2014-15 Official Lakers Season Thread, Vol: We Love Each Other

[pmatic]

Prefers a veteran head coach with experience.

Immediately named McDermott, Smart in addition to Randle in regards to the draft.

Yeah, they aren't being patient it seems...

 

[had pants]

 

[CP1708]

Yeah, they aren't being patient it seems...

****

 

[pmatic]

More Laker insight from Woj.

 

[lovehateself]

i wonder who will be the first on the 2nd tier free agents to try and lock up their deals. 

i know some will wait and see what lebron does, but he really does have any team with cap space held hostage. 

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

Prefers a veteran head coach with experience.

Immediately named McDermott, Smart in addition to Randle in regards to the draft.

Yeah, they aren't being patient it seems...

After watching the way they handled "tanking" what's supposed to be the best draft in a decade, I couldn't imagine why anyone would think they'd be all in on a top 5 pick next season

Dan seems amused by Mitch-speak

 

[essential1]

Randle press conference in 5 minutes.

View media item 1053688

 

[pmatic]

http://www.nba.com/lakers/live_stream

#WelcomeUncleJulius

 

[mr j 858]

Link to the stream for Randle's press conf:

http://www.nba.com/lakers/live_stream

 

[CHAOSE57]

Thanks for the link guys

 

[lovehateself]

no wwe entrance ramp or smoke? 

 

[grandtheftbike]

been listening to faint chatter mixed with a bit of white noise for the last 10 minutes

your move, Lakers

 

[CP1708]

What Woj says should give a lot of you Laker fans pause.

First and second tier FA’s don’t really want to go to LA because of their infrastructure.

Like Kyle Lowry would probably rather stay in Toronto than come to LA.


I don’t know why that doesn’t worry people down to their very core.

Know how you get Lowry to change his mind? Overpay.

That is a BAD look on our part.


I kinda thought, after listening to Mitch, maybe he makes a play like Lowry, Lance and resign Pau, roll out Lowry, Kobe, Lance, Randle, Pau. 2 old guys. 2 young guys. 1 in his prime. A nice 2nd round team.

Then I listen to Woj, and hear that, and I shudder. If Mitch has to throw money to pull 2nd tier guys, we are better off tearing the whole joint down and getting that 2nd prospect. What Orlando has done. What Phoenix is trying to do. What the Thunder did. What the Pelicans SHOULD have done, but they panicked. What the mid 90’s Lakers did with Nick, Eddie, Peeler, Lynch, etc. Build up a young roster of 22-23 year olds, and still have a ton of cap space to then buy up the remaining pieces.


If we can sign Lance and Lowry types for fair prices, great. Try to squeeze another guy in there with them then. But if you have to overpay them, and still not win anything, when other teams get their guys to take less money, and win titles, then we are better off tearing the place down and starting over, fresh.


The ownership situation is sketchy. The GM was once elite, has been reaching a lot lately. Soon to be a 4th coach in 4 years. Fading overpaid former superstar for 2 more years.

This is not a good situation, at all. And if given a choice between overpaying to be average, or being terrible to rebuild the groundlevel of the org and reset some expectations, I choose to reset the system 100%. Every time. Let the owner show he has a plan. Let the GM remind people what he can do. Let the new coach settle into the job without Title pressure right off the bat. Let the old star walk and free up money. And let the young kids we bring in prove they are talented enough, for stars to want to come back and restore our place.

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

All Woj basically said is that the lakers arent as attractive to potential free agents as before. How did we go from there to severely overpaying guys this summer? Nothing has even happened yet, at least let free agency play out before you jump off a bridge. We're not tanking next year, just let it go.

 

[essential1]

Hey look at Jimmy Buss... My guy

 

[grandtheftbike]

Ooooooh Jimmy killin em with the classic Jimmy fit that only Jimmy knows fit

#WDJBWT

 

[CHAOSE57]

 

[laker4lifeman]

Jim always reminds me of Buffalo Bill

 

[lovehateself]

im not gettin any sound

 

[pmatic]

Tell me Randle doesn't sound like LeBron.

 

[essential1]

Tell me Randle doesn't sound like LeBron.

Hmmm... Takes off mask... It was LeBron all along

 

[CP1708]

2. The Lakers should forget about the LeBron-Carmelo combo and go after Carmelo ... and Chandler Parsons

With the SuperFriends all opting out of their contracts, the idea that there isn't some sort of agreed-upon machination for restoring the Heat's roster is naïve in the extreme. The Lakers surely know this. So it would be a waste of precious time to entertain James on a visit and/or make him an offer he's surely to turn down to return to Miami.

The better use of the first week of free agency is to make an all-out push for Anthony, while dropping a massive offer sheet on Parsons, the Rockets' small forward who is a restricted free agent.
Los Angeles can offer Anthony a max deal, but it would then be unable to add just about anyone else who could make a difference -- especially after not moving the seventh pick in last week's Draft, which became Kentucky's Julius Randle. The rookie scale for the seventh pick for next season is around $2.497 million. If L.A. also keeps second-round pick Jordan Clarkson, acquired from the Wizards, it would pay him $507,000 next season, for a total rookie outlay of about $3 million.

