Lakerholics

A Lakers Fan Community

Posts

Anthony Davis may be the best big man of all time

By 9 Comments

What did we just see from Anthony Davis?

Davis’ skillset is cutting-edge new, quite literally incomparable. If I told you he dominated the paint at both ends throughout a title run, averaging 28 and 10, we’d put him in the top 100 bigs of all time. If I added that he has rare athleticism for his size with great hands, power, speed, skill, and agility, we’d nudge him up among the NBA’s star centers like Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq, or Tim. But wait, there’s more:

Davis made 61 percent of his field goals this postseason inside the 3-point line, on par with Shaq’s best-ever playoff run. Rare.

Rarer: he made 30 of 32 free throws in the Finals.

And … where it really gets mind-bending … Davis made eight of 19 3-pointers in the Finals.

David Robinson, Moses Malone, Robert Parish, Bill Walton—nobody has ever done all this at once. Davis is simply an offensive weapon that no NBA defense has ever faced before.

The best two months of big man play I’ve ever seen

New things feel weird. When the Spurs routed the Heat in 2014, the offense dazzled and surprised me, one amazing moment after another. When it was all done, I told Henry Abbott, “I think the Spurs just played the best basketball ever.” Before long, Jackie MacMullan wrote my favorite basketball article with incredible insight from Gregg Popovich.

These two months of Anthony Davis felt similar. I settled into the couch for each Laker game with almost no idea what we’d see next.

The game’s best players make their presence known consistently when their teams need them. I just didn’t know if Davis would be able to be that guy. Before this year, the Blazers were the only team he had ever beaten in a playoff series. Not being a primary ball handler or the focal point of most Lakers possessions, I wasn’t sure how much impact he could have.

Two months later, I have to consider the possibility that Anthony Davis may be the best big man of all time.

Brian Windhorst: Lakers will be in running for significant free agents

By 3 Comments

Only 4 teams paid luxury tax in 2019-20. 10 will pay taxes this season, headed by the Warriors $149M, Nets $59M, and Sixers $24M. Lakers can afford $100M since their market value, like the Warriors, is over $4B. The question is will they pay that much? If the Laker win this season, there’s no way Jeanie is going to not put up the money for a possible threepeat.

Other thing to remember is the luxury tax for this year and next is tied to BRI, which is expected to drop 30% so all the figures in Eric’ column are likely to be 30% lower than what they would have been last year to account for the uncertain financial landscape in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. So $100M will only be $70M. Luxury tax sale!

How Free Agency Could Help the Los Angeles Lakers Repeat as Champions!

By 3 Comments

While the Lakers are over the salary cap, they still may be able to re-sign valuable free agent role players with raises as well as signing a free agent third scorer, second playmaker, elite wing defender, or modern center.

The Lakers will have to take advantage of league exceptions which allow teams to go over the cap when signing free agents, synchronized execution of the transactions, and opportunistic use of their MLE in a buyers’ market. The Lakers won’t be able to bring back every role player who contributed to their championship but should be able to re-sign the three most important and irreplaceable role players while giving them well deserved raises.

Those three role players are Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, and Markieff Morris, all of whom were invaluable contributors to the Lakers’ championship rotation and are essential to the team winning next season. KCP and Rondo are exercising their player options to become free agents while Morris will be a free agent when his 1-year minimum deal expires. The Lakers need to re-sign all three and give them well deserved raises.

Caldwell-Pope earned $8.1 million last season and could easily attract offers between $10 to $12 million as a free agent but the Lakers have his Bird rights and are allowed to go over the salary cap up to re-sign him. Kenny proved he was the team’s third best player and a key component of the offense and defense during the regular season and playoffs. The Lakers should reward him with a 2 or 3-year contract for $12 million per year.

Rondo earned $2.6 million last season and proved to be indispensable both as a floor general and playmaker in the playoffs, setting a record for the most assists from a player off the bench in the history of the NBA playoffs. Rajon should attract offers for taxpayers’ MLE, around $5 million next season. The Lakers have his Early Bird rights and should reward him with a 2-year contract for $6 million with the second year partially guaranteed.

Morris was a late addition replacing Avery Bradley before the season restart. As a power forward who could shoot from deep and defend, he was the catalyst that allowed Anthony Davis to play as center for the Lakers. Markieff earned $2.2 million last season but should receive offers of $3 to $4 million as a free agent. The Lakers should use their Bi-Annual Exception to re-sign him to a 2-year $3.6 per year million contract as he is a key player.

By using Bird rights to re-sign KCP, Early Bird rights to re-sign Rondo, and the Bi-Annual Exception to re-sign Morris, the Laker will have their full $9.3 million non-taxpayer Mid-Level Exception available to pursue free agents. With few teams having major cap space, the $9.3 million MLE and a chance to win a championship ring is likely to make the Lakers a major player for all but a half dozen elite free agents like Fred VanVleet or Davis Bertans.

The Lakers should have no problem filling roster needs with the MLE. How about Danilo Gallinari as their third scorer. Goran Dragic as their second playmaker, Mo Harkness as wing defender, or Aron Baynes as stretch big? There will only be five NBA teams with cap space to offer more to Gallinari, Dragic, Harkness, or Baynes than the Lakers and of those, only the Miami Heat had a winning record last season. The Lakers will get one of these.

Finally, the Lakers will end up with two or three roster spots to be filled by minimum salary veterans looking for an opportunity to win a championship ring or revitalize their career like Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo did. Heading the list of players in this category will be DeMarcus Cousins, who spent all of last year on the Lakers’ active roster or working out at their facilities after they waived him to sign Markieff Morris before the restart.

So while the Lakers don’t have cap space this offseason, they’re still going to be major players in the free agent market and should be able to re-sign their key free agent role players as well as signing at least one major free agent.