Official: Unsubstantiated Trade Suggestions, Speculation, And Rumors

It's a slow day at work, so in light of the recent breakfast bash here's a scenario:

-Lakers trade Kelly at the deadline for a 2nd round pick.
-Let's assume they DON"T get the Top 5 pick. (it ends up 7th DAMN!)
-The Lakers head into the summer with Kobe, Randle, Houston's rookie, and Young as the only guaranteed contracts- 34 million. Cap space is: 28 million.
-The Lakers decline Hill's 9 million dollars to keep space open.
-The Lakers sign Rajon Rondo to a 4 year/ 83 million dollar deal. The deal (according to this guy) starts at 18.68 million. Cap space is: 9.52 million.

Now it's decision time. We've got Kobe, Young, Rondo, a rookie, and Randle. We can either use this 10 million for a home-run or we can start divvying up money to bring in a more well rounded team. Maybe bring back some of the studs from last season. In this scenario, I'm going to assume Hill gets a huge offer somewhere and takes it. Something that we literally cannot match. So here's how my summer ends:

-The Lakers sign Robin Lopez to a 3/18 million dollar deal. Seven footer, high motor, good defender. Cap space is: 4.02 million.

Decision time again. Lin isn't getting much this summer. Sure he's having a "career" year, but he's also having a Ramon Sessions year. Sessions is currently on a 2 million dollar deal. Lin is worth more because of his name/ability to move merchandise. I see him worth roughly 3-5 million. Ed Davis has shown flashes of really solid play, but he's a foul machine. His efficiency is impressive and he never stops working, but if he can't stay on the floor how much money can you give him? I see him right now being worth the same amount as Lin since decent bigs are harder to find. Which do you keep? I'm going with Davis since Lin will most likely want to find a situation he might be able to start in (sounds a lot like Sessions, eh?).

-The Lakers give Ed Davis a 2/8 million dollar deal. Player option on the 2nd year. Cap space is: 500,000.

In other words, we're capped out. Time to start filling the roster with minimum deals again. Bring back Sacre, Clarkson, and hopefully keep Ellington around. Give Xavier a camp invite. Look for bargain bin players again from the wing like Alonzo Gee and Francisco Garcia.

Roster-
Rondo/Clarkson
Bryant/Ellington/Rookie?
Garcia/Young
Randle/Davis
Lopez/Sacre

Not great, but certainly better. And going into the next summer the Cap will rise to at least 77 (some projections have it at 87). We'd have only Rondo, Randle, Young, Lopez, and maybe Davis and Clarkson signed on for a total of roughly 41 million (roughly 44 million after cap holds). That leaves us 33 million dollars to seduce Durant, whose max would be near 19 million at that point, and still have 14 million left to spend on other players. Is Kobe worth 14 million at that point? Other names available would be Batum, Joe Johnson, Nene, Noah, Horford... There'd be ample opportunity to grow the team more.

Rondo
Kobe
Durant
Randle
Lopez

good start?

 

A lot of moving, difficult parts but I love the creativity and thinking going on in that post.

I hate to throw darts at a good post like that because frankly I dont if I could come up with someone better on the spot without really thinking this through, but I just cant see us getting Robin Lopez for 3/18. I think he's going to get some between 7-8 million range and even though we could still offer him that I just dont see him coming our way. Maybe its the lack of confidence in our FA signing ability the last couple of years that is doubting us able to get him period.

 

If anything I think we probably don't go after him at all. Management doesn't seem to want to give those types of contracts to guys we're not "familiar" with.

I think you're probably right about Lopez commanding a bit more BUT with Portland grabbing Kaman this last summer Lopez's production has been up and down. I'm hoping Kaman drops Robin's value a bit. If we can't get him there's a few other bodies, but none I'm excited about at that kind of price. I suppose we could give that contract to Ed Davis (preferably Hill if he wanted to give us a discount) and keep one of those guys as a place holder until we get the Center of the future we want. In fact doing that would mean being able to bring back Lin at a reasonable cost. I just think getting a bigger body at Center is important for us. We're constantly undersized down there and I love Ed but he's a foul machine.

 

Desperation? No its just realistic. Rondo for 15 million isn't happening

 

Well that's the joke you'll almost certainly be hearing from the FO so I'd get used to it. It's going to be exactly what @RandleROFY said: this situation is the same as the Carmelo one. They're going to make that offer because he's an All-Star, a champion, and the Lakers are going to protect their brand as a player destination.

Joke or not, I'd get used to it.

 

I think it'd cost us Hill to get Stephenson. I'm sure they could find more return than an expiring (and we'd probably throw in Hou. 1st).

 

Exactly. It's not just about his age, it's about the fact he COULD leave his team. The new CBA is built to keep guys home and we're in trouble for that. The fact that Rondo will be a Free Agent and available while still being an elite player in this league is key.

Not to mention his function for us wouldn't just be as a player but as a recruiting tool for other players. Right now Kobe is our only draw. If Kobe can't convince someone to come over here this summer our rebuild might just add another couple seasons.

It doesn't have to be Rondo but we need a player this summer.