7-footer Christian Koloko is finalizing a return to the NBA | Lakers are the frontrunners to sign him

[Michael Jordan]

After reading some of the comments from upset fans you wouldn't think it was a guy who averaged 3 points 2 fouls, and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes as a 24 year old rookie.

[shmoosicle]

He had some defensive potential to be sure but he's by no means a sure thing. I'm only surprised he's not back with the Raptors because he was still hanging out around the team a lot it seemed. I thought the organization wanted him back but maybe he's just friends with some of the players.

[Blazing_royale]

The fact is, this injury scare made koloko realize NBA is a business. They will cut you if there is no use for you, he's thinking long-term now. Playing with Bron and going to LA where there is a lot more opportunity and $$$ potentially.

[God Squad]

18-year-old Chomche over 24-year-old Koloko all day, everyday.

[Thaddy]

Fernando is a better player right now but the impact stats Koloko had are hard to ignore considering how raw he was. This is still disappointing. I would guess we gave him a 2 way since there isn't a guarantee he can bounce back.

[ontnut]

Koloko was definitely an intriguing prospect, especially when we were starved at the C position. But we have our stopgap backup C in Olynyk, and a new and much younger prospect to develop. We've moved on, and so has Koloko. It's ok.

While it's a rough turn of events for us in terms of the Thad trade, in the end, the pick was likely not going to be franchise altering either way. Time to look forward, not backwards. I wish Koloko good luck in LA, but tbh I don't think it's a great situation for him. With the pressures of playing for Lebron, and just coming back from his medical absence, it could be a big negative for him. PT may not be easy to come by, and the PT he does get will probably not reflect well on him (I'm assuming he's not in great condition, and he wasn't exactly a consistent player to begin with). With LAL hoping to squeeze the last bit of career out of LBJ, I'm not sure Koloko has got a lot of runway there.

[SaveTheHens]

I think it wouldve been a better move for him to come here with our developmental staff but im sure he's got his own valid reasons going to the lakers

[Scase]

Koloko was definitely an intriguing prospect, especially when we were starved at the C position. But we have our stopgap backup C in Olynyk, and a new and much younger prospect to develop. We've moved on, and so has Koloko. It's ok.

While it's a rough turn of events for us in terms of the Thad trade, in the end, the pick was likely not going to be franchise altering either way. Time to look forward, not backwards. I wish Koloko good luck in LA, but tbh I don't think it's a great situation for him. With the pressures of playing for Lebron, and just coming back from his medical absence, it could be a big negative for him. PT may not be easy to come by, and the PT he does get will probably not reflect well on him (I'm assuming he's not in great condition, and he wasn't exactly a consistent player to begin with). With LAL hoping to squeeze the last bit of career out of LBJ, I'm not sure Koloko has got a lot of runway there.

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development. Sure he will be thrown in the fire there, but I don't think this is what makes or breaks his career. He's 24 and entering only his second real season, no team would be willing to give him anything more than a 2 way, at least with this 2 way he gets to be in LA, play with Lebron, and likely make the playoffs.

I think people are blowing the whole "best possible situation" thing way out of proportion. He's got a small chance of staying in the league in general, but it's not like him playing here vs LA makes is likely to make much of a difference. Spurs would likely be the best situation for him, but even then, I don't think that's the deal breaker.

I think he'll have plenty of playing time on the Lakers with Wood out as well.

[Fairview4Life]

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development.

Does Lebron have a history of developing young players? Playing with Michael Jordan didn't help a whole slew of young guys develop.

The way it could hurt his development is to plug him into a role that a team with a Lebron James (ie: title aspirations) requires and keep him there. Not getting offensive reps for a guy who has no offensive game isn't going to help his development. Basically he's going to do what he already does well and might not grow beyond that. Just as an example, we very famously had Pascal chucking a 3 or two per game 2017/18 and early in the championship year and he is no longer a complete disaster shooting 3's. There's a development balance to be found between "do whatever you want" and "only do these very specific things". Another way it might hurt is just not getting minutes on a team that cares a whole lot about winning, vs, say, this year's Raptors.

[ForeverTFC]

Koloko was definitely an intriguing prospect, especially when we were starved at the C position. But we have our stopgap backup C in Olynyk, and a new and much younger prospect to develop. We've moved on, and so has Koloko. It's ok.

