Do the Julius dance. Make your off-season predictions here:

Do you have the cajones?




Our situation is fluid and there will tons of speculation and money flying around everywhere this off-season. What do you predict will happen, and what will the Lakers ACTUALLY do this off-season? I'm predicting a brotastic offseason, and Mitch will kick arse and take names.

This is a decent resource if you want to take a look at draft picks and who has them.
Look up contracts and team payroll here

My Prediction Below in gif format



I'll start off with my best prediction:

We started off the off-season right with two solid moves.

1. Fired Byron Scott
2. Hired young up and coming coach that has received nothing but raves. Luke Walton
3. I predict we do keep our 1st round draft pick, and actually end up at #2. Gets tricky here:

Notes on draft:

• We've traded away two future 1st round draft picks. We owe one to Philly and one to Orlando. No joke! (2016 and 2018 with the usual caveats)
• Jim Buss planted a seed that we have enough young players, blinding people to the potential deal coming up. Genius!
• We want to compete sooner rather than later, and the two top picks project to be Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram. Someone has a job to save.
• Ben Simmons is a super talent, but not a great shooter. I have no doubt Luke could put him to good use, but at 6'10", he'll project as a future PF/Point Forward, and the Lakers decide that's not the best fit if he falls to us. We are rolling with double double machine Randle.
• Brandon Ingram is 6'9" and about 195 lbs soaking wet. He is a nice talent, and can shoot, but his body isn't quite ready for the daily rigors of the NBA. He won't help a ton this year.
• The Lakers trade this pick to Boston, who end up with the 4th pick and want a generational talent desperately. They want the #2 pick badly to get their guy. They've stockpiled for just this moment, and we need some cost controlled future picks/pipeline of young talent in the future to add to our core as they all get into max salary territory.
• Lakers trade #2 to Boston for the #4 and the #16 pick from Boston, and they also throw in (2) future second round picks. (More complex deal than that)
• Boston decides they will take Brandon Ingram #2, so Jae Crowder is now expendable. We work a deal to take on Jae, and send them Nick Young for some bench firepower and to platoon with/back up Ingram. And for basketball reasons and team chemistry and our side.
• Mitch waves his wand and also extracts the Memphis 2019 1st round pick from Boston by including Nance, and that turns out to be a steal in a couple of years when Memphis blows things up. (Don't hate)

Deal looks something like this:

Lakers get: #4 and #16 pick from Boston. They take a mature player in Hield that can play this year backing up Clarkson and give us instant offense and spacing. Depending on what we see, he may make the Clarkson situation interesting next year... #16 we grab a mobile big to develop and platoon/backup with who we steal on the open market.

(Updated to
Ivica Zubac)

Mitch has his eye on a relatively unknown high risk high reward euro or multiple year college player. No fresh face babies with this pick.

A couple future 2nd rounders are thrown in by Boston, and we take on Jae Crowder who is a solid energy player and best as a backup or platoon. He is 25 and under contract for 4 more years for under 8 mil a year. We have to part with Nance as part of the deal when we poach the Memphis 1st.

Free Agency:

We poach both Harrison Barnes from Golden State and Al Horford from the Hawks. Barnes loved playing for Luke, and after two championships, he's ready to spread his wings a bit and see what he can do elsewhere. We get bold and max them both, and because Barnes is pretty young, it leaves some money for some additional moves: Yellow are free agent signing, ours or others.

Roster:

C: Horford, Black, 16th pick (Adios Sacre!)
PF: Randle, Lee, Hill
SF: Barnes, Crowder, Brown (2 more years on deal, 1 guaranteed)
SG: Clarkson, Williams, Hield
PG: DAR, Huertas, Vander Blue

That's 12 players. We do bring back Huertas as a backup PG because Luke likes his savvy and ability to set guys up. Our defense and mobility is upgraded, so we can more easily cover his mistakes on the second unit. We lock Black into a steal of a deal contract immediately for 4-5 years on the cheap,and he's an amazing backup.

Brandon Bass goes back to Boston actually, and in exchange, we actually sign David Lee to help run the offense and mentor the young guys. Genius signing on the cheap, as at 32 he still has solid tread on the tires. Not a trade, but ends up being a swap for Bass.

