Free Agency Thread

[showtime]

Here's how I look at this in a list form:

1.  Lakers time to win a title begins in 2019, NOT this season.

*  The team is very young.  If we assume the team stays together you would have Kuzma and Ball going into their third season and Ingram going into his fourth season.  The team not only gets more mature and older this upcoming season, but they will get a taste of playoff basketball with LeBron.  

*  Summer of 2019 is the most loaded NBA free agency ever.  There are tons of quality players.  The likelihood of one of those immense talents signing with the Lakers is very high.

*  The Warriors are the biggest favorites ever this year.  So the Lakers are not going to win a title this season no matter what team they could have put together.  In the summer of 2019, they have Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant as free agents.  Even if they were to lose Durant, for example, their team would still be extremely good, but that would shake things up a lot and make the prohibited favorites weaker.  There is a chance in 2019 the Warriors are weaker by losing one of their star players and the Lakers become stronger by gaining a star player.

Also, people keep saying, "You have LeBron, you have to win NOW".  We already talked about how the Warriors are blocking that, but guess what.... If LeBron wanted to win NOW, he wouldn't have came to the Lakers.  This is the point everyone is missing.  LeBron already knows the Lakers are going to be a process and will take some time.  If he wanted to go into a situation where he could win now he would have stayed in the east and joined the Sixers.  It's that simple.

[seminoles1]

19 minutes ago, showtime said:

They're not winning it all with any team this year.  So why does it matter?

Because it's a no-lose situation for the Lakers, for this season and beyond.  That way Cousins doesn't go to Golden State, if he does recover and play well then you win more games and go further in the playoffs, you get in on Cousins a year early and he might take a small discount to return to the team for giving him a chance, and many more reasons.  There was no reason sign Rondo, Stephenson, and McGee instead of Cousins.

[showtime]

2 minutes ago, seminoles1 said:

Because it's a no-lose situation for the Lakers, for this season and beyond.  That way Cousins doesn't go to Golden State, if he does recover and play well then you win more games and go further in the playoffs, you get in on Cousins a year early and he might take a small discount to return to the team for giving him a chance, and many more reasons.  There was no reason sign Rondo, Stephenson, and McGee instead of Cousins.

Okay so, there have been a lot of reports about Cousins that have came out the past few days.  I've heard the Pelicans offered him a lot more than the Warriors, but he did not want to return to New Orleans.  Yet, I've also heard the Pelicans did not want him even though Cousins wanted to go back.  I've heard that no team in the league made Cousins and offer and he had to personally call the Warriors GM and ask to join the team.  I don't really recall hearing this many reports that are the complete opposite of each other regarding a guy signing with a team.  

If it is true that not a single team in the league offered Cousins a deal, then why is that?  

[Kip Smithers]

1 hour ago, BAConrad said:

Hes a bad fit on GS on the court. He is ( well he WAS seeing as he ruptured his achilles just a few months ago and I doubt hes ever the same player again) the exact player who a team that wants to slow GS down would want...And also he actually doesn't play defense at all really, makes mind numbingly dumb turnovers A LOT, makes crazy weird and stupid passes, doesnt hustle back on D and leaves his team to play 4 v 5 which when youre already playing Curry, is terrible for your defense.

You’re also ignoring that he is a great passing big man, a monster on the boards, spaces the floor. Is he a perfect fit? No but we are talking about the Warriors here, they can fit him in. The Warriors are too good and smart for Cousins to be a detriment to them. You’re pointing out ways in which he is a bad fit whilst not acknowledging how he is a good fit.

[Kip Smithers]

10 minutes ago, showtime said:

Here's how I look at this in a list form:

1.  Lakers time to win a title begins in 2019, NOT this season.

*  The team is very young.  If we assume the team stays together you would have Kuzma and Ball going into their third season and Ingram going into his fourth season.  The team not only gets more mature and older this upcoming season, but they will get a taste of playoff basketball with LeBron.  

*  Summer of 2019 is the most loaded NBA free agency ever.  There are tons of quality players.  The likelihood of one of those immense talents signing with the Lakers is very high.

*  The Warriors are the biggest favorites ever this year.  So the Lakers are not going to win a title this season no matter what team they could have put together.  In the summer of 2019, they have Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant as free agents.  Even if they were to lose Durant, for example, their team would still be extremely good, but that would shake things up a lot and make the prohibited favorites weaker.  There is a chance in 2019 the Warriors are weaker by losing one of their star players and the Lakers become stronger by gaining a star player.

Also, people keep saying, "You have LeBron, you have to win NOW".  We already talked about how the Warriors are blocking that, but guess what.... If LeBron wanted to win NOW, he wouldn't have came to the Lakers.  This is the point everyone is missing.  LeBron already knows the Lakers are going to be a process and will take some time.  If he wanted to go into a situation where he could win now he would have stayed in the east and joined the Sixers.  It's that simple.

I don’t see anyway Klay or KD go to LA next year. Seriously. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

25 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Because gutting your roster for Kawhi doesn't do that.  The Spurs reportedly want Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, 2 FRPs and swapping two other FRPS.  That's a HAUL.  That's fair value for a guy who isn't coming off of injury and didn't ask for a trade.

