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

When they traded for Brick, it’s like they got caught in a jet wash and no amount maneuvering can recover from that tailspin

 

not soon. but dallas isn't well-managed, so there's a chance he bolts or is traded near the end of that contract. you want to have some dry powder at that time.

you don't want to have emptied the possibility of trading 1sts because you needed to finish 7th this year.

 

Mark Cuban will never trade Luka to us.

Never.

 

Mavs roster is worse than ours, and that's saying a lot.

 

he might if luka tells everyone he's walking in FA to us. gotta keep that max slot open, just in case. huge leverage, especially when you're us. at least for now.

exactly. how long will he put up with it? luka strikes me as a guy who isn't going to meddle in management (won't tell them who to trade for, sign, etc.), but would definitely walk if they keep fumbling the roster around him. no way a guy that good should have to be dragging the team into the playoffs every year. we've seen several hit pieces about the lakers wasting lebron's golden years and nothing about a generational talent having to call dorian finney smith the next-best player on his team.

 

I thought that maybe this thread just kept piling up from several previous seasons from the early days of this forum. But just went back and checked, it actually started just a few weeks before the Russ debacle.

In fact the very first post:

“Barring any miracle that Rob pulls off, it is nearly impossible for the Lakers to get a third star so any talk about that is just an unrealistic hypothetical.”

Rob must have seen that and was like “Challenge accepted, I’ll ruin everything and bring in a $50 million former MVP!”

Sigh…

 

lol my first post in the thread:

 

the good ol' stepien rule

 

right. two that we can trade. if we trade those two, we have zero that we can trade. what element has every lopsided talent trade featured over the past two decades?

i don't care that we have picks to use. i care that we have them to trade. i'd never use any, tbh. reaves and christie are as good as most late lotto/mid 1sts.

there is no myth about the picks. if we trade these two, we don't have any to trade for a while. and no, we can't bank on being able to flip whatever we trade these for into future 1sts.

the people who keep tweeting the 6 picks stuff are being intentionally misleading, imo. they know better and just want to rile people up.

ask them to build the donovan mitchell package out of those supposed 6 picks.

 

I don’t understand the “Rob’s not a fault for making the Westbrick trade” camp.
He’s the GM.
It’s his job to not make dumb trades which set back the Franchise multiple seasons.

 

Rob also didn’t assemble that team. He did complete the trade for AD which was one in which he was literally bidding against no other GM.

 

Rob is the GM because having him around makes it feel like Kobe is still around. I think the big challenge for Jeanie is to reject the nostalgia for previous eras of this franchise (embodied by Rob, Phil, Rambis, etc.) and reimagine the franchise for the current day. The league has changed, team building is way more difficult now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. You have to be able to win on the margins AND attract the top talent.

 

IMO that’s a simplistic look at it in a vacuum with no 2 superstars on your roster who just won you a ring a year and a half earlier who are really pushing for it. Plus the taking some of the load off LeBron handling the ball still angle they tried to accomplish the season prior with Schroeder. And the “hope” Russ could help carry the team if one or the other goes down for a limited time. Did it turn out that way … no.

 

I'm starting to realize there probably won't be Westbrook trade. We are the exact type ot team that Russ should be on, considering the the fact that tanking is not an option for us. Basically, Russ ( the player, not the contract) is likely worth far more to is than any other team. Since other teams view him as just am expiring deal, we would have to pay more than we would other wise. Might not be the correct decision for us. As mentioned on various media outlets, the Lakers will most likely make a smaller deal. I'm thinking the player in this deal must be relatively young. Charlotte is looking to sign Bridges to an extension, and Washington is going to hit restricted free agency. Add fo the fact that they may be looking to tank the season, we may be able to strike a deal with them. I'm thinking Beverly/Nunn/Jones, 2023 Bulls 2nd (projected #34), 2025 Lakers 2nd, and 2027 Lakers 2nd for Rozier. Charlotte could use the salary relief and the increased tankability. If push comes to shove, Lakers could trade a protected 27 or 29 1st.

 

Right. If those same two Superstars were great at properly identifying a perfect fit, we wouldn’t have had to endure these TWO miserable seasons.
It’s not their job to be great at this- it’s Rob’s. That’s what he gets paid the big bucks to do. Some of the blame obviously is on LeBron and AD, but part of Rob’s job is to not be swayed by others- especially if their wish destroys the depth of a formerly good team.

 

There is no way we give up a First for Rozier. I would love that deal for the seconds, though.