Rob Pelinka Discussion: He's Scrambling

How does he get no votes? he was the GM that drafted Lonzo, Kuz and Hart. He was able to move an unmovable contract in Mozgov by giving up what is turning out to be a pretty average player in D'Angelo. He cleared Clarkson off our books while getting a pick back from a team that had no incentive to help us clear space as that space will be used to lure their best player.

 

Agreed.

Pat Riley gets a vote? For what?
Koby Altman gets a vote?? He got hosed at the deadline!

When we hit two home runs this summer, everyone will be forced to vote for him.

 

Nah, they’ll just reason that LeBron, or George, or Cousins, or whoever it would be had already made up their mind to come here and it didn’t matter who was GM. If we trade for Kawhi they’ll reason he demanded to be traded here. What both of those scenarios don’t take into account is that maybe these players supposedly want to come here because we changed our front office and who we put in charge. The hate is strong

 

A Great watch!

I posted this here and in the Magic thread because there are many great quotes from them.

 

There's a Shark in the Water

Rob Pelinka deserves some credit for the hoops he's jumped through to make this happen. While the Laker world celebrates (justifiably) the King donning his new purple and gold armor and Magic Johnson cementing himself as a legendary Laker not just on the court, but off of it, Rob Pelinka has been setting this scene since he's been hired. Magic is the likable, outgoing, and charming face of the Lakers front office, capable of lighting up a room and making the Lakers seem more exciting than maybe they actually were. Rob Pelinka was doing the dirty work, getting involved with agents, cutting ties with players, and cornering other franchises with wily moves designed to frighten teams into making bad decisions. Magic can put a good face on for the media and for the fans, but Rob Pelinka is the ruthless killer behind the facade, boldly stalking the players he wants, skating the line between legal and illegal contact.

Rob's part in setting the table for LeBron shouldn't be understated. Rob brought in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in what was, fairly transparently, a deal designed to curry favor with Rich Paul, Maverick Carter, and the Klutch agency. Not long after that, Jeanie Buss was seen chatting with Rich Paul at a Laker game, clearly not a violation of any rules as Pope was playing that night. Rob's move there allowed Pope and Klutch to scope out the Lakers' new management team, their new facilities, their new vibe. They spent a year putting together information and cementing to LeBron that the Lakers were indeed back on the right track and on to something. Where creating cap space was step one, step two was the draft, Pope was step three, and of course LeBron was step four.

But not the final step.

The final step might just be the way that Rob Pelinka is circling Kawhi Leonard. We all know how Kawhi conveniently skated through the season, maybe healthy and maybe not. We all know how Shams set up the news that Kawhi wanted out and that Woj said Kawhi wants to be a Laker. The hiccup with George came and went, but now with LeBron in the fold, Rob is showing he's not done hunting yet.

Soon after LeBron was announced, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was signed for 12 million dollars. At first glance, this is just LeBron looking out for his teammate again right? After all, it's widely been reported that LeBron held the Cavs "hostage" by signing 1+1 deals and forcing the Cavs to pay premium dollars to the guys on the Cavs that he liked. This could easily just be another example of that, but it's not. Here is the Lakers' salary right now:

LeBron James- 35.6
Luol Deng- 18
Julius Randle- 12.5
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope- 12
Lonzo Ball- 7.5
Brandon Ingram- 5.8
Javale McGee- 2.1
Moe Wagner- 1.8
Kyle Kuzma- 1.7
Josh Hart- 1.7
Ivica Zubac- 1.5
= 100.2 million

That means we still have just about one more minimum slot to give out before the cap is hit, but we're basically capped out. This list does not include Lance Stephenson who is signed for what is essentially the Room Exception if no other changes are made. That team looks a little patched together, but there is undeniable talent on that team and one thing is for sure: they're going to be interesting. The Lakers could clear room now to add another piece. They could waive their rights to Randle and then stretch Deng and create roughly 21.2 million in cap space this summer for another addition if they want to. Or they can just leave things as is, maybe go over the cap to pay Julius Randle one year at a high price.

But what makes Pelinka a shark? With that Caldwell-Pope move, Rob Pelinka has ensured one more max slot is available next summer. What player is out there that has demanded a trade to LA and shot down extensions anywhere else? One Kawhi Leonard.

From here, I predict there's a large probability the Lakers don't offer any long-term deals here. If Julius is amiable, I could see us offering him something one-year that is above market value (20 million) or he can keep searching for an offer sheet somewhere. I could also see the Lakers basically cornering Julius into taking just the qualifying offer if he wants to stay. His agent Mintz sure didn't help Julius much this off-season. With no other long-term commitments, the Lakers can easily let Caldwell-Pope and Randle expire and waive Deng. That leaves the Lakers with:

LeBron James- 37.2
Luol Deng- 18.8
Lonzo Ball- 8.7
Brandon Ingram- 7.3
Moe Wagner- 2.1
Kuzma- 2
Hart- 2
2019 1st~ 2
Cap Holds~ 3.6
Total- 83.7 million

The cap for next summer is projected to be around 109 million which means the Lakers are at roughly 25.3 million. That would leave them just 7.1 million dollars shy of a max deal for Kawhi which would be 30% of the salary cap or roughly 32.4 million dollars. The Lakers can get there easily by stretching Luol Deng's 18.8 million to 6.3 million, which would free up the Lakers another 11.6 million or so and give them 36.9 million dollars to spend. They could also trade Luol Deng's expiring contract with their 1st round pick attached to it and could get the Lakers all the way up to 43.3 million to spend. At that point, the Lakers could bring Julius back as long as he was willing to sacrifice some money to accommodate Kawhi.

Rob Pelinka has perfectly set the table for the Lakers to make a run next summer at Kawhi Leonard, while still snagging LeBron James, and still keeping all of the youngsters that have made us so successful. When Rob was first hired, the one thing you heard from all sides was that Rob was a very intelligent man and that as an agent he was a shark. Well Magic chummed the waters and the Cavs have already felt Rob's bite. Rob Pelinka sold them Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. which freed up enough space to add LeBron and netted the Lakers a 1st round pick.

Now San Antonio is next and there's already blood in the water.

 

Great write up!

This brought the biggest smile to my face knowing that we can still next year sign both Randle and Kawhi back:

Have to imagine trading Deng away would be a lot easier given that he'd have 1 year left on his deal.

 

I appreciate the love!

I'm loyal to all of you though and I just like to produce for the kinds of fans/people I know will enjoy it.