I know the Lakers obviously can't have an olympic-level roster, but that group had everything I want the Lakers to have.
They had great defenders up and down their lineups, allowing AD to maximize his impact on defense knowing the other guys can hold up without so much help from him.
Team USA had other go-to options in high leverage situations. KD and Curry took over in different games, closing down the threats of runs from the other team.
The Lakers can't have players of that caliber obviously, but it's the formula the Lakers need to get back into contention.
DLo, AR and, Rui are sub-par on defense. And while they are good on offense, none of them are good enough to take over in high-leverage situations on a consistent basis.
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis. _________________ 14-5-3-12
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
That's why it's total pipe, but it'd most likely have to be a 4 for 2 with a minimum coming back with Curry, no AD going out.
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
That's why it's total pipe, but it'd most likely have to be a 4 for 2 with a minimum coming back with Curry, no AD going out.
It’s beyond a pipe dream. If you are keeping Bron and AD you would have to send out DLO, Rui, Gabe, Vando plus find a 3rd team willing to take on a few million.
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
All this Laker fan cares about is how many titles Bron/AD got and so far it's "just" 1. It's been a mediocre run together despite their elite talent. I don't just blame them, I put it on Pelinka much more. I mean think back to Kobe/Pau. No way should Kobe/Pau be better than AD/Bron, but they clearly are as a duo. I'm maybe one of Pau's biggest fan on this board and I still think AD/Bron had more talent/base to work with as a duo. Yet 1 in 5. Laker duos, the standard is Kobe/Shaq, Kobe/Pau, Magic/Kareem. Lebron/AD have paled in comparison. Considering their start in 19-20, I really thought at least we'd get Kobe/Pau level success (3 NBA Finals, 2 rings) over 5 years.
Trading all your picks and depth for a 3rd star is probably a consideration, but I hope we build a balanced team. We're simply not as balanced as the contenders.
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
Trevor heard y’all
_________________ “The main goal for the Lakers is to win a championship. All I care about, all we care about, is to raise another banner in the rafters.“
The fact that we have had two of the best players on Team USA for the past two years playing healthily while only managing a WCF and first round exit was a gross underachievement imo.
I know we've won one championship with Pelinka but I'm still PO at all the missed opportunities due to his poor roster management. I don't care what anyone says but DLo was not a good acquisition. The way Bron and AD were playing the last two years, if you put anyone in place of DLo not named Westbrick, the team would have performed just as good if not better.
DLo is so bad that nobody wants him. Even Denver signed Westbrick. _________________ Los Angeles Lakers 2025 NBA Champions!! Go JJ!
2019-2020: First year Bron and AD playing together both healthy. Result = Championship
2020-2021: Lebron got hurt late in season by Solomon Hill and was not effective in the playoffs. AD was also playing hurt the whole season. Result = first round exit.
2021-2022: Westbricked. Doesn't really matter how healthy Bron and AD were. Result = missed playoffs
2022-2023: Bron and AD were back healthy and dominating again but only managed WCF because of Hamburger coaching and DLo choking. Result = WCF
2023-2024: Bron and AD were still healthy and dominating but again Hamburger and DLo held the team back. Result = first round exit. _________________ Los Angeles Lakers 2025 NBA Champions!! Go JJ!
I don't agree with that. I think no one wants to give up some kind of starter back for him. If you look at players around the league like DLO. In that salary range. When they hit free agency they had to take a paycut of the MLE or even a chance on the vet min on a team that is contending so they can get their value up.
DLO instead got 19M to come back. Last year no one was offering him more than the MLE. This year he had a solid RS, and shot the 3 well. He's been a player that I think if he hit free agency, immediately he would fetch a MLE. He has that kind of value.
The issue is we paid him well above the MLE. We paid him over a price that made him a trade asset, other than if a team is wanting to unload a really bad bloated contract. Teams are very concerned with adding these "depth"/"supporting" pieces at these prices with the new CBA rules. They all are aware the stars of the team are going to get 60-70M a year type of deals. So it's becoming a lot of MLE guys + your 60-70M star/franchise guys.
