Aloha

While we were underwhelming against reserves a lot of teams have been. The Kings lost to the Nuggets 2nd unit with all the starters.

The important thing is we are in and at home against the TWolves. It will be interesting to to see what they do with Rudy. Heard on a broadcast that McDaniel broke his hand. He punched a wall. What’s up with these guys throwing punches?

If we get past the TWolves, I like our bracket. The Griz will be without Adams and Clarke so I think we have the edge there. Then we get the winner of the Warriors and Kings. We avoid both the Suns and the Clippers who have had our number. Hopefully we will pick up our energy because we haven’t had much the last few games.

Aloha,

With all the minutes they played last night, I figured the plan was to rest them against up. Still we better be ready. The Nuggets 2nd unit nearly beat the Suns last night and a short handed Jazz team took us to OT, hope that is still fresh in the Lakers mind. While this is a break, we still need to take care of business.

Aloha,

Can you lose even when you win a game. We will see tomorrow night. The Clippers haven’t played since Saturday. We will come in after 4 games on the road on a back to back. This was a game we needed to win early and rest our guys. Instead LeBron, AD and Austin played 42 minutes and Dennis played 38. Even without PG tomorrow will be a challenge.

We scored at will but where was the D?

Austin will be a Laker a long time. No one can offer more then us in the first 2 years and we can match anyone in those last 2 years.

Last year Malik wasn’t going hard enough on defense and Frank benched him. This year Rui got bench a game and he’s been terrific since. His effort on both sides of the ball has been great.

I am really hoping DLO can go tomorrow. Our 2nd really suffers when Dennis has to start. Dennis has filled nicely starting but he is more valuable running the 2nd unit.

Aloha,

First the Hornets beat the Mav’s back to back. Now today they knock off the Thunder. And the Hornets didn’t play any of their vets.

Aloha,

I checked the score of the Pacers, Mavs game and found the Mav’s up by 20. Haliburton, Turner and Buddy are not playing. While the play in has kept teams from tanking early, who they play, once a team surrenders has big implications on the teams still in the running. The Trailblazers has shut down Dame and I doubt we will see Grant back now either. Teams are now jockeying for ping pong balls. This will also be true for the good teams that have a spot locked up. It could help us win games. If the Jazz are out of it when they play us, who will suit up for them? Will we see KD, Booker and Paul if the Suns have nothing to play for. The flip side of that is teams we need to lose might not face the best players on certain teams they play either. It puts even more emphasis on winning because the teams we are competing with may not lose as well.

Aloha,

LeBron has been upgraded to doubtful for the Bulls game. That’s actually good news. It means he is closer. Could he be back for the TWolves? If not I wouldn’t play him against the Rockets. I would save him for the last 4.

Aloha,

AD had a monster game. 37 and 15 but in the post game interviews, to a man everyone acknowledged that they would have lost without Lonnie. OKC is a good young team, they had won 8 of 10 until they lost to the Clippers. When I found out that DLO was out, I was very concerned. But Lonnie came to the rescue.

He was our 3rd leading scorer until a series of injuries derailed him and he had not been the same after the last one, and he kept falling further down the rotation until he was out. If he can regain his form that would be huge for this team, especially since Beasley has struggled with his shot. Lonnie is a 3 level scorer and more dynamic than Beasley when he is on his game.

Then there is Dennis. On a night Austin struggled to score Dennis put up 21 points and demonstrated his never ending hustle to the point of exhaustion when he laid on the floor and had to be taken out to for a blow. We have to figure out a way to keep Dennis. I hope he will play for the mini MLE of 7 mil. If not I would cut Beasley and Bamba in order to sign some of our role players and give Dennis the equivalent of the full MLE 11 mil that is probably his market right now.

Several other guys also chipped in. Austin’s shot was off but he had 9 assists. And Vandy played great defense again. One point but 10 boards. He was the primary defender on Shai. Shai scored 27 but on 22 shots. Considering he averages over 30, I’ll take that every day.

This Laker team is actually deeper than our championship bubble team. And that depth is paying off. We are 8 and 5 since LeBron went down and we were without DLO for some of those games as well. And one loss came without AD. . Over the last couple of years we would have been doomed with LeBron.

I hope Rob is paying attention to the Mav’s. They made the big trade for Kyrie and are actually a worse team then before the trade because they no longer have any depth. With the time missed due to injuries that AD and LeBron have suffered, I think depth is much important than a third star. We are in a position to bring a lot of our depth back next year. I hope we do.

