Lakers 2021 Off-season Ideas & Discussion

Nobody defeat father time and LBJ is no exception. He has slowed down tremendously compared to 4 or 5 years ago. He has accumulated the most turnovers in his career this season because of his tentativeness of wanting to take the shot which resulted to wasted minutes then make an unticipated last minute pass. He has caused the slow down of the offense pattern.

His former " come what may " drive to the basket is already history and only exist in his mind and worst, he knows that his body is not as flexible and strong as before. No more daredevil drive, which he is known for because deep inside he's scared it might cause serious injury to his aging body.

If he still want to play with the team, he should be fair enough to cut his salary which at this stage, is very obvious that is not at par with his performance. Next season might be worst for him as he will be 37 and while he getting slow, the young players are getting more experienced and strong .

Needed shooters for years Dave. I've said it since I started here. It's always been our weakness as the league went towards more of it and less fundamentals. Somehow the Lakers can never get their head around the idea. Or they're living in the past. Or shooters just don't want to come here. Not good ones anyways. Probably coz they follow this site and saw me write 1000 times over that LA is where good shooters come to die, and it scared them off lol.

Will be interesting indeed to see who they keep, since they only have 6 players signed for next season, and a cple of them will probably be gone. So lots of slots to fill. Which of course means everyone has to get used to playing with LeBron again etc. I'm not very optimistic to be honest. Too many good teams like the Suns now, and the Dubs will be strong again next season. LBJ and AD tie up too much money. And this city is not the destination it once was. Used to only be a few teams who could compete with the Lakers, now there's several.

We'll see. And we'll see u guys next October!

Interesting off season for sure, I supposed we have the 21st pick in the draft this year so something like a guard or a shooter. Though Dame could be intriguing I'm more interested with Derozan. I know he isn't the shooter that we need but he is a reliable 3rd scorer. Also we did attempt to trade him before the season & he would love to be in LA & probably take lesser money for him to contend. For a bigman, we just need a lob threat / rim protection. I still want Alex Caruso because of his high IQ,hustle & team first.

Kuz is for sure gone & he still have value for non playoff team like Detroit & perhaps get Jerami Grant.

Most are mentioning that everyone should be gone aside from Lebron and AD. If we can't provide some players who can actually score, I think we should trade AD as well. We have two, possibly three players on this team who can produce. One of which is most likely signing with the Knicks, although I have heard mixed stories about that now. Maybe the Knicks noticed his poor attitude and are changing their minds. If we can't acquire players who can carry some load when AD get injured, and yes, it will happen again, what is the point? When he goes down, this current roster can not carry the activity that AD would bring healthy and they look like a high school team rather than the defending champions. Most couldn't hit the side of a barn with another planet on a good day. We need a Lillard or a Curry on this team to bring a real "big three", not a poor mans "big three". The two will carry the load WHEN AD gets injured or breaks a nail. If that or something similar doesn't happen, I think we should trade him. He is too goddamn vulnerable.

I would be open to keeping Drumond as a BACKUP at the 5. I mentioned this at the beginning of the season when I referenced this team getting eliminated in the first round; the 5 position has become our weakness. The Suns exploited it with a rookie named Ayton. Who is that anyway? The 5 needs to be addressed.

We also need to get out of the elitist mentality. We played liked the Finals were going to be dropped in our lap. Guess what? It doesn't work that way. Get your heads out of your asses!

Blow up the team and lets go!

No one is coming to help the Lakers. No stars for sure. Forget Dame. Forget Greek Freak, forget all the other silly names floating around. Maybe Walker if Boston lets him go, or Smart. That's the best we can hope for. The ball has to be out of LeBron's hands now. And the injuries is why everyone panicked when AD waited to sign a 'longer term deal' with LA. He knows he's brittle. He wanted a 5 year deal. Most stars now sign 2 year deals. He wanted 5. He was hurt last year but managed to work through it to get that title. Outside the bubble we would not have won last year. We traded away half the team to get AD. Now we got him. Now the hard work begins coz most of this team won't be back. I've listened to Antawn Jamison today and his take, and Barkley and others, and everyone agrees Pelinka screwed up last summer when he got rid of all the players he did, and got replacements who didn't work out. Now LBJ is a year older, injured, and one step closer to retiring. This summer Rob has an even harder job. Get rid of players who didn't work out, and find better ones, make up for bad decisions, and a whole bunch, not just one or two. No one comes to the Lakers rescue. They've struggled for years bringing in top guys. Top gritty consistent role players/shooters to surround their star(s). Many have come and gone. And now they'll be gone again. Waiting for the next crop of 1 year contracts. Good luck to him. Imo the Lakers championship years are over. And if the Clips lose tonight they have tough decisions to make also. In reality PG or Kawhi should have come to the....

