The off-season is here for the Lakers and that means a slow-down of news around our forum blue and gold clad basketball team. Fear not, though, faithful FB&Ger’s as there is still plenty of good reading and listening around the web to consume you until the next piece of breaking information comes out of El Segundo or Staples Center.
With that, below are some things I have been checking out around the web, along with a few thoughts of my own. Enjoy and have a good weekend…
- Our old friend Kobe Bryant, putting in work at the Player’s Tribune, wrote about being obsessed with Allen Iverson and how that obsession led him to try to shut him down in a random game in 2000. A fun, short read from Mr. Bean.
- Of course, a blog post like Kobe’s can’t go without folks digging in and trying to find footage of that game. Luckily, our partner in podcasting, Pete Zayas, got the tape and did one of his classic breakdowns of the game over at Laker Film Room. Check it out.
- If you want a good discussion on the West playoffs with a brief tangent on the MVP debate, I really enjoyed this Lowe Post episode where Zach Lowe chatted up Kevin Arnovitz.
- Speaking of the playoffs, if you missed my post the other day on the best player theory and how it makes me think about the future of the Lakers, you can rectify that right now. (What? It’s my site, I’ll link to what I want. Ha.)
- Do you think the Lakers should try to trade for Carmelo Anthony? If so, this post is for you.
Okay, we’re taking a break from our regular scheduled programming so I can quickly comment on that Carmelo piece. Let’s just say, I do not agree. I will preface this with one real truth: I actually like Carmelo Anthony. I think he’s still a very good player who, beyond his name cachet, can actually be a key contributor on a really good basketball team. I just don’t endorse the Lakers trying to trade for him. In fact, even if the Lakers could trade only Deng + Mozgov for Melo, I would still then probably try to trade Melo again for a different style of player who is a better fit on this Lakers’ team.
Without going too deep down a hypothetical rabbit hole, I think the Lakers need to add 3 specific skill types in any player they acquire — superstar or not: shooting, passing, and defense. Any “star” or high salary player, should be able to do at least 2 of those 3 things at a plus level. Carmelo, though, a really good offensive player, only checks the “shooting” box. Further, he’s best utilized as a PF now, but hasn’t completely bought in to playing that position for most of his minutes. When you consider that and combine it with the Lakers then needing to try to move off of Randle and/or Nance in order to accommodate minutes for Carmelo at a position he probably doesn’t even want to play full time while also only providing 1 of the aforementioned 3 key skill sets the Lakers need more of, I don’t see a reason to entertain this scenario at all.
Again, I like Melo. Add him to a team who can convince him to play PF and surround him by enough defensive talent at the 1, 2, 3, and 5 and I think you can optimize him to the point he plays similarly to the “Olympic Melo” that everyone loves. The problem is, there’s only like 5 of those teams out there (Clippers, Jazz, Thunder, Spurs, Warriors — maybe a couple more). Notice who’s not on that list? That’s right, the Lakers. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…
- Magic Johnson talked briefly about his expectations for the players this off-season. A big one seems to be that every player needs to get into better shape.
- I really enjoyed this piece by SI’s Rob Mahoney on the work the Bucks are doing to quarantine DeMar DeRozan.
- Due to the death of his Grandmother and being with family, D’Angelo Russell had his exit interview a couple of days after the rest of the team had theirs. You can watch Russell’s full media session here.
Lastly, when the following play happened live in the Lakers last game of the season, it looked impressive and got me out of my seat:
DAR’s skill on this play. Watch how he turns the screen w/ a push dribble out w/ his left hand then seamlessly moves to his right to attack. pic.twitter.com/vhsvAjjbeJ
— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) April 21, 2017
When I re-watched the play, though, it’s even more impressive to me. Russell actually does a “Shammgod” dribble coming off the pick — though it’s not as pronounced at the angle in which he executes it. Further, after executing that dribble, he then goes right into an in-and-out move with his right hand, and then closes with a dream shake. Quite the combination of moves to get that bucket by Russell.
Alexander says
Magic reiterating winning now (and then adding “two years”) makes perfect sense. The Lakers window for leveraging cap space for major talent is this offseason and next. Depending on FO’s moves, we’ll have at least one max slot within this window, possibly two. Magic’s tone and grin almost suggests they *know* they can get a star FA already. Could be a Clippers player, could be PG13 in 2018. Could it even be a GSW player?
Our young players will all improve this summer, along with the coaching staff. They are going to start winning more even without contributions from vets (Mozdeng or additions). 40 wins and race to #8 seed seemed realistic last December, and will be more so in 2017-18. If a youngster has a breakout season and/or we sign an allstar this summer, #8 may even be too low a ceiling.
