2024/2025 Depth Chart

Thought this will be a common thread during the next weeks

Current Roster (17)

DLo (PO) | Gabe | Dinwiddie (UFA) | JHS
Reaves | Knecht | Max | Bronny
Vando | Prince (UFA) | Reddish (PO) | Lewis
LeBron | Rui
AD | Hayes (PO) | Wood

There's only 15 roster spots

Prince is gone
DLo or Dinwiddie, we can't keep both
We have 3 guys with guaranteed spots on JHS, Lewis and Bronny who likely won't contribute.
AD, Bron, Reaves, Rui, Vando, Gabe, Knecht, Max and DLo/Dinwiddie are our core rotation (9 guys).

For each addition to the squad we need to lose Hayes, Wood, Reddish and maybe one or two of the 3 kids. We may have to pay 2nd rounds just to empty roster spots.


Would Hornets accept JHS + Wood for Nick Richards?

 

Oh boy, it's been awhile...

Gabe, JHS, Bronny
Reaves
Vando, Max Lewis, Knecht
Lebron, Rui
AD, Wood

I'm assuming Reddish and Hayes are gonna opt in.
I would have brought Prince back but kind of iffy on it now after drafting Knecht.
Would like Dinwiddie back for a back up PG role.
Bringing Max Christie is a must.
Would like DLo to opt in so we can use that salary for a trade but with the roster crunch it might be better for him to walk and open up the MLE(?) for us.

Willing to package out Gabe, JHS, Rui and Wood for PG/C improvements.
Gabe and Rui for Schroder and DFS? JHS for Nick Richards? Split the MLE(?) between Dinwiddie and Christie

Schroder, Dinwiddie, Bronny
Reaves, Christie, Reddish
Vando, Knecht, Lewis
Lebron, DFS, Wood
AD, Richards, Hayes

Thats far from a sexy roster but new CBA rules and crazy trade market might limit us a lot.

 

note that we don't use MLE on christie. there are situations where there could be conflict between using mle and re-signing christie, but we won't need to use it on him.

if i'm assuming that trades for guys like jerami grant and dejounte murray are out (and i pretty much am), then moving rui for stewart and 2nd rounders, letting dlo walk, and using the mle to sign tobias harris. then move gabe/vando/jhs for DFS/schroder (riffing on above). dinwiddie takes vet min for the early bird rights and a guarantee of big minutes?

dinwiddie/schroder/bronny
reaves/christie/lewis
harris/DFS/knecht
lebron/wood
AD/stewart

i *think* that keeps us out of apron trouble? i'm guessing max is 2/14 with a player option on year 2 in this scenario.


i actually have too many ideas right now. as some things start getting sorted out, it will be easier. not knowing what dlo, reddish, and hayes are doing makes it hard for me to game it out.

 

We're in the 1st apron so we can't get more salary than we give (so Richards for JHS) wouldn't work.

@abeer3 yeah, it's still too soon to make projections, too many chips to fall, starting with those 3 (4 with Bron) POs.

I think Cam and Hayes know that if they pick them up, they're likely being traded some place, which can be bad for them. They aren't guaranteed to stay in the league so they would benefit from controlling where they land next year instead of spending a season at the end of the bench of some random team.
I bet their agent has already scouted the market, so if they pick up the PO is because there's no takers available and they want to secure the (mini)bag and figure it out later.

I see value in Hayes as the 3rd center, but Wood picked up his option already so I would be fine with Wood on that role too, although preferring Hayes

 

i think wood's shown he's a 4, not a 5. i'd honestly try him at 3 before the 5 again, lol. wood's an extremely poor man's AD.

 

As of right now (Assuming Lebron, Dlo, Hayes, and Wood opt-in):

PG: Russell / Vincent / JHS
SG: Reaves/ Knecht / Bronny
SF: Vanderbilt / Christie / Lewis
PF: James/ Hachimura/ Reddish
C: Davis / Wood / Hayes

Roster is currently full, and projected payroll is $189,409,499 with Max Christie theoretically signing a deal starting at 7 million. (A hair under the second apron of $189,485,000). Consolidation trades should be done to address this and other needs. Lebron also could take a haircut, but unlikely. This roster did not change much from last season, but the Lakers were terrific with a healthy Vando in the starting lineup. The bench also gets a boost with Knecht and Christie. Knecht could be in ROTY and/or 6th man of the year consideration and Christie will finely get playing time. Also hopefully Gabe and Wood are healthy now.

