Lakers Thread

[Jackal]

The Lakers will be fine. Clarkson/Randle/Top 5 is something to look forward to. Clarkson has been a confident young one since the beginning. I'm glad Nash is working out with him a bit. Not looking forward/don't expect Lin to be back next year as it is.

Anyone catch the prepping Randle has been doing? Scouting the games and specifically the opposing teams' PF's so he knows their habits? For a young guy his work ethic sounds good so I'm really hoping he can shake off the injury/surgery and have a stellar year coming year.

[mp3]

Lakers through history never stay down for long, i am sure it wont take many years after Kobe is gone for them to bounce back.

[Kevin]

So.... Ed Davis got pissed at Coach Scott and now plans to opt out of his contract for next season. He said he wanted to play the whole 82 games this season but Scott insisted that he rest for a game. Meanwhile, the Lakers might have their first center piece in Clarkson.

[NovU]

Ed Davis clearly was being underpaid. He will ofc opt out just like Hassan Whiteside and try to fuck their team salary wise. Might be worth it though. They're good.

[Jackal]

I do hope they resign him, he's all effort. Clarkson getting time over an expendable Lin is something I like too. Depending on the draft pick I think Hill's last year 9 mill is also expendable.

Guys I'm looking forward to next year; Randle, Clarkson, draft pick, Kobe (?), Davis and Young. I wonder what Mitch/Jim have planned for this off season.

On another note: I love the development of Kawhi. That kid is amazing.

[[Q]]

I hope they keep Davis & Ellington. Wayne's the best shooter on this team including Kobe (minus Nash) and I think he's an asset on a team that doesn't have many great 3 point shooters. Hill's as good as gone because he's not worth 9 mil, but I could see Davis coming back for the midlevel

I hope Lin is back too. Not sure if Clarkson is ready to start on a good team, but he's getting some great experience right now (at the expense of the Lakers' lottery pick)

Obviously worst case scenario is that they get leapfrogged and lose the pick. Best case scenario is they get #1 and draft Towns or Okafor. I really hope they don't get stuck with Mundiay, aka Dante Exum vol. 2.

[Jackal]

Towns seems more interesting than Okafor. Especially with already having an offensive minded Randle, pairing him with a defensive Towns would be ideal.

But who knows where they even land in the draft. So much uncertainty.

[NovU]

Towns is an intriguing prospect. I for one think Towns will be better, especially for the Lakers for the same reason.

But who knows where they even land in the draft. So much uncertainty.

I think that's the thing. Okafor or Towns seems to be on everyone's wish list at #1 and 2, and with Lakers' current record, I think it'll be a pick between Emmanuel Mudiay or D'Angelo Russell at 3rd/4th pick.

Must lose harder, the Lakers aren't going to beat the Knicks in tank war but I think they could outdo 76ers if Jordan Crawford stops clutching.

[Spree#8]

Must lose harder, the Lakers aren't going to beat the Knicks in tank war but I think they could outdo 76ers if Jordan Crawford stops clutching.

That ship has most likely sailed with the Lakers winning both games against the Sixers recently. Those were great, clutch losses in the tankathon - especially considering Philly wants the Lakers' pick to be outside top5.

The chances are still slim unless LAL can overtake Orlando (1-9 in their last 10) and have the 5th worst record. It would increase the chances of the pick conveying from 17.2% to 44.8%.

[[Q]]

Towns seems more interesting than Okafor. Especially with already having an offensive minded Randle, pairing him with a defensive Towns would be ideal.

But who knows where they even land in the draft. So much uncertainty.

The one game I've seen of Towns was the end of that last game they had against Notre Dame. He had some nice low post moves that were very Bynum-esque so I think he's the better NBA prospect than Okafor, who has looked like a solid player but not a superstar in the last few games.

[NovU]

The chances are still slim unless LAL can overtake Orlando (1-9 in their last 10) and have the 5th worst record. It would increase the chances of the pick conveying from 17.2% to 44.8%.

Wow. That's quite the difference in % between just 4th and 5th worst record.

The Lakers are fully committed though. They know what's at stake. They will finish with top 4 worst record and they will probably get their top 5 pick. I just can't think otherwise, at the end of the day they're the Lakers, league needs them.

[Andrew]

Clarkson becomes the first Laker to win Rookie of the Month.

[Kevin]

I really hope the Lakers won't let go of Clarkson. He can play ball

[Jackal]

This looks pretty good. I hope the FO doesn't do anything weird and goes with one of the two bigs.

[NovU]

I am sure the Lakers will grab one of two bigs. Tremendous hype all around.

Btw is Okafor doing everything he can so the Wolves pass on him? LeL


Also, I'd like to know which of the two bigs the Lakers would prefer? Say whom do you guys think should be picked first if the Lakers had a choice?

[Kevin]

I would love it if the Lakers could draft Okafor, but with Garnett in Minnesota saying he's there to mentor the younglings, they just might pick Okafor.

KAT's a great fit for the Lakers anyways. He's a defense-first guy (and a very good shot blocker) and Randle likes to do his own thing in the post.

Lakers can rebuild around any of the two bigs.

[Jackal]

I would be fine with both, when draft night happened I was leaning towards KAT because of his defensive player profile. I figured that would go really well with Randle and I keep hearing his ceiling is higher than Okafor.

But I am leaning towards Okafor a lot more in recent times. His offensive game/post play is very, very smooth looking. His video about his mom as his inspiration resonated with me too and the 11 minute Q&A session he did after his LA work out just made me like him even more. Let me put it like this; I'd be over the moon with either given I didn't even dream of LA having the second pick...but if I had to pick today I'd go with Okafor. He's got respect for the long line of Laker legends and even threw in a "I would be able to learn from Shaq/Kareem/Kobe."

