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PMOTT3's Review:

Losses:

Jeremy Lin
Jordan Hill
Wesley Johnson
Ed Davis
Carlos Boozer?
Wayne Ellington
Ronnie Price

Nothing too big. Lin, Hill, and Davis seem to be the biggest losses to me.

Draft:

D'Angelo Russell
Larry Nance Jr.
Anthony Brown

I was fine with the decision to take Russell over Okafor. I felt like both were toss ups at #2. Ive been very high on Russell for a while now so i expect big things from him in due time.

Never even really heard of the other two kids. Although i definitely would have gone with Hunter or Looney in the late 1st round over Nance Jr.

Trades:

Future 2nd for Roy Hibbert

Low risk high reward type of trade. Cost them basically nothing. Hibbert is in his contract year so it will be interesting to see if he returns to the level of play he showed he was capable of 2-3 years ago.

Free Agency:

Brandon Bass
Lou Williams

Bass was a nice addition and a relatively good contract as well. The lakers aren't in any position to suggest they are serious competitors so I'd want him coming off the bench and I'd make Randle my full time starting PF from the get-go.

I dont understand the Lou Wiliiams signing when you basically have a bigger version of him in Nick Young. I think trotting both of them out on the court together could turn into a train wreck so I'd limit their minutes playing together.

Current Depth Chart (really rough):

PG: Russell/Lou
SG: Clarkson/J. Brown
SF: Kobe/Young/Nance Jr./A. Brown
PF: Randle/Bass/Kelly
C: Hibbert/Sacre/Black

* totally guessing on most of these

Needs:

They aren't going to be relative in the west again until the Kobe era has officially ended. Their future revolves around Russell, Randle, and to a lesser extent Clarkson. What they really need is time and to just focus on developing their core young pieces going forward. There just isn't any realistic options out there at the moment (maybe Cousins in 2-3 years) that would suddenly launch them into playoff contention.

Additional Thoughts:

Back to back seasons striking out on the big fish in FA. So the re-build lives on. The only problem is if they dont get a top 3 pick post-lotto then they will end up giving away a pretty high pick to the evil genius that is Sam Hinkie. The Lakers just need their next young star and they will be in good shape; hopefully that is Russell or Randle (or best case scenario its both).

Win/Loss Prediction: 29-53

Off-Season Grade: C

I liked the Russell pick. Getting Hibbert at such a low cost was a great move as well. They struck out on all the big fish in FA, I didnt understand the Lou signing, they now seem to be in a position where they have to compete (but dont have the talent) because it is going to be a lot harder to secure a top 3 draft pick this year.

Chuck Texas' Review:

Losses:

Jordan Hill
Carlos Boozer
Jeremy Lin
Wes Johnson
Ed Davis
Wayne Ellington

Nothing big here. Would have been nice maybe to keep Ed Davis, but not at the money he got.

Draft:

D'Angelo Russell
Larry Nance Jr.

I loved the Russell pick. I would definitely have taken him ahead of Okafor and while I'm intrigued by the upside of Porizingis/Hezonja, Russell feels like more of an LA guy. Won't pretend I know a lot about Nance, but he has great bloodlines and the Lakers need more young talent so if they identified the guy I'm okay with it.

Trades:

future 2nd for Roy Hibbert

I think they were better off just taking Zaza for free and having another $10M to play with. Maybe Hibbert bounces back but its hard for me to see a guy who seemed so mentally fragile last year succeeding playing for a franchise as high profile as the Lakers and playing with Kobe a guy not known for encouraging teammates who are struggling. I expect this to end poorly. I get they wanted to be semi-competitive while keeping flexibility open long-term, but this feels like a waste of an asset(cap space)

Free Agency:

Lou Williams
Brandon Bass

I like the Bass signing. High quality guy who can still play. Bargain contract that he should opt out of if he has any kind of year. The Williams signing is curious with Nick Young and Kobe already on the roster. That's 3 guys who take a ton of shots and the most important thing about this year is developing Russell and figuring out if Clarkson is for real. Bringing in another guy who needs lots of touches just doesn't make sense to me.

