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

The point of getting Murray is getting a partner for Reaves not pairing him with Max. Pointless move that has a good chance of actually making the Lakers worse

 

The thing with Reaves on top of all his “PLUS” factors aside from mediocre to poor to sometimes not so bad defense …. and GREAT value contract …. that has to be factored in …. IS the Clutch Factor!! Pretty rare to find it and HIM has it while NO guarantee on someone new coming under the white hot lights of the Lakers experience. In his short career starting as a rookie … how many huge shots, even a game winner, and 5 or 6 half court or longer heaves at the buzzer or just after it that incredibly he has made?

 

yeah, no moving reaves unless it's a superstar coming back. just doesn't make sense given where we are.

 

Well .... Horry .... and Kobe. Not for nothing that he was given the nickname HBK in college, probably besides the assortment of shots, footwork, etc.

 

Some rumor stuff from Irwin's pod with Larsuel today.

1) Irwin came out and said that he has it on pretty good authority that we're not looking to trade the first round pick this deadline. The team wants to use it on draft night or this summer. He said he's as sure of that as he was the locker room stuff that he had first. The caveat, that's as of today. If a new player hits the market or another seller is willing to give away more for less, that can change.

2) the team isn't interested in moving Austin and Austin's people don't expect a trade involving him.

3) the market for DLO is weak. There's not a lot of interest there.

4) expects us to make a marginal (upgrade) trade. Thinks it's more likely we do something than nothing, but a big trade isn't likely (no 1st and teams don't really want DLO). That lines up with Buha now linking us to some Nets players.

5) Larsuel said we're looking for a scoring punch -- downhill player, a bucket getter, someone who plays with force. Same thing Buha reported this week. Said everyone loves shooting, but that seemed like a distant second on the list. And third is a backup big.

 

Is there any difference cap or tax penalty wise to signing Byombo to the 15th slot …. or releasing Hayes at the 14th slot to sign him?

 

It's going to be either Rozier or Lavine: only two players who #5 describes and would be gettable without giving much assets

 

Lane said Biyombo might have a handshake deal that he would be brought back. As for Hayes, his money is guaranteed for next season.

 

What's with the Christie hype? Am I nos seeing the same player?

 

Reaves has so many qualities/intangibles that it makes it very difficult to trade him from a Lakers management standpoint. However, in terms of perfect fit, Austin is not that with the way the Lakers squad is currently assembled. I mean, once Lebron leaves I could see Austin sliding into that roll. But Lebron is still on the team. Truth be told Austin does have some warts to his game and is a clunky fit with Lebron and AD if they don't have two three and D players with them. Austin is (1) a below average defender - teams have obviously hunted him on defense. (2) cant really call him a "three-point shooter" per say, because he is a low to medium volume guy from there. (3) is not a primary ball handler either - he gets targeted there too, he seems to need another ball handler to share duties with him. I mean, he probably could go 50/50 with somebody. But that other dude needs to be a shooter and defender, you feel me? Now, Murray provides the defense and ball-handling part, but he is known more as a mid-range guy, which is duplication with Austin. I don't like Murray without Austin either because he is not a three-point shooter, which does not complement AD well. Now if you add Murray, and an elite shooter, and the 2 and an at the 3, then you might have something. At least Murray has the defense and the handles, but still not worth giving up Austin for. If Austin goes, we need to get a star player back for sure. I mean theoretically, if we could end up with some sort of Murray/LaVine/unprotected Hawks pick combo or something like that it would be justify trading Austin. Murray/LaVine complement each other well. Murray = defender/ball handler,/weak at attacking the rim but not super high usage guy/mid-range shooter, Zach = capable of playing off the ball 40+ % on catch and shoot threes/below average defender/strong at attacking the rim.

 

NO!! Sorry. For the reasons I stated above.

 

You're see a player trending upward both sides of the ball, who's a good rebounder, athletic and would have been further along already if Ham hadn't given him a bunch of DNPs for a guy, no make that 2 guys, who won't be here next year. When he did get minutes early in the year he was always on a short hook and had few and very irregular minutes, unlike those two guys. At least that's what a lot of us are seeing NOW.

 

Max is a hard to find player. Three-point shooter and defense combination. Plus je is athletic.

 

Milwaukee made a run 27-0 vs
C Bags .Is Mazula pimple head too

 

NBA Draft will now be a 2 night event. Thoughts?

 

I could see the logic for the interest in Murray. It might be similar to what Atlanta was thinking when they wanted to pair him with Tre Young: His defense will help offset Tre's weakness as a defender, and the fact that he isn't a super high usage guy would allow Tre to keep the ball in his hands. From a Lakers standpoint, it makes sense. Reaves wouldn't be forced to guard the opponent's best back court player anymore, because he would be paired with a better defender than him, rather than an arguably inferior defender (Russell). Also, Reaves wouldn't have to be the primary ball handler, anymore but would handle the ball just enough for him to maximize his game. The Lakers sort of addressed the defensive part by replacing Russel with Reddish, but it causes Reaves to have to handle the ball too much. also, Murray is still a better shooter than Reddish. Reaves being a significantly lower usage guy than Young, would in essentially make him a better fit in the backcourt with Murray than Tre is. If the Lakers do this though, they would have to also add a high volume impact shooter, such as Bogdan. A back court of Reaves/Murray is just not enough three-point volume. The stuff that i wrote above underlines how clunky of a fit Reaves is, and how you kind of got to thread the needle a little to get peaces to fit with him/AD/Lebron. Lakers could put together a similar unit with the Bulls trade.

Which is better:

Murray/Reaves/Bogdanovic/Lebron/AD

or

Caruso/Reaves/LaVine/Lebron/AD

 

Makes sense. It does kind of drag on. I don't mind staying up to watch it though, it's kind of a tradition for me.

 

I like Rozier and would be interested in a smaller deal for him.

Lavine is intriguing as a buy low guy. Think the pendulum on him has actually swung too far in the other direction. I don’t like his contract at all but he’s not some scrub.