HartfordWhalers wrote:HartfordWhalers Review
Key Losses:
Kobe Bryant
If there was any doubt the Lakers had entered a new era, seeing this written should make it clear.
Losses:
Byron Scott (Head Coach)
Roy Hibbert
Brandon Bass
Ryan Kelly
Robert Sacre
Metta World Peace
In general, I try and discuss a guy or two even if none aren't worth it. Ryan Kelly was born too soon. If he had his rookie year last year -- 8ppg in 22 minutes on a 55% TS%, he would have a 3years/18million contract. Instead, he parlayed it into 2 years/ 3.4m and promptly faded as fast as Landry Fields did in Toronto. What happened? Was he just never good and hit some open shots? Speaking of fading, what happened to Hibbert?Whatever it is, none of these guys had anything left, and that includes Scott as a coach.
Draft:
#2 Brandon Ingram
#32 Ivica Zubac
Great draft. Getting Simmons would have fit better, but Ingram is a legit stud of a prospect, and Zubac is a quality pick at #32. This draft was absolutely nailed, and will do a ton to set up the Lakers future. In fact, I would take Ingram and Zubac over everything else the lakers have combined (Russell/Clarkson/Randle/Nance/Lou/whatever they spent a bazillion dollars on in free agency/those we have Upshaw who has top 5 talent t-shirts)
So, I should probably take this time to say a little about how I grade. I've heard some people say they grade based upon -- Did a team get better next year / did a team get better in the future. Thats perfectly fine. But that is not how I grade.
I grade based upon:
1) Did the team do better or worse than they should have given the circumstances?
Picking a top 8 prospect at pick #3 still makes you better in the short and long run, but it sure isn't doing the best you could. When half of your team is up for big raises and free agents like Charlotte, you will not be able to bring back everyone and shouldn't be graded like that was a realistic expectation.
2) Did the team focus its energy in the right direction?
Swimming faster than expected in the wrong direction might be better than expected at speed, but not actually good. If the Nets got Mozgov on a cheaper than expected great contract, I would still be questioning why they targeted an aging vet at the position of their most talented player. You need to have a logical plan for the big picture.
3) Is there something incomplete that needed to be addressed but wasn't? Are the individual steps compatible?
This is really part of 2 above, but it is important enough to pull it out as a third point of grading.
Some examples:
Miami got worse. But they picked the right direction -- keep Whiteside, Johnson, and as much future cap flexibility as possible. And they fully executed that direction. I gave them top marks even if their short term prospects look dimmer.
Orlando decided to push all in on winning now, and gave up slightly more than expected in the Ibaka-Oladipo trade (and the Meeks trade, and the Jeff Green signing). Value wise maybe it was a C to me, but directionally fitting in Ibaka with Vucevik looks like an A of a plan. They knew they were drifting into the 10-16 drafting range and needed to fix their core with the perfect support players, while hoping for a breakout from Gordon or someone else? However, the win now push failed to address the big pg issue, and I'm not sold on Biyombo and Ibaka fitting together either. I loved the direction of their big moves, but the fit and attention to the whole picture pulled the grade back down for me to a C+.
So, the Lakers absolutely had a draft that will (hopefully) do a lot for the franchise going forward. But most of that was expected once the lotto balls said they had the guy left over of Simmons/Ingram, and I'm not going to pat them on the head for that.
Trades:
Calderon with 2018 Denver 2nd and 2019 Chicago 2nd for cap space and the rights to Ater Majok
A solid trade for a rebuilding team. Gets a stopgap vet and 2 2nds. I like this trade a lot. Supposedly Philly was in the running for this trade, and I might hold not getting it against them. After all, I eep hearing how everyone likes dealing with Colangelo!
Free Agency:
Luke Walton (Head Coach)
Luol Deng 4/$72m
Timofey Mozgov 4/$64m
Jordan Clarkson 4/$50m
Marcelo Huertas 2/3m (last year ungtd)
Ivica Zubac 3/3.2m (last year ungtd)
Yi Jianlian 1/8m (250k gtd, 1.2m base salary, 2.3m bonus each at playing 20/40/59 games)
Brandon Ingram rookie scale
Not official yet:
Tarik Black 2/$12.8m (last year may be ungtd?)