Depth Chart:(Rough)

Hibbert/Black/Sacre
Bass/Randle/Nance
Kobe/Young/Kelly
Russell/Brown
Clarkson/Brown

Needs:

A lot. They need help at center, and depth on the wing and at PG. They need to find out if Clarkson, Russell, and Randle can all hold starting spots next year. If they can that allows them to go hard after stars at center and SF next year in FA.

Additional Thoughts:

How do they manage Kobe? Do they give him big minutes and 25 shots like he's going to want if he's healthy and just fit everyone in around a guy who they desperately want to retire? Does anyone in the organization have the power/guts to sit Kobe down and explain they really need him to do what's best for the Lakers not whats best for Kobe? Are they going to just treat Byron Scott as a sacrificial lamb for another year and then go hard for a high profile coach next year: Rick Carlisle, Thibs, Calipari? This feels like a really long year for the Lakers. There is considerably more talent there this year, but I'm not convinced that's going to translate into a much better record.

Win-Loss Prediction: 28-54

Just too many holes and depending on Kobe being healthy and playing better than he has in years and depending on too many unproven guys. Offensively they should be okay, but defensively this team looks like they are going to really really struggle.

Off-Season Grade: C-

Russell was a great pick, but hard to mess up a pick that good. I didn't really get the additions of Hibber and Lou Williams and the rest is just minor stuff. They have kinda left Scott looking like a lame duck. Russell alone is good enough to get them a C, but I wasn't really a fan of their off-season overall.

Yeah, C or C- feels about right, they sort of struck out but then semi tried to put something together. The Lou/Swaggy/Kobe trio is going to be.......interesting? And Hibbert was a good cheap get. They really need to hope Randle, Clarkson, and Russell pan out at this point and ride with them.

the lakers plan is so awkward. i just don't get it. try to kind of win when you whiff on LMA/jordan?

hibbert's a great get for a 2nd rounder in case he figures himself out again. i like brandon bass too but why take on lou williams of all people when you have nick young already?

i can't say i feel bad for them, since i have zero sympathy for the franchise or its fans. but i will say it's all pretty confusing. if i were a laker fan i'd be praying that kobe retires at the end of the year cause you can't really hit the reset button as long as he's playing. and honestly i think a lot of what they're seeing now is the product of being in a situation where expectations are so unrealistic it causes management to try and shortcut the process. sometimes you'll get lucky but more often than not you won't.

Chuck Texas wrote:I think they were better off just taking Zaza for free and having another $10M to play with. Maybe Hibbert bounces back but its hard for me to see a guy who seemed so mentally fragile last year succeeding playing for a franchise as high profile as the Lakers and playing with Kobe a guy not known for encouraging teammates who are struggling. I expect this to end poorly. I get they wanted to be semi-competitive while keeping flexibility open long-term, but this feels like a waste of an asset(cap space)

Well, what's the point of having cap space if they can't spend it on anyone? Mavs had all the cap space in the world for however long and they had to overpay Wes Matthews on a torn achilles for the sake of spending it.

Hibbert is expiring, paying Zaza would add additional years and take money off next season's free agency plus he fills a need as a rim protecting big which was a major weakness. I frankly don't see any reason to spin the Hibbert trade as a bad move.

If Mavs knew of Jordan's U-turn they'd probably have gone for Hibbert instead of Zaza to begin with.

Slava wrote:
Well, what's the point of having cap space if they can't spend it on anyone? Mavs had all the cap space in the world for however long and they had to overpay Wes Matthews on a torn achilles for the sake of spending it.

Hibbert is expiring, paying Zaza would add additional years and take money off next season's free agency plus he fills a need as a rim protecting big which was a major weakness. I frankly don't see any reason to spin the Hibbert trade as a bad move.

If Mavs knew of Jordan's U-turn they'd probably have gone for Hibbert instead of Zaza to begin with.