You mention that Lillard, Curry, Greek Freak are all a pipe dream, but somehow KL is feasible? I suppose I am missing something here.

Kawhi wants to play in Miami, last I heard. But again here we go after super stars. Why not just do some research and find those good players. Just look at who are the players that gave the Lakers the most trouble against the Sun's. And I am not talking about Booker because he is a super player that will retire as a Sun. But I am talking of players that nobody had heard off before, like Payne and Jae Crowder. That is what the Lakers need to do is start early and scout out the whole nba for players that really are not famous, but are skillful.

And there are many who will be up for grabs and I am sure if the Laker organization does their job, they can get some not so famous players to sign up with the Lakers.

After the Lakers won in the bubble, there was to much show boating by LeBron and AD, both sucking on big cigars was pictured everywhere. No rush to get back to training camp.

Next season should be interesting as to who will the Lakers sign and trade.

Plenty of shooters out there- though many are aging. It’s probably best to get younger anyways- focus on younger 3&D guys using money saved from the near-Schroder disaster. Kuz is capable to be a guy like that he just isn’t reliable- yet. Maybe with some offseason work he can improve his shooting consistency.

Coz he's a UFA. The others are not and would require trades we don't have assets for. I'm not saying KL is doable. I'm just saying, of all the 'stars' he's the only one freely available and possibly maybe attainable, since he lives here etc. And anyways would be probably the best option skills wise etc to compliment what we have, and he's clearly done trying to be the leader, which he is not. They'd make a hellova 1/2/3/ combo. W�hich should have happened 2 years ago. But whether he wants to come is anyone's guess.

But we have no chance of getting Greeky or Curry or Dame et al. Not a snowball's chance in hell. So I'm just saying, big star wise, from what I can see, realistically, at least somewhat realistically, if we're not hard capped again, KL is it.

I'm down for that approach, but who are they? Who's available? And remember, shooters come to the Lakers to die. There are no exceptions. We've tried it before. Danny Green, McLemore, Swaggy P, on and on. The list is long and fruitless. Hell look at our FT % this season, it was pitiful. Not only do we not get good shooters we can't even make ft's. Maybe that's why they always chase stars. I dunno. But if you've got a list of names, show us.

The best we've had was sweet Lou and we traded him. Big mistake. When we do have a hot hand we get rid of him lol. Plenty of shooters out there is one thing. Who are they, are they available, can we pay them, will they come here? It's a lot of work, coz all teams will try their best to keep them from us, as they've done the past few seasons. No one helps the Lakers. But they sure don't mind helping each other. I wonder if AD would have landed here if we'd only offered him a 2-3 year deal.

They'd better go hard after KL. Starting tomorrow, after the Clips lose tonight. If not him, who? Gonna be a long summer. I'm waiting to hear the injury report on AD as well. If it's a serious groin that could last 6 months. Groins are hard to heal. And he heals slow as it is. Some say we should trade him. No one is gonna trade us a better start for AD. You could say what about Portland? Trade Dame for AD? I don't see that going down. I think Portland fires Stotts. He's had 9 years and hasn't gotten it done. They do need a big tho. I'm just afraid Lakers will tell themselves it was just a bad year for injuries but we'll get 'em next year. This team as it is is going nowhere. And half the team isn't signed past this season anyways. It's going to be a wild summer, or really disappointing. Have to wait and see.

But first I want to know what's the injury situation with AD. Or do they not reveal that info after the season is over?

Should have kept the winning combination intact, for at least another run. “Don’t fix it, if it ain’t broke.” Well it’s all hindsight now, but you cannot let Pelinka off the hook for how this season panned out, irrespective of the injuries.

