2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

Like @karacha said, who's willing to take the gamble on someone who can die on national TV with millions watching? If he was capable of putting up 20/20 I don't take that risk. Even if he's wanting to be reckless, I hope no one picks him up... they don't need to do that to his family. He needs protection from himself at this point. Not to mention having a teammate die on the court will ruin your season. No one's head will be in the game after that one.

 

Better that then bringing Beverly to the Lakers.

 

I don't know his exact health status but the league itself won't sign off on it without Dr consent. If a Dr is willing to put his name on the line and say LA is good to go who am I to argue? I did stay at a holiday Inn express though so just maybe...

 

Rondo also allows Nunn to move to the 2 in case we have an injury there. But like you, I don't want him taking Nunn's minutes - I want him to cover Westbrook/Nunn in case of injury. Also I'd like to rest Westbrook on back to backs, so he'll get a couple of games that way as well.

 

You're right, Gasol and Howard don't look amazing holding down the 5 in a vacuum. But I'd be happy to have both play 15-20 mins. Which leaves 8 to 18 mins for AD, who should dominate most 5's. Come the playoffs I expect AD to play 30 mins there.

The truth is, there is no replacing Lebron or AD like for like. But having a third star in Westbrook allows us to lose one of them to injury and still be a contender. If we lose two of them, bad luck - no team is recovering from that. This is our 3/4/5 options:

3: Lebron/Bazemore/Ariza/THT
4: AD/Lebron/Melo/Ariza
5: AD/Howard/Gasol

If AD goes down, we ramp up Howard/Gasol's minutes to 24 each and probably bring up someone from the G League. If Lebron goes down, we let Westbrook take the wheel and play through it.

AD has an equal mismatch at the 5 against 90% of teams. Him at the 5 allows us to play with more spacing, making both Lebron and Westbrook more dangerous. I agree with @TIME. Lebron at the 4 against any of those guys is more than a match and I'm not sure any of the backup PF's 'roast' Melo - especially not on the block where Melo plays his best man defence. People seem to forget that Melo isn't some small guy, he has the weight and height to play against PFs.

If a team is running isolations on the block with Horford/Portis/Morris/Gordon/Saric against Melo, we'll be laughing. I think what we'll see in reality, is Melo will take some of these guys to the elbow and post and put a few buckets on them when we want to slow down the game or he has a hot hand. The real danger with Melo is guards will hunt him for switches. It'll come down to our defensive concept to protect him from that.

 

I prefer Wes, but will gladly welcome Ennis. Best wing left on the market.

 

It's actually even a stronger Twitter connection than just that one like. If you look at his likes, he's liked 6 tweets this month from people telling him to come to the Lakers. Only the Lakers and Magic likes from him.

 

Giving up points at a high percentage is being roasted. I don't expect him to be playing more than 20 min or so, At that min level, 10 points is being roasted. If Melo can consistently score 10 pts or more, it won't be an issue.

 

I fully expect our bench of Nunn, Monk, THT, Ariza, Melo & Howard to be one of the top 10 benches in the league. I believe we won't be giving up too many leads when the starters are sitting. So, I see this as a non issue.

Will Melo be scored on? Yes. Will he score an equivalent number of points? Probably yes. As a good defensive team, we should be able hide him on D and then let his great shooting benefit us.

 

There not going to run sets against Melo but they will take advantage of him in the post if the opportunity presents itself. That's called playing smart.

You're also right there's no replacing Bron or AD if they're hurt which proves my point even more why we need another big instead of a wing.

 

Marc Stein reported that Marc Gasol is not a lock to return to the Los Angeles Lakers this upcoming season.
Stein also mentioned that “t’s not yet clear if that means Gasol is poised to be set free to play elsewhere in the NBA or if he would ultimately opt to finish his career in his home country like brother Pau.” Gasol said he would return to the Lakers back on August 3, but maybe he’s having a change of heart. He’s getting up there at 36 years of age but looks like he’ll have enough gas in the tank to finish out his two-year deal with L.A. and try to win a championship with the revamped Lakers roster. He won’t be a viable fantasy option regardless of where he ends up, for what it’s worth.

SOURCE: Marc Stein
Aug 21, 2021, 8:46 PM E

 

Lol, you're a Free Agent, people are saying for you to go to the Lakers. Of course you like those posts right?

Melo is good defending at the post, I don't understand why are you focusing on the one play he can actually defend

 

There’s currently a article on RealGM indicating Cleveland is looking for wing players and are dangling Larry Nance Jr. and their 2022 pick to get something in return.

There’s nothing of value the Lakers could offer Cleveland, but the thought was Larry Nance would fit perfectly with this Lakers squad in terms of what we need from a role player.

Athletic 4/5 player who can defend, and his mid range jumper has improved.

 

this is what i was referring to in my previous post. melo's like harden in that the last thing you want to do is go at him in the post. pretty much anything else is a better idea, for many reasons.

if you can put 4 guys who defend out there with him, you can create schemes that minimize his shortcomings on defense (like harden's teams have forever).

 

There's 28 other teams other than us and the Magic. I assume those teams have fans. I assume most of them have access to Twitter. I assume several of those teams are interested in wing depth. I assume all of those teams are interested in a 3 point shooter.

The fact that we've been linked to having interest in him and that interest is mutual... seems like a matter of time before both parties swipe right.

The fact that during free agency he's ONLY liked posts about the Magic keeping him or him signing with us suggests that he either wants to come here or stay there for stability. He's 31 and has already been on 7 teams. He's seen some of his greatest personal success with the Magic. I get why running that back would be appealing, as well.

 

I kept posting his incredible dunk gifs saying the same thing couple weeks ago. Maybe the FO there will go insane and buy him out.

 

I like this 12 man roster, I think we are pretty set at guard. I don't really see the need for another PG. Westbrook is an elite player, he's going to play heavy minutes. Nunn has been the starter, in 111 of the 123 career games he's played. The kid avg 30 min a game. Then we have Lebron, who regardless of listed position, is still in the top 3 of facilitators in the league. Why do we need a 4th PG? He is not going to play here barring an injury. Given his injury history, and general lack of interest in regular season games, Rondo could be an emergency option I guess. He wouldn't be a priority though IMO. I like the 2 guard situation too, Ellington is a high pct 3 point shooter, but he is not the traditional catch and shoot guy like KCP. He moves well, he uses screens and he can hit that shot off the dribble. Monk is an explosive, off the dribble guy as well. I like guys that can hit the three, but also have the ability to drive and score if you close out on them. Then we have Talen, his main attribute at the moment, is his ability to attack off the dribble. I look for his jumper to improve this season. This backcourt seems extremley solid to me.
It's the 4/5 where the age becomes a factor IMO. Of course AD is in his prime, if he's healthy some concerns are negated. AD is going to play 40 mins in the playoffs, so we could get by as is. Still, Gasol, Howard, Melo and Ariza, are all a bit long in the tooth at this point. Everyone isn't Lebron James, a guy that spent millions on taking care of his body. Most NBA players start to fall off the cliff by age 35-36. This is why Millsap is an iffy proposition IMO. That being said, a higher level player ages better than most(unless he is coming off of a major injury) theoretically...if these guys don't log heavy minutes, they can still be a potent group. It will be interesting to see the final roster after training camp. Roster spots 13-15 are usually filled by emergency depth or development projects. I'd like to see a young big and another wing with size, added to the team.