LMA should be our first choice, by a long shot. DJ can't make those FTs and has to be spoon-fed on offense (i.e. the lob). I like his defense a lot more than LMA, but LMA is a complete player.
How did Los Angeles figure to attract him with no chance of getting that dominant old school type of center? Oh wait.
No, I meant pre-draft. Seems he has made his feelings clear on this for some time. They had Okafor and passed.
They can, but all indications that I've seen point to them only wanting to bring him back for the QO. If someone offers him a multi-year deal at 6-7M, it seems like they're out. For the rim protection, overall defense, & rebounding that you need next to LMA, I don't think you can do better than Biz for the price. Other options like Koufos are likely to get bigger contracts & aren't as good at the things we need from them. The major knock on Bismack is that he hasn't improved his offensive game, & the absolute last thing we need is more offense. If we manage to "fix" Upshaw enough that he makes the team, Biyombo/Upshaw might be the best defensive/rebounding C rotation in the league. I don't WANT to trade him, but I also don't see how it's making a couple smaller things easier. Adding a starting C who will do the dirty work is an absolute must if we're getting LMA, to the point where he might not even sign here until we do it. Randle is going to be pushed to backup PF & possibly playing some at SF. Is keeping that really worth losing our chance at 1 of the only real superstars available in Free Agency & instead having to settle for throwing the max at a guy like DJ? If we can get LMA by trading Randle for Gobert, or Randle for Henson or Dieng + additional assets, I think we'd have to atleast entertain the idea. I think you're right. What worries me is they didn't make it abundantly clear that they wouldn't trade Clarkson. A bit of wishful thinking on my part that we'd trade Randle instead of Clarkson.
If we screw up getting LMA just because he doesn't want to play center and all we needed to do was pick Okafor, I'll be even more upset than ever about this draft. That's just stupidity. LMA is the best FA player this summer other than Marc Gasol.
See that's what's simply amazing about the legitimate contributions LB stands ready to make toward their team's success. Unlike virtually every other fans forum. If we had gotten Towns therealdeal would have let Vitti and the trainers know what he was seeing with the kid's questionable lower body. Now that we need to "fix" Upshaw, Punk will let them know from professional experience how the Lakers best can go about that. And since landing our prime free agent target in Aldridge is contingent upon us having a legitimate 7' big man to play center, rather than him......our own professor trodgers can explain to L.A. why he should not be judgemental, rather he should be accepting of playing next to our talented 7' ex druggie center. LB for the win!
The center issue isn't just a Lakers only problem, what is SA going to do when they gut their team for him? They lose Splitter and they have a soon to be 40 year old Tim Duncan playing < 30 minutes a night and the same crew of vet min options we have. At least we have Black and Upshaw (If he works out) young guys that we can stick there for 48 minutes. Throw in Sacre or some vet like Ajinca, Aldrich, Hollins, eww but Porkins (Only at LMA request if that was a must sign to get here).
Options at Center if we get LMA: - Use some combination of Black/Upshaw/Sacre - Move Young to make cap space for someone like Ed Davis/Tyson Chandler/Koufos/Biyombo, etc - Move Young & Randle(not happening) to get a better option at Center.
Yeah you're right. I was genuinely curious of people's ideas on how to adjust... I think they'd trade Jordan before Randle and preferably neither. I saw the report the Lakers would trade Russell but I sincerely doubt it. The first guy they want to trade is Nick apparently. If they could find a suitor who took Nick's deal and absorbed that salary then they'd have enough cash to pay a really decent Center. I'd settle for Davis there. The problem then is we're looking at an awkward fit for Randle. Is he our big off the bench then? I'm okay with that at first, but within a year or two he should move into the starting position. I take Aldridge no question if you can, but the fit really isn't perfect. It's why I would prefer Jordan sometimes even if he's limited offensively and a sack of bricks. You get Jordan, he fits great with the next wing you bring in to replace Kobe whether that's Durant or Butler or Derozan or whomever.
I think I'd make a pretty bad GM, if I'm being honest. I don't take "fit" into consideration enough, yet I don't want big names for the sake of having a big name. So it's like I'm trying to have it both ways, which doesn't really work. Anyway, Aldridge is my 2nd choice for a FA this summer, after only Marc Gasol, who isn't realistic, so I guess Aldridge is my top choice. He's overlooked at times in how good he is, doesn't get talked about a lot. That said, he's been in the top 10 in MVP voting for the last 2 seasons at least, I absolutely want him on my team, even for max. He's absolutely worth max to me the same way Pau was in his prime, so even though he's not young anymore, I take him for 4 years no question. We'd have to put a center next to him, but I think if Clarkson repeats last season, Russell is as good as advertised, Kobe can stay relatively healthy, and you have Aldridge and Randall, the C position can be serviceable and you're still fine. This last NBA finals is not a concrete argument that the C position is dead, but adding it to the last few before that too, it seems much, much less important. GS and Cleveland got away with just ok centers, I think it's possible to do now.
The thing is I think we DO want it two ways. We want to be competitive tomorrow AND keep all our young guys. If we go after Aldridge it would make more sense to trade either Randle or Clarkson to make extra room and cash. Probably Randle. I think the best fit for both building for the future AND being competitive tomorrow is Jordan or Chandler... They're better off the ball, they don't need much attention, and they help on both ends of the court.
No way do I trade Randall, not before we get a chance to see how good he can be. He didn't even play one full game last season. If we trade him and he turns into a beast it's a huge mistake we regret as right now this is a guy we could have for his whole career if he works out. Gotta give him a season to show what he has, it's a rebuild, I hope the Lakers are more patient than that. We've already suffered 2 horrible seasons and we've received some nice prizes from those, what's one more season of seeing how things go before trying to go superteam with traders again.
Boy I don't know...I love Aldridge, lots of positives but the negatives are were now talking about Randle playing backup 4 for years, the deal wouldn't expire until just days before Lamarcus turns 35, and I got a bad feeling that they're thinking of rolling with Hill as a small 5.
