Official 2014 Free Agency discussion

[leeprettyp]

Frank Isola article

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/melo-hints-decision-knicks-lakers-article-1.1488684

The Melo-drama Part II is under way in the wake of Anthony confirming that he plans to opt out of his contract next summer and become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career. And for the first time, Anthony hinted that it is a two-team race between the Knicks and Lakers.

The Lakers will have cap space, and Anthony is close to Kobe Bryant. Also, Anthony owns a home in Los Angeles, and his wife, La La, is a working actress in Hollywood. Needless to say, if Anthony leaves the Knicks, it won’t be for a small market team.

Seems the key in all this will be Kobe Bryant and the type of season the Knicks have this year. I myself would welcome a +26ppg scorer with a post game to the Purp n gold. Especially with Kobe needing someone else to carry the scoring load while he falls more into a faciliating role in this last chapter of his career. I think it could work if we got a defensive PG and defensive big to put alongside. Pau, Kobe and Melo. Its a pipe dream right now but its pretty interesting as of today it seems to be a 50/50 thing.


P.S. Frank Isola was the person who first said Nash was coming to the Lakers

[dockingsched]

mark heisler had a somewhat revealing tweet that howard beck retweeted

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MarkHeisler/status/390862071555817474[/tweet]

i think its spot on.

[leeprettyp]

mark heisler had a somewhat revealing tweet that howard beck retweeted

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MarkHeisler/status/390862071555817474[/tweet]

i think its spot on.

So Doc in your opinion you think we'll sit on the cap space for a couple of years and try to make a push on a Durant or Rose type of player? Mid 20's superstar, gonna be a minute before either hit the market

[MistyMountain20]

Good, not a huge fan of Melo as the savior. Hope it doesn't come to fruition.

[rayofsunshine]

Where is the quote where he hints at it?

[Slava]

Good god! I'd rather stash that cash space on some one year contracts that end up offering Melo a crippling contract. Melo would have been good if our future was with Howard but now its not.

[ak7]

The Lakers will pursue Melo. You don't attract a Durant or Rose or whoever without pieces in play. Heisler was spewing bad info all throughout the Dwight saga this summer.

[leeprettyp]

Seems alot of people are really down on Melo. Man the media can really persuade the masses it seems when they dont like somebody. Melo is argueably a top 5-7 player in basketball today. And is a polific scorer who has a post game that will age well. He's only 7 months older than Lebron (I think thats about right). How is adding a guy like that crippling to a franchise? Thats a core piece that should be built around. And we'll still have cap space for 1 more player and hopefully a productive Kobe and Pau on the roster to support him. I'm not saying Melo is perfect... cuz he definitely has his flaws but man he'll bring alot more positive than negative. To be honest I'd wish we had shipped Bynum to Denver 3 years ago for him when he was available for the right piece.

[stunnar0b]

All in for Lebron and melo 2014

[The Skyhook]

mark heisler had a somewhat revealing tweet that howard beck retweeted

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MarkHeisler/status/390862071555817474[/tweet]

i think its spot on.

So Doc in your opinion you think we'll sit on the cap space for a couple of years and try to make a push on a Durant or Rose type of player? Mid 20's superstar, gonna be a minute before either hit the market

I love that damn Tweet because those are my exact feelings on Melo. I would rather wait then get tied up in Melo's contract going into the future.

I still think 2015 free agency is where the Lakers can make a splash if we save the cap space.

[leeprettyp]

mark heisler had a somewhat revealing tweet that howard beck retweeted

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MarkHeisler/status/390862071555817474[/tweet]

i think its spot on.

So Doc in your opinion you think we'll sit on the cap space for a couple of years and try to make a push on a Durant or Rose type of player? Mid 20's superstar, gonna be a minute before either hit the market

I love that damn Tweet because those are my exact feelings on Melo. I would rather wait then get tied up in Melo's contract going into the future.

I still think 2015 free agency is where the Lakers can make a splash if we save the cap space.

