2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

(strange- this post was showing up multiple times, so I removed one. Now they are all gone)

 

I still like Rui and Milton, for Vucevic without giving up any FRP. Nikolai would be on an expiring contract next season. We could have our picks and a 20M expiring to make a major move over the summer. Vucevic is a career 20 10 guy, that shoots at a better clip, with volume from 3, compared to Rui. His offensive game fits perfectly with AD IMO.

 

Sure, I understand that.
The problem is, the guy you are trading for can never remain healthy enough to be worth having.

 

Comparing trying to get Cam Johnson for Muscala come on? Zubac was also a better prospect then Knect on top of it. Cam Johnson is only 28 and a borderline All star caliber player - folks really need to watch some non Laker basketball

There has been no bigger fan of Knecht then me but FO's can't be fans and get trapped with home team bias. Knecht is a very good prospect who I'm hoping will have an Allan Houston like career. That is high hopes for a dude but that also doesn't discount that Knecht already 23 years old and it took Houston being traded and 5 years in the league before he became the Allan Houston that people remember from the Knicks.

Reaves is throwing everyone for a loop here but Reaves is a once in a generation find who can do multiple things well on a basketball court and he showed that early.

 

But but he's 34 and doesn't play defense unlike Kessler who is only 23

 

I completely understand that Cam is a very good player. He’s also 28 and doesn’t fit the timeline of our next great team.
You will get farther in your debates by not trying to take shots at your fellow poster’s intelligence. This isn’t a contest. There’s no trophy for “winning an argument.” You can have your opinion and I’ll have mine.
Also, you completely missed my point regarding Reaves and Knecht. I even stated that their skill’s aren’t the same.

 

i don't know if reaves actually showed more early than knecht has. i think he just had lower expectations due to being undrafted instead of a 1st rounder.

i worry about moving knecht for cam johnson because his ceiling could be near johnson's, and johnson's prime could be over in three years. i'm more comfortable moving knecht for kessler, simply because he's younger than johnson and has had similar on-court value to his teams, imo.

i'm also totally fine holding onto knecht, of course.

 

This is sound reasoning.

 

@Pioneer10 "Zubac was also a better prospect than Knect on top of it." That's certainly debatable. A very nice prospect, very much like Kessler has already proven himself as a double double and a Big man .... and why we agree he would be nice here. But no one at the time was projecting possible all star in the future for him as is very possible for Knecht 2-3-4 years from now in his prime with that body, athleticism, shooting stroke and all around offensive capabilities..

 

Really think people are ignoring Knecht's age here - Zubac was only 21 when he was traded. Knecht is 23. What was bonkers about that trade is Zubac was almost guaranteed double double at the age of 21 with pretty good defense if he got 25+ mpg.

Maybe Knecht has a Reaves like progression but he's shown one elite school in shooting and that is very very streaky and his defense has been atrocious. Shooting plus finishing at the basket is his ticket to a good NBA career but he's got a lot to improve to become an All star in 2-3 years.

Again Cam Johnson is only 28: you can move him again when he's 30 to a contender as he's still going to be a valuable barring injury to teams and you could have a forward rotation of Lebron/Cam/DFS/Vando - that is extremely good.

 

Cam Johnson barring injury is likely going to be a very nice trade piece in 2 years - you can get picks back for him so his age is an asset IMO whether you want to contend or rebuild in 2 years

With regards to Reaves: raw numbers are hard to judge with both players times waxing and waning but Reaves just showed a lot more in his bag IMO (particularly the dribbling/playmaking) which makes him really unique

I mean I hate to say it but for the most part (outside of those NBA jam fire games) Knecht has been bad:


Good prospect, not so good player right now

 

Zach LaVine 6 games in a row and 7 out of 8 scored 30 + points.

 

His career defensive rating is right up there with Jokic and Valancunas. Everyone doesn't have to be a great defensive player. With Vando, DFS and AD, he would be covered up nicely. Kessler's asking price will probably be more realistic in the summer.

 

Lavine's ship has sailed. Time to focus on players we have a chance of getting. And no, Zion isn't one of them, no matter the "package".

 

When and If Rob will get out of his sleeping mode every possible start would be gone

 

So he gets his contract then proceeds to be fat,lazy and injured…no thanks

 

Getting Vando and Wood back before the trade deadline, is the equivalent of a midlevel trade like acquiring DFS. It is rather prudent to hold your cards, and see who blinks on these asking prices by February 6th IMO.

 

Feels that ship sailed with the Dlo trade but you can make the numbers work with Rui/Vando/Gabe/JHS.
I think @Slick2021 is right you see where things end up closer to the deadline but that isn't bad a salary dump for Chicago and while it's a lot of bodies none of those outgoing Lakers tend to show up anywhere remote to consistently particularly in the playoffs.

You can still make a move to get Kessler with Knecht's salary (sorry @TIME lol) and you'd end up with the best case scenario for the Laker probably of something like this:
AD/Lebron/Reaves/Lavine/Kessler/DFS/Max/Shake. That's a championship 8 man rotation but probably need to see if a guy like Fultz is healthy to play some PG.

 

Damn, Sacramento won 7 in a row

Fultz or some other available PG can be signed to 10 days contracts

 

No offense, and I think you mean it in simple good humor like our "2 weeks" forever updates .... until they actually come true like in real life with Gabe, and now Vando about to rejoin the team .... but Rob I assure is not asleep at the wheel, in the exact same way, as we saw with DFS and Shake for DLO and 2nds, Westbrick's sorry a** out of here at the deadline two years ago for a deal that allowed us to go all the way to the conference finals. I would "imagine" more is coming, that will be the best deal or deals we can make, AGAIN, without doing "bad" deals.




But yeah I get it!