Yes, and it is frustrating to constantly hear the major “sports media” folks constantly talk about how the Lakers can rob teams like us to make them better. It’s all about NY and LA in their minds
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The only thing they can offer us are future first rounders and matching salary that doesn’t include Westbrook. Right now it’s too early for any moves honestly. All-Star break, let’s see where we sit.
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Never understood the tanking talk. I’m pretty sure Steve Clifford didn’t take this job to tank. It was mentioned above to wait and see where this team is at the break, I agree.
Also, no one is concerned about the bad vibes tanking brings? I can’t recall a team that consciously tanked and it paid off in the end with an NBA title.
I was never on board with tanking, but I think Miles’ situation kind of dictated that course for us. While he have been more competitive than I thought we would through 3 games, we still aren’t a playoff team, and with a talent like Wembanyama out there, if the FO decides to unload vets at the deadline and join the race to the bottom, I’d understand it.
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If we choose to retool then I am cool with sending Terry to LA for multiple unprotected picks (not swaps).
Westbrook would be fine here for a year, we would benefit from being his “new opportunity” blah blah.
Just don’t make him the scapegoat.
I mean that LA team has so many issues. The fact that Westbrook gets the blame (even though he goes 100% every night) in comparison to Lebron who only gives a shit about passing Kareem, couldn’t possibly care about the Lakers future less and already has a foot out the door.
Lebron and AD constantly waltzing all over the court with little accountability is a much larger issues IMO.
Also don’t forget who originally made Westbrook to LA happen, LEBRON AND AD!
Westbrook isn’t as bad as everything thinks, and last night was hilarious, almost like he was sabotaging them lol.
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Agree. However, I would buy out Westbrook. I think there will have to be a 3rd or 4th team involved. Would like a young wing and a couple draft picks in return.
future firsts from like 2028 and beyond right? I know they don’t have any recent or upcoming first rounders at their disposals.
Powell, 3 games in and me and you are all that’s left in the tank. You be brad Pitt and I will be Shane from walking dead. Together we will command Fury
Here’s the lowdown on the Lakers upcoming draft picks:
2023 NBA Draft
- First round: Pelicans have the right to swap picks (Anthony Davis trade in 2019)
- Second round: Own
2024 NBA Draft
- First round: Owned by Pelicans and have the rights to receive 2025 pick instead (Anthony Davis trade in 2019)
- Second round: Own
2025 NBA Draft
- First round: Own but Pelicans have the rights to this pick if they forego 2024 pick (Anthony Davis trade in 2019)
- Second round: Own
2026 NBA Draft
- First round: Own
- Second round: Own
2027 NBA Draft
- First round: Own
- Second round: Own
2028 NBA Draft
- First round: Own
- Second round: Own
2029 NBA Draft
- First round: Own
- Second round: Own
2030 NBA Draft
- First round: Own
- Second round: Own
Looks like 2026 and 2028 first’s would be on the table at the earliest (can’t trade consecutive 1st round picks)
Maybe 2026 unprotected would be valuable? Who knows who they would get in free agency by then though?
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I simply don’t want Russ here full stop. We can hit the tank button by simply trading away Gordon, Terry or other depth for lesser talent later in the year and get a pick or two to mask the obvious intent. But Westbrook concerns me. Not that he’s a bad person per se but the direction he sees himself is so unaligned to any direction we’d need him to point.
I think for us with the Lakers - or any team for that matter, it’s GM suicide to bank of any future LAL first round picks are going to be top of the lottery. They can free-agent themselves out of the lottery better than any other team if they need and owing a FRP - I’d think - would trigger that action. That stint from 2014 - 2019 was so uncharacteristic of them overall (drafting in the low lottery) and I am not sure they every owed anyone the pick during that span. The #4 was traded as part of the AD deal, not something owed to the Pels in advance like their current 2nd and 3rd owed picks of that deal.
Id guess a lot of people here would say I’m more of a “negative” voice. But I’d consider myself a realist that is very blunt and doesn’t beat around the bush. Having said, I’ll own it when I’m off.
