Official LOL@the lakers...

Remember all the Lakers fans who said they wouldn't do an Ingram/Kuzma trade for Kawhi? Just another thing to lol at.

OutlawImmortal said:

Losing to the Cavs is still pretty embarrassing even without Rondo and LBJ, but when you can't hit a free throw or a 3 then you can't really expect to win consistently in the NBA. The offense has been really inconsistent but the defense has been surprisingly better. Having Lopez would have come in handy this season, especially since you could run him next to Chandler or McGee much more effectively than Zubac. I was shocked LBJ didn't want him.

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Seriously, F. Slopez. I hated watching that sloth last year. Taking ill-advised 3 pointers while not rebounding and getting roasted on defense. I don't think any Laker fans wanted him back (unless they were scared of McGee's reputation). Your whole team doesn't need to be out on the perimeter; you need rebounding, rim defending bigs as well. Slopez could do neither.

ericd7633 said:

Remember all the Lakers fans who said they wouldn't do an Ingram/Kuzma trade for Kawhi? Just another thing to lol at.

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Hold that laughter until Kawhi/Durant/Klay sign extensions elsewhere. Everyone laughed at the Knicks when they bid against themselves by trading half their roster for Anthony when they could've signed him outright a few months later.

BTW, the Spurs had no interest in any Lakers offer, so your point is lost.

shopson67 said:

Hold that laughter until Kawhi/Durant/Klay sign extensions elsewhere. Everyone laughed at the Knicks when they bid against themselves by trading half their roster for Anthony when they could've signed him outright a few months later.

BTW, the Spurs had no interest in any Lakers offer, so your point is lost.

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Point still remains that Lakers fans over value their players.

And I'm sure LA will land someone in FA. Guys want to play in LA, the Lakers are located there.

shopson67 said:

Seriously, F. Slopez. I hated watching that sloth last year. Taking ill-advised 3 pointers while not rebounding and getting roasted on defense. I don't think any Laker fans wanted him back (unless they were scared of McGee's reputation). Your whole team doesn't need to be out on the perimeter; you need rebounding, rim defending bigs as well. Slopez could do neither.

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He's making $118,000 less than Beasley and has better 3PT shooting stats than anyone on the Lakers. It's not like the Lakers needed another wing when they signed Beasley. I'm sure Milwaukee ain't complaining.

ericd7633 said:

Point still remains that Lakers fans over value their players.

And I'm sure LA will land someone in FA. Guys want to play in LA, the Lakers are located there.

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No, it doesn't mean that at all. It means that they know that Kawhi is going to be an FA after the season which means they have a chance to sign him in the off-season.

Also, as @shopson67 pointed out, the Spurs weren't trading Kawhi to the Lakers anyway. So, you really don't have a point.

As for the Lakers getting a top FA...that is far from a guarantee. No one knows what Kawhi is going to do, but unless the wheels come off in Toronto at some point, I expect he will stay there. From what I've heard, it's the kind of city where a player either "gets it" and wants to stay, or they don't and want out asap. Kawhi seems like the kind of guy who "gets it" and will want to stay.

Hard to see KD coming to the Lakers after his "toxic situation" comments even though folks have pointed out that he said the media creates the toxicity, not Lebron. He seems like he'll want a team that's built around him. If that's the case, he's not likely to want to play Robin to Lebron's Batman...even if it's only for a couple of seasons.

Klay Thompson is a possibility and his Dad is a former Laker and the current radio color commentator for the Lakers, so that might be an in for them. But he seems very happy with the Warriors, so I doubt he leaves.

If Boogie is close to what he was before the Achille's injury, I think there's a good possibility that they could get him.

Outside of that, there's the possibility of trading for AD or Beal. They can make perfectly acceptable offers for both, but even their best offer can be beaten by at least 2-3 other teams (maybe more). So, that will likely depend on each players agent being able to drive down the other offers by saying they aren't re-signing anywhere but LA.

Also, the one drawback to having Lebron is that any player, no matter how great they are, has to be willing to take a backseat at least for a couple of seasons. So it would have to be a guy who either really wants to play with Lebron, or a guy who doesn't mind being 2nd fiddle for a couple of years before the Lakers become "his team".

All fans overvalue their own players to some extent and Lakers fans are no different. But your assertion that Lakers fans overvaluing their players because they didn't want to trade for players they could get in FA without giving up any assets just doesn't work.

OutlawImmortal said:

He's making $118,000 less than Beasley and has better 3PT shooting stats than anyone on the Lakers. It's not like the Lakers needed another wing when they signed Beasley. I'm sure Milwaukee ain't complaining.

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I definitely would have liked to see them keep Lopez. While @shopson67 is right that he wasn't much of a defender or rebounder, he would actually fit pretty well with this team and they still could have brought in Javale for rebounding and defense.

He was also one of the players who was playing well at the end of the last season when the Lakers started looking like they might have been able to be playoff team this year if they had just brought everyone back.

I was actually a little surprised that they didn't bring him back considering that he would be willing to re-sign if they got Lebron.

ericd7633 said:

Point still remains that Lakers fans over value their players.

And I'm sure LA will land someone in FA. Guys want to play in LA, the Lakers are located there.

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Everyone overvalues their favorite team's players, it's kind of a rule lol.

