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Do you think that any of the X/Baze/RKelly combo played their way to a contract above 2 years 5 million? If you had to pick one member of that group as a starter, who would you pick?

I might be crazy, but I think machine gun kelly will average 10 and 2 assists a game next year despite D'fantasy's absence.

Pretty sure all three are getting that. WIth Kelly that shouldn't even be a question. I don't see what Baze did in this market to get anything more and Henry is so injury prone that I hardly see anyone giving him much more than the min.

I like Baze's game because he can play D and score a little. In the right system under proper guidance he could develop into an Ariza type player.

btw I think the better question is, who of those three will the Lakers try to retain?

For sure Kelly will be brought back and I think Bazemore will as well. Bazemore won't have teams going after him. I think with Henry it is just a matter of if the Lakers want to give him another shot and see if he can stay healthy for a full season. I'd give Henry another shot.

It all depends on who we draft, who we get as a coach, and who we get as a free agent.
I like all three.
But truthfully, on a playoff team, X is probably the only one that gets serious playing time, and he would come off the bench.
Pluck any of these guys onto OKC or Miami, and they don't see much floor time.

I'm not so sure Kelly is a lock to be brought back, a lot of that will depend on the new coach and the system. Kelly is the prototype stretch 4 but lacks in rebounding and defending. And if the new coach is pushing the 2 I said he lacks in then his minutes will be limited.....very limited.

DEEP3CL wrote:I'm not so sure Kelly is a lock to be brought back, a lot of that will depend on the new coach and the system. Kelly is the prototype stretch 4 but lacks in rebounding and defending. And if the new coach is pushing the 2 I said he lacks in then his minutes will be limited.....very limited.

You think that until you realize he's the only PF on the roster. You don't get good bigs for the minimum.. Kelly will be back.. So will Marshall.. Hopefully X, Bazemore, Farmar, Wes will all be back for the minimum also.

Ryan Kelly has defensive potential, his weakside shot blocking was a pleasant surprise.

I hope we don't retain any of them.

lakersin4 wrote:

DEEP3CL wrote:I'm not so sure Kelly is a lock to be brought back, a lot of that will depend on the new coach and the system. Kelly is the prototype stretch 4 but lacks in rebounding and defending. And if the new coach is pushing the 2 I said he lacks in then his minutes will be limited.....very limited.

You think that until you realize he's the only PF on the roster. You don't get good bigs for the minimum.. Kelly will be back.. So will Marshall.. Hopefully X, Bazemore, Farmar, Wes will all be back for the minimum also.

100% support
And, I hope we didn't retain meeks though he's hard working on both ends and have a substantial improvement shown.

X is a priority for me. The guy is a very good 2-guard in the making. Kelly is someone I'd hang onto as well. I see Baze as more of a ball handler and a back up point than a 3.

zuju wrote:

lakersin4 wrote:

DEEP3CL wrote:I'm not so sure Kelly is a lock to be brought back, a lot of that will depend on the new coach and the system. Kelly is the prototype stretch 4 but lacks in rebounding and defending. And if the new coach is pushing the 2 I said he lacks in then his minutes will be limited.....very limited.

You think that until you realize he's the only PF on the roster. You don't get good bigs for the minimum.. Kelly will be back.. So will Marshall.. Hopefully X, Bazemore, Farmar, Wes will all be back for the minimum also.

100% support
And, I hope we didn't retain meeks though he's hard working on both ends and have a substantial improvement shown.

I like Meeks but he needs a few things to be successful.. A free flowing offense & Kobe to not be on the court. This just isn't the place for him.. If we're going to make the most out of what Kobe has left, we're going to have to play at a deliberate pace with a ton of post ups.

Something interesting about X. I think I might have mentioned this before, but the dude had a 20.3% foul drawn rate this year. DeMar DeRozan, a player who lives on mid-range jumpers and getting to the line, drew a foul on 16.4% of his shots. D Cripple had 15.7% this year, while the foul drawing master himself Harden had an 18.3% drawn rate. Of course, the latter 3 players mentioned shot about 4-5 times more free throws than X did, but I think it shows X's potential.

If anyone cares, Harden drew fouls 21% of the time the season before he was traded.

aaron_gray wrote:Something interesting about X. I think I might have mentioned this before, but the dude had a 20.3% foul drawn rate this year. DeMar DeRozan, a player who lives on mid-range jumpers and getting to the line, drew a foul on 16.4% of his shots. D Cripple had 15.7% this year, while the foul drawing master himself Harden had an 18.3% drawn rate. Of course, the latter 3 players mentioned shot about 4-5 times more free throws than X did, but I think it shows X's potential.

If anyone cares, Harden drew fouls 21% of the time the season before he was traded.

Yeah this was discussed at length when the news first broke that we signed X. He averaged just under 2 FTA in Memphis in just 12 minutes on 3 FGA. He was a very good fit for last seasons team that had no star players that got to the FT line on a regular basis. With Kobe back, X back, a big name FA who gets to the line, Smart who got 8 FTA per game this season, we should be able to keep opponents in the penalty.

why can't we bring them all back? Bazemore/Kelly have options by the team....X might give a little bit of a discount seeing as how he got hurt but who knows maybe he see's this team as not giving him same opportunity now that MDA is gone. IF X is gone I hope we bring back Wes on the cheap then...him and Bazemore can be the main backup wings.

... Kelly ... coz he got drafted the day i joined this board ...

lakersin4 wrote:Yeah this was discussed at length when the news first broke that we signed X. He averaged just under 2 FTA in Memphis in just 12 minutes on 3 FGA. He was a very good fit for last seasons team that had no star players that got to the FT line on a regular basis. With Kobe back, X back, a big name FA who gets to the line, Smart who got 8 FTA per game this season, we should be able to keep opponents in the penalty.

Lol the nba is rigged people are going to come out guns blazing.

I still don't understand why people are so enamored with Bazemore. He's not a good enough playmaker to play the 1, and not a consistent enough scorer to play the 2. He probably wouldn't even crack the rotation on a healthy Lakers team.

We have to find a way to retain X. HIs athleticism and ability to get to the rim really surprised me last season. Now if he can develop a somewhat consistent jumpshot...

The Regime wrote:I still don't understand why people are so enamored with Bazemore. He's not a good enough playmaker to play the 1, and not a consistent enough scorer to play the 2. He probably wouldn't even crack the rotation on a healthy Lakers team.

We have to find a way to retain X. HIs athleticism and ability to get to the rim really surprised me last season. Now if he can develop a somewhat consistent jumpshot...

I think X's game will change because Kobe will be on the floor most of the time.