Forget 2018 Free Agency: Lakers Have Plenty of Questions to Answer This Season

 
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emplay
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 12:38 pm    Post subject: Forget 2018 Free Agency: Lakers Have Plenty of Questions to Answer This Season

Hey all,

Here's my latest at Bleacher Report: Forget 2018 Free Agency: Lakers Have Plenty of Questions to Answer This Season

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2735635-forget-2018-free-agency-lakers-have-plenty-of-questions-to-answer-this-season

Thx,

EP
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 2:25 pm    Post subject:

Emplay nice job on the article.

I look at the cards the Lakers are holding and I like their hand.

They can open up cap space next year or they can resign the players that they have or do a combination of both.

A lot will depend on how everyone perform and that includes OKC. If OKC blows it away and will commit to spending money to keep the big 3 plus Adams that will eliminate PG13 and Westbrook from free agency. If LBJ is serious about staying in Cleveland all the sudden the options become much more limited. Cousins is still out there and would be an upgrade over Lopez but he has a lot of baggage and brings risks. Anyway the 2 max strategy may not be as appealing as we thought expecially if PG13 is off the market.

I think we need to wait until December or January before we can get a good understanding of what is likely to develop. I also think it will take at least that long to understand the value of the Laker players. We have so many guys that we are looking for significant improvement that it is going to be though to understand their value until we see them for a while in game conditions.

Hopefully by December or January we will have an idea about a few things that will impact our strategy.

How good are the young veterans: Randle, KCP, Nance and Clarkson. Do they look like starters or rotation guys on a playoff team that can go deep into the playoffs or do they just look like average NBA starters. I think there is a possibility that both KCP and Randle will prove one way or the other whether they are playoff caliber starters. Can Clarkson prove that he can be a playoff caliber 6th man or just a scorer on a non playoff team. Is Nance at least a playoff rotation player? If the team is competing for a playoff spot and these guys are judged playoff team caliber players you got to keep them through the trade deadline and consider keeping them long term. If they judge them not to be playoff caliber level guys and we are not in the playoffs you want to trade them. If we are not competing for a playoff spot and we judge them to be playoff caliber we must have other problems elsewhere.

Another situation that could develop is that a max level potential 2018 free agent may be on a team that is struggling and may become available. It is foreseeable that Boogie Cousins ends up on a Pelican team that isn’t very good and the Pelicans are not getting good vibes about him resigning and they decide they want to make him available. His value will be depressed and if we are not in the run to make the playoffs it would be worth trading some assets to acquire a max player. A Clarkson, Nance, Zubac and Brewer might get it done and we could clear the Clarkson contract while stilll securing one of our max players. If the Lakers still judged that KCP and Randle were keepers they could keep them if not they could still trade them for draft picks.

Now I fully expect OKC to be really good but if things do not go well they will be looking at a future mess. The costs of Westbrook, PG13 plus the exiting contracts of Carmelo and Steve Adams will be tremendous and I doubt they pay the luxury taxes unless they feel they can compete for the title. Westbrook is the one they will want to keep the most so it may actually be logical for them to decide that they will pass on PG in free agency. They are probably looking at losing $50 Million plus if they sign all those guys.

So anyway if in the small chance that things are not going well in OKC it is possible that PG13 becomes available and I think the Lakers would be able to put a package together to get him. He is less likely than Boogie to become available but it is possible.

Anyway a lot will depend on how well our team does and how high the value of our players are valued by other teams. It will also depend on how other teams with potential max 2018 free agents are performing and if trades are possible.

And if our players develop and we are contending for a playoff spot and 50 wins we might not do anything and if we do we will be dealing from a position of strength.

Anyway I like the cards we are holding and it will be interesting to see how Magic Rob play them this year.
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foreveralakerfan
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:53 pm    Post subject:

Before the first exhibition game, this season is so hard to predict.

Do Ingram and Randall improve? Are Pope and Lopez as good as upgrades as we are led to believe and do they upgrade the defense? Is Kuzma for real and does he find minutes? Where does Hart fit in? What about Nance?

Then, do they play defense this year? if so, how effective are they?

I am thinking they will do quite well this year offensively, and what winds up dictating their record is how well they rebound and play defense. Bad defense will result in a 30 game win season. Good defense gets them near 500. If they are better than good (would be a shocker!) they approach 50 wins.

I understand the lakers really pushing for defense the first couple days in camp, but its more than that. It has to be a season long committment and has to be organic as well. Talk defense all you want, but if the players dont hold one another accountable for D, it doesnt work. What winds up happening is lots of finger pointing as happened last year.