In a surprise move, Jordan Hill comes back at a reasonable price on a long term deal, and adequately backs up the front court positions and spot starts to cover injuries. Coming off a 4 million deal, but uncomfortable the direction Larry is headed. 8.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg last year.

Vander Blue finally makes the squad, but predictably doesn't get a ton of minutes. He is signed as an asset for the next deal Mitch is cooking up on a reasonable contract.

2nd round picks are actually used to stash euros or developing players ala Marc Gasol, and none will even be invited to camp this year.

Quite a mixture of veteran know how, playoff experience, versatility, muscle, hustle, shooting, mobility, effort on D, etc.

What's your plan? (Please post your plan before you rip me a new one.)

Spoiler: Confession

And I confess I started the topic because I really wanted to use the new Brotastic GIF

 

I think we'll get the first or second pick and trade it for Jimmy Butler also move Clarkson. Sign Whiteside and DeRozan. Have something like this.

Russell/Huertas
Derozan/Lou
Butler/Brown
Randle/Nance
Whiteside/Black

See you in the playoffs.

 

Well that was depressing. I hope you had a better outlook on the following year lol

 

We sign Barnes. I feel like that's the only guarantee.

 

Well I won't make any predictions but I'll state the obvious of what's most likely to happen.

Draft - The odds of keeping the pick are 55.8% and the odds of getting the #1 pick are the greatest at 19.9%. That's what we'll get.

Free agency - Derozan wants to be here so we'll sign him. Barnes is a better fit but he's a RFA and it's unlikely we'll go that route while Derozan's knocking on the door.

 

Well that has me thoroughly depressed.

 

So as predicted, we got the second pick, but Boston got the third instead of the fourth pick.

Do we trade it or keep it? If Buss wants to save his job, he needs talent ready to contribute now...

 

You keep it. If this team makes significant progress next year I don't see Jim stepping down.

 

We keep the pick. Building a monster here. Spend the 60 million wisely with options at end of next two years in case RW or any other premiere FAs are then looking at the Lakers just like back in the day.

 

And I don't want him stepping down. Or Mitch. That would pave the way for old close to retirement without all the energy needed Phil Jackson to come back and run things in his triangle skewed way of looking at them. And most likely cost us Ryan West. Who damn well better be our GM in waiting for Mitch's retirement party.

We now have credibility at the bargaining table for FAs again with the roster being built and Luuke across the table communicating like a PRO. Jackson was pined after for some semblance of respectability in the FO. His time is passed here for running the whole shebang.

 

She damn well better not if those big strides have been made, if it was true she wanted one more year of Boron the a-hole ruining another whole season and poisoning the well for FAs. First round of the playoffs and a win or two should be more than enough.

 

ok, now we know some things. the list of guys i'd trade the #2 for is short, and the teams with those players would likely balk. paul george would be my most realistic attempt, and i think indy says no.

thus:

russell/clarkson/huertas or andre miller type vet
derozan/clarkson/lou (could be traded later)
ingram/derozan/brown
randle/marvin williams/nance
(chandler or noah or asik)/black/hawes/nance

so, my big signings would be derozan at the max and marvin williams at about 12-14 per. that leaves enough to absorb a tyson chandler or omer asik or to pay a noah or zaza pachulia and then find another utility big with the leftovers, perhaps in salary absorbing trade (spencer hawes?).

if not marvin williams, then ryan anderson can also work as backup 4. i want someone who can shoot off the bench.

still probably not a playoff team, due to all the youth and the mediocre frontcourt, but definitely a team that can compete. should be flexible with trades, too. can use the second rounder on a sf/pf type.

 

I predict that while we'll improve with Ingram and some FA acquisitions, our biggest improvement will come from within. The Byron/Luke swap will inevitably boost our win count and our kids will make huge strides.

So I'd only like to see some minor tweaks with complimentary FA's.

Russell/Huertas
Clarkson/Lou
Deng/Ingram/Brown
Randle/Nance
Horford/Black/32 pick

That'll take us to 38+ wins in Year 1 and 45+ wins in Year 2. Enough to get us excited about our team again.

 

I like the Deng and Horford pick up. Good vets with outstanding attitudes.