 

Yeah I don't like Wood at 5 either

I was thinking regarding Cam and Hayes. Any team willing to give him a contract this offseason would rather let him pick up the PO and collect a 2nd rounder or two rather than signing him as a FA

 

Looks like we are fully running it back

Do you go Vando or Rui?
Vando is the best fit imo, to allow DLo and Reaves. But Rui plays better starting, he needs a lot of touches to start becoming comfortable in a game.
I still go Vando though. We need scoring from the bench. We either bring Rui or DLo from the bench for scoring.

DLo | Gabe | JHS
Reaves | Knecht | Bronny
Vando | Max | Reddish | Lewis
Bron | Rui | Wood
AD | Hayes

We have a strong 7 with Gabe and Rui. That's 7 solid, good players. Then at least one of Max or Knecht break out and it's a playoff rotation.
It's really thin, our 3rd string is non-NBA

Minutes split:
35 Bron, AD
30 DLo, Reaves
25 Rui, Vando
20 Gabe
15 Max, Knecht
10 Hayes

 

So basically FO is hoping that Max/Knecht are going to be better than TP/Spencer Dinwiddie (probably). I mean maybe, but right now it seems like we got a little bit worse. We desperately need a big. Wood and Hayes are not going to cut it.

 

Our roster sure is depressing at the moment:

Allstars:

Lebron
AD

Fringe Allstars:
-

Starting Quality:
Reaves

Rotation Players:
DLO
Rui
Gabe
Vando

Deep Bench:
Max
Reddish
Hayes
Wood

Just not a lot of talent. DLO and Gabe are like 7th men on most teams with Rui and Vando as 8th-10th guys.

 

Continuity and fresh coaching will carry the day and of course Roadhouse Knecht

 

Maybe we see Max, Reddish and Knecht break into the rotation players. But I can’t see any of them becoming more than that this next year.

Grant probably makes the most sense as an upgrade - he is a borderline all star in a good year and starting quality on a regular year. So if we can condense 2-3 players for 1 with a trade and a single first round pick - I probably do that.

 

Man its a little depressing writing the roster out

DLo, Gabe, JHS, Bronny
Reaves, Max
Vando, Knecht, Reddish, Lewis
Lebron, Rui, Wood
AD, Hayes

Just get me a freaking back-up Center... ugh

 

mostly agree--but if dlo's not starting quality, i think there are fewer than 150 starting quality nba players, right? the pendulum has swung too far here, imo. like, maybe way too far.

 

What’s with all the DLo hate 18 pts 41% from 3 where can you get that production for 18 and change

 

After Baylor won in Minneapolis, the Lakers have not produce a ROTY in LA. How glorious would it be if Connect 4 does it, I mean this feels like a Brogdon type year.

 

Knecht is tied for 5th from the oddsmaker +1200

 

Yeah I guess that’s how I see it, 30ish all stars, + 30ish borderline guys, + another 90-120 starters, 150 rotation guys and the rest are bench/deep bench guys. I mean there are only what 500-550 nba players any given season? That’s not outrageous to say 150-200 are starter quality or above.

D’Angelo is probably a starter based off those figures, he would be somewhere in that 100-200 best players in the league depending on who you ask. But I think he is probably best suited to a 6th man microwave scorer role and not as your starting PG.

 

I don’t dislike DLO per se, I just think he can be made ineffective when teams game plan for him. So in the playoffs he gets played off the floor. Unfortunately his athleticism isn’t good enough and even though he is a decent shooter and has above average IQ it’s not enough offensively.

Then he doesn’t bring enough on the defensive side of the floor to make up for it.

 

I guess you could argue that we got slightly better since we don’t have Ham (addition by subtraction), hopefully Vanderbilt and Gabe will actually be able to play, and we have more continuity.

But I don’t buy it. The West is getting better. Lebron and AD getting older and just seems unlikely we’ll be blessed by as healthy of a season as last season

For my own sanity, I can’t really look at any of these current depth charts. We HAVE to make some moves