2018 Trade Ideas thread

[larry14r]

So best player in this era is overrated? Yeah...

Yeah because he's no Jordan or Kobe.

[LeCalinou]

So best player in this era is overrated? Yeah...

I guess you missed the memo. Or have only been watching the highlights.
LeBron, to me, is like Lonzo Ball + Lavar Ball rolled into ONE.
The talent is there, that is undisputed, but that EGO is way bigger than what the talent would solicit. The self-proclaimed king, leader of all statistical categories, except that of being equal to himself.

To put things into perspective: take every decade of the NBA, let's say from the 70's onwards, and look for clips of the 2-3 dominant players of each era.
And then look for videos done by LeBron haters over the years with him coasting on defense, or just playing bad defense, or getting bogus calls from the referees. Or him floping.

All in all, I'll still agree that he is the best player of this decade. But he never was nor will be nearly as good as he thought he was.

[LeCalinou]

Summer 2017-18 low profile free agents that I'd consider pursuing to stabilize and/or add to this young core:

Centers:
Monroe

Power forwards:
Speights
West

Small forwards:
Ariza
Jefferson

Shooting guards:
Tyreke Evans
Bradley
Ellington
Tony Allen

Point guards:
Alex Caruso (a must!)
Briante Weber
P.J. Dozier

Or there are even players on cheap or average contracts on bad team that can be had as dump-offs.
I could probably make a list from each team.
The Lakers need to continue to build on what they have, they cannot count on getting lucky in terms of FA decisions. In the end, what distinguished great teams from good teams is the effort and the fit of the "lesser" players on the roster.
If no.3 through no.8 in the pecking order are doing their jobs well, your team is at least in playoff contention. If not title contention.

[LeCalinou]

Summer 2017-18 low profile free agents that I'd consider pursuing to stabilize and/or add to this young core:

Centers:
Monroe

Power forwards:
Speights
West

Small forwards:
Ariza
Jefferson

Shooting guards:
Tyreke Evans
Bradley
Ellington
Tony Allen

Point guards:
Alex Caruso (a must!)
Briante Weber
P.J. Dozier

And to pick from your list, Evans + Ariza + Ellington would be good fits.

[Rosque]

So best player in this era is overrated? Yeah...

I guess you missed the memo. Or have only been watching the highlights.
LeBron, to me, is like Lonzo Ball + Lavar Ball rolled into ONE.
The talent is there, that is undisputed, but that EGO is way bigger than what the talent would solicit. The self-proclaimed king, leader of all statistical categories, except that of being equal to himself.

To put things into perspective: take every decade of the NBA, let's say from the 70's onwards, and look for clips of the 2-3 dominant players of each era.
And then look for videos done by LeBron haters over the years with him coasting on defense, or just playing bad defense, or getting bogus calls from the referees. Or him floping.

All in all, I'll still agree that he is the best player of this decade. But he never was nor will be nearly as good as he thought he was.

8 finals appearances in 14 years. I guess he is as good as he thought he was. He may be on the decline(he IS) but let's not act like he was the only ego on the Cavs of a month ago.

Also. Ball - PG13 - LeBron - Kuzma - Ingram is helluva core for next few years

[Penberthy]

One thing y'all aren't taking into consideration is that, while you did clear enough cap space to sign 2 max guys, you also (along with Sacramento and Utah) made Cleveland a more appealing place for Lebron to stay. Gone are the tired, aging (and in some cases, cancerous) vets. Now Cleveland is youthful and energetic. They still have Kevin Love. They'll most likely have a top 5 pick coming in. Why would Lebron uproot his family from that situation? Cleveland is already built to compete for titles, and they're adding a top 5 pick to that roster. Lebron doesn't need LA to market himself. He would be superstar wherever he played.

If Bron is looking for somewhere to ride off into the sunset (and wait it out til his son is drafted so he can play with him), who are Cleveland's equivalents of Ball, Kuzma, and Ingram? Where will they get the space to put 1.5 max players next to him to take the load off for the next 5 years?

