Luke Walton: Warriors’ dominance is why the Lakers shouldn’t trade for a superstar

[ak7]

Jeannie won't like to hear it because she wants to put out a good product but its the truth. The commercial side and basketball side have to find a way to meet in the middle.

Time Warner gave the Lakers the richest local television deal in the history of the NBA. Asking them to meet in the middle because their rebuild has not gone as planned and will take longer than expected is not exactly an ideal spot to be negotiating from or asking for "patience."

About the only thing going for the Lakers currently in that conversation is the fact that it's a 20 year deal, with an option for 5 more years to push the total to 5 Billion, roughly (off the top of my head).

At some point, if ratings continue to drop....Jeanie may have to do what is best for Time Warner and that's get people to watch their product on television, not wait out the Warriors.

[TyCobb]

A lot easier to say this now that we have the #2 pick in hand. We are in no rush... ANYMORE. Time to just let it play out naturally.

Lonzo will bring the TV ratings--Jeanie ain't worried about that. That dude has so many people about to be in tuned in just for the simple fact that they want Lavar to eat crow.

[Crooked-I]

A lot easier to say this now that we have the #2 pick in hand. We are in no rush... ANYMORE. Time to just let it play out naturally.

Lonzo will bring the TV ratings--Jeannie ain't worried about that. That dude has so many people about to be in tuned in just for the simple fact they want Lavar to eat crow.

I saw on Mike Trudell's twitter that Lonzo's workout had the most media presence he's ever seen for a workout and the most he's seen since Kobe.

[The Skyhook]

I'm so happy that Luke came out and said this. Its what many of us have been preaching for a while.

[Penberthy]

Jeannie won't like to hear it because she wants to put out a good product but its the truth. The commercial side and basketball side have to find a way to meet in the middle.

Time Warner gave the Lakers the richest local television deal in the history of the NBA. Asking them to meet in the middle because their rebuild has not gone as planned and will take longer than expected is not exactly an ideal spot to be negotiating from or asking for "patience."

About the only thing going for the Lakers currently in that conversation is the fact that it's a 20 year deal, with an option for 5 more years to push the total to 5 Billion, roughly (off the top of my head).


At some point, if ratings continue to drop....Jeanie may have to do what is best for Time Warner and that's get people to watch their product on television, not wait out the Warriors.

Is there a clause in the contract that if the lakers suck time warner can back out?

[danfantastk32]

Same Article:
"“Obviously there's players in this league that if you can get, it's really tough to say no to because the superstars in this league are good enough to make you a contender or not. It's the difference between having a very good team with lots of role players or having a team that can actually, legitimately win an NBA championship.”"

Kinda seems like you can read that article either way you like.

Sounds like he knows you need a superstar or two. But shipping out all of your youth to get stars in their prime, is prob not a great idea because they won't beat the Warriors anyhow. But the biggest name attached to us right now, wants to come via FA in a year, right? So I don't know what he's trying to say here.

Maybe that was directed at Magic and Rob? I personally think Magic and Rob should be looking for ways to get this team to at least compete in the post-season.

[Michael Lucky]

This should be a non factor considering the back end half of the deal should be a bargain for Time Warner.

[ozymandias818]

We can't afford to keep the entire young core long term anyway. Luke has the right idea, but we're inevitably going to need to ship out guys like Deng, and Mozgov, and Clarkson, and Randle. Keep D'lo, keep Ingram, keep Ball/whoever we get in a couple weeks, and do whatever else you have to do to get value, and don't bother bringing in anyone over, say, 27.

Why we should give up easily on a young productive guard and an even younger triple double threat PF in Randle?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because we won't be able to afford him when his contract is up, and I'm of the opinion he'll be overpaid anyway? Trade him for picks, lump him in for cap space, he's one of the easier guys to let go of.

[MAMBAEMD]

I really think Ball will cause a huge spike up in the TV ratings.
TWC will be very happy, even though the team will not be a playoff contender for at least 1-2 more years, unless we get PG13 in the next off-season.

[Mirjalovic]

We can't afford to keep the entire young core long term anyway. Luke has the right idea, but we're inevitably going to need to ship out guys like Deng, and Mozgov, and Clarkson, and Randle. Keep D'lo, keep Ingram, keep Ball/whoever we get in a couple weeks, and do whatever else you have to do to get value, and don't bother bringing in anyone over, say, 27.

Why we should give up easily on a young productive guard and an even younger triple double threat PF in Randle?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because we won't be able to afford him when his contract is up, and I'm of the opinion he'll be overpaid anyway? Trade him for picks, lump him in for cap space, he's one of the easier guys to let go of.

it will be worth it since Julius Randle will be an allstar

how people so blind about Julius talent yet still afraid the Lakers overpay for him. If he's as bad as you think then the Lakers won't overpay. As simple as that. Look at Clarkson's reasonable contract

[ak7]

Jeannie won't like to hear it because she wants to put out a good product but its the truth. The commercial side and basketball side have to find a way to meet in the middle.

Time Warner gave the Lakers the richest local television deal in the history of the NBA. Asking them to meet in the middle because their rebuild has not gone as planned and will take longer than expected is not exactly an ideal spot to be negotiating from or asking for "patience."

