..... meh I have been saying forever we are going to regret this for a very long time. But I guess I shouldn't worry because OX has maintained consistently he's a contribute little to average to winning basketball type of player. Trying to get back to even after getting clobbered on Moz ....
I will never understand why we chose to RENOUNCE him when we didn't have to...all to get cap space to sign...Rondo? Stephenson? McGee? KCP? I'm sorry. I would kill to have Randle on this current squad and that is the one major blemish on Rob/Magic's stint with us so far. I really hope Kuzma is the real deal because if he's not...letting go of Randle is going to sting for a VERY long time. The guy balled out against one of the best teams in the league yesterday. Put some respect on his name...he could be 6th man of the year if they keep him coming off the bench this year....
Julius is balling outta control.... the only move I was really upset about... dude should be on a long term deal with us.
Too bad that wasn't what he wanted to do. Julius can be a starter in the NBA and as long as that is the case, you can't be mad at him for not wanting to come off the bench.
Julius may have wanted to walk for nothing. It takes two to tango... or... not tango in this case. Julius has fascinating splits. He's a 6th man over there, but he's also really ball dominant off the bench which allows him to pile up stats. I don't say that negatively at all because obviously NO has been successful doing it, but it's not exactly a great fit with what we are trying to do.
Well he was a RFA so it didn't really matter what he wanted, honesty. We had his rights. He sure would have fit in better (especially defensively) than Rondo, Beasley, or KCP. They're making $29.5M combined I never understood the fascination with Rondo btw... We had 2 excellent ball handlers in Lonzo and Lebron already. Rondo was redundant.
I'll disagree on Rondo. I think he provides something unique in having 3 ball handlers. I also think his acquisition could have more to do with Anthony Davis than people expect. They are reportedly fairly close and Davis has a great admiration for him. The reports are that Julius wanted out as soon as we didn't offer him a long-term contract. Considering he then signed for essentially a 9 million dollar deal with an opt out, I'm not sure anybody else was willing to offer much either. I tend to blame a LOT on Mintz. He didn't help Julius at all considering every single pick before him and several after him got massive paydays while being in worse situations. Jabari Parker is particularly an upsetting example. I think the Lakers value (and continue to value) their cap space because they are cheating and know without a shadow of a doubt they have players who will take it that are better than Julius. All in all, it's disappointing he's gone, but if the trade off is getting LeBron along with possibly Kawhi or Davis or someone else remarkable, then it is what it is. I make that trade every time.
Well, Gentry has him coming off the Bench with Jahlil Okafor of all people starting over him. You can't tell me that's what he had in mind when joining the pelicans.
Rondo is the best back up for Lonzo who still needs to prove he can stay healthy. Were you expecting Lonzo and Lebron to play all game? What better option was out there. And honestly, Rondo is the least of our problems at the moment.
Rondo is insurance for ball's fragility. Should have both, though, and Lopez. I'm sure there was bad blood, but it was poor asset management from day one. If He wasn't in the plans, they should have moved him right after taking over. After they kept him, they should have at least forced a team to make a big offer.
big time agreed here....they talked bout "hoping to work something out" with Randle but all along they had no intentions of offering him a long term deal, of course any player looking for a big payday after their rookie deal isn't gona look favorably towards a mgmt. team thats yanking his chains. They were never serious bout giving Jules a long term deal, should've just explored trades even if it were 2nd rders.
Turns out nobody was willing to give him a long-term deal though, so isn't part of the problem Julius and his representation for not understanding the market? I agree they could have moved him at the deadline and gotten an asset back, but what was offered? Clearly other teams didn't view Julius as very valuable or he wouldn't have settled for a fraction of his peers' contracts.
The Mintz thing is overblown. Sure it was a factor but people make it sound like Mintz was 90% of the reason why Randle left. The reality is.... 1) from the start of the 2016-17 season to free agency, we never really made him feel like we wanted him 2) we offered a short-term low-ball offer 3) we gave him no clear indication of what his role was. That's the only reliable source on why he left. Everything else is pure speculation. Bottom line is that he felt he was unwanted. Mintz has little to do with how we treated him throughout the season. If we wanted to preserve cap space heading into 2018-19, we could have offered him a huge 1 year contract and not sign scrubs like KCP and Beasley. That's $15.5M right there. Or if KCP was needed for Lebron, the $17.5M we paid for Rondo + Beasley could have gone to Randle. There were a lot of ways to keep him. We just didn't want him.
