Looking Ahead: Lakers making Little Deals

Its my first post in the vet forum in a long time. I look to see some action in here and have a lively, yet decent conversation and discussion on the topic at hand. Before anything else, could anyone have foreseen that we are in the 2nd round this time of year via sweep? of a 50-win team? Onto the meat. The Lakers do not have the assets to make a big bang trade anymore. Well its quite counterintuitive anyway since we already made the biggest bang by acquiring Pau Gasol from Memphis. Oh and please do not forget the acquisition of Trevor Ariza that not only saved us some 5m in taxes but also gave us a very important player for our puzzle. This is false. The Lakers actually has something left - its our ability to make good investments. The Lakers have drafted extremely well under Mitch. Mitch's defining moment was when he decided to take an unknown, unproven out-of-HS center for the #10 pick in the 2004 draft. As of now, his value, though injured is off the charts. That alone tells you it was a success. By the mere fact that the very-hard-to-please Kobe trusts the young man, you can tell what kind of future he will have. Why not capitalize on our strengths? My suggestion has a twist in it. It involves the Lakers looking for more "diamonds in the rough" as they did with Luke Walton and Ronny Turiaf - all from Mitch's genius (who would predict we could even say this?!). In essence, first round picks as does seconds have an unspoken going rate. For many years we've witnessed the Suns "sell" their picks to teams that are literally willing to buy. The most active among them buyers, Portland, is now who I am suggesting to buy from. Portland has 4....

Why would Portland do that? The draft is so loaded this year that JOEY DORSEY is going in the second round. He's huge. Why would the give up 2 picks for a future 2nd rounder and some change? You have to look at it from other teams perspectives.

Interesting suggestion. I think any off season deals made by the Lakers will depend on the results for this year win or lose. At this point the Lakers have their core players for a current run on titles (KB, Pau, Bynum, LO) and it is a matter of filling in pieces around them. I mean their best players when I say core. Obviously the re-signing of Sasha and Ronny are a priority. When you are in 'title' mode you start to fill your roster with veteran role players like the Spurs did with Finley and Horry and....

The Lakers can actually make small moves like Arren suggested to settle their future. Players who can possibly sit for two years and then take over the reigns.

Salary Caps and Luxury tax. The Lakers have a lot of good young talent right now. If the Lakers win a championship, these young players that have all of a sudden matured into real good role players are going to want more money. I don't even know if we will be able to sign some of these players that we have when contract time comes around.

That is why it is so important to have a good general manager that is constantly looking for a diamond in the rough and they can't be high school age anymore. I believe Bynum was probably the last directly out of high school. Where the Lakers have to look is in other countries.

laker2thegrave, you're comment is highly appreciated. As I said, these picks, with reference to no one can be used to develop younger players that can be had on the cheap (league minimum).

The idea of adding vets to the team is actually THE best and most-likely course of action. However, our team is not like other teams that have gaping holes on particular positions. We are a 10-11 deep team with Luke Walton being the 11th man. For some team, talent like that is worth the 7th or 8th man already.

Our PG position could use some veteran help BUT the TRI is an intricate system to follow. The only conceivable vet without a guaranteed contract out there that MIGHT fit is Tyronn Lue and he has played with us once before. If he would not be chasing a contract, I'd gladly have him for the vet min.

UPDATE:

There seems to be reports that the Lakers own Charlotte's 2nd rounder this year. Any idea if this is true?

From the Jumaine Jones deal? I believe so.

The pick that the Bobcats gave the Lakers is an 09 one I believe. I'd look to see if we could trade our #58+cash for an earlier second round pick or if possible late first. I'd like to see us go after Dorsey or Weaver

I agree with you warren, LA really does not have gaping holes. A couple of reasons I suggested vets.

One, although I would not mind young drafted players with the current team they would not get much time and by the time their rookie contract came up for renewal we may not have enough court time for a true evaluation. Take Javaris for example. He had flashes of what he could do, but with Fish and Farmar and Sasha he was nt going to get much time and in a few years LA would have to decide to pay a guy who is unproven.

Two, with a hungry vet (no titles) added to a team that has a title, I think helps the team keep its edge. If some players get comfortable and/or lazy after a title then you can put in the new vets to push those guys.

Now having said that I would not mind getting a Joey Dorsey either or maybe even someone like Sasha Kaun from Kansas (from one of the mock drafts). I would rather see them play than Mihm (who I think has lost his career unfortunately)

The #58 seems pretty worthless to a team that looks to add depth. Who was the last known 50+ pick to make a name? I hear Manu but he is a rare gem.

In essense, a team like Miami who has no 2nds and needs to fill out the roster would most likely be interested but then again, it would have to be a trade for nothing unless it was purely sold for some 300k.

If the Lakers indeed have the #38, there is no need to do what I suggested anymore. 2 spots down from 36 would not heavily matter anymore. I project whoever will be taken here would be an insurance PG or a combo guard a la Sasha.

If we stay put at #58 we'll probably pick someone that we can stash overseas for a year.

I think the moves that we have to make will be determined on how we perform in this year's playoffs. A lot of people have been saying that our Lakers are one of the most complete teams in the League not to mention that Andrew and Trevor are still not playing. Now that is saying something with our current team. I believe that this year's draft is a deep one, that we can really snatch a good player from it. But I believe that player will just be relegated in the D League or overseas because of our ridiculous depth once Andrew and Trevor comes back. But nice post though Pareng Warren!