No problem. I follow that website very closely. 24, GT, and the rest of the moderators do a great job. Very, very, smart people. Luca has been 'vetted' through the site. He's been posted there since 2007.
-Uh, not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but I was vetted over at LG as well. -But in the end, read what you want, digest it, and then believe whatever you'd like. -Funnily enough Randle, a lot of your posts here are verbatim of one of the mods there. Again, not that it matters..
That was a fun read. Everything seemed just about right on. Maybe "fun" not the right word. I liked the rapid pace of the narrative. Yeah we're kinda screwed right now unless Mitch can salvage something after all the inactive days with Aldridge.
I think the fans and the front office will have a different view. We didn't get our targets. That's not good. 3 years in a row we've not gotten them. Even worse. It's the "salvage" idea that is where I think the difference is. They don't want to do anything long term until they have the new face of the franchise. I'd bet any signings or trades we do now will come off the books next summer or the one after at the very least. We have young guys who have potential and I'd love to see if they can be as good as some think but the reality is that if we can swing a trade for a new face they will be gone in a flash IMHO.
There are reported activities for other teams who lost their players. There's movement in places. The Laker F.O. other than the "home run" swings haven't done much. At least give the restless fan-base [more importantly your season ticket holders] some assurance that moves are in place for solid, complementary pieces or attempts thereof. Are they this inept? It's not like whoever out there is being sentenced to Siberia...
They've got a bleep load of money saved up for LA they have to spend, to get them to 90% of the cap though, right? Would all of that be off the books in a year?
I think you have to spend 90% at least, so no. Don't know what the penalty is if you come in at say 80%. If 70centers had their way they'd spend less than half to ensure high lottery every year. Not that they need to do anything more than they've been doing.
We're trying to use it on Hibbert and then have it for next year. I'm thinking obviously we can't get Durant, but an expiring max this season gives you a potential reclaim project in Hibbert that probably should re-sign for less than what we'll pay him this season.
I was thinking it was like vacation pay in some places. Use it or lose it. It was mentioned that we have cap space for TWO max slots. That explains it. Gracias...
No that cap space can't be taken from us for any reason. The only thing that paying BELOW the cap threshold does is make the Lakers split their remaining cash among their players. For instance if we played 10 million under the cap, the players on our roster get a share of that 10 million. Last season Philadelphia was below the cap limit and they purposely added a player just in time to make the limit so they wouldn't pay their guys a bonus. What a horrible franchise to play for.
Whew, glad I took KB24's advice and my own and chilled. We aren't done yet. The Hibbert trade was a good one. Now add a couple other players and we are in business with a pretty solid offseason. Striking out on LMA wasn't great but it wasn't the end of the world either.
Like @gill said in the FA thread, Mitch playing to his ultimate strength and making a solid trade. Sure he's not great at luring FA's away but dammit he's still got those powers to make our team better in other ways
Sure, take KB24's advice @lakerjones, but don't listen to me when I say the same thing. Ok I see how it is.
I said the same thing multiple times in the free agency trade before KB24s thread as well. Mitch is getting too much hate even now about not being able to lure a FA. Next offseason will be the first true test. The last two offseasons we have had only one max deal available because of that nuclear contract we gave Kobe. (And I honestly think that was a Jimmy move because he freaked out about our television ratings). We also have had nothing except Clarkson as far as young talent to showcase. Next offseason we could have 2-3 max slots available as well as Randle and Russell's auditions. The problem is even next year there are really only 2 guys worthy of max deals, Durant and Conely. But we have not been a good FA destination for players the last couple years. Next year we could be offering 2-3 (maybe 4 if Upshaw breaks through) young studs as well as team up opportunities. Let's all be honest as well. Are we really upset Dwight left us? He hasn't stayed healthy and isn't the same guy from Orlando. And Melo? The basketball gods were looking out for us on that one. How would everyone here like Melo coming off of knee surgery at 31 for 3 more years at 20 million per? Also, we likely have no Russell cause Melo would have likely won us 4-5 more games last season. We are fine. Hibbert/Randle/Kobe/Clarkson/Russell could sneak up on some people and with the inevitable fall of Dallas and Portland, we could sneak into the playoffs if Hibbert gets his head on straight and Russell and Randle come out of the gates swinging.
In reality...the logical thought was that the Lakers right now did not have a finished product that the notable free agents would find appealing [see Abdul-Jabbar tweet]. I stepped back and it made sense. Seriously...I was not that that keen on either Aldridge or Jordan. One did not want to deal with the physical aspects of playing center and is all offense...the other was the opposite being a liability. Hard not to ignore these unflattering reports of how we are unsuccessful or "flailing" as one scribe put it...then not be concerned and not express some dissatisfaction. You start to wonder... We now have youthful, promising prospects to showcase. This Hibbert transaction will not put us over the top but we'll go a long way in fielding a balanced, competitive squad on the floor.
I"m not going to give him too much credit. Indiana had no other options in reality and they wanted rid of Hibbert and the reason they didn't is because we've swung and missed for 3 straight years. Let's not lose sight of that. This move wouldn't have been possible without sucking so bad. It's a good move. It was trade. We're still not doing much of anything in FA to build a team. We missed on a face of the franchise and Hibbert's an expiring. He's a lot better expiring with more upside than Boozer but in essence it's the same type of move. Not to dog this move do much. It's a good one for the team but this is in no way comparable to the Pau trade. That was a position of need when we were relevant. This is a way to meet the salary requirements, get an expiring contract and get a guy that may turn it around. They achieved exactly what I thought they would do when they didn't get LMA. Keep the powder dry for the 2016 plan. I'll be on board with management when I see them going after a young guy in the shadows that has a ton of potential at a position of need at 9pm next year instead of sitting on Durant's doorstep.