Lakers News

[paperboyNC]

Almost guarantee with Durant leaving there's another lock out happening to prevent another Durant situation from happening

All the small market teams will be looking at okc..a team that drafted supremely well for 5 years..Durant/westbrook/jeff green/ibaka/harden  lose their best player in years in Durant for nothing

I think a hard cap is happening or a larger percentage of a "max" deal of a team's total cap
or maybe consolation from the team that signs that player (in the way of future picks) or even adding a franchise tag of sorts to a player

I wonder if viewership will decrease with pretty much 2 superteams and a bunch of mediocre ones, with the casual fan just tuning in for the finals

IMO ratings goes way up with 2 superteams because everyone wants to see if the superteam will lose. What's bad for the NBA is that they have a max number of national TV games. Ratings would skyrocket if the Warriors had 100% of games on national TV.

 

[jmoney74]

The small market argument is a hard measurement to apply considering San Antonio and Cleveland aren't really large market teams.

In the end, this is actually a fair way as it's up to the players to decide where they go. Despite not winning a championship, OKC has enjoyed quite a bit of success being able to get into the playoffs and were only 1 win away from getting into the Finals (and were in the Finals before). OKC owners decided to trade away Harden and Ibaka... and as unfortunate as it is to lose Durant, they should be lucky they had him considering there are not many transcendent players in the NBA.

I don't think it's much different this upcoming season than the past 40 years where the superteams were Lakers/Boston, Lakers/Detroit, Chicago, Lakers/Spurs and now Warriors/Cavs. In 3-5 years, that will change again (if the Lakers picks pan out, they may once again be in the mix). I think viewership will probably remain the same, with some people watching just to see how the new teams play with new players.

It's more of the same, just different uniforms, which to me makes it more interesting.

Harden wanted to leave

 

[eyephone]

Bulls need to make moves to clear cap space for Wade.

Jose Calderon to the Lakers!!!

Schedule a parade in Los Angeles

#backcourtHeavy

Marcelo signed with the Lakers 2 year deal

 

[SoclosetoIrvine]

Marcelo back? What an uninspiring move haha hope it's for the vet min
Yeah every game he'll dish out a highlight assist, but that was all he was good for

I'm still sad we didn't try harder for seth curry, since he signed only for 2/$6 million with mavs...or even Barbosa 2/$8 million as they both bring a dimension we don't have

 

[jmoney74]

that dude can barely play!

 

[eyephone]

Portland signs Ezeli 2 year $15 mil.

What a bargain/great deal!

 

[paydawg]

Great trade mitch!
2 future 2nd's for a one year rental of calderon?  Perfect trade!

He's clearly shown his ability to get talent at the second round in Jordan Clarkson/Marc Gasol/ and hopefully the new kid Zubac

Man that Wade to Chicago move was ridiculous..I would've bet money he was going to stay a heat-lifer...Chicago will have its work cut out for them to make the playoffs with butler/wade/rondo

cavs
pacers
hawks
Celtics
heat
raptors

all firmly ahead... competing with hornets/knicks/bucks/wizards/pistons

You think the Heat are firmly ahead of the Bulls?  I doubt that.  All they have is Whiteside and Dragic.

 

[SoclosetoIrvine]

Portland signs Ezeli 2 year $15 mil.

What a bargain/great deal!

SMH lakers.... I'd rather have ezeli at 2 year $15 mil than mozgov at 4/$40...let alone 4/$64
Him and Mahinmi were my choices

Great trade mitch!
2 future 2nd's for a one year rental of calderon?  Perfect trade!

He's clearly shown his ability to get talent at the second round in Jordan Clarkson/Marc Gasol/ and hopefully the new kid Zubac

Man that Wade to Chicago move was ridiculous..I would've bet money he was going to stay a heat-lifer...Chicago will have its work cut out for them to make the playoffs with butler/wade/rondo

cavs
pacers
hawks
Celtics
heat
raptors

all firmly ahead... competing with hornets/knicks/bucks/wizards/pistons

You think the Heat are firmly ahead of the Bulls?  I doubt that.  All they have is Whiteside and Dragic.

It all depends on the health of bosh. but assuming bosh is healthy enough for 80% of games, I do think dragic/bosh/whiteside/rookies of winslow+ richardson is better than the bulls

It might be me, but I'm not a huge fan of backcourts that can't shoot
Rondo and wade might be the worst shooting pg/sg in the league...rondo can't even make free throws at a decent clip.  Butler is obviously the best player on both teams but I'm not sure how far he can carry them

 

[Perspective]

Portland signs Ezeli 2 year $15 mil.

What a bargain/great deal!

Makes the horrific Mozgov contract a bit more so, and I didn't think that was possible.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

So Lakers strike out in previous years on free agents and want to make sure they get a center this year and overpay... boo.

At least they locked Clarkson down for cheap which sort of makes up for Mozgov.

 

[acpme]

Almost guarantee with Durant leaving there's another lock out happening to prevent another Durant situation from happening

All the small market teams will be looking at okc..a team that drafted supremely well for 5 years..Durant/westbrook/jeff green/ibaka/harden  lose their best player in years in Durant for nothing

OKC did it to themselves. The ownership left Seattle, one of the most dynamic and growth cities of the last decade, because they wanted taxpayers to fund a new or improved arena. They got it in OKC, where Bennett is from. The value of the franchise is worth 3-5X what is was a few years ago. The team resisted paying luxury tax and raked in big profits on revenue sharing.

Still,  Durant and Westbrook both signed long term deals... only to find Harden traded for almost nothing the next year.

