Lakers Targets - Free Agent Class 2020

[stan francisco]

Oladipo is a Good player. But....BUT...and this is the cynic, doubtful Haterade drinker in me..WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME INDY HAS EVER DEALT WITH US IN GOOD FAITH? I mean, sorry bout the tone my good friends and who are all members of the LAKER NATION. I just have Zero trust in Indy ever tryin to give us anything good. Theyve reported us in the past, they attempted to co** block us in previous times. I just don't believe they'll do it without somethin up their sleeve...Okay, back to regular programming. Sorry for the drinking.

It’s that Larry guy.

[lazybatman]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2914281-report-lakers-request-career-ending-injury-application-for-luol-deng-contract

Definite signal of intent to make moves and improve on a championship squad this off season from Pelinka. If this helps pay for Rondo and KCP's well deserved improved contracts, and leaves our exceptions in tact for new signings, we're golden.

[lazybatman]

Unlike a lot of Lakers fans, I have a deep respect for Chris Paul. I think he's still a top-3 PG in the league. With that said, he's not the guy for this team. Paul and Lebron would be a similar situation to Harden and Paul. CP3 needs the ball in his hands. He's just average off-ball. I'd much rather resign Rondo or pick up Teague in free agency.

But Lebron can go 32p-11r-6a off the ball too, if CP3 and Rondo are there.

That amount of Basketball IQ on the same team and CP3 vs Rondo are gonna be the fun dynamics to watch out for.

[lazybatman]

Only way I do the CP3 thing is if we can extend him for like 12M/yr and trade him with Green... Not gutting the roster for cp3, even if they are all scrubs... It removes too much flexibility.

Wait.. what?? That entirely flew over my head. How can we do that?

[lazybatman]

I like Rondo over Paul because of age #1. And his game has improved under our coaching. He's also built a strong chemistry with our guys. And I've seen Bron defer to this dude and run the offense. And lastly, I've just watched him prove it about a week ago. His play already has the stamp of approval since I seen it with my own eyes.

CP3 and Rondo can coexist.

- Old man Lebron will defer to anyone including Danny Green, KCP, Caruso, Bradley. Rondo is one of the top 20 PGs to have ever played the game, so no surprise there.
- Bron can pretty comfortably go to an efficient 30p-11r-6a from PF/SF back to the basket game, while CP3/Rondo handle the ball most of the game.
- CP3 is one of the best clutch players ever - solid iso player with a legit mid range and 3 pt game.
- No team EVERRRR would've had such an elite level of playmaking. All three of them capable of turning games on their own.
- "Playoff Rondo" and CP3 are elite of the elite defenders. We would need to replace the trade assets with some kinda size, but I've seen CP3 guarding prime Lebron on the ball, so not much worried about the Kawhi Leonards of the world.
- CP3 is a dog who ate 10 dogs for breakfast for all the media members who didn't think we had dogs on our side, when the season started.

What worries me a wee bit is the chemistry. CP3 and Rondo have had a kinda love affair over their careers. CP3 is the better player, but Rondo has 2 Rings with the 2 biggest franchises in the game. Bron loves CP3, to the extent that he was down consoling CP3 on the opposing team, after he got into it against Rondo last year. AD clearly adores Rondo, but I don't believe he'd give up on Lebron for Rondo.

I believe both of them are smart enough to get on the same page. And, Lebron's influential enough as a leader, but these are not your usual JR Smiths and Dwight Howards of the world, who are happy to follow. They are both leaders with epic track records, which may mean that only one of them needs to lose it to blow up the chemistry.

Since the CP3's salary is basically a lock for 2 years, with no out, Ima say NO to this one, but it sure is exciting to think about.

[lazybatman]

After we sign AD, let’s see how much money we have left. Until then, we won’t know how much we can spend on free agents.

I’d like to offer FVV four years for $80M and Meyers Leonard a three year deal for $45 but we’ll hit the cap before thinking about it. Then sign Rondo for the full MLE to say thanks for the championship.

