- 1,595
- 1,827
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2014
Reunite Mozgov with LeBron 
**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by licensed to ball,
- Start date
- 89,856
- 121,348
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
Castleton would be 6'8 if not for his long neck.
- 89,856
- 121,348
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
Wood update from Woike:
Rob Pelinka, in a moment of clarity, made it clear what kind of player the Lakers are looking for with their likely final addition via free agency this offseason.
“We don’t want to sign someone who replicates the skills that Jaxson Hayes has,” Pelinka said at the NBA’s Summer League this month. “So if we can diversify the big position and have different looks, that would be good.”
He didn’t say “Christian Wood,” but he basically could’ve. The Lakers and the talented but perpetually available big man have been walking down the same road toward one another for more than a week. During the last three seasons, Wood has averaged 18.1 points on 50.9% shooting and 38.1% shooting from three-point range. He’s grabbed 8.9 rebounds and blocked 1.1 shots per game — excellent statistics for a modern big.
So why aren’t they sprinting toward each other?
Late-stage free agency is a tough one, in which factors outside of the Lakers’ control can make an impact.
According to sources familiar with the team’s free-agent pursuits but not authorized to speak publicly, the Chicago Bulls are suddenly viewed as a potential threat that could keep the Lakers from landing Wood.
The reason? Chicago recently got a $10.2-million player exception because of Lonzo Ball’s knee injury that’s expected to keep him off the court next season. The Bulls can use some or all of that money to acquire a player via trade or sign a player to a one-year free-agent deal.
And, this might be surprising, but with the Lakers able to offer only the veteran’s minimum (worth $2,463,490 for a player with seven years of service time), there’s more financial incentive elsewhere. There’s also a stigma that exists among players that once you take a vet minimum deal, you price yourself into that category. While it’s not impossible to get a raise in free agency (i.e. Dennis Schroder this offseason in Toronto), once you set your price as a bargain, it’s tough to set a new one.
Sources also believe that the Miami Heat could be a suitor for Wood, particularly if they’re able to pull off a Damian Lillard trade. The Heat were rumored to be in the market for Dario Saric before he picked Golden State and the Lakers had interest in Saric as well.
While teams love Wood’s talent and offensive skills, there are reasons why he’s available.
“If LeBron [James] can get him to toe the line, it cements LeBron as the greatest player of all time,” one NBA source said. “That’s how hard it is.”
Among players listed as centers on basketball-reference.com, only nine have averaged at least 16.5 points, seven rebounds and 1.5 made threes on 37% shooting. Of those nine, only Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis and Wood have done it multiple times.
Towns and Porzingis each will make more than $36 million next season. How’s it possible the Lakers would get Wood for less than $2.5 million?
Sources around the league point to two major deficiencies. One, Wood’s contributions on defense are severely lacking, frustrating former coaches and teammates. And two, there seems to be a disconnect between what Wood thinks of his place in the league and how the league as a whole views him. There are related concerns about his professionalism.
It’s telling Dallas elected to let Wood enter free agency without a fight despite a roster built on being competitive now. A floor-spacing, long, athletic big should be an ideal offensive partner for Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. Instead, he’s unemployed.
There’s risk in signing Wood, that the problems that have put him on seven teams in seven seasons would come with him to Los Angeles. Maybe the market forcing him to accept a minimum contract would lead to more acceptance of his role. Or maybe it would just lead to more grousing about being underused and underappreciated.
The Lakers, though, could be the right kind of team at the right time to get themselves a bargain.
Sources say the team has done significant background work on Wood. Coach Darvin Ham was in Milwaukee when Wood played 13 games there in 2018-19. Anthony Davis played with Wood in New Orleans at the end of that year, as well. Assistant JD Dubois was with Wood in Detroit in 2019-20. Multiple members of last season’s Dallas Mavericks staff have close ties to the Lakers, James and Davis.
