Deng to Lakers 4yrs 72 million

[john248]

I like this signing. Deng knows how to play defense given he's played in Thib's system. He also at least has 3 ball range and hustles like hell. I'm not worried about his age so much since he can still be a valuable defender and spot up shooter as a small ball 4. If he finishes his career like Battier then great. Mosgov...not so happy about that one.

[TyCobb]

I preferred Terrence Jones here.

[moonpie]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7p_KPP2mvw[/youtube]

[MAMBAEMD]

I like this guy already.
When he was asked when is he going to move to LA, he said something to the effect of he will talk to Luke and ask when he will need him to come here and be around.
Solid veteran leadership. And a pretty darn good player.
Say what you want about the contract. Personally I don't mind the money and the years given the current market.
But this is exactly the kind of guy we want around the young guys.

[RingsDontLie]

Love the British accent. Very heady player, very intellectual. It was a great signing, he's a two-way player, brings mentorship and leadership...only thing you could ask for is wishing he was younger. He's a durable guy however, and he's proven that, there is no reason not to believe that he will contribute well for a few years.

[Vae Victus]

I think he'll do fine next year, but its the last 2 years of the contract that scare me. He's getting ancient in NBA years and can fall off the cliff at any moment. I mean it was quite evident he's slowing down already and the talk is that he's mostly only effective as a small ball 4 and too slow to cover 3s anymore. Best case scenario, Deng turns in a fine year and the kids and coach show great strides that we convince 2 premier marquee FAs to come to town, then we dump Deng on some sucker with a 1st Rounder or 2 2nds attached and we go cackling off to the bank. Realistically he'll turn in a decent year that barely moved the needle and we'll all be cussing out the FO for giving him this deal as it prevents us from having 2 max slots to convince people to come here to form a super team.

However it will be sad if Deng is a better defender at the 4 than Randle....

[MAMBAEMD]

Let's give Deng and Mozgov a chance.
I think we will be pleasantly surprised.
I think the entire team will surprise us with good and entertaining play.

[MrWaffles]

It's early in the season, but Deng has shown no value whatsoever. He was suppose to play elite defense and get shots for us, but NEITHER of those have happened.

Deng is too old to be playing for us in this new era of basketball. He's too slow for our system and for the league in general.

Sadly , he's going to be here for the next four years. No GM will take on this contract. We can only hope that he retires for the greater good of Laker Basketball. That 18 million a year of his could be going to PG and Cousins in 2018.

[danfantastk32]

It's early in the season, but Deng has shown no value whatsoever. He was suppose to play elite defense and get shots for us, but NEITHER of those have happened.

Deng is too old to be playing for us in this new era of basketball. He's too slow for our system and for the league in general.

Sadly , he's going to be here for the next four years. No GM will take on this contract. We can only hope that he retires for the greater good of Laker Basketball. That 18 million a year of his could be going to PG and Cousins in 2018.

It is what it is man...I don't know what to tell ya. I thought Deng would give us better than this, but apparently not. Your right...no GM will take that contract. And lets forget about hoping he retires. I got $70-some million reasons why he won't.

Bad signing, but not the end of the world. In 6 months, it will be "3 more years". Our last title will be "7 years ago" by then as well. How the time flies.

[Spanish_Laker]

He is on pace to become the worst signing in Lakers history.

Mitch, trade this washed up scrub ASAP. I'd be happy with a late 2nd rounder for him.

[MrWaffles]

I believe the only way to get rid of Deng would to be add a kid onto a trade package with him. Which, we shouldn't do unless we're getting something really good in return.

A lot of people say Deng has been here to mentor Ingram. May i remind the Lakers front office that we have a top 3 player who just retired that could mentor Ingram?

This four year contract of Deng will kill us for the next four summers as major stars will be on the market. If our kids and Luke show we can play, then we have a chance at some big names, but not if we have 18 million dollars going to some scrub. We have paydays for Randle coming up as well, so every million is important after this season.

Most of you know i have been negative about Mozgov's contract as well. He has been somewhat useful in our games, however, he does not play in the 4th at all. Luke mostly plays him in the first and that's about it. 16 million a year for a role player. Ugh.

Deng seems like a great guy and the NBA community loves him. If he continues to play terribly, i could see him retiring early. Maybe even a buy-out?

[Slava]

I believe the only way to get rid of Deng would to be add a kid onto a trade package with him. Which, we shouldn't do unless we're getting something really good in return.