Uh I killed the Mavs for their off-season so if you are expecting me to defend it because I'm a fan, I'm going to disappoint you.

I think they were better off keeping the cap space open to sell for assets in the way Portland and Philly have been and will do again in all liklihood at the deadline--something I think Dallas should have done as well btw.

Also Zaza is expiring so there is no future money. He should be close to Hibbert's effectiveness at a 3rd the price and he didn't even cost the minor asset the Lakers shipped out. I think Hibbert is overpaid for the player he is which is why I didn't like the move. Not spinning anything here.

Chuck Texas wrote:

Slava wrote:
Well, what's the point of having cap space if they can't spend it on anyone? Mavs had all the cap space in the world for however long and they had to overpay Wes Matthews on a torn achilles for the sake of spending it.

Hibbert is expiring, paying Zaza would add additional years and take money off next season's free agency plus he fills a need as a rim protecting big which was a major weakness. I frankly don't see any reason to spin the Hibbert trade as a bad move.

If Mavs knew of Jordan's U-turn they'd probably have gone for Hibbert instead of Zaza to begin with.

Uh I killed the Mavs for their off-season so if you are expecting me to defend it because I'm a fan, I'm going to disappoint you.

I think they were better off keeping the cap space open to sell for assets in the way Portland and Philly have been and will do again in all liklihood at the deadline--something I think Dallas should have done as well btw.

Also Zaza is expiring so there is no future money. He should be close to Hibbert's effectiveness at a 3rd the price and he didn't even cost the minor asset the Lakers shipped out. I think Hibbert is overpaid for the player he is which is why I didn't like the move. Not spinning anything here.

I'm not bashing the Mavs, merely pointing out how useless cap space is with shorter contracts, impending cap boom and players preferring to stay with their own teams to gain extra years and guaranteed money. I see the Lakers and Mavs in kind of a similar boat as franchises who do not have patience for a traditional rebuild but have continually suffered from lack of major player movement in free agency.

I don't think Zaza is the same caliber of defender Hibbert is. Hibbert, even in a rather calamitous season with the Pacers did well anchoring their defense. There are ofcourse toughness questions with Hibbert, hell even Boozer punked him last season but he is elite at one thing provided you do not have any more expectations, especially on offense.

The Lakers, like a lot of teams, had to go to Plan B this offseason...most of the big name FAs went (or stayed) where they could win.

I predicted that the Lakers would take Okafor (if available) every step of the way, so while I was a bit surprised by the Russell pick, I don't mind it. He is thought by many to have the biggest "star" potential (though also higher "bust" potential), so I can't fault the Lakers for liking a guy like that.

As for using their capspace, I liked a number of their moves in a vacuum but I'm skeptical as to how they'll turn out. Lou Williams is a fine bench scorer that a lot of teams could use, but there are going to be a lot of Lakers who want the ball in their hands (Kobe, Swaggy, Lou, and possibly Russell and Clarkson too) and I for one do not trust Byron Scott to figure that out.

Getting Roy is smart in one sense: he's a good defensive C and may help erase a lot of issues the Lakers have on that side of the floor. He may also be the right type of C to help Randle develop next to, which is a plus. The problem is that he has a rep for being a bit fragile, and we know Kobe is not afraid to chew up and spit out guys who don't match his competitive level. If Roy struggles on the court or emotionally, this could go up in flames very quickly.

The team should be better and more exciting than last year, but there is a LOT that could go wrong here...and as I mentioned above, I'm not sure I trust Byron (or Jim Buss for that matter) to be the guy to hold everything together.

There really wasn't an A grade option for the Lakers offseason - and unless they dealt the #2 pick in a misguided win-now push there wasn't a D or F option either.

I liked Russell as a BPA at #2 but wasn't impressed by the rest of their moves. A 3/D SF was more of a need than anther shameless gunner in Lou Williams. Try to pry Crowder away from Boston, sign Dorell Wright for a cheap option, pick up Matt Barnes for a stopgap, all would have made more sense.