The team knows well what he has done, what he hasn’t, what he can and what he can’t. And while there are other big men available who can space the floor — JaMychal Green for instance — no one else has his ceiling.
It’s why the Lakers are in this: He’s the best player out there with the skills to best complement what the team has built this summer. He’s most equipped to fill in as a starter should Davis miss time.
But that it comes with risks — and requiring a belief that you can help a soon-to-be 28-year-old mature as a person and a player — is good enough reason to move toward Wood with caution.
“We don’t want to sign someone who replicates the skills that Jaxson Hayes has,” Pelinka said at the NBA’s Summer League this month. “So if we can diversify the big position and have different looks, that would be good.”
He didn’t say “Christian Wood,” but he basically could’ve. The Lakers and the talented but perpetually available big man have been walking down the same road toward one another for more than a week. During the last three seasons, Wood has averaged 18.1 points on 50.9% shooting and 38.1% shooting from three-point range. He’s grabbed 8.9 rebounds and blocked 1.1 shots per game — excellent statistics for a modern big.
So why aren’t they sprinting toward each other?
Late-stage free agency is a tough one, in which factors outside of the Lakers’ control can make an impact.
According to sources familiar with the team’s free-agent pursuits but not authorized to speak publicly, the Chicago Bulls are suddenly viewed as a potential threat that could keep the Lakers from landing Wood.
The reason? Chicago recently got a $10.2-million player exception because of Lonzo Ball’s knee injury that’s expected to keep him off the court next season. The Bulls can use some or all of that money to acquire a player via trade or sign a player to a one-year free-agent deal.
And, this might be surprising, but with the Lakers able to offer only the veteran’s minimum (worth $2,463,490 for a player with seven years of service time), there’s more financial incentive elsewhere. There’s also a stigma that exists among players that once you take a vet minimum deal, you price yourself into that category. While it’s not impossible to get a raise in free agency (i.e. Dennis Schroder this offseason in Toronto), once you set your price as a bargain, it’s tough to set a new one.
Sources also believe that the Miami Heat could be a suitor for Wood, particularly if they’re able to pull off a Damian Lillard trade. The Heat were rumored to be in the market for Dario Saric before he picked Golden State and the Lakers had interest in Saric as well.
While teams love Wood’s talent and offensive skills, there are reasons why he’s available.
“If LeBron [James] can get him to toe the line, it cements LeBron as the greatest player of all time,” one NBA source said. “That’s how hard it is.”
Among players listed as centers on basketball-reference.com, only nine have averaged at least 16.5 points, seven rebounds and 1.5 made threes on 37% shooting. Of those nine, only Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis and Wood have done it multiple times.
Towns and Porzingis each will make more than $36 million next season. How’s it possible the Lakers would get Wood for less than $2.5 million?
Sources around the league point to two major deficiencies. One, Wood’s contributions on defense are severely lacking, frustrating former coaches and teammates. And two, there seems to be a disconnect between what Wood thinks of his place in the league and how the league as a whole views him. There are related concerns about his professionalism.
It’s telling Dallas elected to let Wood enter free agency without a fight despite a roster built on being competitive now. A floor-spacing, long, athletic big should be an ideal offensive partner for Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. Instead, he’s unemployed.
There’s risk in signing Wood, that the problems that have put him on seven teams in seven seasons would come with him to Los Angeles. Maybe the market forcing him to accept a minimum contract would lead to more acceptance of his role. Or maybe it would just lead to more grousing about being underused and underappreciated.
The Lakers, though, could be the right kind of team at the right time to get themselves a bargain.
Sources say the team has done significant background work on Wood. Coach Darvin Ham was in Milwaukee when Wood played 13 games there in 2018-19. Anthony Davis played with Wood in New Orleans at the end of that year, as well. Assistant JD Dubois was with Wood in Detroit in 2019-20. Multiple members of last season’s Dallas Mavericks staff have close ties to the Lakers, James and Davis.
