dockingsched wrote:kblo247 wrote:dockingsched wrote:This is a hole that will most likely be filled next year. Not every hole is being filled this off season
That line of thinking happened last year and is why this team is to be blunt ... ****
You address the bigs, the wing, and the pg this summer.
There's no way any self respecting free agent comes near here the likes of KDs ilk if you don't. They have to get Harris (Not likely because Mitch is scared of rfa as is the buss family), Deng, Carroll, or Green. They can't bring trash like Wes back and dress it up to fans as oh he may pan out, it's just one more year.
They need a pg, be it via draft or free agency. There will be one of Mudiay/Russell here, and if they aren't here it shall be Rondo or Dragic. There's no bs chucking your pick for a backup ass pg you pay max money too for an end of the first round pick. They will have to get a real starting point guard, and it ain't Clarkson by default either
There is also no way in hell they don't go for a real big. It's either Okafor or signing at the very least a guy like Tyson/Hubbert if they can't get a max big. They won't sell bull **** like Ed Davis and 10mil for Jordan Hill to the fans, and they damn sure showed they can't flip that **** for assets or win with it.
They **** up last summer shunning the likes of Lowry, Thomas, Ariza, and so on, but now they going to be on blended knee and kiss some ass to get some actual real nba starting level talent in here to bolster the team so it is actually competing, can overcome Scott being a bad coach with no defensive motto, and can attract a star when the cap booms and every team in the league has space space.
They better damn well fill 3 holes this summer with the draft and free agency
Yeah I pretty much disagree with your entire POV that the team should settle for what's available this summer.
You're pretty much complAining that the lakers now have cap flexbility and a top pick cause according to you in hindsight you'd still have them commit long term money to 3rd tier players that would've done what exactly?
Flexibility won't matter if they don't make moves to field a good team. Not some Lin, Wes, hill, Ed, Nash mess. The lakers could have been relevant last year by stretching Nash. They could have very well have had 30mil in cap space and a room exception to field a team that actually competes while retaining Randle and Clarkson. The fact is they screwed up the offseason from players to coaches.
No one is coming here that's a real star to play with Wes Johnson. No one is coming to play with Julius Randle either. They will however come to play if you have guys like Lowry who are B players, much like Kyrie. We need an actual team. An actual team with actual nba starters. Place Kobe to the side, compare the rest of last years starters to even the likes of Luke Walton, and none of them are starters aside from Boozer. Lin wasn't a starter, Wes wasn't, Ed wasn't, price wasn't, and so on. We screwed Kobe, the fanbase, and our own chances to be relevant and viable as a destination by 16 with what we did last summer.
Yes, we lucked out. We lucked the **** out that Scott was such a horrible coach he ran Kobe in the ground, that Nash broke down in preseason over in the regular season, that Randle only played 15 minutes, and Nick broke the thumb on his shooting hand all so we could royally suck. We lucked out the players rejected cap smoothing which it was expected they would accept, but that ignores that because they did we are one of 30 teams all of whom have cap space in the league with the cap boom now when KD is free. We can't afford to suck, we can't afford to get stop gaps, hell the fanbase isn't buying that **** thus the falling ratings and losing the sellout streak.
We need actual talent, an actual core. And no Randle and Clarkson aren't a core, they can be part of something, but they haven't proven ****. One hasn't lasted 15 minutes at this level, and Mitch himself said it Clarkson got his numbers on a bad team, so it's not guaranteed it will transfer to a competing one. You have to have actual talent who compete night to night, who can push the young guys and show them how to win, and who can minimize Scott being one of the worst coaches in basketball history (2nd most loss all time for a coach who has coached 1000 games and multiple teams in the bottom of the league at d and with all time loss records). You can't expect Ed Davis to teach a guy a damn thing because he's not **** in the nba, he's a fourth big himself on a relevant team, not a starter, never the less a star or contributor. You need more than solely Kobe to force some damn ideal of what it takes to win.
This team needs a lead guard. A proven lead guard if you're selecting a big and hoping to play said big and Randle together when both are young and wet behind the years. That's either Dragic or Rondo on this market if you're not selecting Mudiay or Russell. They have to be ran in a 3 guard set with Kobe and Clarkson. Clarkson shouldn't be guaranteed to start, he's not even fisher/fox/Horry in 99 who had proven they could contribute and start on a winning team but had to be benched, he's proven nothing different than a guy like Tony wroten. He can develop I to something special and help contribute, maybe become a starter and key member, but he's not shown anything to be talked about as a must keeps at this stage.
You can't go into the nba this season with a wing depth that's based around Xavier Henry, Wes Johnson, and nothing else. That is trash. You get a 3 who can start on every team, who can defend, who is a contributor. Now the fact is we never go rfa so Harris, butler, Middleton and the like aren't relevant thoughts realistically to even ponder. That means you go for the 3 and d guy whose started on Atlanta, the proven wing starter sniper who does a little bit of everything in green, the mercenary and lite Ariza in Brewer, or the proven vet who has been an all star and wants to win while maybe sacrificing his scoring ala Metta and Iggy in Deng.
You got a very intriguing source at C. You can't go after Okafor or Towns, and that could end up like Shaq and Zo, or you can be forever laughed at like Bowie if they don't pan out. There's always the chance that they do become special and you hVe a piece to teach up to reach their potential and start here for 7-10 years which is the shelf like of a lakers center. If you choose to go with the lakers tradition and draft the small, there's not a better summer to do it. Tyson Chandler is a free agent and can implement some defense into this team. Roy Hibbert can be a free agent and spent this summer working with Kareem, and he falls in the rondo, need a new scene category, but also fits right in with what Bogut and Mozgov bring. There is the likes of Brook Lopez who is a free agent, can play but has an injury history. There is Aldridge, Marc, and DJ who are pipe, but if you get them, you look so much better. Hell there's even Greg Monroe.
The fact is this team needs actual starters who could start on multiple teams in this league, not just for us because they are trash and we are Penny punching and blowing smoke up people's butt about them panning out or how sound it is to waste cap space for pick 27 on a bum like like, or how their per 36 numbers mean they can be good while ignoring they can't play 36 minutes effectively in Hill. We need tangible talent. If you want to actually compete and to matter, especially when the cap jumps to 90mil next summer and everyone has space, and most teams with it has better and more proven pieces than you, you invest. It's not spending to spend, it's investing long term
Rondo/Clarkson
Kobe/Nick
Luol Deng
Randle/ Booz
Okafor / Tarik
Dragic / Clarkson
Kobe / Nick
Brewer
Randle / Booz
Okafor / Tarik
Clarkson / Mudiay or Russell
Kobe / Nick
Danny Green
Randle / Booz
Tyson or Hibbert / Tarik
Mudiay or Russel / Mo Williams for the room
Clarkson / Nick
Kobe
Randle / Tarik
Marc or DJ or Aldridge / Kufos with the rest of the max
Any of that is better long term investing than Wes, Ed, Lin, Kelly, Hill for another year. Just like stretching Nash and getting 3 of Deng, Thomas, Lowry, and Ariza makes us more competitive and appealing than last year. Kobe expires and you still have between 40-50 mil next summer to recruit talent to join proven talent
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