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

I feel the same way about Dillon as I did Artest before we signed him. I actually like his attitude on the court and I think besides Luka and Reives, this team is pretty mentally soft.

 

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Pistons interested in a Reid and Turner

I don't think they can get either, but pulling for them. If they pry away Reid, it sends the Laker killer East AND puts Duren in play.


Early word on NAW's market

If Orlando is trying to get him, that has to mean KCP is up for grabs.

 

Ron was a tough sob, Dillon is a dirty pos. PASS

 

For him, I actually don't like that. He thinks he's the main character of the story and not a day player. If you've conned him into taking the late shots, that's a win for the defense. It's not in the flow of the offense and he's playing hero ball, thinking he's Steph Curry out there in the final 2 minutes.

 

this just isn't true. it's not the way it went down the stretch. it happened in the playoffs because we collectively panicked (and reaves was hurt, too).

how about our dynamic sg is sg-sized and already on the roster...

way better offensively, but not the same defender as washington, who dallas used on the other team's top perimeter threat quite a bit. we can't use lebron that way. our closest thing is vando, but he can't do enough on offense.

 

f*** what Dallas did, Luka is in LA now. You work with what you have, the Mavericks didn't win a chip with Luka. Why in the hell do we need to emulate what they did? Luka is a superstar, there is more than one way to win with him. I don't follow this..."What Dallas did" logic going around.

 

I get that AR was banged up, so it's harder to assess. But when I say PG sized SG, I'm thinking someone who is fleeter of foot and has a tighter handle than AR. Although Kyrie and Brunson are not noted defenders, I think they manage chasing the quicker PG's around than AR. This is good news for us. We don't have to get a lock down guy at the 1, just someone who could keep up.

 

I know what you mean. But it doesn't hurt to be open-minded to it. At least we have some sort of blue print to work off of. We know what players complement Luka well. He supposedly also asked for a lob catching big, so you need to at least keep that in consideration.

 

Yeah..what Luka needs is what AD was begging for, for 4 seasons. Quality 5's. Perhaps Pelinka will get the message now, if he doesn't, he won't be the GM much longer.

 

NAW or Podzinkski would be good at SG for the Lakers.

 

The bigs are more important, than the guards for us. Not having any legit rotation bigs, will still kill us, with the best POA defender we could possibly get.

What elite POA defender did Dallas have? Kyrie Irving?

 

Yeah, exactly. But Kyrie might fare better chasing around PGS than AR, so just a marginal defensive upgrade there might be needed. I would say that bigs are the priority. We need at least two of them. Problem is, not sure if there is a big out there that is equal value to AR. So it gets tricky i that regard. As far as the draft, there is that Yanic kid, who is projected in the mid-30s, but he will move up. It would be wise imo to position ourselves to get him some how. Brooklyn has #26 and #27. I also like that Clayton kid. He is an athletic guard who can shoot, and is a a noted defender. Both are around 22, so more NBA ready. I might consider swapping #55 and the 2031 1st for #26 and #27. Then there is the possibility of being a 1st apron team, and executing sign-and trade or using the MLE.

 

We have options, I really don't think that we need to trade Austin. That's not really in our best interest... yet. Pelinka brought this on himself, now his new franchise player, is telling him that he wants, the same thing, his last franchise player wanted.

It's like everybody is paying attention to what's happening in the League, but our GM. Well...hell...he gets paid millions of dollars to figure it out. The clock is ticking.

 

Derrick Jones Jr. He defended at the POA, Washington defended on the wing and they always had a center backing them up.

We need both. Even if we got a great defensive big like Kessler, we still wouldn’t be good enough defensively if it’s still Austin/Luka/LeBron/Rui out there around him. Conversely, we could turn Reaves and Rui into Herb Jones and NAW and still struggle without a viable center.

 

Or simply get a couple of bigs, and move Austin and Rui to the bench. Finney-Smith, a legit big, and Vando works too.

The critical flaw with this team is the 5 situation. Luka has already told him what he wanted.

 

I think maybe we need to split the difference. Obtain the two bigs. Ruves and Rui statistically are slightly below average defenders. AR had a -0.5 DBPM last season, and -0.4 for his career. Rui had a -0.6 DBPM last season, and -1.1 for his career. So maybe replace these two with players who at least have a 0.0 DBPM. But in AR's case, the guy we get could still be slightly bad, but at least someone who is fleeter footed.

 

24-25 DBPM:

Okoro 0.5
NAW 0.4
McBride 0.4
Bane 0.6
Podz 0.8
Camara 0.8
Agbaji 0.2
J. Green 0.2
Moody 0.0

Jones and Green were the only real lock down defenders on those teams at the wing. Guys like Bullock and Hardaway were probably more in the neutral range. Too lazy to look up. Also of note, Cam Johnson is usually around a 0.0 DBPM guy. We need to make sure we don't destroy our offense in the process of doing this.

 

Alexander the Great

 

Clayton?

 

Vando's DPBM was 1.3 last season.

Finney-Smith's was .1