Keeping the team intact

[Vae Victus]

In theory yes, signing FAs when opportunity present itself is cool but you should give us the examples, who would you want to sing in 2017 FA that would help our goals. You can't predict everything like N.Young being our defensive stopper at the 2 spot but you can still give us some names maybe.

I think Gordan Hayward is a good and realistic option tbh

If i had a choice i'd target Blake Griffin as my realistic marquee FA choice. KD, Curry, arent realistic as they'll more than likely resign to keep the championship train rolling. Milsap is a nice piece but Blake is way more dynamic on O and can help playmake. He's already comfortable in LA and once the Clippers implode after another 2nd round shellacking him and CP3 are gonna be ditching that squad quick. Not to mention twisting the knife in the Clippers back and relagating back to 3rd tier Bball in town status (after LAL, UCLA/USC) would be the perfect revenge after the past 3 down years. GM Rivers has done a TERRIBLE job building around Blake/CP3 and pissed away all of CP3s prime in 2nd round beatings. CP3 a legend but his efficiencies are trending the wrong way and only a desperate team would offer him a 4 year full max deal, which we sure as hell aint, i think Blake sees the writing on the wall. Last offeseason they REALLY screwed up handing out huge deals to Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford when no one else out there were likely come close to their new deals. Simply put theyre capped out and have nowhere to go but down.

Blake Griffin will be a 7 year veteran after this season and eligible for a 30% max of cap deal starting at 30.4 mil (info from cbafaq.com) assuming a projected 102 mil salary cap

Renounce Black, Huertas. Assume Swaggy P opts out for more money elsewhere

Using Hoopshype numbers adding up the salaries 2017/18 of
Deng
Mozgov (both on Deng and Mozgov they pulled a cute trick depressing their 2017/18 salary and then bumping back up in 2019-20)
Clarkson
Lou Will
Randle
DLo
Ingram
Nance
Zubac
2 Min roster holds to bring us to 11
Comes to around 71.5 mil which PERFECTLY gives us the room to offer Blake or any 7-9 year FA a max contract. I daresay... Mitch and Jim did one HELLUVA job crunching ALL the numbers out to position us PERFECTLY to pick up a single marquee FA.

Team then becomes from signing Blake Griffin
C - Mozgov, Zubac (he'll be ready)
PF- Blake, Randle, Nance (Oh dear whatever shall we do with this logjam)
SF- Ingram (he should emerge by now), Deng
SG- Clarkson, Lou Will
PG- DLo

Now if Griffin signals he's ready to bolt and leaving the Clips with jack **** perhaps GM Doc will cut his losses and accept a S&T from the Lakers to get some assets back. I dont see CP3 sticking around and the Clips have zero chance of luring a marquee FA without both Blake/CP3. They'll have 40 mil in cap space assuming both CP3-Blake opt out and run. Perhaps if CP3 stays for the max then it cuts their remaining cap to 8 or so mil.

Blake Max Deal S&T for Deng + Randle + 1st Round Pick. Clippers straight up replace Blake with Randle basically Blake Lite, get an ok 3/4 in Deng and a pick, vs losing Blake for nothing and remaining nearly capped out.

If such a long shot trade comes to pass, well gee guess what, we just opened up 22 mil in cap, find a taker for Lou's cheap 7 mil expiring and now we can have about 26 miil free cap space (its not 29 due to the fact we need to spend some of our cap on roster holds). Now the Blake S&T is pretty damn convoluted and only done if we can convince another Superstar to come here to open cap space but just signing him straight up is a feasible option.

This is pretty much what i'd do if i was Mitch and Jimmy. Backcourt is a bit weak, but one can find help by trading Randle/Deng somewhere.

Gordon Hayward is a fine player and can slot in at either SG/SF nicely. However with the way the team is constructed we dont need a SG terribly and Ingram is our SF heir apparent with Deng's contract a huge anchor. An elite big will do us better for now. If he turn in a healthy season shooting 3s at a high% i'd prolly like him alot more.

[larry14r]

In theory yes, signing FAs when opportunity present itself is cool but you should give us the examples, who would you want to sing in 2017 FA that would help our goals. You can't predict everything like N.Young being our defensive stopper at the 2 spot but you can still give us some names maybe.

