So you guys have finally come around on the Clippers needing to blow it up (took yall long enough) The Rockets are about to blow it up, putting all their best role players in the block. This is another team people thought had a chance to compete. Not just this year, but since Harden.
Well, since he's being intentionally awful, it sort of makes sense. He wants out and I'm sure he's trying his best. You're talking about the Battier in Miami?I love it, because had it happened to their team, they'd be defending it. I love the irony in it. In any case I just wanted to point out the spiral thing. It's also funny how certain teams were on the verge of creating one (OKC before the Harden trade, Lakers with Howard), yet couldn't.
I don't get your reaction. I thought it was a deal they needed to make. It shows that they've gone all in to get PG and another star. Dumping Mozgov's contract was a must. Russell also isn't a talent you can't afford to miss. We'll see how Lonzo does, but his contribution will likely match D'Angelo's. I don't think his progression so far has matched expectations. Also, he's not the brightest bulb.
Don't see anyone posting what you're reffering to. In any case, I've always said this team isn't going to cut it with Doc. They need new leadership, new energy. I'm sure bringing in Jerry West has a lot to do with it. Going back to mediocrity with such a team, would be the stupidest idea ever. Resign them both, if a superstar swap comes along think about it real good. But as good as that sounds, my feeling is that with Griffin's past two years being a downer, you likely won't get high value in return. And trading for Carmelo would be idiotic. This isn't superstar Carmelo.
I don't know what you mean by the spiral thing. I was being sorta tongue in cheek about Battier, but I love that guy.
I disagree. Going all-in to try and get two stars when the team still isn't very good is a typical Lakers mistake. Like trying to put a roof on a house before you've built the foundation. We've tried hitting the home run before, and it hasn't worked. Even if the wildest fever dreams of Lakers fans came to pass and you were able to acquire LeBron James and Paul George next offseason, you still wouldn't have a team able to compete with Golden State. So you traded away one of your future pieces, one of your few assets worth anything, for the opportunity to be runners-up to Golden State even if everything panned out perfectly. On top of that, trading away D'Angelo, who, for all you may say about him, is still one of the better guards under 25 years of age in the NBA on his rookie contract, and getting out of it a cap dump and a low first round draft pick is simply really poor value. So you've traded away an opportunity to build around a young backcourt for the future in Ball-Russell, with size, passing, shooting ability, game intelligence, and upside to spare, and you cashed it in for the opportunity to maybe, if everything went perfectly, build a runner-up to the Warriors with older FAs. Meanwhile smart teams like Boston remain patient, with young assets all over the place, to pounce and build a contender when the Warriors' core breaks and LeBron's declining. That's a garbage trade built on the bedrock of a broken philosophy and Magic/Pelinka should be ashamed of themselves. It epitomizes everything wrong with the Lakers organization recently; building a culture of quick fixes and desperately pitching to star FAs with a trash team behnd you rather than developing talent and getting the foundation right before you start driving to become a contender.
Just the way the season ended with KP skipping out on the exit interview. Maybe if Phil Jackson was the conciliatory type he would have reached out to smooth things out but that's not his estilo.
Fire Phil.. At this point it seems as if he's just making this ish up as he goes.. No real thought behind any of his moves. If he trades KP then I might officially be done with this franchise.
I'm tempted to believe @zohee that Jackson wants to be fired. If he trades Porzingis that's probably confirmed. Porzingis is the only good thing the Knicks have going for them. Trading him would be the most awful move in baskdtball for some time.
For peanuts. Even if he literally crashes and burns and isn't good enough to improve over Zeller, they're only on the hook for two years of him anyways.
But you traded a future set piece, who might become an All Star in the future to aquire one of the three best two-way wings in the league. Despite trading Russell, you still have Ingram, Nance and Randle who are young, good players. If you trade them to aquire better one's so be it. Also, he'd demand a max contract once he's out of that rookie contract and do you really want to be paying him that type of money, despite him not being an undisputed star on your team? So you've traded away an opportunity to build around a young backcourt for the future in Ball-Russell, with size, passing, shooting ability, game intelligence, and upside to spare, and you cashed it in for the opportunity to maybe, if everything went perfectly, build a runner-up to the Warriors with older FAs. Meanwhile smart teams like Boston remain patient, with young assets all over the place, to pounce and build a contender when the Warriors' core breaks and LeBron's declining. That's a garbage trade built on the bedrock of a broken philosophy and Magic/Pelinka should be ashamed of themselves. It epitomizes everything wrong with the Lakers organization recently; building a culture of quick fixes and desperately pitching to star FAs with a trash team behnd you rather than developing talent and getting the foundation right before you start driving to become a contender.[/QUOTE] Russell and Ball wouldn't have worked together. Boston will sooner or later flip all those assets to aquire a talent the type of Paul George. Their situation is a bit better, since they have connections with Hayward who is currently a free agent. Despite that, people were going nuts when they traded the 1st pick for the 3rd, saying that it's the stupidest move, when in fact it was quite the opposite. Drafting Fultz would be idiotic, since you have a premier PG already there. There's no guarantee that these young players become as good as the one's that already established, so it makes sense to flip one for the other.
So Jimmy and Wade will stay With the established chemistry with Rondo i think we can at least watch some more enjoyable basketball from my Bulls next season
Spurs rumored to be shopping LMA for a top 10 pick. I see Sactown has two picks in there including #10. Might be smart to trade one for Aldridge. And then it would be back into the Pacific division for him. Hasn't he suffered enough at the hands of the Dubs? Seriously though maybe the Magic should do it.
