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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

5 Things: 3rd Preseason Game, Same Result

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With one odd starting line up and an empty arena the Lakers started off sluggish against the new-look Phoenix Suns. LeBron looked a little rusty, Booker looked like the spectacular scorer he his and in the end…it didn’t matter. We won our 3rd preseason affair 112-107. Phoenix looks like a team ready to move up in the NBA hierarchy and one of the big non-Laker questions if the season is will they bump Portland (and stiff arm Golden State) and ascend into the playoffs?

  1. THT making it happen. Professional sport has plot lines and one of those that always has a place in every season in every type of team sport is ‘will the kid stick?’ Well…this kid is gonna stick. THT has done about as much as possible with his opportunity to shine in the NBA preseason. On a team like the Lakers, burdened with expectation and with eyes on another banner, that’s no small thing. We don’t need to get into the stats, they’re solid across the board, but what I like best about his success is he isn’t forcing the action to get his buckets or make an impact. It’s all within the organic flow of our team which is not easy to do. He won’t be getting the minutes he gets now, that is one certainty, but if he can impact the game at a similar level he will be another 2nd round gem unearthed by the Laker scouting dept.
  2. Kyle Kuzma’s improved game. Kyle looks smooth. It’s a known fact that he generally plays better as a starter but that there is no clear path to a starter role on this team. He showed us that game again last night. Started in place of KCP and responded with one of his better games of the preseason. It’s a flummoxing situation for all involved because you want to see Kyle do well but he does struggle more when he comes off the bench. Maybe, and we say this every year since his rookie campaign, but maybe this will be the season where he really puts it together on both ends and can be another consistent scorer off the bench. His shot looks improved so maybe the short layoff will be better for him in general.
  3. Trezz’s energy. Gotta love it. I also love his midrange game, he’s got a nice 10-15 foot jumper he can splash. But his calling card is his energy which is infectious and helps give the bench an early identity to build around. Between Harrell, Kuzma and THT the Lakers have three really solid bench contributors to go along with Caruso and…maybe Quinn Cook right now as the lead players off the bench. The bench will be called upon, often, in the early part of the season as I expect Vogel to impose an unstated, non-rigorous minutes limit on AD and LBJ. There will be stretches where they both sit and it’ll be guys like Trezz and and Co. that need to come in and make instant impacts. He may be new, may not have won a ring but you can see how Montrezl is already making his presence felt on our bench squad.
  4. Only Laker we haven’t seen is Alfonzo McKinnie at this point. Every one else that was a camp invite has been cut, the 2 Way dudes have all gotten some burn…not Alfonzo. Can’t see anything on any injury reports or any news about him going through COVID protocols so not sure what the situation is there but I had hoped to see him get some run in. One more preseason game left so we shall see.
  5. Oh yeah, AD and LBJ had their preseason debuts. They looked great! neither played in the second half. While we still haven’t seen the entire team play in a preseason (KCP and Caruso out with hip issues, not major) the things that were hallmarks of the championship team remain early on in preseason: team play, solid defense and we have 2 of the best players on Earth at positions that really compliment one another well. So as we make our way to the final preseason affair on Friday the same things that were true and defined the team last season remain true today: we’re going as far as Davis and James take us.

One more of these to go, then the W’s and L’s start to matter. I expect we’ll see as close to the full roster play something akin to regular season rotations on Friday if everyone is healthy enough to go. Next Tuesday we kick it off snd get this party started, Can’t wait. Go Lakers.

Is There Any Way for Lakers to Create a Big 3 with LeBron, AD, and Giannis?

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While it will be impossible for the Lakers to clear enough cap space to offer Giannis Antetokounmpo a maximum contract in free agency next offseason, there is a path to make an Anthony Davis style midseason trade for Giannis.

The problem with pursuing Giannis in free agency is the Lakers already have two superstars making 65% of the cap and adding him would mean 95% for three players and the 5% left is not enough money to field a legal team. Teams with one max player like Miami could add Antetokounmpo via free agency but not a team like the Lakers with two max players, not without one or more of the max players accepting a 10-20% pay cut to build a Big Three.

The solution for the Lakers to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo is to trade for him and then use his Bird rights to go over the cap to sign him to a max contract. Frankly, it’s the only way the Lakers can legally create a Big Three. It’s also the only way to acquire Giannis without having to jettison the entire championship roster they’ve spent the last two years assembling. It’s also why Giannis should want to be traded rather than signed as a free agent.

