Kwame got Pau. Yes, Marc did eventually pan out, but at that time, it was robbery. In the current free agency outlook, getting your hands on Randle’s Restricted Free Agency rights I would think is top value, especially for what you would be paying him when guys like Deng and KCP commanding $15M+ deals.
It wasnt just kwame, it included picks n mem saved a lot of $ that lead them to start the grit/grind team by acquiring zbo with the saving....you dont need randle restricted status, mgmt has already shown their hands, just make the biggest offer come 1st dat of fa, mgmt won't have any choice but to bow out as theyll be chasing their 2max guy...if all it took to move deng was randle, it would've been done yesterday
But we don't really know if he can or can't excel in big minutes. The FO and coaching staff doesn't either. How could they if he wasn't given the opportunity to show what he can do in extended minutes? If that's really the FO's strategy, I'm extremely dissappointed. We don't know for sure to what extent advanced stats impact other GM's decisions in terms of trades. It also clearly impacts our record (in the worst kind of way). It makes it much more difficult to retain Randle should we not be able to trade him and strike out on the big fish. If this strategy succeeds great, but it's a huge gamble IMO.
Julius options in FA are already limited because of his QO and the fact few teams will be able to make him a big offer . As for a trade , unless we trade him in a package for George or Cousins ( very unlikely) , we don't want major dollars back on our payroll . I just don't see how playing him limited minutes is helping his trade value . The truth is we are losing a flawed player whose nonetheless is becoming one of the most versatile bigs on D and a very good roller on O in the league ( can pass the ball too) for most likely nothing
I can not express how disappointed I am with the FO and Luke. IMO this is much worse than the way Philly handled Okafor. Randle's value is plummeting and the situation is quickly becoming toxic. I guess this is our version of the "process?" This shouldn't be the way the Lakers treat their players.
If the last three years of his career are any indication, his production would drop. This tactic, like it or not, has resulted in the best Julius Randle has been in his entire career on both ends of the floor. Now I agree that Luke has taken it too far and been too dismissive of Randle, but the strategy is 100% effective in making Randle not only more valuable, but more desired as a player. He's upped his value enough to start a movement within the fan base to keep him, even having some decide to keep him over much more valuable options like LeBron or Cousins. I would be playing Julius more minutes at this point, but it's not really debatable that his value is higher now than it's ever been and that's in large part due to his production in limited minutes.
There is also the large possibility that Randle's production is better because he's flat out improved. The place where I don't think it's debatable is in his defense. He's bought in completely with the switch everything and he's our only big who can truly do this effectively. As a result he's looking nearly irreplaceable as a small ball C for us.
I absolutely agree that he's put in the work. I'm not trying to say he hasn't. I'm saying that, coupled with his low minute totals, means his production has skyrocketed which adds to his value. I'm not taking anything away from Julius, just saying that whether we like it or not this strategy of limiting his minutes has helped Julius in a lot of ways. It's now just being pushed too far. There's no reason he should be playing 20 minutes a game, let alone 8 or 10 or whatever it's been the last two games.
It would be nice to know what is really going on It definitely feels like there is something that we just don’t know because it doesn’t make any sense But if the simple answer is the right answer, that doesn’t seem to match the people who are making decisions ....I think...
http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-newsletter-20171228-story.html Ganguli has become a favorite writer for me and has renewed my faith in the LA Times as a publication. If she's confirming this along with Woj, then I have no doubt about its validity anymore. The Lakers want to move on from Julius for whatever reason and they should do it soon instead of jerking him around. His value is the highest it'll be. I'm betting they're trying to attach Deng to him and its not working. The deadline is coming up fast though (Feb. 8th). Figure it out Rob. Enough of this crap.
I enjoy her writing as well. And yes, this stuff is hurting the team, if they don’t want Randle, don’t jerk him around, get what you can now. Also this interesting tweet from her Yes, this is a business, players have to live with, and be always prepared to go elsewhere, but this is a young team, and when you’re playing very well and not getting minutes and in trade rumors for like a year, it’s going to have an impact.
dayum. FO on blast right now from the players. if this is what we're hearing, i wonder what folks are actually saying.
There's wanting to trade a player and then, there's doing him dirty and traeting him like s***. I thought it was bad with b0ron and DLO but this is worse to me. Thought we were better than that. We cared for Nash, Turiaf, Henry and so on. WTH did Julius do?
This is 100% speculation, but I hate to imagine people aren't exactly happy with the amount of plays that Pope has designed for him when he's clearly missing shots. Pope is shooting 29.9% from outside in December and has taken more threes than anyone else on the team including Kuzma. I can imagine Randle had a LOT to say about Kuzma's minutes, the FO, and Luke in general. Clarkson too.
Then gawdammit Luke .... how about consistency with the length of everyone's leashes out there. Randle has been turned into your whipping boy. So much for wanting to run through walls for you but then you female dog about players (Randle) not having the right attitude on the bench. I honestly thought you were smarter than this.
