**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins

[DLF]

Ever heard of time travel?

 

[pmatic]

When you factor that Christie will be on the last year of his deal, gotta think Brown is gone too. Max/Beas/Reaves can hold down the 2 spot

Brown is a backup SF. Factor in the usual injuries and I think they can get by with Beasley, Reaves, Christie, Brown next to/behind Bron.

 

[essential1]

My guess is they bring back mostly everybody.

But Lonnie leaves for a bigger role when Lakers probably pass at paying him 120% to keep him.
And Brown & Weyen get opportunities elsewhere.

Schroeder is a wild card. Like P said the exception for him is a decent bet.

Bron + AD + DLo + Beasley + Vando as a top 5 fit under the salary cap with DLo at $27mil

Keeping Reaves, Rui, Bamba at $28mil fits under luxury tax.

They go over the luxury tax with Christie, the draft picks and the taxpayer MLE

But Reaves, Rui and Bamba gives them enough salaries to look for a really quality player in season if they choose.

 

[blacklion23]

Need Nike to drop the 8s he wore that game!!

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Need somebody to match up with Wembanyama. Same player profile as Brook Lopez

You already know where Lakers farm bigs in case Wembanyama turns out to be a problem.

It's almost like magic

 

[tupac003]

Not to put a damper on last nights win,

But I'm interested to see if we get the same vibe vs better teams.

If they can win this Dallas game, I'll start to believe a little more in this team.

Last night is what this team was supposed to do.

 

[pmatic]

 

[pmatic]

Wonder who this would've been for?

 

[geno90221]

Wonder who this would've been for?

Probably Eddie Jones

 

[pdino]

DLo injury hurts, spacing with him and Beasley in that starting unit is best Lakers have had all year. AD got to destroy Dwight Powell and those bum bigs today. Don’t know who’s gonna slow down Luka/Kyrie, Might be a 135-130 kind of game

 

[pmatic]

Malik Beasley's (occasional) passing

There are stand-still shooters, movement shooters, and the very rare shooters who can transition from a full-on sprint into a clean jumper in one (or zero!) dribbles. That last type constitutes an offense-within-an-offense, warping the geometry of half the court. Space opens in their wake. They are almost the photo-negative of the lockdown NFL cornerbacks who shut off half the field.

Beasley is that kind of shooter, and he should feast alongside LeBron James. The new-look, still-far-behind Lakers have three locked-in starters: D'Angelo Russell, LeBron, and Anthony Davis. There is a strong argument for Beasley to snag one spot, likely over Dennis Schroder, with one of Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Troy Brown Jr. rounding out the lineup. (The Lakers have chosen Beasley and Vanderbilt in their last two games -- both wins they needed to preserve their season.)

Beasley's instinct is to shoot whenever he sees a sliver of space, and that's smart; Beasley has hit 38% of his career 3s, and he's usually in the 40% neighborhood on catch-and-shoot looks. He has a turbo release. Only four players have jacked more than 11 3s per 36 minutes this season: Damian Lillard, the Splash Brothers, and Beasley.

Beasley has also quietly become a pretty good passer against rotating defenses. He should engage that part of his game more with better talent around him -- especially on actions that pair him with Davis:



With no other Laker on the left side, Jonas Valanciunas is on an island defending Beasley and Davis -- a brutal predicament.

The Russell-Beasley duo is a glaring target on defense, and the Lakers probably need all three of LeBron, Davis, and Vanderbilt on the floor to cover for them. That will shrink their spacing.

But the Lakers need to string wins together before worrying about matchup problems.

 

[DLF]

Wonder who this would've been for?

Sendale Threatt and Shaq

 

[reconic supreme]

Yeah sunday is a huge test.

Mavs can score about as well as anyone and on anybody in the league. That defense is absolutely mid to below average though so Bron and Davis need to step up.

 

[goldmember]

kyrie will go off

 

[Lizakers]

Wonder who this would've been for?

This was our roster that summer kemp was traded

 

[lovehateself]

kyrie will go off

between now and the game, probably

 

[pmatic]

This was our roster that summer kemp was traded

As a kid, I always found it confusing and funny how much they would go out of their way to try and upgrade from Horry. AC Green, Horace Grant, Samaki Walker and pursuing Toni Kukoc, PJ Brown and Christian Laettner.

 

[pmatic]

 

[pmatic]

Gotta start Reaves in D'Lo's place.

 

[tupac003]

Probably start DS.

Damn that's just bad luck with D.Lo...

Still think the GS player could have walked around though....

 

[sohi 23]

They def starting Dennis in dlo’s place.
I think Reaves would be the Beasley replacement (if he got injured)

 

[BIG LEEMELONE]

Yea it's gonna be Dennis. Kyrie would burn Reaves alive

 

[MIKE LOWERY]

These ******* injuries man. Just one ****** situation after another. Been like this going back to 2020-2021.

 

[tay1]

It’s day to day. He’ll be fine.

 

[Lizakers]

Why already ruling him out? Where’s the gamesmanship? We should keep Dallas guessing who’s gonna play. Make it a game time decision