2024 off-season: what moves would you like to see??

danfantastk32 · Post #41 » by **danfantastk32** » Tue May 7, 2024 4:07 am

Anderson Hunt wrote:Very well thought-out, but not enough offense, especially of the quick, penetrating variety.

We'll all hate the lineup of Paul, Caruso, Drummond, Vanderbilt, and Finney-Smith.

I love the time and thoroughness of your post, but this team'd need more offense.

Also, hate to poke holes.....but why is CP3 leaving $30m to come play here for $3? .....answer....he's not. So we gotta stay real here. This is the part of the year where fans often massively over sell the whole "your a LAKER" thing. Doesn't mean squat. And last I checked, the Lakers were like 3 regular season wins above the Warriors. So if he's chasing a ring....we're hardly the destination.

It's time Laker fans get it.....We're not a favored destination. We're a middle of the road team. Changing the coach won't change who actually runs the floor. And that guy running the floor isn't just the wrong side of 30......he'll be the wrong side of 40 mid season. Don't you get it?? Lebron ain't turning back the clock. AD literally played more games this last season than he played his entire career. THAT WAS IT FOLKS.....it wont 'get better. And it wasn't really close to enough. Im sorry, but its time to take off the goggles, and accept reality: You wont get a better year than last year from our two stars....and it wasn't close to enough.

Im sorry, but while I appreciate your effort.....exactly what did CP3 bring to GS last year? Nada. And we're supposed to get him for 10% of what he's gonna earn next year?

The mental hoops people go through to dodge reality around here. I don't want to be a dick, but enough already. This team is completely mediocre, and declining. Stop dodging the truth!

Anderson Hunt · Post #42 » by **Anderson Hunt** » Tue May 7, 2024 4:37 am

danfantastk32 wrote:
Anderson Hunt wrote:Very well thought-out, but not enough offense, especially of the quick, penetrating variety.

We'll all hate the lineup of Paul, Caruso, Drummond, Vanderbilt, and Finney-Smith.

I love the time and thoroughness of your post, but this team'd need more offense.

Also, hate to poke holes.....but why is CP3 leaving $30m to come play here for $3? .....answer....he's not. So we gotta stay real here. This is the part of the year where fans often massively over sell the whole "your a LAKER" thing. Doesn't mean squat. And last I checked, the Lakers were like 3 regular season wins above the Warriors. So if he's chasing a ring....we're hardly the destination.

It's time Laker fans get it.....We're not a favored destination. We're a middle of the road team. Changing the coach won't change who actually runs the floor. And that guy running the floor isn't just the wrong side of 30......he'll be the wrong side of 40 mid season. Don't you get it?? Lebron ain't turning back the clock. AD literally played more games this last season than he played his entire career. THAT WAS IT FOLKS.....it wont 'get better. And it wasn't really close to enough. Im sorry, but its time to take off the goggles, and accept reality: You wont get a better year than last year from our two stars....and it wasn't close to enough.

Im sorry, but while I appreciate your effort.....exactly what did CP3 bring to GS last year? Nada. And we're supposed to get him for 10% of what he's gonna earn next year?

The mental hoops people go through to dodge reality around here. I don't want to be a dick, but enough already. This team is completely mediocre, and declining. Stop dodging the truth!

Men need to be more humble and careful before typing / speaking.

You're wrong here, my friend. Dead wrong. Paul's contract isn't guaranteed next year. The Warriors, as Tyler alluded to, can cut him or trade him (before the guarantee date) and save 30 million.

Now, be good and apologize.

As far as your rant about it being over. Just post your realistic solution like Tyler did. He laid-out his solution. Lay out yours.

Nothing worse than complaining about problems while offering no remedies.

For what it's worth, some of your points are quite valid. It is pretty demoralizing to think that Davis and James both had career years statistically and the team was in the play-in, so you're not wrong in that regard.

You're just wrong to criticize my man's work with faulty facts while offering no solutions.

Your post reminds me of conversations with my wife.

Lakers24gm · Post #43 » by **Lakers24gm** » Tue May 7, 2024 4:43 am

Dlo has a player option. Don’t think we can renounce him. If he picks it up we are stuck with that salary but could use it as trade bait expiring.

TylersLakers wrote:Alright, I've been doing some number crunching and this is our path forward to winning a Championship with Russell not on the roster.

As much as I'd love to have D-Lo on the team in the regular season, if we're serious about trying to win a Championship next season, he can't be on the team unless he's a 6th man. And from his comments and how he felt about coming off the bench this year, it sounds like he would need to be severely humbled to accept a 6th man role off the bench. If he truly wants to contribute to winning, that is where I think he'd be best.

LeBron:

1 A) Re-sign LeBron. As much as I'd love him to take less, he won't. So he'll opt-out (as reported) and re-sign a new deal to get a no trade clause. I would imagine it'll be a 2 or 3 year deal, either way his salary would start at $50.1M.
1 B) Draft Bronny James, 2nd round pick (#55): Hire a good player development staff and see what he turns into.

Trades:

2) Trade Vincent, JHS, Max Lewis, 2024 1st (#17), 2029 1st (unprotected) to Chicago for Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter.
3) Trade Rui, 2031 1st round pick (Top 3 protected), x2 2nd round picks to Brooklyn for Dorian Finney-Smith.

Free Agency:

4) Renounce D-Lo - This way we have access to the full mid-level exception worth around $13M.
5) Sign Andre Drummond, 2 year contract (player option 2nd year) starting at $6.5M
6) Sign Buddy Hield, 2 year contract (player option 2nd year) starting at $6.5M.
7) I would imagine Chris Paul gets waived, sign him to a veteran minimum. He's at that stage now.
8) Re-sign Max Christie, 3 year contract (player option on 3rd year) starting at $6M.
9) Reddish and Wood opt in, Hayes opts out.

