Of course the chemistry will be better, the only one with the balls to even question Kobe became Rocket Man. :grin:
Honestly I don't think the Lakers are that horrible, IMHO they're built a lot like the Spurs, except instead of Splitter/TD/Parker/Manu you have Kaman/Gasol/Kobe/Nash. The problem is the coach, Spurs have one of the best coaches ever and LA has a coach who doesn't deserve to be head coach in the NBA. If PJ came back and didn't have health issues I guarantee the Lakers make the playoffs, as it is their best case is low lottery to just squeaking into 8th seed to be destroyed by OKC or (hopefully) Houston in 4 games. I don't agree with people who are saying LA should "blow it up" though, if they do that and they miss out on Wiggins, they lose all the "Laker Mystique" daddy Buss spent his whole life building up. The draft is deep enough they'll get a solid piece wherever they land, they should keep Gasol, let Kobe retire (or sign at a discount) and then attract Kevin Love when he hits FA. A3p0 is right, LBJ isn't going there, and IMHO Melo is a horrible max player to build around. Love though is young and discontented with Minny, perfect to pair with Gasol who should sign with them at a discount.
are we making up guarantee based scenarios now that would make the Lakers look good on paper? I stopped reading right there. I am sick of tired of reading about Jackson coming back.
The Lakers will never be the same without Dr. Jerry Buss. Even if they could pretend to be the same Showtime Lakers, they aint. Just be humble and start from scratch.
eww <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The Lakers will wear short-sleeve jerseys next season, according to a team source. LAL's will be white and they'll wear them "several" games</p>— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) <a href="https://twitter.com/mcten/statuses/369881621047959552">August 20, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
No doubt. They're going to look like dudes who just rolled out of bed in T-shirts and boxers. Probably going to play a lot like that too.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Lakers have scoffed at 12th place West ranking. So I asked Jordan Hill for his ranking. He says top three in West <a href="http://t.co/ISgwzYOip1">http://t.co/ISgwzYOip1</a></p>— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkG_Medina/statuses/371001028230922240">August 23, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Wouldn't expect them to say anything less but who would have thought that losing Dwight and trading a good Kobe for a busted one would be so good for the Lakers
Coming from an unreliable source... yet some Laker fans now insist he is credible. L.A media and franchise are just making themselves look bad. It's like an crazy ex-gf which is still looking for any justifiable reason as to why they got dumped. They need to worry about their future not another player that isn't on their team anymore. For a franchise with so much success and history, they are definitely making themselves look foolish. That franchise is about to be in a world of hurt in the coming years. Everyone else sees it, except them.
Top 3 picks maybe... I love Jordan Hill, but even he knows that top 3 in the West for the Lakers this coming season is close to impossible. The Lakers big free agent signings are hardly what one would call game changers...role players maybe but looking at their stats, Lakers are in trouble. Kaman 10.5p 5.6r Young 10.6p .413% Wes 8.0p .407%. Career winning Percentage in games they played: Kaman .470 Young .340 Wes .280 Even if Nash can reproduce last years numbers of 12 & 6, he can no longer run fast breaks...they'd be more like 'medium paced' breaks! Jordan Hill, if used correctly like I've always said, could quite possibly average a double double, his per36 have him at 15p 13r, if he gets around 30mins per game I can see him getting around 11-12p & 10-11 boards...that's if the notorious chuckers pass him the ball & he is used in pick'n'roll, pick'n'pop or cuts to the basket. If the reports are true of D'Antoni wanting to transform Hill into a stretch Big, then Hill will be lucky to average 8 & 5... Pau Gasol's stats & game were way off last season, due to injury, the coaching carousel and trying to make super friends LA mesh, but truth is he is still a pretty good player, and he proved this in the playoffs. If he stays injury free, a big IF, then I can see him around the 16 & 9 mark. In a way I feel bad for wanting to see a team fall on it's face, and I feel bad about finding joy in another teams sorrow, but I can't stand the pompous Lakers & I hope my prediction of them missing the playoffs comes to fruition. I want them to be bad, but 10 to 14th pick bad, so that they don't get Wiggins or Parker. My hatred for the Lakers is not on the Utah level, heck I actually liked them to some degree when SHAQ was there, but Kobe, whilst a great basketball player, is scum and deserves as much sympathy as he showed that 19-year-old hotel employee in Denver.
