<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>ESPN sources say Lakers have won the Carlos Boozer waiver auction today</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/489878667586437121">July 17, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Lakers have made partial waiver claim on Boozer.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/489878739526762496">July 17, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yeah, they've had a bad off-season too, but not much was expected other than from biased fans. They had money and needed players.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Funny that Carlos Boozer ends up with the Lakers after the Bulls tried hard to sign-&-trade him for Gasol.</p>— Mike McGraw (@McGrawDHBulls) <a href="https://twitter.com/McGrawDHBulls/statuses/489879158319616000">July 17, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
??? THEY ARE AWFUL! They won 27 games and are waiting till next year. Better than having 2 superstars wither for another year.
Since it was a Partial Waiver Claim, the Lakers likely need to renounce some players to get enough cap room to cover the whole bid. Per Coon, That's somewhat poorly written by Coon. He means the teams doesn't need cap room to cover the whole bid (thus, Partial Waiver Claim vs Full Waiver Claim), but must now clear more room to cover the full claim.
I guess not only did they want Boozer at a cheaper rate but also to not get Gasol more money. NSFW Spoiler
What happens next year? Love is likely resigned somewhere (Cleveland) and Phoenix owns the Lakers first round pick (top 5 protected).
FWIW, Nick Young said in a recent interview that they will make the playoffs. The Lakers now have some guys who can score pretty well-- Kobe (if healthy), Swaggy, Lin, Boozer, maybe rookie Randle-- but don't really have much in the ways of defensive talent. No rim protection, for one thing. They were ranked 28th defensively last season, and I don't see Lin, Boozer and Randle's addition to change that ranking a great deal.
Just realized, all LOFs are now going to talk about how good a PnR player Boozer is, so why doesn't Kobe let Lin and Boozer play PnR. This is so going to happen. haha