Replacing Howard and Mcgee with Gasol and Harrell proved to be an epic failure. Wes Matthews and Shroeder just don’t fit with this team. Danny Green looked quite pedestrian in the regular season last year, but he did make an impact in the playoffs. Coaching staff also deserve some of the blame for the way they (under) utilized Harell and some of the other guys.

They badly need another Bonafide superstar as an insurance policy for the aging King and “Street clothes” Davis. Lol. And lastly they need to scout for some consistent shooters. We don’t have a single reliable knock down shooter on the team. Streaky shooting will only get you to a certain point.

I’m just gonna sit back and play some tapes from last year and relive the championship run. Need some feel good ish. Lol

That is actually a really good idea. I enjoyed watching that team. Too bad I don't have any "tapes" and cleared my DVR.

One thing that really bothered me with this Suns series is that the Suns had a sold out arena. Not one seat was vacant. Lakers were at what, 50% capacity. I am sorry, but that is a problem. I get that the Suns were 2nd in the west and they should have home court advantage, but there is a problem there. Oh well.... Nothing we can do about it now aside from watching the dust settle. I hate to say I told you guys so, but I knew from the start that there were significant weaknesses with this team....

You can not control when injuries are going to occur, but the two super stars injured late in the season really is what brought the Lakers down. LeBron and AD when both were healthy the Lakers were heavy favorites to repeat. AD gets hurt with a type of leg injury that takes a long time to heal. He made an effort coming back, but the body had not had enough time to get used to full contact and it was just a matter of time for something else to go out, which turned out to be the groin.

Then LeBron got a high ankle sprain which at his age takes for ever to heal. So now we are out of our super stars, and the rest of the force were basically average NBA players, but they were playing as a team when the two super stars went out and were holding their own. The more they played together the better the chemistry was getting. But we knew that we were going to need the two super stars IF we were going to get out of the first round. We got them alright with only a few games left in the season, and the chemistry was just not there. It was not team effort anymore, but stand around and watch the two super stars try to win the games. The rest is history. IT DID NOT WORK!

Aw hell, here we go!!!....Lets take a few months to exhale, breatheeee. Then let Rob do his thang...lol.

No way. We let Rob 'do his thang' last off season and look what happened. It's time for us to step in and get it done! (lol)

Well Shepherd, actually Pelinka done a great job last season bringing the Lakers from bottom dwellers to where the Lakers won a championship. Some will say that the reason why the Lakers won was because they played in a bubble and that is BS it has nothing to do that actually helped one team over another. They just had better players playing the five spot which is critical and better then average over all team, with both super stars healthy. Now it is crazy posting that the Lakers should blow up the team because in reality the Lakers had a short turn around and with no rest, that is what causes injuries. I agree with some posts here that we should have moved faster to retain our two big centers that we had, but at the same time we also have to realize that the Lakers are heavily capped and after a team wins a championship, everybody wants a raise which is not possible. In the Howard case it was a lack of communication between Howard and Perlinka. Howard being up in age was worried he would not be wanted by most NBA teams, so he jumped on with the Sixers right away. I think the Lakers will retain some of the players they have and replace the one's that were useless. I will say half will be gone or traded for somebody else. But our Lakers will be back and they will not blowup the team to start from scratch. It just takes too long to rebuild. Lakers do not have and good draft picks, so it will have to be replacing by scouting for free agents and some trades. There will be many free agents, but managers like Perlinka....

Sure Rob did good, esp under the circumstances, the previous year. Not great btw as he blew it with KL. But he got it done. But this season, not so much. So let's face that.

Axle aren't you the one who named AD Mr Glass? We need more help than anyone on our current team not named LBJ, who's also slowing down clearly, can offer. That's why pple say blow the team up. Anyways it doesn't have to be 'blown up', it's imploding on it's own. Lots of players won't be back. I hope. If they are, and are paid, we'll end up back in the same place again. AD will be injured, LBJ is a year older, and the scrubs can't get it done. Our bench was terrible this past season. And our ft shooting and 3pt shooting was one of the worst in the NBA. So shooting has to be addressed. And big time help has to be incoming, we can't rely on AD and LBJ exclusively anymore. If either one or both get hurt again, there goes another season. Who they're looking at trying to bring in, I don't know. But I hope it's someone.

