2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

I expect the conversation to be had in the Summer is if considering our roster needs, we are open to trading Reaves. Despite the very poor series his contract is still the most valuable asset we have.

 

Hopefully AR's value didn't drop too much now.

 

Herb Jones

 

AR/Rui, etc for Zion and Herb?

 

AR/Rui/DK/Klieber/29 1st/swaps for Zion/Herb

 

Yeah. AR you cost yourself probably in Lakers’ eyes maybe 10M a year in what they will be willing to offer for an extension. But if you want to continue to bet on yourself to be able to flip future “fingers” at detractors …. you do seriously need to spend less time on golf this summer, in the weight room and show up in camp “looking like it” with noticeably some more muscle pounds up top while continuing to keep Kenzo off your back with the already good base and legs. The writing is on the wall with our obvious and self-avowed feminist @Cookie calling you not a HIM but a HER in this first round exit!!

 

General thoughts on how the season ended and what needs to happen in the offseason:

1. Luka wasn't good enough. A big part of why our offense stalled down the stretch of these games was because he wore down over the course of the games. He wasn't able to consistently beat Randle and Reid off the dribble and create advantage situations. The defense was also pretty terrible last night to start the game. Looking back on the last few months, we never got Luka's best this season IMO. The combination of the calf injury, the trade, adjusting to new teammates, etc. resulted in him never reaching the top level of play we saw from him last year with the Mavs. I'm not worried about him, I personally think he's going to be awesome and win MVP next year.

2. LeBron ultimately never got comfortable offensively after the groin injury. I don't think he ever quite figured out his role in the post-Luka trade offense and I think the groin continued to affect him (Timpf pointed out that barely posted up in the series even with 4 other shooters on the court, which is typically something he goes to a lot in the playoffs. I'm also not sure LeBron thought going into the series this team had a real chance to win it all. The way he and the team came out flat in Game 1, the way he was taking a bunch of jumpers and not trying to bully his way to the rim in the Minnesota road games, and the way he's been laughing and joking out on the court which you typically don't see from him in playoff settings.

3. As for Austin, I think I've crossed over from "I'd consider trading him" to "I think we need to trade him". I love Austin, he's a really good and fun player to root for. But I'm concerned that him and Luka together long-term will always result in an athleticism deficit. It also might be advantageous to trade him now because he's going to get expensive sooner than we realize. He's under contract for $14 million next year, and then has a PO for $15 million in 2026-2027. There's no way he takes that. Austin at $14 million is awesome value, Austin at $30+ million is an entirely different conversation. I think we need to turn Austin into a more athletic, defensive-oriented guard/forward.

4. We obviously need a rim-rolling, rim-protecting center. Finding one that's actually any good is easier said then done. I'm still down to throw Knect + whatever draft capital we can trade at Utah for Kessler, but that's probably not good enough. An Austin for Kessler/Collins trade, though, is interesting to me.

5. JJ did a pretty bad job in this series, even considering our roster limitations. I've brought up the maddeningly low rates of organized offense in the JJ thread a few times and it was a big issue once again last night. Playing only 5 guys in the second half of Game 4 was obviously a mistake. I think Goodwin should have gotten a shot, he could at least hang out there physically better than Gabe. But its the lack of organized offense that is completely unacceptable. You can't claim to be data driven or forward thinking when its this glaringly obvious, both from the data and with the eye test, that the team performs way, way better offensively when organized vs. freelance. This is something JJ needs to be asked about over and over again.

6. I'm lower on Vando than most and still think he's ultimately too poor offensively to ever be part of a playoff rotation. But I actually thought he did some good things on the short roll tonight. They started blitzing Luka when Vando came up to set the screen because they (like me) didn't think Vando could do anything with the ball, but he made some nice kick-out passes. His contract will be tough to move so I think he's probably on the team next year. With a finally healthy offseason, hopefully he can make some strides offensively.

