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The Los Angeles Lakers had their first day of exit interviews on Tuesday.  Only Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes are left to wrap the meetings on Wednesday.

Andrew Bynum immediately got to the heart of the matter regarding his flagrant foul against J.J. Barea in the last game against the Dallas Mavericks.

"I want to apologize for my action," said Bynum.  "They don’t represent me, my upbringing, this franchise or any of the Laker fans out there that want to watch us and watch us succeed.  Furthermore and more importantly, I want to actually apologize to J.J. Barea for doing that.  I’m just glad he wasn’t seriously injured in the event."

Bynum vowed it wouldn’t happen again.

Meanwhile the league has suspended Bynum for five games and fined him $25k for the incident (including the jersey removal as he walked off the court).

Total that all up and it was roughly a $702k mistake.

The good news is that Bynum is going into the offseason healthy.  If he can get through his career without serious injury, he may prove to be one of the best centers in the league.

"I want to come back with strong legs, a strong base, some quick moves and [learn] how to deal with a double team," said Bynum.  "I’m going to watch a lot of film.  I need to understand how to get the ball in those situations."

One of the advantages players have when playing alongside Kobe Bryant is fewer double-teams than if they were the top star on another franchise.

The more Andrew becomes a force offensively, the more teams will have to design defensive schemes against it.

Bynum’s biggest leap this past season was embracing his role as rebounder and defensive anchor.  If he always makes those the priority while concurrently developing his offensive game, the Lakers may have a franchise piece.

Ron Artest had a very strong series against the New Orleans Hornets in the first round but was far less of a factor against the Mavericks.  His Game 2 clothesline of Barea (who obviously got under LA’s skin) led to a Game 3 suspension which may have contributed to the sweep.

Artest wasn’t named to an NBA All-Defensive Team this year and while he’s not the same defender he was 3-4 years ago, he is still a force with his strong base, quick hands and overall ferocity on that side of the ball.

Offensively he never truly looked comfortable in the triangle offense.  We’ll have to see where the Lakers go from here upon Coach Phil Jackson’s retirement.

"We were ready to fight but I think our legs were gone," said Artest.  "[My teammates] played almost 400 something games the last three years.  A lot of the guys that are [playing] now were home in April the last couple of years."

Debate and nitpick every Laker flaw and mistake this season but Ron’s pretty much on target as to the core of what went wrong.

"Everybody wants to beat the Lakers.  It was tough.  You just gotta come back stronger," said Artest.

Artest gave a mixed message on the Barea foul saying he didn’t try to hit him, "His face was right in my hand.  It was very unfortunate.  Whatever happened was just unfortunate.  It was uncalled for."

Was the accident uncalled for?  The punishment?  Or Ron’s action?

Also, although Barea is short by NBA standards (probably 5’9" or 5’10" without shoes), he’s not 5’2" as Artest claimed.

Ultimately Artest still thinks the future is bright for the team as it is, "I think this sweep helped.  It’s humbling - to move in the right direction, get that hunger back."{AUTHOR_BOX}

Steve Blake did not give the Lakers what they expected this year.  Perhaps it was the triangle offense or his role of the bench.  Whatever it was, his best moment was the season opener when he hit the game-winner against the Houston Rockets.  It went downhill from there.

What seemed like a great acquisition over the summer is now questionable as Blake is 31-years old with three more years on his deal at $4 million each.  Through nine postseason games he shot just 30.4% from the field.

Perhaps some of that was the linger effects of the chicken pox which he oddly came down with right before the playoffs.

Blake didn’t really have an answer to what went wrong his first season with the club.

"I never felt like I got to playing the best that I could be.  There were points where I did," said Blake.  "I can’t really explain why.  I was comfortable.  I love my teammates.  I love my coaches.  So just I never really found my stride and continued with it.  I just had stretches."

If the Lakers continue with the triangle offense, Steve said he’d put the time in this offseason to better acclimate.

"It’s a little different for the point guard.  It’s something definitely I had to get used to," said Blake.  "I think if we still ran it, I’d just have the whole summer to work on the aspects that the triangle uses from the point guard position."

Shannon Brown began the year on tremendous hot streak from the outside but slumped the rest of the way.  Eventually he just seemed lost between the decision to drive to the basket or spot up and shoot.

If you’re thinking on the floor instead of acting instinctually, typically it’s not going to happen.

Brown can out of contract this summer and probably will ($2.4 million).  If he does, who knows what the new rules will be beyond the prospective lockout but the Lakers will have his Bird Rights under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

While he said that he’d "love to be a Laker again," it’s hard to say whether or not he will be.

Shannon does represent what little youth and athleticism the club has to offer but teams want to see players improve each year and this past season was a step back for Brown.

Shannon, like the rest of his teammates, looked like he was still in shock at what had just happened to the team.

"It’s definitely still a disbelief," said Brown.

For the Lakers to trade Brown, he would have to help by making sure his contract is guaranteed for next season – which would probably be a stretch.