Without getting into scenarios, the likely roster reconstruction plan is either (A) add a max FA outright first, try to trade a combo of youngins for a second star at a discount in late summer or midseason, or (B) clean up cap room now, develop current youth, sign a max FA next season outright and either stay with the young depth or trade then to add a second star. In any case, Lakers will try to keep the best youngsters (BI, DAR, 2017 top-3), as that’s the only place where the 3rd and 4th allstar we need for a championship team can come from.
A Horse With No Name says
Question: What did Magic say about winning now and adding two years? (Sorry, haven’t been able to keep up lately.)
Alexander says
http://www.lakersnation.com/magic-johnson-jeanie-buss-has-mandated-lakers-win-in-next-couple-years/2017/04/21/
Listen to the last 35 seconds, he addresses Jeanie’s want to “win now”, which he reframes into “next two years”, meaning this summer and next. In the first minute, he talks about the summer assignments to each player and expectation on their fitness, measured by “single-digit” body fat.
Does anyone here know who might Magic be talking about the couple of players with double digit body fat? I’d guess DAR and IZ.
TempleOfJamesWorthy says
We’ve reached the point where I would do the ‘Melo trade ***only*** as a salary dump (e.g. if the Knicks would be dumb enough to take the Mozdeng contracts and not much else).
At this point in his career, Melo fits much better on a playoff-caliber team which needs a scoring boost (e.g. OKC, Toronto, Atlanta, Boston, etc.), NOT as a significant piece in the Lakers’ rebuilding plans.
Of course, if the Lakers can broker a 3-way deal which sends Melo elsewhere and still benefits the Lakers, by all means go for it.
drrayeye says
IMO, a realistic Melo trade would always include Deng/Clarkston on our side as a starting point, not Mozdov and Deng. Until an entire package was put together, detail by detail, we wouldn’t be able to determine whether or not it could be a win-win. I’m absolutely certain it will be discussed.
mattal says
A Deng/Clarkson for Melo saves the Lakers $2.5 mil each of the next two yeas and $32 mil when CA’s contract rolls off the books at the end of the 18/19 season. Deng/Clarkson are on the books until the end of the 19/20 season. Despite the fact that Melo is quickly approaching average (he had a 17.96 PER this past season) the fact that he can still contribute is a plus.
If anyone had told me a few years ago that we’d go out of our way to trade for the one dimensional/ball stopping Carmelo Anthony — I would have told them that they were crazy. Such is the clean up of the disastrous Jim/Mitch regime.
Vasheed says
I’d rather have Deng than Melo straight up. Deng’s best days as a SF are over but he still makes a pretty good PF. Melo’s best days as a SF are over but he too might make a decent PF. The two big differences between the two are that Deng can still defend and recognizes he should be playing PF. Melo still wants to play SF and cannot play defense.
I can virtually substitute word for word Jim’s vision of rebuilding the Lakers with Magic’s. I can only pray he does a better job of it.
R says
It’s also rumored ‘Melo might be in play to go to the Celtics.
I hope so since I hate the Celtics and hope they reap nothing but failure and despair. Them acquiring Anthony would be a huge step in the “right” direction from that standpoint.
FredP says
I loved the piece by Kobe. He was at his best at the time in terms of health and defensive intensity. He set a near impossible to reach ceiling that makes all of the Lakers players look lacking. That is okay for a GOAT player. For the current team, new players need to pass, play defense, and score in that order. The existing younger players will improve their scoring so I ranked that need the lowest. The ability to pass is paramount these days to beat the rapid rotations seen in the playoffs. For that reason alone, I would say no to Carmelo. Throw in the indifference on defense and no salary dump is worth making the team even worse next year. The young players are doing fine and just need more time and a much better defensive coach.
Jimmy says
Can we not just waive/release Melo upon trading for him?
Since the best case scenario for the Lakers next year is getting into the playoffs (and not making much noise), would it not be possible to acquire him via trade (i.e. Deng, JC, 28th pick) and allow him to be waived and sign with a contender? This will also be the path for him to request a trade only to the Lakers knowing we will release him thereby allowing him to get paid and go where ever he wants.
This seems like a win-win-win from all sides (NYK moves on, Lakers free up cap space, and Melo signs with a contender & still gets paid). Am I missing something here? I’m not sure why all the talk about him fitting within our system. Who cares? Pay him for a year and keep his salary on our books knowing we will have tons of cap space in Summer of 2018.