2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Lol..I don't know what any of that means. Lebron war? What's the premise being used? I'll take your word for it I guess. The eye test told me, that Lebron played a lot better on D in the playoffs, and Luka took more shots and had the ball more. They both looked pretty gassed in the 4th quarters. I don't know if that was age, injury, or JJ's dumb a** gameplan though. Perhaps the latter gas lit the former two.

 

I have no idea what is happening in this thread but in terms of the team I guess I'm still not all that worried about Lebron/Luka/AR?
I thought Lebron's defense was very good in the playoffs (kind of shocking), his offense particularly jumper failed him after the groin (or he lost that consistency)
AR choked but it was a tough matchup for him
Luka IMO never looked like Luka - I'm told not to worry that he was fat and out of shape but the only time I felt confident in that step back game was the Denver game where he looked like the best player in the world. He need to be Denver Luka More.

DFS did his job
Rui proved to be a good playoff roleplayer

Those 5 were not THE problem however, the problem was lack of a big but more than that just lack of a big. The big is obscuring that the Lakers had nobodly else who could give you any productive minutes. None after 5 dudes.

Combo of lack of any bench/bigs and the big 3 below par led to a defeat - these are not isolated and I think these problems fed on themselves particularly with awful coaching exacerbating these problems. The coaching and bigs didn't give a break for a guy like AR to break out of his slump, fatigue was a big problem for Lebron and Luka.

This is fixable IMO and this team could really shine with just 2-3 more quality dudes: one big, one POA defender, one scoring guard. They have guys who can eat minutes in the regular season - I count guys like hayes and vando reliable minutes eater for a long season but you can pencil them out of playoff rotations now. I think Godwin has a chance still to develop into a playoff performer but they still 2 more guards (POA defender, quick scoring PG)

 

Jarett Allen may be attainable.
Admittedly Lakers fan may sore on him quickly as they expect performers to show up and that dude is soft as Charmin. He's been punked in two playoff series in a row now by dudes he should be punishing

 

Utah got a top 5 pick after they tanked this season. Kessler is due for an extension. Reaves is due for an extension.

I'll just say it: I would call back Ainge back, and I'd be open talks with throwing Reaves into the conversation with respect to Kessler and what we can get back. I'm open to it. Ainge needs to do something. My Utah friend tells me that the brass is getting killed in the media locally. Kessler fits like a glove and solves a huge need. While I like Reaves, and think his injury contributed to his poor performance, you have to trade quality to get quality, typically.

Again, I have to see what a deal would look like in totality, but I would be open to it if I'm Rob.

 

They feel very 2015 Warriors to me. Dominant regular season, but even though they won the title you saw in the playoffs they weren't as far ahead of the pack as the metrics suggest. I think the Cavs probably beat them in the Finals if not for their injuries, and I think that defending champ Spurs team might have beaten them too. They just had a play style that provided a competitive advantage in and of itself. It wasn't until 2016, when Curry and Draymond each made another leap, that they became truly scary. If JDub makes that from the 35th-ish best guy to a legit Top 15 guy, then they're as scary as the number suggest. Same thing with Chet.

The other one they remind me of is the 2016 Spurs, who won 67 games and actually had a better net rating than the 73-9 Warriors but lost in the second round. They also had an all-time great defense by the numbers and a good but not elite offense. They had more or less mastered regular season basketball, but OKC was able to physically dominate them in the playoffs.

 

I'm a huge fan of Kessler and all for going hard after him, but I still don't quite understand why he is/would be available. If anything, this lottery shows that it doesn't really pay off to full-on tank like the Jazz did. Why not keep your good young player and still have like the 6th best odds at the top pick.

 

Good to know. I would look at Annonouby or Bridges and Robinson in NYK, Allen in CLV, Gafford in DAL. We dont have cap space to absorb, but we could offer a nice package of expiring deals: Rui 18.3, Vincent 11.5, Kleber 11.0, Milton 3.0. And we have sweeteners in AR, Dalton, 31 1st, and swaps.

 

It’s because everyone in the press loves horses too.

 

All those Knick guys are fighters - balls to the wall hustling, rebound, defense. Dont' care about individual stats, move the ball. If they want to dump Robinson that would be a huge add for the Lakers IMO. New York teams are just irritating as a whole but I can totally see why that city has fallen in love with the team.

 

AR,Rui,Vando, and Kleber for Anounoby, Robison, and Kolek Problem is, next season AR and Vando's money would be combined to be OG's money, so it kind of offsets that. There are different variations that could be done that involve saving the Knicks more money. AR could be replaced with Vincent, Knecht, and 2031 1st. I still want to get another center though in another trade.