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Can somebody please explain me the logic of signing Luol Deng to a 72 million dollar contract compared to Joe Johnson's 2 year 21 million dollar contract?

Iso Joe looks like he can play another 3 years at a high level.

Moving on, nobody is going to trade for Deng, you think it's a good idea to move him to the 4 next year? He was pretty decent in Miami at the four.

nah hell play iso joe ball, well complain that hes taking away from our youth. we just complain here. theres no way out.

Joe Johnson wouldn't have taken a lower salary for a lottery team.

We didn't need Joe Johnson, we just didn't need to be handing out monster 4 year deals to declining older players who didn't fit our timeline. What we needed to have been doing is absorbing other team's deals for assets(Ala calderon), which took us a few years too long to figure out.

Deng was a panic buying. They went hard on Bazemore and failed, and Evan Turner was too expensive...

From the way Evan Turner is clanking 3 pointers off the side of the backboard I'm glad he was too expensive lol

The Lakers needed a wing defender. Bazemore, for the price, was overrated. Deng didn't fit the need.

Joe Johnson would not have either.

ALL HAIL wrote:The Lakers needed a wing defender. Bazemore, for the price, was overrated. Deng didn't fit the need.

Joe Johnson would not have either.

Either way screwed up our cap for the next few years. So we're are not going to get anyone now,

Joe Johnson looked washed up for the past five years. He's also almost four years older than Luol Deng. Neither would have been a good signing at the time, except both players have been surprising for different reasons. Deng fell off a cliff and had by far the worst season of his career, while Joe Johnson, at nearly 36, is having the best playoffs of his career so far through 4 games. He was world-class tonight, unbelievable. One of the best playoff games down the stretch by any player in recent history. He was unstoppable.

But it means nothing to us. We should have kept cap flexibility and signed nobody to long term contracts until we had a proven core.

On the bright side, maybe Deng gets in shape and has a comeback year. All he has to do is get his shooting efficiency back up and work more on defense. Those are the two areas where he slipped. Rebounding rate was a career high, and most other stats remained the same. On our side, we could definitely do a better job of involving him in the offense.

I wouldn't want Deng for free.

Tiesto_Lakers wrote:I wouldn't want Deng for free.

Deng can still be a good role player at PF.

Who we should have gone after was Nerlens - trade Clarkson and whatever. Noel held opposing teams to 60% from within 6 feet. We could use that

Slava wrote:Joe Johnson wouldn't have taken a lower salary for a lottery team.

I get your point, but Utah was a lottery team, as well.

ALL HAIL wrote:

Tiesto_Lakers wrote:I wouldn't want Deng for free.

Deng can still be a good role player at PF.

Yeah, in the Chinese Basketball Association.


Hate to tell you, but he's washed. Cory Brewer is 10x better than Deng and he's a lot cheaper.

MrWaffles wrote:

ALL HAIL wrote:

Tiesto_Lakers wrote:I wouldn't want Deng for free.

Deng can still be a good role player at PF.

Yeah, in the Chinese Basketball Association.


Hate to tell you, but he's washed. Cory Brewer is 10x better than Deng and he's a lot cheaper.

Corey Brewer is the worst player on our team. The guy is a wannabe Kobe, but with zero skills. Deng is an above average starter as a Pf. He is a good defender, and as a Pf in Miami he had a true shooting percentage of 63%. As a Sf, he was at 52%. Say whatver random BS about the money he's making, and the length of the contract. But don't ever say that he is worse than Brewer. Brewer is absolutely terrible.

I had suggested Mbah a Moute on this board last year. Good defender, good veteran with no ego or baggage, fraction of the cost and years.

MelosSoreWrist wrote:I had suggested Mbah a Moute on this board last year. Good defender, good veteran with no ego or baggage, fraction of the cost and years.

I like his defense, but we really need shooters. We don't have the potential to be a great defensive team with our current players, so bringing in Mbah a Moute won't help as much as having great shooters on the floor at all times. We are top ten in pace, so we're going to give up point either way. If we could get a guy who can defend and shoot... That would be the ideal signing for us.

Princeinrevolt wrote:

MelosSoreWrist wrote:I had suggested Mbah a Moute on this board last year. Good defender, good veteran with no ego or baggage, fraction of the cost and years.

I like his defense, but we really need shooters. We don't have the potential to be a great defensive team with our current players, so bringing in Mbah a Moute won't help as much as having great shooters on the floor at all times. We are top ten in pace, so we're going to give up point either way. If we could get a guy who can defend and shoot... That would be the ideal signing for us.

Well the argument for non superstar veteran signings was to guide and lead the youth. You wouldnt even want guys to take up too many of the minutes from the kids. Also a defensive minded professional on a team filled with offense first guys might help with some of the game mentality. And importantly, a player that didnt take up too much capspace for too many years.

truthfully, the Deng deal's biggest issue for me was the fact that he's better suited at the 4. We needed a 2/3, not a 3-4. Regarding the thread, But like others have said, Joe would have probably wanted more money and seemed finished last off season.



That being said, I do expect Deng to be a valuable rotation player if we trade one of Nance/Randle.

Princeinrevolt wrote:

MrWaffles wrote:

ALL HAIL wrote:Deng can still be a good role player at PF.

Yeah, in the Chinese Basketball Association.


Hate to tell you, but he's washed. Cory Brewer is 10x better than Deng and he's a lot cheaper.

Corey Brewer is the worst player on our team. The guy is a wannabe Kobe, but with zero skills. Deng is an above average starter as a Pf. He is a good defender, and as a Pf in Miami he had a true shooting percentage of 63%. As a Sf, he was at 52%. Say whatver random BS about the money he's making, and the length of the contract. But don't ever say that he is worse than Brewer. Brewer is absolutely terrible.

did we watch the same Corey Brewer ?