Lonnie Walker welcome!

[tamaraw08]

Yeah. Jalen Smith is a **** beast. He's gonna explode after the Pacers trade Turner, major blunder of the FO not going after him.
We've been down the Damian Jones road, it didn't work out.

DiVincenzo as well. He's 10x better than Lonnie Walker.

Walker literally doesn' do anything better on the basketball court. Signed for the same money.

Serious question, what are the main strengths of Walker? He’s not a shooter….is he a great shot creator/ playmaker? Is he a much better defender than Stanley Johnson, Brown and JTA? If yes why Get these guys in the first place. Dont they just duplicate roles?

He's extremely athletic. Pelinka convinced himself last year that he went wrong by signing wily veterans, so he over-compensated this year by focusing solely on young, active, explosive guys.

This is my issue with this dude. He doesn't understand nuance. Pelinka goes from "Age doesn't matter." to "We must get young guys who can jump really high because we're too slow."

It all adds up to leadership that clearly lacks a vision that is rooted in reality. Monk, last year, was always going to be a good fit because he could shoot and he was athletic. With Walker, Pelinka was looking for Monk 2.0, but clearly the skillset is different. We know this, random posters on the internet, but the front office misses details all the time.

Thanks for the info, what about Brown? What do JTA and maybe Brown bring that Stanley Johnson can’t do on the court? Aren’t they just duplicating roles? Ham wants spacing for his 4 out 1 in offense, how can they punish teams from packing it in and clogging the lanes? Rob seems like Bipolar, 1 summer he’s signing many shooters who can’t defend and now the opposite…. Unless of course Kyrie and another shooter is coming…

[stan francisco]

Otto Porter Jr > Walker
Jalen Smith > Walker
Klutch > Lakers

Jeannie, take charge. LBJ is hijacking your dad’s brand.



Edit:

For as long as you’re a Laker, I shall nickname you Lonnie Walker-Klutch.

[tamaraw08]

Otto Porter Jr > Walker
Jalen Smith > Walker
Klutch > Lakers

Jeannie, take charge. LBJ is hijacking your dad’s brand.



Edit:

For as long as you’re a Laker, I shall nickname you Lonnie Walker-Klutch.

I have no doubt EVERYBODY wants to win the championship. Jeannie wants to win, Lebron, Rob, Rich Paul all want to win. The problem is they all have their personal agendas on the side.
1. Lebron wants to win, but also want to win the scoring title, continue that 25pts/game streak and keep his friend Rich Paul happy.
2. Rich Paul wants to help his clients get the best contract possible at the same time help himself with a bigger cut.
3. Jeannie, wants to get the highest TV and Gate revenues and at the same time pay as little Luxury Tax as possible, also less long term contracts means less commitment= less payroll in the future. Save money by not getting assistants with Head coaching experience Bec they will be expensive. Fire pricey Athletic Directors Judy Seto and not replace her, to save money.
4. Rob Pelinka, keep everybody happy esp Jeannie Buss. He'll disagree with Lebron and Paul's suggestions and tell Jeannie about it, but Jeannie is more about the budget. If their agenda is not costing her more $, she's fine with them. But if it requires more commitment? She says no like letting Lue walk.
So the compromise.
Hire as many Klutch Clients as possible, provided that they sign just 1 year, deserving or not.

[stan francisco]

That’s ^ not a winning model but I think a very accurate picture. The hilarious part is that to win all of their ‘side games’, all of their collective focus should be on one goal only; winning. Sad.

Dr Buss, we need you back!

[tamaraw08]

That’s ^ not a winning model but I think a very accurate picture. The hilarious part is that to win all of their ‘side games’, all of their collective focus should be on one goal only; winning. Sad.

Dr Buss, we need you back!

I don't know exactly what is going on with Jeannie's finances, easy for me to say do EVERYTHING she can to put this team in the BEST possible situation to win. Jerry would probably borrow $ just to do it. Ballmer and GSW owners, are appearing to have the mindset to win at ALL COST. But then you also have owners like Cuban who pretty much let his 2nd best player walk just like that. But I am not saying to make crazy expensive/wreckless moves like Minnesotta too.

[Eric Bieniemy]

I only have Walker playing rotation minutes if Nunn gets injured. Other than that, I don't see a pathway for him to play.

Walker and one of Johnson/Anderson won't get consistent minutes.

Essentially, they wasted the taxpayer MLE.

[stan francisco]

I only have Walker playing rotation minutes if Nunn gets injured. Other than that, I don't see a pathway for him to play.

Walker and one of Johnson/Anderson won't get consistent minutes.

Essentially, they wasted the taxpayer MLE.

It feels as if Klutch were given the MLE to blow on one of their own. That’s the wrong way to spend the MLE when Otto Porter Jr was available.

[Ugly0598]

I don’t really know what to think of Lonnie Walker didn’t see him play much with SA, but he has to be better than what Kent Bazemore did last year & probably better than Ellington.

[Eric Bieniemy]

I don’t really know what to think of Lonnie Walker didn’t see him play much with SA, but he has to be better than what Kent Bazemore did last year & probably better than Ellington.

Agreed. But that really isn't saying very much at all

[dockingsched]

This signing looking like a genius move, love Lonnie so far.

[Revived]

I don’t really know what to think of Lonnie Walker didn’t see him play much with SA, but he has to be better than what Kent Bazemore did last year & probably better than Ellington.

Much better than Monk so far too.

[stan francisco]

This signing looking like a genius move, love Lonnie so far.

Me, too!!! Eating my own shorts over here in a bad way, but totally happy to do it!

Brilliant signing, indeed. The guy plays effort defense and is an offensive threat to be reckoned with. My apologies to him for being Debbie downer too soon. I thought it was another handout contract to Klutch.

This guy is for real. Now when he’s been scouted, I think we can expect a drop off in scoring production.

Looking forward to watching Swider play stretch four. Does anyone know what Swider’s defense is like? He’s a good shooter.

[zimpy27]

So Lonnie has non-bird rights with Lakers.

That means Lakers can resign him for this without using an exception (MLE/BAE/Room):
Year 1: $7.775m
Year 2: $8.164m
Year 3: $8.572m
Year 4: $9m

So.. 3 years for $24.5m.. or 4 years for $33.5m

I think those are decent numbers, he may stay a Laker without them having to use an exception on him.

[cheese318]

So Lonnie has non-bird rights with Lakers.

That means Lakers can resign him for this without using an exception (MLE/BAE/Room):
Year 1: $7.775m
Year 2: $8.164m
Year 3: $8.572m
Year 4: $9m

So.. 3 years for $24.5m.. or 4 years for $33.5m

I think those are decent numbers, he may stay a Laker without them having to use an exception on him.

Basically he can do what monk did and bounce which will be very possible if he outplays his contract. Only thing that might help is rich Paul is his agent

[stan francisco]

So far this season in my view the four most impressive players have been AD, Lonnie, Reaves, LBJ, in that order. Lonnie has been a beast.

Lonnie is making me eat crow, happy to say!

[DanishLakerFan]

I hated the Lonnie signing, but he's been amazing.