Irwin said on the pod today he’s heard the plan is for Vando to be our backup 5, I guess along with DFS. Questioned if we even trade for a true backup C if JJ won’t play one anyway, can totally see this happening, and it’s so on brand for modern basketball and so dumb. It may work a good chunk of the time, but it won’t the second you run into a team with Steven Adams, Hartenstein, Zubac, Jokic, etc.
Why are we still paying attention to anything Irwin says? He is not an insider. Nothing he’s ever “heard” has gone anywhere. He chimes in with “I told you so” when it supports his narrative and disappears when it doesn’t. He’s the worst. The fact that he is somehow considered a voice in Lakers media and getting any play here is sickening. The dude is a petulant fan, no different than anyone here except I’d likely have him on ignore. He’s not a basketball aficionado and is not breaking news. Maybe every now and then someone spoon feeds him BS to push his anti-Rob crusade, but that’s as far as it goes.
F that BS!!!! All the legit title contenders have more than 1 big or are trying to grab one. This vet min crap is dumb as F.
i don't know what irwin hears or doesn't, though i agree with the general sentiment of wallangong's post. the reason i'm questioning irwin's info here is that jj himself basically said he wanted a bigger center earlier in the season, right? not sure what could have happened to change his mind. if anything, someone leaked this to irwin as trade posturing. "we'll just play vando and DFS at center, suckas!" this isn't a serious strategy, imo. now, i do think that if teams are playing hardball with the available centers, there's no need to get rooked here. i'm still trying to figure out how we made the brooklyn move without getting sharpe thrown in, though. that part makes me wonder if there really has been a change of heart in terms of wanting a beefier big. i would think that's a mistake. again, don't need a high dollar guy like vuc...just nick richards or sharpe or someone like this. we need to steal some minutes against the ogres.
I already didn't like Irwin, but what really set me off is the complete lack of logic here. Lakers have long been rumored to have interest in a Center and linked to every potential big available Trade for DFS, which every rational person concluded meant they weren't going to continue counting on Vando's return Buha reports that Vando is ramping up Irwin now is the only person to say he's "heard" Lakers plan is for Vando to be the backup 5 with DFS It doesn't add up. The whole thing sounds like Irwin was on his couch, read the Buha update on Vando and thought to himself, "wouldn't it be funny if Rob now just expected Vando to be the back up 5. Oh dang, that'll get the fans riled up." The logic doesn't follow. To your point about Sharpe, I agree that it could have made sense to try and get Sharpe. Maybe they wanted to set their sights higher on someone like Kessler and figured they could go back to BKN or try and work with Charlotte on a deal for Richards?
you're preaching to the choir re: irwin and his super weird rob obsession. and phrasing is important. you can hear someone say anything. did you hear this from someone who's spoken with the coaching staff? or is this speculation from someone loosely affiliated with the team (even another reporter, perhaps)? yeah, that's definitely possible, but it's interesting that they pulled the trigger on the DFS trade early but didn't opt to shore up what was the only publicly stated need, right? it's possible that some prices will go down, as they often do. maybe this means we thought DFS to the grizz was going to happen if we didn't step in, and we don't have that fear about the center targets.
Yeah I think we did well in making this move early after about 25 games so we have another 25 ish games until the deadline for a second move. That way can accurately address the biggest needs in the roster and choose the right move. There's also the buyout market that becomes clearer near the deadline. We might address a need via trade and in the process open a roster spot to address another need in the buyout market
pretty sure the buyout market will be pretty weak for us due to the apron. i think we can't sign anyone who was on a contract bigger than the tpmle before the buyout. i guess if phx was fully in the tank, maybe we could nab a cut plumlee or something?
My thoughts as well. It’s still a month until the deadline and if there’s a move to improve I believe we’ll take it.
I'm not the biggest Irwin fan in the world either, but the guy had Larsuel on his show constantly who worked for/traveled with the team and knows Jeanie. It's not ridiculous that he might know things sometimes. He probably gets fed bad info sometimes too. I wouldn't be completely shocked if JJ thought he could make lineups with Vando as the nominal 5 next to Wood or Rui work. It wouldn't be my choice, but teams do stuff like that. I do think the team probably doesn't value backup center as much as fans do. I think they probably see Kessler as a legit option to play with AD and of course play in the non-AD minutes as well. I think they wanted Valanciunas for cheap (Gabe + a second, maybe two), but now that other teams seems to be interested we aren't interested in going beyond that for him. And I think they probably see Hayes/Koloko/Wood as not ideal but also not awful, which I think I agree with.
We aren't going to advance in the playoffs as is, that should be the objective. Improving our playoffs chances.
I agree, they are not awful and seem to get better with time, at least Hayes and Koloko. Woods was doing OK but then has been injured so often, hard to know what he brings anymore, same with Vando.
