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

Newbie....been around these parts for 9 years now after clublakers went away and i just stopped going to lakersground.

 

LA BABY W AD ISNT AD HIS REAL GOOD BUDDY

 

Here's where I'm at with the Dame thing...

He's in a damned if you do, damned if you don't spot. The national media has been packing his bags for him daily for two years. He's gotten ridiculed for staying on the Titanic. There is not franchise loyalty in today's game. There was Curry and Dame. If Curry didn't have stars, superstars and a chance at a ring nearly every year for a decade; he would not be on the Warriors today.

Blazers and Dame needed to move on from one another. Neither knew how or wanted to look worse in the breakup. Breakups in general aren't clean.

Dame tried. He tried recruiting for years and years. No one wants to play in f***ing Oregon. Last time they had headline names was the early 00s crew and that was a mixture of guys at the end and guys at the beginning, none of them were a franchise player at that point though. Blazers couldn't build around him. They could not get the puzzle pieces to fit. Either a small SG, an alright big, or some decent SFs who weren't quite enough and needed to be combined to be an adequate #2 on a serious team. I believe he wanted to stay, but staying and competing are two forces at greater odds by the day there. Ultimately competition won out.

Kobe even wanted to leave. He didn't put up with as many down years during his prime. After we told him no, we went out and got him Pau Gasol and won the damn thing. We took him seriously. Blazers did not take Dame seriously when it reached defcon levels in recent months. With Portland and Dame, it was more of the same. Running in place and getting young kids.

*please note: I am not comparing talent or resumés of Kobe and Dame. That's a phone book vs a sticky note.

Dame is the best player the franchise has ever had. They couldn't make it work. It happens. Everyone will be better off when the page turns. I think he's going to get what he wants and that's fine. Most teams want to take care of the talent even on the way out cause players pay attention to that and remember that if they ever end up on that team. How we took care of Kobe, factored in with Bron. Dame did his bid.

It's not like he's trying to be part of a super team. Heat are good, but they're not better than the Bucks or C Bags no matter what. It's not like previous super teams -- Nets, GS. Not like the current one in Phoenix or the potential one with the Clippers. Dame would come there and be the best offensive player on the team. He sees a kindred spirit in Butler, i think they're the last two with Mamba Mentality in the league today, so i get it.

Heat deal isn't bad with picks, players, and taking on bad money. Herro will go to a 3rd team to get something to sweeten it for Portland. They could get better elsewhere, sure. But you do not want to trade for a disgruntled Dame. Teams aren't lining up for that. He's going to be on the books for 50...60 million moving forward. If he only wants to go to Miami, teams aren't going to get in the way of that. Not at that price.

And regarding Maxey, Philly has made it very known this weekend they aren't moving him for anything.

 

He’s going to be a Laker.

No market out there for him after Kidd kept throwing him under the bus, and he already didn’t have a great reputation.

Before he got his minutes reduced by Kidd, in his early season matchups with us he put up one game with 30 points, 8 boards, 7 assists, 2 blocks, and 4 steals. Another game with 24 points, 14 boards, 6 assists, and 5 blocks.

Ham is going to gas him up by telling him he knows how special he is from those games, how he thinks his other coaches misused him. We’ll offer him plenty of playing time as the primary backup big, but he’ll also be able to play alongside AD in many matchups, as well as plenty of starting opportunities when we load manage AD. We’re going to remind him of how Malik Monk’s situation turned out. Come to LA, bet on yourself, and you can completely turn around the negative reputation around you and revive your career.

 

The amount of fluff and hype coming from the media over the Suns minimum level players is laughable. Bates-Diop, Metu, Watanabe, Eubanks, and now...Shams describing the nearly 35 year old Gordon as a "massive get."

They filled their end of the bench with end of the bench players. Now imagine those are the names the Lakers ended up with this offseason. How would that be treated by the pundits?

 

The Suns are going to be a problem.

 

crazy

 

I would like Plumlee.

 

yeah, we'll have to agree to disagree. i agree with the first few paragraphs of general set up, but to me, none of that logically leads to what he did in the end, which poisons the rest for me. again, this guy threw every other guy who asked for a trade under the bus, time and again, with his loyalty act. then when the rubber really hits the road, he signs a supermax then demands a trade...TO ONE TEAM ONLY.

it would have supported your general pro-dame narrative if he had simply quietly asked out and asked to be consulted with respect to the destination. but limiting your team to negotiating with one team that doesn't have the assets to get you on the open market is crazy. and he has no leverage. this isn't AD who could walk into that team's space in a few months. this is a guy under contract for several more years. if you wanted AD power, you shouldn't have signed an extension.

btw, none of this excuses portland for not building better. both parties are at fault. but lillard lost all his credibility with me by limiting his list to ONE TEAM THAT DOESN'T HAVE THE ASSETS TO ACQUIRE HIM. i feel like i can't repeat it enough. this is worse than anything kd's done, and the return is going to be less than what kd (who's older) fetched.

