Nice proposal with sufficient details.
Two comments:
1) I’d prefer getting JJ Reddick on vet min than Carmelo.
2) I’m sure AD will refuse to play 5 consistently. His philosophy is to not get banged up during the regular season by the opposing bigs! I think the Lakers admin has already yielded to him on that, in return for his acceptance to play 5 when needed in the playoffs.
Othersie I’ll be happy to get Lowry and DeRozan.
But I might prefer it if we can get Lonzo and Hield instead. Can we work the numbers for that and compare? I think Lonzo’s youth and ability to playmake are attractive to me. And he has improved his shooting a lot!
And Hield is the best 3 point shooter in the NBA. I think we might be able to get Hield for Kuz, Trezz and the ’21 (first rd) pick, and get Lonzo for KCP, THT and the ’26 pick (by making the Pels settle on the ’24 pick from before). Fill the rest with vet mins, including Dwight.
Finally, I can think of a three star Lakers team which will be better than either of these scenarios. And that would be spearheaded by Bron, AD and Beal. If that’s possible, that would be my first choice by a mile, and I hope Rob is thinking about it now!
Thought provoking article, Tom! I enjoyed reading it. I agree with you on the desirability of AD playing 5. But the rub is he doesn’t seem to agree, at least not fully, and not during the regular season.
But I think a happy medium is possible. Convince AD to play 5 half the time 4 the other half. We need to get someone like Dwight Howard to take some pressure off of AD during the regular season. During the playoffs I’d play AD at the 5 80 percent of the time.
Mark Stein is right, in that AD is best at 5 and Bron is best at 4. So the most important task of us this free agency is to get an agile playmaker, like Lonzo. That will certainly unlock a lot of potential. We should be willing to give the Pels anyone but AD & Bron to get Lonzo, who’s a restricted FA. ‘d like us to get Lonzo (even at 22 M), Dwight (on vet min) and a pair of shooters on vet min (like Reddick, Svi).
I agree that we need to shore up 1, 2 & 5. I’ve no objection to S&T, but I’m skeptical that Trezz and Dennis will play ball. Let them go and cut our losses in that case, especially Dennis as I worry that without care he could become our next Luol Deng. I’d sign Dwight Howard to a vet min contract and focus on the guard situation, at 1 & 2 both. Kemba Walker seems a reasonable and attainable choice for 1, so I’d go with that; it will probably cost us Kuzz, KCP and more. (I hope we won’t lose to the Clips in that potential battle.) Then we either keep and further develop THT or S&T him with picks to get a good shoooting guard. Of course, in the unlikely even Dennis & Trezz cooperate with S&T, we can try for Evan Fournier. Rob has his work cut out.
I guess who starts will depend on which team they’ll be playing. Indeed, Marc is better against Jokic. I think he’s also better against Embiid. On the other hand, Dre is better against the Nets. Like you say, we have to see this evening how it goes against the Clips. I can also see Trezz playing a role now and then against small ball centers. AD is what I think of as a medium ball center, and of course he should play as much as possible at 5 in the playoffs. But the others can give him relief.
Nice proposal with sufficient details.
Two comments:
1) I’d prefer getting JJ Reddick on vet min than Carmelo.
2) I’m sure AD will refuse to play 5 consistently. His philosophy is to not get banged up during the regular season by the opposing bigs! I think the Lakers admin has already yielded to him on that, in return for his acceptance to play 5 when needed in the playoffs.
Othersie I’ll be happy to get Lowry and DeRozan.
But I might prefer it if we can get Lonzo and Hield instead. Can we work the numbers for that and compare? I think Lonzo’s youth and ability to playmake are attractive to me. And he has improved his shooting a lot!
And Hield is the best 3 point shooter in the NBA. I think we might be able to get Hield for Kuz, Trezz and the ’21 (first rd) pick, and get Lonzo for KCP, THT and the ’26 pick (by making the Pels settle on the ’24 pick from before). Fill the rest with vet mins, including Dwight.
Finally, I can think of a three star Lakers team which will be better than either of these scenarios. And that would be spearheaded by Bron, AD and Beal. If that’s possible, that would be my first choice by a mile, and I hope Rob is thinking about it now!
Thanks for the hard work you’ve put in.
Dean
Thought provoking article, Tom! I enjoyed reading it. I agree with you on the desirability of AD playing 5. But the rub is he doesn’t seem to agree, at least not fully, and not during the regular season.
But I think a happy medium is possible. Convince AD to play 5 half the time 4 the other half. We need to get someone like Dwight Howard to take some pressure off of AD during the regular season. During the playoffs I’d play AD at the 5 80 percent of the time.
Mark Stein is right, in that AD is best at 5 and Bron is best at 4. So the most important task of us this free agency is to get an agile playmaker, like Lonzo. That will certainly unlock a lot of potential. We should be willing to give the Pels anyone but AD & Bron to get Lonzo, who’s a restricted FA. ‘d like us to get Lonzo (even at 22 M), Dwight (on vet min) and a pair of shooters on vet min (like Reddick, Svi).
I agree that we need to shore up 1, 2 & 5. I’ve no objection to S&T, but I’m skeptical that Trezz and Dennis will play ball. Let them go and cut our losses in that case, especially Dennis as I worry that without care he could become our next Luol Deng. I’d sign Dwight Howard to a vet min contract and focus on the guard situation, at 1 & 2 both. Kemba Walker seems a reasonable and attainable choice for 1, so I’d go with that; it will probably cost us Kuzz, KCP and more. (I hope we won’t lose to the Clips in that potential battle.) Then we either keep and further develop THT or S&T him with picks to get a good shoooting guard. Of course, in the unlikely even Dennis & Trezz cooperate with S&T, we can try for Evan Fournier. Rob has his work cut out.
I guess who starts will depend on which team they’ll be playing. Indeed, Marc is better against Jokic. I think he’s also better against Embiid. On the other hand, Dre is better against the Nets. Like you say, we have to see this evening how it goes against the Clips. I can also see Trezz playing a role now and then against small ball centers. AD is what I think of as a medium ball center, and of course he should play as much as possible at 5 in the playoffs. But the others can give him relief.
Anyhow, nice article.