One note I forgot. If we couldn’t get any of the SF I mentioned I would play THT there. He’s solid at 230. He’s not going to get bullied by taller small forward and he has that incredible 7’1” wingspan. That allows him to play taller.

Can’t wait for 2 weeks from now when we’ll finally have some actual facts to evaluate & scrutinize instead of all these wild-azz-guesses & speculation. We’ll know if Stein and his ‘Difference-making playmaker’ and AD at center stuff was actually real or pure bull-sheeeeit….lol. There’s more than 1 way to skin a cat and there are several scenarios that I think can get us deep into the playoffs (ANYBODY we put around AD & LBJ will get us through the regular season). I won’t try to predict which scenario is “best” nor how co-GMs Rich Paul & Pelinka will navigate the rest of summer….my Magic 8-Ball is still at the damn dry cleaners!!

I’m into this scenario, not sure how available Malik will be. I think we need to have both defenders and pony generators off the bench. I’m very into resigning as many of our guys as possible, I’d love to figure out a way to S&T Dennis w/o hard capping.

I’ve been playing around with the luxury tax situation, specifically if we were to trade for Westbrook and the tax numbers are scary. LeBron, AD, and Russ alone exceed the luxury tax threshold and the apron, which means every players you add after those three will have a luxury tax attached. By the time you fill out the roster with minimum salaries, the tax for adding a fourth star to start could cost $20-30 million in taxes.

Basically, there are solid reasons why being hardcapped could be a smarter move. You get access to better prospects and get the full MLE. Those are two huge advantages. While you get hardcapped, you also don’t end up with being so far over the cap that you can’t make moves without incurring unreasonable taxes.

Howdy Michael, thanks for popping round and I personally am pretty much onboard with your vanilla take on the state of the Lakers prospects at a major overhaul this summer. Honestly, even signing Schroder for “what he wants” isn’t the terrible outcome we make it out to be. If he’s balling hard we can trade him, if he’s not we can look to do so later and relegate him to back up. He’ll be getting paid, he’s an elite back up and it’s not my money.

I like your take on THT and the Kuzma to Minny deal although I think it would take more to make that happen, maybe taking back a bad contract of theirs, as well. Could they be looking to move on from Rubio? Possibly and he should be another potential Schroder trade destination mid-season. the sign and trades come with needing player permission. Midseason trades? Notsomuch. If we’re not loving what we’re getting from Dennis and Russ gets hurt again or is just inconsistent like he has been so far I wouldn’t be surprised to see Minny looking for an offensive/defensive upgrade and they’d be getting younger without sacrificing a ton of experience in a trade like that.

But those scenarios are far on down the line. I also love you ring-chasing vet list, we have a lot of players on each others’ lists, actually. So, indeed yes, August is going to be verrrrry interesting around here.

Aloha and welcome back, Michael.

Good post although way too vanilla for me, although I prefer to hope we see that the team we had in the bubble is not good enough to win vs. the competition we’re goiing to see this coming season. We desperately need volume 3-point shooting and a third superstar to be able to go all the way this year.

I do like Malik Beasley and would be happy with Hield or him to replace KCP. I just think Buddy is more attainable since the Kings covet Kuzma and a trade of him and McKinnie would do the job. One thing for sure is we can’t have a shooting guard who can’t aveage 10 ppg the last two years and rarely makes multiple threes per game. Kenny could not start for most playoff teams. Need a major upgrade there and Malik and Buddy are the best two prospect.

I also agree we’re going to be short of wings once we trade Kuzma. That will probably be where we spend our MLE and maybe whom we draft if we keep our pick. Will definitely have to be a 3&D player though as we need volume 3-point shooting. Can’t run it back with the same shooters as last year.

That’s why I don’t see us keeping Schroder. We’ll find some team to sign-and-trade for him at $24M per year. Maybe Harrell too. No hardcap for signing-and-trading your own free agent. I still like the idea of signing-and-trading KCP and Harrell for Terry Rozier to replace Schroder at point guard. Saves money and Terry is a high volume, high percentage 3-point shooter.

I do agree we’re not likely to make a move to be hardcapped and I also agree we re-sign THT and Caruso. Need their continuity. I also think Morris and some of the other minimum salary verterans will return. I like your mininum candidates and would add Boogie to the list.

Center is where I disagree vociferously. AD should play the five as I outlined in the article I posted today. I would look for Nerlens Noel and DeMarcus Cousins to fill out the center rotation as well as bully ball fours like PJ Tucker.

Aloha Bubba, Mahalo for the compliment. I appreciate it.