He just turned 21! What was Steph doing at 21? What was Isaiah Thomas doing at 21? Averaging 15 and 5 in the NBA? Dropping 40 playing at the 2? No. It's clear who knows the Lakers and the landscape of the NBA by how people judge this trade... it's an incredibly poor decision, mortgaging the possibility to pounce in a post-Warriors NBA in a handful of years, basically throwing that away in order to get a "star" and get clobbered by better teams right now before finding themselves in a similar situation when George gets old and deteriorates. NO, they didn't. They traded a possible future all-star, one of their most valuable assets, in order to get the cap space to potentially sign one of the best two-way wings next summer. You're forgetting about the fact that they were trying to give up even more of their valuable assets in order to get PG NOW, and add him to THIS Lakers team, which would go on to do... what? Finish 7th in the west? Maybe by the time PG starts racking up injuries the supporting cast will have matured enough to be a 4 seed, getting spanked by the still-greatWarriors in the 2nd round! No, this is a move for a team almost there... like Boston. And hey, look who agrees with me --v This is not a move for a team that is where the Lakers are, where all their value lies in their future. They could have had something special. Even if it didn't grow like I or others think it could have, these young players on long contracts with team options retain value for years, especially as the cap goes up up up. But they've already begun to blow up that potential and possibility, and for what? A few games' worth of playoff revenue? To lose to the Rockets or the Grizzlies in the first round for the next few years? Horrible decision.
Just got home What a steal.We got Dunn ANDDDD LaVine? Wow We were ready to trade Jimmy last season for Dunn Also 7th pick You cant beat that. Happy with this trade
That's a steal for the Bulls? Are you kidding? Butler is pretty much one of the best two way players in the league and an All-NBA type player. LaVine can dunk nice. Dunn ceiling is likely that of a Collison or George Hill. I don't think either can become as good as Jimmy. That 7th pick does look intruging, but like I've said with the Lakers - trading guys with potential for guys that are already established is a no brainer. If I'm the Wolves I make that trade 11 out of 10 times. That being said, I think they're the 3rd best team in the West. KAT has certainly improved in the offseason as has Wiggins. You're off the hook with Pekovic and still have some assets to trade - Shabbaz, Rubio, Dieng. And you've just added Butler. I see them infront of the Clippers and Rockets.
So by your brilliant idea the rest of the NBA should wait out this dynasty of the Warriors and then start to compete? While we're at it, why don't we just give the Warriors the title trophy for the next 3 years, since competing against them is silly. Paul George is a star just entering his prime. He's got atleast 6 more years in him. They likely wouldn't have done that, if they weren't sure PG is going to join them. Since you're letting us know how badly the Lakers would get spanked by the Warriors, tell me - what happens if they keep Russell? What happens in the next 3 years? Do they become better than the Warriors? Likely not. We're not talking about KAT or Porzingis or Davis or Antetokounmpo. We're talking about Russell. He's not a game changer. Paul George is. Besides - this trade wasn't even about Russell in the first place - it was about dumping Mozgov's idiot contract. Russell was colateral damage. They were drafting a point guard any way, who at this point, likely has the higher potential out of the two. You remind me of me, but about 5 years younger. I happy with what the Clippers had drafted at that point (Bledsoe, Gordon, Griffin and Deandre), yet when the CP trade came I was furious, since I thought it would've made more sense to groom those players. Now the Clippers have had the best run in their history, while Gordon has become a glorified bench warmer and Bledsoe is mostly injured. I mean, techincally it's not the same, since you haven't aquired PG as of this point, but you likely will next summer and at the cost of nothing. Either way, this is another year of mediocrity for the Lakers.
We tried with Butler it did not work This is a rebuild project not a championship I loveeee Jimmy but this was a right call and i have faith in Dunn. He can turn into a great player Also Thibs does not like Rookies This trade would have never happen if LaVine was not injured Its a gamble but get if he turns out healthy he will score 20pts per game On top of it all we got 7th pick that might turn into another Porzingis I do think that we were going anywhere with Jimmy altho he is great player without Rondo last season he was not able to win games easily Rondo is better option than Jimmy at this point cos Rondo can make those youngsters Develop lot better and faster
What the league should do and what the Lakers should do are two very different things... I just said a team like Boston with a star in his prime should be making moves to try and compete now because that's what their talent window dictates. And trading half your real assets to acquire him is a good way to be in this same position in 6 years and still not have won anything. Trying to build that young talent, building through the draft with a key acquisition here or there at the right time is the way to win post-Warriors, especially with the amount of restricted free agents moving forward. We don't know what Russell is yet; look at his time in the league thus far, the kind of squad he's been on... they've tanked for two straight years. Yes I've come around to this point of view... but the reality is this only worked out for the best because of the fact that they couldn't pull the trigger on PG NOW. You can't have the kind of 2-3 seasons they've had and then be the team trying to make moves to win NOW. It's at odds with how they've been operating -- trading high scorer to tank, signing stupid contracts for a few years in order to get vet support around the youth as they develop, etc -- now all of a sudden its "we need to get a star!" It doesn't make sense and undoes the difficult times that have been endured already. But you're right that this trade is made less horrible if they do not give up any more assets and instead just sign PG in 2018. If that was the plan (which it CLEARLY was not) then I'm more ok with it. The whole problem is... that wasn't the plan. Then you're not that bright, because first of all there is no comparison between the Lakers and the Clippers and second of all the landscape of the league is drastically changed since the emergence of the Warriors. ...having won nothing... ...and this is only known in hindsight. Dumping Moz's contract may be a shrewd move if DLo doesn't develop. But you can't know that now. Acquiring PG for DLo and Randle (and maybe more?) might look ok in the future too... but only if those guys don't develop. That's the only way this makes any sense. But AGAIN... that's not what they were trying to do, is it? So the trade in and of itself is bad, but made less bad because Indy (or maybe to a lesser degree Sac) were playing hardball. Tell me something I don't know.