Giannis has one year left on his contract with the Milwaukee Bucks with annual pay of $27,528,088. If he’s not signed a supermax extension with the Bucks before the season starts, he’ll be a major target at the trade deadline. Were Giannis to demand to be traded to the Lakers ala Anthony Davis, L.A. could end up making the best offer considering other contenders might not be willing to bid more for what might end up being a half season rental.

That means an offer from the Lakers of Dennis Schroder and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whose salaries total $29,850,000 might be the best trade offer the Milwaukee Bucks receive for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. The key to making this strategy actually work is the Lakers showing Giannis through their play that they’re the not only best destination for him to win multiple championships but also the team that’s the best fit for him.

Once the Lakers trade for Antetokounmpo, they would then own his Bird rights and would be able, after the end of the season, to go over the salary cap and offer Giannis a new max contract starting at $39,200,000 per year. The Lakers would be deep in the luxury tax with total salaries approaching $160,000,000 but, unlike free agency scenarios where teams were left with only superstars, they would still have their complete championship roster.

The difference between Giannis joining a fully built out championship team via trade versus signing with a contending team with a stipped down roster via free agency becomes a major selling point for him demanding a trade. Any team that’s pared their roster to create $39 million in cap space to sign Giannis Antetokounmpo is realistically going to be another Milwaukee Bucks team that’s going to be relying heavily upon him to win it all.

Demanding a trade is the answer and the challenge is convincing Giannis joining a Lakers championship team with LeBron and AD via trade is better than joining an unproven Miami Heat team without a superstar via trade. That’s where the question of fit becomes important because there’s no team other than the Lakers who have two championship tested superstars to help Giannis carry the load and a proven deep and talented supporting cast.

Of course, the ‘trade and then use Bird rights to max’ blueprint is not limited to Giannis or the Lakers. It’s a strategy every team with two superstars, like the Clippers, Warriors, and Nets, will also be looking for a chance to deploy. That’s why all of the major contenders looking to acquire Antetokounmpo will be watching closely as Giannis will have until the day before the 2021 season to accept or decline the supermax offer from the Milwaukee Bucks.

If Giannis accepts the Bucks’ supermax offer, the focus will then switch to other superstars slated to become free agents next offseason, including Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Jrue Holiday, Rudy Gobert, and Victor Oladipo. Should Giannis decline the offer, the Bucks will need a breakout start to the season or face heavy pressure at the midseason deadline to trade Giannis to prevent losing him for nothing in free agency at the end of the year.

While there’s always the chance the Bucks can work out a sign-and-trade deal for Giannis if they wait until he becomes a free agent next offseason, that’s too great a risk to take as losing him for nothing would be a disaster. Bottom line, Milwaukee has to hope adding Jrue Holiday and other pieces was enough to convince Giannis to sign the supermax. Otherwise, the future of their franchise could be on the line come the midseason trade deadline.

Meanwhile, Rob Pelinka has positioned the Los Angeles Lakers with a collection of valuable assets to pull off a mega midseason deal to land a third max superstar to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Whether Giannis is the main target or not, the Lakers will be primed and ready to deploy their repertoire of trade assets to land whatever available superstar they think is the best fit to help them win the short and long term.

How Lakers Can Re-Sign Their Top Free Agents and Still Upgrade Roster

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With the salary cap likely to remain flat for next season, it’s going to take creative cap management for the Lakers to re-sign all five of their core free agents and still be able to sign other free agents to upgrade their roster.

While the Lakers would like another reliable scorer, capable playmaker, elite wing defender, or stretch big, they also need to re-sign their own five top free agents to maintain their continuity and win another NBA championship. While Davis is a lock to re-sign a $32.7 million max contract, the Lakers will face a challenge re-signing Caldwell-Pope, Rondo, Morris, and Howard, all of whom will be highly coveted free agents deserving of pay raises.

Since the Lakers are over the cap but below the tax threshold, they will not have cap space to spend on free agents and will have to rely on salary cap exceptions to re-sign their own free agents plus other teams’ free agents. That means the Lakers will be forced to choose between two options with different advantages and disadvantages to sign free agents this offseason. For simplicity, we’ll call the two options the soft cap and hard cap.

