Unpopular opinion: THT should be in the rotation if he's on the roster on opening day

TheHartBreakKid · Post #1 » by **TheHartBreakKid** » Sat Aug 6, 2022 6:54 am

This isn't because I have hope that he has star potential. It's simple asset management. The plan would still be to trade him at the deadline.

THT is 21 years old, and wouldn't the first player to show some improvements in that. More important, his value is an all time low and can only go up from here. He has a player option the following year that he'll surely pick up, so any team trading for him knows that they have another year of him moving forward, which right now is considered a bad thing, but could easily go the other way.

If you're trading him alongside a pick, a higher valued THT can obviously get you a better return. Who knows, maybe he even improves his value so much that you could trade him straight up for a better fitting piece.

I think you have to atleast try to raise his value. If he's last year bad, and the team is losing, cut the experiment short and move on, but he needs to get a chance imo. I know we just signed Walker and Brown, but you have sacrifice some of their minutes, alongside Reeves'. Find some pg minutes for him if you have to. I think it's something the Lakers have to do.

Out of all of our assets from the last rebuild, I think the only one who was really mismanaged was Randle. In his final year, he was demoted to the bench in favor of Nance to start the season, and further overlooked in favor of Kuzma. He eventually showed some tangible improvement in his game, but it was far too late. The sample size was too small, and his overall numbers were too low. As a result, instead of getting an asset in the deadline for a young player that wasn't in our future plans, we lost in RFA the following summer with nothing in return.

The two situations are obviously different in many ways, but the lesson should have been learned right then. Do not neglect a younger player just because he isn't in your future plans, especially if their value is at it's all time lowest.

TylersLakers · Post #2 » by **TylersLakers** » Sat Aug 6, 2022 5:12 pm

I'm not a THT guy. I hope he's gone before the season. There's no place for him if we're trying to win now, which we should be. That's not to say he can't go some other place and do well because he certainly could - but not here.

Landsberger · Post #3 » by **Landsberger** » Sun Aug 7, 2022 12:23 am

He may have peaked if anything. I haven't seen anything that would tell me star in him. He had success at times because everyone played off of him... not he's not surprising anyone now.

stan francisco · Post #4 » by **stan francisco** » Sun Aug 7, 2022 5:45 pm

He still had pimples when we drafted him. He’s still just a pup. He showed potential, the league took notice, he stagnated.

If he is to become an NBA impact player, this would be the year to perhaps expect him to break out. If he doesn’t, he might be a bust. It happens when drafting such a young player.

My money is on him breaking out this year.

Frantik · Post #5 » by **Frantik** » Sun Aug 7, 2022 6:19 pm

What the hell is this thread about? THT should be in WHAT? Fix the title. Is this clickbait or did i just read OP and three replies and still don't know why i'm here?

Ball so hard · Post #6 » by **Ball so hard** » Mon Aug 8, 2022 1:27 am

Frantik wrote:What the hell is this thread about? THT should be in WHAT? Fix the title. Is this clickbait or did i just read OP and three replies and still don't know why i'm here?

I think the OP meant in the starting lineup if he’s on the roster on opening night. I disagree. You simply cannot play Russ and THT together.

stan francisco · Post #7 » by **stan francisco** » Mon Aug 8, 2022 2:00 am

Ball so hard wrote:
Frantik wrote:What the hell is this thread about? THT should be in WHAT? Fix the title. Is this clickbait or did i just read OP and three replies and still don't know why i'm here?

I think the OP meant in the starting lineup if he’s on the roster on opening night. I disagree. You simply cannot play Russ and THT together.

I don’t think Russ plays another game as a Laker, and I agree you can’t play the two together.

TheHartBreakKid · Post #8 » by **TheHartBreakKid** » Mon Aug 8, 2022 5:18 pm

Frantik wrote:What the hell is this thread about? THT should be in WHAT? Fix the title. Is this clickbait or did i just read OP and three replies and still don't know why i'm here?

OP here. That's my bad. That's what I get for creating threads late at night.

I meant in the rotation.

Fixed now.

DanishLakerFan · Post #9 » by **DanishLakerFan** » Thu Aug 11, 2022 5:45 am

I wish the Lakers would have kept Caruso instead of THT - and it still boggles my mind why he left for nothing.

That said, THT is still extremely young at 21 y/o and while his game did seem to stagnate a little bit this past year, that's not exactly all that unusual and i think he's a good bet to improve going forward among the players we have. So trading him at a point when his value is negative (or maybe neutral) isn't wise, so he most definitely has be included in the rotation.

SweetTouch · Post #10 » by **SweetTouch** » Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:04 pm

I didn’t realize THT family members were members on this board

Welcome

DanishLakerFan · Post #11 » by **DanishLakerFan** » Mon Aug 15, 2022 1:55 pm

SweetTouch wrote:I didn’t realize THT family members were members on this board

Welcome

LOL.

The fact of the matter is that his value is really low right now and if he's parked on the bench he's dead money for two years.
At 21y/o he still has a chance to improve, so he should get a chance to do so. So we can trade him.

Beethoven · Post #12 » by **Beethoven** » Mon Aug 15, 2022 7:50 pm

SweetTouch wrote:I didn’t realize THT family members were members on this board

Welcome

Im THT's mother, and I want his ass off the Lakers now! sick of him.