Originally posted by Ninerjohn:
Good for you Pete. Obviously your HS program and what you do is way more important.
Since I consider you to be by far the most knowledgeable basketball guy in here I would love to hear what you would do if you were running the Lakers. Personally, I think they should blow the team up and try to move Gasol, Artest, Nash, and Howard. Thoughts? What about the unspeakable and trading Kobe? I dont know if its even possible to move these guys.
Its kind of a catch 22. On the one hand I think for the future of the organization they need to take some drastic steps. On the other hand, it might allienate their fan base if they put up the white flag on this season.
The unspoken part of this not so Super Team that's been assembled is that everyone but Nash is off of the books in two years, and even he would be a tradable, expiring contract that summer. The 2014 plan is to have a re-signed Dwight + a ton of cap space, with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Carmelo Anthony, Rudy Gay, Kyle Lowry, & Luol Deng on the free agent market. The problem with blowing up the team right now is that we don't own many of our own draft picks, and guys like Gasol (and perhaps Artest) have negative trade value.
Personally, I would explore minor deals to improve the athleticism on the squad, specifically at the SF position, and wait to make a bigger move until this offseason. Reason being, at that point virtually everyone becomes an expiring contract. A guy like Gasol will be a lot more valuable on the trade market in 6 months than he is now, because he's a $19M expiring k.
What the Lakers will do this offseason (aside from trying to re-sign Dwight) is going to hinge greatly on how confident they feel about LeBron coming to LA in 2014. I they feel they have a legit shot at him, you're not going to see the expiring contracts be traded for anything more than picks, cheap young players, and other expiring contracts, because they'll want to preserve the necessary cap space it would take to sign him. If they don't feel confident about him coming, I think you'll see the Lakers use those expiring contracts to try to acquire good players around Dwight via trade that have worn out their welcome with their present team. (much like how the Lakers acquired Gasol in '08) I think you'll also see them try to bring back Kobe at a cheaper price, if he's still willing & capable. Kobe is extremely difficult to trade because of his no-trade clause. He won't want to go somewhere that isn't a contender, and the Lakers will want something very significant in return for him.
But the future hinges on what they think their chances of getting LeBron are, IMO.
[ Edited by LA9erFan on Jan 9, 2013 at 10:38 AM ]
