All in all, I still feel it's the coaching that's limiting the Lakers. Nothing against Byron, but give the guys a bit more freedom. They seem scared to run something outside the offense.
Then why not give it to him now? I think they're full of it. I think they're going to wait as long as possible and hope he has a rough year so they can justify NOT giving it to him. Cheap jerks up there man. I think if he has a great year, and I expect him to, they'll let him go. Even so, if we can't get Thompson there's plenty of great pieces to be had this summer. Marc Gasol, Rajon Rondo, Kawhi Leonard (although it's likely he stays), Greg Monroe, Goran Dragic... Even second tier guys like Aaron Afflalo, Jeff Green, Luol Deng, Paul Millsap, Roy Hibbert, DeAndre Jordan, Robin Lopez, and Al Jefferson. Some other RFAs: Ricky Rubio, Brandon Knight, and Tobias Harris. There's talent to be had this summer and we're going to be major players
Agree. They are cheap. Lacob doesn't want to pay luxury taxes and is hesitant of investing any max money in Klay. Klay's camp is frustrated, and I understand. I wish he did leave; I love Klay's game.
GS would be idiots if they don't max out Thompson. No way that doesn't happen The rest of therealdeal's plans looks pretty good though.
Not to mention, there's some ego going on here. Who is more valuable to that team: Klay or Curry? The answer is Curry obviously, so how do you justify giving Curry 12 million and Klay 15.7 million? It's a tough situation. They're appealing to Klay to take less money and be a team player for Oakland, but there's no reason for him to do that. The cap is raising and it's not HIS responsibility to help the team. I think he goes to RFA and there's a good shot he leaves. Especially if Iguodala and Livingston work out for them.
John Middlekauff @JohnMiddlekauff Follow Source: Progress has been made between Klay Thompson & the #Warriors. I'm told a deal is getting done by Fridays deadline It will happen. I've been keeping updated on the situation...This is latest. Either way, there are other great options out there. Don't forget we might have Houston's pick as well. As Real said, Cap flexbility, and 2 picks in next years draft; we'll be much, much better off...
Dammit! lol Well we'll see what they do. I'm guessing he told the Warriors he'll leave if they don't give him the money. If he signs for less than the max that's highway robbery.
I personally think Klay Thompson is more valuable than Curry. Here's why: 1. Klay Thompson plays defense 2. You can put Klay at the 2 or the 3. 3. Klay Thompson is not injury prone. Curry is. I think his versatility makes him more valuable. He's a big guard with a large skillset. The sky's the limit for him.
There's more players than Klay. The key is getting a top 5 pick this season. It gives us much more flexibility and helps us expedite this rebuild. We could trade the pick or actually draft a Center that we could mold and groom with Randle. We could use Houston's pick as a trade sweetener in another deal, etc. I'm not for tanking, but this CBA encourages you to be really bad too improve; unfortunate as that is...
Keep in mind, getting a top 5 pick requires us to be in the bottom 2 teams to be guaranteed the fifth pick (with the current lottery rules). I highly doubt a team with Kobe on it will be in the bottom two, even as bleak as we have looked so far.
I love Kobe, but as depleted as this roster is, it's not out of the realm of possibility. We're horrible. It's going to get much, much worse. But, hey, this is the optimism thread, the NBA rewards bad teams. So, our reward might be Okafor, Towns, or Mudiay.
I think eventually it gets taken out of his hands either by injury or by the Lakers encouraging him to sit. There's no help coming for him this year. No reason for him to kill himself to drag a team to the 12th spot in the West.
The way we've played the last two games, it's quite possible we go 0-82. *sarcastic* Oops, wrong thread to be posting this in.
hmmm...i don't see a lot of feasible options there. if the lakers didn't want stephenson or isaiah thomas this summer, i don't see them going for most of that list next summer. the ones they would (rondo, gasol, thompson, leonard, monroe, dragic) will all take max to acquire. and those guys' teams will all be bidding to keep them with an extra year. wait...this is the optimism thread...um, the lakers will have money!
Totally different scenarios. Next summer they have far more money to spend and the summer after that they'll have even more money to spend. Even if they hand out a max contract this summer, they'll have room for two more and change next summer. Different season, different approach.
