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

We should've done this. G League try and see what happens. Same path we took with Stan.

 

DO NOT SIGN RUSS

 

I'm not paying $15M for Russ. He has to go.

 

I think Russ wants to retire as a Laker. I think he would take less than 20 to make that happen. We seem to be loading up on young guys that he likes, and has some chemistry with.

Lebron and AD are a Championship proven duo, now Russ gets his own little fiefdom with the young bench mob. Works for everyone IMO. That 47 million dollar contract, won't be an issue to hold against him moving forward.

We'll see tho, the media keeps painting the dude as some kind of selfish malcontent, that can be a locker room problem. The front offices, and the players that he's played for and with, paint an entirely different picture.

Don't get me wrong though, I think he'd feel insulted by a 10-11 million dollar offer. He should be, he's still worth more than that.

 

russ's real value on the open market is probably MLE, tbh, as it's clear that he needs to be a bench player that probably doesn't finish a lot of games. you can only pay so much for that. that said, we can't run the risk of letting him walk for nothing (not even part of the salary slot), so we need to make an offer that a) dissuades him from taking less elsewhere out of spite and b) soothes his ego a bit.

i feel like it's possible to retain him for 15-18 annually, provided we guarantee two years at that level and leave the door open for a third. i think paying the slight premium on his actual value is worth it for team building and continuity.

buying low. both guys have proven they can shoot it better than this, and neither has had some sort of major injury that would explain this year's dip, nor have they fallen off hard in other areas. they're both 28 and likely have 2-3 more years producing at something between current and previous peak performance. if we can get them, we should look into it. we can match either without using russ and taking on mammoth salary, too.

if we traded say, walker/bev/jones/top-5 protected 2027 pick for fvv (rozier might only take seconds, which i'd prefer):

you have:

lebron(47)
AD(41)
fvv(25 is my guess)
russ(16ish)
rui(16ish)
reaves(8)
christie(2)
gabriel(2? 4?)

then i *think* you can squeeze in mle (maybe bulk of it on bryant?) under the apron. rest of roster has to be vet mins, though.

another thing to consider is how much would schroder stay for and how big of an upgrade are fvv and rozier over a reasonably re-signed schroder.

i have too much time on my hands today.

 

Don't forget about Wenyen..that's an intriguing 2nd unit. Austin and Lonnie are still part of the picture. One of them should send Bev to the bench eventually. The other joins this potential bench mob

Bev becomes the defensive, pest specialist to be employed against certain matchups. If we don't move him.

Back on point..I wouldn't see a problem with that salary range. The guy is only second to Lebron in the league, in off the court earnings, he already has money.

To be able to cap a HOF career in his hometown, playing for the Lakers, and having a key role on the team with these youngsters? I think that would appeal more to his ego than a couple of million.

Lol..of course to us regular folks, a couple of million is a friggin huge deal!

 

Not only that. IF we have a 1st in the 20s (in any of the next 7 years) and don't love a prospect or their guaranteed money, we can trade down to an early 2nd round slot and pick up an additional future first in the process or multiple seconds. That's no guarantee but it literally happens nearly every single draft.

 

I don't think it works for both. He doesn't fit with LeBron and AD. Sure, he can be entertaining as the bench leader, he will still shrink the floor for both AD and LeBron. And paying him 47 or 20mil is still a lot for a guy who doesn't fit your 2 stars.

It's an even bigger problem come playoff time where defense gets tougher and there's more strategy to exploit opponents' weaknesses, which he has a lot.
You shouldn't pay premium for a guy who doesn't maximize both your stars and shouldn't be on the floor when it matters the most. I don't remember a team where that worked, much less when 2/3 of your team is a vet min.

Trading him means more assets and players that can spread the floor for LeBron and AD. Letting him expire unlocks funds to keep most of all our other guys. Keeping him basically makes this LeBron/AF window very difficult to result in any relevant playoff success

 

Man..I left Christie out above, and we have a 1st and 2nd in this upcoming draft. Boy..we have the potential to be a young, talented and deep team moving forward. With the two old dudes in Lebron and Russ! The sky isn't falling at all, however once again...everything revolves around AD being healthy for that ring. However we will continue to be, even more capable of surviving his absence.

 

Still just a bad take IMO. Lebron, AD and Russ haven't played much together in 2 seasons now. I'm still confused as to why, you keep insisting on it being some kind of bad fit. AD put it best " We haven't had the chance to play together much, and work out anything on the court, but the media and some fans, want to blame everything on Russ, and that's not fair".

Like I already pointed out to you, Westbrook has a career 55-56 record in the playoffs. Obviously a team can win in the playoffs with him. Lebron and AD are the two best players that he's ever played with. He went to the Finals with KD and Harden.

Perhaps you didn't see our salary structure on the chip team. This idea about needing all this perceived " balance " in salaries isn't the big deal you keep making it out to be.

It looks like you and some others just have more of a personal dislike for Westbrook's game. To the point that you go out of your way to harp on anything negative about the guy that you can bring up. Cool..everyone is entitled to thier opinions. On this one, I disagree, looks like our HC and FO does too.

 

Don't let Dennis's stellar play of late fool you, and don't let Dennis's bad play of late fool you either. Both are likely outliers. Dennis is fine if he is going to be the focal point of your offense, but with multiple interior players, the Lakers would be better served with a more reliable three-point shooter. We just added Rui, who fills the need of a big forward, but like Dennis, is also a mostly below-average three-point shooter and are not high volume from three. Both are three-level scorers, which is good and they excel from the mid-range. However, I cant emphasize enough the need for floor spacers to maximize the talents of our interior players.

 

Trades that I could see happening:

-Beverly, Jones and 2027 1st (unprotected) for Trent

-Beverly, Jones, JTA, and 2027 1st (unprotected) for Rozier and 2023 Mavs 2nd

-Beverly and Jones for Fournier and 2024 Mavs 1st (top 10 protected)

 

This

 

it's an overpay for all three, imo. you're already seeing slight rumbles that det is willing to take a protected pick for bogdanovic.

trent and rozier's problems are ironically opposite--trent can become a FA, so the flight risk is there--especially considering his salary/value range. rozier's under contract, but long-term, so you're stuck with him for a couple years if it doesn't work out.

i don't think either team gets a first for them unless it's either heavily protected or otherwise not very desirable (e.g., boston's 2023 pick, etc.).

bogdanovic could fetch a lightly protected pick (top 5), i think. but no team is going to give them an unprotected pick several years out, imo. those are so dangerous. you need to be getting a star in his prime back, like us with AD, in order to take that kind of risk.