While it's a rough turn of events for us in terms of the Thad trade, in the end, the pick was likely not going to be franchise altering either way. Time to look forward, not backwards. I wish Koloko good luck in LA, but tbh I don't think it's a great situation for him. With the pressures of playing for Lebron, and just coming back from his medical absence, it could be a big negative for him. PT may not be easy to come by, and the PT he does get will probably not reflect well on him (I'm assuming he's not in great condition, and he wasn't exactly a consistent player to begin with). With LAL hoping to squeeze the last bit of career out of LBJ, I'm not sure Koloko has got a lot of runway there.

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development. Sure he will be thrown in the fire there, but I don't think this is what makes or breaks his career. He's 24 and entering only his second real season, no team would be willing to give him anything more than a 2 way, at least with this 2 way he gets to be in LA, play with Lebron, and likely make the playoffs.

I think people are blowing the whole "best possible situation" thing way out of proportion. He's got a small chance of staying in the league in general, but it's not like him playing here vs LA makes is likely to make much of a difference. Spurs would likely be the best situation for him, but even then, I don't think that's the deal breaker.

I think he'll have plenty of playing time on the Lakers with Wood out as well.

Eh.

I think he is choosing the option of the shortest path to a real contract vs the best path. The Lakers can talk about their pivot to development all they want, it's not in the DNA to be that type of franchise. Koloko will get very visible reps and if he performs, he will be compensated handsomely for it. He won't get the same attention in Toronto or SA. On the flipside, TO and SA offer him a much longer run room and development that is based on maximizing his potential vs his potential as a cog around LBJ and AD.

He and his agents chose to go the shortest route. We'll see if they were right.

[OakleyDokely]

I think Koloko's agent just looked around the league and targeted teams with the least amount of options at C and the Lakers are one of those teams. They don't have much at the position beyond AD, whose a health risk of his own. The only guy above 7ft on that roster is Jaxon Hayes.

[Scase]

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development.

Does Lebron have a history of developing young players? Playing with Michael Jordan didn't help a whole slew of young guys develop.

The way it could hurt his development is to plug him into a role that a team with a Lebron James (ie: title aspirations) requires and keep him there. Not getting offensive reps for a guy who has no offensive game isn't going to help his development. Basically he's going to do what he already does well and might not grow beyond that. Just as an example, we very famously had Pascal chucking a 3 or two per game 2017/18 and early in the championship year and he is no longer a complete disaster shooting 3's. There's a development balance to be found between "do whatever you want" and "only do these very specific things". Another way it might hurt is just not getting minutes on a team that cares a whole lot about winning, vs, say, this year's Raptors.

Koloko was definitely an intriguing prospect, especially when we were starved at the C position. But we have our stopgap backup C in Olynyk, and a new and much younger prospect to develop. We've moved on, and so has Koloko. It's ok.

While it's a rough turn of events for us in terms of the Thad trade, in the end, the pick was likely not going to be franchise altering either way. Time to look forward, not backwards. I wish Koloko good luck in LA, but tbh I don't think it's a great situation for him. With the pressures of playing for Lebron, and just coming back from his medical absence, it could be a big negative for him. PT may not be easy to come by, and the PT he does get will probably not reflect well on him (I'm assuming he's not in great condition, and he wasn't exactly a consistent player to begin with). With LAL hoping to squeeze the last bit of career out of LBJ, I'm not sure Koloko has got a lot of runway there.

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development. Sure he will be thrown in the fire there, but I don't think this is what makes or breaks his career. He's 24 and entering only his second real season, no team would be willing to give him anything more than a 2 way, at least with this 2 way he gets to be in LA, play with Lebron, and likely make the playoffs.

I think people are blowing the whole "best possible situation" thing way out of proportion. He's got a small chance of staying in the league in general, but it's not like him playing here vs LA makes is likely to make much of a difference. Spurs would likely be the best situation for him, but even then, I don't think that's the deal breaker.

I think he'll have plenty of playing time on the Lakers with Wood out as well.

Eh.

I think he is choosing the option of the shortest path to a real contract vs the best path. The Lakers can talk about their pivot to development all they want, it's not in the DNA to be that type of franchise. Koloko will get very visible reps and if he performs, he will be compensated handsomely for it. He won't get the same attention in Toronto or SA. On the flipside, TO and SA offer him a much longer run room and development that is based on maximizing his potential vs his potential as a cog around LBJ and AD.

He and his agents chose to go the shortest route. We'll see if they were right.

