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Aloha,

The off season has arrived and of course the rumors and trade scenarios are buzzing around like an annoying swarm of flys. I tune it out except for the occasional realistic Lakers scenarios.

While the Lakers mantra is always championship or bust, I thought we had a very successful season. We had the best record after the trades and made it all the way to the WCF, I consider that a win. I do believe it took a toll on the team playing playoff intensity basketball for 2 months. Still while the Nuggets swept us, every game was a battle and we lost 3 games by 6 points or less.

This is why I do not believe we need a major overhaul. If you look at other playoff contenders around the league, the Lakers have more flexibility than most to make upgrades. This is the under appreciated part of the trades Rob made.

Unless something big materializes I do believe that Austin, Rui and Vando will be back for sure. It gets interesting after that. Our first order of business will be at PG, considering we don’t have one under contract.

This is not a good year for free agent PG’s. DLO is ranked 3rd and Dennis 5th. I will trust the insiders reporting that Kyrie is off the table. That leaves FVV. Of all the big name’s floating around out there, he maybe the only one Rob considers trading for. There are rumblings that a couple of rebuilding teams are looking to make the jump into playoff contenders, the Rockets being the most likely. FVV is a Klutch client and could say he wants to go to the Lakers or he will walk to one of these other teams. We could then arrange a sign and trade with the Raptors for DLO if, big if, Dlo agrees. My only problem with FVV is he worth the money he will be looking for. He is solid and an upgrade over Dlo but I’m not sure he is worth 30+ mil that he is looking for. I would rather keep Dlo and I believe they will. We don’t make the playoffs without DLO. He had a terrible Nugget series but then Jaylen Brown shot 16% fro 3 and had 25 turnovers to 24 assists against the Heat and he was all NBA. Shit happens.

There is a lot of noise around CP3 but it’s looking like it may not be as simple as the Suns cutting him so we will see. I did hear on a pod cast that If they do waive him any contract he signs reduces the amount the Suns have to pay him. That doesn’t sound right to me but if true there isn’t a real advantage to signing say a MLE, at least in the first year. The Lakers will have to make a decision quickly because DLO has a 38mil cap hold that makes it hard for the Lakers to do anything until that’s resolved.

After the PG issue I see depth as the primary goal. After Rui’s playoff run I think Vando comes off the bench. So we him and Max for sure off the bench. After Austin went to the starting unit our 2nd unit offense fell off. We will need a scorer, along with a PG. I would love to keep Lonnie. We won’t find a better scorer in his price range in free agency. We also need to find a back up center that can go 15 minutes to help AD and another combo forward for LeBron.

It will be interesting to see what they do with Beasley. I was a fan but he fell apart with the Lakers. But he has had a solid career and maybe a valuable trade chip for a team looking for shooting. Mo could be also used and could be waived in after a draft day trade. If they can’t find a trade I’m not sure what the Lakers will do. Do you let them walk? I don’t think so unless something unexpected comes up. As we saw last year, trade chips are nice to have.

As for the draft. This will be the first one for a while that will be interesting for me. Just looking at who they are working out and what is being reported, it seems like the Lakers are either looking at moving back in the draft or may have a trade on the table involving the 17 th pick. This is a very deep draft and if you look at the scouting reports, there isn’t much difference between 17 and the Pacers picks at 26 and 29. The Lakers have been working out, primarily older players that could be plugged into a rotation. There are quite a few of those guys in this years draft. I think that may be due to losing playing time to the pandemic. Probably won’t see this many quality upper class men again. With 3 two way contracts available and our great scouting department, it could be a big year for undrafted players.

With so may options available this could be a fun off season. Rob pulled off a great deadline but he hasn’t won me over yet. He has made too many bonehead moves in the past. Let’s see if he can follow up the trade deadline with a great summer.