Also, while people like the Hibbert trade as an EC, IMO there was more value in signing long-term deals. With the cap rising so much the next two years any decent contract signed now will look great. Even if you need to move someone to have the 2 MAX cap room next summer so many teams will have cap room and poor options to spend it that it will be easy to trade most players on existing contracts for cap space (and incentive in many cases). IMO spending $15M/yr on a Koufos/Biyombo center combo made more sense than the Hibbert deal.

I think any offseason in which the Lakers have cap space for a star/superstar player and fail to sign one, then that offseason has to be deemed a failure. It's gone from who is going to turn down an opportunity to play for the Lakers to who wants to play for the Lakers.

The assumption will be that as soon as Kobe retires that players will flock to the Lakers to be the next generation to build a dynasty, but that thinking didn't work for Chicago, Detroit, Boston or even Miami.

It seems that any small gain, like the drafting of Clarkson or Russell will only go to serve the decision makers who take over for Kupchak and Jim because of their larger failings.

loserX wrote:Getting Roy is smart in one sense: he's a good defensive C and may help erase a lot of issues the Lakers have on that side of the floor. He may also be the right type of C to help Randle develop next to, which is a plus. The problem is that he has a rep for being a bit fragile, and we know Kobe is not afraid to chew up and spit out guys who don't match his competitive level. If Roy struggles on the court or emotionally, this could go up in flames very quickly.

At worst, Hibbert will still provide good defense with some elite flashes at times. He likely can't play worse than last year and he was still good at that. Still, I'd be worried about him eventually sulking due to the fans (they will be much more rabid in LA than Indy) and the fact that he won't get many shots. He always wanted more shots in Indy and it visibly affected him when he didn't get many looks early in games.

The Lakers top 4 guys in attempts took a total of 53.4 shots last season (Kobe, Young,Clarkson, Lou). The Lakers as a team took 85.6 shots per game. That's 62% of the shots available and it doesn't factor in Russel or Randle. The Pacers top 4 guys from last season (Hill, Stuckey, Miles, West) took 45.2 for 45% of the total (83.2). Hibbert was 5th and got 9.3 attempts in 25 minutes. I have a hard time seeing him getting that many looks on LA this year. And he gets very few chances from offensive rebounds so he needs to be given the ball.

That said I still like the move. They paid basically nothing and there's a chance it can work out for them.

sonictecture wrote:I think any offseason in which the Lakers have cap space for a star/superstar player and fail to sign one, then that offseason has to be deemed a failure. It's gone from who is going to turn down an opportunity to play for the Lakers to who wants to play for the Lakers.

I think the Kobe factor is so enormous right now that its making it impossible to know if the Purple and Gold will still have the same allure. It seemed clear that for a variety of reasons top free agents didn't want to come play with Kobe. Next year will give us a better sense of how attractive a destination they can be. I personally still think they make a great spot for a couple guys who have decided they want to play together.

loserX wrote: The problem is that he has a rep for being a bit fragile, and we know Kobe is not afraid to chew up and spit out guys who don't match his competitive level. If Roy struggles on the court or emotionally, this could go up in flames very quickly.

Kobe put up with Kwame Brown for 3 years, who was a lot more fragile than Roy and according to him, asked him not to pass the ball to him in late game situations because he would get fouled and not be able to make free throws.

I think after a certain point and spending enough years in the league, Kobe figured out who he could push and who could not be helped. He might needle Roy for a few weeks to see how he would respond but I think he knows in his mind this is the end, so I doubt he even has the patience to create an uncomfortable situation or try to rescue someone.

Chuck Texas wrote:

sonictecture wrote:I think any offseason in which the Lakers have cap space for a star/superstar player and fail to sign one, then that offseason has to be deemed a failure. It's gone from who is going to turn down an opportunity to play for the Lakers to who wants to play for the Lakers.

I think the Kobe factor is so enormous right now that its making it impossible to know if the Purple and Gold will still have the same allure. It seemed clear that for a variety of reasons top free agents didn't want to come play with Kobe. Next year will give us a better sense of how attractive a destination they can be. I personally still think they make a great spot for a couple guys who have decided they want to play together.