So we should really hope Kyrie Irving is willing to go through a Dwight Howard type of PR nightmare to get out of Cleveland. Especially considering this would be his 1st official payday in the league.. Doubt it in my opinion and its not in his character from what i read and see. Honestly a player like Kevin Love who'd be available that summer isnt a face of the franchise player on a contending team. Why wouldnt we want to start adding the future co-pieces now periodically while we still have a productive Pau and Kobe? Just keep the money available for 1 more core player when he'll come available. Or better yet just start building up assets for future trade options

[One Love]

Melo is a black hole & doesn't warrant a $100 million dollar contract...

[The Skyhook]

So Doc in your opinion you think we'll sit on the cap space for a couple of years and try to make a push on a Durant or Rose type of player? Mid 20's superstar, gonna be a minute before either hit the market

I love that damn Tweet because those are my exact feelings on Melo. I would rather wait then get tied up in Melo's contract going into the future.

I still think 2015 free agency is where the Lakers can make a splash if we save the cap space.

So we should really hope Kyrie Irving is willing to go through a Dwight Howard type of PR nightmare to get out of Cleveland. Especially considering this would be his 1st official payday in the league.. Doubt it in my opinion and its not in his character from what i read and see. Honestly a player like Kevin Love who'd be available that summer isnt a face of the franchise player on a contending team. Why wouldnt we want to start adding the future co-pieces now periodically while we still have a productive Pau and Kobe? Just keep the money available for 1 more core player when he'll come available. Or better yet just start building up assets for future trade options

I would be perfectly fine with creating a team that doesn't have that face of the franchise type of player on the team. 2015 presents you with the opportunity to potentially go after 3 of Rondo, Love, Marc Gasol, and Aldridge. Rondo paired with Gasol at Center and one of the two power forwards creates a well rounded team.

You also have to keep in mind that there is a chance that the Lakers could be a lottery team this season and could add a young player for the future.

[Kilroy]

Melo is going to be 30 this year and has 12 seasons in the NBA... At best he's in the tail end of his prime.
He's also going to demand a good sized payday. Which means, whoever he signs with, is likely going to be overpaying him.

If Kobe comes back close to how he was before injury, and a few guys we have on the roster including Pau show something this season, it might make sense to go after Melo as a win-now proposition for the final couple seasons of Kobe's career and maybe Pau's.

But if Kobe's a shell of his former self and nobody else on the team shows significant development, then we need to look for someone younger...

If LeBron's an option we should go for that, but even then, we're likely to be getting the tail end of his career and now that he has his rings, how motivated will he still be in a new situation in LA?

Personally, I'd like us to look for some rising stars.

[chefy]

I want the lakers to sign God. He's the only one worthy of our $10 million next year.

[Michael Lucky]

mark heisler had a somewhat revealing tweet that howard beck retweeted

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MarkHeisler/status/390862071555817474[/tweet]

i think its spot on.

So Doc in your opinion you think we'll sit on the cap space for a couple of years and try to make a push on a Durant or Rose type of player? Mid 20's superstar, gonna be a minute before either hit the market

reserving cap space for 2016 FA would be the smart move so yes.

[ak7]

Melo is going to be 30 this year and has 12 seasons in the NBA... At best he's in the tail end of his prime.
He's also going to demand a good sized payday. Which means, whoever he signs with, is likely going to be overpaying him.

If Kobe comes back close to how he was before injury, and a few guys we have on the roster including Pau show something this season, it might make sense to go after Melo as a win-now proposition for the final couple seasons of Kobe's career and maybe Pau's.

But if Kobe's a shell of his former self and nobody else on the team shows significant development, then we need to look for someone younger...

If LeBron's an option we should go for that, but even then, we're likely to be getting the tail end of his career and now that he has his rings, how motivated will he still be in a new situation in LA?

Personally, I'd like us to look for some rising stars.

