Sigh... I just feel like signing Love means we're not doing much else. A max contract for Love means a start at 20.2 million or so (which I think technically starts at the cap at around 19+ million... So what's the other cash go to? Rondo? I'm not sure I like that plan. But Love is a better FA draw than the guys I really want... If we do that... Man I swear if we've got to sit through another season of Wes Johnson starting for us I'm going to be so pissed off.
I actually disagree. I was talking about this with @RandleROFY . I think the injury does two things: 1. It makes him miss the playoffs over there so he's not going to have any real emotional connection there and 2. he's not going to want to opt in and risk further injury. Love is going to opt out. That doesn't mean he's leaving Cleveland, but I think he needs to lock down a contract just in case he injures himself again. The thing is though if he opts out I think LeBron pushes the Cavs to give a big contract to his homie Tristan Thompson which leaves Love out in the cold. Unless of course Cleveland is willing to max out both Thompson AND Love.
Meh .... it's just some writer bumping his gums. But I imagine after this past cold winter and all the cold winters in MN that Kevin might just be ready for some sunshine.
I think signing Love increases the chances of us grabbing Winslow, Hezonja, or Johnson with our pick. I just can't see us bringing Wes back.
Like I said, if we offer max, to anyone... We offer the max to younger players on the rise. Offer the max to Leonard, Middleton, Harris, Butler, Monroe. Guys like that, if it doesn't work, then you go after the LA, Love, and other stars. And still a big fat no to Rondo.
The problem with that is that most of those younger players are restricted. So while we wait a week for teams to match offer sheets, the UFAs may be gone.
I don't think we should go after restricted guys unless we have some solid intel that points to their team not resigning them.
I agree. I haven't been on the Love train for a while. Not only is he injury prone, but we improve at only one spot unless we are trading Randle for something. I know Randle can play sf in theory, but it could still go horribly wrong to where we can't even get anything for Randle in a trade. And I agree where signing Love kind of makes me think we are also signing Rondo. We would almost have to take WCS in this scenario as well so we have SOMETHING at center (unless we move up to get Towns or Okafor obviously). WCS (4)/Black(.9)/Upshaw or D. Johnson (1) Love (20)/Kelly (1.7)/Randle (3.2) Randle/Young (5.2)/Kobe (25) Kobe/Clarkson (.9)/Brown (.9) Rondo (?)/Clarkson/Price (1) That all equals 63.8, which leaves Rondo around 5 million, almost exactly what he will probably be getting on the open market. That team would probably finish 10th in the West. Three of our starters would probably miss at least 30 games a piece. Damn. If that's our front office's dream scenario, I hope we sign Robin Lopez and Carroll. Two role players.
Mitch plays everything so close to the vest, I'm not sure what their dream scenario is. I definitely don't think it's Cauley-Stein at #5 though with Love and Rondo... I think it's probably Mudiay with Marc Gasol or something. I obviously doubt that's realistic though... I'll circle back to this and try to build a competitive team with Love signing a max deal. Not because I want it... but because I have to prepare my brain for that possibility.
You can definitely build one if it's just Love. Adding Rondo complicates things though because that money could be used elsewhere. Honestly, Robin Lopez may be attainable for like 7 million. If that's the case, maybe you release Kelly and use the Rondo money with the Kelly money to attain Lopez. That allows you to grab Mudiay or Russell. Use cap holds for guys like Price as opposed to signing him for his full vet minimum until you sign Lopez and Love. Lopez/Upshaw/(cap hold) Love/Black Randle/Young/(room exception) Kobe/Brown Clarkson/Mudiay/(cap hold) I definitely like that team better than the Rondo team. But I still would prefer we sign Lopez and Carroll (or ideally Middleton or Harris). But that doesn't have the name "pop" that Love/Rondo has.
Here's the numbers: Kobe- 25 Young- 5.2 Randle- 3.1 Draft pick~ 4 Draft pick~ 1 Kelly- 1.7 Clarkson- .85 Black- .85 Brown- .85 + 4 Cap Holds- 2 = 44.55 Available Cap Space= 24.85 million roughly. Love's starting salary is technically supposed to be 20.22 million, but could end up being closer to 19.5 or so due to some kink in the system I don't quite understand. Let's round out to 20 million. If you add Love's salary that leaves us with only about 3.35 million to spend. We need to unload Young and Kelly if we want to clear some serious room. Assuming we're unable to do that, then we would have to find a suitable player for 3.35 million and there's really not that many I can think of for that price. Unless Ed Davis wants to bail us out, we're in a world of trouble.
Yeah. You're probably right. I doubt we can unload Young. Seems like we're stuck with him. To me, Love only makes sense if we land Okafor or Towns (or even WCS). We would be sooooo thin at the 5. Right now (assuming we don't pick up Hill's option) our center rotation is Black/Sacre. I like Black, but he is more of a pf. That center rotation is probably the worst I have ever seen.
Yeah I'm not sure where we'd go with that last bit of cash, but I don't think it'd be enough to keep Davis around... Maybe you can unload Kelly and our late 1st for a future 1st rounder to try to clear up space? Then you give Davis a 4/20 that starts out below 5 million? It's possible I guess. Randle/Young Love/Black Davis/Dakari Johnson? It'd be a really strange and fluid team...
Kinda speaks to my take on him leaving Cleveland. There's a lot of factors that seem to be pushing him out the door right now.
Options are limitless even you do sign Love; I'd venture to say we'll add another quality/impact player with Love. We'll be fine.
Not to me; options are limitless, and the the Lakers sign Love, the salary cap of the team won't matter as mush as the quality of the product on the floor. We almost ways operate over the cap. I don't discount it completely, but putting a quality product on the lot supersedes team salaries, IMO. That doesn't mean we spend money just to spend money, but it means we spend to add quite pieces and oftentimes pay into the luxury tax when we have contending teams. Additionally, with a rising salary cap, I am not as concerned about it as long as our team is built responsibly.
Are you guys for real? If Kevin Love, a 26 year-old franchise player that can average 25/12, is willing to come here, you don't turn him down for role players like Middleton or Lopez. You ink him to a max contract and worry about the rest later.
How about this? Toronto wants to blow it up. Lakers sign Love, add DeRozan in a trade (don't know the specifics of what would have to be sent out because I haven't thought about it), add a center through the draft, and you're good. You've added two all stars, a top 5 pick, and I'd potentially add a another wing on the cheap. Just throwing stuff out there..
