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

I am getting word Lakers will make a push to get Cousins in the next couple weeks. I've been saying since the beginning of the season that the Lakers should go after Boogie HARD because he's a mismatch for just about any team in the league, but especially against the Warriors and Cavs who have nobody on their team that can stop him.

Let's see how this plays out...
 
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If Magic and Mitch can call their fellow Laker alumni Vlade and Phil and somehow pull this off, it would be the greatest midseason trade in Lakers history:

Instant playoff team next year, not to mention buying out Huertas and Black, Lawson's expiring contract, and Young opting out, would free up about $27 million for the Lakers to obtain one or two more key free agent pieces. Salary cap threshold next year is expected to be $103 million but could be higher.

Or if Young opts in, we would still have $22 million to sign one or two among these UFA's (current salary in parentheses) - Ibaka ($12 mil), George Hill ($8 mil), Jrue Holiday ($11 mil), Jeff Teague ($8 mil), JJ Redick ($7 mil), Taj Gibson ($8.5 mil), Tyreke Evans ($10.7 mil), P.J. Tucker ($5.5 mil), Patty Mills ($3.2 mil), Shaun Livingston ($5.5 mil), Darren Collison ($5 mil), Zach Randolph ($10 mil), Deron Williams (pay cut mode), Thabo Sefalosha ($4 mil), Tony Allen ($5 mil), Terrence Jones ($2.5 mil), and Sergio Rodriguez ($6.8 mil).

Why would NY and Sac do this trade? Because both teams get young prospects (Dlo, Randle, Clarkson, Holiday) PLUS a bunch of expiring contracts that align with both teams' intentions of rebuilding with youth and creating more cap space.

Why the Lakers should be aggressive to make a trade of this magnitude if the opportunity ever presents itself:

We ain't got time to wait, hope, and pray for Randle, DLo, Clarkson to turn into something special. Lakers, as Magic has alluded to, should be focused on bringing in STARS in order to win now and get some leadership on board so that a winning culture can be created sooner than later.

Lakers gain two elite players in Anthony and Cousins under contract for two more years and most importantly will field a team that is more appealing for free agents. Meanwhile Ingram, Zubac, and Nance develop while playing on a team that will win more games. Having these young guys play in a losing culture as they are doing now is detrimental to their growth. Lakers are surely to make the playoffs the next two years and they field a much more competitive team ASAP (per Magic's wishes) while continuing to build for the future. 

Lawson

Young

Carmelo

Deng

Cousins

Bench:  Ingram, Williams, Nance, Zubac, Black, and Huertas

By the start of the 2017-'18 season, they could conceivably have a lineup that looks like this:

Teague (role - veteran ball distributor with playoff experience, can penetrate, and solid defense w/ consistent 15 ppg)

Young (role - outside threat and spot up shooting when stars get doubled)

Carmelo (role - secondary scoring threat)

Nance (role - dirty work, rebounds, defense, energy)

Cousins (role - primary scoring threat, Alpha Dog)

Bench: Ingram (do-it-all player), Deng (role - spot up 3's, stability off the bench), Williams (role - 6th man), Tucker (defensive specialist on the wing), Zubac (role - perfect back up for Cousins as he develops his game)
 
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If Magic and Mitch can call their fellow Laker alumni Vlade and Phil and somehow pull this off, it would be the greatest trade in Lakers history:


View media item 2323853

Instant playoff team next year, not to mention buying out Huertas and Black, Lawson's expiring contract, and Young opting out, would free up about $27 million for the Lakers to obtain one or two more key free agent pieces. Salary cap threshold next year is expected to be $103 million but could be higher.

Or if Young opts in, we would still have $22 million to sign one or two among these UFA's (current salary in parentheses) - Ibaka ($12 mil), George Hill ($8 mil), Jrue Holiday ($11 mil), Jeff Teague ($8 mil), JJ Redick ($7 mil), Taj Gibson ($8.5 mil), Tyreke Evans ($10.7 mil), P.J. Tucker ($5.5 mil), Patty Mills ($3.2 mil), Shaun Livingston ($5.5 mil), Darren Collison ($5 mil), Zach Randolph ($10 mil), Deron Williams (pay cut mode), Thabo Sefalosha ($4 mil), Tony Allen ($5 mil), Terrence Jones ($2.5 mil), and Sergio Rodriguez ($6.8 mil).