Ingram is a nice player, but he also plays the same position as Lebron. Sure, Lebron can move to PF, but do you think Kuzma is going to continue to come off the bench? Ball hasn't proven anything yet, Hill and Clarkson are better than him right now. Cleveland already has a max guy playing with him in Love. And I'm sure that high Brooklyn pick is tantalizing to Lebron. Not to mention the relationships he has in Cleveland, even after the recent exodus. He is very tight with both JR Smith and Thompson.

Hill/Clarkson > Ball/whoever backs him up (at least for now)
Smith/Korver > Pope/Hart
Love > Kuzma (for now)
Thompson = Lopez

And this doesn't even account for Cleveland's lottery pick, something LA doesn't have.

Even if LA adds Paul George, that's 3 SFs and a 1 PF you have to fit into 2-3 spots.

Sure, LA MIGHT have a better outlook 3 years from now. But Lebron ain't looking to start competing for titles in 3 years.

Not to mention that, like it or not, he has a much clearer path to the Finals coming out of the East.

I get the feeling you don't watch much of the Lakers. Ingram could easily play 2 resulting in a starting line up of:

Ball
Ingram
Lebron
Kuzma
BoogieorLopez

with a young bench of Randle Hart Zubac Bryant plus 2 or 3 vet min ring chasers/"friends of lebron".The fact that you put Thompson=Lopez is laughable. Zubac is already better than Thompson, and he's been playing on our GLeague team all year.

Ball/Vet min > Hill/Clarkson
Ingram/Hart > Smith/Korver
Kuzma/Randle < Love (this season, but next, who knows)
BoogieorLopez/Zubac/Bryant > Thompson/Nance

[LeCalinou]

Randle is becoming a huge topic around here as if something has changed. Nothing I've seen in the past day has changed my mind. Lakers are still on the same path, make room for two max slots. How much money are guys expecting Randle to make? My guess is around 15 million. Once we come up with a dollar figure we can figure out the rest.

Randle for 4 years and 60 million looks like a good fit. That is how much he is worth, generally speaking, and he does make sense within the Lakers team frame. Play defense with energy, switch everything, and then push the ball.
And you do need big guys that will bang down low. Even if he's not the most gifted offensive rebounder, he will put pressure on opposing defenses, that need to send 3 guys at least under the basket. So only 2 are threats to fast break.

The Lakers need to look at fits as well as talent, and obviously you adapt your roster to superstars, but imagine you bring in Paul George, who's a 6'9" Shooting Guard. He can handle the ball and create, will get you baskets when you need them, but he also brings it on the defensive end.
Ball + George + Ingram + Randle + Noel (for example) is a team that can switch everything. They would have some trouble defending dominant bruising big men, but there are only 2 of them in the league, Embiid and Cousins, and both injury prone.

If you give Randle 15 million, Noel 15 million, George 30 million, that's money well spent.
You can maybe convince IT to resign for 2 years for 30 million (Luol Deng will come off the books at that point), because they have his Bird rights. And you have a playoff team that can still improve by a lot.

George the main scorer, Ingram a secondary option, Randle getting fast break points, put backs and post ups, Noel getting fed by Ball on the pick and roll.
IT can come off the bench and score at will, Hart can complement any line-up, Kuzma can light it up as well (playing the 3 and the 4) and Zubac can bang down low and still get buckets through the opportunities created by the others.

Death Lineup: Ball, George, Ingram, Kuzma, Randle. All the main guys would get enough touches to be happy, and even IT's scoring prowess would be a good attribute to have with Lonzo Ball as the starting PG.

[LeCalinou]

As Lakers fans, I think everyone will look to wish-full thinking, best-case scenarios or other positive development.
So what if no FA come over this summer, what then?

To me, I'm almost curious to see that happen, because of several reasons:
1. Paul George seems to be the only upper-tier talent to fit with the roster, and be young enough for the team to be competitive when it counts...
2. The landscape in the Western Conference: With the Warriors being so powerful, I cannot see any team or super-team (just in case some big star decides to take a pay-cut) contend with them for at least 2 years. So risk the aggravation (after missing out of FA's)?
3. The current core isn't ready to contend even if the right two max FA come this year. Going too far, too soon, can bode bad for a team.
I'm thinking of OKC in 2012. That roster was made up of great individuals, but management thought at that point that they couldn't.
So I wouldn't try to push the current roster too much, too soon.

