Aloha,

Yes I know the Suns won but our guys that are going to play beat their guys that are going to play. It seemed Monty wanted to win more then coach Ham because he kept.CP3, Booker and Ayton in until the 5 minute mark of the 3rd and we still led my 7. The unit that lost were guys who will either be playing in the G league or off the team completely.

While LeBron was on fire the 2 guys that stood out to me where Austin and Nunn. While Austin only scored 6 points, he had 7 boards, 9 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals.

I guess Jamie had a talk with Coach Ham and he brought Nunn off the bench. He could be this years Malik Monk, with better defense. Nunn had 21 points in 19 minutes and was 4 for 7 from 3. So many people were trying to trade him because they didn’t seem him play, but I kind of felt all along that he would surprise a lot of people. There was the same buzz around him last year before he was hurt. If he stays healthy he could be huge for this team.

And Russ has played two games now and the apocalypse hasn’t happened yet. He did Russ things, some good and some bad but he plays hard. Effort won’t be a problem.

We still are yet to see Walker and Brown. I will be interested to to see what they bring to the table.

Tonight LeBron was at the 4. That’s his best spot on the defensive end. I actually hope to see more 3 guard line ups with Austin at the 3 and AD at the 5. AD is one of the top 3 centers in the league and it think we are better when LeBron can play the 4.

Not too worried about AD. They said that he would have played if it were the regular season. I’m okay with them being cautious. He look really good that first game.

Considering the Suns are a true contender and played their main guys a lot of minutes I was more then pleased with the effort tonight’s

Aloha,

I gave up trying to figure Rob and the Lakers out. Rob did learn a couple of things from last year. Defense matters and young legs are a good thing. Apparently 3 point shooters and size on the wing didn’t sink in. Of course our limited cap space made it impossible to accomplish everything. So when you have Lebron and AD concentrating on defense makes sense. And we will be better defensively.

It’s also finally clear what the Lakers strategy is. They are willing to give up the picks only for a star. I understand that. While adding a couple of decent role players would help it wouldn’t push us into the contender conversation. By waiting they can A. Find out they have and what they will need. And B. Perhaps a star becomes available and C. The asking price for role players could come down.

I was never a fan of bringing Russ back but I never believed he would destroy the team either. He has a lot to play for. He will play hard and probably try hard not to become a distraction. His next pay check depends on it.

So for me I am no longer concerned with trade speculation. A trade could happen quickly or not at all. My focus are on the guys we have. Of course nothing will matter if we are not healthy so that’s a given. Here are a few of the things I will be watching.

3 point shooting. While a sniper may not emerge, we will need to get at least average 3 point shooting from several guys. Troy Brown is a career 35% shooter. It would be helpful if he could add a couple of percentage points to that. Austin’s shot didn’t look broken and he shot the 3 much better in college. I’m actually expecting in big jump from his 31% last year. Walker was a 35% shooter until he had an off year last year. It would be great if he could get back to at least average. Nunn and PatBev both have been able to knock down 3’s so if we can get multiple guys shooting a decent percentage that would be huge.

I’m really interested in who starts at center. Before he injured himself Thomas Bryant had proven himself a to be an NBA starting center. He a ferocious rebounder with a high motor and is a 35% 3 point shooter. The reports have been positive. He he can come back fully he could be as big of a steal as Malik. So far Damien Jones has been playing with the starters. He is very good shot blocker, rebounder and something that can’t be over looked is his ability to guard the perimeter. If his 3 point shot is real, he could play some.

Which brings me to the 4. Where’s our depth? I guess it’s Gabriel. He did show me something at times last. Hopefully he can bring it more on a consistent basis. There is Swider. He he can prove to be a taller version of Buddy and do a little more then shoot, maybe he will be like Austin who received a full contract in the preseason. All though there is no rush, we have him for 50 games before we have to do that.

I’m really excited about the reports on Nunn. He had the same glowing praise last year before he hurt himself. All the focus was on LeBron and AD, Nunn’s injury was also a blow last year. If he could stay healthy it could be huge.

Speaking of PG. WTF? We trade for PatBev but didn’t trade Russ, then we sign Dennis and still don’t trade Russ. At least unlike last year if Russ isn’t doing the job we have plenty of options. Both Nunn and Pat can play the 2 but they are both undersized and should be out there with a bigger guard. I think we have a chance with health and a couple of break outs to make it into the 5th or 6th seed. But barring a unexpected big trade, we are a long way from contention.

Aloha,

Looks like everyone is attending Lebrons camp. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Dave McMenamin

@mcten
The Lakers’ players-led minicamp tipped off in San Diego this morning. Every player on the roster is present, sources told ESPN. Training camp opens up officially on Monday with Media Day in El Segundo.

