Tyler's 2008 Off-Season Thread

[TylersLakers]

Tyler's 2008 Off-Season Thread



Well, it isn't quite the Game Threads I do, but I will try my best to get back to that next year. Some busy times have lead me away from the board this season, but It's been a great ride. I'm graduating on Wednesday and next year I'm heading off to University, but I'll still be here, and I'll try to do a couple game threads.

Onto the exciting stuff.. The Lakers.

Let's face it everybody; No-one except US expected or thought we had a chance to go on a deep post season run. In one year, we went from talking about the realistic possibility of Luol Deng as our best player (ugh) to be favourites for the NBA Championship! Huge credit to the fans, the ownership, the front office, but most importantly, the players. Because of our unselfishness this year, I found us absolutely awesome to watch, even through the rough patches in Game 6 and Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza's injuries. Even with the loss in Game 6, you always have to experience some bad times before the good, and the good times will be that much sweeter when they do happen. So, let's get on to the roster.

Current Roster

PG: Derek Fisher/ Jordan Farmar/
SG: Kobe Bryant/
SF: Lamar Odom/ Trevor Ariza/ Luke Walton/
PF: Pau Gasol/ Vladimir Radmanovic/
C: Andrew Bynum/ Chris Mihm/

Our Free Agents:

RFA: Sasha Vujacic, Ronny Turiaf, Coby Karl
UFA: DJ Mbenga, Ira Newble

Draft Picks

- 2nd round selection (#58)

Due to the Pau Gasol trade, we have no first round pick. That's alright though, as no first round pick in this year's draft would give us the same production that Gasol brings.

How To Improve?

- MLE (Around 5.6 million, up to 5 years)
- BLE (1.8 million?)
- Veteran's Minimum

Areas of Need

- Defensive minded veterans everywhere. (Bigs and smalls)
- Physical and toughness from players. (Bigger bodies, tough players)
- Playoff experience players. (Players who aren't scared of the moment)

Players To Look At

GUARDS:

Chris Duhon
Lindsey Hunter
Tyronn Lue
Eddie House
Beno Udrih
Carlos Arroyo
Jannero Pargo
Sam Cassell
Anthony Johnson
Anthony Carter
Jason Williams
Juan Dixon
Darrell Armstrong

WINGS:

Tayshaun Prince *Not a free agent, but could be available for trade. Would love to have him.
Shane Battier
James Posey
Ron Artest ** Opt out?
Corey Maggette
Mickeal Pietrus
Jarvis Hayes
Eddie Jones
Bonzi Wells
Bostjan Nachbar
Michael Finley

BIGS:

Kurt Thomas
Alonzo Mourning *He'll likely retire, but he would be perfect!
Kwame Brown
DeSagona Diop
PJ Brown
Theo Ratliff
Dikembe Mutumbo
Francisco Elson
Earl Barron (Really think this guys best days are ahead)
Robert Horry
Jamaal Magloire
Lorenzen Wright
Patrick O'Bryant
Scot Pollard
Adonal Foyle

Scenario 1

Trades:

Lamar Odom to Houston for Shane Battier, Bobby Jackson: Man, this is tough. I love Lamar Odom. Love the guy. Great personality, great team attitude. One of my favorite players in the league, and will be whether he's a Laker or not. But with Bynum coming back, and Gasol playing the PF, Odom just doesn't fit in a half court offense as a SF. With an up and down team, hell yeah.. That would be his game. But, LO's inconsistent, and has been his career. He's afraid to take a jumper, and we're going to need that next year. That's where Battier comes in. A hard nosed, smart player. Knows his role, can knock down threes. Great defensive player. Bobby Jackson could be useful as another guard to bring off the bench.

#58, 2009 2nd round pick, Vladimir Radmanovic to Philadelphia for Reggie Evans, Calvin Booth
Hell, I'd give them next years 1st round pick if that would get the deal done.

