Bird a few months ago pointed out that he barely ever deals with Ainge. Bird said if anything, knowing the other GM on that personal type of level hurts a deal because Bird is extra vigilant not to let emotion dictate his offer.
He's done in Indiana. They had to at least be competitive in this series to convince him to stay. That hasn't happened. As Kobe would say ship his a** out!
He has to REALLY want to come to LA and believe in our new FO's ability to get some better players to sort of force his way out of Indy to here. Because as much as losing in the playoffs as the 7th seed to the defending champs sucks, it doesn't suck as much as winning 26 games in the regular season.
The reports were George was hell bent on coming to Los Angeles. If that's the case then it's safe to say he really wants to come to the Lakers. Think we can sell the fact that with the continued development of the young guys especially Ingram, Russell, and Zubac that if George joined them they'd probably be as good as the Pacers now, but with a much higher ceiling.
That's part of the reason why i feel it's too early to trade for a star player that is as demanding as George. If he really wants to come here he'll sign in the summer of 2018. If he doesn't, it means we've dodged yet another Dwight situatuon. There's no need to take meaningless risks right now. Shortsighted trades only prolong the rebuild process. A PG13 trade only makes sense if 1) We get him for cheap AND he signs an extension. 2) We make multiple trades that puts us back in contention (ie Julius, JC and Top3 for George AND Russell, Zubac, Hou pick, future 1st for Butler) Win now or win later. There's no middle ground imo.
Yeah, I came in here to say that tonight certainly won't be helping convince him to stay. Come on home PG!
This is also relevant for us. The C Bags are probably the biggest competition we have right now for George. If Butler or Hayward or ( ) Carmelo go there instead, then we've got a much easier path to George.
Randle+Clarkson+Hou 1st. Take it or leave it Bird. If you want the Top 3 pick, you have to take Deng, too.
Oh, FFS! She would be DEVASTATED (or what was that?) if we didn't have an All-Star next season, logic and common sense be damned. Goddamit. My team is ran by morons and owned by morons. Run, Rob & Luke, run!
Paul George is a SF. We must then move Ingram, who has to start next season, to SG. This means the following lineup: PG: Russell/Ennis SG: BI/Russel/??? SF: PG/BI/Dung? PF: Lance/Dung? C: Moz/Zu/Tariq Not excited, unless Zu turns into 20/10 machine. And, if we get #3 --- Ball is going to play where, exactly??? Or do we draft a PF?
If having to decide between playing Ingram or George at SF and keeping our top 3 pick are problems, they are problems I want to have.