Oh boy. So, you are the Lakers. You have:
PG: Jordan Clarkson, Jose Calderon
SG: D’Angelo Russell, Lou Williams
SF: Anthony Brown, Nick Young
PF: Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr.
C: Ivica Zubac
(Yes, I have Clarkson at PG and Russell at SG)
And boatloads of cap space. What do you do?
Target the best possible young center and forwards to grow with that core, keeping the flexibility to snag in free agency a disgruntled Westbrook or Blake or Cousins in 2 years or whoever is next.
And by the way, if you are the worst team in the league and go from paying off a top 5 pick in '17 and a top 10 pick in '19 to owing just a top 5 pick in '18 it is a huge win. Increase those odds and be terrible if it doesn't get you a stud to grow with. This extra unprotected pick to Orlando is a huge thing.
Looking at who is out there, I would say the following:
Biyombo perhaps should have been signed even at his high price range, depends what else you do.
Christian Wood should have been signed.
Terrence Jones should have been signed.
Sullinger should have been signed.
Motie pending his health.
Afflalo (or even Henderson) on their only gtd 1 year deals would make sense for then looking to flip them and helping stabilize the locker room (I know I picked a bunch of knuckleheads above). Both could play sf in theory.
Festus Ezeli on his 1+ ungtd 1 was worth a stab.
Boban.
Instead, a fortune was spent on Deng and Mozgov, pushing the Lakers closer to losing their pick in '17 and then '19 while hampering their ability to sign a free agent stud and not actually making the team even good. Ugh. What a massive massive fail of direction. And execution on that Movgov contract.
The Yi stuff just strikes me as silly, Huertas is Calderon, why does anyone need two of him?
Walton is a great get but, the part of Walton that feels a great get is his ability to make LAL seem attractive going forward to free agents. And meanwhile that door got half way slammed shut for no reason.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: Jordan Clarkson, Jose Calderon, Marcelo Huertas
SG: D’Angelo Russell, Lou Williams
SF: Luol Deng, Anthony Brown, Nick Young
PF: Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr., Yi Jianlian
C: Timofey Mozgov, Tarik Black, Ivica Zubac
Needs:
A mulligan on this offseason's free agency.
Additional Thoughts:
There are two long standing Laker debates I have been involved in that I can think of offhand. First, that Russell is really more of a sg (Harden ball dominant type) versus a pg. Second, that Clarkson would eventually overtake Randle in trade value. That one is going on 2 years and I'm curious where it stands now with Clarkson's new contract. So tell me, how much more is Randle worth than Clarkson at this point?
Oh, and my trade idea: Lou Williams and 2017 LAL 2nd for Deyonta Davis and VC once Gasol is back. Gets Memphis some more win now talent and a 2nd as high as Davis was picked at, while the Lakers get a smidge of cap flexibility and a guy that shouldn't have fallen that far.
Or: Randle, Deng and 2017 LAL 2nd for Rubio and Pekovic Yep, that one should anger everyone.
Projected Win/Loss: 26-56 You have to expect this team to fade hard down the stretch given their situation.
Off-Season Grade: F I could have wavered. After all, perhaps a D- is justified. Zubac was a great pick, Walton was a great hire, they had some moments. But the whole thing was an example in destroying value and potential future value so much that I'm just sticking with my F. If I am a Laker fan I'm thinking that it is both the best of times (Ingram/Walton) and the worst of times (free agency), only all the worst of times could have been avoided and are self inflicted wounds.
bondom34 wrote:bondom34 Review
Key Losses:
Kobe Bryant
Losses:
Byron Scott (Head Coach)
Roy Hibbert
Brandon Bass
Ryan Kelly
Robert Sacre
Metta World Peace
Draft:
#2 Brandon Ingram
#32 Ivica Zubac
Trades:
Calderon with 2018 Denver 2nd and 2019 Chicago 2nd for cap space and the rights to Ater Majok
Free Agency:
Luke Walton (Head Coach)
Luol Deng 4/$72m
Timofey Mozgov 4/$64m
Jordan Clarkson 4/$50m
Marcelo Huertas 2/3m (last year ungtd)
Ivica Zubac 3/3.2m (last year ungtd)
Yi Jianlian 1/8m (250k gtd, 1.2m base salary, 2.3m bonus each at playing 20/40/59 games)
Brandon Ingram rookie scale
Not official yet:
Tarik Black 2/$12.8m (last year may be ungtd?)
