Really? I thought this was pretty much a given since they cleared their cap space for then. To me, this is like saying "Sources: Lakers would like to win a championship." Non-news.
I am not sure there has been a more brazen attempt by ESPN (ESPN-LA) to drum up page views (during the slow season) than this "LA is going after Lebron / Carmello" articles and discourse. Hey LA, Mark Cuban endorses your efforts!
Lakers going after LeBron/Carmelo . . . Lakers lose out on Carmelo/LeBron. LA's response: Well they weren't Lakers material anyways, so we didn't really want them. Mark Cuban will be singing a similar tune. "We're better off without LeBron and Carmelo. We're happy with the guys we got. We added depth to the roster and feel good about that."
I can see Lebron going anywhere. I can even see him going to the Cavs just to give his home town some pleasure (Akron, Cleveland, whatever it's all the same). Melo is staying in New York, if anything he'll go to the Nets. Grew up in New York, went to Syracuse, he's not leaving his turf. Ha, remember when they booed Kobe in his home town of Philly. Nobody likes him..."Jordan" (as I pretend to do a layup)!
When was the last time a quality player has wanted to go play with kobe? There hasn't been one ever. People respect his game and talent,no one wants to play with him.
Why not, I think it depends on their lottery luck next year. Their roster sucks, unless Kobe comes back near 100% to the training camp. Pau had surgeries on both knees, Nash will be 40, Jordan Hill had a major injury, Kaman/Young aren't game changers, and they've lost some rotation guys to free agency. That could be an under 30 wins team. They get Wiggins/Randle/Jabari or such next year. Absolutely possible. Re-sign Kobe/Pau with cheaper deals the year after. No need for minimum, just give them 20-30 mil combined. Target Love/Aldridge which are more realistic targets in 2015. 2015-16 roster: Lin Kobe Jabari Parker Love Pau In the mean time, Kobe gets 2 years of suckage / mediocrity to take every shot. He'll get to 35k points, then finish his career contending.
Btw, 2015 free agency looks awesome. I didn't realize how strong it could be. Love, Aldridge, Marc Gasol, Rondo, Brook Lopez all could be free agents. They will forget about LeBron very quickly if he doesn't sign there, and focus on Marc Gasol or such.
Obviously that's not what i meant. Everyone's trying to be a Carl Herrera these days. My point is that their plan likely has 2015 in mind and isn't LeBron or bust like a lot of people seem to assume.
The Lakers might be able to get one of those guys (probably either Gasol or Love). Although if they had both, they'd be scary. Rondo will probably be traded from the Celtics. And barring Prokhorov getting the boot, the Nets will overpay Brook Lopez to stay. Aldrige will probably try to go somewhere a bit more established. I'd love to see the Lakers get snubbed two free agencies in a row though. It's like watching the 6 girl who thinks she's an 8 around prom time.
They'd be scary with one of them too, IF they get a major piece in this year's draft which they are positioned to do right now IMO. Anyway, it will be interesting. Quite a few teams are positioned to have max cap space that summer. I could easily see the Knicks be major players too. Melo + Marc Gasol in New York, that would be FUN to watch... Anyway, I too expect Lopez to stay. He'll probably get a max extension. Kevin Love - anybody's guess. The other guys (Rondo / Aldridge / Gasol) are very likely to hit free agency because they won't be eligible for max extensions. So once they hit the market, they are at least going to listen to the Lakers or the Knicks. Btw, the Rockets are positioned to go after those guys too. There could easily be another Lakers-Houston free agency showdown for Love or Aldridge.
