Aloha
The insanity that is the off season is here. The trade machines are fired up and I’m sure we have a chance to land Dame or Kd 🙂
Well I’m a totally boring human and before I even fire up the trade machine I look and see if our trade assets would be a plus for the other team. If not, I don’t bother. I don’t believe the Lakers will hard cap themselves with a sign and trade, so about the only star I can see a path to would be Westbrook if the Wizards decided to tear it down and we were the only team that would take his salary. Unfortunately the Knicks have tons of cap space with draft picks and young players to offer.
It is easy to forget that we were a good team before injuries shattered our season. So running back a lot of these guys won’t be the worst outcome. And with full training camp and practice schedule the team would be better.
So here is my totally vanilla and slightly boring look at what the Lakers could do.
Everyone agrees that we need shooting. The most popular name out there is Buddy. And I like Buddy. But he is number two on my list. My top pick would be the Twolves Malik Beasley. He is only 24, he shot the 3 better then Buddy the last 2 years on over 8 attempts a game and oh ya, he can defend. He is under control for 13 mil over the next several years. I would try a straight up trade with Kuz and only throw in our pick if needed. Why would the Twolves do it? Well Edwards looked like a future superstar and they have a glut of other guards but are thin at forward, especially power forward. Kuz would be a perfect fit.
Of course we only have 2 forwards under contract so we would need to replace Kuz. Free agency is a funny time and you never know who may not get paid what they are worth. So here are a few names that possibly slide into the mini mid level that we will have.
Nick Batum, Otto Porter Jr, Reggie Bullock, Torrey Craig, Toney Snell.
I would like any of the above. Nick is my favorite and he proved that when healthy he still has gas left in the tank. The Clippers can’t offer him more so would he cross the hall to play with LeBron? If not Porter Jr is a very good player, that injuries have cost him. If healthy he also would be a great fit. Would any of these sign for a chance for a ring? We will see.
As far as are own I think it’s important to resign Alex and THT. Especially THT. I have a real good feeling about this guy. I seriously believe he could be are 3rd star by the time he’s 22. And for those that want to trade him, keep this in mind. LeBron takes credit for discovering him and bringing him to Rich Paul and to the Lakers. He’s like LeBrons little brother and his pet project. It will take a very good player for LeBron to sign off on a trade. And trust me LeBron would have to sign off. Perhaps LeBron nixed the Lowery trade.
As for point guard, I believe the Lakers will resign Dennis. And it won’t be for what he wants. You never know who might be available in trades but on the surface I don’t see a better option. And to be fare to Dennis it was hard coming in without a real opportunity to gel he will be better next year.
Center is the least of my concerns because in the playoffs we have AD to play center. But I think he does need to more time at center in the regular season. I would be happy with Marc starting in limited minutes. Vet min candidates we could look at for depth could be Gorgui Deng, Whiteside and Robin Lopez.
I think Morris, Wes and Mclemore all have a chance of coming back. I really like Wes. He a career low in 3 point shooting. I think he will rebound like Danny Green did in Philly.
So how to fill out the rest of the roster. Here are a few ring chasing vet min candidates.
Carmelo, Rudy Gay, Wayne Ellington, JJ Redick, Maurice Harkless, and Avery Bradley.
I would be happy with a couple of those guys. As far the draft if don’t make a trade I like Chris Duarte of Oregon. He’s a deadly 3 point shooter and top notch defender. He is 24, if he was 20 he would be a top 10 pick. He’s nba ready. Cameron Thomas of LSU is another possibility. He’s a walking bucket.
The draft will tell us a lot. Draft day is the only time we can trade our pick by selecting for someone. After that who knows what will happen. All I know is the crazy trade rumors seldom materialize, but hey you know. August is going to be very interesting.
First of all, Michael, I miss your posts. So, it’s great to see this one. You have pretty much said everything I have been trying to throw out there. Everything you said in this article is cash. The one thing that stood out to me was your take on THT. I have been saying this for a whole while that the Lakers need to keep him and not trade him. There is greatness in this kid and they should do whatever it takes to keep him in the fold.
This article was well written and well thought out Thanks for posting.
Aloha Bubba, Mahalo for the compliment. I appreciate it.
