Lakers OFF-SEASON IS A WRAP

[essential1]

Black finished 12th. Just short of the 2nd team.

Yay Mitch & Jimmy

 

[youngwolf]

Clarkson.

 

[CP1708]

If we sign DeAndre, and they sign Wes, I'll take that as an even trade on our end.

 

[mj 23]

If we sign DeAndre, and they sign Wes, I'll take that as an even trade on our end.

All will be forgived if that scenario pans out

 

[mrdieselfuel09]

If Deandre signs with Lakers
Lakers land top 3

All will be good

 

[MVP]

TOWNS WILL BE OURS

 

[earldagoat]

What if we do go with a Darko like pick would you guys riot?

 

[mr j 858]

If Deandre signs with Lakers
Lakers land top 3

All will be good

That's reverse order though.

The lottery is tomorrow night and we'll know what pick we will or won't have.

DJ can't verbally agree to a free agent contract until July 1st and can't be offically signed until July 8th.

 

[moonman818]

I'm cool on DJ to be honest.

Just give us Towns and Lamarcus or Gasol

 

[comptonprince]

I'm cool on DJ to be honest.

Just give us Towns and Lamarcus or Gasol

So u kool with Randle at the 3?

 

[essential1]

If you get Towns, you could sign a Center and still get Randle 26-27 minutes at the 4.

But would likely need to run a big lineup a few minutes a game at the 3 to get him 32-33mpg.

Aldridge you may be able to get away with it. If Towns only plays the 5, and Aldridge gets 10-12 mpg at the 5.

 

[moonman818]

I'm cool on DJ to be honest.


Just give us Towns and Lamarcus or Gasol

So u kool with Randle at the 3?

Randle could be our Braj Gibson

 

[pmatic]

View media item 1539507

Towns, Randle, Boss, Kelly and Sacre please.

 

[ValarMorghulis]

No thank you to DJ for 5/100.

But that may change tomorrow at about 8pm CT.

 

[pmatic]

Lakers preparing to be major players in the NBA draft

Sixteen NBA titles afford a team a certain amount of forgiveness. Even after the two worst back-to-back seasons in franchise history, the Lakers are not operating with diminished expectations.

“They’re the Lakers, man,” University of Kentucky star Willie Cauley Stein said at last week’s NBA draft combine in Chicago. “They’re going to get to the top somehow.”

It’s happened at each critical juncture in franchise history: be it trades for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pau Gasol or drafting Magic Johnson or acquiring the rights to Kobe Bryant on draft day.

But history doesn’t provide much of a blueprint for the Lakers current quagmire.

Perhaps no time in their 65-year history have the Lakers’ plans and ambitions hinged so dramatically on the draft as they do this year, on the heels of a 21-win season and the dawn of Bryant’s expected farewell tour.

The collective bargaining agreement gives free agents little incentive to leave their current teams, and with the salary cap to spike in another year with new television money, players may opt to put off the big payday and look for short-term deals.

The Lakers prospects of rebuilding through free agency, relative to past rebuilding efforts, are bleak.

While the organization will still chase top stars in July, for now they are launching a thorough effort at the draft, a plan that tentatively anticipates landing a top-five pick in the draft – contingent on Tuesday’s pivotal lottery – as well as Nos. 27 and 34.

With five weeks until the draft, most of the focus is on that lottery pick, which the Lakers will keep as long as it does not fall below No. 5 – in which case it would be conveyed to Philadelphia as a residual effect of the Steve Nash trade.

Whether the Lakers would use it on a defensive big man such as Cauley-Stein, a point guard such as D’Angelo Russell of Ohio State, or a wing such as Justice Winslow of Duke is a pertinent question. But it’s only part of the Lakers process at this point.

General Manager Mitch Kupchak said the Lakers’ three draft picks means team officials the Lakers need to be well-versed in the entire draft class. He said Thursday that the team could bring in up to 80 players to Los Angeles for draft workouts.

“Because players that could be taken at (No.) 34,” he said, “you’ve got to bring in players that might be taken 50 and players that might be taken in the 20s, just to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered.

“Once Tuesday comes and goes we’re hopeful that we end up with our pick. If we don’t we’ll move on, but if we do then that opens up the scheduling and possibilities.”