Roster:

PG: Reaves/Paul/Carter
SG: Caruso/Hield/James
SF: DFS/Christie/Reddish
PF: LeBron/Vando/
C: AD/Drummond/Wood

LeBron: $50.1
AD: $43.2
DFS: $14.9
Reaves: $13.0
Vando: $10.7
Caruso: $9.9
Carter: $6.5
Drummond: $6.5
Hield: $6.5
Christie: $6.0
Paul: $3.3
Wood: $3.0
Reddish: $2.5
James: $1.2

We would still have enough room under the hard cap to add a buyout player mid-season. That's an extremely versatile line-up. I could also see other starting line-ups.

That's a line-up that's built to win in the playoffs. Point of attack defenders in Caruso, Vando, Reaves. The ability to start really big with Drummond or bring him off the bench. If we need shooting around LeBron and AD we could go with a lot of different options: Hield, Reaves, Caruso or DFS, Max, Wood. I do think Christian Wood will rebound and have a nice year next season. Regardless, we need to be a better rebounding team and Drummond helps with that significantly. I trust DFS more than Rui. He may not be the shooter or the hub of offense that Rui is, but he's a much better defender.

A situation like this would be perfect for Chris Paul. I could easily see him starting in a backcourt with Reaves and bringing Caruso off the bench like we did in 2020. However, that's not needed. He could come off the bench, play 15-20 MPG, take off nights and really build himself up to be a playoff player.

9 man rotation: LeBron, AD, Reaves, Caruso, DFS, Vando, Hield, Drummond, Paul. If anyone misses time, Max Christie slides in and plays. Jevon Carter, Wood up next. Couldn't care less of Reddish touches the court.

Coaching

I think it's really important we have a collection of basketball minds. I love the idea of JJ Reddick as a coach and even though he'd be a rookie coach, he has LeBron's respect and LeBron will be a guiding influence until he retires. Reddick is also a guy that could have some success early in a great situation and then by the time LeBron retires, he's earned his stripes as a coach. The other options: David Adelman, Kenny Atkinson, Mike Budenholzer, etc. You really think those guys are going to move the needle? I just don't see it. Those guys all might be better coaches right now, but I just see them being a Frank Vogel for a couple of years. We need to prioritize a long term option and the only options I see for that are Reddick, Adelman or someone like Sam Cassell who's been a successful assistant for many years.

I'd love to see a staff of:

HC: Reddick
Assistants: Terry Stotts, Alvin Gentry, Rajon Rondo, David Vanterpool (player development), Jerry Stackhouse (player development).

Gentry and Rondo both have relationships with AD. Gentry is well respected and would essentially fill the Lionel Hollins role in 2020.

danfantastk32 · Post #44 » by **danfantastk32** » Tue May 7, 2024 5:31 am

Anderson Hunt wrote:Men need to be more humble and careful before typing / speaking.

You're wrong here, my friend. Dead wrong. Paul's contract isn't guaranteed next year. The Warriors, as Tyler alluded to, can cut him or trade him (before the guarantee date) and save 30 million.

Now, be good and apologize.

As far as your rant about it being over. Just post your realistic solution like Tyler did. He laid-out his solution. Lay out yours.

Nothing worse than complaining about problems while offering no remedies.

For what it's worth, some of your points are quite valid. It is pretty demoralizing to think that Davis and James both had career years statistically and the team was in the play-in, so you're not wrong in that regard.

You're just wrong to criticize my man's work with faulty facts while offering no solutions.

Your post reminds me of conversations with my wife.

Well dude, Maybe check your own humility, and look at what would be literally DOZENS of post by me over the past twelve months spelling out my solution. There's at least 50 posts by me, saying the solution is to sell AD on the market...and rebuild. Sorry you hate your wife.....but Im not in that category.

I don't see CP3 as non-guaranteed according to my website (Hoopshype) but if they're wrong about that, I most humbly apologize. Just double checked it there....nothing about it being anything but another year on his contract.....do you hold yourself to the same standard??

I try not to beat a dead horse, and repeat my solution over and over and over....but I think anyone who is a regular here knows perfectly well, where I stand. Most are prob sick of it. I said many times at the end of last season that we needed to rebuild. Honestly man....there's half a dozen posts in the last 72 hours by me on that subject.

Before you and I engage in a useless online squabble....I'm looking at hoopshype showing him guaranteed https://hoopshype.com/salaries/golden_state_warriors/ <-----do you have a website to counter that?

If not....will you be good and apologize?

NBAWestFan · Post #45 » by **NBAWestFan** » Tue May 7, 2024 6:10 am

Simple Clean House like how the coaching was done

Let Lebron go or sign and trade. No Long term contracts unless they play D and our a budding star.

I would get as many first round picks for AD.
If no good offers keep him for now.

Lakers need to Keep Reeves

Everyone Else can Go.

Try to get two way and YOUNGER Players

Cash in for picks

The Band Aid team of Lebron cannot play the Defense long enough.

After watching the Team Defense of T-wolves that is best

No wash up stars anymore. Re-builld

Anderson Hunt · Post #46 » by **Anderson Hunt** » Tue May 7, 2024 6:41 am

danfantastk32 wrote:
Anderson Hunt wrote:Men need to be more humble and careful before typing / speaking.