I'm curious to hear why you think the Mavs cannot seem to attract free agents either. They have struck out more times than the Lakers and by all accounts Dirk is a positive influence on everyone.

None of us know right now what the Lakers will look like in a couple years. They were smart not to lock into any long contracts with players who may end up not fitting the team that they could become. They're in a tough spot right now, but what may be considered by some as the low point of the offseason I'm seeing as a potential positive.

I think that the failed LMA pitch may work out for them in the long run. It sounds like it was a shock to them that their approach to a guy like LMA did not impress their target the way that they thought it would. It was good to see that they were ready to quickly reorganize and come back with a pitch that was, while not successful, at least focused on the on-court product instead of the social/entertainment life of the city.

Overall they did what they needed to do after their big-name targets did not materialize. Some smart signings - especially Roy Hibbert on a cheap deal. He should be motivated to play at his best this upcoming season.

Slava wrote:
I'm curious to hear why you think the Mavs cannot seem to attract free agents either. They have struck out more times than the Lakers and by all accounts Dirk is a positive influence on everyone.

First summer Dallas had cap space in the Dirk/Cuban era was 2012. This is what they had on the roster to attract free agents with:

34 year old Dirk coming off his worst season since his 2nd year in the league
34 year old Matrix

And really that's it. That's not attractive to top free agents no matter how great a guy Dirk is. And as each year goes on, Dirk gets another year older and we haven't really added any attractive core pieces. We get meetings with guys primarily because of Cuban. Guys and their agents know he is serious about winning, not afraid to spend money, and he has connections everywhere especially in entertainment. I think players relate to him better than probably any owner. But bottom line, superstars want to win and Dallas just can't offer a chance at championships since we have had cap space

The main issue with Kobe isn't his prickliness tho that probably doesn't help. The main issue with Kobe is he's old, he's been injured a ton, and when he does play, he's not longer the guy he once was. Plus he takes up a ton of cap space which means you can't lure a package deal.

Chuck Texas wrote:

Slava wrote:
I'm curious to hear why you think the Mavs cannot seem to attract free agents either. They have struck out more times than the Lakers and by all accounts Dirk is a positive influence on everyone.

First summer Dallas had cap space in the Dirk/Cuban era was 2012. This is what they had on the roster to attract free agents with:

34 year old Dirk coming off his worst season since his 2nd year in the league
34 year old Matrix

And really that's it. That's not attractive to top free agents no matter how great a guy Dirk is. And as each year goes on, Dirk gets another year older and we haven't really added any attractive core pieces. We get meetings with guys primarily because of Cuban. Guys and their agents know he is serious about winning, not afraid to spend money, and he has connections everywhere especially in entertainment. I think players relate to him better than probably any owner. But bottom line, superstars want to win and Dallas just can't offer a chance at championships since we have had cap space

The main issue with Kobe isn't his prickliness tho that probably doesn't help. The main issue with Kobe is he's old, he's been injured a ton, and when he does play, he's not longer the guy he once was. Plus he takes up a ton of cap space which means you can't lure a package deal.

Yeah, that probably makes sense now that you expand on it.

More than anything else, we are finding out that players now a days have neither the incentive nor the chance to switch teams because of how restricted player movement has become owing to the CBA, especially for the first 7-8 years owing to rookie contracts, restricted free agency and latter due to an extra guaranteed year and higher yearly rises.

Milwaukee for example logically doesn't have to pay a guy like Middleton with Parker and Giannis taking up minutes at both forward spots but the dude got $80 million and didn't even last a second on free agency.

Secondly players are placing a higher amount of importance on winning situations and usually, most of the teams that have a lot of cap space do not provide that. So the only rebuilding path is draft, which is a low odds scenario and requires you to be bad enough times in consecutive seasons to fill out adequately.

