2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

I gotta have Kareem and Magic over Kobe. The Magic man is hella underrated IMO. I still believe if not for the HIV, Magic would have 6 rings maybe 7.

 

Magic was my favorite before Kobe.
However, I can play this game too:
IF Malone hadn’t gotten injured in 2004, Kobe would have another Ring. IF CP3 had become a Laker, Kobe would have at least two more. IF Kobe and Shaq could have settled their beef, they would have had at least two more together.
This “Ifs and buts” game can go on forever…

 

If you are starting a team, you go with Magic first, Kareem second and lebron 3rd.

If you are picking the best basketball players that have ever played the game of basketball, it's MJ and Kobe, 1 and 2.

No players in the history of the NBA have had those skillsets with no weaknesses and the results they produced.

If Kobe wins in 04 and 08, Kobe and MJ would be eating at the same table.

 

Joey.......you like movies with Gladiators?

 

https://lakersdaily.com/report-anth...g-out-extensively-before-lakers-wizards-game/

LOL..A day late and a dollar short?

 

Gladiators are wonderful!!!

 

i'd just really like to see a 10-game sample of nunn before the season is out. might help calibrate summer plans.

 

or piss us off if he plays like we were hoping he would and we don't retain him

 

that's my thinking, though crazier things have happened.

 

Forgot about the whole 2 yr thing among our sea of 1 yr minimums since he hasn’t played

 

well, it's a player option, same as monk's two-year deal, so it's really a one-year deal if they play well. but nunn hasn't played and would likely have to really tear things up (like 20/5/5 and we win 75% of our games) to consider opting out of 5 million guaranteed (plus establishment of early bird rights in a prime location).

monk's the real flight risk.

 

I am already starting to think about the off-season and have the mindset we are going to either have Westbrook or John Wall back on this team.

The thought exercise is that we will have the taxpayers MLE and the vet minimum again to fill out this roster. Who do you target? I pay zero attention to the G-League but are there any hidden gem role players out there?


For me, I don’t want any of the old vets on their last legs. We saw what happened with that, we get run out of the gym by the younger more athletic teams. Here is who I would target:
- Otto Porter Jr for the MLE, 3 and D player with size to guard both 3s and 4s. Will be 28 years old
- Taurean Prince for the vet min, he’s bounced around from team to team but is another 3 and D player with size to guard 3/4s. Also only 28 years old.
- Markieff Morris for the vet min. Never really understood why we didn’t re-sign him, he’s on a vet minimum deal with Miami and he gets to be back in LA with this twin brother. He was always a solid off the bench stretch 4, who plays with toughness on defense.
- Gary Harris for the vet min, I think he might be an option for vet minmum similar to Malik Monk this year. He’s had a few down years mostly due to injury but might be open to taking a minimum deal to set himself up for a longer term deal. He actually has the skill set to be a effective shooting guard playing with AD and Lebron. He’s also “only” 27 years old.
- Dennis Schroder for the vet minimum. Yes that’s right, I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to try to bring him back for the minimum. He signed a MLE deal and hasn’t really set himself up for a big contract yet, and we could all agree… he had more chemistry with AD/Bron than Westbrook. The idea here is to start Schroder and bring Westbrook off the bench as super 6th man. At this point who cares about hurting westbrooks feelings because he’s going to be a expiring contract.
- Thomas Bryant for vet min, he’s been injured a lot but is a serviceable center that can block shots and hit the 3. If we can get him for the minimum, I’m not sure there’s many better options.
- Hassan Whiteside for the minimum. He’s not very mobile but he’s still a beast when it comes to rebounding and blocking shots. He’s been accepting minimum contracts the past few years.

Our depth chart for 2022/23 would be:

Schroder/Westbrook/Nunn
THT/Reaves/Harris
Porter Jr/Prince/Stanley Johnson
Lebron/Morris/Gabriel
AD/Thomas Bryant/Whiteside


This team looks decent enough to at least play 0.500 ball and be a 7th or 8th seed lol, what do you think?

 

Likely …. Westbrook won’t come off the bench to play behind that guy, so if he’s here bad ju ju in the locker room if it were to be tried. And that guy won’t sign here for minimum to come off bench. IMO.

 

Meh..Westbrook is still better than any point guard available. He wasn't used properly here IMO. Of course Lebron is still the King on this team. So good luck with getting him to give up the rock. That being said, James has to know that he can't carry the playmaker load, and score at a high level consistently every night anymore. We need his scoring more than his playmaking IMO. I think they work it out, Russ may play more without Lebron being in the game, I would expect Lebron's minutes to decrease more next season. The idea of both Russ and Bron’s salaries coming off the books next season, keeps me from realistically envisioning Russ getting moved at all. That's over 80 million dollars!! Rob is getting trashed for his roster moves...yet...Reaves, Johnson, Gabriel, Tucker...those kids can have an impact on this team next season. Nunn can't miss another entire season!(I hope). Sekou is still worth a look as a project IMO..With a healthy James and Davis..this team isn’t so bad IMO.

Honestly, I expect Russ to reup on a 2-3 deal at 20-25 per and we resign Monk, and then concentrate on replacing Avery, Duke,Baze, and Trevor with more youth and maybe 1 vet ring chasers with a pulse. It might be the last dance for Melo and Dwight.