Aloha,

What is the most important thing for Laker fans? Being a little better then last year, or building a team with a chance to contend. I think the Lakers have chosen the build option. When you look at the available trades, they make us a little better. But we also would have to take back salary, that would make it difficult to add the pieces we need to compete. When LeBron signed it was said that he understood that it will take time. And it will.

I believe going into the season with this roster isn’t a terrible thing. It’s not going to win any rings but we will be able to see what we have in these kids. One thing that is for sure is we will be a much better defensive team. If you have a solid defense built around two scores like LeBron and AD, you will win some games.

There have been some upgrades. Last year we really only had Russ at the point. We signed DJ at the deadline but we pretty much was stuck with Russ. Now we have Beverly and Nunn. Both guys are better equipped to play with LeBron. Both defend, play off the ball and shoot. I’m happy to hear the praise Coach Ham has been giving Nunn. It appears he’s fine and the team is just being cautious. There is no reason for 5 on 5’s until camp. I think Russ will be better then last year if LeBron and AD stay on the court. But if he’s not we have options this year.

We have also upgraded the 5. The plan last year was to play AD there and why not? He’s a top 3 center in the league. but unfortunately he was hurt. If they want AD back at the 4, we have a guy in Thomas Bryant that could step in and give us quality minutes. Before the injury he was a rising star. He rebounds 5.7 in 20 minutes a game, blocks shots, 1.1 in 24 minutes his last healthy year, can shoot the 3, .350 for his career, but most importantly he has a motor that doesn’t quit and he is one of the best bigs at running the floor in the league. Perfect for The way coach Ham wants to play. The good news is he has also been getting rave reviews from the coach. You also have Damien Jones back. A guy every one wanted to keep last time.

We will need some of these young guys we signed to step up there shooting. I think Austin can be one. He’s another player that has been singled out for looking great in practice. His 3 point stroke, didn’t look broken last year so I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought his percentage up.

While we won’t win a ring with this group, we won’t win one with the available trades either. We can tread water with this team. See who steps up and see what trade become available as the season progresses. We do do a wing with size for sure. The longer we go into the season, the less we will have to give up in a Russ trade. And if we end up not making a trade we could have 35 mil in cap space, not to mention the full MLE and the bi annual exception. We could fill out a pretty competitive team with those tool. So let’s wait and see what this group looks like. With health they wii be a fun group to watch.

Aloha,

I know what you are saying, not another Pacer trade😡 Sorry, it can’t be helped. There is some chatter out there about the Raptors, revisiting Turner to fill their gaping hole at center. The Raptors have a quality 24 year old 3 and d Small forward with a still very high ceiling that the Lakers desperately need in OG Anunoby. He also happens to want out. And with Barnes rising star, they don’t need him. P The Pacer have asked for a 1st round pick for Turner. The Raptors send OG to the Lakers and a first to the Pacers . The Lakers send Russ and a 1st to the Pacers. The Pacers send Buddy to us and Turner to the Raptors. The Pacers get their picks. The Raptors get their center and the Lakers get a shooter and the 3 and d wing defender they desperately need. Everyone is happy! Except maybe Tom. Lol.

Aloha,

I’m sure everyone is hungry for a post on the a merits of a Buddy and Myles trade, I’m not going there. Sorry, it can’t be helped. The Stein article about helping to facilitate a Knicks Jazz trade was of interest to me because it, well, presented something different, from the same ole same ole.

The Lakers have stated that they will not give up both first round picks unless it catapults them into contention. Well if that’s the case, there won’t be a trade. Because frankly, there isn’t a known deal that does that. Unless of course some of the others have big break out years.

But what if the Lakers could grab a couple of young players with upside that they could build with. Would they be willing to give up those picks? To make room for Mitchell the Knicks would more than likely send out Fournier, Toppin and Reddish.

If I were Robb, I would say, yes we will take Fournier but we also want Reddish and Beasley from the Jazz. While I’m not a huge fan of Fournier, he is 6’ 7” and can play either wing spot. While he’s not quite the shooter Buddy is, he has shot .381 from 3 for his Career. He is overall a better player than Buddy.

Malik Beasley would be much better than Buddy. He actually defends, what a concept and he has shot better from Buddy from 3 for the last 3 years on 8 3’s a game. At 25, he still has room to grow. And if he doesn’t work out, there is a team option on his contract the following year.

Cam Reddish is a guy that the Lakers have been interested in for a while now. He’s a 22 year old, 6’ 8” SF with real 3 and D potential.