Howdy Michael, thanks for popping round and I personally am pretty much onboard with your vanilla take on the state of the Lakers prospects at a major overhaul this summer. Honestly, even signing Schroder for “what he wants” isn’t the terrible outcome we make it out to be. If he’s balling hard we can trade him, if he’s not we can look to do so later and relegate him to back up. He’ll be getting paid, he’s an elite back up and it’s not my money.
I like your take on THT and the Kuzma to Minny deal although I think it would take more to make that happen, maybe taking back a bad contract of theirs, as well. Could they be looking to move on from Rubio? Possibly and he should be another potential Schroder trade destination mid-season. the sign and trades come with needing player permission. Midseason trades? Notsomuch. If we’re not loving what we’re getting from Dennis and Russ gets hurt again or is just inconsistent like he has been so far I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minny looking for an offensive/defensive upgrade and they’d be getting younger without sacrificing a ton of experience in a trade like that.
But those scenarios are far on down the line. I also love you ring-chasing vet list, we have a lot of players on each others’ lists, actually. So, indeed yes, August is going to be verrrrry interesting around here.
Aloha Jamie
I thought about Rubio to but that it could be hard to do. Perhaps mid season like you said. If we can trade for Malik i would love it. Unlike Buddy, he is actually a decent defender. For a bad team the Twolves dont have much cap space and they are painfully thin at forward, so you never know. Perhaps the would roll the dice with Kuz. hes upgraded his game and perhaps he will become more aggressive offensively if hes out Lebron and AD’s shadow.
Aloha and welcome back, Michael.
Good post although way too vanilla for me, although I prefer to hope we see that the team we had in the bubble is not good enough to win vs. the competition we’re goiing to see this coming season. We desperately need volume 3-point shooting and a third superstar to be able to go all the way this year.
I do like Malik Beasley and would be happy with Hield or him to replace KCP. I just think Buddy is more attainable since the Kings covet Kuzma and a trade of him and McKinnie would do the job. One thing for sure is we can’t have a shooting guard who can’t aveage 10 ppg the last two years and rarely makes multiple threes per game. Kenny could not start for most playoff teams. Need a major upgrade there and Malik and Buddy are the best two prospect.
I also agree we’re going to be short of wings once we trade Kuzma. That will probably be where we spend our MLE and maybe whom we draft if we keep our pick. Will definitely have to be a 3&D player though as we need volume 3-point shooting. Can’t run it back with the same shooters as last year.
That’s why I don’t see us keeping Schroder. We’ll find some team to sign-and-trade for him at $24M per year. Maybe Harrell too. No hardcap for signing-and-trading your own free agent. I still like the idea of signing-and-trading KCP and Harrell for Terry Rozier to replace Schroder at point guard. Saves money and Terry is a high volume, high percentage 3-point shooter.
I do agree we’re not likely to make a move to be hardcapped and I also agree we re-sign THT and Caruso. Need their continuity. I also think Morris and some of the other minimum salary verterans will return. I like your mininum candidates and would add Boogie to the list.
Center is where I disagree vociferously. AD should play the five as I outlined in the article I posted today. I would look for Nerlens Noel and DeMarcus Cousins to fill out the center rotation as well as bully ball fours like PJ Tucker.
Aloha Tom, I don’t disagree with your take on center at all, in my mind AD is the best center in the NBA. But im also realistic, the Lakers will continue to play him at the 4. My hope is that they will play him half the time at center half the time and even more in the playoffs. I even like your centers better then the ones i mentioned. But again im being realistic. Noel played well for the Knicks and they have a boat load of cap space. I don’t believe he would come to the Lakers for the vet min. And Boogie showed up in the playoffs and will be probably getting mid level money. I think our need for a big wing that can defend and shoot the 3 is more important then spending the mid level on a center. as for Dennis, he’s a good guard and I think we would be a better team signing him and using our trade chips to pursue other needs. as for a 3rd super star, i don’t think we have the trade chips for that except possibly Westbrook but like I mentioned if he does come on the trade market, I think the knicks will snap him up.
One more Tom. I was thinking about Rozier. The Hornets haven’t really shown interest in trading, although I have read he could be target for those pesky Knicks if they do. While Ball played the point on offense, Rozier defended the the point which worked out well for them. Since Ball at 6’ 6” is more suited to defend wings.