The Lakers’ collegiate scouting staff has historically been a behind-the-scenes group. Led by Jesse Buss, the youngest of six Buss children, the staff includes Bill Bertka and Ryan West, Jerry West’s son.

They struck gold last year finding Jordan Clarkson at No. 46, but for most of their time in the front office the draft has been secondary, at best, to offseason ambitions.

The Lakers have always scouted and prepared for the top players in the draft, despite their picks routinely coming late in the first round, a product of continued success. But the organization’s ability to find and evaluate talent has never been scrutinized in the way it will be in the next month.

“I’m not sure we’ve done anything different,” Kupchak said. “Our scouts recognize the importance of scouting players.”

The true advantage of having three draft picks is the flexibility they allow. The Lakers’ roster already boasts young core players Clarkson and Julius Randle, as well as Tarik Black and Ryan Kelly. Of those, only Kelly has played multiple years in the NBA.

“It may be a little much to add three more young players,” Kupchak conceded. “There are options that you’d have and we’ll just wait to see what happens.”

The Lakers met with top prospects such as Cauley-Stein, Russell and Winslow at the combine last week in Chicago. Kupchak and West, the team’s assistant director of scouting, conducted interviews, while Jim Buss and other members of the scouting staff evaluated drills from the bleachers.

They were in rebuilding limbo, waiting on Tuesday’s lottery. The Lakers have an 82.8 percent chance of retaining a top-five pick, which they would presumably use on a player who could step in and contribute immediately alongside Bryant, Clarkson and Randle.

But as Kupchak conservatively pointed out, they would have other options.

“We know having a pick in the lottery is an asset,” he said, “and with an asset like a pick you can use it to select a player, you could use it in combination with other picks to move up or down. You could trade it for an established player.

“We have a lot of financial flexibility this summer, so we don’t have to move players out to take a player back. We have a lot of options if we’re lucky enough to end up with the pick.”

Notice the GM’s use of words like “if” and “lucky enough.” While most assumed the reward for a 21-61 season would be a lottery pick, the Lakers were just good enough to leave a sliver of a chance, that 17.2 percent, that they will lose it.

“Once Tuesday comes and goes we’re hopeful that we end up with our pick,” Kupchak said. “If we don’t we’ll move on, but if we do then that opens up the scheduling (for draft workouts) and possibilities.”

Kupchak hopes those possibilities pave the way to the quick return to the top Cauley-Stein predicted. After 48 wins in two years, adding to the clutch of banners hanging in Staples Center seems further away than ever.

“I think our fans understand the last year or two,” Kupchak said. “I think they’re impatient. We’re impatient. Now that the two seasons are behind us, I think it’s exciting.”

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-662059-draft-players.html

I figured they wouldn't want to bring three rookies if they kept the lotto pick.

I have no problem combining 27 and 34 to move in the draft, trading one of the picks for a veteran, or trading one of the picks for a future pick.

 

[mrdieselfuel09]

If Deandre signs with Lakers
Lakers land top 3

All will be good

That's reverse order though.

The lottery is tomorrow night and we'll know what pick we will or won't have.

DJ can't verbally agree to a free agent contract until July 1st and can't be offically signed until July 8th.

That list was in no particular order.

 

[MVP]

Biggest day in Laker history since Feb 1, 2008. The road to redemption starts in earnest tomorrow. 

 

[pmatic]

What's there to do in the area where the Beanery is?

 

[bravelude]

curious to read magics tweets tomorrow. lol

 

[MVP]

What's there to do in the area where the Beanery is?

There's a lot of restaurants, little shops and stuff over there, it's right in the middle of Westwood and UCLA's campus is pretty close too. Westfield Century City Mall is also only a couple miles away if you're looking to kill some time. 

 

[pmatic]

Hmm, cool. May just head out there earlier in the day to kill time and avoid the traffic jam.

 

[CP1708]

“I think our fans understand the last year or two,” Kupchak said. “I think they’re impatient. We’re impatient. Now that the two seasons are behind us, I think it’s exciting.”

I think we understood it better than you did Mitch.

 

[CP1708]

Aye, if y'all meet up, lemme get a group photo up in here and someone holdin a CP #NT sign for me.

Put Oregon sucks if you want.

 

[moonman818]

Have fun fellas.


