@ Magic.. It's exciting because we have options.. Cap space + Promising young talent = Progress We haven't had either for quite some time.
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but we're meeting or contacting all the top free agents. I feel this time we will get one. We've got plenty of money for any one of them, and our core of young players looks better than last season. Last season we had pretty much Randle and Kobe alone as the selling points of the roster. Clarkson was an unknown, and half of the rest of the roster wasn't filled. This time we have Randle, Kobe, Clarkson is known now and made the all rookie team, and we have the #2 draft pick in Russell, a guy almost all the media have raved and gushed about. And to a lesser extent we still have Young, and some nicer young, athletic backups in Jabari Brown and Tarik Black. We also have the pitch of how much money we'll have available to spend next offseason to improve the team even more, and with the right move, even turn the franchise completely around. One of these guys has to go for that, they've gotta, even if it's Monroe or Tobias Harris and not the top of the top of our wish-list.
Yeah I mean it'll be a huge bummer to me if we aren't able to snag one of the top guys with our sales pitch. That tells me either Mitch and Jeanie aren't cutting it as sales people OR the players have moved on from us for now. We're DEFINITELY more attractive today than we were last year. Randle, Russell, and Clarkson all for under 10 million is a nice start. We've got room and the ability to make more of it if need be. Kobe comes off the books and we can really make a huge splash the next two seasons. If we end up swinging and missing though and having to settle for a younger route, I'm okay with that too. I'd prefer getting competitive tomorrow, but sometimes that's just not how it goes. Shaq didn't come here until after he saw the team and the numbers in front of him. Right now we're still a couple steps behind that 90s team with Quick and Eddie. We're a sexy name, but the product hasn't been shown yet. If we go young, we'll be the Thunder from 2008 or the Warriors from 2012 even. We'll be a young, up and coming team with a lot to prove but the talent and ability to win on any given night. I'm okay with that. I'd rather be in the playoffs, but I'm okay with us being young and fun and exciting too.
I do wonder what it is... Is there a concern for players dealing with our FO? Is it Kobe? Personality? His play? His injuries? His legendary status? Etc
It's probably a combination of a lack of direction after Dr. Buss's passing and the fact that our roster simply hasn't been competitive the last two years.
If that is the case, which I do agree with as well, this year should be different. With the supposed unified front in the FO now, and now the young talent on the roster, things are definitely looking up.
I agree here. I think this "people don't want to play with Kobe" is just media... I mean, I'm sure there're a lot of players that wouldn't want to play with Kobe. Playing with Kobe isn't the friendly environment a lot of NBA teams have now (but that doesn't mean it's going to be hell or anyhing like that, like some people make it out to be), but there's still a lot of players that are up to the challenge, and pretty much going by what Kobe and Mitch have said, if they don't like to play with Kobe, then we don't want them. It might just be an ideal filter to get the guys that actually want to win over having a good time. That said, our team was horrible the last two years. Considering that I can definitely understand why free agents wouldn't come here. We will have the big market stuff, the best brand in the NBA and whatever, but our team sucked, and personally, if I were an NBA star, I wouldn't have chosen the Lakers either. Let's go back to Melo. If anything, Kobe was actually the main reason he even considered us, but why would he choose us over the Bulls who had something much better? Or even the Knicks, who could pay more and more importantly, New York is his hometown, which he clearly loves. We supposedly did a fantastic job at trying to convince him, but we were just too far behind the race. I do think that with this roster, he might've actually signed with us (this is not meant to be a debate of wanting or not Melo, but just using him as a big free agent example). We'll have to see how it works out this summer.
okay, losing sucks and we look so thirsty. But I didn't want any of those guys badly and that includes last years as well. Cool if we got them, but whatever. With or obviously without them we are far from championship level. I am, however, beyond excited for our young squad this season. Pretty much in love with D'Angelo and his attitude.
I didn't really want any of those big-names anyways. We're rebuilding. We need time for our youngsters to develop. Them playing alongside an all-star would severely alter their development because it would take away a lot of opportunity. With that being said, we're going to get ONE really good signing of a great role player, and we'll be happy. We'll get some veteran fillers too, and have a great core next year that will actually be competing for the last playoff spot.
Yeah, agreed... wasn't dying to get the big names available this summer, but a few proven vets would still be helpful. I'm also thinking that drafting two seniors in their early 20's was basically like signing a couple young FA's that can contribute right away. We should still be a much improved team in the fall, with or without the flawed players getting maxed this week.
Okay resident optimist... Boy is it dark in that FA thread. Had to pull myself out a bit and try to look at things from other perspectives. I'm not saying there's reason for optimism right now. What I will say is that many of us are so down, we're forcing others down with us AND we're probably further down than we should be. There's plenty of reasons to be upset right now. The Lakers FO looks terrible at the moment. At the same time, there's still plenty of room for improvement. If the Lakers can get to Harris, that's a great signing. If the Lakers can sneak out Koufos, that's a great signing. If the Lakers can get to Robin Lopez in time, that's a great signing. There's still guys available that can make this off-season successful. Maybe we can land a FA and then trade for Lee or Hibbert. There's still reason to take a step back and breath amidst some of the very obvious flaws we've shown this summer. It's not all doom yet folks.
I don't know about much better, but much brighter is a good way of looking at it. For all his flaws Lin was a starter in the league. We don't know yet if Russell is. For all Boozer's flaws, if Randle duplicates that production are we any better or worse? The ceilings are higher for those two than Lin and Boozer, but we'll see how it all works out.
if the lakers pick up a competent starting center (lopez, koufos, even hibbert) and a useful young rotation player at any position (we got NEEDZ), the offseason is a success. to quote dylan: it's not dark yet...but it's gettin' there.
There's a few still available. In a pinch I'd live with Davis there too. I actually like Davis a LOT, but he's just undersized. He's a classic big man, good fit, great attitude... 6'9" instead of 6'11"...
