Los Angeles Lakers early offseason in review (HW/bondom34/dbrandon/Slava)

[HartfordWhalers]

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Can I get you in with a win prediction for next year?

[warren weel im]

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Can I get you in with a win prediction for next year?

Luke Walton will be running a few experiments to start the season. Him and Mitch probably agree that the best way to move forward is to try to win games at the start and just see it from there. The major goal is to be .500 and that in itself is going to be difficult without acquiring BIG pieces down the line. On that front, I think the Lakers will explore every opportunity.

Starters: Russell, Clarkson, Ingram, Deng, Mozgov.
Bench: Calderon, Williams, Nance, Randle, Black.
Spot: Huertas, Young, Brown, Yi, Zubac.

The first unit can be potent offensively ala 2005 Suns but can be a disaster on D. Basically no one on the team is a defensive stopper and Deng's best years of footwork are behind him.

Calderon leads the 2nd unit hoping to find a good trade for him down the line. Lou Williams in the 2nd unit resumes his role as a bench scorer and he does it with no ball-dominant players beside him aside from the PG. Calderon can still knock down shots. Don't ask about defense either.

I think Black replaces Mozgov in case of foul trouble and to be faster. Ideally I would start Nance, but the Lakers signed Deng as SF and will get themselves a stretch 4 in the process.

Due to unpredictability, adjustments and such, the Lakers can actually start the season decently. December will be brutal, January will be better and decently bad the rest of the way and might even close out April with a winning record.

October: 2-1. [2-1]
November: 5-12. [7-13]
December: 3-13. [10-26]
January: 5-10. [15-36]
February: 3-7. [18-43]
March: 5-9. [23-52]
April: 4-3. [27-55]

[Karmaloop]

Can I get a clarification here. Do people genuinely dislike Deng's contract or is Deng's contract on a rebuilding team that they dislike so much?

[basketballwacko2]

I gave them a D. Would have been an F if not for picking Brandon Ingram. The signings smack of desperation. Giving Mozgov $16 million a year and Deng $18 million are over pays for the talent level and Mozgov was signed on the first day of free agency.

Also gotta add that getting Luke Walton should help, but this is another lost season for the Lakers 22-25 wins is all I see.

[basketballwacko2]

Can I get a clarification here. Do people genuinely dislike Deng's contract or is Deng's contract on a rebuilding team that they dislike so much?

Deng and Mozgov's contracts on a rebuilding team make no sense at all. Each are 4 yrs should be shorter if you're giving them this kind of money.

[Andre Roberstan]

This isn't true. No one thinks they can trade Mozgov, not at that contract. If they trade Deng it will be in the first couple years.

Maybe not a lot, but Warren literally said that in the post above:

We all agree that the problem with Deng and Mozgov are years 3 and 4, not 1 and 2. They will be valuable pieces for years 1-2 and highly tradeable contracts by years 3-4.

That counts as one.

Yeah, I extrapolated too much from previous posts. I retract that.

[spikeslovechild]

F.

Deng and Timmy contracts are fire-able offenses imo. The only thing worse would have been a couple of Billy King type trades where they mortgaged their future but they already did that once and owe their picks to ORL and PHI.