You're wrong here, my friend. Dead wrong. Paul's contract isn't guaranteed next year. The Warriors, as Tyler alluded to, can cut him or trade him (before the guarantee date) and save 30 million.

Now, be good and apologize.

As far as your rant about it being over. Just post your realistic solution like Tyler did. He laid-out his solution. Lay out yours.

Nothing worse than complaining about problems while offering no remedies.

For what it's worth, some of your points are quite valid. It is pretty demoralizing to think that Davis and James both had career years statistically and the team was in the play-in, so you're not wrong in that regard.

You're just wrong to criticize my man's work with faulty facts while offering no solutions.

Your post reminds me of conversations with my wife.

Well dude, Maybe check your own humility, and look at what would be literally DOZENS of post by me over the past twelve months spelling out my solution. There's at least 50 posts by me, saying the solution is to sell AD on the market...and rebuild. Sorry you hate your wife.....but Im not in that category.

I don't see CP3 as non-guaranteed according to my website (Hoopshype) but if they're wrong about that, I most humbly apologize. Just double checked it there....nothing about it being anything but another year on his contract.....do you hold yourself to the same standard??

I try not to beat a dead horse, and repeat my solution over and over and over....but I think anyone who is a regular here knows perfectly well, where I stand. Most are prob sick of it. I said many times at the end of last season that we needed to rebuild. Honestly man....there's half a dozen posts in the last 72 hours by me on that subject.

Before you and I engage in a useless online squabble....I'm looking at hoopshype showing him guaranteed https://hoopshype.com/salaries/golden_state_warriors/ <-----do you have a website to counter that?

If not....will you be good and apologize?

You seem like a solid guy, but I'm 99% sure I have nothing to apologize for. If I am wrong, of course, I'd have absolutely no problem admitting my errors. After 20 years of marriage and six kids, my wife is (slowly) getting better with that as well.

Paul's contract is non-guaranteed until June 28th. I first heard this information three months ago by several posters on the Warriors board, then read it in an article or two after the Warriors were eliminated. Dig a little deeper. I'm as opinionated as the next guy, but when I present facts, it's iron-clad. If you really want the truth, go seek it. It's really not that hard to find. If two thorough-ass dudes like Tyler and I know, you can know too. We're no more intelligent than you, dude.

I'd love to hear your actual plan though. The reason I respect Tyler's post is because it was thorough and detailed, much more thorough and detailed than mine actually. You saying you'd "sell Davis" isn't a detailed plan. Take the time to propose a realistic trade, fill-out the roster, suggest a guy to draft, share a lineup/roster.

When I say "lay-out" your solution, I mean blow by blow. If you've already done that, my bad; I'll find it, but I haven't seen it. I haven't seen anyone take the time to give a blow by blow like Tyler, even though I disagree with his actual roster construction (as he does mine).

Anderson Hunt · Post #47 » by **Anderson Hunt** » Tue May 7, 2024 6:50 am

Lakers24gm wrote:Dlo has a player option. Don’t think we can renounce him. If he picks it up we are stuck with that salary but could use it as trade bait expiring.

TylersLakers wrote:Alright, I've been doing some number crunching and this is our path forward to winning a Championship with Russell not on the roster.

As much as I'd love to have D-Lo on the team in the regular season, if we're serious about trying to win a Championship next season, he can't be on the team unless he's a 6th man. And from his comments and how he felt about coming off the bench this year, it sounds like he would need to be severely humbled to accept a 6th man role off the bench. If he truly wants to contribute to winning, that is where I think he'd be best.

LeBron:

1 A) Re-sign LeBron. As much as I'd love him to take less, he won't. So he'll opt-out (as reported) and re-sign a new deal to get a no trade clause. I would imagine it'll be a 2 or 3 year deal, either way his salary would start at $50.1M.
1 B) Draft Bronny James, 2nd round pick (#55): Hire a good player development staff and see what he turns into.

Trades:

2) Trade Vincent, JHS, Max Lewis, 2024 1st (#17), 2029 1st (unprotected) to Chicago for Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter.
3) Trade Rui, 2031 1st round pick (Top 3 protected), x2 2nd round picks to Brooklyn for Dorian Finney-Smith.

Free Agency:

4) Renounce D-Lo - This way we have access to the full mid-level exception worth around $13M.
5) Sign Andre Drummond, 2 year contract (player option 2nd year) starting at $6.5M
6) Sign Buddy Hield, 2 year contract (player option 2nd year) starting at $6.5M.
7) I would imagine Chris Paul gets waived, sign him to a veteran minimum. He's at that stage now.
8) Re-sign Max Christie, 3 year contract (player option on 3rd year) starting at $6M.
9) Reddish and Wood opt in, Hayes opts out.

Roster:

PG: Reaves/Paul/Carter
SG: Caruso/Hield/James
SF: DFS/Christie/Reddish
PF: LeBron/Vando/
C: AD/Drummond/Wood

LeBron: $50.1
AD: $43.2
DFS: $14.9
Reaves: $13.0
Vando: $10.7
Caruso: $9.9
Carter: $6.5
Drummond: $6.5
Hield: $6.5
Christie: $6.0
Paul: $3.3
Wood: $3.0
Reddish: $2.5
James: $1.2

We would still have enough room under the hard cap to add a buyout player mid-season. That's an extremely versatile line-up. I could also see other starting line-ups.

That's a line-up that's built to win in the playoffs. Point of attack defenders in Caruso, Vando, Reaves. The ability to start really big with Drummond or bring him off the bench. If we need shooting around LeBron and AD we could go with a lot of different options: Hield, Reaves, Caruso or DFS, Max, Wood. I do think Christian Wood will rebound and have a nice year next season. Regardless, we need to be a better rebounding team and Drummond helps with that significantly. I trust DFS more than Rui. He may not be the shooter or the hub of offense that Rui is, but he's a much better defender.

