RealGM

Alright guys, as most of you know, this is not like me. I never ever comment on an upcoming off-season until the season prior is finished. But, with it being pretty obvious that the 2014 Free Agency plan is the way were going, if YOU were Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak, what would you do? I'm going to work on mine, until then, I wanna see what everyone else has got.

- Let's assume the salary cap goes up to 62m (most reports indicate that's what it'll be)
- Steve Nash and his 9.7m salary is the only contract on the books
- Let's also assume that this year we just creep into the playoffs and get the 15th overall pick in the draft

NBA Free Agents in 2013 and 2014: http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId= ... rc=desktop
NBA Mock Draft: http://www.nbadraft.net/2014mock_draft

Alright guys, you got just over 52m to spend.. How do you use it? Let's get creative and have some fun. Go Lakers!

1. Bring Kobe back for cheap.
2 The same goes for Pau depending on how he does this season.
3. Try to sign quality role players that will fit into the future.
4. Sign vets to cheap one year deals.
5. Lets season play out and go big in the summer of 2015.

I don't think 2014 is the Lakers year even though I have a feeling the Lakers will end up with Melo but that just doesn't get me excited.

My input,no shot of happening but let's have a little fun

-I'd tank the hell out of the next season,get a top 8 pick

-I'm assuming at this point that Nash is retiring,he will be 41 during next season....so we won't have any contracts on board,only cap holds


-Eventually resign Kobe/Pau to smaller deals,having their bird rights....also bringing back Hill

-I'd try to make a splash at the big dogs,and the only one we'll have a decent shot of signing is Melo so Melo it is

-There are a few restricted young FA's like Hayward/Bledsoe/Sanders/Favors/Turner.....I'd keep an eye on them ,if someone blows up next season I'd sign them to an offer sheet and hope their team doesn't match

-veterans like Bogut/Okafor/Sefolosha/Sessions/Marion/Deng/Granger/Ariza/Gortat....are all unrestricted FA
Maybe some deals can be struck with them....but only if we land a top dog and maybe some restricted FA

I don't want to throw away all the money we have in one summer if we can't get someone very good first

So if I'm putting my Bball operations /GM hat on first things first I sign Phil J to a offical role with the Lakers. Get rid of MDA, bring in a young coach that Phil can mentor and teach his philosophy to.

Next, depending on how Nash holds up, I'd keep him on the team to be a 6th man type role. His a perfect fit in spurts given his age.

1) Sign Melo
2) See if Bron is satisfied in Miami. If not, roll out the red carpet and give him the pitch of our lives
3) Make a offer to Paul George (which Indiana will match I believe)
4) Put feelers out to Pierce, Deng, Granger to see if either are interested in coming to LA.
5) Resign Kobe for 10-12mil per for his desired yrs he is willing to play
6) Resign Gasol for 8-10mil per, 3yrs+team option for last
7) Try and bring back Hill
8) Sign a C Gortat, Bogut, Patterson, Aaron Gray,
9) Sign Ramon Sessions or to a 4 yr 3-4mil per
10) Depending on what we are able to bring in with the above options, fill out the bench with role players/shooters (preferably young guys like with potential to learn from the vets)

Outside of the max 2 maybe 3 guys keep the rest of the roster to 2-4 yr deals to allow some flexibility when it comes to reloading around our new 'core' while still searching for our new young C/PF moving forward.

Roster rounds out to something like the following: (depending on who we sign i divided up the possibilities at each position using / )

Sessions, Nash
Kobe/George,
Melo/Pierce/Deng,
Bron/Melo/Granger, Hill, Patterson
Gasol, Bogut/Gortat

This isn't including the role players that could fill out the need at the SG spot.

Step 1. Get top pick (luck or rig will get us Wiggins)
Step 2. Kobe & Pau for Cheap
Step 3. Nash waived via stretched provision
Step 4. Room for 2 major free agents (Ex: Bosh+Lowry).
Step 5. Bring Kaman, Hill, Meeks, Farmar and maybe Nick Young for bench depth
Step 6. Bring back Phil or one of Phil's disciples as head coach
Step 7. Championship
Step 8. Kobe asks Dwight "How does my ass taste?"