A lot of people say Deng has been here to mentor Ingram. May i remind the Lakers front office that we have a top 3 player who just retired that could mentor Ingram?

This four year contract of Deng will kill us for the next four summers as major stars will be on the market. If our kids and Luke show we can play, then we have a chance at some big names, but not if we have 18 million dollars going to some scrub. We have paydays for Randle coming up as well, so every million is important after this season.

Most of you know i have been negative about Mozgov's contract as well. He has been somewhat useful in our games, however, he does not play in the 4th at all. Luke mostly plays him in the first and that's about it. 16 million a year for a role player. Ugh.

Deng seems like a great guy and the NBA community loves him. If he continues to play terribly, i could see him retiring early. Maybe even a buy-out?

We have the option to open up a full max slot next season and beyond until we have to extend Randle. So stop this we will miss out on the stars because of Deng nonsense, that is just not accurate.

[MrWaffles]

I believe the only way to get rid of Deng would to be add a kid onto a trade package with him. Which, we shouldn't do unless we're getting something really good in return.

A lot of people say Deng has been here to mentor Ingram. May i remind the Lakers front office that we have a top 3 player who just retired that could mentor Ingram?

This four year contract of Deng will kill us for the next four summers as major stars will be on the market. If our kids and Luke show we can play, then we have a chance at some big names, but not if we have 18 million dollars going to some scrub. We have paydays for Randle coming up as well, so every million is important after this season.

Most of you know i have been negative about Mozgov's contract as well. He has been somewhat useful in our games, however, he does not play in the 4th at all. Luke mostly plays him in the first and that's about it. 16 million a year for a role player. Ugh.

Deng seems like a great guy and the NBA community loves him. If he continues to play terribly, i could see him retiring early. Maybe even a buy-out?

We have the option to open up a full max slot next season and beyond until we have to extend Randle. So stop this we will miss out on the stars because of Deng nonsense, that is just not accurate.

Ummm without Deng's 18 million, we could have two max slots this summer. Of course that's with Young and Williams leaving, which should happen anyways to better the team, but that's another story.

There shouldn't be anything wrong with me saying Deng is worthless to this team, it's a message board.

[Slava]

I believe the only way to get rid of Deng would to be add a kid onto a trade package with him. Which, we shouldn't do unless we're getting something really good in return.

A lot of people say Deng has been here to mentor Ingram. May i remind the Lakers front office that we have a top 3 player who just retired that could mentor Ingram?

This four year contract of Deng will kill us for the next four summers as major stars will be on the market. If our kids and Luke show we can play, then we have a chance at some big names, but not if we have 18 million dollars going to some scrub. We have paydays for Randle coming up as well, so every million is important after this season.

Most of you know i have been negative about Mozgov's contract as well. He has been somewhat useful in our games, however, he does not play in the 4th at all. Luke mostly plays him in the first and that's about it. 16 million a year for a role player. Ugh.

Deng seems like a great guy and the NBA community loves him. If he continues to play terribly, i could see him retiring early. Maybe even a buy-out?

We have the option to open up a full max slot next season and beyond until we have to extend Randle. So stop this we will miss out on the stars because of Deng nonsense, that is just not accurate.

Ummm without Deng's 18 million, we could have two max slots this summer. Of course that's with Young and Williams leaving, which should happen anyways to better the team, but that's another story.

There shouldn't be anything wrong with me saying Deng is worthless to this team, it's a message board.

Please show me two max free agents ready to sign for us, its going to be hard enough getting one. Otherwise you are making up imaginary scenarios and then getting upset over them not happening.

[Jody Smokz]

I noticed that people that do this don't look at the Free agency lists either. Blake Griffin and Brook Lopez are going to headline FA. CP3 is as well but he's much too old for the direction of this team so he doesn't count. Unless you want to sign BG and Lopez whining about having max slots is just dumb.

We have the option to open up a full max slot next season and beyond until we have to extend Randle. So stop this we will miss out on the stars because of Deng nonsense, that is just not accurate.

Ummm without Deng's 18 million, we could have two max slots this summer. Of course that's with Young and Williams leaving, which should happen anyways to better the team, but that's another story.

There shouldn't be anything wrong with me saying Deng is worthless to this team, it's a message board.

Please show me two max free agents ready to sign for us, its going to be hard enough getting one. Otherwise you are making up imaginary scenarios and then getting upset over them not happening.

