"The Lakers’ Offseason Plan Actually Makes Sense" - Tjarks @ The Ringer

[MelosSoreWrist]

1) I came up with a minutes chart pretty quickly:
D'Lo (34)/Clarkson (14)
Clarkson (20)/Lou (23)/Ingram (5)
Deng (25)/Ingram (23)
Randle (25)/Larry Nance (18)/Deng (5)
Mozgov (30)/Randle (6)/Nance (12)
8-man rotation with 28 minutes for Ingram (might be too much), 30 minutes for Nance (probably also a bit much), 30 minutes each for the 2 vets, and 34 minutes for Clarkson/Russell/Randle (probably too much as well). There's easily enough minutes to go around, we could probably siphon off 2 minutes from Clarkson/Russell/Randle and bump Lou Will up to ~28 mpg. Zubac's not going to be ready to play this year and I don't care about Black.

2) Jeff Green is an interesting case but he seems to be the only one who signed that type of contract. I think I prefer our Deng signing to the Jeff Green one but to each his own.

3) You're under the assumption that veteran signings hurt the development of our young players while I'm under the exact opposite assumption.

1)You have Deng playing 25 min at SF and 5 min at PF. Big disconnect here as last season has shown Deng can no longer play the 3. He was only effective as a 4. Even all the people and articles plauding the signing concede that he is a small ball 4 now. And if you stick him in the 4, that shrinks the minutes for Randle and Nance big time.

2) Again we'll see how the offseason finishes out. Veteran leadership and culture change didnt have to cost the Lakers future flexibility and opportunities.

3) I dont mind veteran signings. It would be good after last season. But 4 year contracts for guys in their 30s was too costly (opportunity). And you are signing these guys to start and play major minutes which cuts down on playing time for the young guys. Thats where the development could stall. If they arent playing major minutes, why are you signing them to hefty longterm contracts?

[OleSchool]

Also, we're not the 76ers. I was listening to Evan Turners interview on JJ Reddicks podcast about the difference between playing in Philly and Boston and he said how losing over and over just wears on you to where he even questioned how much he wanted to play basketball. Once he hit Boston he was rejuvenated. The tank atmosphere is toxic if it goes too long. I'd love to have another top 3 pick but we already have 3 top 6 picks and Clarkson it's time for them to learn how to win.

Im sorry but this is just crap.

When Turner was with the Sixers he was on a vet laden team. Also, Turner contributed to that losing. (as a side note; the 3 1/2 years Turner was here we made the PO's 2 of those years?) He was the 2nd pick in the draft and wasn't a very good basketball player. The reason why he got rejuvenated when he went to Bos is he accepted his "true" role, which is/was a 7/8 man off the bench.

Also, why wasn't he "rejuvenated" when he was traded to Indiana? No offense but Indy was a better team then the Celts. So where was this rejuvenation in Indy? Ill tell you where it was, he still thought he was a starter in this league.

When he went to Indy he had 2 months of the basketball season left and he was in a contract year. So he was surprised that his minutes basically got cut in half and a little upset that his market value got killed. He was a short term rental and everyone knew it. Regardless the main point is playing on a tanking team where the fans start booing you is only effective for so long and I'm glad we're moving past that

The main point is, when Turner was here we weren't tanking, we actually got to the 2nd round of the PO's and got bounced by Bos in 7 games. We started the tank the year we traded him. So he only had half a year of tanking.

Turner finally accepted what he was, a bench player. That is when his career turned around

[MelosSoreWrist]

Im sorry but this is just crap.

When Turner was with the Sixers he was on a vet laden team. Also, Turner contributed to that losing. (as a side note; the 3 1/2 years Turner was here we made the PO's 2 of those years?) He was the 2nd pick in the draft and wasn't a very good basketball player. The reason why he got rejuvenated when he went to Bos is he accepted his "true" role, which is/was a 7/8 man off the bench.

Also, why wasn't he "rejuvenated" when he was traded to Indiana? No offense but Indy was a better team then the Celts. So where was this rejuvenation in Indy? Ill tell you where it was, he still thought he was a starter in this league.

When he went to Indy he had 2 months of the basketball season left and he was in a contract year. So he was surprised that his minutes basically got cut in half and a little upset that his market value got killed. He was a short term rental and everyone knew it. Regardless the main point is playing on a tanking team where the fans start booing you is only effective for so long and I'm glad we're moving past that

The main point is, when Turner was here we weren't tanking, we actually got to the 2nd round of the PO's and got bounced by Bos in 7 games. We started the tank the year we traded him. So he only had half a year of tanking.

Turner finally accepted what he was, a bench player. That is when his career turned around

Oleschool is right. The most success his teams have had in the post season is with Philly and Indiana making it to the 2nd round on both. Never got that far with Boston. This is just revisionist history by Turner for whatever bitterness he still holds.

[OleSchool]

When he went to Indy he had 2 months of the basketball season left and he was in a contract year. So he was surprised that his minutes basically got cut in half and a little upset that his market value got killed. He was a short term rental and everyone knew it. Regardless the main point is playing on a tanking team where the fans start booing you is only effective for so long and I'm glad we're moving past that

The main point is, when Turner was here we weren't tanking, we actually got to the 2nd round of the PO's and got bounced by Bos in 7 games. We started the tank the year we traded him. So he only had half a year of tanking.

