Big Man Wanted: Five Possible Replacements for Andrew Bynum, Pt. 2

Less than 400 days ago, I wrote an article with the same title. I never imagined that it would be the first of a series. I guess you could say I was hoping it would be sequel-proof like, say, Titanic.

In last season's article I highlighted D.J. Mbenga, Chris Webber, Jelani McCoy, Jamal Sampson, P.J. Brown, Kurt Thomas, and Jamal Magloire as potential targets. Six days later the Lakers gave Mbenga a 10-day contract. Three weeks after that he was signed for the remainder of the season.

But now comes the news that Andrew Bynum is expected to be out for 8-12 weeks with a torn MCL.

Even before Bynum went down it was widely believed that they would use their empty roster spot to try and lure a veteran who could be waived after the Feb. 19 trade deadline.

Since they are one of only a handful of teams who still have both their mid-level and veteran's exemptions they could offer a free agent more money than either the Celtics or the Spurs.

Unlike last season the Lakers are in no rush to add a big man. Within a few weeks of losing Bynum the Lakers traded Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenden, two first-round picks and the rights to Marc Gasol for Pau Gasol and a future second-round pick.

The Lakers’ regular season record with Gasol in their lineup last season was 22-5 —a winning percentage of .815. That was good enough to earn them the best record in the Western Conference and homecourt advantage throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs—all with Andrew Bynum sidelined with a subluxation of his knee and a bone bruise.

Not bad.

Although Bynum makes the Lakers a much stronger team than they are without him there is no reason for the Lakers or their fans to panic just yet. The most important reason being that they are unquestionably a better team this year than they were last year and the rest of the conference's playoff teams from last season—excluding the Denver Nuggets—are undoubtedly worse.

You can even make the case that the Portland Trailblazers and Minnesota Timberwolves are the only other teams in the entire conference who are better right now than they were a year ago.

Assuming they don't suffer any more long-term injuries, the Lakers should have no problem clinching the top spot in the conference again—even with seven more games on the road than at home.

They are currently five games ahead of the second-place Spurs and after games against the Celtics and Cavaliers this week, they will have no more games against the three best records in the NBA.

Kobe Bryant did his best to provide optimism in Lakerland by scoring a Madison Square Garden-record 61 points in the Lakers' 126-117 win over the New York Knicks on Monday night.

The best place to start when looking at prospective acquisitions is with those players who will be mentioned on talk radio and on blogs but have a zero chance at wearing the purple and gold—specifically Shaquille O'Neal, Jermaine O'Neal, Chris Bosh, and Shawn Marion.

Consider for a second that both O'Neals have one more year on their current deals—Shaq at $20 million and Jermaine at about $23 million. With Bynum's extension kicking in next year there's no way the Lakers would pay four players upwards of $75 million alone—even if they elect to let Lamar Odom flee in free agency.

Even if Kobe doesn't opt out of his current deal the Lakers would owe Bryant, Bynum, and Gasol $53 million combined. The league's luxury tax limit this season is $71.5 million and given the state of the economy could actually decrease next season.

Adding either of the O'Neals would put them over the luxury tax with just those four players alone. If the Lakers plan on re-signing Trevor Ariza then they could be looking at a payroll way over $100 million with the luxury tax and that's not going to happen.

Bosh isn't going to the Lakers because there are a number of teams who could offer much better deals than the Lakers could. Even if the Raptors wanted Odom's expiring contract there are teams like the Suns who could offer Amare Stoudemire or the Heat who might even consider moving Marion along with Michael Beasley if Bosh gave them an assurance that he would sign an extension.

Marion won't be headed to Los Angeles either because the Lakers would prefer to have Odom and his familiarity with the offense rather than make such a major change this late in the season.

Brad Miller is another name that gets floated out there a lot. Miller is a long-shot for the Lakers, considering he still has another year and $12.5 million left on his current deal. There's no way the Lakers could acquire Miller without parting ways with either Odom or at least two other players so don't count on it. He would also present a luxury tax problem next season.

One name that you shouldn't bother plugging into any trade machines is Luke Walton. Although the Lakers wouldn't hesitate to part with Walton for the right player, his contract runs through 2013. That's a pretty long time for a player who has yet to prove he can succeed in another system.

All that being said, who could the Lakers turn to help out in Bynum's absence?

1) Chris Mihm and Josh Powell, Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers easiest move would be to promote from within. Mihm and Powell have seen limited action so far this season and chances are that the Lakers would like to see what either could give them if given the opportunity before making a trade.

Mihm has been with the Lakers since 2004-'05 and had his best season in Los Angeles back in 2005-06. Since then he's had to deal with ankle issues but he's healthy now and in the final year of his contract.

Despite seeing very little game action, Mihm has never complained and there are many within the Lakers organization that are pulling for him to seize the opportunity.

Powell was the only free agent the Lakers signed in the offseason to replace the departed Ronny Turiaf. If you looked at him from the back you might think Turiaf never left. Both players have similar builds (Turiaf is one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier), similar hairstyles (cornrows), wear the same jersey (No. 21), and have similar styles of play (all heart all the time).

Powell showed flashes of what he could do in the Lakers loss to the Spurs last month. While he's not as good of a shot blocker, dancer, or rebounder that Turiaf is he's a very good pick-and-roll player and has better range than Turiaf.

In 12 minutes against the Knicks on Monday, he missed all three shots he took and grabbed three boards.

