2023-24 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Hell NO..Rui shouldn't be included in any trades.

 

I think Rui's contract was exactly to get him traded. He's a one trick pony, he doesn't do more than scoring. He's nice and can definitely fit a contending team but he's meant to be a bench scorer, which makes him expandable if you're trading him for a superstar.

 

I'm going to disagree with that take wholeheartedly. One trick pony my a**!! You will all learn this season!!!

 

I would not touch that trade with a 10' pole. I see that as giving up way too much. 3 prospects, a former all star PG, and a blossoming rotation player who can play off the ball and fit any scheme? I would just say pass. I like having the depth currently given the injury situation in the NBA.

 

Whoa …. just saw some X/Twitter news pop up on my phone about Bynum (our Bynum??) and someone else being charged with some kind of fraud scam. But when I clicked on it I was asked to sign in to X, and I’ve never set that up yet as so annoyed with the whole Musk takeover thing. Usually otherwise I can still read things. Anyone have this info?

 

I said before that Chicago has 4 players who could help (AC, LaVine, DD, Vuc) and at least 3 of them will be linked here this year. We have the salaries to do some multi-player deal there, but we would give up way too much on our end.

In order of want:
1) AC
2) Vuc - with the rebounding issues we've had this year, I think he could be an interesting addition
3) DD - bucket getter, not afraid of moment, has talked about nearly being a Laker for what seems like five years now.
4) LaVine - I just don't think he's a winning basketball player. Doesn't defend, makes more than he's worth, and has injury concerns.

I'd take AC or AC + Vuc/DD. But to get more than one guy from them, we're offering up more than I think the return is worth.

I'd be willing to give Gabe, Prince, Hayes/Wood (if you get Vuc back), possibly JHS, and DLO only if his production falls off a cliff by the deadline. Just not a combo of guys there that works for what I'd ask from the Bulls.

Only one that makes sense for us is Gabe + pick for AC. I think Bulls will get better than that elsewhere. Why would they want Gabe's 3 year deal?

 

Didn't hear anything about Bynum in that, only Baby Davis today

 

Draymond suspended 17 time in his career.Why he only got 5 games

 

Agree with all.

I also add what some of you are probably already tired of reading from me: I want to save those picks for the post-Lebron era. He'll leave for free and no superstars hit Free Agency nowadays, so we need those picks to get the next all-star.
We just put ourselves in that position this year so I wouldn't blow it in Zach. He's an entertaining player but his contract and postseason record hints that he's not it.

We have to understand that whatever player we trade now for those picks, put us without assets for a big trade until 2028, at least, due to the Stepien Rule.
I understand media beating the drum on it for engagement and content creators for views, but I trust Rob knows what he's doing

 

Is it Drew? I only saw Big Baby Davis

 

I’m only interested in getting Caruso back.
The rest are just meh, for what we would have to give up.

 

NO!! Whew! Just remembered to check. Will Bynum.

 

yeah I didn’t think our Drew would do that, he was a smart kid

 

Steven A Smith on Draymond Green's suspension: 'The league has become soft as toilet paper'


Steven A. Smith stood up for Golden State forward Draymond Green , who received a 5-game suspension after a brawl in a match with Minnesota.

“The league has become soft as toilet paper.

Perhaps the problem is me. But I'm not calling the players soft, I'm talking about a league that imposes its own rules on the players. Heck, you could get kicked off for looking at someone the wrong way

I think Greene was punished too harshly and people overreacted. Yes, he grabbed his neck and held him for a very long time. This is true. He deserves a 2-3 match suspension. But don’t treat him like a criminal and suspend him for a long period of time,” Smith said.

7 of Draymond Green's last 11 ejections came in games where Steph Curry didn't play.


After Golden State power forward Draymond Green was ejected against Minnesota, Rudy Gobert said, "Every time Steph misses a game, Green doesn't want to play without Curry, so he does everything he can to get him ejected."

Green has been ejected 18 times since starting his NBA career in 2012, according to Spotrac. The first seven came in matches in which Curry took part.