You're making my point. This team isn't going all in for next season. So to say they don't have the luxury to wait until January for Boogie to return is laughable. All their signings are for one year for a reason. They are going to go for it next season so miss me with all this crap of not being able to wait until January for Boogie. 

[11sanchez11]

Lowe said the Blazers had a S&T for Boogie that was between 12-17 per year for 3 years.

[CWood21]

17 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

You're making my point. This team isn't going all in for next season. So to say they don't have the luxury to wait until January for Boogie to return is laughable. All their signings are for one year for a reason. They are going to go for it next season so miss me with all this crap of not being able to wait until January for Boogie. 

I think we'd all agree that even with an addition of Kawhi Leonard, the Lakers aren't pushing Golden State or Houston to win a ring.  So why would they gut their roster to do so when they can add him a year from now without giving up their young players?  A core of LeBron/Kawhi/Lonzo/Ingram is better than LeBron/Kawhi/Lonzo.  There's no realistic way to put together a roster whose competing for a title this year, but they want to put a competitive roster for this season.  How do we even know DMC is going to come back to form? The history of players coming off a torn Achilles isn't pretty.  Most aren't the same player they were before.  If you're asking me whose going to be more productive, DeMarcus Cousins or Brook Lopez I'd probably answer Brook Lopez.

[MookieMonstah]

2 hours ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

Not only that, but for a guy with personality issues, wouldn't you want a trial run with him for a year to see if he is a guy want long term or not? 

Sure he has a bad injury and will miss half the season, but for 5.3 million there was so little risk. 

But let's continue calling Boogie a clown and protecting the inept front offices around the league…….. 

Boogie still turned down 2 years 40M from the Pellies during the season.

Boogie still a clown fam. 

[Kip Smithers]

So according to Cris Carter (yeah I know right), NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter, he spoke to Kawhi in which Kawhi says that he wants to be in LA and has never specified he wants to play for the Lakers. He says he’d love the opportunity to play for the Clippers too. Says he wants to compete and that the Clippers can attract FA if he were to go there due to Jerry West. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

9 minutes ago, MookieMonster said:

Boogie still turned down 2 years 40M from the Pellies during the season.

Boogie still a clown fam. 

Well, he clearly overrated his value on the market. But the Pelicans never offered him that after the season, definitely didn't offer him 2 years 50 million like you said yesterday. Dude was desperate giving teams calls himself. Warriors never reached out to him, it was the other way around. And looks like he gave the Lakers a call as well. 

So yeah, you're right he is a clown.....but opposing teams front office execs are not. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

39 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

I think we'd all agree that even with an addition of Kawhi Leonard, the Lakers aren't pushing Golden State or Houston to win a ring.  So why would they gut their roster to do so when they can add him a year from now without giving up their young players?  A core of LeBron/Kawhi/Lonzo/Ingram is better than LeBron/Kawhi/Lonzo.  There's no realistic way to put together a roster whose competing for a title this year, but they want to put a competitive roster for this season.  How do we even know DMC is going to come back to form? The history of players coming off a torn Achilles isn't pretty.  Most aren't the same player they were before.  If you're asking me whose going to be more productive, DeMarcus Cousins or Brook Lopez I'd probably answer Brook Lopez.

Are you even reading what I'm saying? You keep moving talking about something else. 

Do I know DMC will return to form? No, I don't. But you wouldn't be paying him expecting him to return to form. You take the chance on him for 5.3 million and see if he is someone you want to invest in long term. And if he does surprise everyone and gets back close to form? Then you just got the steal of free agency. Why are you acting like the Lakers or another team would be giving him a max contract or something? It is the flawed logic of this team wanting to compete so they can't sign a guy who will miss 2-4 months. Like why the hell can't the Lakers wait until January? You just said they aren't beating Houston or GS this year so why does it matter? 

Stop making this more difficult then it really is. There was very little risk in signing Cousins to a one year deal at the mid level MLE. 

[dante9876]

Omg yall still talking bout cousins. ???????. His people are putting out reports to make him signing with warriors seem ok. Gms are leaking reports to say he lying. At this point who cares. Not gonna change anything. 

 

But yes if he was willingto join lakers for same price, they should had signed him. 

[showtime]

1 hour ago, Kip Smithers said:

I don’t see anyway Klay or KD go to LA next year. Seriously. 

It's not necessarily them going to Los Angeles.  Lets just say that Durant goes to the Wizards, to throw out a random team.  That weakens the Warriors so much.  And lets also assume the Lakers get a guy like Kawhi Leonard or even someone else, that would strengthen the Lakers.

But as far as either one going to the Lakers, it could happen.  I wouldn't be shocked if either guy went there.

[showtime]

35 minutes ago, MookieMonster said:

Boogie still turned down 2 years 40M from the Pellies during the season.

Boogie still a clown fam. 

But, but, but according to other reports, nobody offered Cousins a deal and he had to call the Warriors himself to get signed.  Interesting.