Welcome Luol Deng

Welcome Luol Deng

Postby KobeMVP888 » Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:08 am



Wait, what? Another 20 mil left. Hopefully one year deals. Hopefully there's a team option in there somewhere, but he's a pro's pro. We actually have depth at the small forward position with three long "3 and D" guys now. Deng - Ingram - A Brown. One Blue Devil tutoring another Blue Devil and a Cardinal. Smart character guys.
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby lakerevolution » Sat Jul 02, 2016 9:17 am

Setting ourselves up for next year, and giving Luke a nice mix of players to cut his teeth on. I look for defense to be our calling card and for our young trio to really step it up on offense. Everybody in the weightroom now!!!
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby Lakers4Life » Sat Jul 02, 2016 9:20 am

My biggest problem with these signings is the length of their contracts considering that they are over 30.
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby Lakers4Life » Sat Jul 02, 2016 9:21 am

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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby Lakers4Life » Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:07 am

GRADING THE LUOL DENG SIGNING:




The move to power forward following Chris Bosh’s season-ending blood clots resurrected the free agent value of Luol Deng, who signed with the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year, $72 million deal. Deng should probably be used exclusively as a power forward at this stage of his career as he had a 12.5 PER before the break and 18.4 afterwards when Bosh was out and almost all of his minutes came at the 4. The Lakers preferred Kent Bazemore over Deng for this signing on the wing and while Bazemore is four years younger with under 5,000 career minutes compared to nearly 30,000 for Deng, the latter is the better fit as a combo forward. Bazemore is capable of playing small forward but he’s not strong enough defensively in a lot of matches and is better guarding 1’s and 2’s. 

With a probable starting lineup of D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle and Timofey Mozgov to go with Deng, he’ll start at the 3 but will slide up to the 4 when he plays with Brandon Ingram. The Lakers’ version of the Death Lineup, maybe called the Menace Lineup, of Russell, Clarkson, Ingram, Deng and Randle could be feisty at times and certainly will be entertaining. Randle has shown little promise has a shooter but that’s at least five guys who can put the ball on the floor after a rebound and can also make plays off the bounce. 

Deng will serve as the model of development for Ingram, who of course also went to Duke and will start his career at the 3 before eventually moving to more of a small ball 4 as Deng has over the past few years. The Lakers clearly needed an adult in the locker room last season since Kobe Bryant is a lot of things but he’s not particularly engaged in that area and Deng will fill that role. His influence over Russell, Clarkson, Randle and Ingram has the potential of being immeasurable. Deng also won't block the development of either Randle or Ingram since they'll likely divide up nearly all of the available 96 minutes at the two forward spots while they can also play together with Randle at center.

Miami was 4.3 points per 100 possessions better with Deng on the floor in the second half of the season with the big difference being on the offensive end.

Deng scored a very good 1.33 points per possession on nearly two transition attempts per game. Luke Walton figures to play an uptempo style seeking out easy early offense buckets and Deng will fit in nicely with the rest of their core.

Deng’s versatility on defense and his length makes him incredibly valuable still on defense even though he’s not the shut-down guy he was earlier in in his career. As a full time power forward, Deng has more value on defense since he’s unlikely to be a liability against most 4’s.

With the young core of the Lakers developing at an encouraging yet somewhat sluggish rate, the lure of two max slots hasn’t been what their front office had been hoping to become. Signing both Deng and Mozgov plus re-signing Clarkson likely takes the Lakers out of the running for two max slots next summer for an even better free agency class that would have had more information about their core. I found this path to be the right one but you can only go empty handed to so many free agent meetings, or be stuck outside talking to Kevin Durant’s doorman so many times before reconsidering the approach. 

The opportunity cost of these moves for a pair of older free agents that will be asked to get the Lakers from Point A to Point B but won’t be around for Point C when they’re contending in any meaningful way is clear with the loss of that space. But the Lakers have been stuck in a doomed purgatory putting vague approximations of an NBA lineup on the floor and losing a ton of games. The Lakers have rebuilt in the past at a light-speed pace full of shortcuts and since that’s clearly not happening this time around, they’ve instead now shifted to signing players that are effectively human gauze to stop the bleeding. 

One of those aforementioned shortcuts came in 2014 when they let go of their preferred 2016 target Bazemore to pursue LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.

For as long as Deng can run up and down the floor and make three-pointers, he will have value to a contending team and this contract can be tradeable at a later date when the number of remaining years declines. The issue with the deal for the Lakers is the length as a two-year or three-year deal would have been more tolerable from their perspective. 

Grade for Lakers: B+

Deng has lived an extraordinary, often impossible life escaping Sudan to England before coming to the United States for high school as a teenager. The experience of playing for the Lakers in Los Angeles is far different for Deng than it is for most American-born NBA players. You can get a decent abridged feel for what someone is all about by their Instagram or Snapchat andthat’s clearly the case with Deng.

