2020-21 Players' Transactions: Breaking News , Trades, Free Agents, And Rumors

I'm not gonna lie, I am starting to warm up to DeMar being on this team. The knock on him is his three point shooting but Kuz+Green weren't exactly the best shooters out there for us and we've seen how deadly Butler was with his mid-range game. DeMar can be huge and give us another playmaker when LeBron is out. I don't know why the Spurs would want to trade with us, though. I feel like they're going to want a player like Caruso as well.

 

I called this lose kuzma gain derozan

 

Lakers showing interest is irrelevant. Popovich will never help a competing team especially the Lakers. Lakers had a MUCH better package for Kawhi than Toronto did but Popovich and the Spurs refused to trade him to us. It worked out for us on the long run since we got AD but as much as I dislike the C Bags, Spurs will always be the team I hate the most and Popovich may be IMO, the GOAT coach, but I despise the guy. Spurs would rather trade DeRozan for a bag of chips than work with us.

 

Not if it costs us Danny Green too.





Am worried though that Pop's going to want at the very least THT or AC as well. He's not doing us ANY favors.

 

Heartbeat type of thing if that's the deal. He's an expiring contract and a very efficient player. We can make up the 3pt shooting easily. E'twaun Moore? Lot of options.

If Pop likes Kuzma as much as some think he does, this may not be far fetched at all. He raved about him during their time together with Team USA.

 

Not sure that's even a comparison because DD has put up good numbers on playoff teams. Comparing that to Kuz on a Detroit or NYK is a moo point.

 

DeRozan has had success leading a team, though. It's not like he's been putting up numbers on bad teams. Plus, DeRozan is far more consistent than Kuzma has ever been. You know you're gonna get 20/5/5 from DeRozan more often than not. Kuzma, he'll give you 25 points one game and then 9 points the other. Obviously losing Kuzma isn't what we'd like to give up but I see it as making amends for Danny Green's horrible contract and what will probably be another dud of a season from DG next season. As for the spacing, it's not like we had a lot of floor spacing last season. Outside of KCP+Danny Green (only adding him here because he's the 2nd best shooter on the team by default), we didn't have much floor spacing.

Caruso isn't a reliable shooter.
Rondo, I'm not sure what happened but I wouldn't expect him to shoot like that in the playoffs again.
Kuzma can't shoot at all.

It's not like we were ever an elite shooting team.

As for Gallo, yeah, he'd be great but how do we get him other than through free agency? DeRozan likely opts-in which allows him to be traded whereas Gallo is 100% unrestricted. We can't afford Gallo unless he takes our MLE and if that's the case, we could still theoretically get DeRozan+Gallo if we trade for DeRozan and Gallo takes the MLE. Best thing about DeRozan is he's only locked in for one more year. It fits within the Lakers timeline in terms of clearing cap for 2021 free agency.

 

Man, if the Lakers could pull that off, I am already going to celebrate a back-to-back title.

 

So you think Kuzma is a better scorer than DeRozan? Lol.....

 

This is pretty much what I was thinking.

 

if we do start shipping people off I’d also prefer a guy like Dinwiddie

 

DeRozan isn't a good three point shooter but he shot 48% from 10-16 ft and 43% from 16-3 point line. He can absolutely space the floor. But what he will do is give us another player who can create for himself and others. I would feel a lot more confident knowing that we have DeMar+AD out there with Bron resting. Let's just look at what the Lakers can offer... it's not much, honestly. Other teams can offer much better offers than the Lakers have so we can't be too picky about how the Lakers should improve themselves. There isn't much downside to DeRozan. One year deal, All-Star talent, can play off the ball, can create plays, and gives us another legitimate scorer who we can rely on with AD or Bron being benched.

 

Those are such arbitrary comparisons and the stats are definitely inflated due to him being on a team where he's the focal point as compared to DeRozan being on the Spurs in which everything is more team-oriented. Perimeter shooting is given to Dinwiddie when he shoots 31% from three? I wouldn't want my player shooting ANY threes if he's shooting 31% from three. Finishing? What does that mean? Around the basket? DeRozan is a much better finisher. I'm not even gonna bother with the rest... that comparison you are using is not accurate at all.

 

But we played Kuzma 23 MPG in the playoffs and he shot 31% from three so why are you acting as if DeRozan would be much worse than that? You're not even accounting for the fact that DeRozan is infinitely better in other areas. Also, if we get DeRozan, you already know Rob is going to find a way to get more shooters on the team. That's already a given considering Rob has already been vocal about getting more shooters. I just don't get how you can say DeRozan wouldn't average more than 12 PPG in the playoffs but Kyle Kuzma averaged 10 and shot 31% from three.. Butler averaged near 30 in the Finals and he only attempted 13 threes (shot 31%). Why do we act like someone who can't shoot threes but is a great mid-range player can't be of benefit to us?