Trading JMG, Kuzma, Green for Oladipo and McDermott would be a great move.

I’m expecting THT and Kostas to log meaningful minutes next season.

If KCP opts in, cool. If not, he’s not exactly the irreplaceable type.

Well, we pretty much know exactly what we have left after we sign AD: Nothing.
We have the full MLE which is about 10M.
We have the BAE which is about 3.8M.
We have the ability to re-sign KCP at whatever amount he wants because we own his bird rights.
We have the ability to do sign-and-trades with other teams.

So if you want to pay FVV 20M you're going to have to get Toronto to do a sign-and-trade and you need to send them about 16M in salaries. Meyers Leonard isn't getting 45M on the open market. We might get him far cheaper than that.

I would love to get FVV but he is likely staying in Toronto. Leonard is ok, but i would prefer just to re-sign Boogie.

And I'm pretty certain AD, Rondo, Boogie and KCP are gonna be happy to wait till we are done with our FA business to resign them, regardless the CAP situation. Same as KD's 2nd year with Golden State.

[lazybatman]

tim hardaway jr would be a great pick up imo and someone who could really develop under bron

And he's a Free Agent, so we get to choose who to dump.

[lazybatman]

LeBron, stop playing GM!

Rob, don’t listen to Rich Paul!

It’ll ruin our depth and cap flexibility.

I know you’re friends and all but you can hang out everyday after retirement.

haha.. I can see KCP getting signed up long term enough to make the Lakers regret it.

[lazybatman]

As far as I'm concerned,
KCP is probably gone. He's gonna fetch more than we are willing to pay. Nope. Rich Paul clients do what Lebron needs. Probably gonna sign a longer term deal that exceeds this championship window though .
Bradley will probably opt in.
McGee will probably opt in.
Howard will opt out and he's probably gone as well. I'll be happy if it happens given the Boogie's probably coming back in, but who else is hiring him?
Rondo will opt out but we'll probably resign him for a more lucrative deal, using his early bird rights.
Markieff Morris will probably resigned via the BAE.
Jr Smith, Waiters and Dudley are all goners.

Kuzma, Green and Cook will probably be packaged for somebody.

So that leaves us with Lebron, Davis, Caruso, Rondo, Bradley, McGee, Morris, THT, Cacok and Kostas.

Trade Kuzma, Green and Cook for Buddy Hield and #35 and #43 in the draft.
Let's face it, we're not getting Beal, CP or a top notch guy for Kuzma. We're also not gonna pay him so we need to cash in before we lose him for nothing. He alone can't fetch anybody noteworthy since he has a low salary, Green will need to be included in any deal.

Realistically we can get a guy in Hield's tier. He should fix our shooting issues and give us a reliable 3rd scoring option every damn night off the bench. That'll be a great deal for us but Heild's a trade, so it's a lot tougher to convince a Front Office that Green+Kuz are worth anything good without Lebron on their side. Sign and Trades a lot easier.

Package #28 # 35 and # 43 for a higher pick. Miami for example, has proven time and time again that they can develop low picks and they have a single pick in the draft, #20. They will probably do our deal.

Draft Jalen Smith. He is an excellent rim protector and was shooting 37% from 3 this college year. Excellent length, can switch on the perimeter and shoot the 3 at the other end. The modern day 5 at it's finest. I see him as a Myles Turner type of guy in this league.

Sign Gallinari with the MLE. As he said in a previous interview, he's at a point in his career in which he prioritizes winning over money. And 10 mil per year is a nice chunk of change anyway. Yeah.. I think he's our best bet too - savvy elite shooter and playmaker who should be a great fit next to Lebron, but he's not coming for 9 mil. Wonder if we can do a sign and trade for MLE + Cook + McGee

And two more ring chasing vets to round out the roster. I'm thinking defensive wings.
Mo Harkless and DeMarre Carroll that'll be nice + Kyle Korver and Marco Belinelli

Lebron/Rondo/Bradley
Caruso/Hield/Horton Tucker
Gallinari/Carroll/Harkless
Davis/Morris
McGee/Smith/Kostas/Cacok


This is an attainable roster IMO. Not saying it will happen, but we're not getting a top tier star via trade and don't have the room to make a big splash via FA.Bro, you're underestimating Gallo's MV. He's not signing no where for less than 15-18 mil, despite the ambition. We can technically pull some strings to make a big splash, but I don't think it's what we need. We need better role players and a deeper bench to add to a championship roster.

