Has been so nice to have a skilled 7 foot player who can score and play D around the rim. Big and solid dude. A good dude.
Yeah I’m not so sure he leaves if we sign LeBron and/or PG. He’s made a lot of money so far, he might be at the point in his career where he would sacrifice for a chance to win. We saw how emotional he got earlier in the season when he wasn’t playing well, he clearly likes it here and cares about doing well for the Lakers. I was super down on him earlier this season, but ever since we’ve used him in the paint like an actual center he’s been pretty much rock solid. IF he would return for the room exception, you really couldn’t do better for a center that fits what we want to do here.
LT: I know you're a Jules guy, but that is one of the major knocks on the dude. He's just not physically built that way to be a rim protector. BLo is! So we got a crazy switch everything defensive lineup of Jules, Bron, BI, PG and Zo. But if we need some rim protection, then send rickety old Bron to the bench and tell him to reserve some of that energy for the postseason. Meanwhile, get BLo in there to protect the paint, move Jules to the 4, who can still switch onto any guard, and you still got that crazy hands team of Zo-PG-BI on the perimeter. Money! Moral of the story: If you're bringing in a perimeter defensive dynamo like PG, you need a rim protector. BLo needs to stick with us past this summer....and the good news is that I think he wants to.
That's always the case with Brook. He can make it look so easy at times when he just takes shots down low or drives to the basket. But he's back to settling too much for jumpers the last 2-3 games. Be smart Brook!
Just watched his exit interview press conference. He said he’d be willing to take a pay cut if we put together a championship caliber team. I really hope so. He gets a ton of criticism, but I like his game a lot.
Best center we've had since Pau. I liked what he said at the end, he's a LA guy, I can tell he doesn't want to leave. For God's sake he's rocking our local hockey team!
Only if things go great. If we strike out, he'll probably be back on a large one year deal. I still think we're getting PG though. Not necessarily Lebron. If you asked me to put money on what's going to happen this offseason, I think we get PG, resign Randle, and resign Lopez to about 15 million for a season.
Anyways , it's going to be a limited market for him, it's not 2016 Summer anymore and few teams have significant cap space
If we get Paul, but not LeBron (which I've been adamant that I'd be ecstatic about), it'll be interesting how we approach guys like Brook and Thomas and KCP. I imagine we'll lean towards giving those guys another 1-year type of deal to maintain flexibility, but both KCP and Brook also pointed out that they'd like to have stability as well. I love me some Brook Lopez though. I think he's the kind of understated guy that can really help a team and knowing how much he enjoys being in LA and how much he wants to be here is always a positive for me.
The only thing that makes me wonder if we'd sign Lopez though is Randle is going to get a lot (if not most) of the center minutes. We have Zubac and Bryant in there as well who (especially with Zubac) we are reaching a s*** or get off the pot moment with.
Just based off of what we saw at the end of the season, Bryant isn't ready yet and I'm not sure Zubac will ever be a real thing. If we're trying to win games, Brook is way more valuable than either of those guys probably for the next few years honestly. It's possible Bryant or Zubac makes a big jump this summer, but I'd rather not rely on that. The Julius thing is legitimate, but I think there's enough time there for both of them. Julius ends up with 15-20 minutes at PF and 10-15 minutes at Center. Brook plays 20-25 minutes at Center.
We have to find a way to keep Lopez. He's not perfect, but you can't find a better starting center, not to mention he's willing to take a paycut if we bring in a star player. Another incentive for the FO to do really well this summer.
I know I haven't given much credit to Brook on this, but I don't think its a secret at all that Randle had his best season as a pro this year in a large part due to what Brook made his defender do which is respect his shot and they couldn't clog up the paint on defense. I really believe this had something to do with Randle's success. Having a threat like that is very valuable who can at least keep the opposing center honest with having to help on Randle or not.
I think Kawhi is becoming a possible hell of a possibility. From Riverside, went to San Diego St. I think you gotta save room for a slot Incase you're able to strike in a trade. If not Kawhi possibly someone at next trade deadline, Jah feel?
If you're able to get one of George or LeBron, but not the other, it makes a lot of sense to prepare for Kawhi in 2019 at this point. The problem is: there's many people who will trade for him. We've heard no sourced rumors saying he wants to be a Laker. It might be prudent to trade for him, which would likely cost a young gun.