I think Gordan Hayward is a good and realistic option tbh

If i had a choice i'd target Blake Griffin as my realistic marquee FA choice. KD, Curry, arent realistic as they'll more than likely resign to keep the championship train rolling. Milsap is a nice piece but Blake is way more dynamic on O and can help playmake. He's already comfortable in LA and once the Clippers implode after another 2nd round shellacking him and CP3 are gonna be ditching that squad quick. Not to mention twisting the knife in the Clippers back and relagating back to 3rd tier Bball in town status (after LAL, UCLA/USC) would be the perfect revenge after the past 3 down years. GM Rivers has done a TERRIBLE job building around Blake/CP3 and pissed away all of CP3s prime in 2nd round beatings. CP3 a legend but his efficiencies are trending the wrong way and only a desperate team would offer him a 4 year full max deal, which we sure as hell aint, i think Blake sees the writing on the wall. Last offeseason they REALLY screwed up handing out huge deals to Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford when no one else out there were likely come close to their new deals. Simply put theyre capped out and have nowhere to go but down.

Blake Griffin will be a 7 year veteran after this season and eligible for a 30% max of cap deal starting at 30.4 mil (info from cbafaq.com) assuming a projected 102 mil salary cap

Renounce Black, Huertas. Assume Swaggy P opts out for more money elsewhere

Using Hoopshype numbers adding up the salaries 2017/18 of
Deng
Mozgov (both on Deng and Mozgov they pulled a cute trick depressing their 2017/18 salary and then bumping back up in 2019-20)
Clarkson
Lou Will
Randle
DLo
Ingram
Nance
Zubac
2 Min roster holds to bring us to 11
Comes to around 71.5 mil which PERFECTLY gives us the room to offer Blake or any 7-9 year FA a max contract. I daresay... Mitch and Jim did one HELLUVA job crunching ALL the numbers out to position us PERFECTLY to pick up a single marquee FA.

Team then becomes from signing Blake Griffin
C - Mozgov, Zubac (he'll be ready)
PF- Blake, Randle, Nance (Oh dear whatever shall we do with this logjam)
SF- Ingram (he should emerge by now), Deng
SG- Clarkson, Lou Will
PG- DLo

Now if Griffin signals he's ready to bolt and leaving the Clips with jack **** perhaps GM Doc will cut his losses and accept a S&T from the Lakers to get some assets back. I dont see CP3 sticking around and the Clips have zero chance of luring a marquee FA without both Blake/CP3. They'll have 40 mil in cap space assuming both CP3-Blake opt out and run. Perhaps if CP3 stays for the max then it cuts their remaining cap to 8 or so mil.

Blake Max Deal S&T for Deng + Randle + 1st Round Pick. Clippers straight up replace Blake with Randle basically Blake Lite, get an ok 3/4 in Deng and a pick, vs losing Blake for nothing and remaining nearly capped out.

If such a long shot trade comes to pass, well gee guess what, we just opened up 22 mil in cap, find a taker for Lou's cheap 7 mil expiring and now we can have about 26 miil free cap space (its not 29 due to the fact we need to spend some of our cap on roster holds). Now the Blake S&T is pretty damn convoluted and only done if we can convince another Superstar to come here to open cap space but just signing him straight up is a feasible option.

This is pretty much what i'd do if i was Mitch and Jimmy. Backcourt is a bit weak, but one can find help by trading Randle/Deng somewhere.

Gordon Hayward is a fine player and can slot in at either SG/SF nicely. However with the way the team is constructed we dont need a SG terribly and Ingram is our SF heir apparent with Deng's contract a huge anchor. An elite big will do us better for now. If he turn in a healthy season shooting 3s at a high% i'd prolly like him alot more.

The Clips would rather lose Blake for nothing than to do a sign and trade with the Lakers.

[Tee212]

nice thread, i love this core. with everything you guys mentioned BI still havent even blossomed yet!

[tugs]

This group has a certain grit and cockiness that you just admire. Read that prior to the Hawks game, they saw that they were labeled 'soft' (Hawks are still on their soft schedule, pertaining to the Lakers) and that ticked them off. Then during the PHX game, Clarkson getting pissed that he was not chosen to guard Booker.

Man, Clarkson playing with more emotions and aggressiveness now, Randle the psychological enforcer, Russell the cocky assassin, Nance the energy highlight reel, and Ingram the consistent up and comer. Damn.

[Princeinrevolt]

In theory yes, signing FAs when opportunity present itself is cool but you should give us the examples, who would you want to sing in 2017 FA that would help our goals. You can't predict everything like N.Young being our defensive stopper at the 2 spot but you can still give us some names maybe.