The team knows well what he has done, what he hasn’t, what he can and what he can’t. And while there are other big men available who can space the floor — JaMychal Green for instance — no one else has his ceiling.
It’s why the Lakers are in this: He’s the best player out there with the skills to best complement what the team has built this summer. He’s most equipped to fill in as a starter should Davis miss time.
But that it comes with risks — and requiring a belief that you can help a soon-to-be 28-year-old mature as a person and a player — is good enough reason to move toward Wood with caution.
- 38,933
- 39,902
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2013
i bet AR paid for the dinner
- 16,124
- 16,955
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2019
- 89,856
- 121,348
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
Coming up with a “worst of summer league” list is not a task most people would find challenging … and that’s before you even get into the arena.
Yes, the day after day of casino smoke, bone-dry air and lingering stale sidewalk puke can wear on you after a day or three. (Or nine, but hey, who’s counting?) That shimmering Las Vegas sun coming into your hotel window at 5:30 a.m. isn’t a great salve for the jetlag either, especially if you were doing things you shouldn’t have been doing the night before. Also, it was insanely hot even by local standards, hitting 115 degrees Fahrenheit at times (that’s a little more than 46 degrees Celsius for our non-U.S. readers).
And the basketball … well, they don’t call it “playoffs league” for a reason. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was at least encouraging, and other times … yeah, a lot of it was quite bad. That’s what we signed up for, of course. Nobody shows up at Las Vegas Summer League expecting to see a re-enactment of the 2014 Spurs.
Note that I’ve already talked about the many positives from summer league, so I’m not just here ranting about the stuff I didn’t like. (OK, I am, but I said nice things about a few people first. At least give me that.)
As ever, we don’t want to overreact too much to anything that happens. It’s a small sample of games, and sometimes motivations can vary widely for the non-rookies. Additionally, players are often shoehorned into summer roles that don’t necessarily map to their best NBA regular-season usage — either because their team is trying something new or because the summer roster isn’t quite right.
So I don’t want to go too far in dismissing the players and teams I’m about to discuss. Nonetheless, we have to mention a few because their play was … troubling. Concerning. Worrisome. Let’s just say their fans weren’t leaving the arena brimming with optimism.
A few of the low points from Vegas:
Lakers’ draft picks
Summer league was a good-news, bad-news situation for Lakers fans. Let’s start with the good: Second-year guard Max Christie had a legit breakout, seeming vastly more comfortable on the ball after posting an anemic 10.4 usage rate his rookie year and not doing a whole lot more in 13 games in the G League.
Christie averaged 19.8 points per game in five summer games between Vegas and Sacramento, and what stands out even more is the 31 free-throw attempts he drew by getting downhill on his own steam. (Also impressive: The fact he made 30 of them.) For a guy who showed absolutely zero off-the-bounce game at Michigan State and in his rookie year with L.A., it was a pretty shocking turn of events.
Christie helped his numbers with strong perimeter shooting (11-of-20 from 3), the part of his game that always seemed most likely to translate. However, his newfound capacity to do something with the ball in his hands — attack closeouts, operate second-side pick-and-roll, etc. — could propel him into a rotation spot this year.
While we’re here, L.A.’s two undrafted two-ways — Colin Castleton and D’Moi Hodge — both look like they might be keepers. Each is an older player joining the Lakers after a half-decade in college, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see either become a roster player after the trade deadline.
As for the Lakers’ 2023 draft … we’re not off to a great start. Jalen Hood-Schifino played six games and had the ball in his hands a ton, but his habit of settling for tough 2s repeatedly got him in trouble. He finished with a ghastly 39.4 percent true shooting mark, including making just 38.0 percent of his 2s.
Hood-Schifino is big and can handle the ball, and maybe the adjustment is just figuring out how to navigate to more fruitful spots on the floor, but the 17th pick in the draft seems like he’ll need a lot of time in South Bay before he can help the varsity.
