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

…sorry if already posted

 

ohh disagree. He handles and passes well out of the pick and roll and has a good midrange pull up already. Max has big potential imo

 

Few Laker trade ideas from Greg Swartz at B/R

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10077559-1-trade-idea-for-every-team-not-in-the-2023-nba-finals

Nets have some guys I'm definitely interested in poaching. I'll do this one all day every day.

Where's AC? No AC, no deal. Even then, I'm hesitant to let Max go in this one.

Thanks but no

 

Of course. But you need a running mate. I am thinking of replacing, a little bit, DAR skillset.

 

After my post yesterday, I actually watched back some Thomas Bryant highlights on youtube. We actually beat the same Denver team in December without AD but with THOMAS BRYANT. Try to do the same and reserve your judgment later. He's not an all-star, yes, but how many all-star players can you realistically put on a team without going over the salary cap? You get two all-stars with max contracts and then you hope you get lucky with the other pieces. Bryant came off an injury at Washington so he was working his way back to starter position. Dude was on a mission and we missed out on it big time. What you want to happen against Denver in the WCF, your mediocre backup Bryant did it in December without AD and with Westbrook and Pat Bev playing heavy minutes.
I didn't compare Bryant with Bynum btw. I compared Bynum's injury in 2008 with Bamba's injury now and suggested why not retain the team as it is and see what happens with Bamba playing at full power. Look back in 2008-2009 if the Lakers had actually messed up the roster after losing against Boston. Going forward with the same crew could be the more prudent thing to do. BTW if you don't like Bamba, who do you have in mind who's available?

 

can go with this value. gives both us n dlo options whether he improves or continues to shrink un playoffs

 

Bryant wants more playing time and $, neither we'll provide to him

 

seriously i need several 1st rd picks coming from Pho to even consider it

 

lol greg swartz. i'd consider bamba for oneale, but the others i wouldn't touch. especially that chicago deal. an unprotected 1st for derozan? and christie? and we have no pg left on the roster? what are you smoking?

 

bryant was horrendous defensively and he cooled off after that hot streak in december/january. once he got to denver, he quickly fell out of the rotation because.....well......he just wasn't very good. even malone called him out in one of his pressers for playing like crap when jokic was out. no point in "what ifs" with him considering he demanded a trade. it's not like they just traded him for no reason

 

when players demand to be traded, it's not the end of the world. there is such a thing as diplomacy. it's the general manager's job to make everybody happy and well-fed. The Black Mamba demanded to be traded at one point, but eventually stayed to win #15 and #16. so i still think it was a crappy move to trade Thomas Bryant away. Damn, if you dissect every game, what the Lakers needed was just another big to play alongside AD. yup, a few points here and there and we would have been there instead of them.

 

you're comparing kobe's situation with TB? lol. he was on an expiring contract and obviously the FO wasn't going to be willing to pay him what he wanted, so he was traded. happens all the time

and no, thomas bryant would not have been the difference in that series. jokic would have eaten him alive. the difference was that denver made their shots, especially the difficult ones. even before he was traded, TB had really cooled down after that hot streak

 

Oliver, you’re forgetting Ham doesn’t play 2 legit centers in his offense and would not have. Especially with Thomas being poor on defense. Off the bench or emergency starting was different. He realized that and knew how limited his contract comeback year exposure was going to be here and the grass looked greener in Denver.

 

More in depth quotes from Silver about Ja’s situation.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37776933/ja-morant-ruling-coming-nba-finals-adam-silver-says

 

AD and Bryant are both under 7 feet tall. Either of them can be a 4. When the Lakers won in 2020, AD had Dwight, JaVale throughout the season, so AD was oftentimes a 4. The 2021 Champs Bucks (where Ham was the assistant coach) were successful with Brook Lopez and Giannis in the starting lineup both are taller than AD. You cannot stop Denver when your singular legit center is rim-protecting against Jokic, while 6-10 Aaron Gordon is lurking for those rebounds or lobs. If the Lakers had Bryant, AD can rim-protect without worrying about the rebounds. And on offense, the spacing would have been different if Lebron can lob to 2 bigs instead of 1. No way the grass is greener in Denver. See how Bryant has not had the playing time he had with the Lakers. I guess he'll get a ring, but it won't feel the same as a seldom-used bench player.

 

Bobby Portis is reportedly interested in coming to the Lakers

 

and no, thomas bryant would not have been the difference in that series. jokic would have eaten him alive. the difference was that denver made their shots, especially the difficult ones. even before he was traded, TB had really cooled down after that hot streak[/QUOTE]
yes the game is about who makes more shots. at least I can cite 1 game in December when Bryant scored 21 against Denver. dude can score. yes Bryant cooled down after AD came back. he can't do nothing on the bench. and that was Ham's mistake. the small ball worked against Memphis and GS, but against Denver you have to double up on your bigs defensively.

 

Just saying, no matter your thoughts about Bryant, Ham is nothing if not stubborn about how he wants his offense to run and on top of that he doesn’t want guys on the floor that are poor defenders. Ham’s not Vogel. Bryant wanted a chance to do more and wanted out. HE thought the grass was greener. Rob thought he made up for Jones and Bryant not working out or leaving with acquiring Bamba. Who gets hurt almost immediately after getting a few minutes in and hitting several threes and putting his wingspan up at the basket to defend best as he can.

 

Bamba would be a good player to have back to eat regular season minutes. AD will miss time, so having his length and skillset to fill in occasionally would be great. Could also keep AD's minutes lower when he's in the lineup.