Re-Sign

Sasha Vujacic (4 year, 19 million -- Starting at 4 million)
Ronny Turiaf (3 year, 9 million -- 3 million per season) **His comments in the exit interviews lead me to this amount, that he wants to stay here regardless of salary. It'll triple his salary now (around 700 thousand. Ronny would be happy with 3 million a season.**

Sign:

MLE- James Posey. (3 years, full MLE. Starting at 5.6m per season): I know, a lot of people don't like him. But look at him. He's tough, he's scrappy, he's not afraid to get physical. Knock down shooter, look what he did to us. Dives to loose balls.. His attitude is fine to. He's one of those players that if you have him on your team, you love him. Everyone else in the league hates him. I like those kind of players. Also very versatile, you saw him playing PF to in the Finals.

BLE- Kwame Brown: For 2 million a season, he's good. He'll bring defense off the bench, a big body to throw at Garnett, Duncan, Chandler etc. I don't mind if he's dropping passes at 2 million a season. Anything extra he gives us offensively will be a bonus. It's also been said that players love Kwame in the locker room. They're his friends and that means a lot to him.

Roster:

PG- Derek Fisher/ Jordan Farmar/ Bobby Jackson
SG- Kobe Bryant/ Sasha Vujacic/
SF- Shane Battier/ James Posey/ Trevor Ariza/ Luke Walton
PF- Pau Gasol/ Reggie Evans/ Ronny Turiaf/
C- Andrew Bynum/ Kwame Brown/ Chris Mihm/ Calvin Booth

The only thing I don't like about this scenario, is it gives us a logjam at SF. Will Trevor Ariza ever get minutes, etc? I would choose Posey over Ariza for the simple fact you know what you're going to get with him, where as Ariza is young with more potential. Hopefully we can get rid of Luke or Radmanovic. A legit 10-12 man rotation with that roster though.


Scenario 2:

Same trades, just a different free agent signings.

Signings

MLE- Kurt Thomas (3 year contract, starting at 3 million)
Lindsey Hunter (2 year contract, starting at 2.6 million)
BLE- Kwame Brown

Roster

PG: Derek Fisher/ Jordan Farmar/ Lindsey Hunter
SG: Kobe Bryant/ Sasha Vujacic/ Bobby Jackson
SF: Shane Battier/ Trevor Ariza/ Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol/ Reggie Evans/ Ronny Turiaf/
C: Andrew Bynum/ Kurt Thomas/ Kwame Brown/ Chris Mihm

I would much prefer the first scenario, but I'd be good with this. Definitely the more non exciting off-season. I'm not going to get into crazy scenarios with Arenas and blah blah. If that happens, I'll be surprised. All we need is some veterans that can get the job done.

Let's let the off-season begin. I'll update this thread as things go on.

[dockingsched]

if the lakers managed to get shane battier, i seriously doubt they turn around and spend the full mle on posey.

anywhoo, i don't see any reason for the rockets to trade battier. doesn't make any sense. they have yao and scola up front, they have one of the best defenses with a big reason being battier's ability to play his man one on one. i see zero incentive.

i also don't see any reason for the sixers to trade a useful reggie evans who started 61 games for them for freakin radman. even if the talent was equal, which it most certainly is not, radman makes more money evans giving the sixers even less reason to take the inferior radman.

[wfiles]

If the Lakers were able to sign Posey then they should package Odom and Farmar for a point guard like Baron Davis. They would be set at each position.

Davis/Fisher
Bryant/Vujacic
Posey/Ariza/Walton
Gasol/Turiaf/Radmanovic
Bynum/Mihm

[RJM]

Excellent thread....maybe I should just move mine here since the people respect the work of TL more..

**

Starting Lineup



The Bench Mob (As Of June 19th)




PG - Derek Fisher/Jordan Farmar/Sasha Vujacic
SG - Kobe Bryant/Sasha Vujacic/Coby Karl
SF - Lamar Odom/Luke Walton/Trevor Ariza
PF - Pau Gasol/Ronny Turiaf/Vladimir Radmanovic
C - Andrew Bynum/Chris Mihm/DJ Mbenga

Reserve(s): Ira Newble, Sun Yue

Outlook: Not too shabby, but after what I've seen in this Finals, we have to make some serious adjustments.

What We Need/Our Pressing Issues
1. Post/Strengthened Perimeter Defense

2. A Slasher/Shooter

3. Continued development from our young core (Farmar, Vujacic, Bynum, etc.)

Solutions
1. Should be taken care of with the integration of Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza into the lineup. Ariza was doing very well for us before the injury. Bynum is self-explanatory.