Potential line-up (Nash takes 3 mil caphold after being waived)
Pau (7mil)/Bosh (18 mil)/ Wiggins (5 mil)/Kobe (7 mil)/Lowry (9 mil)=~46 mil
Kaman (3 mil)/ Hill (4mil)/Young (3 mil)/Meeks(1.8 mil)/Farmar(1.2 mil, min deal)=~13 mil
Rest of bench: R.Kelly, 2nd round pics etc (maybe bring MWP back for the lol)

I'm a little drunk while typing this, but I'm going to be as realistic as possible

1) Sign Kobe/Pau for cheaper deals ^The above posters have good ideas^
2) Keep Hill, Goudelock, R.Kelly, Blake as they are young and hungry < don't know much about Kelly yet
3) Sign at least 3 vets
4) Sign Omer Asik and JJ Barrea

Most teams have at least 3 stars on board their teams at least the tops teams

Melo, Love and Rondo are the guys I want in our future = Don't want Lebron < have too much fun bagging friends out who go for him LOL ...

The team.

C: Asik/Hill/Pau < On rotation
PF: Love/Hill/Kelly/Vet
SF: Melo/Vet/Vet
SG: Kobe/Blake
PG: Rondo/JJ Barrea/Goudelock << Nash probably has 2maybe 3 years left by the time we get Rondo/Love he will gone

We are going to struggle for C and SG in the next few years???

Like your guys' plans for the off-season, but some of you guys are talking about a a top 5 pick. I just don't see it happening. I think we'll be good enough for a 6-8 seed.

Coaching

Starting with coaching, I think after this season it's time to make a coaching move. So, we fire Mike D'Antoni and bring in old school Laker, Byron Scott. Personally, I think the coaching job he did in Clevelad was pretty damn good considering the talent level they had. So we welcome him back and he's still a fairly young coach, can grow with this team. Would have LOVED Brian Shaw, but I think he's in Denver for a very long time.

The 2014 NBA Draft

1st Round (15th): PF Aaron Gordon -- with the talent in this draft, a player like him is a luxury at 15. Big time. Great effort player. Plays hard every single play. While the rest of his game develops, he's going to work his ass off, run the floor with speed and make highlight plays around the rim that will get Staples going wild.

Other Considerations: PF Chris Walker (FLA - Highlight reel. Questions about maturity, eligibility) and Mitch McGary (Great rebounder, great scoring inside, just doesn't have athleticism like Gordon or Walker)

2nd Round (45th): C/PF Patric Young -- A little undersized but he's a C. Build like a brick s**thouse, and he has excellent hands and touch around the basket. Finishes strong in traffic. Can run the floor in transition. Needs to become a better rebounder this year for Florida. But, the tools are there.

Free Agency

- Re-sign SG Kobe Bryant to a 3 year deal, starting at 11m. Player options on the 2nd and 3rd years. Bring back our leader.
- Re-sign PG Jordan Farmar, 1 year deal, 2.0m
- Re-sign C/PF Jordan Hill , 2 year deal, starting at 2.0m

So with those 3 players plus Nash and 2 draft picks, we're at just over 27m. With around 35m left to spend, here we go.

- Sign F Carmelo Anthony: Loves major markets but the Knicks clearly screwed themselves with the acquisitions of Chandler and Stoudemire and are now stuck in cap hell again. He's tight with Kobe and I believe Kobe will have no problem giving the keys to Melo. 4 year deal starting at 18 million.

- Sign F Luol Deng: Another Kobe favorite. Can still defend pretty damn good. Great mid range player, can knock down the 3 if left open. 3 year deal starting at 6 million.

- Sign PG Jerryd Bayless: Good defender, playing really well for Memphis. With Memphis currently in "WTF" and money saving mode, we bring Bayless in. 3 year deal starting at 5 million.

