FanHouse Mitch Kupchak

Here's hoping Lamar Odom and the L.A. Lakers reach an agreement and he returns to the defending champions.

If and when that happens, judging the offseason of general manager Mitch Kupchak will be simple. Odom returning to the Lakers, essentially means the offseason consisted of swapping Ron Artest for Trevor Ariza.

That's going to be an easy one to judge when it's all said and done. And Kupchak's going to get the credit or the blame.

LAS VEGAS -- Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak was sitting courtside watching the Clippers' future franchise player, Blake Griffin, drop 17 first-half points on his Lakers. And the person who may defend Griffin in the paint during the regular season doesn't look any more closer to returning to the Lakers than last week.

Lamar Odom remains an unrestricted free agent and Kupchak said progress has come to a halt, despite Trevor Ariza leaving L.A. for the Houston Rockets last week. Odom is free to sign with any team and may be the league's most attractive free agent on the market. Still, Kupchak appeared bleak when asked about the prospects of bringing Odom back, which could be critical to the Lakers' chances of defending their NBA title.

"The word I used last week was 'hopeful' so let's take it from there," he said Monday at the Thomas & Mack Center. "I am really not sure where we are right now. We have made no plans to talk [with his representatives]."

It would be great to start an argument here about the NBA Team of the Decade, bringing out all that Tim Duncan/Gregg Popovich ammunition (then we could even use one of those Tony/Eva bathing suit pictures), about the wonderful consistency and championship model that was built and sustained in San Antonio.

The Spurs have, after all, won more games than anyone else since 2000. They also have been the picture of class.

But it is too much of a stretch now.

OAKLAND -- Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak keeps hearing about how his team might not be tough enough, physical enough or gritty enough to win an NBA title. He's not the only one.

If you've been following the NBA playoffs at all, you know the Lakers have been dogged by these issues. Whether it was late in the Houston series or early in the Denver series, whether or not the Lakers are soft or not is getting a lot of play.

Kupchak thinks it might be time to put that to bed.

The Larry O'Brien itself is plenty of motivation for the participants in the 2009 Finals. But there will also be a few individual goals driving those involved.

Kobe Bryant: The commercial failure of Kobe Doin' Work made it apparent No. 24 needs much more face time. Can he get an ad campaign, maybe something with a puppet? It's evident Kobe can only get the media and popular culture attention he deserves by winning a championship. (Let's be honest, though: after that 2002 championship jacket, Kobe doesn't deserve to touch the trophy ever again.)

Andrew Bynum: Drew really needs Kareem to get off his back. Oh, did I say Kareem? I meant Nicole Narain. It's hard to show on the pick-and-roll with a playmate on your shoulders!

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There's no way the Houston Rockets can beat the Lakers in Game 7 today ... is there?

It's head-scratching enough that Houston has pushed this series to the limit and won two games since Yao Ming got hurt back in Game 3. It seems almost too loony to think that the undermanned Rockets can go into Staples and lay another "L" on L.A.

But what if they do? What if Houston eliminates the Lakers? Then what? Where would the Lakers go from there?

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The last we heard from Andrew Bynum he had just been cleared to start conditioning drills. After six weeks in the gym, is his surgically-repaired left knee holding up? According to Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, yes, yes it is. Kupchak traveled to Atlanta this week to gauge with his own eyes Bynum's progress, and his report should relieve nervous Laker fans.From Janis Carr from the Orange County Register (via TrueHoop):

"I could see improvement in his body, his conditioning and mobility," Kupchak said. "I didn't see any signs of effects from the surgery."

Kupchak said he expects Bynum to report to training camp at full strength, considering camp doesn't start for another month.

"He told me that he is ready to comeback (to L.A.) to start playing full-court drills," he said. "He sounded eager to play."

This is great news, though the true test will come in the exhibition season once he starts banging with opposing big men who hold no regard for his health.

The next step? Getting that money. He's hoping for a maximum contract worth $80 million over five years. If he stays healthy and bounces back this season, he should get it. He'll be a restricted free agent next summer, and if the Lakers don't lock him up, he'll be able to mint his own money as an unrestricted free agent in 2010. It seems like every other team in the league is clearing space under the cap to go nuts that summer, and a 22-year-old double-double machine should be near the top of everyone's shopping list.

It is a shame that the Lakers will not be losing any major pieces to their Western Conference Champion squad during the offseason. Because, really, watching Kobe Bryant spend the entire offseason crying whining trying to do Mitch Kupchak's job last year, well, that was just enjoyable for everyone.

Instead, Mamba has promised to keep his hands off and his mouth shut when it comes to the front office work as the Lakers prepare to make a run at a title in 2008-09.

'I'm comfortable with what we have,' he said. 'Whatever Mitch decides to do, he decides to do. It's more of a relaxing summer for me because I know we have an opportunity to win. It's exciting.

[...][Waiting for next year is] going to be tough, but I'm just happy to know that we're invited to the party,' he said. 'When you're invited, you dance with a hot chick. You can pull a beautiful one or you can pull one that's not as good looking. You can either go in the first round and get knocked out or you can go to the championship.'

The NBA named their Executive of the Year today, and not surprisingly, the prize went to the Celtics' Danny Ainge. The Celtics were able to go from one of the worst teams in the league a season ago to the team with the most regular season wins this year, a feat that's worth recognizing to some extent. But as our headline states (sentiment courtesy of Matt Moore), Ainge was really more lucky in getting Garnett (by way of his relationship with Kevin McHale) than he was skillful in pulling off any amazing deal.

The alternatives to Ainge though aren't really that exciting either. The Lakers' Mitch Kupchak finished second, largely because he didn't acquiesce to Kobe's off-season trade demands, and because he was able to get Pau Gasol from Memphis for Kwame Brown. As great as that deal was though, Mitch wouldn't have even pursued it had Andrew Bynum not gone down with a knee injury. Still, Kupchak is the one who put together this Laker roster over several seasons, and now that it's all come together, he seems like the logical choice.

One final note on this award, and that's the fact that inexplicably, third place went to Hornets' GM Jeff Bower. Now, either the people who vote for this award are completely lazy, or they simply don't know what they're talking about. The only difference between this year's Hornets roster and the one from last season is the addition of Morris Peterson and Melvin Ely. So those guys are the reason NOLA has the Spurs down 3-2? I don't think so. Plus, Bower didn't even draft Chris Paul or Davd West, so how he can receive so much credit for the team's success this season is beyond me.

It has been mentioned, albeit briefly, and certainly only as a rumor, that the Lakers' sudden move to scoop up Pau Gasol was in response to the possibility that Andrew Bynum would miss the rest of the season with the knee injury he sustained on January 13 (ironically against Memphis; maybe Chris Wallace just felt bad about the whole thing).

But it appears, at least according to the latest word from the Lakers' medical staff, that Bynum's healing process is moving along at the same pace they originally thought it would.

He would return the week of March 9 if he came back eight weeks from the time of the injury.

'That was kind of the thought when the injury happened,' Lakers spokesman John Black said Friday. 'We have no reason to change that right now. We will continue to monitor it.

'As far as the swelling goes, it looks more normal. He's definitely not running or jogging, but he's continuing treatment.'

Now personally, that type of statement makes me a little nervous. It's just so vague and not-pessimistic (as opposed to actually being optimistic) but if I was spinning the PR in Hollywood, I wouldn't want to make any faulty promises and have Jack go all Departed on me either. Of course, Kobe Bryant is particularly optimistic and well spoken about the whole thing.