So, the team that his trading for him will do what the Lakers did with Dwight? The team that trades for Russell will want the reassurance that he'll re-sign. Westbrook would have to approve of the situation in it's entirety for him to even give that team an indication he'll re-sign. Russell strikes me as a guy that would prefer a big market; so, you have NY, Chicago, Miami, LA. Given his hometown roots here in L.A., the opportunity to potentially play/reunite with his friend, play in front of family friends on a bigger stage gives us the advantage over every other big market team, IMO. He'll lobby to come here. This is not even mentioning there's a financial incentive; when he gets traded here, so do his Bird Rights.
The latest news on Durant makes the scenario of Westbrook leaving OKC more of a possibility. If Durant comes back as damaged goods in his contract year OKC may need to rethink their plans letting Durant go elsewhere, leaving Westbrook to lead a mediocre team again to a 8th seed one and done season. They very well may trade Westbrook after nest season for that reason knowing he will move on to a bigger market with more business opportunities and endorsements restarting his career as arguably the best player in the game. I'm sure Kevin Love and him have had discussions about how they could team up and where. I'm betting they both would love to come to Los Angeles which is home to them and be charged with bringing the Lakers back to respectability. Presti is sure to demand top draft picks as well as a solid player or two to do a deal so it's doubtful the Lakers will be a trade candidate, so I believe it will be Love on the roster next year, and in 2016 with Westbrook following in 2017 as a FA. Adding Love means Randle will play plenty but come off the bench, I could see Love at the 5, Randle at the 4 at times, Love at the 4, Randle at the 3 other times. It just depends on the matchups how much they can play together.
If it came down to a trade with OKC, they are going to ask for the farm. In this situation, though, how much is too much for Russell? I'm not giving up the farm on Westbrook, and given that all of our picks in the near future are going to other teams, it makes for an interesting situation. Early speculation, but I think if we look back on the Dwight deal that involved a superstar and more than 2 teams being involved; I think this would take a 3 team trade with another team maybe supplying the necessary draft picks to OKC while they get players back maybe a Jeremy Lamb, Roberson, etc; additionally, Presti would probably want a young prospect with a promising future i.e. Randle/Clarkson and at that point, I only trade one and NOT BOTH.
I agree. And if OKC is basically in a position where they are going to get pennies on the dollar, we throw one of our young chips on the table, probably Randle if we already signed Love. Keep in mind, like with Kobe when he threw his temper tantrum, West isn't going to want to go to a team that is stripped. Nor will he resign with said team. So a team like Miami or Chicago can't give up the farm for him, ya know? I think if West is pushing his way out season after next, we offer Randle and contracts to match. That probably gets it done. My hope is all this is moot. I hope Love doesn't sign with us, we grab Okafor or Towns and Clarkson keeps improving and Randle is beasting. Then we sign Westbrook to play next to the 3 young pups. I realize Love is not entirely to blame for the situation in Cleveland, but he lost a tiny bit of cred with me. There is a growing part of me that really wants to grow this next team from within. It comes from the fact that everybody just assumes the Lakers are like the Yankees and we win by poaching other team's players. If we could build a young core through the draft and fill in around that, it'd make the next run of success sweeter.
I don't think Presti is just going to settle Randle and contracts for Westbrook. He's going to want to supplement young prospects who are showing potential with draft picks. Additionally, let me add this because this is important to note; when the NBA had the owners meeting last year, the NBA wanted to reform the current lottery system along with other teams. Nevertheless, that was struck down. However, it had (lottery reform) from several teams for a lottery reform to take place, but it didn't, and you know why? Presti. He rallied support from other primarily small-market teams and it was struck down. Why would he do that when he has one of the more successful teams in the entire Western Conference? Easy. He knows there's a chance that Durant might leave and he might be left trading Westbrook, tanking, and going the draft route to see his team back to the top. No free agent wants to willingly go to OKC nor do I blame them; Durant and Westbrook probably know this, too. I don't mind your scenario in your last paragraph, and I don't know the inner-working of the Lakers front office, but what I do know is that the recent history suggests that we went after Carmelo and Lebron and looking back even further there's been Kareem, Shaq, etc; I think the Lakers approach will be grab the best player in Free Agency whether or not we deem Love is that person is up for debate; nevertheless, grab Love, you have a name, a guy who could put up stats, and will give us a pitch to other potential Free Agents to pursue in the upcoming off-season when the salary cap spikes up. I wasn't for Love until the last 2 weeks or so because I realized he might be the link that just might convince Westbrook to come and play in Los Angeles and we could stay away from Rondo. Although, some would perceive Love to be just as bad a signing as Rondo, but I don't think that's the case, IMO. We'll see how it goes, but it'll be interesting as we go forward. First things first, GET THE PICK.
I would rather we not sign either as well. But if I'm choosing between those two, I'd sign Love to an 8 year deal before I'd sign Rondo to a 2 year deal. That's how much I hate the idea of signing Rondo.
Damn, I re-read what I said; let me clarify; I said a 'guy who could put up stats,' as that's not the sole reason I want Love; there are a lot of guys who could up stats, but putting them up and contributing on a championship team are two completely different things. On that note, I think Love could still be an effective player on a contending team within the right system, IMO.
Why is everyone on this Love train all of a sudden??? He's not leaving CLE and even if he does why do a lot of you want him? He's just going to take minutes away from Randle's development.
in the last 6 games, which 5 of them ended with a win for the Pistons, Reggie Jackson had this stats: 23 Points, 20 Assists, 2 Rebounds 11 Points, 10 Assists, 11 Rebounds 22 Points, 11 assists, 3 Rebounds 17 Points, 11 Assists, 9 Rebounds 28 Points, 9 Assists, 5 Rebounds 26 Points, 10 Assists, 11 Rebounds It's like a better version of Rondo. still 25 years old. He and Clarkson can be a deadly combo PG. I would give a max to that.
The Pistons traded for him ready to max him out. He's a huge part of their future. We'd be tying up our free agent money for nothing. Detroit will match any offer for him. He and Drummond are their future.
My ever changing FA "want" now is as follows Monroe Lopez Hibbert Love to pair with our smallish draft pick at no. 5 or if we lost our pick.
The more and more I think about it I really want to salidfy our center position, preferably with a defense guy in Robin Lopez or DeAndre Jordan. I've been spoiled most of my time as a Lakers fan dating back to 1997 when I was 7 years old and first became a fan of the Lakers. I've seen us with Shaq, Bynum, Pau. And now that I'm in a time where our center position and more importantly defensively our front line has been shaky at best for years. From a Lakers fan perspective I don't want to have to worry about defending the post and making sure we rebound the ball enough any more. Let's sure that Center position up this off-season with either our pick or in FA, please.
Clarkson is definitely making me reconsider my position on Rondo/Dragic/whomever at the PG spot. If we get this pick our rebuild could be more or less immediate... If we nab Winslow or Johnson in the draft. Then max out Monroe. We have some left over cash to bring back the players we want from the current roster. Monroe- 16.8 million Clarkson/Lin/Price Bryant/Ellington/Brown Johnson/Young Randle/Kelly Monroe/Davis/Black That's a pretty slick team. Playoffs? I think maybe with that rock solid bench unit. At the very least it's a fun, young squad that would turn some heads.