A situation like this would be perfect for Chris Paul. I could easily see him starting in a backcourt with Reaves and bringing Caruso off the bench like we did in 2020. However, that's not needed. He could come off the bench, play 15-20 MPG, take off nights and really build himself up to be a playoff player.

9 man rotation: LeBron, AD, Reaves, Caruso, DFS, Vando, Hield, Drummond, Paul. If anyone misses time, Max Christie slides in and plays. Jevon Carter, Wood up next. Couldn't care less of Reddish touches the court.

Coaching

I think it's really important we have a collection of basketball minds. I love the idea of JJ Reddick as a coach and even though he'd be a rookie coach, he has LeBron's respect and LeBron will be a guiding influence until he retires. Reddick is also a guy that could have some success early in a great situation and then by the time LeBron retires, he's earned his stripes as a coach. The other options: David Adelman, Kenny Atkinson, Mike Budenholzer, etc. You really think those guys are going to move the needle? I just don't see it. Those guys all might be better coaches right now, but I just see them being a Frank Vogel for a couple of years. We need to prioritize a long term option and the only options I see for that are Reddick, Adelman or someone like Sam Cassell who's been a successful assistant for many years.

I'd love to see a staff of:

HC: Reddick
Assistants: Terry Stotts, Alvin Gentry, Rajon Rondo, David Vanterpool (player development), Jerry Stackhouse (player development).

Gentry and Rondo both have relationships with AD. Gentry is well respected and would essentially fill the Lionel Hollins role in 2020.

I'm a little more than 50% sure once Russell opts out they can renounce his rights, which means they waive the right to resign him using Bird rights. If I'm not mistaken, they did it with Julius Randle, but he was a restricted free agent.

danfantastk32 · Post #48 » by **danfantastk32** » Tue May 7, 2024 6:02 pm

Anderson Hunt wrote: Paul's contract is non-guaranteed until June 28th. I first heard this information three months ago by several posters on the Warriors board, then read it in an article or two after the Warriors were eliminated. Dig a little deeper. I'm as opinionated as the next guy, but when I present facts, it's iron-clad. If you really want the truth, go seek it. It's really not that hard to find.

I'd love to hear your actual plan though. The reason I respect Tyler's post is because it was thorough and detailed, much more thorough and detailed than mine actually. You saying you'd "sell Davis" isn't a detailed plan. Take the time to propose a realistic trade, fill-out the roster, suggest a guy to draft, share a lineup/roster.

Wait....why should I have to go find this information that YOU stated? I just linked a site that says otherwise. I did my work, now you go do yours. You said I was "wrong....dead wrong". If you have something that proves that statement, let's see it. Otherwise, I wouldn't go casting stones, and trying to teach me the importance of humility.

As for a detailed plan.....I'm not interested in spending hours, when (as Ive also stated multiple times) we all know that the Lakers don't have the nuts to go rebuild. They are going to give Lebron his contract extension. They are prob going to spend their 2nd round pick getting Bronny, and they are going to sell this current FR-Pick and several others trying to get some sorta of "3rd star".

My plan is simple: Rebuild. AD has value in this league right now. More value than anyone else on our squad. Move him....AND take some horrific 2-3 year contracts back. Get 3rd teams in on it, for all I care. But with his value, and the value of taking a couple clunker-contracts back...I think we should get in the realm of 4 frpicks. See if you can do the same with Lebron. If not...just let him walk. But I'm sure we could get a pick or two outa him if we Sign and trade (taking clunkers back as well). Might we be able to package some of our roll players out?? I dunno....try it. Maybe we can get a couple 2nd rounders back (again...especially if we get bad contracts back).

So there we will be: stuck with a handful of 2-3 year bad contracts....and about 6 future picks (plus our own picks) and a smattering of 2nd-3rd round picks too. We can start our rebuild. By the time our picks are being used, and guys are starting to get experience and be better....those clunkers will start coming off the books. So if we did some good drafting, we'd hopefully start being competitive after 2-3 seasons again. Alot like what the Thunder did. I look to what they did once PG wanted to leave, and I say THAT is exactly what we should be doing too. Moving around role-players...swapping this guy with that guy.....trying to stuff some 3rd star (we're not gonna get anyone amazing...we all know that) ....all just a waste of time. No matter how detailed.

danfantastk32 · Post #49 » by **danfantastk32** » Tue May 7, 2024 6:18 pm

Knicks seem to have their picks, and some other team's pick. Would be good to do deal with. They got some crap contracts. I'm sure they'd love to have Lebron. Would Lebron do Knicks? We could take Randle or Brunsen back..whichever they wanted to ditch. They got about 4 players in the 14-20mil range. I dont follow the knicks, but whichever one sucks....we'll take that.

Look like Chicago only has 1 pick spoken for (if over #8) Prob get some picks there. Might want to work out a 3rd team to get additional picks. Maybe we could even get Caruso back....that'd wet some undies around here. Levine's contract longer than I want. Would need additional compensations if we're taking that thing back.

Im not sure I could bring myself to trading AD to Boston. If they went and won 2-3 titles, I'd be super annoyed. But....they got all their picks. If we took Porzingis off their books to boot??? I think we'd get a kings ransom out of Boston. They'd do it too....cause they are really close to a title as is. <------would be last resort. I think we could find a team thats not Boston.

There....some details.

