5 Things: Free Agency Flop?

Maybe not so much. Everyone just chill out for a sec. I did a couple podcasts and watched angry comment after angry comment along the lines of “Rob can’t close” and “Jeannie sucks” or “LeBron has ruined the Lakers…waaaaaah” and found it all, well, hilarious. They couldn’t play Salary Cap-A-G-Go because they had no-go. Here are some facts: the Lakers started free agency capped out if all of their player option players opted in. They all opted in, leaving LeBron James as the sole player with an option left to pick up or a deal to renegotiate. There was a rumor, not one started by LeBron I imagine, that he would take a pay cut in order to facilitate a small list of preferred players onto the Lakers. If true, that would have been interesting to see just how magnanimous the King was willing to be. Since most of the players on this infamous mystery list have signed onto other teams let’s take a moment to breathe and let reality work it’s magic.

1. LeBron isn’t ruining jack. Honestly…just…just stop with this BS. The man plays harder at 39 than half the league that’s almost half his age. He was never going to leave. I doubt he was ever actually considering a pay cut given the cap gymnastics it would require of Rob who, frankly, simply isn’t up to the task or the job. Had such a thing happened it would have surprised me. I’m not too full of myself to admit that now, even if it does end up happening, in order to free up the full MLE LeBron would have to take something like a $20 million dollar pay cut (my apologies for being bad at math and not having a ton of time to work this out. As I understand it-and I could be wrong and welcome factual corrections-in order to use the NTPMLE we’d need to get below the 2nd apron line by the amount that we use, with LeBron’s $50 million cap hold we’re at $178 mil, the 1st apron stops at $170 mil which means we need to get down to $158 mil…I think???). You don’t like him hoping to play with his kid? Seems kinda heartless given how much of his time he’s given basketball and now he dares, DARES, to want to share that time with his eldest son?!?!?! The nerve of the man… Don’t like how the coaches he doesn’t respect get fired? Tell that to Magic fucking Johnson who got a head coach fired before it was en vogue, he’s the OG coach firing guy folks. Don’t like how it feels like we’ve handed the keys of the entire franchise over to one player? Tell that to Kobe Bryant (R.I.P) who basically got Shaq traded after a season he spent the majority of in a Colorado courthouse so he could settle out of court. If you don’t get that this is the Laker Way I honestly don’t know what team you have been watching.
2. Rob Pelinka sucks at his job. Don’t believe me? Let’s count how many $8 million contracts are being lined up for THT who, if he’s lucky, will sign for a vet minimum but more likely end up playing for more money overseas with Dwight Howard or something. Stop blaming LeBron for a weak-kneed, jelly-brained GM. LeBron is doing what he can, he’s even working the phones trying to get a buddy to come play for cheap. No, no this entire team has the stain of ineptitude left by Rob all over it. From another rookie head coach (back-to-back baby!) to another strained salary cap situation and no discernable plan in sight these are the hallmarks of a Rob Pelinka team my friends. Now, in Rob’s defense, he didn’t have a lot to work with coming into the season. So if the plan was to hope that every single player option didn’t get picked up thus reducing the amount LeBron would need to donate back to the Lakers to zero if that list included Russell…well…that’s an incredibly shitty plan. If the plan, and I really have to assume there was one of some kind, was to hope that DLo, Cam, Wood and Jax all opted out and sought greener pastures so that we could open up the Non Tax Payer MLE (thus losing 4 players for one much cheaper player) the man should be fired. If the plan was to convince Chris Paul, Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan to take the vet minimum like he did Trevor Ariza (no other team wanted him) and Carmelo Anthony (no other team wanted him) and I forget what other NBA AARP member was on that ill-fated squad, he’s just not paying attention.
3. Where’s AD? Just like the 4th quarter of a big game…AD is nowhere to be seen. I’m sure he’ll bounce back tomorrow. Argentina? Cape Town? Who knows. He’s locked in anyhow, he can’t renegotiate his deal, so not too sure what he’d do to help other than remind LeBron to eat his power shake made from the souls of NBA legends long since passed. “AD, the Jerry West shake is DELICIOUS!” (too soon?). I kid though, AD is the cornerstone and is doing his job as quietly as this modern world allows. I hope.