The first time Green was sent off and Curry did not play occurred on November 11, 2019. Curry was absent at the time due to a broken arm. As a result, Green received a couple of technical fouls in a meeting with Utah, Rudy Gobert was playing for them at that time.

Including Green's ejection on Tuesday, seven of the last 11 ejections have come in games in which Curry did not play.

 

Not interested in DeRozan and Vuc. I think DeRozan is a poor fit with LeBron and AD offensively, and defensively he's pretty weak and doesn't provide what we need from that third frontcourt player now that LeBron is giving even less effort on that end for large stretches of games. It's largely the same with Vuc, although he's a better fit offensively. There's always been this idea that a floor-spacing 5 that doesn't protect the rim much like Vuc can work next to defensive 4 like AD, but I feel like that actually hasn't worked in reality.

I love Caruso. We all love Caruso. I'd be stoked if he was back on the team. But he's missed a lot of games the last few years and his limitations on offense may be a little tougher to work around now than they were in 2020 and 2021 with slightly diminished versions of LeBron and AD on offense. Say we get him and we want to close games with Caruso/Reaves/LeBron/Rui/AD. We already struggle with our halfcourt offense, it may be tough to go blow-for-blow with a team like Denver in a playoff series down the stretch of games with that level of shooting. Obviously he adds a ton on defense, he's one of the best guard defenders in the league.

I really like LaVine's fit here offensively. He's dynamic with the ball and is a career 38% three-point shooter with a decent chunk of those coming off the dribble (he's only at 33% so far this year, but I think that will tick up toward his career average). Defensively, he's shown flashes of solid play on that end but he's not cut out to be a primary point of attack guy. Ultimately, I'm not sure the point of attack defense concern with this team is something we'll be able to fix directly with a player addition, we may just need to hope Vando mitigates it enough and hope that an actually engaged LeBron will give us enough size and activity on the back end to make up for it. The obvious LaVine trade is DLo/Rui/pick(s) but giving up a solid wing to upgrade at the guard spot makes me uneasy, and I think someone like the Knicks outbids that offer with more draft capital. The ask from Chicago is probably then to add Reaves, which makes me even more uneasy.

 

The problem for Chicago is Lavine's contract - he has negative value I bet in a lot of teams eyes. Yes he got talent but he's doesn't necessarily make teammates better, not a great defender and he ends up taking a huge amount of your cap.

It might not take much to get him which says a lot (i.e. I think the Lakers would laugh at Reaves and tell Chicago to add Caruso to just be able to dump that contract). He's a a 40 million a year cap hit

 

Latest from Buha on the LaVine/DD/AC rumors

 

Two of our biggest problems are offensive rebounding and three-point shooting. Vanderbilt coming back would help mitigate the offensive rebound problems but worsen the three-point shooting even more. It is imperative that the Lakers improve their three-point shooting. Dlo seems like our best one right now, since he is a high volume guy. However, he is still only 35% and is constantly mentioned in trade rumors. Reddish is shooting well, but I'm not sure about the sustainability of that. Also, I don't think Cam has the kind of respect around the league as a shooter to maximize gravity/spacing. The Vincent signing seems like a mistake, so his contract going out could be viewed as addition by subtraction. Lakers need to look into getting some shooters. They have been linked to LaVine for some time now, and he does traditionally provide 40% + three-point shooting. But if we ship out Dlo/Gabe, it would seem Ham would not be ecstatic about that. Also, would the Lakers be okay without having a traditional PG in the starting lineup?

 

No way you take on Lavine without getting Caruso as well. Lavine is a very nice fit on the Lakers the 3 point shooting and athleticism fixes a lot of the problems the Lakers have with the current scouting report of pressure the Lakers and get on the break but you need a guy to replace the ball handling and who can actually fix the perimeter defense.

It's really tempting to see how the team would look with this version of Reddish and Caruso together with AD/Lebron and whatever combo of Lavine or Reaves you want to throw in there in terms of the matchups