Ultimately this is a "bet on yourself" type of situation. I also don't think the Raptors are a great spot for him developmentally either, we have Jak, Olynyk, Chomche, Fernando. I don't see him squeezing out a whole lot of minutes out of that group, Spurs I can see as a better bet for sure.

But with how thin up front the Lakers are, AD is obviously legit but he's always injured, and how his major competition would be an undersized PF in Vanderbilt, or an oft injured and also undersized Wood, I don't see it as a particularly difficult route to having a 2 way converted. Maybe that harms him long term, but a single contract is life changing money, so maybe that's all he's worried about right now after a major health scare.

As I said before, I think ultimately the "best place" for him discussion is widely blown out of proportion. He's a 24 year old with very little experience and isn't someone with some massive amount of untapped potential. I think he should take what he can get for now, and it seems the Lakers are the best path for guaranteed money.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Having Bruno and Chomche on the roster certainly reduces the sting.

As much as I was an advocate for bringing Koloko back, I have to admit I don't see him as a guy coach would love. He likes his bigs to be able to pass and Bruno definitely better on that end of things.

I think Fernando is on a non-guaranteed deal. I actually don't think the Raptors had any interest in bringing back Koloko. We were tagged along with a number of teams, which is par for the course with Klutch. Koloko signed a two way with Klutch's home team, where he will be used as a throw-in in some mid-season trade to save the Lakers flailing season. He represents 'prospect' capitol for a team that is futures barren.

Anyway, this is great news for his career.

you can't trade a 2 way player unless you convert to standard and lakers are full already

You're talking about paperwork. The best place for him to develop is not with a team that makes yearly 10 player trades and has a programmed PR model to blame everyone but LeBron on their failings.

[SFour]

After reading some of the comments from upset fans you wouldn't think it was a guy who averaged 3 points 2 fouls, and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes as a 24 year old rookie.

his eye test is better than his stats....I think the desperation comes from our center rotation being on the weaker side...if Poeltl gets injured you will have only Olynyk as a real center back up, that's great for tanking but it will be very ugly to watch.

[ForeverTFC]

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development. Sure he will be thrown in the fire there, but I don't think this is what makes or breaks his career. He's 24 and entering only his second real season, no team would be willing to give him anything more than a 2 way, at least with this 2 way he gets to be in LA, play with Lebron, and likely make the playoffs.

I think people are blowing the whole "best possible situation" thing way out of proportion. He's got a small chance of staying in the league in general, but it's not like him playing here vs LA makes is likely to make much of a difference. Spurs would likely be the best situation for him, but even then, I don't think that's the deal breaker.

I think he'll have plenty of playing time on the Lakers with Wood out as well.

Eh.

I think he is choosing the option of the shortest path to a real contract vs the best path. The Lakers can talk about their pivot to development all they want, it's not in the DNA to be that type of franchise. Koloko will get very visible reps and if he performs, he will be compensated handsomely for it. He won't get the same attention in Toronto or SA. On the flipside, TO and SA offer him a much longer run room and development that is based on maximizing his potential vs his potential as a cog around LBJ and AD.

He and his agents chose to go the shortest route. We'll see if they were right.

Ultimately this is a "bet on yourself" type of situation. I also don't think the Raptors are a great spot for him developmentally either, we have Jak, Olynyk, Chomche, Fernando. I don't see him squeezing out a whole lot of minutes out of that group, Spurs I can see as a better bet for sure.

But with how thin up front the Lakers are, AD is obviously legit but he's always injured, and how his major competition would be an undersized PF in Vanderbilt, or an oft injured and also undersized Wood, I don't see it as a particularly difficult route to having a 2 way converted. Maybe that harms him long term, but a single contract is life changing money, so maybe that's all he's worried about right now after a major health scare.

As I said before, I think ultimately the "best place" for him discussion is widely blown out of proportion. He's a 24 year old with very little experience and isn't someone with some massive amount of untapped potential. I think he should take what he can get for now, and it seems the Lakers are the best path for guaranteed money.

Yeah, "best path" was the wrong phrase to use. Maybe "longer leash"? It's likely a 2x2: next contract, leash.

Lakers definitely give him the best chance to get that next contract as quickly as possible but also offer the shortest leash/runway for development. If Koloko and his team think he's ready to contribute now, makes a ton of sense.

[ontnut]

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development.

Does Lebron have a history of developing young players? Playing with Michael Jordan didn't help a whole slew of young guys develop.