2. I've had my eye on Mike Miller since the Olympic Trials last year. This guy can drive the lane and hit the three with the best of them. I'm pretty sure he can be had at a decent price. Mike's defense isn't exactly a DPOY Candidate, but it's not that much of a liability. Another prospect is Corey Maggette. The guy plays good defense, and knows how to get to the line when needed. We could use that on this team (especially off the bench).

Bottom Line: VladRad's got to go. We won't win a championship with this guy getting major minutes. Moving right along, let's take a look at our development status.

Development

-We're going to really put our pressure on this particular aspect of the offseason. The current team was good enough to clinch an NBA Finals Berth, but not a Championship. That's got to change. I've pointed out quite a few Lakers that need to work on certain aspects of their game over the summer, so that we are able to erase mistakes/weaknesses come Playoff Time 2009.

NOTE: I'm only going to include the guys that are guaranteed spots on the team next year, so trade bait won't be included (that includes the entire bench except for maybe Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf, who are unique cases in that they're restricted).



1. Andrew Bynum: The most important aspect of our future lies in this young, talented big man. As he continues to rehabilitate his successfully operated knee, Andrew's got to put some continued emphasis on his strength and cardiovascular training. Once that's set, he'll have the energy to build on last season's successful campaign (pre-injury).

Based on what I've seen from him last season, Andrew's going to have to either perfect the sky hook taught to him by Kareem, or work on perfecting a go-to move that will catapult him into elite player status. His aggressiveness around the rim has to increase, and so should his basketball IQ. We want him to use his power at the right times.

Last but not least, Andrew's got to form a chemistry with his future frontcourt partner Pau. We already know that Pau's a very smart player, but we still need to ensure that Bynum and Pau know each other well enough come November to explode out of the gate. This is going to be huge as our major need is Post Efficiency.



2. Lamar Odom: As the third/fourth wheel in our Lakertank, Lamar's got to come back next season stronger than ever. I would like to see Lamar work harder on his right hand. That's got to be strengthened. Now we all know that being a lefty is already an advantage, but sometimes that advantage isn't there. In that case, he's got to have a move to surprise the defender.

Lamar's not done yet. He's got to work on that jumpshot. Sometimes (believe it or not considering his length/quickness) that layup isn't going to be there. After watching Anthony Randolph's play in workouts, I'll be damned if some rookie has a better jumper than the guy he's being compared to. If we are to have success at that small forward position, he's going to have to develop a better shot if he's to mesh well with our new team.



3. Pau Gasol: Some testicular implants vs. the real Power Forwards would be nice. First and foremost, Pau's got to get fully healthy. He was productive after he came back from the ankle tweak, but something was different about him. Compared to the first few games after the trade, his creativity around the rim wasn't as great. That's got to be worked on.

His strength training has to improve as well. I hate seeing guys his size flop around like they were 125 lbs. It pisses me off. In other words, Pau's got to get BIG, and play that way. Speaking of BIG, Pau's not going to be alone anymore in the frontcourt. With the impending release of Andrew Bynum, we will finally be able to give opposing teams a heavy dose of Prescription Bynumol. If we want these hapless fools to overdose, the chemistry has to be there. Simple as that.

Anything Else.....?

-Of course! Seeing as how Kobe has really brought this team together over the course of the season, I would love to see that continue on for the next few years. I want us to be a family. Since Kobe's got a few "Golden" Obligations this summer ( ), its on Lamar Odom to bring this team together over the summer. We have to stay sharp for the Regular Season! I would love to hear about a majority of the team training together and having scrimmages with some of the Assistant Coaches.

-Overseas Scouting: Has to improve. I want our scouting talent to improve with the team over the next few years. I want to be the second coming of the San Antonio Spurs. There is so much untapped talent out across the ocean that the Spurs are largely keeping a secret. I want some of that! Let's do it!

Goal: To be hoisting that trophy high above our heads in mid-June.



**

The thing is.....James Posey alone could transform us into an NBA Champion. I feel we should pursue him as hard as we can this summer. I've watched this guy since his days in Denver, and always knew he would have a career like this if he ended up on a good enough team.