So now you're seeing teams want a draft pick attached to DLO to give you back a starter. Or they want to unload a bad contract (Lavine for example). That's on Pelinka again, for not reading the market well enough. He thought 19M for DLO would be a bargain and an eventual trade asset. Most at the time agreed. It's not like everyone was upset a year ago. Most were lauding the moves Pelinka made. I was one of the few who thought bringing back DLO/Rui and also then letting Dennis go, instead bringing in Gabe, were suspect moves. I didn't think the WCF run had much to do with DLO/Rui, as much as it had to do with just having depth, and Reaves playing as well as he did for the vet min, as well as Dennis on a vet min. We had a lot of guard depth, a lot of depth in general and were feasting off match ups vs weak teams in the playoff (Neither Grizz/Warriors made the playoffs this year). To top it all of, Pelinka then went out and extended Vanderbilt on a 4 year MLE level deal.
We've got a lot of players on this roster that are not seen worthy of their deals. That's just the way it goes when you lose in the 1st round 4-1 and you've got 2 mega stars in AD/Bron. Your depth pieces aren't going to fetch a lot if the league feels you've overpaid them. As I said earlier it seems to be the market has changed a lot in a year. Teams are more wary to deal for those support/depth pieces in which DLO would fall under. If that piece is making well above the MLE, and you can instead get 2 players for the MLE or just 1, teams are choosing that route.
The only true trade asset we have that isn't a draft pick (lets count Knecht as a draft pick for now) is Austin Reaves. That's why even back last season we saw the Hawks wanting Reaves. Teams will always want the player that is actually playing up to his contract, or exceeding it's value. The only player we could move, starter for starter, without attaching a pick is Reaves.
Even Rui, as good as he was in FIBA, he's not shown he's been worth the 17M deal he got last year. IMO, we have a lot of depth pieces, but the depth pieces are not seen as trade assets (Rui17M, DLO19M, Vanderbilt10-12M, Gabe11M etc).
What sucks for me to view this. I forsee us using draft picks to get out of this. If AD/Bron and this team with Redick as coach don't perform better than last year with Ham, Pelinka will move the pieces attaching picks to get better. Similar to what he did with Westbrook. WB was not movable in an appealing deal for the Lakers until they attached picks.
The middle ground solution for me is to deal Reaves. He's got marginal upside left. He's very close to his peak. If you can improve your athleticism and defense in dealing Reaves, you should definitely do it. Sell him before he gets on his next big contract. I say that with pain, because I like Reaves a lot. It's just that if you're in the situation of maxing out the AD/Bron era, and you don't want to give up future draft picks, you can probably be a better team as a whole if you move Reaves for value than praying someone takes DLO/Rui/Gabe/Vanderbilt (without FRPS).
I don't agree with that. I think no one wants to give up some kind of starter back for him. If you look at players around the league like DLO. In that salary range. When they hit free agency they had to take a paycut of the MLE or even a chance on the vet min on a team that is contending so they can get their value up.
.
this is the same thing. He is a PG with solid numbers and a pretty decent paycheck yet we cant throw him away.haven't been able to since feb. Sometimes teams can look through a lens of one teams trash may be their treasure.
Hes not even trash. The problem seems to be off the court issues. Windhorst and Eric have said he is not highly regarded around the league.The fact that we arent sold on him reinforces that simply because on paper we should want him as our 7th man at best. _________________ Kobe.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Clw9scopegx/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
That's why it's total pipe, but it'd most likely have to be a 4 for 2 with a minimum coming back with Curry, no AD going out.
It’s beyond a pipe dream. If you are keeping Bron and AD you would have to send out DLO, Rui, Gabe, Vando plus find a 3rd team willing to take on a few million.
It would kill depth
So basically it'd be last year's team with DLo and Rui swapped for Steph. I don't think that team wins the title, but I also don't think it gets eliminated early either.
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
That's why it's total pipe, but it'd most likely have to be a 4 for 2 with a minimum coming back with Curry, no AD going out.
It’s beyond a pipe dream. If you are keeping Bron and AD you would have to send out DLO, Rui, Gabe, Vando plus find a 3rd team willing to take on a few million.
It would kill depth
So basically it'd be last year's team with DLo and Rui swapped for Steph. I don't think that team wins the title, but I also don't think it gets eliminated early either.