You say they didn't have enough rest after winning last season. Well everyone forgets, last season was much shorter than usual. So one could argue they shouldn't have needed as much rest. Also, there was no travel last season once they got into the bubble. So that saved a lot of time and wear and tear also. That long mid-seaon break while they figured out what to do was also rest time. So personally I don't buy that excuse at all. As it was AD was injured last season. Even with all that rest and less travel.

I've already listed the players I think will be/should be gone. Some under performed. Some just weren't a good fit. Many are on one year deals (or less) anyways. So like it or not, there will be major changes to this roster. Call it a rebuild of sorts if you want. But it's comin' either way. So fasten your seatbelt.

Lillard will force a trade unless they make some dramatic change. Where he goes is the question.

Do the Lakers have enough to assemble a package to make a trade? I think so, but the competition is fierce. It really boils down to where he wants to play. If Lillard wants to play for the purple and gold, he could push Portland that direction. He has been nothing but faithful to Portland and they may be willing to accommodate. If it’s a tossup between other franchises, we miss out on any significant trades. He could easily move to another franchise that has more to offer Portland. We will see.

There are only 3 to 4 players on the current roster who I want to see back. Lebron, Davis (if we can provide backup for WHEN he goes down), Drummond (as a backup at the 5), and THT (because he is cheap and can perform). The rest of them can go. An argument to keep players like Kuzma, KCP, and Matthews is laughable. I get it. We had injuries. The fact that they can’t hit the side of a barn with an asteroid doesn’t help during injuries. We need a team that can carry the load to some extent. We couldn’t beat a high school team. I don’t want to hear it.

Wonder if Portland would contemplate a swap of AD for Dame. AD is a great player- when healthy. Unfortunately he just seems to be injured too often. Then maybe sign-and-trade Shroder for a proven 3&D wing. An athletic shot-blocking center would be nice as well.

LOL, No it was not me that started calling AD Glassman, but I had to agree with the original poster that called him that because he does have a history of getting hurt real easy. But at the same time when he is feeling healthy, he is a darn good player. So I would not even consider AD on any trade. Now LeBron is up in age and IF there was a possibility of trading him for a Lilliard or another player of that caliber, and younger I am all for it. But that ain't going to happen.

Lilliard was from Oakland, California, but now he has some deep roots in Portland and has served that team well for many years. The Duo of him and McCollum have carried that team for years and the organization is not going to break up that duo.

Angelus mentioned Drummond to stay as a backup for the Lakers and I think he probably will be signed, but I really do not care for his game. He is a wide bodied person, but not really that tall for a center and he has Kwamme hands, can not hold on to passes. He is a magnet on fouls. So I would let him go and sign a younger taller more athletic player then Drummond.

As much as to letting Kuzma go to another team is hard for me because he is the last of the group of young players the Lakers had, but Kuzma to me is expendable because he is not consistent at all. It is feast or famine with this guy and I would trade him for a player like a Tim Hardaway JR who is a shooting guard, but at least we would have somebody that could be dependable as a shooters, or if a guard was not a good trade, I would look for a small forward like a Jae Crowder to replace Kuzma. I was sick when the Lakers decided to keep Kuz over Ingram on the trade with the Pelicans.

Lillard to the Heat.....IMO.

Well as I predicted, Portland cut ties to Stotts. It was inevitable. That will keep everyone in place for now until they see who the next coach is and what he has to say. The uptempo push style Portland plays won't suit AD, or most big bodies. But I'd take that trade all day if it was doable. Problem is then he becomes the star really, and LBJ might not like that. Politically it's complicated in LA now, as it was with Kobe.

Dave: Then maybe sign-and-trade Shroder for a proven 3&D wing. An athletic shot-blocking center would be nice as well.

Nice list Dave, but tough to accomplish. And who would it be? Can we even do a s+t with no shooter Shroooooder? He wants big bucks. Would anyone want him? He could up signing another 1 year deal here. But I sure hope not.

