Matt Barnes And Theo Ratliff Added By Lakers:Lakers unable to sign Raja Bell, but another enemy on the road.Free agent forward Matt Barnes decided to sign a 2-year contract with the Lakers, choosing chance at the championship for more favorable offer from Cleveland in the day, Theo Ratliff agreed to a one-year, $ 1.35 million contract with the Lakers, adding a veteran shot blocking center the second unit.As Lakers learned last season, Barnes, 30, could molest shooting guards and small, so in advance. He and Kobe Bryant engaged in trash-talk session in the 96-94 victory for Orlando in March last year, which included the Barnes type throw inbounds pass directly into the face Bryant. Bryant did not even flinch.
The most the Lakers can pay Barnes in the next season is $ 1.77 million, about half of what Cleveland had the gift, Barnes is a player option in 2011-12 to almost $ 2 million, which would allow him to test the market again year, if he wants.
Miami ability Barnes, and Boston made a late run, but the Lakers had an additional attraction is the two-time champions of protection.
"It's official," Barnes wrote in his account at Twitter Thursday night. "I Los Angeles, (SiC) Laker. It is a dream!"
Barnes averaged 8.8 points and 25.9 minutes per game last season in Orlando, his seventh team after retiring from UCLA in 2002. Earlier this week, he was headed to Toronto for two years and $ 9 million in the transaction sign and trade, but the deal fell through. Lakers now have 11 players under contract next season, not counting the second round of the draft takes Devin Ebanks and flavor Derrick, who played well enough this month, the Lakers' team league in the summer and can complete the list. NBA teams must spend at least 13 players.
Barnes and Bryant believed to be on good terms these days, but it was not so when they play each other in a few weeks after the All-Star break. Bryant missed a last second 20 feet, that would have sent the game to overtime, and laughed: 3 times in a 10-second span later when asked about in-game behavior Barnes. "It's entertaining," he said.
As reporters asked Ron Artest, that he thinks Barnes, Lamar Odom shouted across the locker room with that Barnes "monkey" who "took the right game to act tough." Odom, a comparison with Barnes in the Wrestling Ric Flair, known inciting the crowd with his antics.
Meanwhile, the Lakers quietly added another defensive presence, selecting 37-year-old Ratliff.
Next season will be the 16th to Ratliff, who began his career in Detroit in 1995, when Andrew Bynum was 8 years old.
I had long and very rewarding career and join the storied and legendary franchises like the Lakers adds a special element, "Ratliff said in a statement, adding that he hopes to help his new team" to win a third straight championship. "
Ratliff did not do San Antonio most of last season, averaging 1.6 points and 1.9 selection in 21 games, but it is relatively better rates once traded in February to Charlotte, where he started 26 out of 28 games and averaged 5.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots in 22.3 minutes.
Defense is always a specialty Ratliff: He averaged 2.4 blocked shots in his career, and led the league three times in this category.
"Theo has long been considered one of the best defensive big men in the league," Lakers Mitch Kupchak CEO said in a statement. "With Bynum, Gasol, Odom and Artest, it gives a huge and deep front line."