My guess is they play some good D at times, some very good D on occasion, and some really bad defense at times too. So I predict a near 40 win season.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:59 am    Post subject:

Good article Emplay - it's refreshing to see a focus on this coming year and shove the '2 Max' talk way into the background because neither the Lakers nor OKC knows what they have yet.

I'm really looking forward to seeing these guys on the court, and watching to see whether the Lonzo Effect is real at the highest level of competition, how Kuzma cracks the rotation and how effective he is, whether Randle shifts gears on team defense and consistency in order to become a championship caliber starting 4, how much BI can improve - and I agree on your 15 ppg comment - and for that matter how Clarkson embraces his role.

Fingers and toes crossed on Brook Lopez. He could do so much for this team as constructed if his back allows it to happen.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:00 am    Post subject:

I agree with the title completely. So many times I see posters tell others not to project what our players will be in the future since we haven't played this season yet. Then, I see endless dialogue in free agency threads about what will happen next year and beyond. I don't care about next year until I finish enjoying this year first.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 6:24 am    Post subject:

All I can say is Jim and Mitch really messed up the Lakers.
Start with giving Mosgov and Deng those huge contracts.
And then Clarkson. Poor coaching decisons. Howard/Nash. etc etc.
And not really making wise decisons on great chances with number 2 picks.
Randle is a brute but can he play bb?

Magic and Rob found a gem in Kuzma.
They first have to fix the mistakes Jim and Mitch made before they can even rebuild.
Talk about having both hands tied behind your back against a
top puncher.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 9:34 am    Post subject:

Unfortunately we don’t have great basketball minds to lead us forward. 28-30 wins would be a good goal for this team.
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emplay
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:30 pm    Post subject:

Maybe - I don't know if the Lakers do or do not have good leadership.

If their grand plan works next summer, then they've done something that didn't work for Mitch/Jim.

If not, they got out of DLo to dump a contract they didn't need to dump
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:48 pm    Post subject:

laker50 wrote:
All I can say is Jim and Mitch really messed up the Lakers.
Start with giving Mosgov and Deng those huge contracts.
And then Clarkson. Poor coaching decisons. Howard/Nash. etc etc.
And not really making wise decisons on great chances with number 2 picks.
Randle is a brute but can he play bb?


Magic and Rob found a gem in Kuzma.
They first have to fix the mistakes Jim and Mitch made before they can even rebuild.
Talk about having both hands tied behind your back against a
top puncher.


Hindsight is 20/20- would have have had the Lakers take Oka4 instead of DLO? No one had Porzingis that high prior to the draft. Mudiay? It was not a great draft.

Randle was a #7 pick- pretty slim pickins that year as well. Elfred Payton, Noah Vonleh, Zach Levine went after him. Not exactly tearing up the league. Saric went number 12 and he is OK, but again not sure Randle was a bad pick in that draft.

BI IMO was and is BPA at the 2 spot in his draft. You have guys like Bender, Dunn, Hield after him. I think BI is going to be a star, I have not written him off after 2 inconsistent pre-season games like a lot of folks have around here.

Lonzo IMO was a great pick at #2. Then throw in the larceny that the Lakers have committed later in the draft with Kuz, Nance, JC and Zubac.

Agree that Mozdeng was horrible. Nash and Dwight did not work out, but hey they were dealing with the VETO and trying to get Kobe one more ring. Really Mozdeng and the VETO and Kobe's injuries have lead us to the rebuilding phase. We have the young bucks now, we just need to watch them grow!
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:34 pm    Post subject:

I'm posting this BEFORE I read Emplays blog-post:

here is who I would like to see the Lakers bring in next season:

PG
DeAndre Jordan (Cousins would be ok too)
Isiah Thomas

Scoring, experience and defense, it's what we need...!
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 12:23 pm    Post subject:

Good Article

Randle and Nance are effective options?
Noting that Randle can't play defense and has no outside shot while Nance disappears for extended stretches of time.
Lakers need leaders/veterans that will constantly be "In Their Face" to be accountable and not waste any of their PT

Maybe (shockingly) Luke will experiment with Deng at C - nah (at least he will play solid D and can hit an outside shot

Randle seemingly needs to play with others that will compensate for his deficiencies on defense and a 5 that will leave the paint open (Lopez) on offense

It will be fascinating to see how Luke uses JC - our version of JR Smith

Imagine a lineup of
Lopez
Ingram
Kuzma
KCP
Lonzo

Bench
Randle
Nance
JC
Deng/Bogut
Ennis
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:27 am    Post subject:

It's better to enjoy the here and now, than wait for the pie in the sky of 2 max free agents. Early on, it looks like OKC and the Cavs are doing what they can to close the window on PG13 and LBJ.