Pple mention a player "like Crowder, or Tim Hardaway Jr". Those guys aren't going anywhere. So who's the next young player who will become that? This is the question. And will such a player develop in LA? They usually don't. LA does not have a good track record of developing talent. Not only that but LBJ is nearing the end of his career. So, it can't be a player who will take 5 years to get there.

LBJ wants to play long enough he can play with his son. Does he mean on the same team? Coz no way we can get a draft pick high enough to draft him, and he's at least a few years away from getting into the NBA anyways. So does that mean LBJ would want to change teams then to be with his kid? Bronny is 16. He's not even out of HS yet. Doesn't seem very realistic. Maybe he can coach him somewhere in 5 years instead? lol

No easy answers in LA. Peli will have to get very aggressive and creative. And no matter what, we will once again have a new team in the fall.

I'm still waiting to hear from someone if we will be hard capped again next season, or if we can add $50K in payroll like the other top teams did.

We need Bradley Beal. The Wizards about to blow that thang up anyway. I need Rob to pull off a Jerry West for him...lol.

Unfortunately, that is the most likely of scenarios. The Heat have a lot of assets to work with, although I see a Butler/Lillard combination as toxic. I don't know, maybe I am wrong.

Would be sweet. But with Russ, and Beal signed an extension, I don't see it happening. I think they'll let him know they've got a crazy good core, which they do in those 2 guys, and that they'll build a team around them. But, we shall see. He has a player option in 2 years. He's also making $30mill/yr, which we could never pay.

Isn't LBJ going into his final year btw? So he's essentially an expiring contract now. Just sayin'

PS: I just checked and rumors are Beal might be made available this summer. If not he's an UFA next summer. But I don't get that, coz he signed an extension and it looks like this:

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/washington-wizards/bradley-beal-10811/

So he wouldn't be a FA until 2023. Same with Westbrook. Maybe that's wrong? Anywho, who would we be able to trade to get him? Kuzma and LBJ? lol

Bottom line is several teams have a lot of assets to work with. Boston as well, among others like OKC etc. What we know for sure is, we don't.

At this juncture in their careers, they both want to win. If the Heat could pull it off while keeping Bam, then that's a formidable 3 right there.

AD has missed 20% of his games in his 9 seasons. 1 game in 5! That's a LOT of games missed. He's 28. Is that going to change? Not likely. 10 Lakers are FA's this summer, 7 are unrestricted. 2 have options they probably won't pick up, including Trez. That's a a lot of pple to replace. For a team overly reliant on 2 superstars, one often hurt, the other getting old, and having no decent shooters, have not had any decent shooters in years, outside their superstars, it does not look good unless Rob can pull off a miracle off season. In spite of the small number of players signed next year, we still have 100mill in payroll tied up before he even starts adding several more players somehow. And you guys think we can add another star? Again it all depends if we are hard capped, and if they're willing or able to go to $150mill plus like 6 other teams are in the league now. Hardaway Jr is a FA this summer. If Mavs go far, do you really think he'll leave that team to come here? Can we even pay the man? You think Cuban will let him go to come to the hated Lakers? Suns /Mavs payroll is about the same as the Lakers. Mostly due to CP making $40mill. Cameron Payne, btw, who ate our lunch, makes less than $2mill. Torrey Craig, who also took our lunch money, makes $1.6mill. How much is Kuzma getting paid again? How many points did he score? 2! How much is Schnoozer making? How much does he want to make? 0 pts in game 5. 8 in game 4. Trez, Caruso, Morris, 2 points last night. Gasol, 0 pts (did he play?). There is a philosophical problem with this franchise. And it has....

I'm not sure of that. AD when healthy is a game changer. Dame is a scorer & clutch but AD is somewhat that could change the entire flow of the series which was evident when he got injured in Game 4. Dame keeps you afloat in the game & wins it on clutch time. If somehow & someway we can get him as the third star, that would be crazy. He is part of the space jam perhaps Lebron & AD can entice him to that.

Blazers don't want to deal with injured superstar.although with full offseason AD have more time to rejuvenate & prove himself once again.

AD needs to hire Kobe’s or LBJ’s physical trainer and get to work. He needs to follow a strict regimen and look at longevity as the top priority. “Best ability is availability” and he needs to take a leaf out of the handbook, of both the aforementioned gents.