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: D’Angelo Russell, Jose Calderon, Marcelo Huertas
SG: Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams
SF: Luol Deng, Brandon Ingram, Anthony Brown, Nick Young
PF: Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr.
C: Timofey Mozgov, Yi Jianlian, Tarik Black, Ivica Zubac
Needs:
Backup PG, youth at center, talent in general
Additional Thoughts:
Really this offseason seemed about setting up a culture. LA wasn't getting free agents and needed to go young and try to build a winning setup with Walton at the helm. I like him a lot as a prospective coach, but that said the Mozgov signing (and Yi) were both really baffling. I can live with Deng because he's at the least a solid trade chip and viable NBA player at that salary, but Mozzy was just awful. I like Ingram a lot and if Russell makes a leap, the future could be looking up. That said, the present isn't great. I'm thinking late season there's a full on tank to keep the pick one last year and go for another lottery stud.
Projected Win/Loss:21-61
Off-Season Grade: C
dbrandon wrote:dbrandon Review
Key Losses:
Kobe Bryant
One of the all-time greats. Not as good his last couple of years due to injury and age. It was time.
Losses:
Byron Scott (Head Coach)
Roy Hibbert
Brandon Bass
Ryan Kelly
Robert Sacre
Metta World Peace
I would probably have kept Bass around--he's a useful role player and a steady vet. But it's not a big deal letting him go. Everyone else can beat it.
Draft:
#2 Brandon Ingram
#32 Ivica Zubac
Very solid. Zubac is a good pickup, and Ingram (while an obvious pick) is a good one as well.
Trades:
Calderon with 2018 Denver 2nd and 2019 Chicago 2nd for cap space and the rights to Ater Majok
I don't really like the idea of trading for Calderon in general, but the cap space isn't getting used for anything and the 2nds are nice. Solid move to get a couple of assets for the future.
Free Agency:
Luke Walton (Head Coach)
Luol Deng 4/$72m
Timofey Mozgov 4/$64m
Jordan Clarkson 4/$50m
Marcelo Huertas 2/3m (last year ungtd)
Ivica Zubac 3/3.2m (last year ungtd)
Yi Jianlian 1/8m (250k gtd, 1.2m base salary, 2.3m bonus each at playing 20/40/59 games)
Brandon Ingram rookie scale
Not official yet:
Tarik Black 2/$12.8m (last year may be ungtd?)
It seems like LA has given up on the idea of suddenly luring a big-time FA with nothing more than the Laker name. And Walton did well in GSW, though Kerr was much more involved while out on leave than people generally think. It's an open question how good Walton will be as a coach. But surely he can't be worse than Scott, and he seems smart and well-liked.
But the money. Wow. The money. Deng has played a ton of minutes in his career, and he's going to be making $19mil in 2019 when he's 35. Mozgov is a solid player, but he's going to be making $16mil at age 34 in 2019. I think Clarkson was slightly overpaid, though I can live with it. He's a slightly above-average combo guard who was going to get paid, and they probably needed him. Black is fine, Jianlian is fine, Huertas is fine. But those top 3 deals are going to be very scary.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: D’Angelo Russell, Jose Calderon, Marcelo Huertas
SG: Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams
SF: Brandon Ingram, Luol Deng, Anthony Brown, Nick Young
PF: Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr.
C: Timofey Mozgov, Tarik Black, Ivica Zubac, Yi Jianlian
A couple of nice young guys here. Obviously D'Angelo and Ingram are the two biggest potential guys. Defense is going to be a sieve still.
Needs:
Get Swaggy out of there, and probably try to flip Lou Will. Bring in a few more upside guys and maybe one more steady vet. Preferably one who can defend. It's hard to tell what they need outside of more time to develop.