I actually like this better than the Buddy and Myles. You bring in 2 players better than Buddy and also address our biggest weakness, a defensive wing with size. I think this a bigger net gain, than Myles could provide. AD will more than likely be on the floor at the 5 to close games. So you won’t see a center in crunch time.

The one player we have that I’m the most curious about is Thomas Bryant. His star was rising before that injury, which caused him to miss the majority of the last 2 seasons. When he came back toward the end of last year he didn’t looks like himself. Which is understandable. Actually that injury is the only reason we could afford him. And he took less to come back to LA. If he does gets back to where he was, he is better then Myles in a few categories. First he is a better rebounder. He’s averaged 5.7 boards a game in 20 minutes. Myles has averaged 6.7 in 30 minutes. He also runs the floor better than Myles. He was recognized as one of the best bigs in the game at running the floor. He’s also know for his motor. It’s always 100mph. We saw that when he was a Laker. And has slightly better from 3 than Myles over his career. Last year returning from injury was his down year. And Myles has dropped. He has averaged only .333 over the last 3 years. While Myles is the best in league in blocking shot, both Bryant and Jones aren’t bad. Thomas averaged 1.1 blocks in 24 minutes his last healthy year. That’s about 1.6 with starter minutes. And Damien is slightly better than than that.

Overall I think that this Jazz trade would actually improve the team more than the Pacer trade would. It maybe the reason there has been no movement with the Pacers.

Aloha

Found this today.

t appears the Los Angeles Lakers are interested in reuniting with a player that last suited up for the franchise in 2018.

NBA insider Marc Stein reported during a Spotify live session on Saturday (h/t Darryn Albert of Larry Brown Sports) that the Purple & Gold may pursue Julius Randle if the New York Knicks land Donovan Mitchell in a trade with the Utah Jazz this summer.

Stein added that the Lakers wouldn’t mind taking on the remainder of Randle’s four-year, $117 million contract. He is owed $23.7 million in 2022-23 and his salary increases each season until he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2026.

The article went on to say the Lakers could be involved in the Mitchell to the Knicks trade.

Did a little trade machine exercise that worked.

Knicks receive Mitchell.

Lakers receive Randle and Mike Conley.

Utah receives Westbrook, and a couple of the Knicks young prospects. many different combinations work. Of course there would be a lot of picks involved. Anyway it could be another angle.

Aloha,

While the league remains on pause waiting for the KD and Mitchell situation to be resolved the Lakers find themselves frozen in place as well. With the Pacers trade talks dead and Kyrie tied to the outcome of the KD drama what are other moves the Lakers could consider? By the way with COVID roaring back in California one wonders if the Lakers would even consider Kyrie at this point. You don’t trade for a guy to sit out most of a season.

A couple of little blurbs caught my attention, one from Shams that the Lakers have chatted with the Jazz. While there hasn’t been a lot of details, the speculation is that the trade would center around Conley and Bogdanovic.

First I would view this as a LeBron window trade. It would be a two year deal in my mind and while it may not make us a title favorite, it could give the team at least a punchers chance.

Conley is the perfect point guard for a LeBron team. He can play off the ball, and shoot the 3. He was over 40% the last couple of years. While he is no longer is the bull dog on defense he was with the Griz, he’s still pretty good and much better then either Kyrie or Russ.

Bogdanovic is a lifetime .392 3 point shooter. He is 6’ 8” so he would add some size to our forward rotation. While he is hardly a defensive stopper, he has a high BB I.Q and is decent in a team defensive scheme.

Bogdanovic is in the last year of his contract, while Conley has 2 years left with the last year only partially guaranteed. So there isn’t any long term salary baggage to worry about. While this isn’t the sexiest deal and by no means a long term solution, it might be the best we can do to rid ourselves of Russ.

Aloha,

Well apparently Dennis wants to come back to the Lakers. I can’t see that happening as long as we have Nunn. He is also a very good defender but he’s a better shooter and can play off the ball. But if Nunn happened to end up in a trade, Dennis wouldn’t be bad as a back up PG. I did like his defensive intensity.

Aloha,

When you read all of these different articles by all of these different “insiders” with an astounding number of different takes one thing is apparent to me. No one knows what the f**k is going on.

There have been two recents reports that may give a little insight into what is actually going on behind the scenes. Kyrie recent 360 is one. Now he says he wants to return to the Nets whether KD is there or not.

The other is LeBron, Russ and AD getting together for their phone pow wow that led to a commitment to make it work.

However these two reports could be telling. All of the parties involved maybe hearing from their clubs and their agents that there is a strong possibility that a trade isn’t going to happen.