Aloha,

OKC beat the Clippers for their 8th win in the last 10 games. So much for tanking. They are now the 7th seed. While the Clippers suddenly could be in trouble. PG was helped off the court with what looked like a nasty knee injury. It bent out sideways. Hate to see that but it looks like the Clippers curse continues. Basketball gods did not want them LA. Seems it doesn’t matter what they do.

Aloha,

Tonight was another example of why our path to the playoffs is so precarious. The TWolves beat the Knicks without Anthony Edwards on a night Randle went off for 57. Utah beat the Kings without their best 3 players, while the Kings were at full strength. This ain’t going to be easy.

Aloha,

This is such a strange year in the NBA. A slew of injuries to key players have kept most of the west bunched together. I can’t recall a season where so many teams are still fighting for a playoff spot. After all our injuries, a poorly constructed roster and blowing a hand full of games we should have won, it’s amazing we are still in the conversation. The only reason we are is the trades we made.

It is a shame we did not have time for this group to learn to play together. I have liked what I’ve seen from most of them. The biggest issue has been the unfamiliarity that has led to a lot of mistakes you generally see early in a season. But even with the injuries and the new roster we are in every game, which gives me hope that we can get into the playoffs but more importantly I think we are set up for a much better roster next year.

Unlike the last few years, we will have the ability to retain 11 players 12 if you count Pippin who has been great in the G league. Now of course we probably won’t keep them all but we finally have options.

If you count our first and 2nd round draft picks we have we are at around 139 mil. But we have 33.5 mil in non guaranteed contracts. Of that only Vandy at 4.7 mil is a no brainervkeeper. Reed will be cut, freeing up 2 mil. Bamba and Beasley could be cut, guaranteed, traded or renegotiated. In Bamba’s case at 10 mil he is over paid for what he has shown and for a back up. If not traded, I think he will be either cut or renegotiated down. At 16 mil Beasley is not over paid if he rediscovers his shooting stroke. He is over paid if he doesn’t. A lot will be determined down the stretch of the season.

I think our only path to contention is with guys we already have improving. We do have salaries to to trade and draft picks so there are ways to bring in another decent player or two. But we will have to wait and see. We need to guarantee a salary to trade it . So a lot depends on who wants draft picks. And what they have to send back. Our guys all would be expiring deals so that helps.

We do have some things working in our favor. First the only teams with cap space this summer are rebuilding. And there will be another new TV deal in 2024 and it’s expected to be huge, leading to another big jump in the cap. So I think a lot of players will be willing to take a little less on 1+1 deals. So for me here are the things I think we must do.

Resign DLO. He wants to be here and most of the teams that would be interested in him won’t have the cap space to sign him. He is the perfect 3rd option for LeBron. He is a must. 25 to 30 mil will probably get it done.

Guarantee Vandy. Duh!

Resign Austin. Because of the Arenas rule the most he can be offered is a little under 12 mil for the first 2 years. Now a team could give him an offer sheet with a huge back end of 27 mil for the last 2 years but he’s not quite at that level. He wants to stay, so I would offer him 12 per for 2 years and negotiate an option year.while he isn’t the defender that Caruso was, he’s pretty good and much better on offense. I think we will keep him.

Resign Rui. While a little inconsistent I see a lot potential in him. I have heard he’s value is currently between 10 to 12 mil. Give it to him.

Resign Gabriel. We have early bird rights and he will not be that expensive. You just want energy guys on your roster.

Dennis, Lonnie and Troy won’t be expensive but probably hard to keep depending on what we do with the non guaranteed contracts. Of the 3 I would say Dennis is the priority. He is a good back up point guard. When you look at the free agents available, there isn’t many quality back ups available. Would Dennis stay for a 1+1 7 mil Mini MLE? Unless there is a trade available I would at least try.

We could have a solid returning core. Continuity is something we haven’t had in 3 years. Now if we could just have a semi healthy year. One can dream can’t they?

Aloha,

The Rockets was supposed to be a W for us but they didn’t hear that and won. They also didn’t know they were supposed to lose to the Pels and won that game too.

And today the Magic beat the Clippers and the Jazz beat the Celtics. Evidently the Jazz players never received Danny memo to tank. By the way if you haven’t noticed THT has been balling since he became the starting point guard. He has averted 17 and 5.5 assists over the last 10. He has been a big reason why they have been hanging around without Clarkson.

Every game will be hard. I almost wish we had more of the high end teams on the schedule because we seem to get up for them. No one is pulling away so a win streak could still lift us up and we have the talent for that.

Our biggest problem is 6 new players, with guys in and out of the line up, and almost no practice time. we haven’t had enough time to jell as a group. And you can see that unfamiliarity in every game. Yet we are in every game. The hope is we can learn to play together at least enough to win more of these games.