Nic Richards looks legit. Like a completely different player out there. I didn’t really see much progress from him last year. Some people say they did see him improve last year. Good for you, you must have a keen basketball eye that I just don’t have. I didn’t see any of this last year.
Dennis smith. Nobody wanted him. I wanted delon wright. DSJ looks great out there.
Wow.
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I liked the DSJ signing a lot from the jump. I liked it much better than the options that seemed to be on the table in IT and Kemba. The kid is still very young and has demonstrated talent early on. The only real value I saw in Kemba or IT is off court/vet locker room presence (Which admittedly appeared to be a huge need with this off season). As far as on the court, I have zero confidence that Kemba could stay healthy enough to be a consistent significant contributor at this point in his career. Couldn’t expect to count on him. Clearly DSJ is exceeding expectations early on. Great to see and I give a ton of credit to Cliff on that.
With Nick, I never imagined he could play this well. I was never excited about him and was guilty of writing him off early. But he has worked his ass off to get where he is. I guess you could see the character and work ethic from how he stuck with it and continued to improve in college. Seems like I read/heard that he and Melo worked out together a lot this summer which was smart on his part. Definitely happy to see it paying off for him and again I think Cliff deserves a lot of credit. The org too for seeing something in him and investing in his development.
Yea, have to put myself in the ‘didn’t see this coming’ camp on Nick Richards. I always thought he had the physical tools, prototypical dimensions for his position, and he’s an excellent athlete for his size. I didn’t see his touch and hands becoming as good as they are. I’m outright shocked that he seems to read the game pretty well and knows when to go for the boards and when not to.
I thought his ceiling was back-up C. Now he’s looking the part of a genuine rotational piece, maybe more, on a decent team. Such a shame that we drafted ourselves into a bit of a logjam at the #5. Mason needs to be moved by the deadline and Williams given high teen minutes from then on. This staff HAS to have him ready to contribute by then. If only because we need to know what we have in Williams, to gauge what contract we’re willing to offer Richards.
I still think Kai can be our small ball #5, big #4, and I hope he can be brought on to the point he contributes some this season.
Thanks @cltblkhscoach for providing the breakdown of the Lakers’ draft picks. That just further illustrates why that Russ trade would make ZERO sense for us. The only benefit of that is cap relief, which was a concern when we thought we might have to pay Miles $30 mil per for 4-5 years. But that’s no longer an issue.
We just lost our best/2nd best player (or whatever we considered Miles to be) for nothing. What we need now is talent replacement, not cap relief. And it doesn’t really benefit us to trade with a team whose draft picks wouldn’t convey until 2026. The idea is for us to build around Melo and there’s no guarantee he’s even still here by then. I hope delusional Lakers fans are the only people still entertaining this.
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Fuck the Lakers and the national media. Go suck eggs you fucking dickheads. We’re keeping Terry and we’re gonna wallow in mediocrity forever damnit! We don’t want first round picks 5 years down the road. I’m trying to channel that kid from the Bad News Bears.
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About wallowing in mediocrity - a few years ago we used to talk about different ways of team building. I always felt like we were a team that needs to build from the middle - or mediocrity - as its labeled.
If you look at most teams - most of them have maybe 2 or 3 guys they drafted and are lynchpins. The rest they acquire from trades or free agency. Kupchak and company I think this year were poised to make a big move for us to make the jump, and Miles screwed it all up.
To me, Oubre is replacing most of Miles’s production early on. And, as crazy as this sounds, if Oubre continues to play at this clip, we may need to take a look at resigning him instead of trading him.
But, I say all this to say that we know we aren’t tanking. So, what move can we pull off to get out of the middle and into the Top 6 in the East?
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I’d say re sign Nic Richards to a way too big contract extension for starters. We love to overpay our homegrown talent. I’m just kidding.
But to address your question, I have no idea. Drafting Jalen Duren would have been a good start. Edit: I guess we’ll have to see what team disappoints this year and figure out who is buying and selling. The trade market has gotten so absurd. Team commanding 3-4 first round picks. I’d give hell a better chance of freezing over than Mitch shipping off multiple first round picks for anybody.
Be still my heart…