I dont see us getting a great player. I wouldnt be upset if we spend on austin reaves or grant williams level role players We have to spend on something eventually
Lakers being bad and the D1 age team being bad and clueless on where to be on the floor is a totally different things. Reeves would be the second oldest player behind Tate in the rotation and Reeves is a sophomore. That is how inexperienced and clueless this team is.
?...OK? What does that prove? Hes still better than them and isnt even much older Lakers were a terrible shooting team too. So thats not a valid excuse either
He's also not worth 80 million dollars over 4 years regardless of anything you can rebut with your words. Flo from Progressive and Jake from State Farm could have a baby together and that baby could be in charge of selling Austin Reaves' to me and I'm still not buying it. Also, if you're watching that many Lakers games when they're that bad, I think you're a Lakers fan. So... why would I trust you? Don't answer... no one trusts you here.
If Austin Reaves' contract could be bought out for 25 million dollars 12 seconds after he signed an 80 million dollar contract over 4 years, we'd be wise to spend that 25 million dollars.
We need a PG is one thing. We need James Harden at age 34-38 and $45m/season and 4 years guaranteed is a whole other story. We absolutely do not NEED that. We're talking about wanting it is all. What's the need exactly? What's the big deal exactly if we miss the playoffs the first time we try? Shall we ramp up the risk level to an extremely high level because it's so incredibly important we guarantee making the playoffs in our first attempt? I just don't agree it has anything to do with our championship aspirations. There's no correlation between using cap space to rush to the playoffs and successful championship programs. There is no material difference to our future if we win 35 games or 45 games next season, we can just add a little bit more and get into the playoffs easily the following season. We'll still be on schedule for this rebuild. Building for a championship team is not linear, you don't just pile pieces on top of each other one by one and then compare your pieces at the end. There are CBA rules, limitations, opportunities. Like the other GM's, we must optimize these opportunities to compete. You can have enough to get the conference finals and not have any hope of upgrading your roster anymore (see: Blazers, Bulls). We MUUUUUUST avoid that fate - that IS an actual need because we've been through that with not having enough to win the title. That happens when too much of your cap real estate is fully or partially non-functioning assets. I can only imagine how many teams regretted saying "we'll figure out LATER what to do with a contract that is more than 50% dead salary at one of the highest salaries in NBA history". You could not name a larger risk than that in free agency, it is the biggest possible risk we can take with just as much evidence to suggest it won't work as there is to suggest it can work. He's old and chubby and his body has endured so much alcohol, fouls, minutes, seasons, shots, you name it. We can not ignore these things, this is how risk is analyzed. These are all heavy indicators. His career has a very clear character. Harden's body not holding up would surprise 1% of the NBA fanbase. I don't get the desperation (promise, not dissing, genuinely trying to understand). Our only need is to install a winning culture with a reasonable chance at making the playins and we see how that goes. Make an assessment and always look for a max-worthy player. What's going on, like why are you willing to take 2 max dead years for being the 8th seed one or two seasons? Even a contender would only consider that if they are a hair away from the title.
I think the simplest way I can see it is: people just literally might not understand the magnitude of having $50m per season for 2 seasons possibly dead on your cap. That's a real possibility. Lebron has made fans believe anyone can play like him to his age, it ain't happening, and certainly not with Harden.
What's the need exactly? What's the big deal exactly if we miss the playoffs the first time we try? Shall we ramp up the risk level to an extremely high level because it's so incredibly important we guarantee making the playoffs in our first attempt? We need to make noise next year or we are just handing OKC a free very good first round pick if we just suck. I just don't agree it has anything to do with our championship aspirations. There's no correlation between using cap space to rush to the playoffs and successful championship programs. There is no material difference to our future if we win 35 games or 45 games next season, we can just add a little bit more and get into the playoffs easily the following season. We'll still be on schedule for this rebuild. No one said harden = championship aspirations, but having a great playmaker in harden will lead us to more victories, a winning culture, and youngsters to actually develop. Grabbing harden is risky, but unless u give us an actual alternative, we are just going to end up wasting more of green and smith developmental process forcing them to play alongside kpj who fking blows at pg. We have been hearing for years that harden's game ages well, now we have folks saying oh it's too risky to take a leap of faith on harden being at least what we need him to be, a playmaker who controls the offense.
I've shared the alternative so many times: just wait for the right player, and fill the functional needs you have in the meantime. The reasons you list are not proportionate with the risk you're suggesting we take: - We will be sad that OKC got a good pick? Like who cares? We're giving up a good pick regardless. - The offense needs someone to run it, so it must be Harden why? Again why this jump? We can sign or acquire a PG who is good at running an offense. Giving up a protected first round pick or two in a trade is still so much better than having Harden aged 37-38 making $50m per season. Literally just ask yourself what would you do if Harden was off the market and you needed a PG. All the things you come up with are options. It's not worth it. Those reasons are not good enough. Taking on a contract like that where you know the player is going to decline and the salary is astronomical long term can't be absorbed that non-chalantly.