Luke Walton didn’t play much this past year coming in with a back injury and falling behind Matt Barnes in the rotation.  Walton has two more years left on his deal at $5.7 and $5.8 million, which is a lot for a guy who doesn’t play.

At his best, Walton was a natural for the triangle offense.  If the Lakers move away from that, does that increase his chances to play?  Probably not (although nothing should be taken for granted).

Luke shed some light on Jackson’s thinking with what he wanted from the bench.

"He told me that his game plan was to have the second unit play at a much faster speed than the first unit," said Walton.  "I’m more of a let’s bring it up, run the offense and execute, and it kind of left me out of the rotation a little bit (which hurt a lot).  But the team was winning, so as long as the team was winning, that’s all that really matters."

Given the outcome, maybe the team should have focused more on the offense . . .

Walton told Jackson, "He means the world to me."

Who should follow Phil?

"If we keep the triangle, I don’t see where we’d go other than Coach [Brian] Shaw," said Walton.  "No one else knows it but this staff.  I think it kind of depends on that."

The problem is the Lakers have not renewed the contract for most of the support staff.  Sources say Jackson’s assistants Frank Hamblen and Jim Cleamons are expecting to move on.  No word on the status of Chuck Person, who is a recent addition to the crew.

Dr. Buss may strive for continuity but the early signs suggest otherwise.

Walton also mentioned that the team didn’t really have the bodies to practice all year with some players (like Bryant) using the off days to maintain their bodies.

During the season Jackson had noted that Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls, even late in his career, was a regular practice player.

Derek Fisher is under contract for two more seasons (the last is a player option) and retirement is the last thing on his mind.

"There’s not a question about whether I’m coming back or not," said Fisher.

Derek will go to work this offseason as President of the NBA Players’ Union.  If he can help make sure no games are missed next season, that’s more important than anything he does on the floor.

If the Lakers move away from the triangle, it will be interesting to see how Fisher fits in.  He’s not a traditional point guard and the modern-era NBA is very one-driven featuring some of the best, young athletes in the league.

Naturally Derek would like the status quo," I support Brian [Shaw] 100%."

Fisher’s words stood out when he spoke of Pau Gasol," I think it was quite unfair for Pau’s statistical output compared to last year or some other time to be stacked up to this year and now – and then say that somehow we didn’t win because he didn’t play well statistically.

"But he, like all of us, just as a team weren’t able to operate as efficiently at that max level the way we’ve been accustomed to."

There’s no question Gasol didn’t play well in the postseason.  There’s no question the Lakers didn’t play together as a team, especially in the second round. 

Who to blame?  Who is more at fault?  By the naked eye, it seemed like Gasol was the weakest link but he was also the focus of both the New Orleans’ and Dallas’ defenses.

It will be interesting to see where the Lakers go from here given some time off, a new coach and whatever roster changes management decides to implement.

Pau Gasol said outright that the gossip about his girlfriend and any Laker wife, etc. was all completely false.

In this modern era, almost anyone can make a claim online and it very quickly can snowball into some urban legend/pseudo truth.

Frankly, it’s distasteful and sexist to assume that since a player isn’t playing to their capacity it must be because of a woman.

With Gasol, it comes down to basketball and falling short.

"The thing that makes me the angriest is me not playing at my best and not fully helping my team accomplish its goals," said Pau.  "I’m not happy.  I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to perform at my usual high level."

Gasol also mentioned that he would likely play for the Spanish National Team with hopes to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

Theo Ratliff was a Laker this year.  A knee injury kept him on the sidelines.  It’s hard to imagine he’ll be back.

Joe Smith too.  He came over midseason and even got a few playoff minutes but was never part of the regular rotation.  Neither Ratliff nor Smith can be traded this summer before July (and afterwards it would have to be a sign and trade).

Rookie Devin Ebanks didn’t get much time on the court (20) games, eventually going down with a leg injury.  He’s still a talented kid with potential as a defender but Ebanks has a lot to prove as a player.

The Lakers have him under contract for next year at $789k but it’s not guaranteed.  Given that the team has four second-round picks in the coming draft (assuming they keep all four), there may be some competition next year in training camp.

Things may be even tougher for Derrick Caracter who has the same salary situation as Ebanks and while Caracter played in over twice as many games (41), he did have the incident where he’s accused of striking a waitress/cashier. 

If the team doesn’t feel like his head is in the right place – or that he doesn’t represent the team well – he may have an uphill battle to return.

That said he’s a talented player who just needs to learn how to power against taller players.  Against last year’s summer league competition, Caracter was very impressive.  It’s the true NBA size and talent that he needs to adapt to.

Finally, Trey Johnson led the team in field goal percentage for the regular season by shooting 66.7% from the field.  Of course he only played one game and took just three shots.

Johnson was the team’s last training camp cut but they picked him up at the very end of the year.  If the Lakers give him a qualifying offer this summer, he can be retained as a restricted free agent but he may be an afterthought as the team sorts out everything else this summer.