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

If only the Lakers went after Jimmy Butler instead of Kawhi

 

Is Deng finally off the books?

 

Next FA position to examine: SHOOTING GUARDS

This one is about as up in the air as it gets because there's so much unknown with our roster. If Russ, Nunn, and THT are all still on the roster you need next to nothing at the spot simply because there's not a role because those 3 have to be heavily involved due to their salaries. If you move Russ in one of the rumored deals, you're likely getting a high usage guard in return. AR probably needs to start as a connective player IF his stamina is up to NBA levels. And unfortunately I don't think we're going to be able to keep Monk (unless he hit a mystery jackpot in a Russ that addresses at least 3 needs). There's way too many holes to address that will prevent us paying him what he is worth and too much money invested in other guards.

So first I'm going to look for minimum reclamation project.

Josh Jackson - can he be another Stan for us? Failed lotto pick who under the right environment and with no expectations can succeed? More of a SF/SG with his height (6-8), but he's a lean 207 lbs so he can switch between spots. He's coming off $4.9m from the Kings but didn't live up to that, I think if he's sticking around it's for the minimum. His stats aren't impressive but he was taken #4 for a reason, he's only 25, and like his physical profile. Ham is known for player development. Let's see what he can do and if we still have Handy around to work with him, even better.

Some other young options that I'd consider with camp invites, maybe a two-way, but nothing guaranteed: Davon Reed (DEN, really flashed against us, 3&D), DJ Stewart (SA, draft comp was THT... but he is bigger and doesn't carry the price tag), or Scottie Lewis (CHA, lots of defensive potential). Issue with them is they're RFAs, so it would require their team to be ready to move on from them.

If we want to go the more proven route with someone who will be OK with DNPs and spot minutes, I'm targeting Tony Snell. Nice size at 6-7. Can defend and shoot. Turning 31 this year. Should be there for the minimum.

Lastly, if Ham has Milwaukee pull that overrides being mistreated his last stint as a Laker, we could revisit Wes Matthews. Doubt he goes for it but he showed this post season he still can contribute and i still don't get why we let him walk in the first place considering how desperate we were for perimeter defense this year.

In summary: I would take a flyer on Josh Jackson or go with a proven vet with Snell. We'll only need one guy here at most.

 

Snell is injury prone but definetly worth a vet min offer. Snell or Jackson would be upgrades over Baze at SF.

 

Harping on the same drum I know, but I look at TJ Warren as a SF that I would start at SG. We need his shooting and size.

Everyone will probably end up playing up a spot to close anyway:

Russ
Nunn
Warren
Lebron
AD

I think Josh Jackson is interesting, but I don’t want him getting Nunn or Reaves minutes. Snell is a good third stringer and he knows how to shoot and can take some decent minutes.

Westbrook / Nunn / DJ
TJ Warren / Reaves / Snell
Lebron / Stan
AD / Melo / Ingles
Bamba / Howard / Jones

 

We had a celebration here reminiscent of Yavin.

 

yeah, unless something drastically changes with our roster (possible), i don't see why we look for a sg at all.

if we're after a reclamation, why not culver over jackson, who's had several chances over several years? also a high draft pick, came up in what was a bad environment (minny a few years ago) and then got buried behind more productive players in memphis. think he's officially in "last chance vet min" territory.

 

I like Tatum. His actions speak that there is some desire to be a Laker



He won't be a free agent until summer 2025, the Lakers can gather assets, young pieces, role players in the mean time to prepare a team for him. Hope he gets sick of Boston after they lose against the Warriors

 

No offense, why would he come here? He is on a team that has built around HIM from scratch. They stuck with their youngsters and believed in them, now they are in the finals competing for a ring. If I were Tatum, I would stay right where I was. He is in a winning situation on a team built from the ground up for him. He will NEVER have that here. LA is not what it used to be. Everyone is NOT clamoring to be in southern california anymore. Much of the "Hollywood Scene" has left and gone elsewhere. Not the same draw it used to be. I think we need to get off this concept of LA being the cool scene that everyone wants to be a part of and think it alone is going to land us the best players. I think that mentality is a turn off and is hurting us more than helping us.

 

So you are trading Tucker for Bamba? Also..is this Damian Jones from Sacramento that your are referring to? Who gets our MLE here TJ? Warren hasn't played since December 2020. He might go for 6 million and a shot to cash in next summer for a bigger contract. IDK if he and Ingles would both consider signing for the min though. Maybe one would go for the MLE, Id take Warren over Ingles in that scenario. Warren, Ingles and Snell are all have injury concerns, but snagging Warren and Ingles would be a great move. Kris Dunn and Bjelica are a couple of vet mins options. Dunn is a defensive terror at PG if he can ever stay healthy, he can't shoot but he's a pretty decent facilitator and grabs a few boards at the PG too. Bjelica has a decent stroke for a big man 38% for his career from 3.