Ownership can't blame anyone. They had all the resources they needed. City provided the arena, front office drafted well, players played out of their minds. Everyone did their part except the guys who sign the checks.

 

[eyephone]

Portland signs Ezeli 2 year $15 mil.

What a bargain/great deal!

SMH lakers.... I'd rather have ezeli at 2 year $15 mil than mozgov at 4/$40...let alone 4/$64
Him and Mahinmi were my choices

Great trade mitch!
2 future 2nd's for a one year rental of calderon?  Perfect trade!

He's clearly shown his ability to get talent at the second round in Jordan Clarkson/Marc Gasol/ and hopefully the new kid Zubac

Man that Wade to Chicago move was ridiculous..I would've bet money he was going to stay a heat-lifer...Chicago will have its work cut out for them to make the playoffs with butler/wade/rondo

cavs
pacers
hawks
Celtics
heat
raptors

all firmly ahead... competing with hornets/knicks/bucks/wizards/pistons

You think the Heat are firmly ahead of the Bulls?  I doubt that.  All they have is Whiteside and Dragic.

It all depends on the health of bosh. but assuming bosh is healthy enough for 80% of games, I do think dragic/bosh/whiteside/rookies of winslow+ richardson is better than the bulls

It might be me, but I'm not a huge fan of backcourts that can't shoot
Rondo and wade might be the worst shooting pg/sg in the league...rondo can't even make free throws at a decent clip.  Butler is obviously the best player on both teams but I'm not sure how far he can carry them

http://www.si.com/nba/chris-bosh-health-blood-clot-miami-heat-nba-playoffs

 

[SoclosetoIrvine]

The curious thing about the whole Chris Bosh scenario I've heard is that if a player doesn't play for an entire calendar year, which would be next February, the team could in theory waive him and ask for medical exemption, which would remove bosh's contract from the team cap room and the salary would be 80% (or so) covered by insurance.  In this scenario, Bosh gets paid regardless, either by the team or insurance

From that article, it definitely seems bosh wants to come back.  But I could definitely see the Heat telling him it's not safe enough until that February date kicks in.  They would then have cap space for 2 max free agents this coming summer (westbrook) since Wade is back.  I have this one weird theory that Pat Riley really didn't want Wade back.  If he gave him that 2 year/$50 million deal, they would've not been free agent players, so he kept strong at the 2 year/$40 million deal (allow them to add 1 max free agent assuming the above scenario holds true with Bosh) but kind of wished wade would balk and walk, which he did.  Will be interesting to see if Bosh plays or not, but I do hope he doesn't end his career like this. 

 

[irvinehomeowner]

All this ESPN 710 talk about trading D'Angelo and Randle for Westbrook... bah... I don't even think Westbrook would be good for the Lakers.

Just wait it out, if Westbrook wants to come to LA, he'll sign as a free agent next July, no need to give up any potential stars for him and if the kids don't pan out, that means they might get a lottery pick.

If Westbrook doesn't sign, whatever... I don't think he is good enough to bring the Lakers back to glory.

 

[Perspective]

All this ESPN 710 talk about trading D'Angelo and Randle for Westbrook... bah... I don't even think Westbrook would be good for the Lakers.

Just wait it out, if Westbrook wants to come to LA, he'll sign as a free agent next July, no need to give up any potential stars for him and if the kids don't pan out, that means they might get a lottery pick.

If Westbrook doesn't sign, whatever... I don't think he is good enough to bring the Lakers back to glory.

They cannot trade for Westbrook. It would be insane to give-up anything of much value to rent him for a year with no assurance beyond that.

Best case scenario - The Celtics trade Jaylen plus other assets for Westbrook and he signs with the Lakers next July. 

 

[eyephone]

All this ESPN 710 talk about trading D'Angelo and Randle for Westbrook... bah... I don't even think Westbrook would be good for the Lakers.

Just wait it out, if Westbrook wants to come to LA, he'll sign as a free agent next July, no need to give up any potential stars for him and if the kids don't pan out, that means they might get a lottery pick.

If Westbrook doesn't sign, whatever... I don't think he is good enough to bring the Lakers back to glory.

They cannot trade for Westbrook. It would be insane to give-up anything of much value to rent him for a year with no assurance beyond that.

Best case scenario - The Celtics trade Jaylen plus other assets for Westbrook and he signs with the Lakers next July. 

They shouldn't. But it won't suprise me if they did.
If they do trade, it should be sign long term contract and trade. Don't do it like when the Lakers traded for Howard.

 

[eyephone]

Why isn't Julius Randle playing with the Lakers summer league this year?

Shouldn't he?

 

[Perspective]

Why isn't Julius Randle playing with the Lakers summer league this year?

Shouldn't he?

He should be. The argument is, you typically play only two summer leagues, and he has. So long as he's working on his game this summer, I guess it's fine. Let DLo and Ingram shine.

 

[eyephone]

Why isn't Julius Randle playing with the Lakers summer league this year?

Shouldn't he?

He should be. The argument is, you typically play only two summer leagues, and he has. So long as he's working on his game this summer, I guess it's fine. Let DLo and Ingram shine.

He only played one full season.

 

[Perspective]

Why isn't Julius Randle playing with the Lakers summer league this year?

Shouldn't he?

He should be. The argument is, you typically play only two summer leagues, and he has. So long as he's working on his game this summer, I guess it's fine. Let DLo and Ingram shine.

He only played one full season.

He played the full summer league his first season - injured in first regular season game. Then played summer league again in his second season.