Game 7: Detroit Pistons (5-2) @ Los Angeles Lakers (2-4) - WIN - 3-4

[iamworthy]

May be reducing his minutes was the key but Randle has been locked in since Luke calling him out after game 2.

Hopefully good enough to attach Deng in a trade and keep Ingram.

Why would you trade for Randle right now?
He can't sign a new contract right now, I don't believe. So you'd basically be trading for him for $5.5M in salary savings next year along with Dengs massive salary, and the right to match any offer he may get?
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense no matter how well he plays.

If you want to dump Deng, it pretty much has to be Ingram or Kuzma right now... Or you really like Lopez, KCP or Brewer etc...

Randle's going to walk as an RFA... Even more likely now than it was before the season... If we wanted the flexibility to trade him, we should have extended him before the deadline... If he would have been dumb enough to do that.

There aren't a ton of teams with cap space this summer so if a team wants to get their hands on him that doesn't have cap space it's going to have to be via trade..... Assuming he gets the money he wants. My post is wishful thinking. I'm well aware Ingram might have to be the casualty. We need to start getting creative with our trades. OKC acquired melo and PG without giving up a 1st round draft pick I believe. Has you told me that was possible I wouldn't have believed you

[Slava]

Read on Twitter

[TyCobb]

Yup. He should be the starting center.

[Edrees]

looked like a team tonight. Kuz continuing to ease away the pain from the DLo trade.

Lonzo need to learn how to finish like Clarkson. how may layups he missed?

Randle striving as a small ball 5. glad he’s finding a niche there.

I'm really really tired of hearing this. We would have had both.

How? Without the 27th pick we wouldn't of got Kuzma...San Antonio was going to select Kuzma with their pick if we didn’t. Plus we got rid of Mozgov. That trade is very underrated by the front office.

We had the 28th pick from the Lwill trade and we were going to get Kuzma with that one, Spurs had the 29th pick so we would have picked before them. It doesn't matter how good of a trade it is, Kuzma isn't here because of trading Russell.

[TyCobb]

I'm really really tired of hearing this. We would have had both.

How? Without the 27th pick we wouldn't of got Kuzma...San Antonio was going to select Kuzma with their pick if we didn’t. Plus we got rid of Mozgov. That trade is very underrated by the front office.

We had the 28th pick from the Lwill trade and we were going to get Kuzma with that one, Spurs had the 29th pick so we would have picked before them. It doesn't matter how good of a trade it is, Kuzma isn't here because of trading Russell.

Stop twisting it. Hart and Bryant wouldn't be here without the Lou Will trade. You're allowed to connect whatever dots you want but the actual facts are incorrect?

Anyways, move on. IT annoys you. We got it. Move on.

[Edrees]

How? Without the 27th pick we wouldn't of got Kuzma...San Antonio was going to select Kuzma with their pick if we didn’t. Plus we got rid of Mozgov. That trade is very underrated by the front office.

We had the 28th pick from the Lwill trade and we were going to get Kuzma with that one, Spurs had the 29th pick so we would have picked before them. It doesn't matter how good of a trade it is, Kuzma isn't here because of trading Russell.

Stop twisting it. Hart and Bryant wouldn't be here without the Lou Will trade. You're allowed to connect whatever dots you want but the actual facts are incorrect?

Anyways, move on. IT annoys you. We got it. Move on.

The dots I'm connecting make a lot of sense given the evidence. The Lakers were VERY high on Kuzma. (http://www.lakersnation.com/lakers-news-jesse-buss-confirms-los-angeles-had-kyle-kuzma-several-spots-higher-on-draft-board/2017/08/30/) I'm applying reason here, I'm not just using guess work. When you look at all the cirumstances, the lakers badly wanted to Kuzma, a heck of alot more than they wanted Bryant and Hart.

You really think they'd prefer to trade the 28th for Hart and Bryant instead of pick Kuzma with it if we didn't have the 26th to take Kuzma?

I'm not twisting anything. I just find it hard to believe in the scenario anyone is proposing where Lakers don't take Kuzma with the 28th pick if we kept DLO and Mozgov and made no such trade.

I will "move on", but I don't see anything wrong with what I said. In the end lets just both be happy we have him, we agree on what matters.

[Crooked-I]

One thing is for sure Hart and Bryant wouldn't be here without the D'lo trade. In the end it doesnt really matter, whether we won or lost that trade comes down to how we do in free agency next year. If we get Lebron and PG13 then we won that trade hands down.

[LakersSoul]

I'm really really tired of hearing this. We would have had both.

How? Without the 27th pick we wouldn't of got Kuzma...San Antonio was going to select Kuzma with their pick if we didn’t. Plus we got rid of Mozgov. That trade is very underrated by the front office.

