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

[TylersLakers]

New front office

Yeah, I've had enough of the Rob Pelinka experience.

[loveshaq007]

Cp3, Wiggins, Brandon, kuminga, and picks.... for LeBron, Gabe, and rui (and cwood and cam. if they opt in).. we waive cp3 (non guaranteed contract)..... we save helllllaaaa money!!!!

They removed that loophole about 7 years ago. Only the guaranteed portion of a player's contract counts when considering the trade.
The only way to make the trade work is by guaranteeing CP3's contract, but then no money will be saved.

Is this true even if we trade before the season starts?

[Kilroy]

Complete top-down revamp... Keep no one. The stench of mediocrity is too thick on this team. Need to burn it down.

[loveshaq007]

bob Myers please...

[Syko_boB]

Christie is an RFA under Gilbert Arenas provision, same situation as last year with Reaves

DLo, Wood, Hayes, Reddish, LeBron have player options

Prince, Dinwiddie, Mays, Giles are unrestricted FAs

Match any offer for Max & hold onto Bron, draft Bronny & we start the offseason with this:

Davis
James
Hachimura / Vanderbilt / James Jr
Christie / Lewis
Reaves / Vincent / Hood-Schifino

I think our biggest weaknesses were a guard defender, a la Carushow / KCP mold, but Christie is right there, and Gabe is solid & should be healthy

2nd weakness was a big body next to AD
Aiming for Capela/Valanciunas/Adams/Drummond/Claxton

And Buddy Hield - FA would be nice, or a shooter of his caliber that can play, although my hope is for Christie to fill that role as well

[danfantastk32]

Burn it down and start over. You could add a great player to this team and you'll get the same results. The elephant in the room is LeBron. He dominates the offense no matter who's on the floor or who's coaching. He's nearly useless off the ball so Bron-Ball is all you get. He's not going to lead a team to another chip.

We just got a season where Davis and Bron were both 90% healthy... we won a couple more games than last year. The odds of that happening again are pretty slim. It's not getting better with this group.

That's what I want... what we'll see is first round picks going out for whoever can draft his kid... and a massive contract for LeBron to stay and sell some tickets.

Davis isn't going to lead a team anywhere either and the window on getting a haul for him is closing fast.

The management of Dr Buss's team by his kids is nothing short of disastrous.

Man....watching the Thunder do what they've done in just a couple short years is the most frustrating part. But you know our front office doesn't have the guts, or the NBA acumen to attempt a rebuild. So it'll be Lebron and AD until that falls over the cliff. Then it will be back to blaming Pelinka around here. Such a shame. We could get 5 first round picks for our team. Maybe even more, if played right....taking some 2-3 year bad contracts. Sure...it's a year or two of some pretty bad basket ball, but at least there's hope, and future, and you get to watch the bread bake. This??....man this is just waiting for the executioner.

I used to defend Jeanie. But holy hell...she needs to sell this team, and they need to get some new, fresh, minds in the building. I don't even want to think about giving Lebron 3years, and shoving all our chips into getting his son. I mean, of course that's exactly what's going to happen...but it's depressing to think about.

[stan francisco]

I’d like to make Christie our starting two from day one. He’s ready, almost never makes mental mistakes. I think JHS might be ready, too. Plays solid defense, scored 30 points plus in the g league a few times.

1) Fire Ham. Get Becky Hammon, Jerry Stackhouse, Phil Handy, Rajon Rondo, anyone with a pulse.

2) Keep Christie, Hayes, Lewis, Vando, JHS, AD, Prince.

3) Buh-bye D Lo, Reaves, Wood, Reddish, Vincent.

James? I’m going to be shocked if they don’t re-sign him, because Jeannie think he’s what sells the brand. The brand barely made the playoffs last two seasons, but hey, she’s selling jerseys. Her dad cared about winning.

4) Either go all in and break the bank; or break up with LeBron. If we sign LeBron, then we must trade for a third star like Curry or Durant or DeRozan or Mitchell, or at least Smart; go all in and blow through the aprons.


