Post Mortem 2023/24 - Los Angeles Lakers (Eliminated in 1st Round)

[LaLover11]

Huh? How would they "easily" get Trae or really any of them blokes?

LAL could maybe get Beal but even that won't be easy.

Whatever dude

They are only getting those guys on 2k with forced trades. Lol. Realistically if they want to run it back the only splash move they could really make Is lavine or maybe dejounte if they give up every pick they have coming over the next couple years

You do realize DLo got traded to the Warriors 1 for 1 for Durant right?

[Swish77]

There will be no rebuild at all next season

They Ran it back with the roster from Last Year thinking Depth would help them but unfortunately Vando and Gabe got injured most of the season and playoffs

Now they will get rid of all the depth and land the 3rd Star

3rd star doesn't work anymore. Suns have proven that.

Suns Don't LeBron and AD lmao

They have nothing but Offensive Players with no post up game and they also don't have a DPOY Candidate & Goat Player

it doesnt matter who they have or dont have its about a 3rd star taking up 50+ mill in cap space. You can't pay 3 guys 150+ mill and expect to win. Those days are over.

[Swish77]

Whatever dude

They are only getting those guys on 2k with forced trades. Lol. Realistically if they want to run it back the only splash move they could really make Is lavine or maybe dejounte if they give up every pick they have coming over the next couple years

You do realize DLo got traded to the Warriors 1 for 1 for Durant right?

This happened in the old CBA. Players were making alot less.

[Liam_Gallagher]

What do the Lakers do? They're in a tough position.

Rebuild while AD and Bron's stock is high?
They could likely land multiple firsts + young players for AD.

Trade for a 3rd star?
They would likely need to trade Reaves+Hachimura+Vanderbilt or Vincent along with three future 1sts for a guy like Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell, Dejonte Murray or Kevin Durant. You'd be depleting most of your depth for a third star. Westbrook trade all over again?

Keep the same core while tweaking the supporting cast?
You could argue that you need continuity in order to succeed in the NBA. The Lakers could keep the same core (without Russell possibly (UFA)) while tweaking the supporting cast.

Well?

[TunaFish]

They might actually have to keep the same core (except for the coach). They are not tearing it down anytime soon IMHO.

[SK21209]

3rd star doesn't work anymore. Suns have proven that.

Suns Don't LeBron and AD lmao

They have nothing but Offensive Players with no post up game and they also don't have a DPOY Candidate & Goat Player

it doesnt matter who they have or dont have its about a 3rd star taking up 50+ mill in cap space. You can't pay 3 guys 150+ mill and expect to win. Those days are over.

I think this is an overreaction, we've had the new CBA for less than one year lol. If Jokic, Shai and Tatum all decided they wanted to play together there'd be no problem paying each of them $50 million a year and winning a title.

The only real formula is (1) have at least one Top 5-10 player on your team and (2) additional talent that collectively reaches a certain threshold and makes sense together. Doesn't matter if its 3 stars and worse role players that are still a good fit, 2 stars and better role players that are still a good fit, or just 1 star and really good role players that are a good fit. The Suns didn't fail because the 3 star model doesn't work, they filed because their three stars ended up not being as clean a fit as anticipated, and their role players weren't a great fit. Russ with the Lakers didn't fail because the 3 star model doesn't work, it failed because Russ isn't a star anymore in the first place despite being paid like one, his game actively conflicted with LeBron's, and the rest of the roster both sucked and were a poor fit.

One thing I will say is that the fit of your stars matters more now given how much the league has progressed schematically and in overall talent. The LeBron, Wade and Bosh fit was never quite as clean as everyone thought it would be, but it didn't matter because the talent was overwhelming. You can't just throw stars together anymore and just out-talent everyone.

[Curmudgeon]

You can't just throw stars together anymore and just out-talent everyone.

You can, but not when the centerpiece is 38 years old (as with the Lakers), or when no one wants to play defense (as in Phoenix).

[LaLover11]

You can't just throw stars together anymore and just out-talent everyone.

You can, but not when the centerpiece is 38 years old (as with the Lakers), or when no one wants to play defense (as in Phoenix).

You definitely can have 39yr old LeBron, Ant & AD and win a championship

[Curmudgeon]

You can't just throw stars together anymore and just out-talent everyone.

You can, but not when the centerpiece is 38 years old (as with the Lakers), or when no one wants to play defense (as in Phoenix).

You definitely can have 39yr old LeBron, Ant & AD and win a championship

Sure. The trick is to find an Ant among the undrafted free agents.

[LaLover11]

You can, but not when the centerpiece is 38 years old (as with the Lakers), or when no one wants to play defense (as in Phoenix).

You definitely can have 39yr old LeBron, Ant & AD and win a championship

Sure. The trick is to find an Ant among the undrafted free agents.

So it is possible correct

[One_and_Done]

The series was closer than the 4-1 result indicated, the Nuggets are also a bad match up for them. The Lakers could have gone further if they drew say OKC in Rnd 1. Even then, just add OG to this team and the Lakers probably win given how close the games were. A guy like OG fixes the match up issues somewhat, and adds the talent to balance and upgrade the roster. That kind of player is tough to obtain, but best course is to try in the off-season.

[Doctor MJ]

I said fire the GM & coach. Only real argument I could see for GM Pelinka is if behind the scenes he was against the bad moves (acquiring Westbrook, letting Caruso go, firing Vogel & hiring Ham) but went along with them as a good soldier.

The Lakers desperately need to change their process though.

In terms of players, if LeBron & AD want to keep going, the Lakers have nothing better to hope for so they should just continue.

[xchange55]

Watch this video

Watch on YouTube

. It more or less sums up why the Lakers lose so many games, especially against better teams. It's also why so many people here are talking about Gordon/Murray/MPJ as if they are all stars. Well against this type of defense, it's easy to look so good.