After that, the Lakers would have a little bit more than $37 million committed for just five players: Kobe Bryant, Robert Sacre, Steve Nash, Randle and Clarkson. Over the weekend, the Lakers opted to give forward Ryan Kelly a qualifying offer. The Los Angeles Times reports it is for a little more than $1 million for next season. The Lakers also gave a $915,000 qualifying offer to guard Kendall Marshall. But those are just offers.

The league requires minimum cap holds for teams that have fewer than 12 players. With five players under contract, the Lakers could have up to seven minimum holds on their books until players are signed. (They also still have cap holds on any number of former players that will all be renounced to maximize their cap room.)

For the sake of argument, let's say L.A. uses just five minimum holds, with the intent of filling the remaining two roster spots with new free agents. The five holds would run about $2.5 million total, bringing the team's salary near $40 million -- enough for one max deal, but not more. The Lakers would almost certainly have to convince 'Melo to take less than the max in order to make a realistic offer to Parsons.
Parsons has been incredible in Houston since being taken 38th overall in the 2011 Draft. Last season, he was 13th in PER among small forwards and his True Shooting Percentage was better than that of All-Stars like Anthony and Paul George. Playing off of Randle (or Pau Gasol, if the Lakers can re-sign him), or Anthony and Kobe Bryant, Parsons would be equally lethal.
The Rockets opted not to pick up Parsons' option for 2014-15, not because they don't want him back, but because they can now sign him to a long-term contract. If they had picked up his option for next season, he would have become an unrestricted free agent next summer, and almost certain to leave. But since he'll be restricted now, the Rockets can match any offers he gets. The Lakers should make it very, very hard for Houston to do so.

Houston plans to clear one big contract off its books by sending center Omer Asik to New Orleans for a 2015 first-round pick, a deal that can't be finalized until after the July moratorium. For our purposes, we'll include the deal on Houston's tab. That would leave the Rockets with approximately $55.7 million in guaranteed money due seven players next season, with team options on Patrick Beverley and Troy Austin for approximately $1.7 million more. Assuming the Rockets want both back, that puts the Rockets' team salary for next season at $57.4 million. With the cap currently projected at $63.2 million for next season, that wouldn't give Houston enough cap room to sign a superstar.

But Houston reportedly has another deal in its back pocket to move guard Jeremy Lin to create enough cap room to sign either James or Anthony if either agrees to come to Houston. Let's say they do. That would reduce the Rockets' cap enough to add a third superstar to play with Dwight Howard and James Harden -- though it still wouldn't be enough to offer Anthony the full max based on his 2013-14 salary of $21.4 million.
Whether the Rockets would then be willing to go over the cap -- or into the luxury tax -- to make sure they kept Parsons is a gamble L.A. should be willing to take.
The Lakers, of course, have enough cap space to go after two superstars. They should still court Anthony and offer the max they can: 25 percent of the team's cap. Obviously, Los Angeles has some edges off the court that might to appeal to Anthony's family -- his actress wife, LaLa, would certainly be amenable to a move West if Anthony doesn't re-sign in New York. (And, the Lakers also can offer something on the court Houston can't: head coach approval.)

Then, they could offer Parsons a near-max sheet in whatever manner -- frontloaded, backloaded -- that will be hardest on the Rockets. With Bryant's two-year deal coming off the books in 2016, L.A. could still, conceivably, have room to offer another max deal to, say, Oklahoma City superstar Kevin Durant.
If Houston matches the sheet for Parsons, the Lakers always could bring back Gasol for more than he could get anywhere else on a short-term deal.

Some stuff from David Aldridge.

I don't really have any idea where we would put Melo and CP and Randle on the court, unless he thinks Randle is coming off the bench, or a Center, but whatever.

 

[sohi 23]

Have the sneaking feeling that Julius will be the best player in the draft class.

Currently trying to figure out if a Randle/Love frontcourt would work... I don't think so

 

[CP1708]

Currently trying to figure out if a Randle/Love frontcourt would work... I don't think so

Not possible bruh. Both play the same spot, and neither defends well enough down low to slow down Centers.

I don't think so, but LaMarcus MIGHT fit better, he's played some Center, but he hates it.

The man to target is Marc Gasol, or Omer Asik. They could back up Randle pretty well, tho Asik would clog the lane a bit on offense, Marc can at least space a little better up to 12 feet or so.

 

[essential1]

CP how about this.. Maybe a 4th or 5th option.. But one that provides that bedrock you want.. Maybe Pau 1 year / $12mil, then go Asik in 2015. Could go Gortat, but I'm not too interested looking him up 3-4 years. 2016 could go with Thomas, Stephenson, Randle, Asik or Gortat, and $27mil in cap space.

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