5) Just don’t sign Trae Young! Don’t!
Not even for Kobe’s daughter’s sake because his defense is even worse than D Lo’s. If they sign Trae Young, I’ll stop watching until he’s traded because we’ll loooooose every playoffs series.

6) Marcus Smart in full health would be a perfect defensive pairing with AD

7) DeRozan and Caruso (M Smart lite) should be explored.

8) OKC, MIN, ORL have a lot of young talent, might want veterans in a trade.

[Danny Darko]

especially at his age, I wish there was a way we could trade him. Don't forget the Westbrook trade was something he pushed for, too.
I don't hate the guy, I'm totally in awe of what he's doing, but this guy has nailed it hard:

Read on Twitter

[kaansunman]

especially at his age, I wish there was a way we could trade him. Don't forget the Westbrook trade was something he pushed for, too.
I don't hate the guy, I'm totally in awe of what he's doing, but this guy has nailed it hard:

Read on Twitter

Can't agree more, I wish I can hit the and1 button more. Not only us but whole NBA is becoming Europe with this player empowerement. Managers and players becoming so impactful and set the terms for the teams.

LeBron brings the money so he sets the terms for us right now. What would I like to see is trade him, if not farewell tour for him, do not waste our pick with his son. Start rebuilding.

[Anderson Hunt]

Draft Bronny James. 

Trade Reaves, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Hayes, and 2024 first-round pick for Zach Lavine.

Let Russell walk. 
Resign James. 
Resign Christie. 
Resign Prince for BAE. 
min-Dinwiddie, Biyombo, Howard, & Nwaba

out Russell - in Zach LaVine 
out Reaves - in Bronny James 
out Vincent - in Nwaba (or sim defender) 
out Vanderbilt - in Biyombo
out Hayes - in Dwight Howard

PG - James ------- Dinwiddie - Schifino 
SG - Christie ------ James ------ Lewis
C --- Davis ---------- Biyombo -- Howard
PF - Hachimura - Prince ------ Wood 
SF - Reddish ------ LaVine ----- Nwaba

[LaLover11]

Draft Bronny James. 

Trade Reaves, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Hayes, and 2024 first-round pick for Zach Lavine.

Let Russell walk. 
Resign James. 
Resign Christie. 
Resign Prince for BAE. 
min-Dinwiddie, Biyombo, Howard, & Nwaba

out Russell - in Zach LaVine 
out Reaves - in Bronny James 
out Vincent - in Nwaba (or sim defender) 
out Vanderbilt - in Biyombo
out Hayes - in Dwight Howard

PG - James ------- Dinwiddie - Schifino 
SG - Christie ------ James ------ Lewis
C --- Davis ---------- Biyombo -- Howard
PF - Hachimura - Prince ------ Wood 
SF - Reddish ------ LaVine ----- Nwaba

Jalen Hood needs to get traded lol

Would you rather have Lavine vs Mitchell?

[Anderson Hunt]

Draft Bronny James. 

Trade Reaves, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Hayes, and 2024 first-round pick for Zach Lavine.

Let Russell walk. 
Resign James. 
Resign Christie. 
Resign Prince for BAE. 
min-Dinwiddie, Biyombo, Howard, & Nwaba

out Russell - in Zach LaVine 
out Reaves - in Bronny James 
out Vincent - in Nwaba (or sim defender) 
out Vanderbilt - in Biyombo
out Hayes - in Dwight Howard

PG - James ------- Dinwiddie - Schifino 
SG - Christie ------ James ------ Lewis
C --- Davis ---------- Biyombo -- Howard
PF - Hachimura - Prince ------ Wood 
SF - Reddish ------ LaVine ----- Nwaba

Jalen Hood needs to get traded lol

Would you rather have Lavine vs Mitchell?

Mitchell. Less injured. Better contract and more defensive pedigree.

LaVine is the better shooter and can be acquired for less than Mitchell.

I don't think Mitchell will be traded -- LaVine surely will.

[loveshaq007]

lavine's value sucks!!!

hell no to giving reaves or any picks for him



at best, Rui, cam, wood, Dlo, Gabe and vando too... for lavine and demar (signed at home town discount)

but im. also down to trade rui, vando for DeMar straight up and skip lavine all together

[Landsberger]

Trade DLo and Rui.....for who? We just shopped DLo around. Zero interest.