Btw Harden's game did not age well. The #1 weapon in his whole game was going to the line and scoring a lot and he can't beat people in iso the same way anymore. That's gone, and it's clear it's not coming back. What's aged well is he's now basically Steve Nash, which is great. Doesn't give you anything, no defense, just elite passing and above average scoring efficiency (non-primary scorer). However, like Nash his body will not age well. The problem is his body dude. It's clear. He's had weight issues a lot. He's even now not in the shape he should be, especially for his age he should be his skinniest ever right now to succeed. Parties a lot. Gets fouled a LOT. Minutes like crazy. He has one of the worst cases for arguing his body will age well. If you were an insurer, it would be the #1 risk in your analysis.
Like i said it's a risk going for harden, but what's the alternative? u keep saying we will trade for this magical pg along the road, but what about the current development of the youngsters and the upcoming ones? Smith and green shouldn't b forced to play alongside kpj as their pg who clearly hinders their game. playing alongside one of the greatest playmakers will do wonders for their game. Of course u can bank on drafting Scoot, but relying on a first year pg to control the offense of a young squad isn't a recipe for success either, nor factorin his weakness. So do we run it back with kpj for another year while we wait for this magical pg trade to occur? Our offense was basically dead last with this man running it, u think we gonna fare much better next year? a few years of elite playmaking will do wonders for the youngsters career. Having old a$$ cp3 did wonders for the thunders, it would b the same with harden for our youngsters.
I don't know why you keep saying I'm not just suggesting an alternative. I've suggested many. You have a self-made requirement that whatever moves we make must guarantee that we make the playoffs this season and that's artificial to everyone else. There are free agent and trade PG's, the fact that we don't know before the regular season is over is irrelevant. Rosters change after the playoffs and a few weeks of rumors. We can sign Cory joseph to get players the ball in the right spots, that's not a valid reason to sign Harden. Thunder got paid to take CP3 dude, which is exactly how I'm suggesting we acquire Harden if we absolutely must. You're willing to take such a huge risk because you're treating the situation as though it's Harden or everything has 0 value which is not real. You think magic has to happen for us to acquire a competent PG, I really can't understand what you've convinced yourself of here. Is there a team with cap space and 5+ picks that worries it can't find a PG? That's imaginary, it's not a real thing. It's just not true that it's worth taking on a max James Harden contract for the reasons you're listing. So we have to fill the roster anyway, with whatever is the second best thing and it will have the second best results in the short term. Big deal.
I think some people on here are trained to believe big contract = incredibly scary. The Westbrook and Wall contracts have people shook. Those were in wildly different cap contexts, signed for 6 years not 4, for non shooters with knee injury histories. If you’re arguing against a Harden contract (or giving out big contracts to vets this summer or next in general), you are just showing you don’t fully understand the cap context. There is realistically NO opportunity cost to giving a max deal this summer or next. It is highly highly unlikely that it precludes us from future moves. It’s functionally free. We will be close to capped out the summer after next due to rookie extensions starting. We will not be able to sign major FA’s starting then whether or not we sign a big contract this summer / next summer. We are locked into being an at or over the cap team then — without a Harden-like contract we’d be close to the cap, and with it we’d be right up against the tax (where we want to be). In fact, having a big contract expiring in 2026 or 2027 best sets us up for superstar acquisition then. We’d need a big near expiring contract to match salaries without losing part of our core in the trade. Otherwise we’d never be able to make salaries work on a contender in the late 2020s.
Wipe your tears. My god. Lakers are on TV every night. I’m a basketball fan. I watch a lot of Celtics games too. You base your analysis on highlights and wrote a bunch of bullshit that made no sense.
Yea so, I see we still have the resident Harden haters…. Waiting for the “right vet” isn’t a plan. Waiting equals dead years guaranteed immediately, while Harden aging out his contract is far from guaranteed, only a possibility of future dead years. So right there the argument is basically gone. Not to mention, at our trajectory, having a 50 million dollar expiring contract is an incredible asset and could be used to trade for another disgruntled star, while making us a destination because we would have been competitive up to that point with positive momentum as a team. Sign or trade for some other PG using assets. So now we are TRADING assets, which we otherwise wouldn’t have too. That’s a terrible idea and a complete mismanagement of assets. You could simply use those same assets to dump the last year of Hardens maybe bad deal. And I am somewhat flabbergasted to read that Harden has somehow lost his ability to get to the line and score . Ummmm what? The guy gets to the line 45% of the time….beyond elite….and his effective field goal % is among the best in his career. Perhaps not understanding how ridiculous Harden is playing now somehow leads to one to believe he ready to fall off a cliff. I frankly just don’t buy it. Possible? Yes. But if I was betting my own money, i absolutely bet that Harden is still an impact player at 37/38. Signing Harden remains a no brainer, the alternatives simply dont make sense.
