Who On This Roster Do You Hope To See Back Next Year?

Based on what you've seen, a combination of contract length, contract amount, performance, position, height, speed, need.....etc, who do you want to see back on a potential 15 man roster? Where do you think we need to draft or go after free agents? Do the numbers work? What's your plan?




Obviously this is an ugly year of historic proportions. Be nice to see what young guys you think are worth keeping around, and how you would approach filling out this roster.

 

I think we need to move on from the Wes Johnson era at SF.

 

I'm working on mine, but immediately these guys are gone in my book.....

Sacre. I just don't see the value beyond 3rd string big. Shooting 41%, but he is cheap.
Ryan Kelly. Drafted to shoot, and he's under 30% on the year. acceptable from 3, but nowhere else. I don't feel he brings enough to the table to bring back
Lin. Just don't see the fit, especially not for the money. Someone will pick him up, but do you want to be the team to tell him he's a vet min guy and have him disgruntled while developing a guy like Clarkson?
Price. Solid defense, but horrible shooter. I was shocked every time a three went in.

Questionable depending on direction of the team:

Boozer: Veteran presence, but at what price. Solid, but lots of duplicate young talent that need minutes....Black, Hill, Randle, Davis....
Wesley Johnson: He's cheap, but I see him as a backup only. He's not a starter in this league if you are seriously trying to win games.
Nick Young: Knucklehead, but entertaining. High price backup that is pretty worthless if his shot isn't falling. 37% won't get it done. I'm not as big of a fan as others.
Wayne Ellington: Cheap, but at 27, we're probably seeing his ceiling. Not sure a shooter at 42% will be sticking around.
Hill: Trade bait to me with an expiring deal. I just see too much duplicate talent, and Black, Davis, and Randle are cheaper. For just a little less production, Ed Davis was 8 Million less.

Keeping, but of course depending on draft and free agent moves:

Tarik Black
Ed Davis
Julius Randle
Jordan Clarkson
Jabari Brown
Kobe Bryant

I see half a roster at best with lots of room for improvement. Here's how I see it:

Center
Free Agent/Draft Starter, Tarik Black, Ed Davis backup

PF
Julius Randle Starter, Ed Davis backup

I'm waiting for ANYONE to distinguish themselves in the front court. They all seem interchangeable, serviceable, midsized, adequate, but no superstars. Yes, we are spoiled, but this front court isn't taking us anywhere.

SF
Free Agent/Draft

SG
Kobe Bryant starter, Jabari Brown backup (Like what I see so far, and tutoring under Bean for a year is a good idea)

PG
Free Agent Starter, Jordan Clarkson backup (needs time to develop for a year, but we may throw him to the wolves)

 

I'm glad Byron is inspired by the Front Office "Plan" he has mentioned. I don't see a whole lot to redo the roster right now.

If we were to get a Kevin Love and a Rondo type, we are still a woeful roster with tons of inexperience. :/ Kobe's last year will be memorable all right lol.

If nothing else, the young guys are fun to watch. It'll be nice to see who starts to develop as a new closer. Right now we hang until the last 5 minutes, and then fall apart.

 

Tarik has a team option, which I'm sure we will pick up. I don't think the Lakers pick up Hill's team option to free up money for Free Agency.

Ed Davis and Wayne Ellington have earned contracts downright. It will be sad if we can't resign these guys, but hopefully because another team overpaid or we found a cheaper option. Both have roles here though moving forward.

Kobe, Clarkson, Young, Randle, Kelly, Sacre are still on contract, of those, Kelly and Sacre are expendable. Even though Nick hasn't been on good terms this year, he's still a good player to have off the bench.

Lin I'm not bringing back unless it's for the minimum. Price I wouldn't mind back for depth at the minimum. Boozer as well.

Couldn't care less about Wes.

 

You think Lin is still worth 4 million here? Somewhere else maybe, but I really doubt Byron of all voices in the FO, would give Jeremy that. It's not like he deserves it either after this season. Swaggy got ~$5M for a stellar year in 2014, I don't see Jeremy's value that high anymore.

 

Fixed your post for you - jk. I expected Wes to show something after working out with Kobe. He just showed why basketballers need skill as well as athleticism to burn. And why can he only move in straight lines in O? No evasiveness or lateral movement.

We need to target a real SF in free agency. It can't be Kobe or Nick Young starting at SF.

I agree with the general consensus above. Lin I think we can't take for his performance at the start of the year, and the fact Byron is like the anti-Lin cancelling out who he is as a player.

Do not want Love or Rondo really. I think paying all star money for stars hurts us in the long run, but do need somebody. We have PF, SG (Kobe), hopefully can draft a C or PG.

What we should do is secure all positions except for SG. Make the rest of the team as strong as possible. Then the year after we have that Kobe money to attract a SG to the team in trade or free agency. Hate to say it, but I am ready for next season to be Kobe's last season now. He is our glorious past not our future.

