Both Strus and Vincent are unrestricted free agents who only made $1.9M this season. Strus is shooting 33% from deep in playoffs but Vincent 41%. Both shot just 33% from deep in the regular season.

Vincent is the better player and a 26-year old 6′ 5″ point guard. More of a shooter than passer. Lakers have been rumored to be interested in him and could use part of their NT MLE for him if they hardcapped.

Your idea is not as crazy as it sounds, especially if we hard cap ourselves. Just let DLo walk and sign Vincent. Miami has a lot of signed contracts. There’s a price they won’t match. Maybe 3-years for $30M.

Why lose him for nothing. Take DLO in trade and bet on Heat Culture to fix him. He and Strus are a great duo of undrafted guards. Good scouting by the Heat.

They have bird rights. He’s not going anywhere unless some offers a ridiculous offer.

Better across the board, loved his game 2 clutchosity.

Looking at their committed money they’re right at what will likely be the draconic tax apron (which won’t affect them until next summer, I believe but still waiting to see the official document which goes into effect July 1 this year).

Victor is picking up that 9+ mil player option and w/o signing either Strus or Vincent they’re at $171,225,510 (which includes Love and Haslem’s deals coming off the books already). Wouldn’t surprise me to see them try and move Lowry and use a couple FRPs to clear his money (San Antonio will have plenty of cap space , for example, and could just give them a massive TPE). Not too sure they can get out of Vic’s deal since he’s so banged up.

They probably want to bring back Love after this, too, but I’d be fine with him as the elderly statesman, backup big, too.

I wonder whether there is a measurable difference between playing in Converse Chuck Taylor high-tops or the latest and hottest low-top Jordans? There probably is. Training, nutrition, and tools were amateurish back then compared to today.

There’s such a difference in the game overall from the time I played in high school and jc to today. The players are so much bigger, better, and more athletic and players now focus on just one sport all year around. Players today are simply better.

I look at Kawhi as an example of why load management doesn’t really matter. His body just ain’t right now and you can’t “save” performance minutes at an elite level for later because you didn’t play them last week or whatever.

So, as it relates to LeBron, he can either play or not. I think it also doesn’t matter. Just about every injury he’s sustained has been non-contact. Groin happened moving for the ball. Tendon happened making a basic move. AD, on the other hand, can get injured from a variety of contact issues: dude rolls into his keys, his foot huts Jokic in the air and breaks, stray pigeon impales him. His issue, when healthy, is he simply seems to check out every few games. He’ll say things like “I played the same way I always do…” or BS of some kind in that mold. I’m not fooled, anymore. For every dominant 40/20 game there’s a 14/12 game lurking in the weeds.

Uh..that’s what I wrote. He didn’t play in 1/3 of the games.

I think having some quality depth behind AD and LeBron is more important than rest day. I would like an add a decent back up center and another combo forward. I thought Ham rode LeBron a little more then he had to, especially in the 2nd half. Use 10 guys through the regular season. We actually played pretty well when LeBron went down. AD is harder to replace because he is the backbone of the defense. We play more aggressively on the perimeter when he is in the game. A center that can give us a good 10 to 15 minutes of solid defense would be a welcome addition.

The big question BEHIND THE SCENES is whether LeBron demands that the Lakers trade Russell. Lots of rumors about LeBron being pissed at DLo. Not sure if they were true or not. If James is not retiring and OK with keeping him, Lakers should give him a $40M 1+1 extension and review situation at deadline.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cap/

Everybody saw where he said he wanted to return to the Lakers but few read the last line of that quote “….we’ll see what happens”. Hard to turn down an offer sheet for 4yrs and $100mill guaranteed.

We’ll see what happens

Moving on from transcendent talent like LeBron will always be monumental task. I'm happy with how James and Lakers have handled challenge. Change won't be smooth but this younger, more talented Lakers team is better equipped to handle transition from LeBron than Magic or Kobe. pic.twitter.com/U8OgfvDbKK

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) May 24, 2023

Frankly, I can’t see a scenario where LeBron actually retires this summer. I think he just got caught in a moment of his mortality as a player and was honest. But he’s not going to turn down $97M over the next two years. How he plays the next two seasons will determine whether he then retires or not.

When you look at the age of the remade roster, the Lakers are going to be ina much better situation when LeBron leaves than they were when Magic and Kobe left. If LeBron left this season, the Lakers with AD, Reaves, Hacimura, and $45M in cap space would be in a pretty good spot to rebuild. Sign Kyrie to replace LeBron and you’re ready to go.

I think what we’re seeing could happen this summer if LeBron retires is exactly the end game the Lakers have to create for when LeBron actually retires. Make sure team has cap space to replace LeBron with another superstar in free agency. Bottom line, I think Lakers s/b in great position post-LeBron.

Vando has always been a role-player, I never bought into the Mo Bamba “HES GOT LONG ARMS!!!!” hype (that’s what trying to sell me a load on THT gets people lol) and of all of them one really should only expect D-Lo to perform at a high level in the playoffs. He’s certainly shrunk from the moment.

He averaged 9.7 drives/g in the regular season. Obviously lower than classic Bron, but still almost 40% more drives per game than in the playoffs. That’s a pretty hefty drop off.

— NBA University (@NBA_University) May 5, 2023

Its also the terrible quality of many of those shots, often within thebfirst few seconds after passing mid-court, before theres rebounders, without running anything. Thise gotta stop.

There is but it’s slimmer by the bricked three…

His playoff history has not been great. He needs to show up big these playoffs if he wants to get a new contract with the Lakers

The guard talent in the West has given me cause for concern all season long. If our dudes are struggling against MEM without Ja then what da hell are they gonna do against Steph/Klay or SGA/Monk?

Great points, Mongo. Disappointing to see the Lakers come out flat. LeBron and AD both disappointed. Rui balled out. Dennis disappeared. Vando turned into Ben Simmons. Grizzies answered every time we got close. Lakers need to respect them. And then crush them. They won a gentlemen’s sweep with Game 2. That’s all.

I mistakenly called this series a wrap once Ja got hurt. But I’d forgotten that MEM actually has a winning record when he doesn’t play…mostly because they’re better defensively. If JJJ is gonna continue to stay outta foul trouble then this thing can get dicey for the Lakers. And now the schedule begins to speed up as well with a game every other day along with travel mixed in. This is why you can’t mess around and let teams extend the series.

Also…Lebron is getting his numbers but he doesn’t seem to have any explosiveness. That usually shows up when he’s settling for alotta jumpers…10 shots from outside the paint last night. Plus, he’s getting worked on defense in the post.

Play-In games were far better than the first two East playoff series. Maybe Knicks and Cavs can save them. Best game of the day has to be Warriors at Kings. Going to be fun being a Kings fan for a series. Love to Sacramento pull off the upset to be our second round opponent. Go, Kings!