If the Lakers choose the soft cap, they can use their Bird rights to re-sign AD, KCP, and Rondo and give them maximum raises but will only have $5.7 million to re-sign Morris and Howard as well as other teams’ free agents. This means the Lakers can pay AD or KCP as much as $32.7 million and Rondo as much as $10.1 million but will only have $5.7 million left to keep Morris and Howard and upgrade their roster with other free agents.

The soft cap is the conservative option since it would allow the Lakers to go over the cap to pay Davis and Caldwell-Pope whatever they need to up to $32.7 million and pay Rondo as much as $10.1 million for the next season. While the Lakers would have no problem paying AD the $32.7 million max salary, they only need to give KCP a raise to $11 million, and Rondo a raise to $6 million to pay them more than what competing teams will likely offer.

That means the Lakers should be able to limit the raises they give AD, KCP, and Rondo to $3.9 million, $2.5 million, and $3.3 million respectively for a total of $9.7 million, which is not enough to justify choosing the soft cap. More problematic is the $5.6 million taxpayer MLE is not enough to re-sign Morris and Howard and upgrade the roster with a key free agent, which means not being able to field a better team to defend their championship.

But if the Lakers choose the hard cap, they’ll have up to $12.9 million to sign Morris, Howard, and other free agents but will be limited to a hard cap limit of $138.9 million for all their player salaries, including AD, KCP, and Rondo. With $119.5 million in current salaries, the Lakers will have $19.4 million available, which by coincidence will leave $9.7 million for Morris, Howard, and other free agents after $9.7 million in raises for AD, KCP, and Rondo.

The Lakers can still make another roster move to increase the $9.7 million for Morris, Howard, and other free agents to $12.4 million by waiving and stretching the guaranteed $1 million of Quinn Cook’s $3 million contract. That will get them close to being able to utilize the full $12.9 million that is available in the form of the $9.3 million non-taxpayer MLE and the $3.6 million BAE allowable to teams who choose the hard cap option.

That $12.4 million should enable the Lakers to keep Morris and Howard in addition to AD, KCP, and Rondo as well as being able to add one or two key free agents from other teams to significantly upgrade next season’s roster. The other advantage the hard cap allows is sign-and-trades, which could enable the Lakers to pursue free agents like Fred VanVleet, Christian Wood, and Maurice Harkless who will demand higher offers than the MLE.

Unless the NBA surprises everybody and raises the salary cap, the Lakers will be forced to become hard capped if they want to re-sign their key free agents and build a better team to defend their championship next season.

How Free Agency Could Help the Los Angeles Lakers Repeat as Champions!

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While the Lakers are over the salary cap, they still may be able to re-sign valuable free agent role players with raises as well as signing a free agent third scorer, second playmaker, elite wing defender, or modern center.

The Lakers will have to take advantage of league exceptions which allow teams to go over the cap when signing free agents, synchronized execution of the transactions, and opportunistic use of their MLE in a buyers’ market. The Lakers won’t be able to bring back every role player who contributed to their championship but should be able to re-sign the three most important and irreplaceable role players while giving them well deserved raises.

Those three role players are Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, and Markieff Morris, all of whom were invaluable contributors to the Lakers’ championship rotation and are essential to the team winning next season. KCP and Rondo are exercising their player options to become free agents while Morris will be a free agent when his 1-year minimum deal expires. The Lakers need to re-sign all three and give them well deserved raises.

Caldwell-Pope earned $8.1 million last season and could easily attract offers between $10 to $12 million as a free agent but the Lakers have his Bird rights and are allowed to go over the salary cap up to re-sign him. Kenny proved he was the team’s third best player and a key component of the offense and defense during the regular season and playoffs. The Lakers should reward him with a 2 or 3-year contract for $12 million per year.

Rondo earned $2.6 million last season and proved to be indispensable both as a floor general and playmaker in the playoffs, setting a record for the most assists from a player off the bench in the history of the NBA playoffs. Rajon should attract offers for taxpayers’ MLE, around $5 million next season. The Lakers have his Early Bird rights and should reward him with a 2-year contract for $6 million with the second year partially guaranteed.