TylersLakers · Post #50 » by **TylersLakers** » Tue May 7, 2024 10:18 pm

Anderson Hunt wrote:
danfantastk32 wrote:
Anderson Hunt wrote:Very well thought-out, but not enough offense, especially of the quick, penetrating variety.

We'll all hate the lineup of Paul, Caruso, Drummond, Vanderbilt, and Finney-Smith.

I love the time and thoroughness of your post, but this team'd need more offense.

Also, hate to poke holes.....but why is CP3 leaving $30m to come play here for $3? .....answer....he's not. So we gotta stay real here. This is the part of the year where fans often massively over sell the whole "your a LAKER" thing. Doesn't mean squat. And last I checked, the Lakers were like 3 regular season wins above the Warriors. So if he's chasing a ring....we're hardly the destination.

It's time Laker fans get it.....We're not a favored destination. We're a middle of the road team. Changing the coach won't change who actually runs the floor. And that guy running the floor isn't just the wrong side of 30......he'll be the wrong side of 40 mid season. Don't you get it?? Lebron ain't turning back the clock. AD literally played more games this last season than he played his entire career. THAT WAS IT FOLKS.....it wont 'get better. And it wasn't really close to enough. Im sorry, but its time to take off the goggles, and accept reality: You wont get a better year than last year from our two stars....and it wasn't close to enough.

Im sorry, but while I appreciate your effort.....exactly what did CP3 bring to GS last year? Nada. And we're supposed to get him for 10% of what he's gonna earn next year?

The mental hoops people go through to dodge reality around here. I don't want to be a dick, but enough already. This team is completely mediocre, and declining. Stop dodging the truth!

Men need to be more humble and careful before typing / speaking.

You're wrong here, my friend. Dead wrong. Paul's contract isn't guaranteed next year. The Warriors, as Tyler alluded to, can cut him or trade him (before the guarantee date) and save 30 million.

Now, be good and apologize.

As far as your rant about it being over. Just post your realistic solution like Tyler did. He laid-out his solution. Lay out yours.

Nothing worse than complaining about problems while offering no remedies.

For what it's worth, some of your points are quite valid. It is pretty demoralizing to think that Davis and James both had career years statistically and the team was in the play-in, so you're not wrong in that regard.

You're just wrong to criticize my man's work with faulty facts while offering no solutions.

Your post reminds me of conversations with my wife.

TylersLakers · Post #51 » by **TylersLakers** » Tue May 7, 2024 10:23 pm

danfantastk32 wrote:Knicks seem to have their picks, and some other team's pick. Would be good to do deal with. They got some crap contracts. I'm sure they'd love to have Lebron. Would Lebron do Knicks? We could take Randle or Brunsen back..whichever they wanted to ditch. They got about 4 players in the 14-20mil range. I dont follow the knicks, but whichever one sucks....we'll take that.

Look like Chicago only has 1 pick spoken for (if over #8) Prob get some picks there. Might want to work out a 3rd team to get additional picks. Maybe we could even get Caruso back....that'd wet some undies around here. Levine's contract longer than I want. Would need additional compensations if we're taking that thing back.

Im not sure I could bring myself to trading AD to Boston. If they went and won 2-3 titles, I'd be super annoyed. But....they got all their picks. If we took Porzingis off their books to boot??? I think we'd get a kings ransom out of Boston. They'd do it too....cause they are really close to a title as is. <------would be last resort. I think we could find a team thats not Boston.

There....some details.

I would consider trading LeBron to the Knicks if that's what he wanted. However, getting Josh Hart would be an absolute MUST. I didn't want to get rid of him in the AD deal. I thought it was absolutely pathetic negotiating from Pelinka that he couldn't keep Hart out of the deal.

Give us Isaiah Hartenstein (sign and trade), Hart, DiVincenzo, Bogdanovic for LeBron and Vincent.

They can keep Brunson, Randle, OG, Robinson, McBride.

TylersLakers · Post #52 » by **TylersLakers** » Tue May 7, 2024 10:26 pm

Lakers24gm wrote:Dlo has a player option. Don’t think we can renounce him. If he picks it up we are stuck with that salary but could use it as trade bait expiring.

TylersLakers wrote:Alright, I've been doing some number crunching and this is our path forward to winning a Championship with Russell not on the roster.

As much as I'd love to have D-Lo on the team in the regular season, if we're serious about trying to win a Championship next season, he can't be on the team unless he's a 6th man. And from his comments and how he felt about coming off the bench this year, it sounds like he would need to be severely humbled to accept a 6th man role off the bench. If he truly wants to contribute to winning, that is where I think he'd be best.

LeBron:

1 A) Re-sign LeBron. As much as I'd love him to take less, he won't. So he'll opt-out (as reported) and re-sign a new deal to get a no trade clause. I would imagine it'll be a 2 or 3 year deal, either way his salary would start at $50.1M.
1 B) Draft Bronny James, 2nd round pick (#55): Hire a good player development staff and see what he turns into.

Trades:

2) Trade Vincent, JHS, Max Lewis, 2024 1st (#17), 2029 1st (unprotected) to Chicago for Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter.
3) Trade Rui, 2031 1st round pick (Top 3 protected), x2 2nd round picks to Brooklyn for Dorian Finney-Smith.

Free Agency:

4) Renounce D-Lo - This way we have access to the full mid-level exception worth around $13M.
5) Sign Andre Drummond, 2 year contract (player option 2nd year) starting at $6.5M
6) Sign Buddy Hield, 2 year contract (player option 2nd year) starting at $6.5M.
7) I would imagine Chris Paul gets waived, sign him to a veteran minimum. He's at that stage now.
8) Re-sign Max Christie, 3 year contract (player option on 3rd year) starting at $6M.
9) Reddish and Wood opt in, Hayes opts out.

