I think the 'lakers have moved up the list' talk is just to get SA to make some moves to show they are serious...hope i'm wrong...
Hmmm will a sign and trade work between Portland and San Antonio? Probably something based around Tiago and LMA I'd imagine.
if that means we're not trading Russell AND Randle to appease a guy who doesn't want to play some out of position for the good of the team then I'm happy.
Really not that upset if we don't land LMA. Of the available Free Agents, he'd no doubt give us the best chance of being a strong playoff team this season, but I feel like there are smarter ways to build the team. With LMA's age, I'm sure the pressure would be on to build a team to win right now. We'd end up trading away most/all of our young talent. I'm not against the concept of trading young players for vets to contend, I just don't think this is the right situation for that approach. It's not like the Cavs situation where adding Lebron guaranteed they would be contenders, so they could afford to gamble with Wiggins for Love. We'd be better off adding younger Free Agents that will either be stars in their prime in a couple of years or atleast still valuable trade assets. That way we have atleast 1 season to see if Russell and Randle are cornerstones, what type of improvement Clarkson and Black make, and have a chance to add that player that makes us instant contenders next summer. KD is the obvious best case scenario, but if some of our young guys live up to their potential to be elite offensive players, a couple elite defenders might be what it takes to put us over the top. Bottom line, we don't know what we have or need yet, and if we sign LMA I think we'll rush to make moves before we find out. And I'm not confident in LMA as the best player on a championship team.
Well he isn't doing what Gasol is by not talking to anyone else and I doubt he's going to shorten his summer vacation to fly around the country having lunch with suits for no reason. If it were mild interest he could just have his agent talk to teams. So Portland is maybe still in the mix as far as what he told Oshley but there is likely some truth in the other reports as well. Can't do a S&T to a team if they are over the cap after the trade is complete. That is not likely an option for the Spurs. The Spurs have to try to trade Splitter and take nothing back, amongst many other things and try to sign LA outright.
yeah, not sure why he's meeting with 7 teams if only two are really in the running. I do think there's been too much smoke about la and sa for there not to be fire there. same about him likely leaving Portland. I mean, staying is always the likeliest outcome, so to have so many people hear that he's leaning the other way probably indicates that he is.
Not only all of the people talking, but the moves Portland has made. Trading Batum for a downgrade in Henderson attached to Vonleh.
Yeah I think we're all up in the air. Obviously Woj is the best in the biz and I think floating our name really is a means to get more from everyone BUT that doesn't mean we're out of the picture or we're JUST leverage. The Lakers have a max slot, he'd be by far the biggest name on the team besides Kobe, and we'd be extremely reliant on him to be the one leading these kids forward. Even if we're used as leverage at first, the fact that we've got a meeting and we're first gives Mitch a chance to get our bid in there. There's a lot of positives to what we've got going right now. Will that be enough? I don't know. I know we don't have to shuffle/lose a lot of role players to make this deal happen. I know we've got a young core that can help Aldridge moving forward and we'd still have flexibility in getting other pieces as well. Last year we made a huge impression on Carmelo when he didn't even really want to give us a meeting. This year Mitch and Jeannie have said they're feeling more comfortable and confident in the process. I think we've got a shot here. Free Agency is incredibly fluid. We're hearing different things from different sources, but I think there's good reason to be optimistic.
One of the top franchises in the NBA, gret location, young talent, and a lot of money to spend next year, of course we should be attractive to Aldridge and anyone else for the matter.
Stein, Shelburn, and Sources all say that the Lakers are in the mix... It's a lot of voices against Woj's... A battle for the ages!