Morris was a late addition replacing Avery Bradley before the season restart. As a power forward who could shoot from deep and defend, he was the catalyst that allowed Anthony Davis to play as center for the Lakers. Markieff earned $2.2 million last season but should receive offers of $3 to $4 million as a free agent. The Lakers should use their Bi-Annual Exception to re-sign him to a 2-year $3.6 per year million contract as he is a key player.

By using Bird rights to re-sign KCP, Early Bird rights to re-sign Rondo, and the Bi-Annual Exception to re-sign Morris, the Laker will have their full $9.3 million non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception available to pursue free agents. With few teams having major cap space, the $9.3 million MLE and a chance to win a championship ring is likely to make the Lakers a major player for all but a half dozen elite free agents like Fred VanVleet or Davis Bertans.

The Lakers should have no problem filling roster needs with the MLE. How about Danilo Gallinari as their third scorer. Goran Dragic as their second playmaker, Mo Harkness as wing defender, or Aron Baynes as stretch big? There will only be five NBA teams with cap space to offer more to Gallinari, Dragic, Harkness, or Baynes than the Lakers and of those, only the Miami Heat had a winning record last season. The Lakers will get one of these.

Finally, the Lakers will end up with two or three roster spots to be filled by minimum salary veterans looking for an opportunity to win a championship ring or revitalize their career like Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo did. Heading the list of players in this category will be DeMarcus Cousins, who spent all of last year on the Lakers’ active roster or working out at their facilities after they waived him to sign Markieff Morris before the restart.

So while the Lakers don’t have cap space this offseason, they’re still going to be major players in the free agent market and should be able to re-sign their key free agent role players as well as signing at least one major free agent.

How Frank Vogel’s Faith in the Starters Who Won Top Seed in West Paid Off!

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Despite a dismal showing in the bubble and first playoff game and calls from pundits and fans to change the Lakers’ starting lineup, Frank Vogel elected to stay with the players who got him to the dance and it paid off.

In their four straight playoff wins over the Blazers, the Lakers’ starting lineup of James, Davis, McGee, Green, and Caldwell-Pope had a 5-player offensive rating of 147.1, defensive rating of 97.1, and net rating of 50.0. They outscored the Blazers by 50 points when on the court while shooting 60.4% from the field and 55.0% from deep while holding Portland to 44.6% from the field and 25.0% from deep, best for any Lakers’ lineups.

The individual stats for the Lakers’ starters during the four-game win steak also confirmed Vogel’s trust and confidence as all five, along with Kuzma and Caruso, posted positive net ratings and positive plus/minus ratings. Vogel’s likely to continue to rely on and give major minutes to this 7-player rotation featuring starters James, Davis, McGee, Green, and Caldwell-Pope and reserves Kuzma and Caruso as the Lakers advance in the playoffs.

While they haven’t played as well as those in the core rotation, three other players who will get minutes depending on the opponent and matchups are Dwight Howard, Markieff Morris, and Rajon Rondo, now back from injury. The biggest lineup challenges Vogel will face is what to do with McGee and Howard if the Lakers have to play teams like the Rockets, Nuggets, Bucks, Raptors, or Heat, who all have centers who are capable 3-point shooters.

While the Lakers have thrived all season playing big when opposing teams go small, the playoffs present a different challenge and game-to-game adjustments become more important the deeper teams go into the playoffs. It will be interesting to see what Vogel does with McGee and Howard should the Lakers face the Rockets in the second round. Javale has played well while Dwight has struggled but neither is good as a perimeter defender.

The Lakers best lineups are when they go small ball with Davis or Morris at the five and McGee and Howard on the bench, which they did just 26% of the time in the regular season and only 33% of the time in the playoffs. Going forward, the Lakers are likely to play small close to half of the time, like they did back in March when they swept the Bucks and Clippers in back-to-back game with Davis or Morris playing center 48% of the time.

Overall, Vogel’s done an exemplary job managing the Lakers’ rotations when you consider the varying playing time he’s given McGee and Howard and the challenge of integrating late additions Morris, Waiters, and Smith. While he’s been hesitant to change his starting lineups, he’s embraced playing small with Davis or Morris at the five when matchups demanded it and done a good job doling out minutes to allow everybody to contribute.

Lakers’ head coach Frank Vogel should be congratulated for staying with the players who got him to the dance and not listening to the critics who demanded changes. Hopefully, he’ll continue to make the right calls.