If you had to choose between Lin or Ronnie price returning as a backup next year, who would you choose?
Probably Lin, for me, but for Ronnie Price dollars I wouldn't mind him, especially if we pick up some other PG with potential in the draft or in FA. I think Price performed admirably considering the odd requirements of Byron's stealth tanking project. He's a good teammate too. Clarkson said just this week that Ronnie helped him a lot in teaching him stuff. That's pretty big of him since JC was a rookie taking his hard fought for minutes much of the time. If Jabari Brown kills it this summer and comes back better even from where he was performing well this season, he can eat some combo guard minutes too.
Lin. Easily. In regard to the Denver rumors, I don't think he goes there unless D'Antoni gets the job; his family is 1 hour away here by flight in Northern California, there's a large Asian community, we're not drafting a guard, and he's in Los Angeles; additionally, he may see the Lakers on a upward trajectory and decide to stick it out. If not, we'll pursue other avenues...
If the Nuggets bring in D'Antoni, then I think he ends up there asap. I wonder if we could sign and trade him? Give him an extra year's salary and get us like a pick or something? If not, no big deal. Good luck over in wherever and we'll go pursue some other backup PG options.
Maybe S&T Lin plus our 27th and 34th along with Tarik Black for Lawson? Okafor/Randle/Kobe/Clarkson/Lawson. That team actually would be pretty good until Kobe got hurt. Maybe we can dump Swaggy some how and sign Carroll? Clarkson comes off the bench until Kobe suffers his annual season ending injury. Depending on how fast Randle and Okafor develop, that team may make the playoffs.
Are any teams going to be over the cap or need to unload a solid player in order to retain one of their bettER free agents?
Maybe, but I think teams will be willing to pay the luxury tax for one season knowing the cap will jump and it will be a non-issue after next season.
Honestly I want no part in Lawson. He quit on Shaw and I give up on him. He's 5'10", tends to play out of control, and isn't good enough to carry a team while still needing the ball in his hands pretty often. If we signed and traded with the Nuggets I'd probably want Gary Harris or Chandler.
I agree Lawson isn't perfect, but his contract is quite reasonable and only has a couple years after this one. Not saying Lawson is the answer at pg for our team. That would be Clarkson (hopefully). But Clarkson's game can translate to sg quite effectively. Lawson is a starting caliber guard in this league. With Kobe being so fragile at this point, we absolutely NEED 3 starting caliber guards on the roster. I have said before I'd love Mo Williams, but we'd have to be willing to give him A LOT of money since what he's worth (5-6 million) anybody can offer him with their MLE. If he had a ring or two, he might be willing to come here for the same amount as everywhere else. But I think he wants to go to a contender with this last contract. In order to offset that thirst for a ring, we'd have to offer 9 million or so (I would guess, it's obviously conjecture). I would give him 9 million for this upcoming season if we had exhausted all other possibilities. and we had the 9 million lying around. Yes, Lawson quit, but he is a great pg. He's good enough to lead a team with Randle, Okafor/Towns, Clarkson and Carroll/Harris to the playoffs (IMO). That's more talent than Nuggs teams of the past had and made the playoffs in the West. You're probaly right about it being a less than good idea, I just decided to throw it out there. I think Lawson has game. I think him whipping the ball around to Randle, Harris and Clarkson with Okafor attracting attention inside could be really fun to watch. Kobe plays the Pierce in Washington role...that team could finish top 4 in the East. haha.
For Mo I'd throw at him a long-term type of deal worth a relatively low amount. I figure a 3/15 million dollar deal gets it done. He's 32 years old now and has bounced around the league. I think a 3 year deal worth decent money should be all he's really offered. We give him a good city, a chance to help develop our kids, long-term guaranteed money, and the possibility of being there when we turn the corner. If he desperately wants a ring, we won't get him but it's a good pitch nonetheless.
Cool Good deal. D'Antoni met with Denver, today, though. If Mike were to be offered the job, I'm almost positive he would go after Lin with a reckless abandon. Of course we have Lin's BIRD Rights. Anybody we could S&T to Denver that would make sense? Of course this is all just speculation. I like Lin and hope he stays...
Ghosts of Lakers' past, eh? Good for them though. And AGAIN kudos to the Lakers organization for continuing to make this franchise all about our players. Awesome job.
Nash, you're wasting your time. Spend it with JC instead. Also, can we go ahead and hire Nash in an official capacity already? We need someone to help Jah with his FTs and I'm sure we'll have a couple new, young guards (along with JC) who can use his tutelage this summer.
Depends if he wants to be hired in that roll. My gut feeling is yes since he now makes his permanent home close to Lakers facility. Even if it's just for when they are in town, no travel, I would think it would be smart of Lakers to convince him to formally train and teach and coach our guys. He just lost his career and no doubt still loves the game and likely wants to pass some of his greatness on. Especially if being paid. I wouldn't have a problem with him not traveling, if it came down to that and he didn't want to.