I think Gordan Hayward is a good and realistic option tbh

If i had a choice i'd target Blake Griffin as my realistic marquee FA choice. KD, Curry, arent realistic as they'll more than likely resign to keep the championship train rolling. Milsap is a nice piece but Blake is way more dynamic on O and can help playmake. He's already comfortable in LA and once the Clippers implode after another 2nd round shellacking him and CP3 are gonna be ditching that squad quick. Not to mention twisting the knife in the Clippers back and relagating back to 3rd tier Bball in town status (after LAL, UCLA/USC) would be the perfect revenge after the past 3 down years. GM Rivers has done a TERRIBLE job building around Blake/CP3 and pissed away all of CP3s prime in 2nd round beatings. CP3 a legend but his efficiencies are trending the wrong way and only a desperate team would offer him a 4 year full max deal, which we sure as hell aint, i think Blake sees the writing on the wall. Last offeseason they REALLY screwed up handing out huge deals to Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford when no one else out there were likely come close to their new deals. Simply put theyre capped out and have nowhere to go but down.

Blake Griffin will be a 7 year veteran after this season and eligible for a 30% max of cap deal starting at 30.4 mil (info from cbafaq.com) assuming a projected 102 mil salary cap

Renounce Black, Huertas. Assume Swaggy P opts out for more money elsewhere

Using Hoopshype numbers adding up the salaries 2017/18 of
Deng
Mozgov (both on Deng and Mozgov they pulled a cute trick depressing their 2017/18 salary and then bumping back up in 2019-20)
Clarkson
Lou Will
Randle
DLo
Ingram
Nance
Zubac
2 Min roster holds to bring us to 11
Comes to around 71.5 mil which PERFECTLY gives us the room to offer Blake or any 7-9 year FA a max contract. I daresay... Mitch and Jim did one HELLUVA job crunching ALL the numbers out to position us PERFECTLY to pick up a single marquee FA.

Team then becomes from signing Blake Griffin
C - Mozgov, Zubac (he'll be ready)
PF- Blake, Randle, Nance (Oh dear whatever shall we do with this logjam)
SF- Ingram (he should emerge by now), Deng
SG- Clarkson, Lou Will
PG- DLo

Now if Griffin signals he's ready to bolt and leaving the Clips with jack **** perhaps GM Doc will cut his losses and accept a S&T from the Lakers to get some assets back. I dont see CP3 sticking around and the Clips have zero chance of luring a marquee FA without both Blake/CP3. They'll have 40 mil in cap space assuming both CP3-Blake opt out and run. Perhaps if CP3 stays for the max then it cuts their remaining cap to 8 or so mil.

Blake Max Deal S&T for Deng + Randle + 1st Round Pick. Clippers straight up replace Blake with Randle basically Blake Lite, get an ok 3/4 in Deng and a pick, vs losing Blake for nothing and remaining nearly capped out.

If such a long shot trade comes to pass, well gee guess what, we just opened up 22 mil in cap, find a taker for Lou's cheap 7 mil expiring and now we can have about 26 miil free cap space (its not 29 due to the fact we need to spend some of our cap on roster holds). Now the Blake S&T is pretty damn convoluted and only done if we can convince another Superstar to come here to open cap space but just signing him straight up is a feasible option.

This is pretty much what i'd do if i was Mitch and Jimmy. Backcourt is a bit weak, but one can find help by trading Randle/Deng somewhere.

Gordon Hayward is a fine player and can slot in at either SG/SF nicely. However with the way the team is constructed we dont need a SG terribly and Ingram is our SF heir apparent with Deng's contract a huge anchor. An elite big will do us better for now. If he turn in a healthy season shooting 3s at a high% i'd prolly like him alot more.

Our biggest need is a shooting guard, we already have a lot of talent at the four spot, and I don't even think griffin would come. And plus we already have Julius Randle, he is playing amzing right now, and this is basically his second year. His shot has shown some improvement, and he is shooting a great percentage... Also his defense is getting much better.... Randle will be something special in this league... Anyways we need a shooting guard unless you want us to start uncle P to be our shooting guard of the future. Luke walton wants clarkson on the bench, and that has clearly been working since, we have the highest scoring bench in this league... Gordan Hayward is a very realistic target, and he can shoot the three, can play defense, and pass the ball. he would be a great fit with lakers and luke walton... We don't need blake griffin he is getting up there in age, his body is breaking down, and he wont help us win a championship in the future... lets keep this team intact, and sign a two way shooting guard who is not too old... Also we need a center but, we have to wait until 2018 for demarcus cousins who is also a realistic option, and one of the best centers in the game.... For him (if we sign hayward) we need to trade timofey or deng) which may or may not be possible, but we should try, and maybe trade lou williams... But our youth core should stay together.... They are already very good at such a young age, and have great chemistry. And ther oretty cheap right now, we need to sign one max player in the next two offseason before we need to resign Julius Randle, because I know he is going to take up a lot of cap space.