We were 2-1 up on the Suns with all the momentum going our way for a possible gentleman’s sweep, against the #2 seed, before AD went down.

We also need to file a public interest lawsuit against that mofo Solomon Hill for seriously jeopardizing our season. Lol. I will never forget when we were 21-6 at the beginning of the season and arguably the best team in bb at that point. I have no doubts in my mind that a fully healthy squad would have had no problems in repeating. No point crying over spilt milk now and hopefully Rob replicates the 2020 championship magic. I don’t know about you guys, but the season is over me with the elimination of the lakers and i couldn’t be bothered about what’s going on in the playoffs.

I have continued to watch the playoffs, and there have been some good games and lots of blow outs. I enjoy watching basketball period. Would have liked to have seen our Lakers advance and to have stayed healthy, but that is just the way luck goes. Sometimes good and then sometimes injuries hit. I noticed the Nets yesterday lost Harden within a few seconds of the start of the game with a blown hammy. But the way I feel is it could not have happened to a better team. That team is so stacked with super star of present and former stars. So I did not feel sorry for them.

There are some real good teams out there and some sharp shooters. The Lakers better load up right away on some players that can make shots from distance because that is what the new NBA is all about. The game has changed a lot in the last two years.

The Clappers advance to face the Jazz next. And the big surprise for me was the game between the Sixers and Hawks. Sixers might be in trouble with the Hawks.

So basically when the Hawks drafted Ice Trae, he turned out to be the right choice for their franchise....Funny how that works sometimes.

Yes an funny how it doesn't work out for us that way lol. Not since KB.

Would have been a lot happier if the Clippers lost to Dallas.... Nope, things are just not lining up for us this year. Highly doubt they beat Utah.

If by some fluke, the Clippers win it all, it will take them -- at the current rate -- 322 years to catch up to the Lakers!

BTW -- Shaq named AD "STREET CLOTHES." Apt moniker I would say.

The Clippers in the west and the Nets in the east are stacked teams. The owners of those two teams shoveled a lot of cash to get many good players. So I believe those two will meet in the final series and I believe the Clippers are better equipped to win this championship. I think the Clippers have better defensive players then the Nets. The Nets are all offense in my opinion. But I am really impressed with two Clipper players that have really stepped up and that is Morris and Jackson. We know the two super stars of George and Kawhi are going to get their points, but man I wish our Morris twin had been given the chance to play more with the Lakers and maybe he might have been just as good as his brother.

Jazz are always tough in Utah, but I do not think they can beat the Clippers on a seven game series. JMHO!

I just wanted to post about what our offseason is going to look like, which is not going to be very exciting at all. In all reality we need to resign AC, THT, Morris and Schroder. As of right now, we have the following 5 guys taking up 107 mil of our salary cap, which is set to be at 112mil next year. Lebron AD KCP Kuzma Deng* That means we have 5 million to fill out 8 spots on our team. However we can go over the cap to get AC, THT, Schroder and Morris all paydays. And in reality we should sign all of them. I have heard the following numbers for the guys mentioned on how much they could make on their next contract: AC: around 7-10mil THT: 7-10mil Morris: 5-7mil Schroder: 18-22mil I am sure some on here hate Schroder specially after the playoffs, but those 2 bad game (4 and 5), if you remove those 2 games he gave us 20ppg in the other 4 games against the Suns. The thing is we can't replace him if we let him walk away, we can go over the cap to resign him, but not to sign some new PG. Lets say we give the guys above the numbers I mentioned, here is our cap situation: Lebron - 41mil AD - 35mil KCP - 13mil Kuz - 13mil AC - 10mil THT - 10mil Morris - 7mil Schroder - 22mil TOTAL: 151mil. Many of you guys talk about how it's not fair for those few teams like GSW and 76ers who are way over the cap and how other team like us had a hard cap and couldn't spend as much, well this is our year to be in position to be way over the cap like those teams. If we resign all these guys next year, we could still win a ring if everyone is healthy,....