[TylersLakers]

That's cool with me, Iceburg Slim. We have similar opinions when it comes to Posey.

Like I said dcash, that's just one scenario. That was also one concern, was that if we got Battier, we wouldn't get Posey or even attempt to get him.

I'll update it with more scenarios in the coming days.

And one of the big reasons Philadelphia lost that series was because they had zero outside shooting. Radmanovic certainly helps that, and if they could get a big man in free agency.

I would also trade Farmar in that deal to make it happen. I want to get rid of Radmanovic so freakin' bad, and I've always thought Reggie Evans would be a good Horace Grant type player.

We'll see.

[RJM]

And again TL, we agree on the fate on Radmanobitch. I really don't think we could wrest Shane Battier from Houston without giving up valuable pieces. I think it would be better for team chemistry to pursue Posey as hard as we could. Houston knows that they're a really good team when healthy (22 Wins at half-strength...WTF!?), so all these guys want to do next season is fix some kinks and charge up again.

Hmmm....a Philly trade eh? Reggie Evans does sound nice, but will we still have that offensive explosion off the bench like last season? That leaves me wondering. If we were to replace Radmanobitch with James Posey, Reggie Evans & filler...this offseason will be a success IMO. Posey alone would replace anything we lost with Vlad, while boosting our rebounding up front.

[RJM]

Also, If I were a you (Fellow fans), I would pay close attention to the rumblings out East. Across the hall is home to a perennial all star 20-10 PF that may opt out of his current contract. There are rumors spreading around about a potential trade in which Elton Brand may become a Miami Heat very soon. In other words, we may be seeing the second coming of the Boston Celtics (Big 3 - Wade/Marion/Brand). The reason this affects us is because this may cause Philly to become rather desperate, as they were in the hunt for Elton Brand as well. The reason this rumor has some legs is because of various reasons.

1. Riley's been very shady about the Draft, and has behaved like such right before a major trade.

2. Elton Brand may either opt out or stay another season and leave Los Angeles for nothing.

3. Riley is virtually placing the #2 pick up for grabs, and the Clippers have been on to it.

4. There's talk of Marion/Brand opting out and taking a pay cut to play alongside Dwayne Wade on a newly rebuilt Miami Heat.

5. Brand's only real interest (according to ESPN) is Miami after being courted strongly in 2003.

Why do we care? Well this could cause Philadelphia to become desperate, meaning Vlad could be on his way out very quickly. This is all assuming that everything falls into place as planned of course.

[Slava]

I liked every bit of what Fisher brought last season and he's been wonderful for us all year but given his age and the deep playoff rallies that he's been part of, I'm more inclined to not put a heavy load on him during the regular season. If Farmar steps up, it'd be great but since his hot start he's really disappointed with defense as well as his turnovers. This is where Rondo has been amazing. A 4:1 asst/TO ratio which reached upto 6:1 by the end of the playoffs and he's played solid defense on most PGs. As such I'd start my off season by making a claim for Kirk Hinrich, coming off his worst season and being questioned out in Chicago and may be phased out to make room for Derrick Rose.

May be throw something like Farmar + Odom for Nocioni, Sefolosha and Hinrich. Might be a bit lop sided but those are the players that I want from that team and that part of the core is something I'm willing to give up. Sefolosha would be a capable apprentice under Kobe Bryant and Hinrich makes a good tri point, making minimum mistakes with the ball and hitting the jumper to keep defenses honest. If this deal goes through, I want it done before the start of training camp so that Hinrich and Noc get accustomed to their roles in our starting line up.

The free agent signings could go anyway and as of now, we stand in a good position to nad some veterans for minimum money. I'd likely target Kwame Brown, who's value is again at an all time low and could be had for very cheap to come in off the bench and play some defense, box out and do the dirty work without hurting the offense too much. Then there's the usual suspects in Posey, Kurt Thomas, PJ Brown and so on...

I'd also like to retain Mbenga. His cost to productivity ratio is amazing but that'd be a log jam at C if Mihm starts getting into the groove a little bit.

