2019/20 Players' Transactions: Breaking News , Trades, Free Agents, And Rumors

You have a choice: Lakers win a title, but it means the Rockets win one the following year

or

Neither team wins a title in the foreseeable future

 

If you can get a big "name" like DeAndre Jordan to sign for the minimum on Sunday at 3pm, that's a huge sign to Kawhi. A 3rd named guy to sacrifice for the team.

As for the timing of this: if we don't get Kawhi, we'll just pick from the available role players. If I'm a role player, I'm not signing a contract before Kawhi, Kyrie, or Butler unless they blow me away and if another team is blowing a huge contract on a role player, we were never in the conversation for them. Most of the league will wait for the big names and try to scoop up the available cash when those guys are out of the picture.

In the end, the Lakers will be an attractive destination for FAs with or without Kawhi. You still have LeBron and AD and 32m in space so there's tons of room for growth. Also keep in mind, 40% of the league is FAs and some of those guys are going to miss out on big deals. We'll be okay.

 

I would gladly offer DeAndre Jordan the Room Exception. Can you imagine the paint protection with him and AD at center and PF?

 

He lost some steam last year, but I'd take him too. He's not the athlete he used to be, but he's still a big strong body that can board and defend the rim a bit. Have him start next to AD to preserve him, play 20-25 minutes a game as our enforcer, and then go with AD at Center to run teams out of the gym.

 

I think part of the steam issue for him was motivation. He was playing for two bad teams. He might be rejuvenated with LeBron / AD / Kawhi.

 

I'd have guys like Wes Matthews, Trevor Ariza, Stanley Johnson, Iman Shumpert, Luc Mbah a Moute, Rodney Hood, Reggie Bullock, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alec Burks, Wayne Ellington, and DeMarre Carroll all on the phone Sunday 3PM as well. Give me a couple of those guys for the minimum (Bullock and Pope make a lot of sense). Burks, Ellington, and Stan Johnson make some sense as well.

 

Does he want to take a minimum add again? I see Boogie taking a huge check for NYK or the Clippers.

 

I ran through Scoring Efficiencies, Passing Efficiencies, and Hustle Efficiencies for all Guards. I ran them as if they were more initiators or more scorers, and came up with a list of players who scored at least 80 as both initiator and scorer among those players. Here's the list.

105/95
Westbrook

100/100
Harden

95/90
Irving
Russell

95/85
Wall
Young

90/85
Holiday
Lillard
Williams

90/80
JJ Barea
Fox
Paul
Simmons

85/85
Booker
Curry
Doncic
Walker

85/80
Bledsoe
Conley

80/80
DeRozan
Oladipo
Rose

It's hard to get onto the list unless you're a high usage player, and being on the list doesn't mean you're a star. It means you're being used in a role that allows you to produce maximum impact or suggest you're ready for an even larger role.