Steph-Bron-AD? This is like GS trio on steroid, title for sure _________________ “The main goal for the Lakers is to win a championship. All I care about, all we care about, is to raise another banner in the rafters.“
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
That's why it's total pipe, but it'd most likely have to be a 4 for 2 with a minimum coming back with Curry, no AD going out.
It’s beyond a pipe dream. If you are keeping Bron and AD you would have to send out DLO, Rui, Gabe, Vando plus find a 3rd team willing to take on a few million.
It would kill depth
So basically it'd be last year's team with DLo and Rui swapped for Steph. I don't think that team wins the title, but I also don't think it gets eliminated early either.
Steph-Bron-AD? This is like GS trio on steroid, title for sure
Bronny with 3or4 vet mins _________________ “When it looks as if it is a realistic possibility, I want to focus on winning a ship like it’s a goal that can’t be denied. I didn’t see that this off season.”
2019-2020: First year Bron and AD playing together both healthy. Result = Championship
2020-2021: Lebron got hurt late in season by Solomon Hill and was not effective in the playoffs. AD was also playing hurt the whole season. Result = first round exit.
2021-2022: Westbricked. Doesn't really matter how healthy Bron and AD were. Result = missed playoffs
2022-2023: Bron and AD were back healthy and dominating again but only managed WCF because of Hamburger coaching and DLo choking. Result = WCF
2023-2024: Bron and AD were still healthy and dominating but again Hamburger and DLo held the team back. Result = first round exit.
The 2021 offseason was key. Basically, Pelinka made lots of mistakes during the 2021 offseason and since then this team could never get back to the top again.
Teams who likely value D’Angelo Russell or wouldn’t mind taking a chance at D’Angelo Russell:
Brooklyn
Toronto
Detroit (hungry to add talented veterans)
Utah (only if we give up a 1st round pick in a potential Kessler trade)
Chicago
Cleveland (loaded with guards so they might give up someone like LeVert to bring DLO to the Cavs
The others don’t need him cause they already have a starting level PG
Last edited by Inspector Gadget on Sun Aug 11, 2024 1:46 pm; edited 1 time in total
2019-2020: First year Bron and AD playing together both healthy. Result = Championship
2020-2021: Lebron got hurt late in season by Solomon Hill and was not effective in the playoffs. AD was also playing hurt the whole season. Result = first round exit.
2021-2022: Westbricked. Doesn't really matter how healthy Bron and AD were. Result = missed playoffs
2022-2023: Bron and AD were back healthy and dominating again but only managed WCF because of Hamburger coaching and DLo choking. Result = WCF
2023-2024: Bron and AD were still healthy and dominating but again Hamburger and DLo held the team back. Result = first round exit.
The 2021 offseason was key. Basically, Pelinka made lots of mistakes during the 2021 offseason and since then this team could never get back to the top again.
It was mostly about all the off seasons that blocked the Lakers success in their own bad special way.
2020 off season seems to get exempted…even tho it dismantled the ship team…since the resulting team was #1 in the standings early, added Cousins, then added Drummond on buy out, plus were dominating the eventual Western Conf Champs Suns before AD got injured. Still, getting rid of so many of the ship contributors…Dwight/Magee/Green/Rondo… was an unnecessary bad move. Perhaps switching out 1 or 2 of them would have been ok but passing on all 4 was incompetence.
2021 was especially bad but imo Westbrook gets too much blame considering he produced 17/8/8 and Rob’s part in passing on Drummond/Kieff/Caruso/Matthews/Schroeder for DeandreJordan/Ariza/Bazemore/Ellington/DJAugustine. That defense/bench with Vogel may have been a ship team even with Westbrook.
2022 was inexcusable considering everyone knew Westbrook had to be traded. Taking the team into the season was malpractice and overshadowed adding Schroeder/TBryant because it caused the 2-10 start. If Rob had the appropriate sense of urgency perhaps he could have jumped on the Pacers early for Brogdon/Heild/Turner for Westbrook/THT/2FRPs, (cost and extra FRP but better than Dlo/Beasley/Vando).
2023 saving $2m to switch in Vincent for Schroeder likely blocked a ship considering how well the Lakers competed despite ZERO contributions from Vincent and Schroeder’s 14ppg/6apg/3pt38%/defense.