And it's even better than last year. I don't see anyone who can argue it's not.
We'd have a deeper bench, we'd have consistent scoring outside of our 1-2 punch, shooting, defense, everything you need.

[Kilroy]

Only way I do the CP3 thing is if we can extend him for like 12M/yr and trade him with Green... Not gutting the roster for cp3, even if they are all scrubs... It removes too much flexibility.

Wait.. what?? That entirely flew over my head. How can we do that?

You can extend a player and trade him as long as you can get the trade partner to accept the new salary... The only thing I'm not clear about is if you can combine an extend and trade with another player.

[lazybatman]

Only way I do the CP3 thing is if we can extend him for like 12M/yr and trade him with Green... Not gutting the roster for cp3, even if they are all scrubs... It removes too much flexibility.

Wait.. what?? That entirely flew over my head. How can we do that?

You can extend a player and trade him as long as you can get the trade partner to accept the new salary... The only thing I'm not clear about is if you can combine an extend and trade with another player.

So we're asking CP3's deal to be extended over say 3 years and 40 mil.. Sorry mate. Still not sure how this works.

[Kilroy]

Wait.. what?? That entirely flew over my head. How can we do that?

You can extend a player and trade him as long as you can get the trade partner to accept the new salary... The only thing I'm not clear about is if you can combine an extend and trade with another player.

So we're asking CP3's deal to be extended over say 3 years and 40 mil.. Sorry mate. Still not sure how this works.

No... Extend not stretch.

Extend Kuz.

[stan francisco]

CP3 is too old by now, and I’m not interested anymore. He’ll pull a hammy and costs way too much not to be relied upon to play every game.

We don’t need him. Caruso, Rondo, LeBron, KCP, THT, AD is enough defense, ball handling and vision.

[LAKESHOW]

Really a true point. We right now have the pieces. Even if we need an on point back court defender, bradley is already in house. Floor general? Rondo in house. Mr. Reliable? KCP is here. A hustle guy? Caruso ready to go. Just open up the check book.

[TylersLakers]

^losing both kuzma and green is too much length in our defense lost. Our perimeter defense was more of a collective , by committee , defense that physically wasn't there although our mindset was. Losing that whatever length we have in kuzma and green would really diminish our perimeter no matter how bought-in the team is ..and we'll eventually have to wear down LeBron then to compensate.

I get what you're saying, but there will be ring chasers and vets who will sign with us.

For example- You could use the MLE in it's entirety on Gallinari. Or you could split it up and get Harkless + Baynes.

Other veteran options (along with the dollar range I think they'll get):

- Paul Millsap (bi-annual, vet min)
- Serge Ibaka ($5-7M)
- Derrick Favors (bi-annual)
- Kent Bazemore (vet min)
- Evan Turner (vet min)
- Marcus Morris Sr ($5-6M)
- Courtney Lee (vet min)
- Solomon Hill (vet min)
- Mo Harkless (bi-annual, $4-5M)
- Meyers Leonard (vet min)
- Andre Roberson (vet min)
- E'Twuan Moore (bi-annual)
- KCP (re-signed, we have bird rights. Can sign him to anything we want)
- Jae Crowder (MLE)
- Langston Galloway (bi-annual)
- DJ Augustin (vet min)
- Justin Holiday (bi-annual)
- Stanley Johnson (vet min)
- Wilson Chandler (vet min)
- Kyle Korver (vet min)
- Thabo Sefolosha (vet min)
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (vet min)
- Harry Giles (bi-annual)
- Nerlens Noel ($5-6M)
- Carmelo Anthony (vet min, bi-annual)
- Noah Vonleh (vet min)
- Mario Hezonja (vet min)
- Derrick Jones Jr (MLE 1 year prove it deal)
- DeMarre Carroll (vet min)
- Anthony Tolliver (vet min)
- Trey Burke (bi-annual)
- Justin Anderson (vet min)