Mr. E wrote:None of us know right now what the Lakers will look like in a couple years. They were smart not to lock into any long contracts with players who may end up not fitting the team that they could become. They're in a tough spot right now, but what may be considered by some as the low point of the offseason I'm seeing as a potential positive.

I think that the failed LMA pitch may work out for them in the long run. It sounds like it was a shock to them that their approach to a guy like LMA did not impress their target the way that they thought it would. It was good to see that they were ready to quickly reorganize and come back with a pitch that was, while not successful, at least focused on the on-court product instead of the social/entertainment life of the city.

Overall they did what they needed to do after their big-name targets did not materialize. Some smart signings - especially Roy Hibbert on a cheap deal. He should be motivated to play at his best this upcoming season.

The problem I have with this line of thinking is that it ignores why the Lakers have failed to sign a major FA. It is the preparation that fails them. They haven't done the work to really have a shot at any star player, because they don't do the background work to find out what is important to that player. They don't set the franchise up to be a consideration for free agents. They couldn't even get Lebron to return their phone call. In the days of Jerry West he would have been nurturing a relationship with Lebron for two years previous and had the entire organization ready for Lebron's free agency.

Roy Hibbert on a cheap deal? They are paying the last year of his max deal because Indiana was so disappointed in him they decided to give him away.

If the front office had done what it needed to do they would be a playoff threat. That did not happen.

Chuck Texas wrote:

Slava wrote:
Well, what's the point of having cap space if they can't spend it on anyone? Mavs had all the cap space in the world for however long and they had to overpay Wes Matthews on a torn achilles for the sake of spending it.

Hibbert is expiring, paying Zaza would add additional years and take money off next season's free agency plus he fills a need as a rim protecting big which was a major weakness. I frankly don't see any reason to spin the Hibbert trade as a bad move.

If Mavs knew of Jordan's U-turn they'd probably have gone for Hibbert instead of Zaza to begin with.

Uh I killed the Mavs for their off-season so if you are expecting me to defend it because I'm a fan, I'm going to disappoint you.

I think they were better off keeping the cap space open to sell for assets in the way Portland and Philly have been and will do again in all liklihood at the deadline--something I think Dallas should have done as well btw.

Also Zaza is expiring so there is no future money. He should be close to Hibbert's effectiveness at a 3rd the price and he didn't even cost the minor asset the Lakers shipped out. I think Hibbert is overpaid for the player he is which is why I didn't like the move. Not spinning anything here.

The only redeeming quality I see in the Lakers offseason was their luck in the draft lotto. Getting Russell saves them from an F. Getting Hibbert for a distant 2nd is a pretty good move considering his contract is only 1 yr, and they have to spend the money anyhow. Lou Williams is a decent signing. I give them a C over all.

I think both of you guys are being too hard on the Lakers' offseason.

I mean, what else could they have done given their cap situation? They went for a superstar and when that fell through, they had a solid back-up plan in HIbbert, who is an expiring and someone who probably will have a greater impact in the W/L column than LMA. Considering how the salaries exploded i also think getting a Chandler/Carroll combo was impossible.

Of course landing a young star like Kevin Love, Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard would have been ideal, but none of these guys were actually available.

Given the circumstances i think the Lakers added as much win-now talent as they possibly could in Hibbert, Bass and Lou without giving up their flexibility for the future and did pick up a very solid haul in the draft as well - Russell, Nance, Brown, Upshaw. Sure, i would have liked Hunter/Looney with the Houston pick, but overall, they had a fantastic draft.

Next summer they will have enough money to give out 2 max deals and still have money to spend, so i do believe they're on the right track.

I think the Lakers did a fine job given the reality that no one wants to play there. They got good players at market deals. Those guys should be movable for assets toward the deadline. Those are assets that they would have generated out of whole cloth, and they aren't having to fight with Portland and Philly to sell cap space.

I didn't love their draft, as it seems they picked guys expected to go in the late second with middle picks. Had they been able to trade up to grab a player like Bobby Portis, it would have been ideal.

The Hibbert deal was fine value, but you can see them buying him out from space.