About the only thing going for the Lakers currently in that conversation is the fact that it's a 20 year deal, with an option for 5 more years to push the total to 5 Billion, roughly (off the top of my head).


At some point, if ratings continue to drop....Jeanie may have to do what is best for Time Warner and that's get people to watch their product on television, not wait out the Warriors.

Is there a clause in the contract that if the lakers suck time warner can back out?

I'm not sure. I doubt it though.

However, a google search brings up LATimes articles from 14, 15, and 16 indicating that TV Ratings have not only dropped, but the gap between the Lakers and Clippers viewing has become a fairly level playing field. That's not a good look for the Lakers in this deal.

I hope TWC (or Spectrum?) are a patient bunch, because they could be waiting 5-10 years to see a significant return on their investment if their plan is to wait out 28 and 29 year old Kevin Durant and Steph Curry respectively. Which means potentially for nearly half their contract TWC had to suffer through Lakers ratings plummeting.

[Camping Fan]

The Lakers are in a good position where they don't have to trade if they don't want to and personally I agree that they shouldn't be trying to trade, but Paul George is a great commodity who is said to be interested in joining the Lakers. Were Indiana to trade him to Boston where they start winning, his desire to join the Lakers might disappear completely so if the Lakers were offered a gift or ideal trade like Russell for George -I think the Lakers should at least listen

[DS17]

This should be a non factor considering the back end half of the deal should be a bargain for Time Warner.

2012-2013 was graet for TW... everythign else up to now has been s**t

[larry14r]

The Lakers are in a good position where they don't have to trade if they don't want to and personally I agree that they shouldn't be trying to trade, but Paul George is a great commodity who is said to be interested in joining the Lakers. Were Indiana to trade him to Boston where they start winning, his desire to join the Lakers might disappear completely so if the Lakers were offered a gift or ideal trade like Russell for George -I think the Lakers should at least listen

I think Indy wants our pick more than Russell and they have the same agent.

[Marionettetc]

Jeannie won't like to hear it because she wants to put out a good product but its the truth. The commercial side and basketball side have to find a way to meet in the middle.

Time Warner gave the Lakers the richest local television deal in the history of the NBA. Asking them to meet in the middle because their rebuild has not gone as planned and will take longer than expected is not exactly an ideal spot to be negotiating from or asking for "patience."

About the only thing going for the Lakers currently in that conversation is the fact that it's a 20 year deal, with an option for 5 more years to push the total to 5 Billion, roughly (off the top of my head).

At some point, if ratings continue to drop....Jeanie may have to do what is best for Time Warner and that's get people to watch their product on television, not wait out the Warriors.

I agree. You bring up the best argument for the Lakers putting together a real team sooner than later.

I know it's fun for us fans to say they should wait, accumulate talent and experience, but there is a real world side to the business of a basketball team and I wouldn't begrudge management for whatever they have to do to make money.

[Camping Fan]

The Lakers are in a good position where they don't have to trade if they don't want to and personally I agree that they shouldn't be trying to trade, but Paul George is a great commodity who is said to be interested in joining the Lakers. Were Indiana to trade him to Boston where they start winning, his desire to join the Lakers might disappear completely so if the Lakers were offered a gift or ideal trade like Russell for George -I think the Lakers should at least listen

I think Indy wants our pick more than Russell and they have the same agent.

It's going to be interesting to see if the Lakers do anything - but I think the pressure is on Indiana more to make up their minds what they want to do either blow it up or try to build around PG

[dockingsched]

Read on Twitter

[DEEP3CL]

I've been saying this the last 4 years already. And I don't see why some are so quick to trade Clarkson and Julius. With how the money is we'll still have Julius locked up on his extension, no need to worry about him until he hits unrestricted status. We have to hang on to these assets for as long as we can until it's time to strike.

Paul George is going to walk to us if he is as serious as he says he is about being a Laker. So let's lay in the weeds while the Warriors are slaying the field, then as they lose amo we should have enough guns to pop up like Jason with the machete and start whackin these teams.

[Camping Fan]

"I joke a lot. I said ‘if there's a time to be rebuilding, this is the time to do it.’ The Warriors don't look like they're going anywhere for a while. They're pretty darn good right now,” Walton said, saying he gets a certain level of satisfaction from helping the Lakers grow more naturally towards a title.

Despite all of that noise surely to come, Walton doesn’t think the Lakers should be rushing out to send out D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, the No. 2 pick or any of the rest of their young talent for one star, at least in part because of the dominance of the Warriors:

My only caution would be let's not give up too much of our young core for one superstar because, like we just talked about before, let’s not forget that those Golden State Warriors are just a little bit north of us and it's going to take a lot more than one superstar to dethrone them from the West. There's that fine line in trying to get there quicker rather than developing our own guys. I think Rob and Magic are very aware of that. They're constantly looking at the best way to get us to be a true contender, not just on paper."

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2017/6/6/15750830/la-lakers-trade-rumors-paul-george-luke-walton-golden-state-warriors-nba-finals-cleveland-cavaliers

Luke gets it.

Smartest thing I have heard - In short - why trade when the Warriors can't be beat for a few more years - be patient and arrive at the scene when the Warriors can be dethroned