Roster:

PG: Reaves/Paul/Carter
SG: Caruso/Hield/James
SF: DFS/Christie/Reddish
PF: LeBron/Vando/
C: AD/Drummond/Wood

LeBron: $50.1
AD: $43.2
DFS: $14.9
Reaves: $13.0
Vando: $10.7
Caruso: $9.9
Carter: $6.5
Drummond: $6.5
Hield: $6.5
Christie: $6.0
Paul: $3.3
Wood: $3.0
Reddish: $2.5
James: $1.2

We would still have enough room under the hard cap to add a buyout player mid-season. That's an extremely versatile line-up. I could also see other starting line-ups.

That's a line-up that's built to win in the playoffs. Point of attack defenders in Caruso, Vando, Reaves. The ability to start really big with Drummond or bring him off the bench. If we need shooting around LeBron and AD we could go with a lot of different options: Hield, Reaves, Caruso or DFS, Max, Wood. I do think Christian Wood will rebound and have a nice year next season. Regardless, we need to be a better rebounding team and Drummond helps with that significantly. I trust DFS more than Rui. He may not be the shooter or the hub of offense that Rui is, but he's a much better defender.

A situation like this would be perfect for Chris Paul. I could easily see him starting in a backcourt with Reaves and bringing Caruso off the bench like we did in 2020. However, that's not needed. He could come off the bench, play 15-20 MPG, take off nights and really build himself up to be a playoff player.

9 man rotation: LeBron, AD, Reaves, Caruso, DFS, Vando, Hield, Drummond, Paul. If anyone misses time, Max Christie slides in and plays. Jevon Carter, Wood up next. Couldn't care less of Reddish touches the court.

Coaching

I think it's really important we have a collection of basketball minds. I love the idea of JJ Reddick as a coach and even though he'd be a rookie coach, he has LeBron's respect and LeBron will be a guiding influence until he retires. Reddick is also a guy that could have some success early in a great situation and then by the time LeBron retires, he's earned his stripes as a coach. The other options: David Adelman, Kenny Atkinson, Mike Budenholzer, etc. You really think those guys are going to move the needle? I just don't see it. Those guys all might be better coaches right now, but I just see them being a Frank Vogel for a couple of years. We need to prioritize a long term option and the only options I see for that are Reddick, Adelman or someone like Sam Cassell who's been a successful assistant for many years.

I'd love to see a staff of:

HC: Reddick
Assistants: Terry Stotts, Alvin Gentry, Rajon Rondo, David Vanterpool (player development), Jerry Stackhouse (player development).

Gentry and Rondo both have relationships with AD. Gentry is well respected and would essentially fill the Lionel Hollins role in 2020.

We would still have his bird rights. If he opted out (he will), we could technically pay him the max if we wanted to even though we're over the cap because of those bird rights. And until he signs elsewhere, we'd have his bird rights which we would have to renounce to have access to the MLE.

TylersLakers · Post #53 » by **TylersLakers** » Tue May 7, 2024 10:31 pm

danfantastk32 wrote:
Anderson Hunt wrote:Very well thought-out, but not enough offense, especially of the quick, penetrating variety.

We'll all hate the lineup of Paul, Caruso, Drummond, Vanderbilt, and Finney-Smith.

I love the time and thoroughness of your post, but this team'd need more offense.

Also, hate to poke holes.....but why is CP3 leaving $30m to come play here for $3? .....answer....he's not. So we gotta stay real here. This is the part of the year where fans often massively over sell the whole "your a LAKER" thing. Doesn't mean squat. And last I checked, the Lakers were like 3 regular season wins above the Warriors. So if he's chasing a ring....we're hardly the destination.

It's time Laker fans get it.....We're not a favored destination. We're a middle of the road team. Changing the coach won't change who actually runs the floor. And that guy running the floor isn't just the wrong side of 30......he'll be the wrong side of 40 mid season. Don't you get it?? Lebron ain't turning back the clock. AD literally played more games this last season than he played his entire career. THAT WAS IT FOLKS.....it wont 'get better. And it wasn't really close to enough. Im sorry, but its time to take off the goggles, and accept reality: You wont get a better year than last year from our two stars....and it wasn't close to enough.

Im sorry, but while I appreciate your effort.....exactly what did CP3 bring to GS last year? Nada. And we're supposed to get him for 10% of what he's gonna earn next year?

The mental hoops people go through to dodge reality around here. I don't want to be a dick, but enough already. This team is completely mediocre, and declining. Stop dodging the truth!

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/overview/_/year/2024

CP3's contract is completely non guaranteed. That's why the Warriors made the trade to begin with - they wanted out of Poole's deal and CP3's contract for a year (last year) was the only way to do that without attaching significant assets.

The Warriors will waive him. I doubt they'll trade him because then that means they have more money on the books for whoever they'd be getting in return.

