3Peatkb24 wrote:KobeMVP888 wrote:3Peatkb24 wrote:Personally I would fly Durant in and have Magic, Kareem, Worthy, and Shaq in a room with him with Mitch of course. Pitch my game, offer him the highest paid contract of all-time and tell him he is the next coming in LA! We could have Russell, Clarkson, Durant, Randle and Draft Skal from Kentucky if we have a Top 3 for our young Center. He and Randle both would be a tandem because they both went to KY. Skal just took it too LSU with 18 and 9, dude is athletic.
My hypothetical excludes Ben Simmons. In other words, it assumes that we get the #2 or #3 pick. That would probably mean Brandon Ingram or Dragan Bender from Croatia (a shorter, raw Porzingis clone). Trading that pick for a proven free agent to be star is also certainly a possibility. However, if we win games and wind up "sacrificing" the #2 or #3 pick (unless we get a lucky bounce of the ping pong balls like last year), wouldn't that give more credibility to the future of the team/franchise such that young players like Whiteside or DeRozan MIGHT want the shot at being the next great Lakers? I don't know the answer either. I do know that we need long term patience absent a Heatles situation which I don't see. And forget about Durant.
Yeah I would love to have Derozan and Whiteside if we can sign them to go with Russell, Randle, Clarky, and Nance and just screw the tank theory, I see what you are saying now. I know we aren't getting Kevin but I thought I would Post it for fun. That Bender guy is intriguing if we do get a Top 3.
We certainly have a nice core of young players already (Russell, Randle, Clarkson, Nance, Brown - maybe). I wish we could add Tarik Black to that list, but for some reason Byron Scott doesn't see what I see in him, so someone else will benefit from his services (like the Spurs). I think we'll see Lou Williams back next season and my best guess is that they will waive and stretch the last 2 years of Nick Young's contract to create some more cap space. I also wouldn't be completely surprised if we signed Huertas for another season, but because he's a minimum player, he won't take up any cap space (actually he's a restricted free agent). We might even see Jabari Brown back on the team next season. We have YUGE holes at the small forward and center positions, which is why a play for Whiteside makes a lot of sense, although he has already gone public saying that he doesn't want to be the centerpiece of a "losing franchise" (take that any way you want, but we are talking about a generation of players who don't give a shit about the Lakers' lore). And how about 27 year old Nicolas Batum, who is an unrestricted free agent this year? He has size, athleticism, defends well, averages 14.5 ppg, 5.5 apg and 6.3 rpg this season and we all know that he can hit that corner 3. Whiteside, Randle, Batum, Clarkson and Russell is certainly an intriguing starting 5. However, I think the only way you get those kind of free agents is to show improvement between now and the end of the season so that the "basketball" argument is much stronger when you meet with these spoiled brats.