Lakers big three are 107 years old collectively the Rockets combo of Parsons, Lin, Howard, and Harden are 99
Everything's based on paper right now, even the Rox. In case you haven't noticed the season hasn't started yet. People keep bringing PJ up because he would have been the best coach for the job last season, managing egos is his forte and he would have found a way for Kobe, Nash, Pau and DH to coexist. Even if he couldn't coach full time, just having guys like Brian Shaw who already know the PJ system and could implement it would have been great for them. Instead, the younger Buss is hell bent on destroying his dad's legacy and hired class clown Mr. Pringles, who tried making Gasol last year and Hill this year into stretch 4s.
How the Lakers should rebuild Spoiler [rquoter]The Los Angeles Lakers don't rebuild. That's been true since their early days back in Minneapolis, when the franchise nickname made sense, and it's been true through the eras of George Mikan, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. The latest projection from my ATH system has the Lakers with 34 wins in the coming season, and the system's most recent round of simulations had Los Angeles making the postseason in three of 1,000 replays of the season. ESPN.com's Summer Forecast also has the Lakers finishing 12th in the West, much to Bryant's chagrin. In other words, Los Angeles could be headed for their first single-digit draft slot since taking James Worthy first overall in 1982. If you think my projection is an aberration, be aware that I've seen other projections. It's not. That's just scratching the surface of the Lakers' woes. Depending on how the standings fall, Los Angeles could be without its first-round picks in 2015 and 2017, and wont' have a second-round pick in three of the next four seasons. The team's top three players -- Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol -- have a combined 46 years of NBA mileage under their collective belt, and all three have undergone some kind of surgery over the past year. On the bright side, before he was hurt last season, Bryant was as good as ever, averaging 27.3 points on the third-best true shooting percentage of his career. And the Lakers' long-clogged salary cap is about to finally come unstuck, with only Nash due significant guaranteed money after 2013-14. The coming flexibility will coincide with what could be a major shuffling of power in the NBA, with the loaded 2014 draft class and a sparkling free-agent market in the offing. With a roster headed by three future Hall of Famers, it's certainly not out of the question that L.A. outperforms its dire statistical forecast. However, if and when the season goes south, how can general manager Mitch Kupchak bring the luster back to Los Angeles? 1. Recognize Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant as the foundation. This isn't a move, but a recognition of the franchise's situation. Bryant's presence is what dictates everything. As perhaps the greatest Laker of them all, rebuilding is not an option after what will be 18 seasons with the team. With Bryant's contract expiring, Kupchak will have the opportunity to structure a roster and payroll, in cooperation with Bryant, that will give him one more window to chase title No. 6, while setting up the Lakers for the long term. As for Gasol, the paucity of quality big men in the league, his track record of success with Bryant and, most importantly, his own expiring contract all combine to make him a solid fit to remain a Laker. Gasol's knee problems are a concern, making his production an important issue. 2. Trade Steve Nash for future assets. Nash still has plenty left in the tank. He averaged 18 points and 10 assists per 40 minutes last season during the minutes in which he didn't share the court with Bryant. When teamed with Bryant, Nash was a lower-volume, higher-efficiency player. In a vacuum, that's fine. However, just as important as any awkwardness on offense, it's not a tenable defensive backcourt. With a reasonable contract and a valuable skill set, Nash would be a welcome acquisition for most contenders in the league. The Lakers would not take back any money beyond next season in such a trade, and would only ask for a late first-round pick or, more likely, a couple of second-rounders in return. Under the reality of the new CBA, even the Lakers can't continue to ignore the draft. 