Anthony Davis Discussion: Thanks For The Ring AD!!!

@Cookie I actually value Tania's reporting alot and even in here new article it does imply, that we had a plan in place for an official August deal, but when it fell apart, we had to rework the initial deal aka scramble to involve salary that would take the place of the 7.1m the 4th pick would (je with Moe, Bonga, JJ 4.9m now taking its place).

 

AD's comfort is SOOOOOOOOOOO important to Lebron that he is giving up the #23 jersey and letting AD wear it.

 

We have no way of knowing whether Pelinka had the WAS deal in place already or if he "scrambled" to get the WAS deal after ATL said "no" to delaying the trade.

I think what it comes down to is this...whether we had it in place or not, Rob got it done. Sure, we could have delayed the deal but that became unrealistic once a 3rd team became involved, which Griffin told us would be the case likely. Rob was good with that and thought he could get that team to take on what we had...but ATL said no and so Rob goes to plans C and D...which I believe he likely had lined up anyway.

 

And a starring role in Space Jam 2 could be waiting for Kawhi.

 

This was brought up on Around the Horn about how LeBron giving up his number to AD and AD waiving his trade bonus are signals to a player like Kawhi that they're both sacrificing to make this happen and that's what Kawhi can expect if he joins the lakers. It's about making a sacrifice to be GREAT for a long time and dominate the league.

 

@Cookie @fabfourlakers Yall really don't like that "scramble" word huh haha. Meanwhile I absolutely love it.

If we have a good indication that a max guy is coming, then suddenly the 4th gets traded and ATL does not want to assist us, then s***, I'm scrambling to find that 3rd team to get this deal done if the Pels are not willing to take Moe, Bonga and JJ themselves. The Wiz took in an additional 3.5m (4.9m if they don't waive JJ's nonguaranteed deal) and the Wiz did that knowing they are capped out and in danger of paying the tax, so maybe Simmons does get waived in addition to Jabari and we can exploit that. That's my hope.

But a couple things make this appear as not part of some grand plan: JJ didn't have to be part of the deal. He's a throw-in but not necessary for salary matching. If the plan is 3max guys on the roster, you want cheap contracts...you're not throwing them in if you don't have to. We also added another 2nd rounder to do so. So now for those keeping count, we don't have a 2nd rounder till 2023 (THT trade cost us '20, Svi trade cost us '21, and this addendum to the AD trade cost us '22). Again, we are looking for cheap help on a team that has 3max player for the foreseeable future, so why punt 2nd rounders as part of your "plan"?

Again, I'm not trying to nit-pick with Rob, but why are so many of you guys going over the top with Rob selling it as God's Plan? If the plan is 3max, renounce Caruso and Williams, cause they'll just get in the way. The 32m already accounted for Moe, Bonga and JJ with all our other free agents renounced. So why trade those cheap contracts, yet add to the cap space we have with Caruso's QO?

And if the contingency is that we can't get a max guy by dividing that 30m+ in space among 3 guys, then why not just hold onto Moe, Bonga, JJ and have AD cut into our cap space to still allow us about 28M in cap space to further round out the roster around Bron and AD. You just shed 3 guys on the cheap so that you can add a cumulative 2.2m in cap space (when considering 3 additional incomplete roster charges). So gaining 2.2m to divvy among lower tier guys seems like an inefficient route to me.

If this is a plan, it lacks finesse, which has been my argument from the jump.

Many here argued that Jules/Zu were dropped for nothing and if Kawhi now occupies that space then its all good. However, at the very least we could have gotten a few future 2nd rounders for them....that you know helped replenish the stock we lost till 2023.

All this "scrambling" better be for Kawhi, Butler, Klay, Kyrie or KD (on a Boogie type discount), cause if its not...its not really that great of a plan.

Y'all know my schtick. I play devil's advocate. When the majority goes, this way, I try to go the other way to at least give yall a different perspective. But if all this leads to Kawhi, then I'll join the majority in that it was a well executed plan. But is it the most efficient? Considering that we could have had a max like Kawhi, kept Moe, Bonga, JJ and some of those 2nd rounders and still offer AD his entire trade kicker (if not bring in about 4.3m in additional salaried players) means our current plan was not fully exploited.

But I guess we can all chalk that up to a Laker tax.

 

Rob’s been criticized more than any exec that immediately comes to mind. I think guys are just relieved that the worst of the narratives on him are offbase and he can get deals done.

I’m also not sold he overpaid. I feel like we got a Lambo for a bunch of Honda civics and maybe a mustang or something. Serviceable players if they stay healthy but definitely replaceable.

Davis was more than worth it.