2) Darko Milicic, Memphis Grizzlies

Milicic has missed the Grizzlies' last 16 games with a broken right hand but is expected back this week. He is in the second year of a three-year, $21 million contract. Even though he will never be the player he was expected to be when he was drafted after LeBron James he's still a solid rebounder and shot-blocker who is much tougher than he's given credit for.

He also has one of the greatest post-game tirades in the history of professional or international sports (warning: there is a lot of foul language, albeit in Serbian).

The Grizzlies are currently 28th in the NBA in three-point shooting and a trade of Vladimir Radmanovic for Milicic would work straight up. With Trevor Ariza's improved shooting from beyond the arc, Radmanovic is probably the most expendable player on the Lakers right now.

He only has two more years left on his contract after this one so any team planning around the summer of 2010 will stay away from him.

The big question is would Grizzlies' general manager Chris Wallace deal with the Lakers again after the fallout from the Gasol trade? I doubt it but I wouldn't discount it entirely.

There's also the question as to whether or not the Grizzlies have the front-court depth to lose Milicic without getting a big man in return. If that were the case the Lakers could add Mihm's expiring contract and still get the deal done.

3) Joe Smith, Nick Collison, & Chris Wilcox, Oklahoma City Thunder

Smith and Wilcox are free agents at the end of the season and Collison is under contract for two more seasons.

While the Thunder would prefer to trade Wilcox or Smith, there's a possibility that GM Sam Presti could allow either or both of them to sign on with a contender if he can't move them by the deadline since neither appears to be in the Thunder's future plans.

The Thunder would probably prefer to take back a draft pick or another young player on a rookie contract for Wilcox or Smith. Wilcox was already been traded for Radmanovic once before but the Thunder seem set at small forward with Jeff Green and Kevin Durant.

They are also in the top half of the league in three-point shooting so there isn't much that Radmanovic could give them.

The Thunder are also set at the point guard position with their two UCLA Bruins, Russell Westbrook and Earl Watson. Unless they have some sort of UCLA point guard fetish, I doubt that the Thunder would try to lure Jordan Farmar from the Lakers nor do I think the Lakers would include Farmar in a deal for any of those three.

Radmanovic could be used in a deal for Collison since their contracts are nearly identical in terms of dollars and years. Collison has already been a starter in five fewer games this year than he was in 78 games last season and yet he's experienced a drop-off in his rebounding numbers from 9.4 per game last season to 6.7 this year.

If Presti believes that Collison's value is decreasing by the day he may be interested in moving him for Radmanovic if he believes that the market for Radmanovic could be better over the next two seasons.

If Presti decides to release Smith after the trade deadline there will be no shortage of teams lining up for his services. The Boston Celtics would clearly be the front-runners given Smith's relationship with Kevin Garnett.

Smith's former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, would also give love to have him back and I'm sure he would listen.

The Lakers don't have any ties to Smith so they would be considered a long shot. Although Smith has stated he idolized Magic Johnson as a child and he is also trying to start a record label.

4) Mikki Moore, Sacramento Kings

Even though Brad Miller is a long shot, that doesn't mean his teammate, Mikki Moore, can't be had.

Moore is in the second year of a three-year, $18 million contract. It's clear that the Kings are in the midst of a youth movement. With young bigs like Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes, and Shelden Williams on the team, Moore has become expendable.

In Tuesday night's loss to the Suns, Moore played only 13 minutes, despite the fact that Miller missed the game with an abdominal strain.

The Kings are 22nd in the league in three-point shooting so they may be intrigued by Radmanovic. But since Radmanovic's contract is one year longer than Moore's, the Lakers may have to include a draft pick to entice the Kings into trading with a division rival.

The Lakers have the Bobcats second-round pick in this year's draft from the Kareem Rush trade back in 2004. Depending on how the Bobcats finish this season that pick might not be that far behind the Lakers first-round pick—thus making their first-round pick expendable.

The Lakers already traded their 2010 pick to Memphis but they received the Grizzlies' second-round pick in return—two picks that could potentially be back-to-back.

I think the Lakers would jump at the chance to get Moore since he would relieve them of Radmanovic's contract as well as provide them with a short-term back-up at center and power forward next season with Odom, Mihm, and Powell all potentially leaving via free agency this summer.

5) Robert Horry and C.J Giles

I know that Horry has said he plans to stay retired, but Big Shot Rob is a like a bear who hibernates in the fall and winter. Let's see if he changes his tune once he can start smelling the playoff air.

His familiarity with the offense would instantly put him at the top of any list of current free agents and he wouldn't be counted on to do too much.

Giles is a 6'11" power forward who played collegiately at Kansas and Oregon State. He spent part of training camp with the Lakers so there is some familiarity there. He currently plays for the Lakers D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders, where he's averaging 12.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Giles wouldn't require anything more than a 10-day contract.

If the Lakers do decide to sign a player to a 10-day contract it will most likely happen before they leave for their big seven-game road trip that begins March 21.

Unlike last season, the Lakers should anticipate that Bynum won't be coming back this season at all—even if the prognosis is that he will. If they spend their idle time watching the calendar then it will take their focus off the task at hand. You have to dance with who brung you.

While the news of Bynum's injury should bring an accidental smile to the fans of both the Celtics and Cavs they should both be more concerned with each other at this point in the season.

And if you believe in karma but hate the Lakers, then maybe it's time to stop smiling and send Bynum some flowers.

Just ask the New Orleans Hornets and Orlando Magic who may have lost Chris Paul and Jameer Nelson last night to an injured groin and separated shoulder, respectively.

The NBA season that has already been outstanding just got a little more interesting.