Aloha
Regardless of what happens with trades there are two silver linings for the Lakers. First this is the tightest money market in the NBA in years. There will be talent that slips through the cracks. Whether it was a vet with a injury history looking to re-establish value like Otto Porter Jr last year or an under performing young player like Malik. The draw for the Lakers is if Lebron and AD are healthy playing with them will elevate their games on a large stage. And with so many open spots there will be a lot of minutes available that may not be there in other situations for these guys.
I’m thinking of a Guy like TJ Warren that has only played 4 games in two years. I could easily see him sliding down to a vet minimum level. Olindipo is another guy that could free fall, although perhaps not all the way down to vet min status.
Is there another Malik out there? I’m thinking Kevin Knox here. He has shown flashes of promise but he has a 8 mil qualifier and there is no way the cash strapped Hawks are going to pick that up. Another guy is Mo Bamba. His qualifier is over 10 mil. Again I don’t see the Magic picking that up. Another name to watch is Jalen Smith. Now he might be more of a mini mid level guy. He looked good for the Pacers but because the Suns declined his team option before the trade the Pacers can not offer him more then 5 mil.
One other thing to watch is undrafted free agents. With the Lakers development reputation and roster spots galore we should be able to snag some best ones available.
I would like to hear from you guys. Is there any free agents whether it’s an established guy or a young under performing one that you feel might be available on a vet minimum deal? Maybe we can compile a list and send it to Rob. Lol. What I don’t want to see over the hill 35 year olds chasing a ring.
As always, Michael, this was a well-thought-out and well-written post. I agree with your assessment of the whole situation. One player you mentioned – TJ Warren – is someone that intrigues me even though he hasn’t played much the past couple of seasons. What are your thoughts on him despite having gone through all those injuries? I definitely like him as a shooter/scorer.
Thanks for reading Buba. Warren is certainly intriguing but missing 2 years is going to hurt his value. I would take a shot on a vet minimum contract but I don’t think I would go more. We have two players that already are having health issues. That’s why trades for guys with injury histories like Gordon in Houston and Hayward in Charlotte make me nervous.
I am with you on that, Michael. Thanks for responding.
Aloha, Michael,
Great post. Despite the various areas of dysfunction, the Lakers scouting department led by the Buss brothers keeps coming up with players who can contribute and become solid rotation players. Reaves and Caruso are both excellent examples. Be great if we could find another this year.
I’m not as high on the importance of minimum salary players. We had some good and some bad and that’s pretty much what you can expect from those players in my opinion. For every Monk, you have a couple of Jordans and Bradleys.
More important to me is the performance of the three or four non-superstar, non-minimum salary players. Last season, we only had three – Westbrook, THT, and Nunn – and Russ and THT regressed while Nunn never made the floor.
The Lakers will hopefully get two rotation players from trading Russ and a pick, one from trading THT and a pick, and two from their full MLE and BAE. To me, the benefit of getting the full $10.3M MLE and the $4.1M BAE are worth hard capping.
Those are our five shots at landing legitimate rotation players this summer in my opinion. How good we will be will, of course, depend on LeBron and AD staying healthy and the non-superstar, non-minimum salary players coming through.
The big question to me is if we hard cap and have the $10.3M MLE and $4.1M BAE, do we go after one player for the MLE like Warren, Hartenstein, or Monk or do we try to get multiple players? Kind of like a mini version of the Russell Westbrook dilemma. What we are able to get in the trades will likely determine who and how we spend our MLE. I agree some good prospects will be available.
Thanks for reading Tom. While trades may or may not happen, I was more interested in finding options of guys that might slip through the cracks. If you have any names to watch I would love to hear them.
I think you’re right that there’s going to be more talent than money out there this summer. Most of the guys I like though are going to get more than the minimum.
Here are the players I would be interested in pursuing with part (or in some cases, all) of the full MLE:
Malik Monk
T.J. Warren
Victor Oladipo,
Isaiah Hartenstein
Bruce Brown
Ricky Rubio,
Tyus Jones
Gary Payton II
Joe Ingles
P.J. Tucker
Chris Boucher
Otto Porter
Nic Claxton.
Love to hear your take on each one.
I don’t know if any of these are going to make more than $10M.
Tom, your list is very appealing to me. All the players on the list are appealing. I just can’t wait to see what the next roster looks like. The offseason is already getting too long for me. I do like your list.