Frankly, we are going to struggle this year again, with a lack of defense and a bunch of guys who have trouble shooting. That does not bode well in a very competitive Western Division.

Randle and Kuzma have played pretty well so far, most of the other guys have not. I'm a little worried about BI, that he is essentially on the Randle development scale. I think if BI plays at 15 ppg or better this year, the team will show improvement, maybe in the 30-35 wins this year. If he bricks like the Commodores, then its probably another 25 win season. Nance doesn't look good so far, neither does KCP.

I'm just going to try and look for the silver lining, enjoy the process, and know that over time we will figure it out. But the only magic bullet so far is Kuzma, let's see who else plays like they want to be good, not just because they want to get paid.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:51 am    Post subject:

emplay wrote:
Maybe - I don't know if the Lakers do or do not have good leadership.

If their grand plan works next summer, then they've done something that didn't work for Mitch/Jim.

If not, they got out of DLo to dump a contract they didn't need to dump


Again, that is the fear of those of us who are skeptical of the 2018 plan. It could still work out, but some of us still remember the 2007 plan.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:13 pm    Post subject:

emplay wrote:
Maybe - I don't know if the Lakers do or do not have good leadership.

If their grand plan works next summer, then they've done something that didn't work for Mitch/Jim.

If not, they got out of DLo to dump a contract they didn't need to dump


The problem is that we work on a mismatch of information: Magic and Pelinka know how likely is that PG and LeBron come to LA next season. We can only speculate.

If they have a good lead on that and they end up in purple and gold, then I'll take the DLo trade as the Eddie Jones trade. Not good, but necessary.

If they did what they did based on weak signals from PG and LBJ camps, and we don't get the 2 Max, then the DLo trade will, at least, have been done in a terrible timing. Getting rid of a 2-yr Moz contract would have been cheaper.
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emplay
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:17 pm    Post subject:

Real talk Magic and Rob can only speculate on what LeBron will do. Yes they have more information than we have but not as much as you would like
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:39 pm    Post subject:

emplay wrote:
Real talk Magic and Rob can only speculate on what LeBron will do. Yes they have more information than we have but not as much as you would like


As fans, we need to keep a eye on any Deng deals involving Randle, if that happens then we got something cooking in 2018 FA, Lakers know they have to shred more contracts though
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:25 pm    Post subject:

emplay wrote:
Maybe - I don't know if the Lakers do or do not have good leadership.

If their grand plan works next summer, then they've done something that didn't work for Mitch/Jim.

If not, they got out of DLo to dump a contract they didn't need to dump


Great was the wrong term to use, experienced is what I had in mind
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:44 am    Post subject:

Inspector Gadget wrote:
emplay wrote:
Real talk Magic and Rob can only speculate on what LeBron will do. Yes they have more information than we have but not as much as you would like


As fans, we need to keep a eye on any Deng deals involving Randle, if that happens then we got something cooking in 2018 FA, Lakers know they have to shred more contracts though


They are definitively cooking something and they will dump Deng when they have the chance, to pursue the 2 Max plan. The problem is: how sure are they it will happen. Do they already have a wink-wink deal, or is it just a wish? And Emplay's input was not encouraging.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:09 am    Post subject:

Eindhoven wrote:
Inspector Gadget wrote:
emplay wrote:
Real talk Magic and Rob can only speculate on what LeBron will do. Yes they have more information than we have but not as much as you would like


As fans, we need to keep a eye on any Deng deals involving Randle, if that happens then we got something cooking in 2018 FA, Lakers know they have to shred more contracts though


They are definitively cooking something and they will dump Deng when they have the chance, to pursue the 2 Max plan. The problem is: how sure are they it will happen. Do they already have a wink-wink deal, or is it just a wish? And Emplay's input was not encouraging.


Deng could go in a deal for a max player as the salary cap filler. You are going to have to give up young assets and they don't make much money so either Deng, JC, Brewer, KCP & Lopez will have to be part of a deal to get a max type player in deal. I don't think they will use Randle, BI, Lonzo or Kuzma just to get rid of Deng salary but if we were to get a real max level player and get rid of Deng in the deal only Lonzo would be totally safe.

Boogie Cousins to me is the most likely real max type player to be available in the bargain bin right now. A really good team may be wary of how he will fit in but he would be worth a shot for us if he is made available at the right price. He went cheap last year.
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