 

I’m trying to trade THT for a 3&D Center. Someone like Lopez, Bamba or Wood. THT has potential but I don’t think it’ll be maximised here whereas a Center that can sure up our interior defence and provide spacing helps with our big 3.

I’d offer the mMLE to Warren - he ticks so many of the boxes we need. A 3&D starting SG option. Serious talent for a low price. Great size. The ability to man the SF spot in case of any injury to Lebron or AD. Ability to take on more scoring load.

I’m sure he’d understand that Westbrook expires at the end of the season and if he backs himself and performs we would pay him. Also more times than not his foot injury is resolved and players come back close to 100% - it’s not like an Achilles.

We basically need one more SF/PF. Ingles probably doesn’t take the minimum, but maybe Otto Porter does or we get House instead. Or we could just go for Bjelica which I would be happy with too.

I also think Nunn coming back healthy would be a big addition, he is a starting caliber player that would man most of our backup PG/SG minutes. If you add Warren and a 3&D Center you’ve totally revamped your starting unit. Adding Nunn to the bench alongside another high impact player like Ingles would be a totally revamped team in my opinion.

The elephant in the room is that every important player has suffered injury problems on that team apart from Westbrook.

 

Why did Paul George ask for a trade, why did Kawhi leave a contending team, Lebron to Miami, KD to GS....hell lets go all the way back to Barkley to the Suns? You can ask these questons until your throat hurts but with some players after awhile in the same place they just want to leave. Just cause the situation now is candy and roses for Tatum doesn't mean it will be the same in 3 seasons. Also congrats to them for keeping their youngsters instead of trading them away like we did but in the end when it's all said and done we won our ring while Boston has been waiting for theirs since 2008. If they somehow fail this season and again in the future then maybe Tatum would want a change of scenary. I still think LA is desirable place for a alot of NBA players but we usually don't have the cap room or talent to sign them, maybe in 3 years we will.

 

Damn..Lebron James came to this cesspool. Anthony Davis followed him in the next season. Wow..NOBODY wants to put on that Purple and Gold I see.

 

but it doesn't even increase our cap space, only affects tax purposes and now we're seeing mgmt being weary and cautious of repeater tax penalties

 

Having Deng off the books is just a piece of mind thing. It's the end of the second worst contract the Lakers have given in my 31 years of watching them.

 

well, I have never heard about Tatum having problems with his FO. Every other guy you mentioned went through problems with their FO. You never know what the future will bring and certainly if the C Bags ownership eventually have money problems, it could lead guys to bail. But the top owner is worth about the same as Jeanie and I believe they have more investors than the Lakers do, hence potentially more working capital. Not really sure how that tracks out but I have never heard about them not being able to sign who they had. ???

When all other things are equal, LA seems to think that all the cute ladies are ALL in LA and that the beaches are better in LA, that everything is better in LA. Since most athletes can't surf, too dangerous, the beaches are way colder here than Florida or pretty much anywhere south of Virginia. Way less taxes to pay for wealthy people. Heck, it is costing us over 5G's to live here. We can live a ton of places for nothing. Lot more homeless, getting too crowded, a lot more traffic. I used to love this place but as I started traveling more, I have come to the conclusion that the ONLY thing southern california has on other places is the mild weather, year round. Best weather in the country by more than a little. If you are a very active outside person and even have a career based on it, then this is the place for you. But if you have a career that keeps you indoors or tied to a computer, you aren't using that advantage much. Once you get older and just don't get out as much, you aren't using that advantage.

Not really sure how most athletes spend their off work hours. Guys like Kobe were at the gym all the time. My guess is that they are pretty much like the rest of us in terms of getting out in public. I would think most of them want to avoid that, the attention is a burn out. I have seen a few players around, at restaurants, was in line at the old Tower Records on the strip behind Kareem once but other than that my guess is they don't take as much of an advantage of the great weather as they wish they could.

What is the big draw? I don't really get it anymore,

 

Back in the day our main competitive advantage was the weather and the media exposure.

I had a big back and forward with the real deal a few years ago on this subject. My argument was since the rise of social media, great players that marketed themselves well could be popular at any team and reap the benefits of the new age. So I feel the media advantage we have had been levelled out by social media.

Secondly I’ve never really understood the weather argument - players can live wherever they want in the off season and during the season they still travel half of the time for away games. So is our great advantage that for 80 days a year you get a milder winter? That’s why I feel like we were laughed at for so many years when approaching free agents - our pitch was media, weather and the long line of legacy of those that came before you.

We really need to update the way we do things in our opinion. A NBA leading organisation should pitch people on the best health care (injury prevention and rehabilitation), the best trainers, the best coaches, the best facilities, the best analytics, the best staff, great media people - all rolled up in a contender.