There's a ton of guys who are going to be available and looking to chase rings. We could use that MLE ($9M) a season or split it up amongst a combination of guys. For example: Harkless + Ibaka, followed by vet min signings like Carmelo, DJ Augustin, Solomon Hill, Bazemore, Meyers Leonard and then a bi-annual signing like Langston Galloway.

PG: Chris Paul/Caruso/THT
SG: KCP/Galloway/Bazemore
SF: LeBron/Harkless/Hill
PF: Davis/Carmelo/
C: Ibaka/Howard/Leonard

This is the perfect year because of the financial ramifications and limited teams with cap space to grab guys on bargain bin deals.

[Kilroy]

I hate CP3... But no matter what team you put him on, they seem to end up being in the post season... He's just that kind of competitor.
If the Clips get him, he's going to be scary with that team... So better us than them.

That said, I want nothing of his ridiculous contract... So if he accepts a buyout to play here for like the vet min... And if we lose Rondo... Maybe I'm in on CP3... Hell if we could get CP3 AND Rondo, we'd be golden taking for granted that Caruso is going nowhere.

I only threw out the extend and trade of Kuz because I thought it was highly unlikely to happen...

[stan francisco]

^losing both kuzma and green is too much length in our defense lost. Our perimeter defense was more of a collective , by committee , defense that physically wasn't there although our mindset was. Losing that whatever length we have in kuzma and green would really diminish our perimeter no matter how bought-in the team is ..and we'll eventually have to wear down LeBron then to compensate.

I get what you're saying, but there will be ring chasers and vets who will sign with us.

For example- You could use the MLE in it's entirety on Gallinari. Or you could split it up and get Harkless + Baynes.

Other veteran options (along with the dollar range I think they'll get):

- Paul Millsap (bi-annual, vet min)
- Serge Ibaka ($5-7M)
- Derrick Favors (bi-annual)
- Kent Bazemore (vet min)
- Evan Turner (vet min)
- Marcus Morris Sr ($5-6M)
- Courtney Lee (vet min)
- Solomon Hill (vet min)
- Mo Harkless (bi-annual, $4-5M)
- Meyers Leonard (vet min)
- Andre Roberson (vet min)
- E'Twuan Moore (bi-annual)
- KCP (re-signed, we have bird rights. Can sign him to anything we want)
- Jae Crowder (MLE)
- Langston Galloway (bi-annual)
- DJ Augustin (vet min)
- Justin Holiday (bi-annual)
- Stanley Johnson (vet min)
- Wilson Chandler (vet min)
- Kyle Korver (vet min)
- Thabo Sefolosha (vet min)
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (vet min)
- Harry Giles (bi-annual)
- Nerlens Noel ($5-6M)
- Carmelo Anthony (vet min, bi-annual)
- Noah Vonleh (vet min)
- Mario Hezonja (vet min)
- Derrick Jones Jr (MLE 1 year prove it deal)
- DeMarre Carroll (vet min)
- Anthony Tolliver (vet min)
- Trey Burke (bi-annual)
- Justin Anderson (vet min)

There's a ton of guys who are going to be available and looking to chase rings. We could use that MLE ($9M) a season or split it up amongst a combination of guys. For example: Harkless + Ibaka, followed by vet min signings like Carmelo, DJ Augustin, Solomon Hill, Bazemore, Meyers Leonard and then a bi-annual signing like Langston Galloway.

PG: Chris Paul/Caruso/THT
SG: KCP/Galloway/Bazemore
SF: LeBron/Harkless/Hill
PF: Davis/Carmelo/
C: Ibaka/Howard/Leonard

This is the perfect year because of the financial ramifications and limited teams with cap space to grab guys on bargain bin deals.