Ditto for Maxwell Lewis, the 40th pick out of Pepperdine who has prototype small forward size and leaping ability but struggled to put that together in seven summer-league games. He only made two of his 14 3-point attempts, which we’ll write off as small-sample variance (he shot fine in college); of more pressing concern is the limited impact he made in other facets. Finishing summer league with a 5.7. PER in 139 minutes is suboptimal, to say the least, as Lewis’ iffy feel repeatedly got him in trouble in any on-the-move situation.
Lewis signed a roster contract, one that likely helps keep L.A. under the luxury tax this year (his $1.1 million counts for barely half as much as an undrafted player or veteran), but he seems to be a strong candidate for an extended South Bay run.
Yes, the day after day of casino smoke, bone-dry air and lingering stale sidewalk puke can wear on you after a day or three. (Or nine, but hey, who’s counting?) That shimmering Las Vegas sun coming into your hotel window at 5:30 a.m. isn’t a great salve for the jetlag either, especially if you were doing things you shouldn’t have been doing the night before. Also, it was insanely hot even by local standards, hitting 115 degrees Fahrenheit at times (that’s a little more than 46 degrees Celsius for our non-U.S. readers).
And the basketball … well, they don’t call it “playoffs league” for a reason. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was at least encouraging, and other times … yeah, a lot of it was quite bad. That’s what we signed up for, of course. Nobody shows up at Las Vegas Summer League expecting to see a re-enactment of the 2014 Spurs.
Note that I’ve already talked about the many positives from summer league, so I’m not just here ranting about the stuff I didn’t like. (OK, I am, but I said nice things about a few people first. At least give me that.)
As ever, we don’t want to overreact too much to anything that happens. It’s a small sample of games, and sometimes motivations can vary widely for the non-rookies. Additionally, players are often shoehorned into summer roles that don’t necessarily map to their best NBA regular-season usage — either because their team is trying something new or because the summer roster isn’t quite right.
So I don’t want to go too far in dismissing the players and teams I’m about to discuss. Nonetheless, we have to mention a few because their play was … troubling. Concerning. Worrisome. Let’s just say their fans weren’t leaving the arena brimming with optimism.
A few of the low points from Vegas:
Lakers’ draft picks
Summer league was a good-news, bad-news situation for Lakers fans. Let’s start with the good: Second-year guard Max Christie had a legit breakout, seeming vastly more comfortable on the ball after posting an anemic 10.4 usage rate his rookie year and not doing a whole lot more in 13 games in the G League.
Christie averaged 19.8 points per game in five summer games between Vegas and Sacramento, and what stands out even more is the 31 free-throw attempts he drew by getting downhill on his own steam. (Also impressive: The fact he made 30 of them.) For a guy who showed absolutely zero off-the-bounce game at Michigan State and in his rookie year with L.A., it was a pretty shocking turn of events.
Christie helped his numbers with strong perimeter shooting (11-of-20 from 3), the part of his game that always seemed most likely to translate. However, his newfound capacity to do something with the ball in his hands — attack closeouts, operate second-side pick-and-roll, etc. — could propel him into a rotation spot this year.
While we’re here, L.A.’s two undrafted two-ways — Colin Castleton and D’Moi Hodge — both look like they might be keepers. Each is an older player joining the Lakers after a half-decade in college, but it wouldn’t be shocking to see either become a roster player after the trade deadline.
As for the Lakers’ 2023 draft … we’re not off to a great start. Jalen Hood-Schifino played six games and had the ball in his hands a ton, but his habit of settling for tough 2s repeatedly got him in trouble. He finished with a ghastly 39.4 percent true shooting mark, including making just 38.0 percent of his 2s.
Hood-Schifino is big and can handle the ball, and maybe the adjustment is just figuring out how to navigate to more fruitful spots on the floor, but the 17th pick in the draft seems like he’ll need a lot of time in South Bay before he can help the varsity.