Russell got his max contract because Durant wanted out of GS. GS dumped him for Wiggins and Min dumped him to help us get rid of Westbrook.

No one has ever thought to themselves.... "we're a DLo away" from anything.

He's got over $140M in earnings. Lottery winners are less lucky that this clown.

[danfantastk32]

He's got over $140M in earnings. Lottery winners are less lucky that this clown.

Yeah.....what a depressing reality about this world. Whole family lineages going back to Christ have earned less than this one man will earn being a pretty 'meh' talent for 15 years in this game. I wonder if he feels lucky/ appreciates that, at all?

[danfantastk32]

No one has ever thought to themselves.... "we're a DLo away" from anything.

Ha! Makes me think back to my youth in construction....we used to say "take an RCH (red cu*t hair) off this" to refer to slicing about a blades width off a board, or something. How many "DLo's" would a blade's width be?

Sorry...just amusing myself.

[TylersLakers]

Draft Bronny James. 

Trade Reaves, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Hayes, and 2024 first-round pick for Zach Lavine.

Let Russell walk. 
Resign James. 
Resign Christie. 
Resign Prince for BAE. 
min-Dinwiddie, Biyombo, Howard, & Nwaba

out Russell - in Zach LaVine 
out Reaves - in Bronny James 
out Vincent - in Nwaba (or sim defender) 
out Vanderbilt - in Biyombo
out Hayes - in Dwight Howard

PG - James ------- Dinwiddie - Schifino 
SG - Christie ------ James ------ Lewis
C --- Davis ---------- Biyombo -- Howard
PF - Hachimura - Prince ------ Wood 
SF - Reddish ------ LaVine ----- Nwaba

Oh man - I would NEVER trade Vando for Zach Lavine, let alone Reaves. Zach Lavine has zero impact on winning basketball games which is the whole point of this.

If the Bulls want us to take on Lavine, they better be the team that provides draft compensation.

Are you trying to be funny?

[TylersLakers]

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.

[Anderson Hunt]

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.

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.

[Anderson Hunt]

Draft Bronny James. 

Trade Reaves, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Hayes, and 2024 first-round pick for Zach Lavine.

Let Russell walk. 
Resign James. 
Resign Christie. 
Resign Prince for BAE. 
min-Dinwiddie, Biyombo, Howard, & Nwaba

out Russell - in Zach LaVine 
out Reaves - in Bronny James 
out Vincent - in Nwaba (or sim defender) 
out Vanderbilt - in Biyombo
out Hayes - in Dwight Howard

PG - James ------- Dinwiddie - Schifino 
SG - Christie ------ James ------ Lewis
C --- Davis ---------- Biyombo -- Howard
PF - Hachimura - Prince ------ Wood 
SF - Reddish ------ LaVine ----- Nwaba

Oh man - I would NEVER trade Vando for Zach Lavine, let alone Reaves. Zach Lavine has zero impact on winning basketball games which is the whole point of this.

If the Bulls want us to take on Lavine, they better be the team that provides draft compensation.

Are you trying to be funny?

Quite serious. I believe in Zach LaVine on this team. Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were called losing basketball players who don't impact winning --- until they played with Lebron James.

People also said Devin Booker doesn't impact winning. It's a lazy trope said when people are unable to examine context.

I like your proposed team though, but my team is better because it has more balance.

I'd also use a nine-man rotation (in order of leading scorers): LaVine, Davis, James, Hachimura, Christie, Dinwiddie, Prince, Reddish, and Biyombo. Baby James or Max Lewis get leftovers depending on what the team needs, Baby James for defense, Lewis for shooting.

As long as the new coach NEVER has Reddish and Biyombo on the floor at the same time (not a problem because even though he's starting, Reddish will play under 20 minutes a game, and when he eventually gets hurt, Nwaba will start in his place), this lineup will always have multiple scorers on the floor coupled with multiple defenders. Respectfully, that's not something that can be said about your squad.