2016 NBA Draft Lottery Thread.

It's a fair point. With OKC putting up a fight against the Warriors, I don't think there's any chance Durant leaves now. Westbrook too. They've got a window here that I think they'll double-down on the next two years.

I don't mind having DeRozans and Horfords around honestly, but hey both ways work completely. I'm fine with either scenario. I'm still just coming to terms with the fact we'll almost certainly have Ingram next season. Amazing.

 

We stand a much better chance if we keep him. Like you said the FA pool isn't great and who are the "stars" that are on the market? Jimmy Butler was just sent to represent Chicago in the lottery, so he's probably a building block. PG13 I think was a reporter speculating. Cousins is a headcase. There isn't anyone worth an Ingram right now out there available.

And I hope people realize that. Russell, Randle and Ingram are still 2-3 years away from making the playoffs if we don't add some all star talent through free agency. Ingram is barely going to be 19 when the season starts.

John Ireland has not spoken fondly of him. He has dropped nuggets that suggest we aren't really going to make a play at him because we are worried about his character and motivation. I can't link to it because he said it on the radio, but most of the Whiteside to Lakers chatter has been reporters looking at holes on our roster and figuring we might go after him

 

Ireland is a not so subtle mouthpiece for the Lakers. He floats stuff out there to see fan reaction to it. He is aware of the Lakers line of thinking and uses his show as a sounding board. When Ireland speaks, it isn't just speculation like if Max Kellerman or Petros and Money are saying it. He literally works for the team. Now does it mean EVERYTHING he says is the Lakers speaking through him? No, of course not. But when he says, "I know people in the organization are worried about his commitment level." (I'm obviously paraphrasing as I don't remember his exact words, but it was something along those lines) I tend to believe he has actually talked to people in the front office. Just like I think DeRozan isn't the slam dunk we all think because last week when Mason said DeRozan is drooling to come here, John stepped in REAL quick to say "That's not what I'm hearing." as if to pump the brakes with fan expectations on DeRozan. He floated the idea of keeping Byron many times which turned out to be a real consideration of the front office.

I agree that most of our local personalities are talking out of their a**, but Ireland is connected and is obviously used by John Black to test the waters with ideas the Lakers are having...Same with Trudell.

 

I just want to point out that this is a conflict

If something is ridiculous, it's absurd and unlikely. I don't think it's ridiculous at all to be nervous about Whiteside's bust potential. There are many, many people well more connected than we are that are worried about it too.

Hassan is 26 years old now and will be 27 when the season starts; not old, but not young anymore either. He was already drummed out of the NBA once. It's certainly not crazy to think he's working for a contract. There's been a ton of big men who do that. Ereick Dampier (7/73 million) averaged 12/12/2 with Golden State then... nothing. Ben Wallace 4/52 million with the Bulls. Jerome James 5/30 million, Eddie Curry 6/56 million and he blew up like a balloon... That's just big men. There's a long line of players who played really well in the contract year to get paid, then sat on their laurels. It's not ridiculous at all to think he could do the same.

It's true he's got tremendous talent and on paper is a perfect fit, but there is certainly a lot of risk involved with giving him a max deal. Even Miami has balked at giving him a max deal in the past and they're the ones seeing him every single day.

The best argument is: he's extraordinarily talented and unlike all those ^ deals that turned into albatrosses that hung around a team's neck, a max deal to Whiteside is a way for us to bring us up to the minimum salary threshold. If we don't pay him, we may end up paying someone worse than him to do the same thing. Then again, maybe you want to save your cash for Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, Paul Millsap, likely Kevin Durant, Gordon Hayward, Andre Iguodala, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Derrick Rose, Jeff Teague, JJ Redick, Tony Allen, Danilo Gallinari, Rudy Gay, and various RFAs like Schroeder, Oladipo, McCollum, Caldwell-Pope, Antetokounmpo, Gobert, Adams, Noel, Plumlee, and Len.

 

If it were not a realistic scenario that he turns into an albatross, why would Miami even be considering letting him walk? As you said, he's a top 3 center and they will likely choose to take care of Dwayne Wade's meat suit and pay him rather than give Whiteside a big contract. If there was a betting line in Vegas that Whiteside would go the Jerome James, Dampier, Eddy Curry route, I would put money on it that he would. If I'm "ridiculous" then many, many people around the league are too, because I'm not alone on this.

 

No I read it correctly. It's a risk the Lakers might take, but it's still absolutely a risk. Could he keep improving? Maybe, but there's not much evidence he will or wont. It's the definition of a gamble. The Lakers might not be inclined to make that gamble when there's less risky, cheaper players that can approximate or even surpass his value (relative to the team).

The Lakers might opt instead for Biyombo who is younger and cheaper. They might opt for Horford who is older, but a better all-around player. They might opt for Ezeli who has had a couple knee issues, but gives you a lot of the same value as Whiteside. Maybe they target Noah who is older and has had injury problems, but fits the system near perfectly with his passing ability and defensive presence. I think those guys are less of a risk than Whiteside. There's every chance Whiteside lives up to his dollar amount, but statistically speaking it's unlikely. I might still take that chance if he blows me away in an interview, but he'd really need to convince me that he's serious about his craft.

 

Seriously? Strange that you can tell me what I'm reading and not reading.

Among a great many other things, yes. You said it was ridiculous to assume Whiteside would be a bust or a "cancer" in the locker room.

No, but you've made it clear that you disagree with those that think it's a risk. When those people defend their opinions, you continue to tout yours. That's fine. People disagree sometimes. You agree to disagree and move forward. The problem I have is that I gave you perfectly good reasoning and a sound argument why it's a risk and instead of seeing it from mine (or anyone else's angle) you blew off that argument and the evidence for it.

You do this a lot. You say "so many people" as if it has a bearing on this site. On THIS site there's a small group of probably 3-5 people that think Whiteside is too much of a risk. There's probably 3-5 times that many people who think it's a risk worth investigating and more beyond that who are convinced he's worth a look. I don't know who all these people are, but they're not here. You're arguing points against people on here as if we're them. @Savory Griddles disagrees with your take on Whiteside. I had the same take on Whiteside earlier this year, but I've cooled on it. Nobody here is acting like it's a given he'll bust, we're just assessing the likelihood or possibility of it.

Yes and Whiteside is probably chief among them. Why do that when we can make a move that will be beneficial to the team, the locker room, the future and comes with half the risk and a lower cost? If we can approximate Whiteside's impact with say Biyombo who is by all accounts a terrific locker room presence and teammate, why spend more money on a player that's a risk? You've yet to build a concrete argument against these points besides "Whiteside is worth it". If that's your opinion, then all power to you. Agree to disagree with whomever and just move forward. It happens all the time. In fact the person I disagree with on here most is probably Savory when it's all said and done.

 

I'm all in on Ingram. Besides being a better fit, I think his potential is higher than Simmons.