LABron James Discussion: The Final Year?

No khmrp that is not what I said and I apologize if you took it as such.

I'm saying that you have credible insiders stating that there is interest in the Lakers when it comes to the 2018 free agent crop. Now it could be mere coincidence (I'm speculating that it is not) that the timing of these rumors align directly with the outing of Jim/Mitch. I also find it intriguing that Magic is a public figure and has no problem communicating with the public, while Jimmy and Mitch were reportedly standoffish and squeamish to address the media. If you're an insider, you're probably going to get your "in" with Magic/Pelinka as opposed to Jim/Mitch. That doesn't make Magic and Pelinka credible, however when it comes to Laker rumors by a credible insider, it holds alot more value to me, as opposed to when rumors would come out from the tight-lipped and close to the vest Mitch/Jimbo regime. During that time, I didn't hear much if anything from credible insiders in terms to Lakers rumors.

So to reiterate, you got a FO that is now more readily accessible to the media and insiders. However it is the insiders that have a great track record that I'm labeling as credible. I'm not taking about Broussard, Stephen A, David Aldridge, Eric Pincus, some random internet troll, etc. I'm talking about guys that have the "sources" and have normally nailed the rumors they forecast. (Woj, Sham Stein, etc).


Day before deal was officially called off by Stern:

Nailed it!

Even before the Feb. '16 trade deadline, and way before KD even became a free agent that coming summer.

Nailed it!

So at last season's trade deadline, how is Woj going to say that LA has cap-space to sign PG when at the time we had Moz still on the books and could only offer around $25M at the most (not the max) for PG?

OKC shied away at the '17 trade deadline, but they ignored the warning during the '17 summer...I guess this one is TBD, but I'm pretty sure in a year's time he's going to nail this one too.

As if dropping the WojBomb on the DLo trade wasn't enough...Oh would you look at that, we create more cap space to now sign another player along with PG. And even before we drafted Zo, Woj had a sense of what LA was trying to do. Its crazy how he knew this projection months in advance...its almost like someone told him what our end-game plan was.

Nailed the Zo pick (but that's pretty obvious)...lets see if he nails the rest of it next summer. (spoiler alert: he will!)


So Magic with that whole 6th man of the year challenge could be upping JC's trade value. Randle wasn't extended after all....and we shut down Deng, so it looks like a stretch is forthcoming.

BTW whatevers been said, seems to have already transpired or is projected to...again, not all talk!

 

vash i get your pt...but none of this gurantees anything, all of magic move just gives him a "chance" at signing pg/lebron, my stance is that until we see this signing actually happen, its all talk to me

 

we've been over this, but they're not signing him. they're trading for him. just like they did for paul, which no one saw coming. lebron has a player option. he can opt in on the condition he's traded for ryan anderson or whatever. this can so happen. teams with talent rule. the lakers don't have it--they used to...and they ruled. it's why the cp3 trade veto basically ended the franchise.

 

clev would be better off letring james leave for nothing than straddle themselves with anderson contract, same situation as nyk n melo, they werent gona eat it with anderson

 

So now Tristan Thompson is injured.
So When LeBron is going to demand trade to Lakers ?

 

The Kardashian Kurse continues?

 

That actually kicks in when he has to start paying child support.

 

What did he hurt how badly?

 

ok, for ariza and eric gordon and junk. who cares? point is, my scenario is totally possible and more probably than joining our 28-win outfit without another star (or really, two, given lebron's MO). i think it's crazy that everyone in the media is overlooking houston as the obvious landing spot here, especially given their morey love. he probably told them to shut up about it lest they screw it up like we did the paul george situation.

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cavs center Tristan Thompson suffered a non-contact injury to his left leg late in the second quarter against the Indiana Pacers Wednesday and was removed from the game with 1:41 remaining.

The Cavs called it a left calf strain and he did not return against the Pacers.

 

28 win outfit? Lol wasn’t aware the season is over.

Also how exactly did the Lakers screw up the Paul George situation? The Pacers clearly wanted no part of trading him to L.A.

As for Houston don’t really see the allure either. Chris Paul is clearly on the downside of his career and can’t stay healthy. Harden is really good, but if he and Chris Paul couldn’t mesh why would LeBron & Harden? I just don’t see what’s so appealing for LeBron not to mention there isn’t the marketing opportunities he’d have in Hollywood.

 

THIS. One can't simply dismiss the fact that the Rockets don't have a good package to put together. Even Capela doesn't make much sense if they already have Love and Thompson, but no wing players to stick around and feed the ball to Clint. Maybe the Rockets are a dark horse, but it would require the Cavs accepting a VERY questionable package unless a mystery 3rd team gets involved.

 

I still think LaBron and his ego won't allow a trade involving himself, cause that is just another white flag as part of his lllllegacy. MJ and Kobe never got traded, so he won't be part of that narrative. However, I do see it more likely that we can pull off a Cousins or PG13 trade if it really gets disgustingly bad in NO or OKC. On top of that, Boogie and George have cap hits towards 2018 that are much more team friendly than LaBron's $35M cap hold. And, since both George and Cuz are younger, with a trade, we also acquire their bird rights which will be much easier to manipulate so that they can get paid on the back end of their contracts, if they sacrifice a bit in year 1 of their deals.

Oh and btw, can the year just end with us at 41-41, pushing the Warriors to game 7 in round 1 before bowing out and LaBron and PG/Cuz ready to join the fray already?

 

LaBron's business partner acting real extra in this interview. I'm sure most of the non-Bron contingent will take this as the final death blow to squash all LaBron to LA talks. I personally see it as damage control for Bronnie including Zo in 2 of his last 3 tweets, all while his Cavs are in free fall. Also this gives Bron's camp some leverage so that it's not automatically assumed LA has him in the bag.

I believe it's also an indirect message to Magic/Rob/Jeanie. Do what needs to be done to get LA in a winning state of mind. Don't rest on your laurels (ie Deng is still on the books). LA is the only suitor that will allow LaBron to pair up with any free agent of his choosing. But in order to compete we may need to look at trying to acquire a 3rd star (if our roster does not already have one by season's end.) I think Zo and Kuz are safe...but Ingram could be on the block if a 3rd star is interested in joining a bron-??? tandem. Its a good thing Magic has already placed the "untouchable" tag on BI cause it gains us leverage if it ever comes to that scenario.

 

32 wins? would it really make a difference? we're not sniffing the playoffs.

1. we don't actually know that.
2. if we did, it was because we tampered in such an obvious way that it pissed them off.

in either case, better management might have led to us having a star in place (maybe two, as i think we could have made a play for paul had we gotten george).

yeah, lebron's hurting for marketing opportunities.

houston can move anderson in a separate deal that breaks his salary up, then add one of those pieces if necessary.

and again, you're acting as if there would be bidding. there would be no bidding. just like the chris paul scenario. paul said "trade me to houston or i opt out and go elsewhere". the clips didn't get shop paul, so it didn't matter what they wanted. they chose something over nothing. houston can offer something again.

again, in the scenario i've outlined, cleveland will have two choices: lebron walks for nothing (to la, most probably, which would REALLY piss gilbert off) or they get eric gordon and a late first rounder, plus some salary ballast.

the only thing i don't know is whether bron's opt-in timing allows for a paul situation. i bet it does, but not all do (some have to be decided at times that would preclude such a trade demand).

finally, for everyone doubting this, imagine all of the counterarguments you could have devised if at this time last year, someone told you houston was going to get chris paul.