The way it could hurt his development is to plug him into a role that a team with a Lebron James (ie: title aspirations) requires and keep him there. Not getting offensive reps for a guy who has no offensive game isn't going to help his development. Basically he's going to do what he already does well and might not grow beyond that. Just as an example, we very famously had Pascal chucking a 3 or two per game 2017/18 and early in the championship year and he is no longer a complete disaster shooting 3's. There's a development balance to be found between "do whatever you want" and "only do these very specific things". Another way it might hurt is just not getting minutes on a team that cares a whole lot about winning, vs, say, this year's Raptors.

Exactly my chain of thought. He might just become a 5-10mpg foul trouble guy with the Lakers. Then when he's done his run with them in maybe 2 years, he'll be 26 and won't have much of a resume to show another team when he's a FA.

[Tom_Foolery]

You and Tom Foolery are redonkulous right now.

Koloko did have excellent defensive metrics, and had the potential to be a massive part of our future before the blood clots.

Masai did what every single GM in the NBA would've done. The chances of coming back from blood clots is very low and had no real timetable.

When Koloko had the surgery that 'fixed' his problem (to be determined) we kept in contact with his agent, and made sure we had a roster spot. (There a good reason Bruno contract was done the way it was)

Then Koloko has good news, and it looks like he'll be back in the league. Awesome, but business is business and the opportunity in LA is far greater than the one in Toronto and he signed with them.

Why there has to be an 'excuse train' is beyond me. We had bad luck with him getting a blood clot. Period, end of story. Everything else was done fine.

If you really want to bitch about trading 20th pick to get a player and move back in the draft I suppose you could. But I think that is just a lazy way to look at things.

Don't work yourself into a pretzel, please. It's not worth it.

If his "metrics" are so good, he wouldn't be on a 2-way contract.

Koloko's defensive metrics were good, but he's on a 2-way contract because he's a 24-year-old with less than 1000 NBA minutes that also happened to spend a year sidelined with a serious health issue. I think he could be an impactful player if his health is good, but very few teams would give up a roster spot for him because of the risk(s) he comes with.

The fact that people are trying to use Koloko signing with the Lakers as any kind of failure on the FO's part is laughable, especially considering the majority of those posters are ones that were calling Koloko trash in the other thread (or even in this one).

We've logged in more minutes arguing about Koloko than minutes he's actually played in the nba.

It's ok guys. There will be other rim protector prospects. I'm sure of it.

[Scase]

For all the arguments I hear on the board about how not having a "real C" will hamper the development of our players, I don't see how playing with one of the greatest players ever could hurt his development.

Does Lebron have a history of developing young players? Playing with Michael Jordan didn't help a whole slew of young guys develop.

The way it could hurt his development is to plug him into a role that a team with a Lebron James (ie: title aspirations) requires and keep him there. Not getting offensive reps for a guy who has no offensive game isn't going to help his development. Basically he's going to do what he already does well and might not grow beyond that. Just as an example, we very famously had Pascal chucking a 3 or two per game 2017/18 and early in the championship year and he is no longer a complete disaster shooting 3's. There's a development balance to be found between "do whatever you want" and "only do these very specific things". Another way it might hurt is just not getting minutes on a team that cares a whole lot about winning, vs, say, this year's Raptors.

Exactly my chain of thought. He might just become a 5-10mpg foul trouble guy with the Lakers. Then when he's done his run with them in maybe 2 years, he'll be 26 and won't have much of a resume to show another team when he's a FA.

Yeah this is a fair point and I mostly agree, long term he'd probably be better off on a team with a longer leash, but there's no guarantee anyone would be willing to really invest in a player that old for long enough to matter.

Ultimately my point is that people saying the Lakers are such a worse choice for him vs say here, are way overboard. It's negligible, and more so them just being salty he didn't pick us.

[Tom_Foolery]

After reading some of the comments from upset fans you wouldn't think it was a guy who averaged 3 points 2 fouls, and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes as a 24 year old rookie.

Many Rap fans are more in love with the idea of what could happen than what actually happens.

Potential without the production backing it up is a go nowhere venture.

[PushDaRock]

After reading some of the comments from upset fans you wouldn't think it was a guy who averaged 3 points 2 fouls, and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes as a 24 year old rookie.

The raw stats are scrub numbers aside from the shot blocking. The excitement over his potential comes from the +8.5 in on court per 100 and +9.2 in on/off per 100 he put up over 802 minutes.