After the Lakers traded for Jose Calderon, my initial thought was that Marcelo Huertas would no longer be brought back. The Lakers had tendered Huertas a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent, but Calderon, to me at least, made Huertas redundant and no longer needed.
Turns out I was wrong. Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical is reporting Huertas will return to the Lakers with a 2-year contract and Huertas himself confirmed it via instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHlBlKRA5nj/
Huertas is a dynamic passer who can aid in any offense where the P&R and ball/player movement will be featured prominently. While he’s not a shooter, he has a nice floater game and puts himself in positions where he seems like he’d be a scoring threat only to make the pass to a teammate who has slid into an open position. For the Lakers and Walton, these are skills which can be utilized well.
How much he will see the floor remains to be seen, however. With Russell and Calderon, the Lakers have two point guards more than capable of soaking up all the team’s minutes at that spot. After those two, Jordan Clarkson and Lou Williams are both combo-guards who can run the point for stretches. With this many guards, it would seem Huertas would only be an emergency guard who might only see minutes in a blowout or if there were injuries.
On the other hand, having Huertas on the roster would also serve as insurance for a trade. Remember, the Calderon trade fell into the Lakers’ lap and came with two 2nd round draft picks. Calderon could be the type of player a playoff team might look for should then need additional depth at PG due to injury or ineffectiveness. The Lakers, then, might end up needing another PG on the roster later in the year. That’s just speculation, but at this point it makes more sense considering the length of his deal (two years) whereas Calderon only has one more season remaining.
In any event, Huertas is back and I’m happy to have him. No, he’s not very good on defense (though he does try hard) and his lack of shooting can be a drag on his overall effectiveness. But he’s a great teammate, his flare for passing and sharing the ball keeps teammates engaged, and he’s another older player who can be a good sounding board in practice, the film room, and on the bench.
Busboys4me says
Head scratcher. I really wanted to see Brandin Rush on the squad.
Busboys4me says
Jonathan Holmes is on Memphis’ Summer League roster.
http://texas.247sports.com/Bolt/Memphis-Grizzlies-select-Jonathan-Holmes-for-summer-league-team-46020601
Busboys4me says
Portland Trail Blazers restricted free-agent guard Allen Crabbe has signed a four-year, $75 million offer sheet with the Brooklyn Nets, league sources told The Vertical.
The contract includes a fourth-year player option and a 15 percent trade kicker that could escalate the deal to $83 million, sources said.
BigCitySid10552 says
-Think you nailed it pertaining to the possibility of a Calderon trade in the future.
HaroldSeokohYun says
The league, more than ever, seems to have devolved into contenders, shrewd dealers, and visionless bottomfeeders. We’re somewhere between the latter categories, if this signing was done with as much purpose and forethought as in this post. But I don’t have that much faith in the FO yet…
matt24 says
Wow, so ezeli who was considered as one of the top free agent centers, only got 2 years 15 mil, i guess those who rate free agents thought he was sought after.
FredP says
Lakers practices would be SRO if they were open to the public next season. It would be a lot of fun to watch all of the passes being thrown.
BigCitySid10552 says
HaroldSeokohYun That’s one way to breakdown the league. I do it this way: irrelevant, interesting, contender, serious contender.
HaroldSeokohYun says
BigCitySid10552 HaroldSeokohYun Just broke it down this way from the FO perspective. I guess yours work for the FO too…
_ Robert _ says
With regard to possibly using Calderon in a future trade:
This can be a good idea, however the Lakers do not have a good record for doing that. I specifically remember that many mentioned that Hibbert’s expiring contract would be good for a trade. Also, this type of thing was mentioned with Williams (people thought a contender would want him for a playoff run). Young was also supposed to be easy to get rid of. In all cases, we failed to do it and we were stuck with the players.
I still like the deal given that we received two picks, however I like it less if indeed the resigning of Huertas is tied to it.
“he’s not very good on defense (though he does try hard) and his lack of shooting can be a drag on his overall effectiveness. ” Wow – that an amazing statement for a guy in the NBA
Busboys4me says
The guy was garbage in the finals. When he was inserted into the end of game 7, the Cavs went on an eight point run.
Busboys4me says
Might as well re-sign Kendall Marshall. At least he had a set shot three…
Drew Gordon says
matt24 Maybe the medicals revealed his knees to be similar to Bynum’s post bowling?
matt24 says
Giving Huertas this deal only makes sense if you, move either, Calderón, young, or lou. We are still slim at the bigs and summer league, the center spot could be the only position up for grabs
matt24 says
The addition of Calderón does really make nick young, expendable.
Vasheed says
_ Robert _
When the Lakers signed Young to the extension he was producing at a level that may have warranted a bigger contract. So at the the time he was a bargain. Since MDA left his numbers plummeted and he has headlined the media multiple times for his immaturity. So now his value is in the toilet.
Teams haven’t needed cap relief like they have in the past. The current CBA doesn’t lock teams into long term contracts like it once did. This year was even more so as it rose enough to give just about every team cap relief. So Hibbert’s expiring deal last year just wasn’t as valuable as it might otherwise had been in the past.
Williams is a productive player who price tag by today’s standard is huge bargain. I have no doubt the Lakers could move him if they wanted to.
Calderon’s modest expiring deal I think could be moved to a team needing a PG heading into the playoffs as 7 million isn’t super onerous and it expires.
_ Robert _ says
Vasheed Your points are valid however we have not executed well.
Young: MDA resigned in 05/2014, and we signed Young in 07/2014 so we knew Young was not playing for MDA. We also already knew Byron was proably the coach, and so anyone can figure out that those two were not going to mix. I stated the Young deal was bad at the time and it was. His antics were already known. He was part of the “fun” team and the FO and some fans over-rated him. At this point we need to waive him or ship a 2nd round pick to dump him (if anyone will do that).
Hibbert’s deal was signed last summer and the new CBA was already well in the works. I never thought Hibbert’s deal was good and the “trade” claim was even more foolish for the reasons you state. We also shipped a pick for Hibbert for reasons unknown.
Williams: He probably can still be moved as you state, and he should be. He does not play good defense and he is a volume shooter. Not a good combo for a developing team. Especially if Luke is trying to a ball movement game going.
Calderon: We agree that this deal is good. Short term contract, and 2 picks incoming. Someone might want him later, but I doubt it. It does not matter the deal is sound on its own accord.
Vasheed says
_ Robert _ Vasheed
I think Young’s stats got divorced from the fact that he played well in MDA’s system. I agree with you o your points.
If Hibbert worked out the 2nd round pick would not have been missed. As it is it was a gamble that didn’t workout.
Williams- I’m agreed on this. I’ve suggested trading him before. I don’t think he fits in.
Calderon- I don’t think it would be a bad thing if the Lakers just let his deal expire at the end of the season. If they get an offer for future assets though it would feel like Christmas.
BigCitySid10552 says
Hearing Ingram is playing in tonight’s game. Yet he’s still unsigned. Truly looking forward to seeing the kid on the court, but don’t like the fact that’s he’s playing w/o a contract. Sounds like he’s may be getting bad advice.
matt24 says
I thought lottery draft picks had a predetermined contract
fern16 says
I thought you can’t play w/o a contract because of insurance reasons.
fern16 says
His value plummeted with his play in the Finals.
KL2016 says
fern16 I didn’t know about the insurance. Isn’t it more of an accident/injury thing? The risk is low but a serious injury/accident can happen.
fern16 says
That’s why they need the insurance. In case of injury.