- Sign SG Brandon Rush: I've always wanted him. Can shoot the lights out and defends pretty good. 2 year deal starting at 4 million.

So that's 33 million. With 2 million left, we focus pretty much on veteran minimums.

- C Emeka Okafor: With his injury and how he just collected years and years of 10m plus salary, he signs on
- SF Trevor Ariza: Coming off a pay day, he signs on with his former team
- SF Linas Kleiza: Good shooter, would take a veteran minimum
- SG Kenny Boynton: He's playing for our summer league team this year and I think he catches on for a roster spot. He comes back.

The Final Roster

PG: Jerryd Bayless/ Steve Nash/ Jordan Farmar/
SG: Kobe Bryant/ Brandon Rush/ Kenny Boynton
SF: Luol Deng/ Trevor Ariza/
PF: Carmelo Anthony/ Aaron Gordon/
C: Emeka Okafor/ Jordan Hill/ Patric Young/

So salary is around 66m.. Key thing is, we're NOT a luxury tax team and this roster is a team that would be able to make a serious run. Also, we have more assets and the ability to a sign and trade. So, come mid-season a team like Minnesota (Kevin Love), Cleveland (Kyrie Irving), Boston (Rajon Rondo) or Portland (LaMarcus Aldridge) gets antsy and feels like they're going to lose one of their stars, we have the assets to make a deadline deal.

Also, I didn't include anything with the RFA stars like Paul George, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins. With those 3 especially, throw them max deals and see if the team will match. If we could somehow land one of those players, look out.

At this point, it looks like we're gambling on low-risk, high reward players... We're shooting for cost savings and chemistry and hoping it puts an enjoyable, if not overly successful team on the court.

I think we keep our costs down in 2014... Which means no high-power assistant coaches.

I think we see what happens at the beginning of the season and if the team is successful maybe we make a trade and see if we can get to the next level, if not, we shoot for the lottery...

We see if we can get a high pick, trading if we have to, and convince Wiggins that he only wants to play for Steve Nash and the Lakers...

We make Nash assistant Coach under Mike D and give him the responsibility of developing Wiggins.

Then we go after LeBron and probable miss out, so we go after Melo next... If all else fails, go for someone like Wall.

We then round out the roster with cheap talent and try to stay under the cap, to take a shot at Love, Rondo, or Gasol in 2015...

make a run at Lebron, if we can't get him, then nothing but one year contracts for players that want to play here and preserve cap space for Love the following here. Rinse and Repeat and do the same for 2016 when Westbrook and Durant are FAs.

I would like to see them snag someone who an protect the rim along with a super star perimeter player

1st: Full tank mode. I'd amnesty Gasol, and talk to Kobe about taking this pointless year off to get him help next summer. Use the Stretch Provision on Nash this year: waive him and stretch his total of 20 mil over two years to 20 mil over five years (can be stretched to double the years plus one) and instead of 10 mil it's 4 mil per yr.

2nd: Sign anyone who will sign for a minimum contract.

3rd: Fire D'Antoni before this training camp.

4th: Let one of his assistants take over

5th: Draft Wiggins, Parker, or Randle (no Nash, Pau, Kobe, or Pringles and its def a top 3 pick)

6th: re-sign Kobe to 10 mil per year for 3 years

7th: Sign Melo to the max

8th: Sign Phil as HC for one last hurrah. 2-3 year deal.

9th: Offer Paul George, then Cousins the max.

10th: If George and Cousins are matched then conserve cap space for 2015 & KLove.

11th: Sign role players to 2 year deals with the 2nd being a TO. (Okafor? Ariza? Matrix? CButler? Thabo? Ridnour? Hinrich?)


Best case scenario: a core of Kobe, Melo, Wiggins, Phil locked in for the next 3 years.

2015: Kobe, Melo, KLove, Wiggins, Phil

1. miss playoffs, fire pringles, hire phil, draft wiggins
2. sign melo and lebron
3. re-sign kobe, pau for vet mins
4. ????
5. profit

am i doing it right?