I must admit that I was seduced by the click bait for awhile and believed that a trade would surely happen. But as time passes I am no longer confident that we will see one. At least not a blockbuster trade. As a matter of fact I am leaning more towards no trade happening then a trade will. Unfortunately we have a few more months of this before camp opens, so we will have a few more months of these endless trade scenarios. The only people that will be happy about this are the click bait traffickers.

Aloha,

just a thought on how the Lakers could
improve without Kyrie on 2 moves. To many if’s to happen but there would be some logic to it. I’ve posted before about OG Anunoby and how would love to have this 24 year old two way SF on the Lakers. But here comes the if’s.

If the Raptors pivot from KD trade, likely. And if they fail to land a center they like, unlikely, then there could be a deal with the Lakers. First the Raptors have tried to land THT twice. 2nd they have forwards galore but are thin in the back court. 3.rd OG is unhappy with his role and wants to be traded. A THT and Nunn for OG would give the Raptors a quality back up point guard and a secondary ball handler in THT. I would spend a 1st rounder for a 24 year old with still a lot of upside over a has been like Gordon.

Next move is a little more cut and dried. Russ and a pick to the Pacers for Buddy and TJ Mc Connell. This is simple, the Pacers save 20 mil on future salaries and pick up a pick instead of paying to move them.

I would argue that OG, TJ and Buddy would give us a better team then Kyrie, without the migraines. Probably won’t happen. Although I’m sure Rob has called the Raptors. One never knows.

Aloha

One thing that hasn’t been talked about is cap flexibility. The Lakers have went out of their way to maintain flexibility for next year. Now a trade for Kyrie, even if they had to bring back Harris makes sense because that trade could elevate them to contender status. But some of the other options like Buddy may not. Nobody is going to trade expiring deals to the Lakers. Teams that trade for Russ will want to dump long term contracts. Which could mess with that flexibility and make it harder to sign even Kyrie as a free agent next summer. So I’m thinking the Lakers will really examine if a trade gives them a real shot at contention before trading Russ just to trade him.

Aloha,

KD is an entitled crybaby whiner. The Nets paid him a entire season to rehab. He played 90 games which computes to well over a million a game played. And he is requesting a trade. Geez,

he enormous haul of young star players and draft picks the Brooklyn Nets reportedly are expecting to receive in a trade for Kevin Durant isn’t the only reason the superstar still hasn’t been dealt after requesting a trade this summer.

According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, “the persistent scuttle around the league, though, is that clubs interested in Durant mostly fear their ability to keep him content more than they feel any concern about his advancing age.”

Aloha,

Like Marvin Gaye, I think we all want to know What’s Going On. It appears on the surface like there isn’t any talks happening at this time. All the “Insiders” have different intel to offer. Some say it’s the Lakers fault, some say it’s the Nets fault for the stalled negotiations.

I can see both sides. I can hardly blame the Lakers for their negotiation stance. After all they are bidding against themselves. And I can’t blame the Nets for taking their time and re-evaluating the situation.

The Nets have added a couple of nice pieces to their roster. They maybe looking at their team and think they would have a real chance of competing for a title. A chance to compete for a championship is worth giving up the Lakers distant picks even if Kyrie walks this summer.

And there is the issue of the Nets not wanting Russ. That is where it really gets complicated. In no universe would the Spurs take on Russ for a draft pick. They only have one contract that they would want to move that’s not an expiring deal. Add them all up and the Spurs save nothing. All to help the Lakers? Right. 😂

The Pacers are also a complicated situation. They can save some money but where all the players go would be complicated. Buddy and McConnell would be redundant for the Nets considering they have shooters. Plus the Nets insist that Harris was part of a deal. Where does he go? The Lakers would need to send out THT and Nunn to take back Kyrie, Buddy and McConnell and where would they go. Send them to the Pacers and they are no longer saving as much money. And the Nets? Why would they want them?

It’s all too complicated. At this point I would not not be surprised either way. My biggest fear is that the Lakers pass on other opportunities that may arise and then the trade doesn’t happen. We did that in the past and got burned when it didn’t work out.

Aloha,

Could the KD saga be coming to an end? And if so how does effect the Kyrie situation?

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (h/t RealGM) said the following about the state of Durant trade talks and where they currently stand:

“As for Kevin Durant, here’s what there is: nothing. There is no movement here. The executives are leaving Summer League. The executives are going on vacation. At this point, the Nets’ preferred situation is for Kevin Durant to stay with them. There is no trade they’ve got that they like.

“A huge question and what the league is in some ways waiting for is what does Durant feel? He’s the one who asked for the trade. Have his feelings changed with some of the avenues for trades dimming?”