 

This is pretty much how I have it.
Boozer and Price only back for dirt cheap to be the veteran presence and 3rd string at their positions.

 

What's the deal with Hill's contract? By when do we have to decide whether or not to accept his team option? I'm not sure how feasible it would be to trade him in the off-season.

Ideal Offseason:
Keep: Kobe, Randle, Clarkson, Young, Davis, Ellington, Black, Boozer
Gone: Hill, Johnson*, Sacre*, Kelly*, Nash, Price, Brown*
Draft: Okafor and Tyus Jones
Sign: Mo Williams and Danny Green
*Potentially keep for very cheap if we need additional depth (they should not be rotation players!)

Williams / Clarkson / Jones
Bryant / Ellington
Green / Young
Randle / Boozer
Okafor / Davis / Black

 

_____ / Clarkson / Price
Kobe / Ellington
_____ / Young
Randle / Davis / Kelly
_____ / Black

 

black
davis
Clarkson
randle
kobe (duh)
young (nobody would trade for him, and he's still my boy because he seems like he wants to be a laker at a time when it's less cool to do so)

everyone else can walk without tears from me.

I like lin and boozer as long term backups, but if I'm those two, I take the same spot with contenders.

Kelly showed some promise, but he's just too slow.

ellington's not good enough to justify the consistent minutes it takes for him to get a rhythm.

sacre's not an nba player.

I'm actually not as down on Johnson as some, but you can replace him fairly easily at vet min if necessary.

hill's not worth his salary, particularly to a rebuilding team. he should follow boozer and lin to play off the bench for winning teams.

I forgot price existed.

so...I've got about 8 spots up for grabs. two should come via draft, and I hope at least one more is an impactful FA signing. the other five can be shots at projects, as far as I'm concerned.

 

It's difficult to make a definitive list of who should and shouldn't be back without knowing what that player will cost to bring back as well as the opportunity cost. For example I wouldn't bring back Lin at $7 million per year, but if he offered to take the minimum then of course I bring him back (not happening I know, just an extreme example).

We also need to be able to look at the opportunity cost. I didn't mind Nick Young's deal last summer, as I thought that it was a fair price for a guy who can create his own shot off the bench and is popular with the fans. Swaggy has had a rough season this year and hasn't been worth his deal, but at the time the contract was agreed upon it wasn't a bad deal (although making the final year a player option isn't great). However, I wrote a column at the time about the opportunity cost of signing Young to that deal. Essentially, while his deal wasn't bad, that contract should have gone to Isaiah Thomas, who was signed at a similar price but is a better player by far AND desperately wanted to be a Laker.

So while it's easy to say yes, bring back Ed Davis, we need to know 1. How much money will it take and for how many years AND 2. Who else could be had with that money?

I agree with the players most of you have identified as potential keepers (Ed, Wayne, Kelly, Black, Randle, Kobe, Young, Davis, Sacre, JC, Price) but what this team needs more than anything else is starting-caliber talent. The Lakers need to spend their money on starting-caliber players and bench guys need to be on team-friendly deals. So as painful as it would be, realistically if any of our current free agents want big money they should be told to look elsewhere.

Ed is awesome, but can he be a starter? Given his lack of a jumper I'm not so sure. There are ways to get around it but it isn't easy in today's NBA to play a PF who can't shoot beyond 10 feet. Wayne has been great too, but can he be a true starter in this league? Probably not. He would be awesome off the bench, but that's about it.

I'll write more about this topic in the future but for now we need to assume that guys with contracts next year (Kelly, Kobe, Randle, JC, Sacre, Black, Young, maybe Hill) will be back unless there is a trade or Hill's option isn't picked up. For the rest (Ed, Lin, Wayne, Price, Brown, Boozer) it's going to come down to how much they want, how many years they want it for, and who else is available with that money.

 

Well assuming 2 of our 4 draft picks will probably go to the D-league,

1.rookie
2.rookie
3.Kobe
4.Young
5.Ellington
6.Randle
7.Clarkson
8.Davis
9.Black
10.Hill if we don't get C in draft
11.Lin if 4-5 mil
12.Boozer if cheap
13.Jabari Brown
14.free agent SF
15.free agent SF or PG depending on draft

We can't afford to let Lin walk unless we attract Mo Williams, Dragic, or Nelson. I would pick up Hill's contract if we don't draft a big. Urgent free agent need is SF.

 

This thread made me realize how badly we need to draft a quality Center in this draft. Not just for the talent, but financially because we could let Hill walk.

 

My hopeful fill of those blanks?

Mo Williams
DeMarre Carroll or Danny Green
Karl Anthony-Towns or Okafor

If we get Towns, Randle starts. If we get Okafor, Davis starts. Defense-offense balance.