We had the 28th pick from the Lwill trade and we were going to get Kuzma with that one, Spurs had the 29th pick so we would have picked before them. It doesn't matter how good of a trade it is, Kuzma isn't here because of trading Russell.

Edress,

There are no guarantees.
If we dont have #27, maybe we still pick Kuzma with #28, maybe we dont.

Do you know how complicated the draft day becomes? And how many offers there are? The Lakers FO obviously wanted more picks and so they traded the #28 pick to Jazz for #30 and #42. IF the FO only had 1 pick (#28), they might have settled on Kuzma (as you stated) OR they could easily have taken a risk by trading it to the Jazz to get 2 guys and hope that the Spurs pass on Kuzma so they can pick Kuzma at #30 and get the #42 pick as well. This is a real possible scenario.

In other words, because of the Brooklyn trade, we picked up Kuzma and there are no denying this fact.

[Edrees]

How? Without the 27th pick we wouldn't of got Kuzma...San Antonio was going to select Kuzma with their pick if we didn’t. Plus we got rid of Mozgov. That trade is very underrated by the front office.

We had the 28th pick from the Lwill trade and we were going to get Kuzma with that one, Spurs had the 29th pick so we would have picked before them. It doesn't matter how good of a trade it is, Kuzma isn't here because of trading Russell.

Edress,

There are no guarantees.
If we dont have #27, maybe we still pick Kuzma with #28, maybe we dont.

Do you know how complicated the draft day becomes? And how many offers there are? The Lakers FO obviously wanted more picks and so they traded the #28 pick to Jazz for #30 and #42. IF the FO only had 1 pick (#28), they might have settled on Kuzma (as you stated) OR they could easily have taken a risk by trading it to the Jazz to get 2 guys and hope that the Spurs pass on Kuzma so they can pick Kuzma at #30 and get the #42 pick as well. This is a real possible scenario.

In other words, because of the Brooklyn trade, we picked up Kuzma and there are no denying this fact.

Fair enough, I will agree that both scenarios were plausible, since I don't know for certain. It's certaintly possible that we miss out on Kuzma if something like that played out. Kuzma may be here because of the trade, and he may not be, but the trade happened and he's here possibly because of it - making the trade more favorable in the end. I'm satisfied with leaving it at that.

[Julius Caesar]

Had to watch this game the next day. Thoughts:
Randle and Kuzma continue to impress. I'd like to see them moved into the starting lineup to replace Brook and Nance at some point.
Lonzo played with more confidence last night.

In general, I think this team does well when they attack the basket. Despite what has been said, we're not a poor man's version of the Warriors. This team is 27th in 3pa, 28th in 3pm per game, 29th in 3p%.

On the other hand, we're actually 2nd in fast break points, 1st in points in the paint. Those are our bread and butter: push it in transition when you can, attack the paint when you can't. We'll need to hit shots off penetration, but that's just it: our threes should only be coming off dribble penetration or post-ups, no running high screens for shooters (we don't really have anybody worthy of that anyway).

[BeanBurrito]

Best game of the season by far. The rookies continue to impress and Hart and Ball don't even look 100% over their injuries yet. Nance still a black hole on offense but guy hustles hard on everything else. Their defense is the most inspiring for me so far though. Hope they keep at it. Second unit has been solid too, not sure they have been outplayed by another second unit yet.

[Spens1]

thank you based detroit for being bad.

All the P.F's were amazing (Kuz, Randle, Nance Jr).

Ingram had a solid, if not spectacular all around game.

We do need a defensive anchor and someone else who can rebound, that much is apparent. With no pick however we can't get Bamba sadly (cause he'd be perfect).

Detroit, for a team coming in 5-2, are not good, at all. I know we played well but they looked less than convincing.

[dAdo dA dEvil]

How? Without the 27th pick we wouldn't of got Kuzma...San Antonio was going to select Kuzma with their pick if we didn’t. Plus we got rid of Mozgov. That trade is very underrated by the front office.

We had the 28th pick from the Lwill trade and we were going to get Kuzma with that one, Spurs had the 29th pick so we would have picked before them. It doesn't matter how good of a trade it is, Kuzma isn't here because of trading Russell.

Stop twisting it. Hart and Bryant wouldn't be here without the Lou Will trade. You're allowed to connect whatever dots you want but the actual facts are incorrect?

Anyways, move on. IT annoys you. We got it. Move on.

Agree with TY. Kuz is a product of that DLo and Moz trade. Everything is possible in the draft night so saying that "Nets won't pick him" is a totally a lame excuse. The fact is that Nets will be picking first before us and there is a probability, no matter how small it is, that they pick Kuz.