LeBron James Discussion: Not Returning To The Lakers

what needs to happen to get pg/james at both their respective max along with resigned randle with a starting salary of say 15mill?

 

Oh, my. Who wants to help us though? Without fleecing us? Ugh.

 

would either opt below work after stretching?
both with chi
Asik-2 yrs remaining, final yr partial gurantee

Felicio-3 ys remaining, 8mill per

both guys can be stretched with a cap hit to us between 3mill-4.5mill

-i think it would cost us less in assets to trade deng for either 1 of them

 

1. Genetically he's got the durability of Malone with Stockton like court awareness, which imho attributes to the narrative of a "player we've never seen before". We certainly haven't seen eastern conference dominance like his since MJ and Bill Russell (who was a legit defensive center and what many teams are still the most interested in making the center piece of their team....including our beloved Lakers..at least they should be).

Again, Bron the basketball player is solid and any team would be crazy to pass on such a talent. The narrative is what drives fans insane and I totally get that. All the talking heads keep talking about Bron, but it doesn't bother me cause I frankly don't watch and listen to sports TV/radio all that much and if I do see stuff on twitter, I try to see if the stats back it up. That's why I feel, you're more sick of the narrative than the actual player. Btw, if Bron drives that narrative then that's what he should do. You should have an athlete that believes that much in themselves. The great ones all think that way and again, find me one that doesn't. Heck even TimmyD, the most nonchalant, down to earth dude I can think of in recent history, didn't shut down the "best power forward ever" narrative. He easily could of, but didn't...and why should he?

Also, Bron avg. 9.1 assists this year...he did not have a primary ball handler due to Gilbert's brilliant trades this season and Bron's usage rate was the highest its ever been since coming back to Cleveland. In fact, the haters keep stating that Bron is the focal point of the offense and that would hurt the young Lakers from developing, yet he's never led the league in usage% and never been in the top 3 (minimum 30mins per) ever...add that to his demands to get a ball handling guard and his dismay with the Ky trade and that is just a recipe for Zo's development and not his downfall.

The commentary that he makes his teammates better may be false, but I would argue, that type of dialogue is faulty in general. It should state that certain players can put their teammates in the best position to succeed. Magic had some damn good players around him and set those guys up beautifully...but once Magic does, its up to that player to convert on the opportunity. The onus is on that player to get into the gym and cannibalize every opportunity Magic provides them. If Game 2 was a microcosm of what Bron has had to endure, then consider that other than garbage time, TT was the only player to shoot above 50%, other than Bron himself. Countless times Bron found the open man and they just couldn't knock down the shot. He still had 13 assists, but imagine that number if Cleveland converts on 50% rather than 40% of their shots last night. Again, Bron puts his guys in better position to succeed and that should be the narrative. That can be said about nearly any great star tho and of course if you pair stars up with Bron, then that makes life a whole lot easier on him as well. The narrative of Bron making his guys better is only due to the fact that he has the ability to handle the rock and has the court vision to set them up for opportunities they couldn't frequently create on their own. Not every player has that...hence, he "can" make his teammates better.

2. Attention-seeker...narcissism...egomaniac! Sure, he's all those things and more. But so is every star player. You point out that he cares what the media/fans say and of course he does. How is that a negative? Most these players just use it as another chip on their shoulder. Think Kobe with winning 5 and beating Shaq's 4. Till it happened, you wouldn't know that was one of Kob's primary objectives....but of course he was paying attention to all the "He can't win without Shaq" talk. It just drives certain players to overcome those odds...how exactly is that a bad thing again?

3. Pampered career is certainly something I've been harping on as well. I've said numerous times that this NBA is the softest its been and it encourages the buddy-buddy superteam dynmaic. The killers in the game are nearly gone...Kob probably being the last one to bow out. But again, how is that Bron's fault? If he's great, then he's going to find a way to exploit it...and 8 Finals trips certainly seems like he has. All the GOAT dialogue is certainly something I have never endorsed or spoken of in terms of Bron, so if you have a beef there, I certainly ain't refuting it.

But imho your beef is clearly with Lebronmania and not really the player himself. LA's always been a city that caters to noise, so Labronmania ain't going to really disturb the peace here....but most bball fans that are Laker fans want him here for his bball acumen and not necessarily the noise and the media driven hoopla.

Btw, I know exactly what you mean by the hysteria around a player. Not too long ago, I would critique Kob, cause hey, I'm a Laker fan and of course I can critique my own...I have a problem when other team fans do tho. Anyways, it wasn't even Kob's play that bothered me...it was his fanboys that deemed me a hater for even the most smallest justifiable offense...and so I can totally relate to fans that despise the Bronamaniacs. I just pay them no mind, cause till he's a Laker and screwing up on our watch, its not my problem. But when Bron's in P&G and s***ting the bed from time to time, you best believe I'll call him out on it....and I'll be encouraged to do it much more if the Bronamaniacs try to shield their boy from any blame.

 

even with stretching either one of them? would all 3 of james/randle/pg be willing to take hairline cuts to make up the short?

 

thats medical retirement or that 1time stretch the league use to allow that wouldnt hit your cap.....you can stretch anybody you trade for now

 

Yup. Deng has to go if the Lakers want to sign everyone. Question is, anyone know if the Lakers release all their cap holds, including Randle AND they got rid of Deng's contract with no contracts in return, anyone know how much the cap would be at that point after they signed LB and PG to max contracts?

 

Any idea if the cap is going up? Or staying the same?

 

So cap is 101 mil and tax threshold will be 123 mil. At 89 mil, that leaves the Lakers 34 million before tax area to sign their own.

 

Well I'll quote you on this anyway...you can stretch players you trade for or sign outright.

In the case of partial/nonguaranteed years, they do not count as part of the stretch. It's only guaranteed money that counts towards a stretched player. Also team options don't count towards the stretch and if it's a player option, then within the contract there will be provisions on whether a player allows or decides to bypass getting paid for that option year.
ETOs are assumed to be guaranteed money and count towards guaranteed salary in a stretch.

 

2018: 101M cap; 123M tax; 130M apron (hard cap)

2019: 108M cap; 131M tax; 138M apron

FYI: approximate projections, but safe enough values to use

 

If DiVi is available to us at #25, I’m willing to bet there will be a team out there willing to take Deng for his rights.

 

Again, if Divi is there, man, do we give up that player to unload that bum?