I do not think Beal wants to leave the Wizards, fact I thought they had given him an extended contract. Personally I would consider trading Caruso, Kuzma. These two guys are very inconsistent. I would rather have a good role player that you can depend on, then a player who one time will give you thirty points and then disappear for the next game giving the team zero points. And we can not make an excuse that these two guys did not get the minutes, because they had plenty of minutes and still very inconsistent. I would consider of the group that we have to give them a chance for next season. I think McKinnie played good when he was in the court and he hardly got any minutes. Another that was playing really good was Morris when LeBron and AD were out. He was very consistent with his three point shots. Another who is just waiting to be given a chance is Cacok of the G league and probably could be gotten pretty cheap. Schroder in my opinion is a very good player, but he is moody and was upset that the Lakers would not give him 100 mil five year contract. And he should know better then to get moody about the way business is in the NBA since he owns a basketball team in Germany and should understand how it works. Schroder is a good player, but I am not sure if he intentionally sabataged two games in the playoffs. If he did, then I have to agree with Magic to get rid of him as quick as possible. But I have watched this guy play many games with different teams and he can score at any time,....

Good analysis Ray. But if we spend $150mill, we'll still be under 4 other teams in terms of payroll. The NBA financial structure is patently unfair and weird and lopsided. And we end up with players who vastly underperformed this past season entirely, not just the playoffs. Yes Dennis has some decent games, 20 pts, but he's not exactly an assist monster. To get the ball out of LBJ's hands, which needs to happen, we have to have a better PG. Hell I'd take Lonzo at this point over Dennis. But my guess is he goes to Charlotte to play with his brother.

The 2 prizes this summer, possibly, if they switch teams, are Dame and Beal, with Jr being another decent option. I have never heard of either of those 2 big names ever in terms of interest playing in LA. Not once. So atm I'm assuming they have no interest in coming here to play 3rd fiddle to AD and LBJ. If we need to sign some players in order to trade them, I guess, but my fear is we get stuck with them. I have zero interest in Dennis/Kuz/Morris/AC or KCP being here next season. None at all.

We can't replace everyone, so keeping a cple young/cheap players and giving them a chance to improve, like MkK and THT I'm ok with. But the rest are cut bait players imo. And btw no way we get Thompson so I wouldn't worry about it. No way the Dubs trade him, and he needs to come back and prove he's ok before anyone will touch him. I don't even think he's a at full contact yet right? So it might be another several months before he's even able to play. Who knows. He had 2 devastating injuries.

Imo, and I said it at the time tho most disagreed, we should taken Cousins back. The fact we didn't will leave a taste in his mouth and chances of him coming here as a back up 4/5 for next season now are slim to none. Speaking of players who hold a grudge, like Dennis.

Maybe DS can score at will and put on the jets with other teams, but he never did it here. He got outrun by everyone on the Suns. Including old man Paul. It's the wrong system for him. He needs a more free flowing offense of the sort a lot of teams run now. Lakers are still running the triangle half the time. Sign and trade? Maybe. If a deal can be made. But again, no way Beal or Dame want to play 3rd fiddle to LBJ and AD. Imo atm their options are not looking good. And if they make a mistake and sign Dennis or whoever, we may be stuck in mediocrity for a while. The mistake was giving AD a 5 year. Clearly. He outsmarted us there.

Beal signed a shorter contract so after next season he has a player option, so basically he is just under contract for next year and that's all. If Beal wants out next year he can choose from whatever teams he wants to play on, that's just how is works when you are a Superstar on the last year of your contract. His agent can tell any team I won't re sign with you, therefor that team will not give a huge package to trade for him.

We don't really want to any sign and trade, or use any exception like the MLE, other wise we are hard capped at like 136mil. If we don't do any of those things we can spend as much money as we want on our own free agents.

Do I really think we are getting Beal next year, no. But if we resign AC, THT, Morris and Schroder to the contracts I listed I feel like we have the players to make a big move like that, as long as the big player wants to come here as well.

I am a Laker fan so I may be bias, but I think these are all really good moveable contracts that could have next year.

Kuz - 13mil

KCP - 13mil

THT - 10mil

AC - 10mil

Morris - 8mil

Schroder - 22mil

So we need to resign our guys and go over the cap to where our payroll is like 150mil - 160mil, then we can attempt to trade for a real 3rd star. If we do something like a sign and trade, we will be hard capped and nearly impossible to get a legit 3rd star while staying under 136mil hard capped number.