He'll be a veteran minimum guy. I don't see any other team giving him an MLE. Maybe the mini-MLE ($5.7M) but I doubt that too.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/2609/chris-paul

CONTRACT NOTES
2023-24 $15,800,000 guaranteed, fully guaranteed on 6/28/23
est. $25,400,000 guaranteed part of PHX-WAS trade within 2022-23 league year (pending)
2024-25 non-guaranteed, fully guaranteed on 6/28/24

danfantastk32 · Post #54 » by **danfantastk32** » Tue May 7, 2024 11:42 pm

TylersLakers wrote:https://www.spotrac.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/overview/_/year/2024

CP3's contract is completely non guaranteed. That's why the Warriors made the trade to begin with - they wanted out of Poole's deal and CP3's contract for a year (last year) was the only way to do that without attaching significant assets.
The Warriors will waive him. I doubt they'll trade him because then that means they have more money on the books for whoever they'd be getting in return.
He'll be a veteran minimum guy. I don't see any other team giving him an MLE. Maybe the mini-MLE ($5.7M) but I doubt that too.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/2609/chris-paul

Ok, yeah...my site was wrong. Nice detail on that spotrac website. I''ll have to remember to use that one moving forward. And yes, Im sure that GS will waive him. But I doubt he takes the minimum. And if he does, it will be with a legit contender. He will only be doing it to get a ring.

"2) Trade Vincent, JHS, Max Lewis, 2024 1st (#17), 2029 1st (unprotected) to Chicago for Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter."

So you want to trade away not one, but TWO of our first round picks for Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter?? Christ man...the two of them combine for 15points, 4.6 assists, and 4.6 rebounds. Thats worth 2 first round picks??

3) Trade Rui, 2031 1st round pick (Top 3 protected), x2 2nd round picks to Brooklyn for Dorian Finney-Smith.

So now we're giving away our 3rd first round pick, and two second-rounders. For a 31yearold Power forward who averages 8points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists?

I mean buddy.....come on, you can't be serious here? We've just thrown 3 first round picks and 2 second round picks for guys you wouldn't waste your mid-level exception on! Holy hell.....your making me wanna go back to supporting the FO! If we're tossing 3-first round picks and 2 second rounders.....I want Mitchell, or Embiid, or Jimmy Butler, guys who are gonna make a difference.

And then what? We're just screwed for a decade afterwards? I get swinging for the fences, but this???

I'm hoping for 4 first-round picks for AD....and that includes us taking some stinker contracts back to sweeten the deal....your throwing that in for Caruso, Jevon Carter, and Finney-Smith? Who there is a difference maker?

Nah man.....no, no, no, no, no.

danfantastk32 · Post #55 » by **danfantastk32** » Wed May 8, 2024 12:09 am

TylersLakers wrote:I would consider trading LeBron to the Knicks if that's what he wanted. However, getting Josh Hart would be an absolute MUST. I didn't want to get rid of him in the AD deal. I thought it was absolutely pathetic negotiating from Pelinka that he couldn't keep Hart out of the deal.

Give us Isaiah Hartenstein (sign and trade), Hart, DiVincenzo, Bogdanovic for LeBron and Vincent.

They can keep Brunson, Randle, OG, Robinson, McBride.

No....your not understanding. I want picks! I'm not trying to get good contracts back. I want the stinkers, to up the number of picks we get back. I mean....if they consider Hart a "stinker" contract, then that's cool. We keep our poker face, and say " *sigh*....alright, we'll throw that in".

loveshaq007 · Post #56 » by **loveshaq007** » Wed May 8, 2024 12:51 am

ask for curry... make it public. they will say no and curry will ask for LeBron.

CP3 ( they'll keep him and won't worry about salary if they getting a superstar), kuminga, Brandon..... for lebron, wood, cam.... I would explore trading Cp3 for anfernee Simmons

if they don't bite. Donovan, Mitchell&Allen for the to same package. ... a team with lebron, mobley,and garland will be formidable and be great for sales

id even consider ausar and sasser straight up for LeBron, with their cap space

Post #57 » by **Danny Darko** » Wed May 8, 2024 5:24 am

my first semi half-assed attempt at getting an offseason bot programmed with the right data, rumors, and research. I'll do a very serious one at some point, but here's what google ai and microsoft ai had to say.

Google Gemini

Spoiler:

Bing Copilot

Spoiler:

Copilot did better and Gemini imo and the mention of Westbrook almost made me throw up... tisk tisk google.

danfantastk32 · Post #58 » by **danfantastk32** » Wed May 8, 2024 6:54 am

loveshaq007 wrote:ask for curry... make it public. they will say no and curry will ask for LeBron.

Someone brought this up about a week ago, and I totally agree. Uf you can get Curry asking for Lebron, and Lebron wants to go...you get that excitement brewing up there. I think adding Lebron would certainly make them contenders....as long as it works between all the players (not my problem). I would ask for picks. Take a bad contract or two back to sweeten the deal.

This would also put us in rebuild mode. Moving AD would be easier then.

Anderson Hunt · Post #59 » by **Anderson Hunt** » Wed May 8, 2024 5:06 pm

danfantastk32 wrote:
loveshaq007 wrote:ask for curry... make it public. they will say no and curry will ask for LeBron.

Someone brought this up about a week ago, and I totally agree. Uf you can get Curry asking for Lebron, and Lebron wants to go...you get that excitement brewing up there. I think adding Lebron would certainly make them contenders....as long as it works between all the players (not my problem). I would ask for picks. Take a bad contract or two back to sweeten the deal.

This would also put us in rebuild mode. Moving AD would be easier then.

Who do you draft at #17?

If you're all-in with pick accumulation, you must have an eye for players you want to use with those picks.

You can't be actively and publicly protesting against abortion unless you plan on adopting some babies.