Additional Thoughts:
Are they a better team now than last year? Yeah. Are they good? No. Can they improve? Yeah. Is there potential? Yeah. Are they handcuffed to some overpays? Oh yeah.
I'll give them some credit for bringing in good character vets--Deng and Mozgov are good guys to have--but those deals are longer than I thought, and those guys are both on the downslope.
Projected Win/Loss: 30 wins
Off-Season Grade: D+. I thought about C-, but I don't like enough of the other moves enough to outweigh spending that much long-term money on Deng/Mozgov. I think Vlade made better free agency decisions, if that gives any indication.
Slava wrote:Slava Review
Key Losses:
Kobe Bryant
As a 14 year old foreign kid, Kobe Bryant was basically my way into basketball and the NBA in general. His footwork, athleticism and the aestheticism in his game was captivating for me from day 1 and I was pretty disappointed when I understood that all NBA players aren't as skilled as that.
Having said that, as a grown up fan of the Lakers, I was literally counting down the days since he signed his last ill advised contract extension to the day he'd retire. I'm sure he generated a lot of buzz and filled the seats but he was quite frankly caustic to the product on the floor and the last thing I'd have wanted for a 19 year old D'Angelo Russell is to come into the league on and watch an over the hill Kobe chuck off-balanced 30 footers with no regard for the offense or professionalism to the game.
Anyways this closes a chapter in the franchise history and everyone can move on.
Losses:
Byron Scott (Head Coach)
Roy Hibbert
Brandon Bass
Ryan Kelly
Robert Sacre
Metta World Peace
Byron was obviously brought into coach Kobe into retirement as no one with a sane mind was willing to touch that with a 20 foot pole. If there was a case to be made to feel sorry for him, you could say that as bad as he was, he did not deserve Boozer, Hibbert, Nick Young, a broken down Kobe and Metta World Peace forced on him.
Kobe was pretty bad but any line up featuring Roy Hibbert had the worst net rating on an already piss poor team. I genuinely think he's the worst NBA player right now. He probably leads the league in falling down without contact and every single team feasted on his clumsiness by putting his man in screen and roll situations so they could isolate him with their PGs. Byron's genius tactic to have the bigs hedge 20 feet away from the rim did little to help.
I feel for Ryan Kelly who had a very strong debut season under Mike D'Antoni playing in his natural role as a stretch 4 and it wouldn't surprise me if he rejoined him in Houston and resurrected his career. Kelly has natural instincts for basketball and general smartness to know where he needs to be on both ends of the floor. Good old Byron probably messed him up worse than anyone else by constantly using him as a SF and asking him to guard the likes of Lebron James.
Shout out to Brandon Bass, the man was a rare sign of professionalism and hustle no matter what kind of circus was going on around him. Predictably Russell and Clarkson both had better net ratings when playing alongside him.
Draft:
#2 Brandon Ingram
#32 Ivica Zubac
Loved this. Lakers were fortunate enough to stay in the top 2 of a two player draft and I'd have been happy with either Simmons or Ingram. Ingram makes the fit a lot more comfortable as I have high hopes for Nance Jr developing into a solid starting PF.
I didn't expect Zubac to fall out of the mid first round so getting him at 32 was tremendous value and he showed enough flashes in summer league to indicate that he might not necessarily need to be enrolled into the D-League for a couple of seasons like most 2nd rounders.
Trades:
Calderon with 2018 Denver 2nd and 2019 Chicago 2nd for cap space and the rights to Ater Majok.
Liked this as well. Both these picks could be in the 30-42 range where the Lakers have drafted quite well and Calderon himself, despite his defensive short comings is still a heady veteran PG and a reliable 3 point shooter.
Free Agency:
Luke Walton (Head Coach)
Luol Deng 4/$72m
Timofey Mozgov 4/$64m
Jordan Clarkson 4/$50m
Marcelo Huertas 2/3m (last year ungtd)
Ivica Zubac 3/3.2m (last year ungtd)
Yi Jianlian 1/8m (250k gtd, 1.2m base salary, 2.3m bonus each at playing 20/40/59 games)
Brandon Ingram rookie scale
Not official yet:
Tarik Black 2/$12.8m (last year may be ungtd?)
