Basketball is finally almost back

We finally got internet at the apartment yesterday, so hopefully I can get back to posting more here, especially photos from our move and stuff like that.

In the meantime, big news today in the NBA is that Shawn Marion wants out of Phoenix. TrueHoop mentioned that the Lakers seem like a possible destination because Marion's friends with Kobe.

Long and I tooled around a bit with the Trade Machine, and it turns out the Lakers, who can build a package around Lamar Odom, seem to have the most to offer Phoenix at this late juncture:

Marion and Marcus Banks for Odom, Mo Evans, Ronny Turiaf, and Sasha Vujacic.

The Suns finally dump Banks's contract and they get Odom + 3 role players who could all work in their system. Evans brings perimeter D; Turiaf hits the glass; and Vujacic assume the "James Jones Memorial" spot-up shooter role. Plus, everyone except Odom is in the final year of their contract, so they become cap relief if they don't work out.

The Lakers, meanwhile, can talk themselves into Banks as a decent back up PG, and they get to keep the coveted (for whatever reason) Andrew Bynum.

And for the record, I think it's bad business that Phoenix ever let it come to this with such an amazing player as Marion, even if he is a head case.