Ditto for Maxwell Lewis, the 40th pick out of Pepperdine who has prototype small forward size and leaping ability but struggled to put that together in seven summer-league games. He only made two of his 14 3-point attempts, which we’ll write off as small-sample variance (he shot fine in college); of more pressing concern is the limited impact he made in other facets. Finishing summer league with a 5.7. PER in 139 minutes is suboptimal, to say the least, as Lewis’ iffy feel repeatedly got him in trouble in any on-the-move situation.
Lewis signed a roster contract, one that likely helps keep L.A. under the luxury tax this year (his $1.1 million counts for barely half as much as an undrafted player or veteran), but he seems to be a strong candidate for an extended South Bay run.
- 89,856
- 121,348
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- 7,417
- 10,285
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2012
Lakers need a physical big man to complement AD, so they should sign… Christian Wood.
Terrible take
Terrible take
- 1,542
- 1,201
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2017
- 4,686
- 5,441
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2012
They saying Wood has highest more likely going to Chicago, don't see Chicago as the greatest fit either. Vuc and Drummond there at Center. They added Torrey Craig to play some forward minutes and like to run all their guards still. If Lakers go 2 big lineup Wood can get some decent run or when AD goes down got another opportunity for rotation minutes. If Wood going to bet on himself, think he's got a better chance in LA than Chi
- 89,856
- 121,348
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- 7,417
- 10,285
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2012
Kinda off topic but I’ll post it here…
It must just be a familiarity thing with fans and old washed up players. Anyhow I thought this was funny that someone suggested GS bench their 2nd best guy because Dwight is the missing piece
It must just be a familiarity thing with fans and old washed up players. Anyhow I thought this was funny that someone suggested GS bench their 2nd best guy because Dwight is the missing piece
- 8,154
- 7,791
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2011
damn we posting warrior rumor **** up in here now
- 7,417
- 10,285
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2012
It’s summer time, nothing else going on.
I guess we can always argue some more about AD playing center or if Lebron should have two jerseys retired…
I guess we can always argue some more about AD playing center or if Lebron should have two jerseys retired…
- 1,542
- 1,201
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2017
The suit said Howard contacted Harper on July 19, 2021, to tell him he was “thinking about that meat.” He allegedly told Harper he wanted him to come to his Georgia home.
He claimed the two went to Howard’s bedroom where they removed their clothes and “engaged in consensual kissing.” He said they talked for about 40 minutes before the NBA star “steered the conversation back to one of a sexual nature.”
Harper said he noticed Howard on his phone texting someone. A few minutes later, he said a man arrived dressed as a woman and called themselves “Kitty.”
“Defendant stood up (towering over Mr. Harper), grabbed Mr. Harper by the thighs, forcibly removed Mr. Harper’s underwear, held Mr. Harper down, and performed nonconsensual oral sex on Mr. Harper,” the suit read. “Mr. Harper was in fear of imminent bodily harm when he was pinned down and forced to remain in place while Defendant continued to sexually assault him.”
Harper said Howard stopped after he realized Harper was not becoming sexually aroused. He claimed he was ordered to come to Howard’s bed.
The suit alleged, once there, Kitty “anally penetrated” Howard while Howard grabbed his head and shoved his penis into Harper’s mouth.
Harper claimed after the men were finished, he immediately put on his clothes and called an Uber. He said he felt “extremely violated and humiliated and was in complete shock.”
bro........
- 38,459
- 41,207
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2006
- 88,547
- 47,682
- Joined
- Feb 29, 2000
aint that you and brosizzlie's boy?
- 1,542
- 1,201
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2017
Hassan Whiteside dont do stuff like that bro
uncalled4boy
Supporter
- 4,807
- 3,419
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2007
- 18,669
- 12,996
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2006
- 89,856
- 121,348
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- 89,856
- 121,348
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2010
- 22,364
- 16,184
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2017
I refuse to watch bc Linda didn’t approve
- 22,364
- 16,184
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2017
Your favorite players family members favorite player
