Official 2016 Free Agency Thread

Wait until you see Noah's deal.

 

I'm not just suggesting that. We could've still gotten some solid vets and kept that cap room. Oh well. Durant probably isn't coming. Hopefully we can at least make enough progress to entice Westbrook.

 

Pincus and others who knew this would be coming have been talking about this for months; so as Larry. Everybody is getting paid.

 

At some point, we have to improve, right? We were both sitting in the Game Time chatroom a couple of nights talking and depressed about watching the crap we had; we have $35 million in space right now. $40 if we stretch Swaggy. We're not done yet.

 

Atlanta is about to lock up Dwight. Can't wait to see those numbers...

 

I was hoping the C Bags would max him out.

 

Bayless gets 3 years/27 million.

 

Can we stop overreacting? You like Luke right? No way in hell they do this if Luke and Shaw think Mozgov's not a good fit when hes back to healthy from tissue issue in the knee, who's a mobile bruiser like Bogut, who P&Rs like a mutha, runs the floor, has mid range game, soft hands, can finish with either hand and is decent on D and rim protects. Weakness is P&R defense and maybe not as good a passer as Bogut.

 

Last we tuned in, it was Mamba out with a dropped mic...then with an abrupt hot mic screech, we are serenaded with a thick russian accent stating "Mozga in"

What. a. s***. show!

Fit?
Luke just came from a team that epitomized small ball. Last I checked we don't have talent like Steph, Klay and Dray to make a stiff look any good. Heck, was Bogut even part of that vaunted Warriors death lineup?Mozgov circa 2015 still had the likes of a Kyrie, Bron-bron and Love to make him look good. We have all seen what Bron alone can do for any team, so lets not get too enthralled with a TiLo pairing. A PnR with Kyrie or Bron is much different than with a guy that is better at assisting broken engagements these days. Gives a whole new perception to his handle DLoading, doesn't it? If he is brought in to start then he's going to be joining Randle in the frontcourt. The same Randle that provided the lowest midrange FG% (22.9%) of anybody in all the land last year (LINK). If he's going to be PnR'ing and crashing the boards, that paint will be occupied and Randle will need to utilize other parts of the floor and obviously that didn't work out too well for him when he played alongside another fellow stiff in Hibbert last season.

Bargain contract in today's market?
We all know the shelf-life of a big. He's never been durable and is it any wonder why TT replaced him in the Cavs lineup. Me personally, I would have paid an extra 2M per year to get someone that is more mobile and has won DPOY before. But more than the price tag, its the committment. Whether its a guaranteed 3 years or 4, its a committment. With JC reupping and Mozzy's 16.5, we are looking at about Kobe money (27M) towards our cap. Next summer that 30M along with the 24M that is committed our other players takes us to about 55M with a salary cap that is projected to be 107M. With the type of max deals we saw towards fringe stars in the dawn of this year's free agency, the Lakers are all but out of the 2017 free agency bonanza that is expected to be available. That means, no more dreams, no matter how pipish they may be, of signing 2 max players next summer. You would need north of 60M to accomplish that and with our recent signings, that flexibility is all but gone. We still can sign one max player though, but seeing how the buddy-buddy landscape of this generation of NBA is, who's going to want to come alone?

Contention?
Here's the worst part of all of this...are we better? In a market like LA, expectations and demands are high. That is the nature of the beast. If you prolong a rebuild, you need to commit to it. I've been saying from day 1, how does a guy like Kobe fit into a rebuild? He doesn't, yet most of the fan base believed we were rebuilding these last 3 years. When you have arguably the worst 3 years in franchise history and you are believed to be starting the rebuild with the hire of Luke, wtf? People are happy that we drafted so well and we have a young nucleus to show for it. But how did it come to be? We were bottom-feeders for 3 years straight. Then you bring in a no nonsense guy like Byron to allow these kids to grow under. You put Kobe in with these guys on a premature legacy contract to nurture these guys? It goes back to the fit question? And the answer is no, it does not! What does our #1 priority of this summer's free agency do in terms of contention for our young core? He brings veteran knowledge in at 30 years of age. However, instead of youtubing his highlights (when the big man was in his prime), I encourage you to youtube his interviews. Part of being a veteran is knowing how to communicate with your young guys. Its great that our coaching staff is so young, cause I'm not sure this Snapchat generation will be able to sit through a 5 minute conversation with a dude that has trouble with the English language. And before I get Trump'd around here, my parents are immigrants and I know all to well how miscommunication can be chalked up to an unshakeable accent.

So lets recap: this signing doesn't make us any better which means that our unprotected draft pick next summer will have Philly possibly picking back in the top 3. We don't have room next summer to offer a buddy-buddy max option to a much better crop of free agents. We don't have Kobe to distract us from the 3 years going on 4 of a rebuild project that isn't any closer to us getting back into contention.

This FO has just flipped us all the bird again. And with that I guess its only appropriate that I catch you all on the flip....when management does it to us again.

 

I know one team he won't be joining...

 

We're not even close to being done yet. I wonder what's cooking.

 

You don't have to pause. It's not even close. If Mozgov is healthy he's worlds beyond Hibbert. He's an 11 & 7 in about 24 minutes a game with great defense and finishing ability.

 

Despite seemingly a realistic option early, it looked like we never had a chance.

 

Good for him.

 

Damn. I wanted him. We're running out of options.