Deng will have the opportunity to help shape the Lakers’ young core and potentially have an influence far greater than basketball during his four seasons in Los Angeles making a lot more money for many more years than anyone imagined when he signed that two-year, $20 million deal with the Heat in 2014 when he looked to be in steep decline. Deng’s deal under the new cap is for similar equivalent money as it was under the old one in 2014. 

Grade for Luol Deng: A

In an ideal world with full Bird rights, the Heat could have re-signed Deng while also keeping Hassan Whiteside and Dwyane Wade. The Heat have been victims of their own success on a certain level and losing Deng was always an inevitable, inconvenient reality made more problematic with the uncertain health status of Chris Bosh. If Bosh is able to return and play a complete season, the loss of Deng will be irrelevant as Justise Winslow is ready for starter minutes, but they will struggle to even make the playoffs if Bosh is again limited or forced to retire without Deng playing the 4.

Grade for Heat: C
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby lakerevolution » Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:45 am

Lakers4Life wrote:My biggest problem with these signings is the length of their contracts considering that they are over 30.


But Craig, if a player has years of experience (playoffs, big games, playing with other all-stars etc.) Then 30/31 years old is a great window as far as wisdom (basketball I.Q.) combined with athletic savvy. No, I'm not expecting Mozgov and Deng to have borderline all-star years with the Lakeshow BUT D'Angelo and Clarkson can and will (with Luke's guidance) make these players better on the court than they may look on paper right now. It's time to be part of something special . . and in two years I'm sure one of them (Tim-O or Luol) will be trade bait if we are still a non-playoff team ot looking to upgrade. I doubt they both are in a Laker uni for 4 years.
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby KobeMVP888 » Sat Jul 02, 2016 1:40 pm

Great article and a MUST read for all TrueFans!

https://theringer.com/lakers-sign-timof ... .pdbjg6wvl
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby lakerevolution » Sat Jul 02, 2016 2:10 pm

We can be realistic AND optomistic at the same time. We're not the only team/fan base anxious, nervous or worried about our future . . even the Warriors, Thunder, Spurs and other playoff seeds are concerned with what ups and downs lay ahead of them. I'd like one more solid high-profile player - like a veteran 6th man/swingman - to join us off the bench (wouldn't a 2011 Lamar Odom be nice?), but hey there's lots of off-season left and who knows, we may acquire that somebody by the mid-season deadline.
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby 3Peatkb24 » Sat Jul 02, 2016 5:02 pm

Ok this move I approve of. He is 31 but has stayed pretty healthy over the last 2 seasons and probably has at least 2 or 3 Good years left. He can shoot the 3 and play D + he will bring leadership to the younger players. I would give this a move a B. If he was a little younger I would've given it an A.
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby Julius Russell » Mon Jul 04, 2016 3:21 pm

Bogut made more than Curry this year if I'm not mistaken.

So this kid this as Deng making Ingram's money.
Mosgov making Julius' money.

By the time, they earn big bucks those guys will be gone. It's the new NBA.

We've had cap room for this moment but with these kids, Think about how 2030-2030 will be ours
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Re: Welcome Luol Deng

Postby KobeMVP888 » Mon Jul 04, 2016 3:38 pm

Julius Russell wrote:Bogut made more than Curry this year if I'm not mistaken.

So this kid this as Deng making Ingram's money.
Mosgov making Julius' money.

By the time, they earn big bucks those guys will be gone. It's the new NBA.

We've had cap room for this moment but with these kids, Think about how 2030-2030 will be ours


Yep. It's the only way to approach it. Build it and they will come. You KNOW they will come.

I have been calling the NBA, NBA-AAU-WWE for a long time now. If people can't see that now, they should open their eyes. Durant tried to lure his "AAU" buddy to the Thunder, but when he couldn't do it, he took the pussy way out of OKC. Suddenly, the darlings of the NBA are suddenly the villains with Draymond Green's amateurish nutsack attacks to this shit, while at the same time LeBron James has gone from villain to hero. Vince McMahon couldn't top this story line if he wanted to. I am all about free enterprise, but this has gotten out of control, especially after David Stern lied to everyone's faces about seeking parity in the NBA when it was always about money, money, money. Now the whore remaining free agents will go ring chasing for cheap, just like they did in Miami when that conspiracy was completed.

As for any talk about trading for Westbrook, I for one will not chime in because the blogosphere doesn't need a bunch of hot air. If Russ wants to come here as a free agent next summer, let him, but I wouldn't trade one of our building blocks for him or anyone else at this point because it would not expedite anything. If he is truly made of the same stuff that Kobe's made out of, he will either stay put and lead those guys in OKC or come here next summer and add to our maturing core.

Today was a sad day for the NBA-AAU-WWE. It was an even sadder and more pathetic day for a superstar who would rather be Kevin Love or Chris Bosh than Kobe Bryant.

Kevin Durant should be ashamed of himself. What a fuckin' pussy!
Fuck that villain. Go LeBron!
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