I believed Luke will make a coach right since his playing days and while it doesn't surprise me that he made it here, it sure does surprise me that he's achieved it while being younger than some of the guys he could be coaching.
On a side note, the Lakers are run by Jerry Buss' kids, Jerry West's kid is the assistant GM, Bill Walton's son is the head coach and George Karl's son is coaching the D-league team. I'm also sure one of Elgin Baylor's kin is involved somewhere that I can't seem to recall. Atleast Thomas Scott was content being a player development coach rather than asking to play PG like Austin Rivers.
Unlike previous seasons the Lakers recovered quite quickly once they faced a couple of rejections, notably from Durant and Bazemore by offering Deng a good contract to shore up the SF position. Deng might actually be better as a stretch 4 now a days but that could also be good if it opens up more playing time for Brandon Ingram. Even if it doesn't work out, he is a player that can be moved.
They clearly mis-read the big man market when they offered Mozgov the deal they did but now a days in free agency you barely have time to get a read on the market. Teams tend to prioritize the guys they like for each position and go for them from the moment the clock strikes 12 on July 1st. The verdict on this deal rests heavily on Mozgov's health as he was the premier pick and roll big man and Lebron's chosen center the year before he got injured before rushing his rehab to show up for free agency.
Love the Clarkson contract as I expected someone like Brooklyn or Philly to make an RFA bid. Only complaint being unable to squeeze in the 5th year.
Huertas is having a nice olympics tourney for himself and at that price point its hard to complain even if he might be third in the depth chart at PG behind Calderon. He did shine playing PG in line ups where Russell played SG so that's a combo that might see some game time this year.
I'm not going to speak about marketing purposes but the Yi contract makes little sense for me even if it is for the veteran's minimum. He is a 31 year old center who goes to an embarrassing extent to avoid contact and his NBA level offense is confined to shooting an off balance right hand jump hook and long twos off pick and pops. Even if he does work out, what's the plan for him?
I'd much rather have seen those minutes go to Tarik Black, especially after it was mentioned that Byron not giving playing time to Tarik was a continuing reason for tension between the front office and coach over the last couple of seasons.
Even if the money was burning a hole in their pockets, why not make an RFA offer to Motiejunas? Houston would likely not match anything in excess of $14 mil and once Westbrook signed his extension, it became pointless to hoard cap space going into 2017. At least if the risk works out, you have a 25 year old center who can pass, shoot and score efficiently in the post.
Current Depth Chart: (as usual this is a rough draft taken from bbinsiders)
PG: D’Angelo Russell, Jose Calderon, Marcelo Huertas
SG: Jordan Clarkson, Lou Williams, Nick Young
SF: Luol Deng, Brandon Ingram, Anthony Brown
PF: Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr.
C: Timofey Mozgov, Tarik Black, Yi Jianlian, Ivica Zubac
Obviously would have loved it if they got one or more of Hassan Whiteside, Bazemore or Motiejunas but in the absence of those, Deng and Mozgov are not bad additions even if things might get a bit hairy as those deals reach their final years. This is one of the more balanced rosters I have seen from the franchise in a while.
Needs:
1. Getting rid of Nick Young by any means necessary.
2. Continued development from D'Angelo Russell & Julius Randle.
3. A healthy season from Mozgov.
Additional Thoughts:
The draft working out in the Lakers' favour helped make this a very optimistic offseason. I would not have faulted them if they held onto Byron for one more season to tank for a top 3 pick and make sure we don't owe a 2019 first to Orlando but clearly they were concerned that the atmosphere was becoming too caustic for the existing younger players to develop and it was safer to cut the chord here than leave permanent scars on impressionable players who could benefit from a different approach than the old school drill sergeant routine Byron adopted. There's evidence of this already paying dividends with Russell and Clarkson not feeling shy to let their happiness known for the Luke Walton hire.
Projected Win/Loss: 30-52
Off-Season Grade: B
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