Why the Lakers should be aggressive to make a trade of this magnitude if the opportunity ever presents itself:

We ain't got time to wait, hope, and pray for Randle, DLo, Clarkson to turn into something special. Lakers, as Magic has alluded to, should be focused on bringing in STARS in order to win now and get some leadership on board so that a winning culture can be created sooner than later.

Lakers gain two elite All-Stars in Anthony and Cousins under contract for two more years and most importantly will field a team that is more appealing for free agents. Meanwhile Ingram, Zubac, and Nance develop while playing on a team that will win more games. Having these young guys play in a losing culture as they are doing now is detrimental to their growth. Lakers are surely to make the playoffs the next two years and they field a much more competitive team ASAP (per Magic's wishes) while continuing to build for the future. 

Lawson
Young
Carmelo
Deng
Cousins

Bench:  Ingram, Williams, Nance, Zubac, Black, and Huertas

By the start of the 2018 season, they could conceivably have a lineup that looks like this:

Teague (role - veteran ball distributor and solid defense w/ consistent 15 ppg)
Young (role - outside threat and spot up shooting when stars get doubled)
Carmelo (role - secondary scoring threat)
Nance (role - dirty work, rebounds, defense, energy)
Cousins (role - primary scoring threat, Alpha Dog)

Bench: Ingram (do-it-all player), Deng (role - spot up 3's, stability off the bench), Williams (role - 6th man), Tucker (defensive specialist on the wing), Zubac (role - perfect back up for Cousins as he develops his game)

Cousins, Carmelo, and Lawson would be terrible for the locker room and would be terrible for developing teammates. These 3 May be the laziest NBA players, they spend most of thier offseason eating fast food and playing 2K
 
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 Cousins, Carmelo, and Lawson would be terrible for the locker room and would be terrible for developing teammates. These 3 May be the laziest NBA players, they spend most of thier offseason eating fast food and playing 2K
That's because they play on losing organizations with losing coaching staffs. You put them on the Lakers under Luke, Magic, Mitch and as soon as they wear that Laker purple and gold, and I guarantee the bad perception about them changes.

Carmelo has gone to the WCF when he was surrounded by a solid coach and solid players. Cousins has been a model teammate whenever he was surrounded by a quality group of guys (case in point - everyone on the Olympic team had nothing but rave reviews about Cousins' work ethic and leadership in the locker room).

Lawson would be a rental for the last 1/3 of the season, just like Ramon Sessions was so he will be gone in the offseason anyway.

A winning culture CHANGES EVERYTHING. And this is what Magic Johnson is looking to establish. Like he said, the Lakers need to find a way to get a leader and an Alpha right away if they want to start winning. DLo and Randle are not the answer.
 
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Y'all need to start reading between the lines and stop the nonsense waiting and praying that the Lakers are out to tank (LMAO) and that their number one goal is to stockpile draft pick after draft pick while hoping one or two of them will materialize into stars 
laugh.gif


"Management will change. The free-agent climate will change. The number of kids on the roster will change. Who knows, maybe even some of their worst records in franchise history will change.

It’s not that Johnson has the proven expertise to sign or trade or shape an NBA roster. It’s that he has the presence, and now the power, to clear the path for somebody who does."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-magic-plaschke-20170202-story.html

You don't think Magic can make an impact or has any pull when he's in the office with Mitch while making phone calls to former Lakers Vlade Divac and Phil Jackson, or even Gar Forman or Larry Bird? You think Magic has the patience to wait another 4-5 years for DLo and Randle to show what they're made of while teams like the Clippers, Warriors, Thunder, Mavericks, Blazers, Spurs, Rockets, and Jazz walk all over us like the doormats we currently are? Shiiyet. 

Notice how in Magic's interview on Spectrum Sports the other day, he said how much he liked B.I.'s work ethic and how he thinks Ingram is going to be special because of it, he also said that Ingram is a gym rat and is already setting the type of example desirable for a winning culture. As a rookie. He then raved about Zubac and said nothing but positive things about his attitude and talent and what he brings to the table.

Meanwhile, when he talked about Randle and Russell, he said this key word regarding both of them: "IF." If Randle only had a right hand, he'd be money. If Russell were to become a better leader, he'd make more of an impact. All "what ifs" and didn't mention anything about their play on the floor that impressed him going forward. But when it came to Ingram and Zubac, he spoke very matter-of-factly about how good they were. Those comments alone spoke volumes, if of course you're reading between the lines.

Magic is a WINNER in every facet of life man. And the Lakers have always been about doing BIG THINGS. Jeannie's hiring of Magic signals one damn thing: there's a new sense of URGENCY in El Segundo and it won't be too long until Earvin does some magic and brings in much needed superstar talent.

