There's no swearing here man, it takes the same amount of time to type asterisks as it does to type any letter.
I'm all for being hopeful, but I'm not. It's been 5 years of hell. And yah, I get it, at least we aren't Grizzlies fans but see, WE AREN'T. I can't handle this anymore. I'm going stir crazy. I have forced myself to watch every single game the last 4 years for the stupid reason of not being a sell out in my own head. I have Laker fans calling me stupid and telling me you are wasting time watching these games. Yet, I watch, so I can feel all the pain so when we are back on top, I can stand up and say, LOOK at the BAD GUY!, no, just kidding, but look back and say, yes, I stayed and now, I belong. I've always belonged.
George natural position is 2, so is Klay. I GUESS, if we do not get George next year, Klay is another option a year later.
I like Klay a great deal. He has a house in Dana Point; I think he makes the move if we have the space necessary financially.
Man... I'm going to do my best to play this out... IF the Lakers can shed Deng, Clarkson, and Randle without taking salary back... AND we waive our Bird Rights to Lopez, Nwaba, Brewer, and all our other expiring contracts... That would leave Ingram, Ball, Nance Jr., Zubac, Hart, Bryant, and Kuzma at about 22-23 million dollars. We'd have 79 million dollars to spend. We could then max out George and LeBron (just roll with me). Those two together are 63 million dollars. That leaves you 16 million to play with. Let's say they save it. Going into the summer of 2019, they'll have Ingram, Ball, Nance Jr., Zubac, Hart, Bryant, Kuzma, George, and LeBron at about 92 million-ish. That leaves only probably about 10 million. We could waive our rights to Larry Nance Jr. and make it about 15-16 million. Not enough to get Klay... In fact, I'm not sure how they could free up enough money to get to Klay. Ball and Ingram together are worth about 12-14 million, but to sign Klay to a max deal you'd need to free up even more than that. Not to mention Klay would have to look at LA and think, "That's better than Golden State" and I'm not sure that'd be true if we have to trade away Ingram/Ball/Nance Jr. and he's there playing with George/older LeBron/Zubac. We'll see though.
well, and if either of ball or ingram is "good but not great", you could s&t them for another star, too. just so much depends on the first domino.
I'll solve this one for you. Don't pay 35 year old LeBron 35 million dollars. Boom, problem solved. We play the 2018 season with George (and maybe another very solid free agent signing, not LeBron, not Westbrook, because not likely), then after the Warriors win their 3rd title in a row, Klay wants a larger role and to get paid, so he takes his 4 rings and walks away happy onto the next phase of his career in LA. GS starts to disband piece by piece after this, LeBron's game starts to fall off a cliff after his athleticism goes and because of like 100 Finals trips in a row, the Lakers start their rise.
Woj says Boston is going to shoot for Hayward/Griffin and then trade for George without an extension. They feel comfortable doing it and convincing him to stay in the process. Indiana feels Boston is the only team with the assets they want. For me that means moving on to finding ways to dump Deng. Do what it takes, but free up all available room. That way when FA hits, we tell George to grab whatever buddy he wants to come with him and we'll accommodate. If that's LeBron, let's roll. We've got the ability to make that dream come true. It's our only shot. I don't see a scenario where he signs an extension honestly. It would limit the amount of money he could earn. I could see him going to Boston and re-signing in the summer if things work out well for them though.
