D'ANGELO RUSSELL looking like PJ Tucker without the defense 0-7 0 points. The Playoffs it not the place to Shoot your way out of a slump Rocket River
If you read the first line carefully, you'll see it states things that are certain in basketball games.
LeBron and AD gobbles up 94 mil of their cap. Kinda tough to improve the rest of the roster when money is this tied up. Too top two heavy. Tough to still ask help when some of the others don't work out as planned: RRR: Russell, Rui, and Reaves.
If he is the 2nd or 3rd guy, he doesn't have a supporting cast. He IS the supporting cast, or part of it.
Lebron can still be a second or third option on a championship team, WHICH IS CRAZY TO ME AT YEAR 21 AND AGE 39, so I think unless Lakers are able to revamp the roster that way, then Lebron should really jump ship somewhere else since he’s been hopping teams anyways. As an NBA fan, I’d love to see Lebron sign a veteran minimum (Lebron already has a lifetime billion dollar deal with Nike so he should sign a vet min with a contender) with GS and join Curry/CP3/Klay/Dray. Lebron helps CP3 get his first ring and Lebron and Curry win a chip together. I really want to see this.
D-Ro is a SG in a PG's body. Actually it's worse than that: He's a 6'3 jump-shooter who can't do anything else. If he's not scoring from the outside, he's a dead weight. On a championship contender, he would be a 7th/8th man. If he was mentally tough and could do more than just shoot outside jumpers, he'd be a good 6th man. But on this Lakers squad, he's a starter who snacks and plays with his phone on the bench while the team is in a huddle during a playoff game.
Nah LeBron - 47 million -> 51 Million Davis - 40 million - > 43 Million DLo Russ- 17 Million --> 18 Million ==================================== ======== 104 million --> 112 Million Jocic - 47 million - > 51 Million Murray - 33 Million --> 36 Million MPorter - 33 Million --> 35 Million ======================================= ======= 113 Million --> 123 Million https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/DEN.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/LAL.html Denver actually has the higher payroll Denver's 4th highest player - Gordon (22 Million) make more than DLo Replace him with Josh Hart and Lakers maybe leding this series Rocket River
As a freshman, he averaged 19 ppg on 41% 3pt shooting, and 5 apg. That's pretty impressive. BTW, he was second place MIP in his 4th NBA season. Hmm...
When teams go into the luxury, it's better to know how close they are in full contention. If a team is 7th seed / scrapping for play-in, then it's questionable how much more they should keep spending. DEN, while expensive, can be justified since they won a title and an honest contender this year. 2024-25 tax brackets. 1. PHX tax bill: 104m 2. BOS tax bill: 46m 3. DEN tax bill: 42m 4. MIN tax bill: 26m 5. MIL tax bill: 19m 6. MIA tax bill: 18m 7. LAL tax bill: 11.7m Out of this list, PHX and LAL are probably the two teams not getting their money's worth. Being a little over is fine; but say if LAL go player hunting and want to add quality player(s), signing them will cost more. Or could Pelinka fleece another GM with a Rui or Reaves contract to get back a better player. (won't be easy) LAL's past years: so there's repeater tax consideration. 2020-21 (~ +6mil) 2021-22 (~ +45mil) 2022-23 (~ +35.9mil) 2023-24 (~ +7mil) 2024-25 (~ projected 11.7mil but things are in flux) Financially speaking, media people are guessing they might try to duck under the cap next year to avoid the repeater. ... People being anti-Lakers here... it's pleasant to watch. (*grabs popcorn)
They should go all in on Picks They could use someone like Edey to lean on Jocic for 15 minutes a game LOL "Just go in there and Bear Hug him until the Refs call your 6th foul" Rocket River
I would take their 3 future 1st round picks for Jalen Green in a heartbeat. Those picks will be valuable some day.
If they had just kept their 2020 bubble championship team more or less intact, the Lakers would be scary even to this day. That team had Caruso, KCP, LeBron, AD, Dwight, McGee, amongst others. With AD and LeBron still looking like they are: Caruso and KCP provides elite perimeter defense while Dwight and McGee would be big bodies to throw against Jokic, Holmgren, Towns. And AD wouldn't have to work as hard, defending on the interior. No idea what the roster would look like, but: Caruso KCP / Reaves LeBron / Hachimura AD / Wood? Dwight / McGee That's a championship contender, to this day... ...but they blew it up to trade for Westbrook, and the rest is history.