Don't believe me, just watch.
 
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Magic is more impressed by the two Laker rookies than he is with DLo and Randle IMO.

"We're seeing Zuabc develop right under our eyes. Now [Luke] is not afraid to give him 20 minutes, 25 minutes. Luke is saying, well if you're rolling I'm gonna keep you out there." - Magic, on Zubac's rapid growth and development.

"And I'll tell you who else [Luke] did a really good job with. Brandon Ingram...but [Luke] has put the ball in his hands, and because of that every game he gets more confidence...Every game, he makes a play that makes you say 'Wow.' And we know he can defend, he's long, and what I like about him, he's a gym rat. He wants to get better. So that's the type of guys we want to have on the Lakers. Guys who want to improve, stay in the gym, their number one priority is basketball. I have loved watching Brandon just continue to grow."  - Magic, on Ingram. Unfortunately, Magic didn't say similar things about DLo and Randle.

"One guy changes our landscape. We have everything we need now except that one guy to make everybody better. That's why I joined. I know we have the pieces in place, my role is to make sure I send that message out to everybody." - Magic saying that Lakers need a superstar and stating matter of factly that DLo and Randle ain't "that guy."

"The Lakers will always come back...one thing about this organization we always come back and we will come back again....the marketplace, the players, the league needed to know that we were headed in the right direction, that we wanted to take that step. Again, I'm here to say that we're ready to take that step." - Magic, on the current state of the Lakers as he sees it.

"Dr. Buss, he left the formula. The formula's there." Worthy, on the Lakers long time recipe for building championship teams.

"You just have to really be able to execute [Dr. Buss' formula] and also let people know that we're really serious about winning and I think we're taking the first step by bringing me on board." Magic Johnson, on his plans to execute Dr. Buss' LAKERS CHAMPIONSHIP FORMULA.
 
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I remember watching and listening to Byron Scott for two years thinking the whole time there's no way he could be this dumb. There's no way in hell anybody without some type of disorder could be so stupid to really believe the things he says make sense or the moves he makes are good moves. For two whole years I went against clear evidence as a sort of defense mechanism to keep my own brain from being influenced by such gut wrenching stupidity and collapsing upon itself. I gave him the benefit of the doubt up until the point that he was relieved as head coach of the team where he proceeded to keep up his act and remove any and all room for misinterpretation. It was the most painful thing I think I've ever had to endure as a sports fan..an onslaught against my very psyche, the likes of which I had never felt before.

This is worse than that.
 
I mean Magic has said a lot of good things about Russell.

Wants to help him, wants to mold him into a leader, wants this to be his team, has had personal conversations with him. All around hasn't been really critical of him.

By the way.... keeping Deng and adding Melo & Boogie does not help Nance.

It actually requires you to trade him.


Also basically relegates Zubac into almost necessary trade bait as well. With Boogie not being able to play the 4 because you have Deng and Melo. Boogie is now at the 5 only.

So Randle, Clarkson, Russell, Nance, Ingram & Zubac

Becomes Ingram... and the guy you trade Nance & Zubac for.
 
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Anyone see that Booker scored 27 in the last 7:13 of the first half the other night?

Kid is amazing

I know it's wrong but I always compare him and Porzinzis to Dlo
 
Well KP is in foul trouble every game and has struggled considerably this year. That sophomore slump is real and I know ppl would be calling for his head if he was a Laker lol. He's still a beast tho don't get me wrong. He's just going through growing pains.

Booker has really stepped his game up in the last month.
 
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Anyone see that Booker scored 27 in the last 7:13 of the first half the other night?

Kid is amazing

I know it's wrong but I always compare him and Porzinzis to Dlo
Impressive but he ended the game with only 31...im waiting for dlo to do something like this tho lol
 
i see 20+ new posts and here i am thinking we have traction on a possible move...and i get this ****

melo and boogie? 

Get-That-Corn-Outta-My-Face-Jack-Black-In-Nacho-Libre-Gif.gif
.

he really said " i am getting word..." 
 
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Dude really took a solid hour out of his life to type up a scenario trading away the future for a washed all star, DUI Ty, and a perennial loser :lol:



And to keep it 100 Ingram is playing TERRIBLE.
Don't understand why other players aren't given the same slack he has, especially when bro is out here stinking up the joint night after night.
 
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He played fine against Boston.

I want to know the sources from inside the barbershop.
 
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