[RJM]

Ask Detroit. You can never have too much help up front. As long as the guys aren't bums paid to rot on the bench, its all good. You never know when an injury may happen. Kwame should only be brought back in limited minutes. Nothing like last season where the dud was freaking starting at times. That Suns game still rings in my head (Kwame touches the ball = loud boos)....

[bynumite120]

i would trade odom+farmar for baron that gives golden state a greater up tempo team with farmar/monta/steph/lamar/biedrius and they would do it i would also try and get billups for farmar and odom but thats plan b

if we do that trade with gs we will have old point gaurds in davis and fisher so i would move up in the draft and get george hill his team plays the triangle and he shoots 45% from deep

[hermes]

why would we need battier and posey? that would give us the same problem now(a logjam at sf) only with better players

[TylersLakers]

Hermes, there's nothing wrong with that.

Let Luke Walton rot on the bench until we find a trade for him.

Posey would be the sixth man. Battier usually only plays 25-30 minutes for Houston. Ariza could get spot minutes for foul trouble. He can also play and defend a couple positions. We threw him at Allen Iverson earlier this year and he held him to 2 free throws in 7 minutes, when he had 48 points through the first three quarters.

We have a logjam at that position right now, but the problem is, they're all pretty much bad players besides LO. Might aswell get some better players if we can.

[TylersLakers]

Another scenario might be this. The LA Times mentioned Mike Miller in a column at the end of the season, so maybe he could be an option.

Lamar Odom for Mike Miller, Jason Collins
Sign Posey with the MLE, Kwame the BLE
Re-sign Sasha and Turiaf

PG: Derek Fisher/ Jordan Farmar/
SG: Kobe Bryant/ Sasha Vujacic/
SF: Mike Miller/ James Posey/ Trevor Ariza/ Luke Walton
PF: Pau Gasol/ Ronny Turiaf/ Vladimir Radmanovic
C: Andrew Bynum/ Kwame Brown/ Jason Collins/ Chris Mihm

Like I said, if anyone wants to take Luke Walton, they would be my guest. I would take the last pick of the second round back for him.

If we also got Miller, obviously, he's not the defensive player Posey is. So, Posey might be a player we would look to sign. Our offensive gunner in Miller and our defensive stopper in Posey and Ariza.

Look at that lineup shooting wise. Miller, Fisher, Kobe, Posey, Vujacic, Farmar and even Radmanovic once in a while. Talk about spreading the court around Bynum and Gasol.

Fisher
Kobe
Miller
Posey
Bynum

Imagine that shooting lineup.

Again, just throwing out scenarios.

[RJM]

Looks like the Brand To Miami Deal is picking up steam......

[GabbaGoo]

Ya'll can't be serious about getting Kwame Brown back...

[Erik Eleven]

Looks like the Brand To Miami Deal is picking up steam......

Really? I was just thinking about that last night, "Wouldn't surprise me if Riley lands Brand... damn it"



Tyler, good thread. I'll be back with comments when I have more time. So far, I agree that Posey should be our number one target. He would change how we play defense altogether.

[tkb]

Ya'll can't be serious about getting Kwame Brown back...

I'd love to have Kwame back as long as I don't have to watch him as a starter. As a pure backup center, he'd be a nice tool because of his defense. Tim Duncan for instance has only scored over 20 on Kwame once the last 5 years. On average (using every game Tim has faced Kwame over their careers), Duncan scores 3 points per game less on 3% worse FG% against Kwame compared to his career averages.

[Erik Eleven]

I'm not sure if Kwame's personality is detrimental or not to the other players. I know that they like him, but there's something not right with his attitude. I'm not talking about him being a total choke job and a bust, we all know he's all of that. I'm talking his locker room personality. He seems to have a gloomy dark sense of humor, which I personally like, but I'm not sure it's a good fit for this particular team. I'm talking out of my rear here, I don't know him at all.

If we can't get Kurt Thomas for cheap, let's sign Kwame for cheap. We need a solid defensive beast to come off the pine. He can be that guy.

[Slava]

Kwame doesn't mind losing and thats what is wrong with him. May be it was a result of what he had in Washington but that attitude doesn't go well with this team and players.

[RJM]

He needs balls, simple and plain.