 

Bud, hate to say this but you're nit-picking at this juncture. I think we got what we needed to get done and now, we go into the Kawhi pitch with max cap space, LeBron, AD, Kuz and the whole city of LA waiting for him. What better way to stick it to Pop than to end up on the Lakers after they traded you to Toronto and you WON anyway?

 

right...we're splitting hairs about freaking mo wagner, bonga, and jemerrio jones? all of whom will be replaced by better players making even less money, i'm guessing.

there were multiple plans in place, only one of which involved delaying the trade--which was always a long shot. rob knew that.

vash is just mad that it looks like he backed the wrong horse.

 

I readily admit, the only reason i had faith in Pelinka is the fact that he was able to remain Kobe's agent all those years.

 

Vash, probably.

 

Davis leveraged like crazy to get here....he got his behind the scenes old man to get involved. That should tell you just how bad those killers at Klutch are.

There is a Lakers tax and I'm not debating that, but if the grand plan is 3max players (and oh what a plan it is...I've been on that plan from the jump), then you need some valued cheap labor to remain past the purge. If Kuz is the only guy, its great but not the ridiculous homerun I was expecting with the leverage Klutch gave us.

The #1 pick that was gifted to Nawlins threw a wrench in our leverage ploy, but then that #4 came to us and kind of evened it out again. Lets say, Pels remain at around 8 and we remained at 11....if the Pels were looking for a star, we might have had a hard time getting an AD deal done. But with Zion already in their bag, they had their star and it was easier fro them to let AD go imho.

When the deal was first announced I was completely fine with it...we gave up alot of 1st rounders but I really though it was to grease the wheels to delay the deal till August. That pretty much guarantees us a max spot without all this drama we endured with the media these last couple weeks. It also meant we could offer AD his entire trade kicker which would allow us to give him a substantially higher extension in December, so that potentially eliminates any anxiety with him opting out next summer. Lastly, you get to keep cheap assets that you can use in further trades to round out the roster.

But instead, other than Kuz/THT/2020 1st, we're asset-less for the foreseeable future and if that 3rd max doesn't come, we're in trouble....cause lower tier free agents to take up that 32m doesn't seem like enough incentive for our other cheap assets to be lost over.

I'm hopeful tho and I do think Rob will win Exec of the Year, but there have been some hiccups on the way with or without Magic.

@fabfourlakers we had a max slot before the AD trade. I really don't think you guys get that. If we get a max player, we need to salary match AD's deal and JJ wasn't necessary in that deal. Why include a cheap deal in a trade that doesn't need it to be made legally? Recall trading a Zu for Mus when we had Moe? Recall including Zu in the deal to clear a roster spot when we could have just waived Beas to create a roster spot? This isn't the first time fine details are being overlooked...and that's my premise...finesse'n the cap...unfortunately that is nitpicking cause we're looking a few million being sacrificed that could make or break a max guy signing with us.

@abeer3 backed the wrong "horse"...stop being an a** haha. Trading Moe, Bonga, JJ make up 1/5 a full roster. By trading them, you essentially gained 2.2m in cap potential. So if we don't get a max guy, that's a waste for sending 3 out to gain 2.2m to spend on 3 lower tier replacements. That is not how you round out a roster efficiently, unless you're horsing around with it.

@Punk-101 stop being a punk haha

 

Fine. We should have spared Jemerrio Jones since he didn't need to be included. But if we get Kawhi, or heck even Kyrie, I never want to hear Jemerrio Jones name ever again.

When you look back at this 5 years from now, you won't be talking about how we didn't HAVE to include Jemerrio Jones in the deal...

Rob is getting it done one way or another and has given us at least a shot at getting a max guy. He may not have done it PERFECTLY or to your liking...but he's putting us in position to be MAJOR players in 3 days. If we strike out on everyone...you can give him some s*** and even THAT is going to be nit-picking because he still got us AD & LeBron...and it'll be on him to fill out roster with the right role players (and if he blows this again, I'll be hammering him like you are right now).

 

JJ needs to be included for the trade to be legal. Since the AD trade puts us over the cap, we cannot absorb any salary into what little cap space we'll have after signing a max free agent and instead must use an exception to complete the trade. That means the incoming salary must be within 125% plus 100k of the outgoing salary and hence JJ is necessary.

 

Because he didn't get the date thing right (the big lie) .... to stay in that max plan he would now have to scramble. Totally erroneous. Like I've been supposing all along this wasn't easy especially in the worst light possible. NO was OK holding off till August but someone else didn't cooperate with the "ideal plan". Atlanta wanted their prized rookie now so that option A was gone.