That list is plenty for Rob to make Lakers excellence with.

As far as our players’ trade value goes, let’s not pretend like we didn’t just win a championship. Rob has more leverage to work with in trades than we might realize just yet. Our entire roster’s stock just rose individually.

Why did we sign DG? Why am I impressed with FVV? They’re recent champions, got what it takes, battle tested. Been there, done that. The point? Kuzma is now a champion. And it’s not exactly like he road the pine. Everyone saw him single covering Butler in game six and doing very well. All the GMs know that he didn’t even scratch the surface of his offensive potential this season. Obviously, the same general value bump goes for rest of roster, as it does for every other championship team.

Defense, check. Offensive improvements next. Kuz and Green is a lot of well oiled defense to lose.

Anything including CP3 is a pass for me. Unless for BAE money.

[Dmagic]

i could see cuban making a trade for kuz andor kcp and somebody for tim hardaway jr

[stan francisco]

i could see cuban making a trade for kuz andor kcp and somebody for tim hardaway jr

Looking at on-court contributions, Danny Green straight up would be a pretty fair trade. We’d lose some defense and gain some offense, but mostly we’d lose a whole lot of savvy and experience. From a basketball perspective, Dallas wins that trade.

Kuzma straight up would also work but small for big is never fair. Both? No thanks for me. We need defensive cohesion more than we need offensive talent.

[DanishLakerFan]

^losing both kuzma and green is too much length in our defense lost. Our perimeter defense was more of a collective , by committee , defense that physically wasn't there although our mindset was. Losing that whatever length we have in kuzma and green would really diminish our perimeter no matter how bought-in the team is ..and we'll eventually have to wear down LeBron then to compensate.

I get what you're saying, but there will be ring chasers and vets who will sign with us.

For example- You could use the MLE in it's entirety on Gallinari. Or you could split it up and get Harkless + Baynes.

Other veteran options (along with the dollar range I think they'll get):

- Paul Millsap (bi-annual, vet min)
- Serge Ibaka ($5-7M)
- Derrick Favors (bi-annual)
- Kent Bazemore (vet min)
- Evan Turner (vet min)
- Marcus Morris Sr ($5-6M)
- Courtney Lee (vet min)
- Solomon Hill (vet min)
- Mo Harkless (bi-annual, $4-5M)
- Meyers Leonard (vet min)
- Andre Roberson (vet min)
- E'Twuan Moore (bi-annual)
- KCP (re-signed, we have bird rights. Can sign him to anything we want)
- Jae Crowder (MLE)
- Langston Galloway (bi-annual)
- DJ Augustin (vet min)
- Justin Holiday (bi-annual)
- Stanley Johnson (vet min)
- Wilson Chandler (vet min)
- Kyle Korver (vet min)
- Thabo Sefolosha (vet min)
- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (vet min)
- Harry Giles (bi-annual)
- Nerlens Noel ($5-6M)
- Carmelo Anthony (vet min, bi-annual)
- Noah Vonleh (vet min)
- Mario Hezonja (vet min)
- Derrick Jones Jr (MLE 1 year prove it deal)
- DeMarre Carroll (vet min)
- Anthony Tolliver (vet min)
- Trey Burke (bi-annual)
- Justin Anderson (vet min)

There's a ton of guys who are going to be available and looking to chase rings. We could use that MLE ($9M) a season or split it up amongst a combination of guys. For example: Harkless + Ibaka, followed by vet min signings like Carmelo, DJ Augustin, Solomon Hill, Bazemore, Meyers Leonard and then a bi-annual signing like Langston Galloway.

PG: Chris Paul/Caruso/THT
SG: KCP/Galloway/Bazemore
SF: LeBron/Harkless/Hill
PF: Davis/Carmelo/
C: Ibaka/Howard/Leonard

This is the perfect year because of the financial ramifications and limited teams with cap space to grab guys on bargain bin deals.

GOod list, but i think you're underestimating the contracts.