Unless a rising star forces their way out of wherever they are now just to sign with LA, it isn't happening. Kyrie is going to get locked up, there's so much talent around him, there's no way it won't happen. Plus, it would murder his image (possibly even worse than LeBron's after he left Cleveland).

Aside from that, what rising star is even possible? George is inked. It's likely Kyrie will get inked. Kevin Love isn't bringing a championship to any team. Marc Gasol will be 30 so everyone's age argument about Melo applies here even more because he's an inferior player. I'm sure some 2016 free agent would just love to come to LA after we've swung and missed on everything the past 2 years while being mired in mediocrity, just to be our savior and not be guaranteed anything.

[Kilroy]

I didn't say sign a rising star next season, or maybe even the one after... We're going to have to get used to the idea that we aren't likely to be a championship team for the next few years. What I'm saying is don't dump our cap space on one or 2 over the hill players just because they're big names in an attempt to feel better about the situation we're in... We need to find the next Kobe...
Maybe it's Wiggins, maybe not... But that should be our pie-in-the-sky goal, not Melo at this stage in his career.

[leeprettyp]

I love that damn Tweet because those are my exact feelings on Melo. I would rather wait then get tied up in Melo's contract going into the future.

I still think 2015 free agency is where the Lakers can make a splash if we save the cap space.

So we should really hope Kyrie Irving is willing to go through a Dwight Howard type of PR nightmare to get out of Cleveland. Especially considering this would be his 1st official payday in the league.. Doubt it in my opinion and its not in his character from what i read and see. Honestly a player like Kevin Love who'd be available that summer isnt a face of the franchise player on a contending team. Why wouldnt we want to start adding the future co-pieces now periodically while we still have a productive Pau and Kobe? Just keep the money available for 1 more core player when he'll come available. Or better yet just start building up assets for future trade options

I would be perfectly fine with creating a team that doesn't have that face of the franchise type of player on the team. 2015 presents you with the opportunity to potentially go after 3 of Rondo, Love, Marc Gasol, and Aldridge. Rondo paired with Gasol at Center and one of the two power forwards creates a well rounded team.

You also have to keep in mind that there is a chance that the Lakers could be a lottery team this season and could add a young player for the future.

That is another option also. But we've won rings and even you know bro. Majority of championship teams in NBA history are carried by in their prime Superstars. And of course this is L.A. we need stars. But i can understand your logic there

[The Skyhook]

Melo is going to be 30 this year and has 12 seasons in the NBA... At best he's in the tail end of his prime.
He's also going to demand a good sized payday. Which means, whoever he signs with, is likely going to be overpaying him.

If Kobe comes back close to how he was before injury, and a few guys we have on the roster including Pau show something this season, it might make sense to go after Melo as a win-now proposition for the final couple seasons of Kobe's career and maybe Pau's.

But if Kobe's a shell of his former self and nobody else on the team shows significant development, then we need to look for someone younger...

If LeBron's an option we should go for that, but even then, we're likely to be getting the tail end of his career and now that he has his rings, how motivated will he still be in a new situation in LA?

Personally, I'd like us to look for some rising stars.

Unless a rising star forces their way out of wherever they are now just to sign with LA, it isn't happening. Kyrie is going to get locked up, there's so much talent around him, there's no way it won't happen. Plus, it would murder his image (possibly even worse than LeBron's after he left Cleveland).

Aside from that, what rising star is even possible? George is inked. It's likely Kyrie will get inked. Kevin Love isn't bringing a championship to any team. Marc Gasol will be 30 so everyone's age argument about Melo applies here even more because he's an inferior player. I'm sure some 2016 free agent would just love to come to LA after we've swung and missed on everything the past 2 years while being mired in mediocrity, just to be our savior and not be guaranteed anything.

Marc Gasol is also a different player than Carmelo and has never really relied on athleticism the way a wing player might. Gasol's game is built more around defense and fundamental skills in the post. If the opportunity came along to sign him I would certainly consider it as long as Pau doesn't give the Lakers a bad rep if he doesn't return to the Lakers.