4. It’s not that bad y’all. Seriously, it isn’t. At this point let’s assume that LeBron is going to end up taking the max for 1,2 or 3 years, hopefully with team and/or player options of some kind that make it so we’re not screwed if he gets seriously hurt. We have AD, for all his strengths and flaws, DLo who can be a difference-maker in the regular season and a couple good games in the playoffs (maybe), solid players on cheapish contracts and we’re getting younger. That’s the main thing I think is being influenced by Reddick in all honesty. There may be a conflict of interests in that I can’t imagine J.J. Reddick wants to spend his first few season butting heads with vets who are about his age and have done more in the league than he ever did. I think he would much rather coach a team with a vet he knows well (LeBron) a vet he’s hopefully apologized to for ranking him so poorly defensively (AD) some solid role-players still looking to make a serious mark (the rest of the starters and most of the bench) and young guys (Knecht and I dunno…JHS I guess, maybe Lewis and Castleton). Remember, we ended last season just 5 games out from being the 4th seed. That was with injuries to Vando and Vincent that sidelined them most of the regular season. If AD and LBJ can largely replicate their health from last season and some of the role guys improve or just play, that could be a big enough swing to take us out of the playin and into the playoff realm. One could also argue the west got a little weaker this summer with talent dispersing itself more equitably (by design and courtesy of the new CBA).
5. So, in your opinion Jamie just why has this been such a quiet free agency for the Lakers? Glad you asked, here’s what I think: we had no cap space, not even the TPMLE to start free agency because we had to wait on players to opt in, not surprisingly they waited until basically the last second because they hoped something better would open up, when their agents told them that wasn’t likely they opted in thus removing all potential cap space from the equation. Simple logic. Concerning our draft picks 5 years out and the pick swaps and all that…they’re not as valuable as they used to be (or some people think they are) because nobody knows how bad the Lakers will be. If the Lakers are good, the picks will probably be mediocre, at best. The lottery system also dissuades teams from giving up the ghost for a potential rookie 5 years from now when GM X may or may not even have a job. The new CBA penalties are draconic and we’re seeing that play out in free agency. Max contracts for under-performing players are toxic. Injured players with gas left in the tank (their opinion, of course) are signing for pennies. My takeaway is that having 10-15 million in actual cap space every summer is going to be the new modus operandi for a lot of teams now. We’ll see more teams taking a hit by letting a guy walk to free up space so they can use all the spending tools a lot of teams absolutely rely on to fill out the margins. Otherwise you’ll be like the Knicks: watching a quality player walk for nothing to another team with money to pay him. Bird Rights in trades will be ESSENTIAL going forward because we saw Hartenstein walk and the Knicks had his Early Bird Rights…wasn’t enough. That second apron will be the death of super teams and the three super star model, by design, but it may also herald the end of the two superstar teams depending on which superstars are available at any given moment. We got 2 guys taking up over 50% (approaching 60%) of our 1st apron tax space.
   
   One last point, on the pride of an elite athlete. It has been tossed about that a player of Chris Paul’s caliber and possibly even Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan could be had for the vet minimum. I’m not talking specifically here, just in general I see a lot of that stuff. I don’t think we factor in things like “personal pride” or “hard work” enough. Ask yourself a simple question: if someone who had never done your job before, who was also the owner manager of your work place, came up to you and said something along the lines of “I know you make $25/hour now…but about taking $15/hour so we can hire someone else? Oh, also and by the way, I’M not taking any kind of pay cut at all. So…whaddaya think!?” you would be pissed. You would be angry. You would do what Klay Thompson just did and find another job, maybe even for the amount the other guy asked you for because eff you pal. These are people who are elite, all of them, even JHS. They are the top 1% of the basketball world and it’s by a really large margin. It’s everyone’s choice how to view that and factor it into trades or contract offers but in this one area I actually think the Lakers lead the league and that is respecting the work. Getting off the soap box now, next man up.