Exciting to be a Laker fan right now.

[air gordon]

Any chance this turns into the Orlando Magic situation? If okafor is still on the board, would/should the lakers trade him for a guard?

[Jackal]

I wouldn't want them to. I think finding a semi decent guard in free agency is more likely than picking up a serviceable big man. Now it's a matter of time to actually see if these two big guys are the real deal, for all we know one of the guards (Russel/Mudiay) or the Euro player could turn out to be the best in the class.

[air gordon]

What about trading down to get the guard and pick up something extra along the way?

It would be a big challenge to find an offense to fully utilize Okafor and Randle. It is rare to see 2 post players develop at the same time. There probably is some team out there. Drawing a blank

I am not enamored, yes good for me, whenever players drop the respect comments. It's almost expected they say something nice about the city, franchise, etc...

[NovU]

If the Lakers were not in such a great shape to rebuild and was in contention for a playoffs run, then they could consider it but it's highly improbable with this much built up hypes on Kat Okafor. And for a guard? They allowed opponent bigs to go for a career game every night. I doubt it. They're probably content on gambling on Jordan Clarky for now.

Hinkie's gonna have to develop two bigs at a same time too, with Noel and Joel. I'm excited to see which frontcourt duo will turn out to be better between the Lakers and 76ers granted they draft either of 2 bigs.

I'd be excited with the current situation even if I was a Lakers fan. It's not too often your big boy franchise lands a top 2 pick. Ofc you can always fuck up like Riley did with Beasley though.

So... do you still want Monroe? I'm interested which FA should the Lakers have in mind. Rondo?

[Jackal]

I wouldn't want them to trade down. I'm pretty much set on Okafor these last couple of days. I think Detroit is a team that has two young bigs. Randle has semi-decent speed and from what I've read a decent 17-18 foot jump shot so maybe they can coexist. If they can't then they can't, but I don't think they should pass up on franchise-esque bigs just because they have Randle.

As for Monroe, no; I'd rather LA resign Ed Davis and have a rotation of Okafor/KAT - Randle - Davis. Not sure what they'll do with Hill.

If Jeremy would come back for cheap I wouldn't mind seeing him back with Jordan, not looking forward to Rondo joining the team but with Kobe's camaraderie it might just happen.

LA does need to upgrade the 3/SF position. Preference is Tobias Harris/Khris Middleton/Demare Carroll in that order. I don't think Danny Green/Kawhi Leonard are going anywhere.

At least that team will be watchable..

KAT/Okafor/Black
Randle/Davis
Harris/Johnson for super cheap?
Kobe/Young
Lin/Clarkson

And true about them saying they respect the legacy etc but then you have guys like Howard who turn down working with Kareem and keep saying they don't wanna be compared to Shaq.

[air gordon]

Are Kat and Okafor legit franchise players? What is the criteria for this for underclass frontcourt players?

I enjoyed the kool aid when the Bulls somehow landed the top pick when Beasley and Rose were the top prospects. It was an exciting time. There were reports how Beasley looked absolutely fantastic in his workouts. A lot of Bulls fans were not convinced Rose was the correct choice to make leading up to the draft.

Has there been a can't miss big guy since Tim Duncan? Maybe Bogut but he hasn't lived to the hype

The philly situation is unique. Noel had some good moments. Doesn't seem like a create his own shot type at this point. Remains to be seen about the aforementioned Hakeem Dream Shake embiid

Are there other situations where it was a success? Monroe and The man child I'm not sure qualifies as Monroe may not be in a Pistons uniform next year

Ha no surprise it's Howard's name that gets brought up. It's little different situation. Howard had already made a name for himself and there was animosity between the 2

I'd like to see a team try Okafor and Randle in the same frontcourt. The game seems to moving away from having 2 bigs on the floor together. It would nice to see a team go against the latest trend and succeed

[Jackal]

No idea, keep reading Okafor has a very polished offensive game (and seems to score quite easily from some of the videos available) and KAT has the defense/potential.

I think the kool-aid has a lot to do with it at the moment, the season was dismal given Randle was the only thing I was looking forward to seeing this year and after an entire year of sucking the Lakers were probably gonna pick 4-5 or lose the pick. I had Mudiay/Russel/Cauley-Stein in my mind till draft lottery night. So the excitement for Okafor/KAT is at a high right now.

I don't know about can't miss a la Duncan but a big guy in the mold of Cousins/Anthony Davis wouldn't be a bad thing for a rebuilding franchise.

I agree with intrigue about the two big offense, I'm not sure the analytics favor them given the whole need for a stretch four kind of offense dominating (heck, even Ilyasova got traded to Detroit today to team up with Drummond) at the moment but let's see how the draft goes first.

I can have my wants but Mitch/Jim will be the ones conducting workouts and interviews.

I'm sort of rooting for Noel/Embiid to do well too just because I'm sort of tired of watching guard dominated NBA games. Anthony Davis is a treat to watch, Drummond should continue to improve, Cousins scores at will so hopefully we get some awesome years out of the rest.

[air gordon]

Franchise player esque and "not too bad" should not be confused as the same thing

Regardless, I am a okafor fan naturally due to his roots. Id like to see him land in a good situation.

I agree he did look impressive on the block, due more to skill instead of bully ball and raw athleticism. Rare for a freshman big

Who cares what management wants. The fans are always right!