re: 2022-23 Lakers Thread

Maybe I’m alone in this, but I feel like if/when IND sells off Hield and Turner they could do better than “Westbrook + pick”

Turner? Yes. Even as an expiring he should get a decent amount because someone would want his Bird rights.

Hield? Really depends who is shopping for an overpaid shooter.

would you take westbrook & both picks?
i would

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would you take westbrook & both picks?
i would

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If I were IND and the Lakers offered something like:
Westbrook
2027 FRP, light protection
2029 FRP, light protection

For:
Hield
Theis
Jalen Smith

I would do it if I were the Pacers.

LAL roster:
Troy Brown Jr.
Anthony Davis
Wenyen Gabriel
Talen Horton-Tucker
LeBron James
Stanley Johnson
Damian Jones
Kendrick Nunn
Austin Reaves
Lonnie Walker IV
Russell Westbrook
Juan Toscano Anderson

They still have Max Christie, their 2nd-round pick, unsigned. Maybe they are waiting to watch summer league to see how he does there before deciding on whether to give him a regular or two-way contract.

The Lakers signed Cole Swider, from Syracuse, to their other two-way spot. Interestingly, they signed him to a two-year contract, which is unusual for two-way deals.

They still have two spots to fill (or three if they put Max Christie on the other two-way deal).

This is where the delay in a possible Kyrie trade hurts the Lakers. A Westbrook for Kyrie deal would likely be unbalanced, because of the contracts, with the Lakers getting more players back in the deal.

The Lakers were likely leaving a spot or two open for those extra Nets players, who would almost certainly be better than the free-agent scraps that they could find still available right now.

Filling these roster spots now means that the Lakers would likely have to waive one if and when the big trade happens.

That doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you're paying the repeater tax, even one extra minimum deal adds a lot more than that to the tax bill.

There aren't many big names left. I wonder if Schroder would go back there on a minimum deal. That dude made one of the biggest financial mistakes in NBA history by turning down the Lakers offer a couple of years ago. He had 4/84 on the table and turned it down, and now he's a minimum guy (or close to it).

Pacers turned down our #4 and could have had their pick of Garland or Hunter and will now give Turner away for the worst contract in the league and a pick 4-5 years down the road ? Lol.

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Pacers turned down our #4 and could have had their pick of Garland or Hunter and will now give Turner away for the worst contract in the league and a pick 4-5 years down the road ?

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you see anybody offering them a lottery pick now?

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Smith can’t go anywhere until December 15 since he is signing a new deal.

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Sure, im just giving a hypothetical on the value of Westbrook vs Hield. Just replace the other names with “filler”

Darvin Ham interview

LINK

On what he said to get hired:

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We ain’t about all the bells and whistles. I just told them, ‘These guys need to be coached. They need to be coached hard.’ It was three words that led my whole interview process. The three words I believe in, the three words that made me who I am, and the three words that are going forward with this new Lakers era. And that is competitiveness, togetherness and accountability.

And that rung true. They’re seeing it with the type of staff I’m putting together. They’ve seen it with the type of energy, the new energy that’s in the building. No disrespect to none of these teams at the bottom of the food chain, but I’m not coming from one of those teams. I’m coming from an organization [the Milwaukee Bucks] that’s fresh off a championship and knows how to do things.

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On his upbringing:

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I’m a grinder, man. I’ve never been good enough to have the ego. Everything I got came out of the mud. I’m from the east side of Saginaw, bro, between Remington and Holland. If you Google 1530 Emily between Remington and Holland, you Google that and see how dangerous that neighborhood is, bro. I grew up behind a liquor store and a motorcycle club. I ain’t supposed to be here. When I told them I got shot April 5, 1988, that was a block away from my house. I literally got shot two seconds from my crib. It was crazy. It was wild outside. The crack, and everybody getting money, and everybody got guns.

So, growing up under the circumstances, I had great parents. My mom was a teacher. My dad was working at General Motors. We had everything we needed. We weren’t poor, but we weren’t rich either. You remember those middle-class-type situations? One paycheck away from being in the projects.

But the ego s— never meant nothing to me. I’ve seen too many people dying, man. Anybody that thought too much of themselves would get knocked down and that killed your ego right there.

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On working with LeBron:

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We just make it about the principles. How are we going to help each other? We’re going to keep it simple. We’re going to hold each other accountable. Three words, I told them. I said they’re going to hear it until they’re blue in the face. Competitiveness, togetherness and accountability. That’s for all of us. Competitiveness, togetherness and accountability. That’s how we’re going to be on the same page.

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On Davis:

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With AD, I would say he’s the biggest factor. I’m looking forward to him having a huge year this year. I know the way we’re going to play is going to benefit him. The way I’m going to take care of him, make sure we take care of him, it’s going to benefit him. That size, that skill set, that approach. What you saw in the bubble, we’re bringing that back. And again, we got to make sure we take care of him, meet all of his needs physically and make sure he’s in a good space mentally, spiritually, but he’s the factor. This s— ain’t going to work without AD being right.

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On Westbrook:

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Counted out prematurely. Counted out. Prematurely. I’ve had some great interactions with Russ, in person, over dinner, over the phone, over text messages. I love Russell Westbrook, man. Just his mentality, his approach. Just to see him, a guy of that magnitude and everything he’s done in the league to get hated on. But being me, I got a wholehearted plan, a clear plan on how I’m going to use him. I showed it to him, sat down, brought stuff up for him. I think he’s going to flourish. We ain’t going to try to curtail his energy. We’re just going to diversify it, redirect it.

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“These guys need to be coached hard.”

Words that are very true but will also clash with LeBron wanting a puppet coach to do what he wants.