3. Keep the 2014 draft pick A Nash deal wouldn't come down until the deadline, by which time it's apparent that 2012-13 is a lost season. Gasol rumors would be rampant by that point, but we've already established that we're keeping him barring a blockbuster deal. So the next chance for Kupchak to set himself up for 2014-15 will be on draft night. A 48-loss season would give the Lakers an outside shot at lottery magic. And let's face it, this is one franchise that is used to good fortune. Even if the Lakers don't move up, a pick at Nos. 7 or 8 (in one of the deepest drafts ever) would still put them into position to grab a future All-Star. Chad Ford has the Lakers selecting raw but talented Kansas big Joel Embiid at No. 10. The selection could also be a key trade piece down the line. 4. Sign Bryant and Gasol -- quickly Bryant and Gasol will have massive cap holds on the Lakers' books upon hitting free agency -- a combined $52 million. Until they are resolved one way or another, Kupchak's offseason agenda will be choked. Here's the strategy: Sign Bryant and Gasol to one-year deals for as low as the veteran's minimum. Under this arrangement, the Lakers would open up massive amounts of cap space. After renouncing the other free agents, accounting for Bryant and Gasol's minimum salaries, the guaranteed money due to Robert Sacre, CBA-mandated minimum-player holds and the hold for the first-round pick, the Lakers still only have about $11 million of the cap accounted for -- easily enough room for two max-contract free agents. It would be an extreme show of faith by the Lakers' stars. Kupchak could offer both players huge pay increases after 2014-15 using their Bird rights, in essence giving them an average salary commiserate with their current-day talents. However, this can't be agreed upon beforehand. Even if Bryant and Gasol can get past the ego issues of the pay cuts, there is still the risk of injury to scare them off. It's tough. Kupchak would be tasked with making a sales pitch without overtly making the sales pitch. 5a. Sign two max free agents It's so simple, right? With all of this cap space, Kupchak opens up the check book, signs LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, and lives happily ever after. I'm not sure anyone really wants to see Bryant and Anthony on the same team, but besides those two, Paul George and Chris Bosh are the only potential free agents I see as possible max-type targets. We've also seen that, these days, having an attractive talent core may be more important to elite free agents than max money, or a glitzy locale. The Lakers learned that first hand from Dwight Howard this summer. Still, you have to roll out the red carpet, especially for James. 5b. Sign two next-tier free agents to short-term deals This is the lesson I took from the blockbuster Nets-Celtics trade on draft night: If you signed an OK player to a bloated contract -- like Gerald Wallace -- you can use his salary slot to acquire a better player. If the Lakers strike out on the heavy hitters in the next free agent class, the next level of available players would be targeted. We're talking about players like Paul Pierce, Andrew Bogut and Luol Deng. Landing two of those players on short-term contracts for eight figures per season not only adds on-court talent, but it locks down two high-dollar salary slots. The key is to keep the duration of the contract short, or else you risk ruining the trade value of the player. The eventual target would be a top-10 player who decides he can't continue in his current situation. Who knows who will be the next disgruntled superstar? Maybe if things go bad for the Thunder, Kevin Durant will seek brighter lights. Maybe Chris Paul doesn't like playing for Doc Rivers, or things go bad for Blake Griffin. Perhaps Kevin Love wants out of Minnesota, or LaMarcus Aldridge bails on Portland, or the Kings tire of DeMarcus Cousins. We never know when these situations will crop up. By locking down two decent players with sizable, but moveable contracts, the Lakers would become a team capable of dangling near-term cap space for an opponent hitting the reset button. Packaging one or both of the free-agent signings with the aforementioned prized draft pick will sweeten the pot that much more. This is just one of many paths Kupchak can take to return the Lakers to relevance. The scheme requires luck, faith, failure, guts and cunning. Getting a team to the championship level always does, and when you can't truly rebuild, a few things are going to have to fall your way. If this plan seems desperate to you, well, that's kind of where the Lakers are at.[/rquoter]
I only see Carmelo going to LA but Lebron and Paul George i don't see going to LA. Not sure about Bosh
IMO, Carmelo will go to MIA and join LeBron if he leaves the Knicks (which is doubtful). Paul George's extension with the Pacers should be finalized before the season starts.
