RealGM

Do we need to get a big in FA this summer? Zubac has been looking pretty bad in SL, that's no secret. I'm not saying we should trade him and give up on him, but maybe we need to address our back up Center position. Bryant will probably spend a lot of time in the G-League. I love his passion and his potential but he's not ready yet.
Zubac could be a 3rd string or still or 2nd string but maybe having a vet around to challenge him for those backup minutes will motivate him to really step it up and get in shape.
Nonetheless, here are the top 5 FAs I see that are available who we could have for cheap.

1. Mo Speights - Stretch 5, charge-taking big, deadly pick and pop threat, spark plug, takes too many shots at times.

2. Javale McGee- Revived his career last year, Lob threat, Rim Protector, Rim-running transition target for Zo, Bad reputation but has learned to play within his role.

3. Tarik Black - We all know Tarik Black, I personally don't want him back, but if we went the route of picking up a big his name would be in the conversation.

4. Thomas Robinson - See Tarik Black.

5. Jared Sullinger - Personally I think his career is over. But has some shooting ability, some post ability, decent rebounder, terrible defender. But hey maybe he can revive his career, I doubt it though.

Other Available Bigs

Festus Ezeli
Andrew Bogut
Tiago Splitter
Tyler Zeller
David Lee

Yea not much talent out there.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

I personally would love to have Tarik Black back, especially because we know what he brings to the table and wouldn't be expecting too much money.

Bogut could be good too to try to ingrain some of his toughness into Zubac.

Thomas Bryant is going to surprise a lot of people. Projected top 10 pick at one point that fell through the cracks because of Tom Crean's inability to develop post players. I might be an IU homer but the kid has a lot of potential.

Out of this group, I'd love to bring Tarik back.

Ok let's get something straight here, while Zu has not been looking his best there are circumstances that need to be taken into account. First Lonzo makes the game faster than what Zu was used to. So he is struggling to keep up and that is just conditioning. That can be fixed. Second his kwame-esque hands he is highlighting in Summer league are a bit of a concern, but is not the end of the world again it might be just the faster pace of the game. Third as bad as he looks he is putting up decent numbers and he is affecting opponents shots on defense.
Let's give the kid a few months in the regular season before we think about throwing him under the bus.

offer the spurs a sign and trade of Deng for Pau gasol ( sign him for just ONE year)
he can teach zubac, and then sign back for vets min If we get melo and george.

Lakers really need a big?

Starter: Lopez
Backup: Zu/Bryant
Small Ball: Nance Jr/Kuzma?

Last year we had Mozgov and Black with Zu as the thrid stringer who played mostly with D-League before making an impact. This year Magic upgrades the team with Lopez and Zu becoming the top 2 guys. We have Bryant who will spend a good number of minutes in G-League with Nance as small ball center.

I doubt we need another center.

At this point, I think the Lakers need a vet backup PG and Nwaba back. The roster is set and looks 100% better than last year. Magic and Pelinka deserve a ton of credit for turning last year's woeful team into a somewhat dark, dark-horse for playoff contention. All this with the salary cap flexibility in place to become serious contenders for 2018 FAs.

I dont want to hijack this thread into a Magic vs Mitch but just amazing what a difference Magic and Pelinka have been to the organization in less than 5 months.

I'm not trying to throw Zu under the bus, but just trying to say his spot in the rotation is secure right now. Cases can be made to say that he earned that spot and cases can be made to say that he hasn't earned it yet. Just throwing the thought out there that maybe a vet out there would hasten his development, being that it will motivate him to work harder. Also, Javale would fit well with our team, Mo Speights too. Just a thought though, I agree that we will be fine as is. Well, after we sign another guard.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

If we use Nance or Randle as a small ball center for something like 6mpg, while Lopez plays his 32mpg, Zubac would play only 12min, which is nice to see what he produces with his minutes.
And a Smallball lineup of Ball, Brewer, Ingram, Kuz and Nance would give a lot of trouble on fastbreaks.

Zubac is fine. Its not like we're gonna go deep in the playoffs anyway. He needs as many mins behind BroLo as he can get next season so that he quickly develops his game. Bryant can get some mins if he looks good in DLeague and gets a call up.

BroLo is a 28-30 mins a game player, depending on pace. BRK was playing ultra fast and he was basically maxing out at 28 mins due to fatigue. That leaves 20 mins for backup duty and thats quite honestly perfect number for Zubac. If Zubac and Bryant both impress towards the end of the season, out of the playoff race, we shut BroLo down and give Zubac and Bryant ALL the C mins. Its kinda burning our bridges with BroLo but he's NOT an reliable option moving forward, so its best we see what we got in the young pups.

I would like McGee

Athletic, runs the floor, shot blocking center, who just catches lobs. Would be a good foil to lopez