If that were to happen, why not resign Randle (60 million for 4 years?) and keep the cap space. You can always acquire 1st round picks or early 2nd rounders for very little (Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, Jordan Bell).
Keep everyone that is worth keeping (Ball, Ennis, Caruso, Hart, Ingram, Kuzma, Randle, Zubac, Bryant) draft another 2-3 decent players (as they have for 4 years - Clarkson, Nance, Zubac, Hart, Kuzma stand testament) and you can always speculate when teams need to dump contracts, in order to get 1st round picks.
Imagine that with 2-3 first picks in the 2019 draft, you can always find another decent player. Deng will eventually come off the books, the young players will grow (although none projects as a super-star) and FA tend to choose good to great teams.

[Spens1]

hopefully George is here at least. In that case I'd say playoffs. If Lebron and PG come, top 3 in the conference i'd imagine.

Without them, we better be making some defensive signings, no one can play any defense worth a damn aside from KCP and its infuriating. sign some defensive stoppers please.

[Spens1]

no big name signings and failing. Somehow failing to resign Randle or overpaying him (anything above 70/4).

Also no defensive signings to stop the bleeding. I'd say its more of the same, if not a bit worse than this season.

[BBBKobe]

Worst case is we sign anyone to a contract longer than a year. We just can’t and shouldn’t. Randle must walk if not sign the QO and let him walk next summer.

Save the money for 2019 or 2020.

[RamonSessions7]

Keep everyone that is worth keeping (Ball, Ennis, Caruso, Hart, Ingram, Kuzma, Randle, Zubac, Bryant)

You related to Ennis or something?

[stan francisco]

http://hoopshype.com/2018/02/13/nba-free-agency-2018-the-top-players/

Higher profile FA targets that I'd consider making offers to:

PG:
Tony Parker
Elfrid Payton

SG:
Paul George
Zach LaVine
Tyreke Evans
(Aaron Afflalo, not high profile but Angeleno)

SF:
Kevin Durant
LeBronze
Kyle Anderson

PF: Aaron Gordon
Julius Randle
Nikola Mirotić
Trevor Booker
(M'bah A Moute, see Afflalo)

C:
Jusuf Nurkić
Clint Capela


An all-in full Lakers legacy pitch lead by Jeannie should be made to Durant.

When that fails, PG13, then LBJ. Match Randle's highest offer or not, pursue Gordon if not. If no Nurkić, pursue Capela. If no PG, pursue LaVine or Evans. If no LBJ, pursue Kyle Anderson.

Again, if we just stay put as we are (keep Randle, fill out with vets), we'll make the playoffs next season. We've been a rookie based team full of borderline teens this season, will kill next year if we just stay put. Our young core of Lonzo, Hart, Caruso, Ingram, Kuzma, Randle, Zubac, Bryant are all developing quickly and WILL be much better next season after their first or second real season (with a real coach) of NBA play.

Next year's FA is more exciting with Leonard and Klay. Absolute high score this summer would be to land Durant, keep Randle and add Nurkić.

[Kilroy]

This is basically the predict the lineup thread... I think we should merge it.

[Kilroy]

And again...

[stan francisco]

Ok then, I'll speculate:

PG—Ball, Caruso, Hart
SG—Ingram, Evans, Hart
SF—Kuzma, Ingram, Afflalo
PF—Gordon, Kuzma, West
C—Nurkić, Zubać, Bryant

[Rosque]

What are we? Orlando Magic? Hawks? Pistons? No way would I go for mediocrity.

[Spanish_Laker]

Do you think Paul George deserves a max contract? I know he is a great shooter, proven All-Star, but superstar...I'm not sure.

[Landsberger]

Do you think Paul George deserves a max contract? I know he is a great shooter, proven All-Star, but superstar...I'm not sure.

He'll get one. I guess that means he deserves one in our current work/value system.

He's a good number 2 on a great team IMHO.

[stan francisco]

What are we? Orlando Magic? Hawks? Pistons? No way would I go for mediocrity.

My speculation. Not my opinion. See sig for that.