make a move to bring in a backup point guard. The pickings are pretty slim out there at that position -- just ask the Suns. But if this rumor is to be believed, it would appear that the Lakers are trying to deal for a warm body nonetheless, and it's a familiar one: former Laker (and two-time NBA champion!) Tyronn Lue.

While Bell and Ridnour have health and injury issues, Tyronn Lue doesn't have either. But Lue's status appears to be up in the air as well. It is believed the Bucks have an offer on the table from the Los Angeles Lakers for Lue, with the Bucks receiving veteran big man Chris Mihm in return.

Most Laker fans remember Lue's time in Los Angeles fondly for some reason, but all I can remember is Allen Iverson stepping over him in disgust after hitting what was effectively the game winner in overtime of Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals. It's not like he'd be expected to play extended minutes though, and in fact, it's possible Lue would never see the court.

The Lakers are still a solid eight players deep (nine if you count Vladimir Radmanovic) even with Farmar sidelined, so this would only be an insurance move in case another guard were to go down with an injury. The Lakers are loaded with semi-serviceable bigs Josh Powell and DJ Mbenga, so dealing Mihm for a guard to sit on the bench seems like a logical move, and a harmless one at that.

Kobe Bryant has said all along that he has his teammates to thank for winning the MVP this year. Luke Walton asked Kobe at the press conference if said teammates would be receiving any gifts for their help in getting him the award, and Kobe answered by dropping over nine grand per teammate in getting them custom-made Swiss watches.

... Bryant dropped some serious cash on luxury watches for his teammates as a sort of ``thank you'' for helping him win the MVP award this season.

The watches, each hand made by Jaeger-LeCoultre watchmakers, were flown from Switzerland straight to Los Angeles and personalized with an engraving of the year and each player's name.

The price tag on each watch was over $9,000

This is certainly a nice gesture from Kobe (in addition to picking up those expensive dinners), but I have a question. Did everyone get one of these watches? Like, even Ira Newble, Coby Karl, and Chris Mihm? I'm guessing they did (for the sake of team unity and all), but it would have been funny if Kobe decided to stiff them like Tom Brady did with a few of his linemen when he was passing out the Audis.

UPDATE: Nate Jones sent me this link to Kobe's site, which has pictures of the team dinner and the actual watches. He also mentioned that based on the press release at the bottom of the page, it's clear that the watch-maker is getting plenty of publicity from this, so much so that Kobe might not have even had to pay for the expensive gifts.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
Consider yourselves lucky that you're getting this post today. I have made no secret of my mancrush, so my first inclination when I heard that Andrew Bynum would be out for eight freaking weeks was to end up hanging from the nearest ceiling fan by a guitar string. Then I realized the closest thing I own to said string is a fake plastic Gibson with five colored buttons. So I'm here. And Bynum is not. You can't drop him and keeper league teams out of contention should actually trade for him. He will miss eight weeks and in his fantasy stead will be erstwhile "phenom" Kwame Brown (seen here getting half-postered by the quite miniscule Earl Watson.)

Hot Cakes
Kwame posted 10 and 10 last night but it was in 38 minutes against the Sonics and everyone rebounds against them, so that's a misleading false sliver of hope. If he keeps up the decent play, I say sell, since he will not be scoring and Chris Mihm will probably reappear in three weeks for about a week or two (before getting hurt again) to steal playing time. Even if he doesn't, Chris Webber looms as a triangle offense passing presence/center option on the cheap for the Lakers who would be available in just around a fortnight. (Yeah, I rolled with fortnight and yeah, snatch him up if you need dimes and minimal boards.)

In that same game, Nick Collison registered a monsterous 24 points and 18 boards. Besides telling us that Collison is starting to heat up (add him if you can) while averaging over a dub-dub in January, this also tells us that Kwame cannot play defense. Suddenly, you want to start your centers against the Lakers in daily leagues. Did not want to do that when Bynum was in there. So there's that. Hurray tiny silver linings! Sigh.

B-Ball,B-Fast is a daily (9:00 a.m.) look at what happened the night before in the NBA from a fantasy basketball perspective. Check back early and often, or just save yourself the trouble and bookmark it.

Cup of Coffee
Richard Jefferson wasn't a popular guy in fantasy drafts this year. Owners drafted him somewhere between the 60-75 range, depending on the size and parameters of the league, based primarily on injury and a decline in production over the past three years. Those who took the gamble are getting paid handsomely, as Jefferson is averaging a career high 25 plus points per game after pouring in 36 against the Cavs last night. The assist and rebound numbers are down a bit, but he's efficient as ever from the floor and his range has improved (on pace for a career high in three's at a career high percentage); there's no reason to think, barring injury, that he doesn't finish what he started in 2004.

Hot Cakes
Jefferson wasn't the top scorer last night though, as Amare Stoudemire went off against the Pacers for 42/14/4. There were talks before the season started that he was ready to take his game to an even higher level than we'd seen before; he's "only" averaging 19.3 and 8.6 boards per game this year, both below his career numbers. But he's doing it in 28.6 minutes, which is nuts, really. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but if you can weasel your way into getting him, now would be a good time, before the Suns start really ratcheting up his minutes.

All Brevin Knight does is pass and steal - 9/1/8/2 last night - which as a fourth guard in fantasy, is flat out superb. There's a chance he's available in some leagues and Sam Cassell is still dealing with injury. Sam-I-Am is like 89 in alien years, so this probably won't be a one time thing.

Daily leagues should note that Chris Mihm is your starting center in Los Angeles with Andrew Bynum sick right now; he scored 11 points with seven boards and two dimes in 32 minutes last night. With two games against Golden State on the horizon (12/09 and 12/14) he could make a very nice streaming option.

Someone that could be more than a streamer, depending how his situation shakes out, is Anderson Varejao. He signed yesterday with the Bobcats, leaving the Cavs seven days to match the Bobcats offer. Varejao's made it known he doesn't care to play for the LeBrons and there are salary cap issues involved, so they may let him walk. If he ends up in Charlotte, he's a very nice add as a fourth forward or second center; Jared Dudley's value would take a hit though.

Broken Eggs
Kevin Martin left the Kings game against Utah last night with some sort of strained groin. Besides the obvious "Ouch" joke, it's worth noting that John Salmons ended up with 21 points, six boards and two dimes in 27 minutes. Either he or Francisco Garcia will start at the two with Martin hurt, but expect it to be Salmons who sees the biggest temporary boost in value.

After leaving Sunday's game with an injured left knee, Kwame Brown underwent an MRI on Monday that revealed a sprained MCL. The Lakers refused to provide a timeline for his return, but the Los Angeles Times pointed out that other players with the same injury usually miss about two to four weeks of action.

Brown has started six of the seven games he's played in this year, although he's averaging just under 24 minutes a game. Andrew Bynum and Chris Mihm will pick up the slack in his absence. From the Times:

"Kwame gives us a defensive presence out there, but I think Andrew and I need to take that upon ourselves, shore up the middle and provide offensive punch in there too," Mihm said.

Brown may be the best defender of three, but I'm not convinced his absence is a net loss for the Lakers. Getting Bynum extra minutes, in particular, is only a good thing: he's already averaging 9.7 boards per game despite playing just 24 minutes a night. You always have to worry about consistency with young players, but theoretically he should be good for a double-double each night until Brown returns.