[ALL HAIL]

I don't expect anyone to truly understand this, but Deng really needs to start games at PF.

Bring Randle off the bench; start Ingram at SF; give Nance (defensive) minutes at all three frontcourt positions, and you'd see all four forwards being productive at the same time.

[Slava]

Benching our most productive starter is probably the last thing we should consider. I'd sooner bring Deng off the bench if we were to play him as a 4 and start Ingram.

[lake_show]

I don't expect anyone to truly understand this, but Deng really needs to start games at PF.

Bring Randle off the bench; start Ingram at SF; give Nance (defensive) minutes at all three frontcourt positions, and you'd see all four forwards being productive at the same time.

I get where you're coming from, and I think you're right in the sense that it would put Deng in a better position to succeed, but... How good of a PF is he that we would push aside two better PF's to get him minutes where he feels comfortable? He definitely has issues being able to guard quality SF's at this point in his career, but he's also been pretty bad at hitting open jumpers. He's been starting at SF, but he has been playing most of the rest the game at PF lately. He still looks pretty bad out there even through the PF minutes.

I think if he's able to hit open shots that fixes a lot of issues with him and with that starting line-up. Someone said (I'm not sure who) that there has to be something wrong. I believe that. There are times out there where he just looks confused. For a quality vet like him to play this awkwardly and poorly, essentially playing like a rookie, just doesn't make sense. I hope he snaps out of it. I think starting him at PF wouldnt change much though. It wouldn't make us better as a team either. It moves Randle from a position where he's been successful, and it takes Nance out of that great secind unit we currently have. I believe both Nance and Black are critical pieces to that second unit. And, Deng really hasnt been that good at PF anyways.

[ALL HAIL]

I don't expect anyone to truly understand this, but Deng really needs to start games at PF.

Bring Randle off the bench; start Ingram at SF; give Nance (defensive) minutes at all three frontcourt positions, and you'd see all four forwards being productive at the same time.

I get where you're coming from, and I think you're right in the sense that it would put Deng in a better position to succeed, but... How good of a PF is he that we would push aside two better PF's to get him minutes where he feels comfortable? He definitely has issues being able to guard quality SF's at this point in his career, but he's also been pretty bad at hitting open jumpers. He's been starting at SF, but he has been playing most of the rest the game at PF lately. He still looks pretty bad out there even through the PF minutes.

I think if he's able to hit open shots that fixes a lot of issues with him and with that starting line-up. Someone said (I'm not sure who) that there has to be something wrong. I believe that. There are times out there where he just looks confused. For a quality vet like him to play this awkwardly and poorly, essentially playing like a rookie, just doesn't make sense. I hope he snaps out of it. I think starting him at PF wouldnt change much though. It wouldn't make us better as a team either. It moves Randle from a position where he's been successful, and it takes Nance out of that great secind unit we currently have. I believe both Nance and Black are critical pieces to that second unit. And, Deng really hasnt been that good at PF anyways.

Just to be clear, Nance and Randle would both be coming off the bench, but they'd both have their minutes unaffected.

And to address your main point that it won't matter where Deng starts games, because he already plays most of his minutes at PF already, my only response is that these guys are not robots. Sometimes players need small things to make them succeed. It may sound trivial to us, but a player may perform better with a jersey number he's always played with,a baseball player may perform a thousand times better when he hits in a particular spot in the lineup.

I could be wrong, but I watched many Heat games last year, and he seemed to become a completely different from player after the move to PF (I'm pretty sure the numbers bear that out). I know the Lakers aren't the he same team as the Heat from last year, they have other guys who will get a gang of minutes at PF, but it was crystal clear to me last year that he is best served there.

To me, it's a natural compromise in an attempt to maximize the talents of all four forwards. Start Deng at PF, play him some at SF as well, and see what happens from there. I believe Randle's ego could handle such a move because of the communication skills of Walton.

[Kilroy]

Benching our most productive starter is probably the last thing we should consider. I'd sooner bring Deng off the bench if we were to play him as a 4 and start Ingram.

Yeah, the best case scenario in benching Randle and Nance for Deng is you make Deng moderately better why absolutely destroying the confidence and spirit of 2 better players... You may never get them back if you did that... Just for at best, Deng from last season... Basically **** a potential all-star and sixth man of the year candidate for 'impressive vet' Deng.

Can't say enough how much I hate that idea, other than just to point out that I'm glad it obviously won't happen.