2024??? Passed on the almost no cost free wide open bunny layup assist from LBJ for Valanciunas and wiffed by missing the contested logo 3pt shot for Klay/DeRozan when all the team needed was the easy choice. Didn’t go after Caruso who was dealt for no picks and could have offered Vincent/FRP. _________________ “When it looks as if it is a realistic possibility, I want to focus on winning a ship like it’s a goal that can’t be denied. I didn’t see that this off season.”
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
That's why it's total pipe, but it'd most likely have to be a 4 for 2 with a minimum coming back with Curry, no AD going out.
It’s beyond a pipe dream. If you are keeping Bron and AD you would have to send out DLO, Rui, Gabe, Vando plus find a 3rd team willing to take on a few million.
It would kill depth
Thinking through this scenario. If this trade were even remotely realistic, which it isn't, the Lakers are sending back Reaves, Christie, Knecht, JHS as positive value players. So you're looping in a 3rd and likely 4th team (contenders) to take some free players so that GSW isn't getting a ton of salary back.
Christie + Knecht + JHS + Reaves are $27.5M, you add to that DLO, Rui ($35M) and you have the contours of a trade that would at least be plausible (plus picks). Add Christian Wood in the trade and the Lakers in this blockbuster 4-team trade are sending out $65.5M or so, which means from the Warriors/ the 3rd&4th teams they are getting back about $9.5M worth of additional salary (or maybe less, because the roster spots that are being vacated need to be filled while staying under the 2nd apron).
That leave some weird roster of like:
Curry/ ???/ Vanderbilt/ James/ AD
Vincent/ Reddish/ ??? / ??? / Hayes
(Bronny, MaxL are not in the rotation).
Theoretically if this happened in June I could see you building out a good roster with VMs like Dinwiddie and GTJ, but as is it's hard to imagine building out a championship roster with whatever spare parts you get back in addition to Curry + whoever is available on the market right now
I know this is massive pipe but I think the Olympics were for Lakers fans in that it's at the very least got Bron and Curry thinking about teaming up. And both outcomes, whether Bron goes there for youth/draft capital or Curry asks to come here, would be great outcomes imo.
Trading for a $56m player is near impossible unless we are sending back Davis.
That's why it's total pipe, but it'd most likely have to be a 4 for 2 with a minimum coming back with Curry, no AD going out.
It’s beyond a pipe dream. If you are keeping Bron and AD you would have to send out DLO, Rui, Gabe, Vando plus find a 3rd team willing to take on a few million.
It would kill depth
Thinking through this scenario. If this trade were even remotely realistic, which it isn't, the Lakers are sending back Reaves, Christie, Knecht, JHS as positive value players. So you're looping in a 3rd and likely 4th team (contenders) to take some free players so that GSW isn't getting a ton of salary back.
Christie + Knecht + JHS + Reaves are $27.5M, you add to that DLO, Rui ($35M) and you have the contours of a trade that would at least be plausible (plus picks). Add Christian Wood in the trade and the Lakers in this blockbuster 4-team trade are sending out $65.5M or so, which means from the Warriors/ the 3rd&4th teams they are getting back about $9.5M worth of additional salary (or maybe less, because the roster spots that are being vacated need to be filled while staying under the 2nd apron).
That leave some weird roster of like:
Curry/ ???/ Vanderbilt/ James/ AD
Vincent/ Reddish/ ??? / ??? / Hayes
(Bronny, MaxL are not in the rotation).
Theoretically if this happened in June I could see you building out a good roster with VMs like Dinwiddie and GTJ, but as is it's hard to imagine building out a championship roster with whatever spare parts you get back in addition to Curry + whoever is available on the market right now
I know it will not happen but eh if we took what you posted in consideration
Steph
Cam
Vando
Bron
AD
Hayes
Vincent
Bronny
The bench is weak but damn it’s still enough in a vacuum to the point the vet min for guys like Troy Brown, Biyombo, Crowder, Reggie Bullock, Covington, Fournier, and Wenyen Gabriel makes you go it would be worth it.
Minnesota is hungry for a title after coming off of a WCF run, JJ Redick needs to get the guys ready for the Season opener or else it could be a ugly blow out
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