Turner finally accepted what he was, a bench player. That is when his career turned around

Oleschool is right. The most success his teams have had in the post season is with Philly and Indiana making it to the 2nd round on both. Never got that far with Boston. This is just revisionist history by Turner for whatever bitterness he still holds.

Exactly!

Listen there is a lot you can say about tanking but, quoting Evan "stinking" Turner is not the way to go about the argument

[Gus McCrae]

The main point is, when Turner was here we weren't tanking, we actually got to the 2nd round of the PO's and got bounced by Bos in 7 games. We started the tank the year we traded him. So he only had half a year of tanking.

Turner finally accepted what he was, a bench player. That is when his career turned around

Oleschool is right. The most success his teams have had in the post season is with Philly and Indiana making it to the 2nd round on both. Never got that far with Boston. This is just revisionist history by Turner for whatever bitterness he still holds.

Exactly!

Listen there is a lot you can say about tanking but, quoting Evan "stinking" Turner is not the way to go about the argument

If we're really going to keep this going... The team Evan turner was traded from 13/14 he played almost 60 games on a team that finished with 19 wins. Him being on previous playoff teams doesn't change the fact he experienced the locker room atmosphere on a tanking team. We can talk about comparing Indy to Boston that's fine but why does he have to comment on his short stint in Indy when he was only there for 2 months? I'm not here to disrespect the 76ers I'm simply referencing for my lakers we've been through enough of the stealth tank environment and I'm willing to move on and was citing one players experience playing on a tanking team vs a winning team. No more no less.

[MelosSoreWrist]

Oleschool is right. The most success his teams have had in the post season is with Philly and Indiana making it to the 2nd round on both. Never got that far with Boston. This is just revisionist history by Turner for whatever bitterness he still holds.

Exactly!

Listen there is a lot you can say about tanking but, quoting Evan "stinking" Turner is not the way to go about the argument

If we're really going to keep this going... The team Evan turner was traded from 13/14 he played almost 60 games on a team that finished with 19 wins. Him being on previous playoff teams doesn't change the fact he experienced the locker room atmosphere on a tanking team. We can talk about comparing Indy to Boston that's fine but why does he have to comment on his short stint in Indy when he was only there for 2 months? I'm not here to disrespect the 76ers I'm simply referencing for my lakers we've been through enough of the stealth tank environment and I'm willing to move on and was citing one players experience playing on a tanking team vs a winning team. No more no less.

I think tanking having a detrimental affect on young players is valid. I dont think many would disagree with you on that. The argument might be to what degree is that harm.

Separately, Evan Turner obviously has some issues with the 76ers in general. He could have easily compared the culture and atmosphere when the 76ers were winning playoff series to how it was when they decided to tank his last year there. But he summarily just buried Philly while exalting Bos who did not have the success he had in his early days in Philly.

[MelosSoreWrist]

It's more about switching from an asset acquisition phase into an asset development phase. Young players don't develop as quickly when they're in a poor environment (like last year) and it costs $$$ to bring in solid professionals to improve the work environment.

I can buy that. But do you have to get guys in their 30s for 4 years who also will take playing time away from the young guys? Randomly (because I dont know their exact situation) if you signed guys like Tiago Splitter and Mbah a Moute, wouldnt you get a similar positive effect without taking away minutes or taking up salary cap space in future seasons? Also keeping 2017 pick might be more valuable than any asset currently on the team now.

1) There's enough playing time to go around unless you think it's critical to get Anthony Brown and Marcelo Huertas (assuming he's re-signed) significant minutes.

2) Tiago Splitter would make more than Mozgov (probably 18-20M/year), Mbah a Moute would make less than Deng (probably 12M/year), you end up paying roughly the same amount of salary. I don't think they would sign here unless you gave them long contracts. There is no dream land where FAs sign short term contracts to sit on the pine for a 17 win team, not when all of the other teams have similar money they could offer.

3) Luckily while we had BScott, prioritizing winning actually led to us losing (however it slowed the development of our young players). Luke's priority is going to be the development of the young players. If Luke ends up the coach that we think he's supposed to be, prioritizing development will actually lead to winning and there will be little to no chance we keep the 2017 pick. At some point, the value of the collective development of our young players will overshadow adding an additional young player with potential; I think we've hit that point after this year's draft.

Cole Aldrich signed for 3 years at 22 mil. Mbah a Moute signed for 2 years 4.5 mil.

Aldrich is 27 and might be a better player than Mozgov right now. Deng is definitively better than Mbah a Moute, 29. But if you are looking for solid veterans who hustles and works hard especially on the defensive end and can lead the young guys by example, I think those two could fill that need at much better contracts for the organization.

Splitter still hasnt signed yet.

[worldrenownjay]

the Lakers front office has no plan, what they've done this offseason thus far has been awful in every aspect... the front office has no clue what it's doing and heads should roll.

[TKainZero]

Any laker fan defending the mozgov signing is actually a laker-hater who has been exposed

The mozgov signing was one of the worst ever.
The deng signing is also terrible. But not as bad, because deng can play some mins at small ball 4.

So...
Destroy all cap room for 2+ years... For a 3rd string center and a bench small ball 4...

Unbelievable...
Hope zubac emerges
Hope the lakers sign a defensive wing (loul deng cannot be that player anymore)