Go look at some of the top teams in the NBA for next year and look at their cap number, they are all crazy high like 150mil+. If we don't resign AC, THT, Morris and Schroder, we can never get our payroll that high, which would allow us to spend more money. I personally see these resigning as pieces to trade by trade deadline. But if we let them walk then they can only be replaced by a vet minimum guy.

Let me ask you this, would you rather have:

AC for 10mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

THT for 10mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

Morris for 8mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

Schroder for 22mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

Even if the reality is nobody wants these players, we could still move them and *break even*, if we didn't use them in a trade package.

We have 4 players and Deng 5mil, making 107mil next year with a Salary cap of 112mil for the rest of our rooster, we have to resign our own players or we are signing 8 guys who are vet minimum or rookies.

Let me ask you this, would you rather have:

AC for 10mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

THT for 10mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

Morris for 8mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

Schroder for 22mil that we can trade later or a vet minimum player?

If we don't resign our guys we have no cap to go get new guys, Kuz, Lebron, AD, KCP and Dengs 5mil hit, equals 107 mil with a cap space of 112mil next year. We either resign our guys, or we sign a bunch as in like 6 vet minimum contracts next year.

Well since you put it that way lol. You win. Let's sign 'em! However, there is a caveat. They may not want to sign here. If they are UFA then...what happens? Can we offer more than other teams coz we have their bird rights? Even then they may not want to sign here. Esp if they know it's just to create trade bait and they're gonna get moved. And we still have KCP and Kuz under contract we can trade, right? And Gasol? Anyone else? If we can't sign our UFA's, then what other options do we have?

Good explanation on how to raise the cap for the Lakers. So I have to agree with Ray to sign our own free agents to raise that cap, then decide later what other moves are required to make the team better. We do not want to be hard capped so low when there are other teams that are grabbing every player on the market. The Nets grabbing every player with any kind of skills they desired, even Aldridge except his heart started acting up to where it scared him and he retired, but other players like Griffin etc etc are with the three headed monsters. And the Clippers are right behind them on skilled players.

So yea, Ray explained it pretty well.

AC, THT are restricted and since we have had Morris for 2 years we have his Bird rights so we can give him a decent raise and it seems like he really wants to be here.

Schroeder is really the only one we don’t have much control over. Since he is pretty good, we are at risk of someone offering him 25mil a year deal (unlike AC or THT, who will not get those offers.) Which we could go over the cap to give him 25mil, it just becomes more of how hard is that Salary to move if he doesn’t work out with us if we are paying him that much? Nobody knows.

I think Kuz and KCP are good contracts that we could move. Gasol just doesn’t make much, what player is better than Gasol only makes 2.7mil like he does?

If we don’t resign any of these guys, then we must use our exceptions, like MLE or BLE, or sign and trade or sign vet minimum.

Who is better than Gasol? I dunno...you? Me? lol He didn't give us much. And he's gonna be a year older. And a step slower. Which means he's basically going to be like paying a turtle. Uh oh. I think he just got a new nickname!

We didn't even mention Drummond yet btw. That's a tough call. Small sample size. He wasn't very effective. His skills at rebounding have apparently diminished. I guess LA isn't just where good shooters go to die, but also formerly good rebounders with small hands who can't make put backs.

No doubt Rob has his hands full. And supposedly he's knoweldgeable about the cap. Tho several other GM's have out-capped him in the past year.

An old a** turtle. We would have been better off with his brother.

The Lakers always struggle with free agents and picking up available players. I don't know why that is. They also see to always get themselves into to money issues. Again, why? The Nets have stacked their roster and I am not sure how they did it. Speaking of the Nets, we **** up by not signing Griffin.

Griffin did not want to play with the Lakers. He went to the Nets right away and so did Aldridge who is also a Laker hater went to the Nets right away, THEN he got problems with his heart palpitating real fast. So he got scared and retired. But all those players that went to the Nets was all a master plan to get a ring. I think the only two that have gotten rings was Durant with the Warriors and that was a stacked team, and Kyrie I believe he got a ring with LeBron on the Cav's team.