as for what other teams will offer, i guess we'll find out. i know if i were able, i'd make an offer that beat miami's on the chance i could sell him once he got here. hell, if the timing was different, we could beat miami's offer, and i'm sure we'd offer it. people are having to talk themselves into the idea that taking nurkic's salary is some huge deal. teams have eaten nurkic-sized (or larger) contracts three times already this offseason, none of which required 1st round compensation. people are also trying to tell me that jaime jaquez (was considered a reach at 18) and jovic (played 15 games last year, terribly) are interesting young prospects.

btw, while i granted earlier that unprotected picks from miami in the future are valuable, it's also important to note that miami has basically never been bad when they didn't plan to be. the likelihood you're getting a great pick from that franchise is low (sort of like we used to be in this respect).

anyway, not going to speculate further on what could be there. just repeating that:

1) lillard demanding a trade to miami basically makes everything he's ever said complete b*******
2) lillard's price in miami is substantially lower than ANYONE would have predicted he'd go for even a couple weeks ago.

don't believe anything daryl morey says ever. philly is also refusing to negotiate an extension with maxey right now, iirc. hardly suggests untouchability.

 

i'd be shocked if biyombo left phx for the same money. if they're not offering him the vet min, they're crazy, but i'll gladly take him. exactly the kind of backup big i'd want.

same with plumlee, except we have zero chance there. clips have his bird rights and a bottomless pit of money. if they got even a whiff of an idea that he'd come here for the vet min, they'd up their offer immediately. i think plumlee's probably worth closer to 8-10 million on the open market, tbh. he's like a bigger dwight powell.

and finally--and i realize how unpopular this opinion will be--i don't think i want christian wood even at the minimum. guy is just a me-first loser, and he hasn't learned anything from his experiences to date. someone will pick him up, and he'll fill the stat sheet again, and if that team wants to win, his minutes will slowly diminish again.

 

No it’s really not. KD is significantly worse.

Lillard stuck it out for 11 seasons and gave it all he had, played injured, sat when they were tanking, had some amazing performances. This reminds me of KG, they just couldn’t build around him and it was time to go.

And instead of joining the reigning 73-9 champions, Lillard is asking to go to a similar set up as KG did with two other good players in a top class organisation. I don’t begrudge them that and I also don’t believe it wipes out 11 years of loyalty and a history of always doing what was right and not what was easy for Portland.

 

worse in what way? durant played 9 years in okc and watched them penny pinch and make poor choices around him, then, instead of signing a supermax and demanding out, he walked away in FA, as is his right. i don't like where he walked to, but he didn't treat okc poorly. he did, like lillard, yammer on about other stars teaming up, etc., only to do so himself. in this way, they equally suck.

kg didn't demand a trade, nor did he limit the trade possibility to only boston.

not sure what "wipes out" means, but i don't see how you can argue that his prior statements (again, particularly those casting aspersions towards people who did EXACTLY what he's doing) don't take on lesser value/meaning in the wake of this choice.

beal's the same. there's a lot of big talk until it's you that's unhappy in your spot. i'd have more respect for him if he hadn't talked such a big game for all these years.

edit: btw, had lillard waited until december to do this and demanded the lakers for a similar package in return, someone might actually attempt to take his life.

 

Sorry, missed the date it said and only saw the rookie designation, my bad.

 

Lillard didn’t just sign a supermax and demand out, he played out 2 of those 4 years and was game to see out the contract as long as they had a decent product to compete. Portland could have retooled around him by trading the pick for a significant player, there was rumours of Brandon Ingram, Zion, Jaylen Brown, Mikal Bridges etc.

Lillard
Sharpe
Brown, Bridges or Ingram
Grant
Nurkic

That’s a solid team and would have put them in the top 4 of the west. The blazers made the comments that they would retool around Lillard, but when it came down to it, they wanted to move on to a rebuild.

To me it’s a lot like the KG situation, they hadn’t made the playoffs in 2 years and the partnership had just run its course and it’s as much the team trading him as he is asking to be traded. Now his comments about loyalty, now holding less water to you is fair and that’s a subjective thing.

But no way is this worse than KD. Who told OKC he was coming back at the end of the season only to sign for the team they led 3-1 in the WCF with an MVP, DPOY and another 2 all stars on it. It was the weakest move in NBA history. It would be like Jokic joining the Suns with Beal, Booker and KD on it after losing to them in the WCF. KD’s move was anti competitive and anti ethical to what sports is.

Edit: and unlike KD, who left in the night after indicating he was coming back, at least blazers get something on Lillsrd’s way out. 2-3 draft picks is still miles better than Butner accounts roasting your team.

 

Darn it! He’s one player I would like to see in the Purple and Gold.