Nice points Michael, Kuz is I think both LT and my choice to replace KCP in the starting 5, weakens the bench though. Hard to disagree with this and the Lamar Odom comparison is an excellent one. More Kyle.

Kuz is also up to 5.0 3PA per game now. He’s not whom we want to trade if we’re looking to add volume 3-point shooters. Working on an article regarding 10 Laker trades and trying to keep Kuzma out of all of them. He’s part of the evolving solution rather than the problem. Should definitely be starting imo.

Aloha, Michael,

Playing the right way is obviously critical but as we’ve seen when key players are out and shots aren’t falling, that can go away in a hurry. Sean made a great point in the last podcast that the in a way, everything fell in place perfectly for the Lakers in the bubble. The Clippers and Bucks stumbled. Frank made all the right moves. LeBron and AD dominated. KCP, Keef, and Rondo played brilliantly. The result was three 5-game series and a 6-game Finals. 16-5 record and the Lakers 17th NBA championship.

So even though I’m always the glass half full proponent looking for the silver linings in every cloud, I think there is no question the Lakers are going to have a much tougher challenge to repeat. No home court, an AD who has not looked like the DPOY this season, a team that suddenly can’t shoot straight, a better Clippers team, and a Nets team most prognosticators rank as favorites to win it all with three superstars vs. our two. Even though LeBron and AD are the best two of the five superstars who will be playing in that Finals, we’re going to be playing 2 against 3 or 1 against 2 for the entire series.

Hence, I still believe the Lakers need to make major moves to improve their rim protection, upgrade their 3-point shooting volume and percentage, and add a third star who can even the odds when we play the Nets in the Finals. I also am convinced Rob Pelinka and the Lakers understand this and will be looking to go all-in to fill the above three holes in our roster. Lakers have always thought big and, assuming the right opportunities arise, I think they’ll make major moves to improve the roster before March 24th. They’re not going to waste a chance to win another championship by standing pat. They clearly understand that this is not last season and the bar has been raised and the Lakers need do respond.

“If you listen to Stu on Spectrum you know he complains about this every game. All game long.” – Yes he does and I agree with Stu on this 100%. Basketball is a game of flow and when we get into our offense with 10 or fewer seconds on the clock we are not in a flow of any kind. I don’t put the onus on James, he’s doing what he does and the man is dog tired. This needs to be where the coaches tell the team the PG is someone named Dennis Schroeder: get him the ball on inbounds plays and let him do PG things. On the break there’s no better human to start, continue or finish a fast break than LeBron James. Anyone of James, Schroeder or Gasol are adept at downcourt passes to streaking Lakers. This is not rocket science and should have well drilled into the team by now. It has not been. We stifle our own plays searching out LeBron and we squander untold seconds dribbling out the clock when some in-paint exploration by any number of players would be more fitting to the moment. This is one of my biggest issues with Frank as a coach. Simplistic offense that overly relies on LeBron James and, to a lesser degree, Anthony Davis.

More could be asked of several players, Kuzma among them. Guys who have a clearly defined role on the team aren’t making shots, especially and specifically from three. This is killing our efficiency and creating turnovers and fast break points (also known as open threes or points in the paint). Until we solve the issue of efficient offense our defense, no matter how well it’s ranked, will have extra pressure applied to it. Pressure that is by and large avoidable.

I would still like a more mobile/athletic 5. We saw how we could at least stymie Jokic with Dwight (who also was DPOY one time and multiple ALL NBA Defense, not an easy skill set to replicate as excellent defense is more than jumping high or running fast). While AD will certainly finish games at the 5 and may even play the bulk of the minutes there we need insurance against injury, COVID and even plain old foul trouble. Currently, even with Damien Jones on the roster, we don’t really have that player in the fold.

Locking in a future to surround AD… and some excellent trading chips for another superstar.

Aloha, Michael. Great move by team and player.
I think this will help Kyle’s play. No more need to ever get desperate for stats. Can focus on contining to do the right thing like he has been doing instead of chasing stats and paydays. I mean what can you do with $90 million you can’t do with $40 million?

Wonder if AD is giving up a little or if we are only going 14 deep.

2 years 19 mil. Full mid level. I wonder what this means for Kenny.

It was Dwight thinking a discussed deal was an offer. When he accepted, Lakers said they would have to check, which told him to sign with the 76ers. He will get more PT there anyway.

Our problem is what to do with McGee. Maybe that PJ Tucker trade for Kuzma and McGee might not be so bad? Adds defense and 3-point shooting and a small ball center.

