i gotta say randle is better than i expected (though he'd be a solid starter that's about it) and no it wasn't an either/or. at his salary he makes as much as rajon rondo, not lebron. no disrespect to rondo, but having him on a one-year deal is not as good as having randle on a two-year deal and the chance to go forward with him.

now, the argument is that rondo's deal becomes cap space this summer and randle would still be on the books. but i don't buy that argument because randle would be a great value for the money in that second year and thus both an asset to the lakers themselves or in a trade. i also think the UFA market for the lakers has gotten crowded. you know some of these guys will re-sign, so the 8-10 good UFAs out there will be half that number. is lebron's magnet that strong still? the miles are showing this year and there are a lot of team-up possibilities both among the UFAs (and also Davis) or with some other stars that are already in place. to me there is no guarantee that the lakers land one top guy, let alone two.