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[danfantastk32]

Oh God...please don't get Griffin. Total overrated chode. Is there a word that means the opposite of "stretch the floor"? A basketball Neutron star, perhaps?

We have Randle and Nance at the PF anyways.

This team needs to just play the season. Evaluate things afterwards. There like 75 games left...let's all just enjoy whats happening.

[Vae Victus]

Blake is one of the few big men out there that demands a consistent double team to contain and is an elite passer for a big. Not to mention he's got a VERY solid mid range game that's been developing nicely the past 2 seasons. He's literally singled handed destroyed elite playoff defenses on his lonesome when he was fully healthy.

Yes he has suffered some injury woes lately due to immaturity and massive over usage by Doc to make up for a not very deep Clipper squad. However i bet he'll get straightened out in a hurry being on a LEGENDARY franchise and not an upstart one, surrounded by past warriors who will set him straight. Having either Randle or Nance to back him up can keep his usage/mins down til we need him for max effort in the PO. Also having a big man who can facilitate will relieve ALOT of pressure off of the backcourt and let them focus on finishing at times.

Blake Griffin is basically what we dream Randle will morph into. Maybe Randle will wow us the rest of the season and make us think he's a keeper, but if Griffin is available for our max slot we'd be fools to not sign him. Better to have too many pieces and then trade em out as needed to fill other holes. A Randle+Clarkson package can get us something good if both young players keep progressing.

Honestly i think Doc is an overrated as hell coach, im REAL curious to see what wonders Luke can do with Blake if we have him on the squad.

[Princeinrevolt]

Blake is one of the few big men out there that demands a consistent double team to contain and is an elite passer for a big. Not to mention he's got a VERY solid mid range game that's been developing nicely the past 2 seasons. He's literally singled handed destroyed elite playoff defenses on his lonesome when he was fully healthy.

Yes he has suffered some injury woes lately due to immaturity and massive over usage by Doc to make up for a not very deep Clipper squad. However i bet he'll get straightened out in a hurry being on a LEGENDARY franchise and not an upstart one, surrounded by past warriors who will set him straight. Having either Randle or Nance to back him up can keep his usage/mins down til we need him for max effort in the PO. Also having a big man who can facilitate will relieve ALOT of pressure off of the backcourt and let them focus on finishing at times.

Blake Griffin is basically what we dream Randle will morph into. Maybe Randle will wow us the rest of the season and make us think he's a keeper, but if Griffin is available for our max slot we'd be fools to not sign him. Better to have too many pieces and then trade em out as needed to fill other holes. A Randle+Clarkson package can get us something good if both young players keep progressing.

Honestly i think Doc is an overrated as hell coach, im REAL curious to see what wonders Luke can do with Blake if we have him on the squad.

Why do you have this big boner for Blake, no one said he is bad, he is one of the best power forwards, he is just not a need for us at this specific moment.... Let the team develope, and sign a young SG to continue developing with the squad... We are not going to win a championship with Warriors and Cavs being around.... so lets take our time and do this right.... We don't to wait for griffin's injuries every single year.... that will hurt our squad more than anything... Btw i think the Clippers are going to be the best in the west this year...(if everyone's healthy) And they matchup really well against the warriors.



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[Vae Victus]

That's a silly question. Blake is likely the best potential FA that has a good chance of being signed. Having Blake on the team makes attracting other superstars alot more likely (IE forcing trades, signing over, etc). Not to mention the poster above me called Blake an overrated chode, so i felt compelled to defend my 2nd player's honor.

[Landsberger]

If a chance came to trade 1 or 2 of these guys for a true elite player came alone I hope the FO doesn't hesitate. While we have a great young core I don't see any transcendent players on this squad. For those of us who watched in the early 90's this looks a little familiar. We had a lot of good young talent on those teams in Van Exel, Jones, Campbell and Divac. Not to mention Christy, Peeler and Lynch. All these guys had multiyear NBA careers. This team isn't at that level yet but may be in a year or so.

Point being is that I don't see anyone better than the best players on those teams and we needed a trade and big FA signing to convert that group of talent into a true contender again.

[eckoner]

I think Mosgov and Deng are options to include in large trade while including one of our youngs!

With all of the youngsters bring tiny contracts which wont get you a veteran all star calliber player. You need filler and what better than $30 million per in filler.