Aki wrote:1. miss playoffs, fire pringles, hire phil, draft wiggins
2. sign melo and lebron
3. re-sign kobe, pau for vet mins
4. ????
5. profit

am i doing it right?

You forgot the steal Paul George from Indiana part. Bam big 6.

Lebron/Kobe/Paul/Melo/Wiggins, Pau 6th man no problem. We create the real neo-NBA, no one plays any position .

1) Try to win 10 games then call it a season, fire pringles, kobe retires, hire him as coach
2) trade whatever we can for the #2 pick after we get the #1, cause it's realistic
3) draft wiggins and parker
4) sign some free agentz like lebron and melo
5) kobe leads us to the promised land with lebron playing pg a la magic johnson

I am not a fan of the '14 plan... Outside of LBJ, I don't like the assets... Melo is a black whole at this point in his career... I like Houston's approach... Collect as many ASSETS as possible such as draft picks, young players, good contracts and a couple expiring and be opportunistic... I would LOVE to see the Lakers pick up Rudy Gay NOW and have him and Nash under contract next year ($35 million to spend) or something of that nature... Plus Gay expires the year after when there are more players available...

Outside of LBJ, '15 is a better class...

The Skyhook wrote:1. Bring Kobe back for cheap.
2 The same goes for Pau depending on how he does this season.
3. Try to sign quality role players that will fit into the future.
4. Sign vets to cheap one year deals.
5. Lets season play out and go big in the summer of 2015.

I don't think 2014 is the Lakers year even though I have a feeling the Lakers will end up with Melo but that just doesn't get me excited.

What's funny (or sad, really) is melo is who we could have initially acquired for Bynum a year before we got Dwight. Not sure if we would have stayed here himself but I can't help but think he'd be a lot more likely to resign with us than oversized baby man coward was. Oh well.

2014 All In:
Miss playoffs, luck out, get Wiggins (or maybe second and get parker)

Resign Kobe and Pau to better deals

Sign Mello (or LeBron if we don't get Wiggins or Parker)

Sign Pierce and KG and vets to fill

Sign and trade Bogut or Gortat plus future first to OKC for Westbrook

Fill Roster
Westbrook (16) Nash (9)
Kobe (8)
Wigg (3) Pierce
Mello (19)
Pau (8) KG

Have Parade in July

2014/2015 Combo Plan

Resign Kobe/Pau to better deals
Draft Wing in Lottery
Sign Mello
Sign Dirk to 1 Year deal to play with Nash
Fill Roster (KG/Pierce maybe) Resign Farmar

2014
Nash/Farmar
Kobe/Draftee
Mello/Pierce
Dirk/KG
Pau/Vet

Make Run, Win Chip

Nash/Dirk retire or come back on cheap deals
Sign Love/Aldridge
Sign or trade for Westbrook

2015
Westbrook
Kobe
Mello
Love
Pau

Minime83 wrote:I'm a little drunk while typing this, but I'm going to be as realistic as possible

1) Sign Kobe/Pau for cheaper deals ^The above posters have good ideas^
2) Keep Hill, Goudelock, R.Kelly, Blake as they are young and hungry < don't know much about Kelly yet
3) Sign at least 3 vets
4) Sign Omer Asik and JJ Barrea

Most teams have at least 3 stars on board their teams at least the tops teams

Melo, Love and Rondo are the guys I want in our future = Don't want Lebron < have too much fun bagging friends out who go for him LOL ...

The team.

C: Asik/Hill/Pau < On rotation
PF: Love/Hill/Kelly/Vet
SF: Melo/Vet/Vet
SG: Kobe/Blake
PG: Rondo/JJ Barrea/Goudelock << Nash probably has 2maybe 3 years left by the time we get Rondo/Love he will gone

We are going to struggle for C and SG in the next few years???