OutlawImmortal said:

He's making $118,000 less than Beasley and has better 3PT shooting stats than anyone on the Lakers. It's not like the Lakers needed another wing when they signed Beasley. I'm sure Milwaukee ain't complaining.

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Lakers don't need more 3s out of their center. They need more 3s out of everyone else. There weren't many of those guys available this offseason, and the Lakers signed a bunch of veteran playmakers instead to one year placeholder contracts.

shopson67 said:

Lakers don't need more 3s out of their center. They need more 3s out of everyone else.

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The Lakers need more 3's out of whoever can make them. Regardless of their position.

trojanfan12 said:

The Lakers need more 3's out of whoever can make them. Regardless of their position.

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Lakers need rebounding and rim protection out of their centers. Nobody else on that roster is going to.

Over-reaction or not....

This is really not helping the Lakers long term.
The perceived trade value of all their "young assets" is taking a huge hit this season.

It appears to be LEBRON plus a bunch of Jabronis now.
That might not be entirely true, but the narrative can take on a life of its own. without being true.

There is time to turn it around.
But, if it keeps up.....it could be a disaster for the offseason moves available.

shopson67 said:

Hold that laughter until Kawhi/Durant/Klay sign extensions elsewhere. Everyone laughed at the Knicks when they bid against themselves by trading half their roster for Anthony when they could've signed him outright a few months later.

BTW, the Spurs had no interest in any Lakers offer, so your point is lost.

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yes-- everyone laughed at the Knicks when they bid against thesmelves- but that same laughter has re-occured for how the Lakers would not give up Ingram or the pick that became Ball for PAul George- who is playing amazing. It works both ways.

You just gotta hope you have a GM that can make the right move and pull off their plan--- in both instances- the Knicks with Melo and the Lakers with George- both failed.

Hornsstampede2.0 said:

Over-reaction or not....

This is really not helping the Lakers long term.
The perceived trade value of all their "young assets" is taking a huge hit this season.

It appears to be LEBRON plus a bunch of Jabronis now.
That might not be entirely true, but the narrative can take on a life of its own. without being true.

There is time to turn it around.
But, if it keeps up.....it could be a disaster for the offseason moves available.

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they are lucky that LeBron has been out during a time where their schedule was EXCEEDINGLY easy or it would look even worse.

WiggyRuss said:

they are lucky that LeBron has been out during a time where their schedule was EXCEEDINGLY easy or it would look even worse.

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Sure, without Lebron they finished off a win against the Warriors, split 2 games against the Kings, beat the Mavs, lost to the Thunder, Clippers, Wolves, and Jazz (all teams in the Western playoff hunt and with records currently better than the 8th seed in the East). The rest of that schedule? 2-2 against some Eastern conference garbage (wins against Detroit and Chicago, losses against Cleveland and the Knicks). An average schedule, not exceedingly easy or hard.

WiggyRuss said:

yes-- everyone laughed at the Knicks when they bid against thesmelves- but that same laughter has re-occured for how the Lakers would not give up Ingram or the pick that became Ball for PAul George- who is playing amazing. It works both ways.

You just gotta hope you have a GM that can make the right move and pull off their plan--- in both instances- the Knicks with Melo and the Lakers with George- both failed.

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George decided he liked where he was. It's called free agency, and if "Playoff P" wants to stay in OKC, so be it. If they had emptied the roster of young players to get him, maybe Lebron doesn't come. It's not a failure unless they can't get a different 2nd star player to the team in the near future.

shopson67 said:

Lakers need rebounding and rim protection out of their centers. Nobody else on that roster is going to.

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It's not an either or situation though, the Lakers could have had Lopez, Chandler, and McGee. Chandler and McGee are good at what they do but they don't exactly help all that much on offense, it's mainly hand offs under the net, alley oops, or put backs. Having Lopez as an option to spread the defense and clear up the paint would have been nice for Luke to have in my opinion. Luke tried to do a twin towers lineup with Zubac and gave up on that, it probably would have worked with Lopez.

Hornsstampede2.0 said:

Over-reaction or not....

This is really not helping the Lakers long term.
The perceived trade value of all their "young assets" is taking a huge hit this season.

It appears to be LEBRON plus a bunch of Jabronis now.
That might not be entirely true, but the narrative can take on a life of its own. without being true.

There is time to turn it around.
But, if it keeps up.....it could be a disaster for the offseason moves available.

Click to expand...

We'd have to ask a couple of GMs to truly know if their trade value has fallen. Kuzma had that 40 point 3-quarter performance, and when you compare what these Lakers have done without LeBron to what the Cavs did without LeBron last season then it doesn't look that bad. Then you have guys like Richard Jefferson talking about how difficult it is to play without LeBron once you've gotten used to having him and the impact he has on the game.

OutlawImmortal said:

We'd have to ask a couple of GMs to truly know if their trade value has fallen. Kuzma had that 40 point 3-quarter performance, and when you compare what these Lakers have done without LeBron to what the Cavs did without LeBron last season then it doesn't look that bad. Then you have guys like Richard Jefferson talking about how difficult it is to play without LeBron once you've gotten used to having him and the impact he has on the game.

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Lebron payed in all 82 games last season...

The lakers should have an easier time playing without lebron because they all played together prior to lebron. When lebron came to CLE and MIA there was a ton of new working parts and players, big difference

trojanfan12 said:

The Lakers need more 3's out of whoever can make them. Regardless of their position.

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JR smith...