Wish I could join tomorrow

 

[pmatic]

NBA draft lottery: Verdict on Lakers’ draft pick will dramatically affect rebuilding process

The Lakers once treated this month fine tuning their play, hopeful that such epic performances would extend their season into June and end with a championship parade.

The Lakers have traveled down that path, making 16 NBA Finals appearances in the past 37 years. But after collecting 16 NBA titles in the franchise’s 67-year-old history, the Lakers will spend their time performing a different and more unfamiliar ritual.

After overseeing the team’s worst record in franchise history, Lakers coach Byron Scott will be here for the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday as the team’s draft representative. The Lakers hope that his presence could provide the same spark as when he won three NBA titles with the Showtime Lakers.

The Lakers have become NBA lottery participants only four times since its inception in 1985, but this will mark the team’s second consecutive appearance. Last year, former Showtime teammate James Worthy attended and brought bobbleheads representing the late Lakers owner (Jerry Buss) and announcer (Chick Hearn), though the Lakers finished with only the seventh pick that was then used to draft Kentucky’s Julius Randle, who is expected to return fully health next season after fracturing his right leg in the team’s season opener.

“We’re crossing our fingers,” Lakers legend Magic Johnson said on Monday in Los Angeles. “We want that ping-pong ball to go our way. So I need all Laker fans tomorrow to wear your purple and gold because Magic will be in his purple and gold all day until Byron Scott raises up and says we got the No. 1 pick.”

Scott said last month that the “glass is half full,” aware he coached New Orleans and Cleveland when they landed the fourth and first overall picks, respectively, to draft Chris Paul (2005) and Kyrie Irving (2011).

The glass is more than half full. With the Lakers (21-61) finishing with the NBA’s fourth-worst record, they have an 82.8-percent chance of landing a top-five pick. They even have 37.8-percent odds to move up among the top three picks.

But Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak recently conceded he is “somewhat of a worry wart,” cognizant the Lakers have a 17.2-percent chance of landing out of the top five. That would force the Lakers to deal their pick to Philadelphia as part of Lakers’ trade with Phoenix in 2012 when they acquired Steve Nash.

Yet, Scott only smiled when asked if he felt worried over late-game victories against NBA bottom dwellers, such as Minnesota and Philadelphia, possibly haunting the Lakers.

“No,” Scott said, laughing. “None.”

Either scenario could dramatically affect the Lakers, for better or for worse.

If the Lakers keep their top-five pick, a few options appear available. They could upgrade either at point guard (China’s Emmaneul Mudiay, Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell), at the wing positions (Duke’s Justise Winslow, Arizona’s Stanley Johnson) or at center (Kentucky’s Willie Cauley-Stein). The Lakers will likely only have the chance to select Kentucky’s Karl Anthony-Towns or Duke’s Jahil Okafor if they climb to either No. 1 (11.9 percent) or No. 2 (12.6 percent).

Either piece would enhance the Lakers’ youthful roster, most notably including Randle and Jordan Clarkson, who was named Monday to the NBA’s all-rookie first team. Kobe Bryant, who will enter his 20th NBA season determined to overcome his third consecutive season-ending injury, would provide a commanding presence for any rookie.

“I just hope we get that top pick so we can get better next year,” Clarkson said. “We definitely need to add pieces and get better.”

What if the Lakers cannot keep their pick?

The Lakers would surely become active in free agency in July, pursuing potential candidates such as Memphis’ Marc Gasol, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge, the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, Cleveland’s Kevin Love and Miami’s Goran Dragic. But with the Lakers failing to retain Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol as well as missing out on LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony in recent years, this approach yields as much as uncertainty as assessing a rookie’s NBA potential.

More question marks arise on what value they can receive with their 27th and 34th overall picks. The Lakers also will have to fill nine roster spots. The Lakers will have 119 ping-pong combinations out of a possible 1,000 on Tuesday. Lakers spokesman John Black will represent the team in a private room where the ping-pong balls are drawn, a process each team representative, an independent accounting firm and a handful of reporters will witness. Meanwhile, Scott will sit on the dais, hopeful he will hear good news shortly after in front of a live television audience.

For once, the Lakers’ fortunes will not rest on a timely game-winning shot or a dramatic trade. It will hinge on something out of their control, leaving the Lakers both hopeful and anxious.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/201...k-will-dramatically-affect-rebuilding-process

Getting antsy.