TylersLakers · Post #60 » by **TylersLakers** » Wed May 8, 2024 10:26 pm

danfantastk32 wrote:
TylersLakers wrote:https://www.spotrac.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/overview/_/year/2024

CP3's contract is completely non guaranteed. That's why the Warriors made the trade to begin with - they wanted out of Poole's deal and CP3's contract for a year (last year) was the only way to do that without attaching significant assets.
The Warriors will waive him. I doubt they'll trade him because then that means they have more money on the books for whoever they'd be getting in return.
He'll be a veteran minimum guy. I don't see any other team giving him an MLE. Maybe the mini-MLE ($5.7M) but I doubt that too.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/_/id/2609/chris-paul

Ok, yeah...my site was wrong. Nice detail on that spotrac website. I''ll have to remember to use that one moving forward. And yes, Im sure that GS will waive him. But I doubt he takes the minimum. And if he does, it will be with a legit contender. He will only be doing it to get a ring.

"2) Trade Vincent, JHS, Max Lewis, 2024 1st (#17), 2029 1st (unprotected) to Chicago for Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter."

So you want to trade away not one, but TWO of our first round picks for Alex Caruso and Jevon Carter?? Christ man...the two of them combine for 15points, 4.6 assists, and 4.6 rebounds. Thats worth 2 first round picks??

3) Trade Rui, 2031 1st round pick (Top 3 protected), x2 2nd round picks to Brooklyn for Dorian Finney-Smith.

So now we're giving away our 3rd first round pick, and two second-rounders. For a 31yearold Power forward who averages 8points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists?

I mean buddy.....come on, you can't be serious here? We've just thrown 3 first round picks and 2 second round picks for guys you wouldn't waste your mid-level exception on! Holy hell.....your making me wanna go back to supporting the FO! If we're tossing 3-first round picks and 2 second rounders.....I want Mitchell, or Embiid, or Jimmy Butler, guys who are gonna make a difference.

And then what? We're just screwed for a decade afterwards? I get swinging for the fences, but this???

I'm hoping for 4 first-round picks for AD....and that includes us taking some stinker contracts back to sweeten the deal....your throwing that in for Caruso, Jevon Carter, and Finney-Smith? Who there is a difference maker?

Nah man.....no, no, no, no, no.

I don't disagree with you that letting LeBron walk and trading AD would probably be the best long-term move going forward. However, that's clearly not going to happen. I know this about the Buss family:

They're deathly afraid of not having "stars." I think it's BS. Lakers fans appreciate fun basketball. When we had those Lonzo/Ingram/Kuzma/Hart/Randle teams - I actually quite enjoyed watching them. There was a lot of rough nights for sure but at least they were fun to watch. I believe Luke's first year we started the season 10-10. I was so happy.

However, that's not going to happen until it's the only option. Which means they'll be bringing back LeBron and AD. And if they're going to bring those guys back, they need to go balls to the wall and give away every asset to make sure we have a team around them that can compete and possibly get 1 or 2 more deep playoff runs. I don't need a Championship - we've done that. I just want deep playoff runs where we're competitive.

I would love to acquire Mitchell. However, it's going to take trading away a huge chunk of our team to make that happen. If D-Lo were to opt in, I would absolutely trade Russell, Vincent, JHS and all of our draft picks for him. However, it's going to take a lot more than that. It's going to require giving up Reaves, Vando, Rui, etc. A team with LeBron/AD and any third star whether that's Mitchell or Trae Young will not be a Championship team if they're surrounded by minimum guys. So I think that's not the right path to go unless we're keeping Reaves, Vando, Rui.

Anderson wasn't a fan of my off-season because he thought the team needed more scoring punch. I totally agree with him - I think that's the one downside to my off-season plan. I've constructed a team that I think will win in the playoffs. Look at what's happening right now with Minnesota. They are winning because of their defensive prowess. And I know this - having a team with AD, Caruso, Vando, Drummond, DFS, Max Christie and LeBron (when engaged) is not a team opposing offenses want to see. Caruso is a 1st team all D guy, same with AD. Vando is in that discussion IMO as well. DFS is a great team defender that knows where he needs to be on the court and knows which rotations to make and how to not screw up assignments (See: Hachimura, Rui). Go back on our Championship run and realize how important guys like Caruso, Danny Green and KCP were. Caruso closed the majority of the games until Rondo came back. When our backs were against the wall and we felt threatened by Miami in the 2020 NBA Finals - who came into the starting line-up in Game 6? I'll tell you: Alex Caruso. It was the most ridiculous mistake of the last 10 years that the Lakers have made when it came to letting him walk. I think it's worse than the Mozgov and Deng signings.

I also know this: If you surround AD and LeBron with defensive minded, dirty work guys - you're going to have a successful playoff team and a real chance at winning a title.

Our biggest problems this year were defense and rebounding. Let's fix that and if we need to worry about the offense later on around trade deadline time, we can do that.

As far as offensively, I do think my team has enough to get by and win games in January and February. You lean into guys like Hield, Max, Reaves, Wood, LeBron and AD in the regular season. I think Max has a lot of offensive ability when it comes to catch and shoot and attacking closeouts. He just needs to play and him not playing this year while Cam Reddish did I think was one of the more fireable offenses that Darvin conjured up. I think Christian Wood is a way better player than was shown this year. The rotations were completely insane.

When the game tightens up in the fourth quarter and playoff time - that 8 man rotation is as good as any in the league. LeBron, AD, Reaves, Caruso, DFS, Vando, Paul, Hield or Drummond (matchup based). The reason why LeBron and AD are so good in clutch time (look at our clutch rating this season) is because they just manufacture points when it matters - even if it's ugly a lot of times. LeBron getting to the rim, AD getting offensive rebounds and free throws. Reaves can handle more ball handling and scoring opportunities. All we need are guys to make shots when it counts around those three and guard their asses off. Caruso and DFS can do that.