 

Our new nick name could be "The Fat Boyz"

 

I think anyone outside of Luka, Bron, Reaves and DFS is on the block. Anyone else can stay, but they're not a lock. I think we will be aggressive in our center pursuit. Ideally someone who stretches the floor that rebounds well. Can't think of any. Turner has the shooting but not a great rebounder. Capela has the boards but no floor spacing.

I think JJ really prefers someone that can switch to anyone on defense and that spaces the floor. But we did went for Williams, so maybe we go for a true 5, hopefully.

Then we need to do something on the perimeter. We were outmatched physically while having Bron, Rui, DFS and Vando that are all well built. Something's off. I don't know what but we need to do something there. I think we will try to upgrade Gabe too

 

You make pretty good points. 1 to 3 is on point.
Regarding AR, I do agree with you and have mentioned the same before. Those 2 really make it hard to have a switch everything defense strategy. I think a bully who can handle a bit like Suggs or bloody Mitchell(!!!) type. But that's a pretty bold move that I don't think we do, because Bron will eventually leave and AR at least keeps you with playoff aspirations, playing the Kyrie role in Dallas.
I think the only way we trade AR is for a superstar and I'm not seeing any available. Booker would be interesting

 

luka was not the problem this series. minus the game he was sick, he carried the offense and averaged 30 6 and 7 while playing 40+ minutes. lebron did his part on defense while playing on a bad groun and being old

the problem was not having a big and struggling against minny's length/athleticism

 

Yeah, i mentioned it in the Kleber thread but last night gives Rob all the info he needs going into the summer. We let Rudy Gobert have the game of his life.

If Rob waited until the end of the game to pick up the phone and begin a dialog with the Nets, then I'm disappointed.

 

Rob also said that Len is a good player, but JJ controls the rotations. Make of that what you will.

 

I make that promises were unfortunately made to that guy to get him here instead of somewhere else just to find out he still sucks. Bad results from the talent evaluating cabal on that one. Booo!!

And that they valued Morris and Milton for non basketball reasons / limited trade assets in the off season. Another Booo!! F****** Jemison at least “maybe” “might have” helped some insignificant bit … but a “bit” is better than NO bit.

 

Jemison damn sure would have popped somebody's a**, on more than a few occasions in this series. Vando seemed to be the only guy, willing to do that with any frequency. You need a couple of guys like that IMO.

 

It was obviously a mistake. But we had to keep him in the roster. He signed with us because we were going to the playoffs, rejecting other playoffs teams' offers. We didn't want to get bad rep in the buyout market. We know Jeannie runs the Lakers with extreme caution on a PR level.

 

I think we go after Cam Johnson, based on JJ's words.
I'm guessing the plan is to play big in every position. Have a wing playing the 2.

 

Our roster construction is just not right at the moment. When you slot everyone into their best roles, we have too much redundancy.

Luka / Reaves / Gabe
- / Knecht / Goodwin
-
Lebron / DFS / Rui / Vando / Kleber
Hayes

Luka and Reaves performed best this season with the ball in their hands. Gabe is a 3&D guard that can only guard 6-4 or lower.

Knecht can’t defend, Goodwin can’t shoot.

We have no real SF wings that can defend 1-4 and shoot.

We have lots of PFs. Lebron is the best of the lot, DFS is a good team defender and 3-4 on ball defender that is an ok shooter. Rui is a great shooter who has a low motor and can’t defend that well. Vando is a high motor low stamina role player on only one side of the ball and a negative on the other. Kleber is probably washed but was a good 3&D player a few years ago.

Hayes is below average and won’t be back most likely.

So holes wise: we are missing a center (or two), an athletic POA 3&D SG/SF and Reaves is a little redundant with Luka plus they’re a bad defensive backcourt in the playoffs.

We need two impact players in reality, a defensive center that is a great roll man and a good shooting SG/SF that can guard 1-3 at an all defensive level.