Gathering info for one when the Lakers ship out their top three pick during the draft and two of the three other young core members.
Paul George is not a #1 franchise player but at least one piece of the puzzel. He is a good #2 and a great #3.
In my opinion he can be a #1. The best offensive player he was last paired with was either George Hill or Lance Stephenson.
How are we measuring these things? George has been to the ECF twice - both times as a starter. Harden has been to the WCF once as a starter.
What constitutes a #1 or a Tier 1 star? Paul George has been an All-Star 4/7 years he's been in the league. He's a 3/7 All-NBA teamer and 3/7 All-Defensive Team player. He's a gold medalist. I mean not every star is Kobe, but he's sort of a huge star.
West > East Don't get me wrong, he's a great player i would love to have him on the Lakers. But tier 1 stars are the likes of Bron, Russ, KD, Curry (maybe healthy Davis)... and probably Harden
Our team (Every team) needs a clear pecking order. With a player like PG, it becomes very clear day 1 who "The Man" is. I'd give up a couple of pieces to get that guy. With some talent around him, good coach, and some cap space, we could be making some noise and seeing the playoffs year 1.
Based on what? He took his team to two ECF's and on the brink of the Finals. He took a terrible Pacers team coming off a terrible injury to the playoffs and to Game 7 against a solid Raptors squad. A good #2? Lol the guy was a legit MVP candidate last season. His play has tailed off a little bit, but not by all that much. He's still easily one of the best players in the league and he'd vastly improve this Lakers squad on both sides of the basketball.
I definitely think hes a Tier 1 player. He was an MVP candidate before breaking his leg, and like Lakers2015 mentioned, an MVP candidate on his comeback year from said injury. I think that is amazing. I brought up the George Hill/Lance Stephenson thing mostly because, he carried that team offensively, and that team was notorious for not generating enough offense - yet they challenged the LeBron era Heat.
I'd trade any of young guys for Paul George without hesitation. He's definitely a top player in the league.
To catch up on all of last night's posts since my last one: I've said my ideal trade deadline was trade Lou to get a 1st and Young to get a 2nd, so obviously the latter is something I fully support. Glad this FO seems to be totally on the same wavelength on this topic. And obviously, as evidenced by own posts on the subject, I fully agree PG is a #1 on a strong team, is a franchise player and is absolutely unequivocally worth trading for if the Lakers can keep BI. I 100% disagree with any mentions that BI/PG can't play together because they "play the same position". Positions are becoming more and more fluid these days anyways.
I would too. Still like Russell although soured on him a bit. Still love Ingram. I've kind of accepted that Randle and Clarkson have hit their ceiling or at least close to it. George is unquestionably a top 10 player. Arguably higher. What are the odds any of these kids are ever as good as Paul is right now? Wouldn't bet on it.
I'd trade Ingram for Paul George if necessary. I'd try to keep one of them but no one would be off the table. if we could manage to keep Russell or Ingram to go along with George then even better.
Except that on defense, who plays who? Offensively I agree that they can easily play together, but I assume you are going to have both PG and BI at the wing spots. And PG would almost HAVE to be at the sg spot. Long term, I don't like him having to chase smaller, faster people around all season. Yes it can work, but I'm not sure it's ideal. Regardless, Indy has no reason to trade him at the deadline. We have an even less than zero reason to make the PG trade right now (it ends the tank, but doesn't get us in the playoffs either). The only way I trade for him is if Indy approaches us and says they have a deal lined up with Boston or someone else that is easily beatable that we don't have to gut the team for.
