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Aloha,

Well it appears that Rob isn’t just sitting around after all. DLO goes to the Nets, along with Lewis for Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. This is a good deal for the Lakers giving them a quality 3 and D wing. I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t bring back Sharpe as a back up center, because they could have fit his salary in instead of Milton. They will be around 2 and 1/2 mil under the 2nd apron that could be helpful. We also gave up 3 2nds but no firsts. So we still have those to work with.

Rob kind of reminds me of Mitch in one respect. He never shows his hand. Everyone thought we were trading for Buddy but he trades for Russ. The Rui, DLo and Vando trades came out of the blue. And now this one. We still need a back up center. I’m hoping that will happen soon.

Aloha,

Last night we saw a duel between Austin and the guy many want to trade him for the Kings Fox. Austin had 26points on 9-16 shooting and 3/4 from 3 with 16 assists. Fox came in with 29 points on 12-25 shooting and 1-9 from 3 and 12 assists. Now Fox is an all star and better then Austin at this point although he’s not a good 3 point shooter at 32% But the question is, is he so much better that he is worth trading Austin, DLO and Dalton along with 2 first round picks and perhaps some swaps. The answer to that question is no.

We have won the last two missing one of our stars. No AD on Christmas which is a highly intense game regardless of who you are playing and last nights Kings game could have been a trap game after Mike Browns firing. You knew the Kings would play hard and they did.

So here’s the deal, when we are missing a star we play a more team oriented game. And it shows how much talent we actually have. With missing stars, Austin stepped into the 2nd star role and played like one.

Rui moved up to the 3rd option and scored 18 and 21. He went 9 for 12 from 3 over the 2 games. He’s our best 3 point shooter at 45%. One would think a team would try to get him 6 3’s a game. His defense has also become pretty good. He had another 2 blocks and a steal last night.

Max is growing before our eyes. Holding his own defensively against some of the best players in the world. He also scored 16 in the last 2 games.

Dalton had 18 and hit a couple of 3’s which is a good sign.

All of this around AD’s 36 and 16. For me, it begs the question. WHY CAN’T WE PLAY THIS KIND OF TEAM BALL WITH BOTH OF OUR STARS ON THE COURT?

If played like this as a team when both LeBron and AD are available, we would be a much more dangerous team.

Hopefully both Wood and Vando will be back soon. It would almost be like a trade since neither have played this year. Vando gives us another defender and Wood gives us a big that can play with AD at times.

Speaking of trades, I really don’t know what they will do. It’s kind of funny that the Lakers are linked to every player rumored to be on the trade block.

Our good play does buy time for the trade prices of some of these guys to go down. I would like to find a back up center right away. We were lucky that AD got hurt against the Warriors because they play small. We would not be as lucky against other teams.

There are a couple of centers that could help . Both Sharpe with the Nets and Richard’s of the Hornets are both good rim protectors and rebounders with bulk. Either would be an upgrade over Hayes . We desperately need a defensive center when AD is not on the floor. And either one of these guys can be had for a 2nd round pick or 2. Center is one position that we have leverage because there are more centers available than teams that need one.

LeBron should be fresh again for the Cav’s. Looking at the schedule, there games against bad teams that if he sat out he could get 4 or 5 days rest. We need to take advantage of those games.

With almost an entire month of home games coming up, this is a time when we can begin to stack some wins. We appear to playing well at the right time. I think we can move into the top 4
If we play as team, like the last couple of games.

BREAKING: The Lakers (18-13) are now the 5th seed in the Western Conference.

They have the 8th best record in the NBA. pic.twitter.com/B8wSgYusfA

— Witness King James (@WITNESSKJ) December 29, 2024

Final: Lakers 132, Kings 122

LA sweeps the season series with SAC. They improve to 18-13 and have won 6 of 8 games. AD had 36/15/8. AR had 26 and a career-high 16 assists. Rui had 21 points. Max Christie had 16. Dalton Knecht had 18. No LeBron.

Up next: vs. CLE on Tuesday.

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) December 29, 2024

The Grizzlies and Nets are closing in on a trade involving Dorian Finney-Smith, per @NetsDaily.

Finney-Smith would go to Memphis in exchange for Luke Kennard, John Konchar, and a future first-round pick. pic.twitter.com/tVe1RX8HOe

— Evan Sidery (@esidery) December 28, 2024