The Pragmatic Mind

Aloha,

I have been looking at the state of the Lakers, searching for something that could turn the season around. The fan side of my brain was thinking, if we trade Russ and our 1st for Wall, and maybe find an upgrade by trading THT without a 1st attached and then luck out in the buyout market, then maybe in the next 25 games we can build chemistry and do some damage in the playoffs. The pragmatic side of my brain says, get real fan boy, you’ve watched the competition, that ain’t happening.

My pragmatic brain has won the argument. I think we have the same chance to win a ring standing pat as we would with the realistic trades we could make. Slim to none.

So I would make sure that no stupid panic moves are made and hope for the best this summer.

Right now Westbrooks trade value couldn’t be lower. Does it make sense to use that first just to move him? That Rocket deal will probably be available in the summer. If we bite the bullet and stay with Russ, he could possibly play better and increase his trade value. If he does increase his value, maybe he opts out this summer because of the humiliation of this season and signs a longer deal with another team. Unlikely but Who knows? But replacing him now with Wall really isn’t going to do a thing to win this year.

Same goes for THT. His value is low at the moment, although he has looked good at times. He’s just 21. Could he become more consistent over the last part of the season? It’s possible. Again, his value probably can only go up. By the way, doing a deal for say, Terrance Ross isn’t going to win a ring. Let THT play out the season and see if his value can increase.

Our situation could even be worse next year. It will be difficult keeping Monk who has emerged as our 3rd best player and at Melo’s age, who knows what he will do. So we will be in the same boat next year, needing to find good players. Nunn is a good player. He has a player option and because of his injury, he may have to opt in for another year. Trade him now and that’s one more good player we will have to find.

Unless there is a player that would be valuable next year as well, I don’t think I would even use any of our 2nd rounders just for a run now.

Like I said, I don’t see any of the options available to us making any real impact on this season. Every move we make in the next 24 hours should be made with an eye on this summer.