If you woke up this morning dreaming of the big, splashy trades the Lakers were destined to pull off you are likely currently feeling a sense of disappointment. The Lakers made exactly zero moves as the trading deadline expired to improve the roster. The roster we’ve all become increasingly frustrated watching in the last few games remains wholly intact as before. So…what do the Lakers do now?
- Laker leaks. Again, none. Regardless of how you feel about the lack of trades or even the contracts doled out this past summer you have to respect and admire how the Lakers are once again a leak-proof ship. When Magic helmed the team it was quite common to see this or that tidbit leaked to various news outlets if not openly proclaimed on Twitter. That’s all in the past as the Lakers have plugged those leaks and once again become a franchise that operates in the shadows. I consider that a good thing.
- Ok, ok, nice…I guess…but what about the trades we didn’t make? That could be a problem depending on your viewpoint as to how the Lakers need to alter the roster in order to compete. Listen to coach Vogel and the Lakers a re fine as-is. I, who am of the run it back school of though, don’t see the on-court product as fine. Even when LeBron was healthy we had glaring issues on offense and a points in the paint problem. We’re near the bottom of the league in three point accuracy. That might fixed simply by the law of averages, it might swing back to the nova hot shooting we saw to kick off the season. If it doesn’t our chances to repeat are going to take what could be an insurmountable hit.
- Howzabout that nifty buyout market? Ay, there’s where the Lakers can strike gold albeit to a lesser degree. If the rumors are to be believed Andre’ Drummond is going to be bought out and the Lakers are in the mix to acquire his services. While not a modern center he is a solid old school center. His rebounding is game-changing and he will certainly not further reduce our points in the paint issue if not slightly alleviate it. At any rate it gives us an option beyond Gasol or small at the 5. I wouldn’t be surprised if Avery Bradley negotiates a buyout from Houston. I don’t see him wanting to stick around for a rebuild and the team option in his deal won’t be a sticking point if he asks out. Houston, in the middle of a rebuild, doesn’t really need him. If those two things happen, and that is certainly an “if” and not a certainty, the Lakers can improve the roster by a significant degree. Other options are LaMarcus Aldridge, J.J. Reddick and a few more (we won’t name all the buyout candidates).
- Should we start throwing Rob under the bus now or wait until we get booted from the playoffs? No need to entertain such thoughts. It sounds like the sticking point in acquiring Lowry was THT. If so, and Rob chose not to part with him, bet on Rob Pelinka here. He sees the work the kid puts in, he talks to the coaches and knows how coachable he is, he understands that keeping THT could be an issue this summer. It means he has a plan. I’m willing to trust in that plan.
- So…what now? The reality is we were not going to bring in a player that changes anything about the core identity of the team. The Lakers under Rob Pelinka and coach Vogel are built on defense first. They might say the right thing in the media about shooting more threes but if you’ve watched all the games you know that we’re not designed to search out transition threes. We don’t often search out contact when we shoot threes in an effort to draw fouls on defenders. We do a decent job at creating corner threes but certainly are not elite in that regard. The Lakers best chance at doing damage in the playoffs has always been getting LeBron and Anthony healthy. That didn’t change and is still the main focus of our training staff.
Big game tonight. Could be a nice moment to shine for some guys who have been struggling (Dennis Schroder I’m looking at you). We could do a lot to start the home stretch off on the right foot with a win against Philly tonight. FWIW I still have Philly coming out of the east. Go Lakers.
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