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

They're going to have to give up Reaves because I don't think they can land anyone decent from the buyout market. Those dudes ain't coming here when they can go to a title contender like Brookly, Chicago, Milwaukee, Golden State or Phoenix. The allure of playing with Lebron and the Lakers is gone. The trade market is the only way for us to try to improve this team this year and the Lakers are desperate need of help through a trade

 

^^Thats pretty much how I see it. I think even average guys who are tall would be a step up if we can get lucky in the buyout market.

Embarrassing losses like last night make me think we will trade whoever we have to outside if AD and LeBron to get better guys in here. I don’t think they are going to be patient.

 

we've had a roster problem all year, but consolidating all of our useful rotation players into one mammoth, unmovable contract is looking as dumb as i thought it was last summer.

honestly, i think it takes a bit for new players to learn vogel's defensive schemes, too, so i'm not sure what adding a bunch of bodies in february will do anyway.

this season's been over since about game 20 when it was clear things weren't coming together. and we've devalued our only trade asset in the process, so i'm sort of hoping for minimal changes at this point. let the FO and lebron and AD just marinate in the failure and do something better in july this time.

 

I like it.

 

We aren’t trading Reaves.

 

Agree ^^^ but that clip above doesn't hypothesize about including him. THT and Nunn plus 2027 1st (I think is what he's floating) .... for Christian Wood.

 

This season isn't over. James, Davis and Westbrook have played a whole 3 games straight together all season. Not to mention that Nunn hasn't played at all. As long as nobody is injured in May, I'm still confident going into any 7 games series. Hopefully our injuries are almost behind us. Guys are dropping on other teams left and right as we speak. Plenty of hoop left to be played.

 

I still say this...as much as folks pine over those guys from last season. We were still in the play in game with them. None of them were injured, and we still struggled to win any games without AD. So..I'm not convinced at all, that that squad was any better than this one. Unfortunately AD is out again, and some of the expected replacements got out of the gate late, one key piece is still awaiting his debut. The Lakers squad, is always going to be reliant on the big guns, it what it is. This team isn’t built for the role players to carry the load for a long stretch. Last year's bunch wasn't either.

 

That is a solid point.

 

Role players complement the stars and you only go as far as your stars take you. AD and Bron have not played like Top 5 NBA players since the Bubble.

In my opinion, these guys have surpassed Lebron and AD since Nov. 2020. In no particular order

Giannis
Jokic
KD
Luka
Curry
Embiid

They won in 2020 because BOTH Lebron and AD averaged 25ppg+ and Davis led the scoring in a couple of the playoff series too.

And defensively they have been inconsistent as well and thats where the lakers have been really hurting

 

Those guys have not surpassed LeBron. LeBron can physically and with his experience match or exceed all those players, still.

Where LeBron lacks, which is an overrated ability of his, is his BB intelligence. He makes really bad decisions when he doesn't have to. The shooting from 30 feet continuesly when up double digit. The constant passing to open players at the end of games when he should be taking the last shot or going to the basket. These are the instances the BB world has talked about for years about his mental fortitude. It didn't click with me until this last few months what that really meant.

I am not trying to put blame on LeBron here for this year's dud, but his mental game does have its issues. And those issues usually show themselves when he doesn't have to. That's the frustrating part.

His inability to wrangle problem players in without passive aggressiveness is also a generation thing. Back in the day, Jordan would embarrass you on the court, in practice to get you to play better. Now a days, you can't do that with the media coverage and the pussiness of society, so, here we are......

 

I'd say that Wood is the superior all around player, and he's only 26. Turner is the superior defensive player and he might be the best overall fit next to AD. However Grant might be the one that could be attained.

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm...er_id1=woodch01&p2yrfrom=2022&sum=0&request=1

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm...rfrom=2022&player_id2=grantje01&p2yrfrom=2022

 

Bron has spoken. 3 weeks til trade deadline? let the games begin.

 

Also

 

But that's the thing OX, he's 37 years old, he needs to play smarter and USE his teammates because teams have game planned for him and are making sure his physicality doesn't dominate games. Look at the Kings, they walled him off on offense inside and they dropped 70 in the paint against him. If you discourage him on defense, he's going to get rattled on offense and settle for long jumpers when the going gets tougher.

It all goes back to roster construction.

They gutted the roster and thought if we have a "Big 3" and did not consider fit, chemistry, continuity, style of play, etc. Put big names together and you have little to no money and flexibility to fill out the rest of the roster.

 

Wood is on an excellent contract too. He's a steal at 14 million.

 

You guys should read what Rocket fans say about Christian Wood. He's the last player we need on this team

https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/get-christian-wood-the-hell-outta-here-asap-for-amap.314294/