I would be so stoked if Paunfinished it out in the P& G

Top priority has to be a starting center. Can’t go into battle with McGee as the starter. Nothing as important as getting a center.

Aloha, Michael,

Yep, going to be a transcendent offseason. Another sign why the NBA needs the Lakers to be the champions. Nothing seems to ignite exciting change as much as teams wanting to beat the Lakers. Giannis forcing the Bucks to go all in. Harden holding an axe over the Rockets. No way Houston is going to trade him to Brooklyn without getting Kyrie or KD in return. What irony if the Nets traded Kyrie after he engineered joining the Nets with KD. Waiting for the Clippers to panic and make the trade for Westbrook. LMAO.

I think there’s no way the Lakers can stand pat right now. We’re in the middle of an arms race and we need another big gun and Kuzma is unfortunately a water pistol. Right now, everybody not named LeBron or AD is on the table, including Caruso and THT. We’re set at the 1, 3, and 4 but need to upgrade at the 2 and 5. For me, the 5 is more important than the 2. We need Ibaka and a healthy Boogie at the 5 and could live with paying KCP at the 2 if we can’t upgrade both positions and still maintain depth.

I do like Harris and Redick for the Lakers. Best of all would be Kuzma and KCP S&T for Victor Oladipo, provided Lakers medical people feel he will recover 100%. He’s the two-way shooting guard that would take the Lakers to the next level and be the young stud guard we need for AD once LeBron retires. I would be satisfied if we could sign Matthews but he may be looking for more than we want or are able to pay.

Key to me still comes down to Ibaka or Wood or Boogie giving us a modern center to replace the Howard/McGee traditional low post duo. Benches may be the difference maker. LeBron and AD are still the #1 and #2 players in the league but we need a stretch five so teams can’t pack the paint to diminish their impact. That makes landing Ibaka or Wood or Turner critical. Our ace in the hold could be a healthy Boogie but I hate to go into battle needed that.

Well-reasoned and I agree with a lot of this. I think that we’re entering the realm of players that, for the amount of talent we would be required to ship out, are going to struggle replicating the overall impact of the talent going out the door. While some may not hold championship pedigree or the value of being on a team that’s won it all in as high regard as I do, I think we all agree that the talent that is currently on the roster is enough to be highly competitive. Adding some of the players I’ve seen bandied about (guys like LaVine, Rose, DeRozan) are all fine players but they’re only one guy. As we saw, it takes a team willing to sacrifice for one another to win. That characteristic can be preached about and urged from a coach but it takes player buy-in.

So, personally, I see no reason to trade the now well-documented impact of Caruso, the still remaining promise of Kuzma or the potential contract of KCP for anything less than a bonafide superstar. Frankly, even Jrue Holiday falls pretty short of that. He is a helluva player, would have been one of the better fits alongside AD and LBJ (on paper…all of this is just mind dreams and paper pushing is another thing I feel needs more reporting on) but he’s on his way to the Bucks. A lot of the other names are not a good return on our player investment.

The team that won it all does not need to hit a grand slam in the offseason, we have a championship team already. We did well in adding youth and versatility for naught but Danny Green whom I am pretty sure everyone thought under-performed. If we take care of our bench through free agency, maybe sign Kuzma and Caruso to higher value contracts so that we don’t need to include so very many player simply to match salaries I think we’ll have put ourselves in a great position to make a bold move, should it be needed, at the deadline.

Now all of this changes if we can’t re-sign Rondo, Bradley opts out and signs elsewhere and we can’t bring in decent, cheap talent to bolster the bench. But in the modern NBA you need cheap impact players. Controlling cost and keeping out of the repeater tax or blowing past the apron are vital stratagems to keeping the best options to improve the team at hand. You’re not going to easily replace what Kuzma and Caruso do and when you toss in that if it’s a high-value contract we’re looking to trade for that likely means we’re losing KCP in a S&T. Combined those players averaged 27.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and 4.8 apg in the regular season and 27.2 ppg, 7.7 rpg, and 4.9 apg in the playoffs. That equates to an elite player but without elite player usage. That’s the most important part of all this, these aren’t players who need the ball, have plays run for them or even get big minutes (none of them cracked 26 mpg in the regular season or 30 mpg in the playoffs) to impact the game at an elite level.

Some may, and likely will, disagree and that’s fine. My eye test, the overall stats and the fact that we’ll be hanging a banner at some point in the future are all I need to confirm that the players we’re searching for are, for the most part, already wearing Laker uniforms.