My lord I don't even know where to begin...okay, but I'm going in anyways:

First of all Blake isn't "young and hungry" he's 33 going on 34 freaking years old. And he isn't a sg so it makes no sense to purposely resign the guy to play out of position in addition to the fact that despite his amazing 1-2 month stretch of play, the guy has been absolute trash his first 2 years here and has missed somewhere around 20 games each of his seasons on the team. He was signed for D and the guy was slightly more effective of a defender than Nash was but not nearly good enough to warrant another contract.

Jj sucks and despite technically playing enough years in the nba to be considered a vet he is far from being as he seems incapable of putting his Napoleon complex aside for the betterment of the team. Also doesn't/can't play D and the lakers can get the rich mans version of him in Nate Robinson if they wanted to instead.

Melo and AI(still at his prime) already played together in Denver and while Kobe at 35 still a better player than AI in his late 20s is, it isn't by much (sorry to break it to you but age and Achilles injury and you expect him to be that much better than AI with no major surgeries and still at or around his physical prime? Come on now.

Asik isn't a FA after this season (2 more years left) and whichever team trades for him won't be waiving him. Loving signing here without a sign and trade seems extremely unlikely-- ignore the fact Dwigjt was the first player ever to leave that much money on the table and the fact he signed with Texas team meant he didn't lose as much money as it seems. Love signing in LA without a sign and trade where we have State tax means he loses as much (if not more) money as it says he does.

Everyone needs to wake up and realize Kobe isn't a Derrick rose or someone who will sit out games when he is healthy enough to play and his team mathematically in contention to make the playoffs. Tanking and blowing up the team because of some stupid pipe dream of signing 2 franchise players that are more than happy playing for their respective cities and franchise is just plain dumb and irrational.

melo is from NY(baltimore but close enough) and always talked about wanting to be the face of their franchise so he isn't leaving that team to play second fiddle he wasnt as happy or hungry to join as NYs teams in the first place. I say pull a 'SA sPurs' and make moderate, not as drastic changes, and try putting more faith and support for the faces of our franchise and team.

remember SA was elminated in the first round to an 8th seed not too long ago and looking how far they got with practically the same team as the one who lost to the grizz. Patience needs to be more of a virtue here otherwise accept the fact that too many of you are guilty of being fair weather fans who only support the team and it's star players and staff when things are good and call for it give up when things go bad-- despite the circumstances or the team assembled not really given a fair shot to play together without The cursed conditions the team was plagued with last season.

supaflash wrote:2014 All In:
Miss playoffs, luck out, get Wiggins (or maybe second and get parker)

Resign Kobe and Pau to better deals

Sign Mello (or LeBron if we don't get Wiggins or Parker)

Sign Pierce and KG and vets to fill

Sign and trade Bogut or Gortat plus future first to OKC for Westbrook

Fill Roster
Westbrook (16) Nash (9)
Kobe (8)
Wigg (3) Pierce
Mello (19)
Pau (8) KG

Have Parade in July

2014/2015 Combo Plan

Resign Kobe/Pau to better deals
Draft Wing in Lottery
Sign Mello
Sign Dirk to 1 Year deal to play with Nash
Fill Roster (KG/Pierce maybe) Resign Farmar

2014
Nash/Farmar
Kobe/Draftee
Mello/Pierce
Dirk/KG
Pau/Vet

Make Run, Win Chip

Nash/Dirk retire or come back on cheap deals
Sign Love/Aldridge
Sign or trade for Westbrook

2015
Westbrook
Kobe
Mello
Love
Pau

Lmao Id love to see you pull that off in your nba2k franchise mode (without cheating and allowing yourself to override trades) before you expect Mitch and laker management to pull that off. But these type of crackpot ideas and suggestions from people should serve in each person who comes up with a Disney/Pixar happy ending-type plan having their "blame everything on Jim buss' card revoked.

Easy to talk trash about an owner (or person in general) quarterbacking from your couches at home, but you can't talk trash when your plans are no better than MJs thought process in building the wizards and bobcats lol.