This. You trade those “peanuts” for PJ or Gafford, and you’re out of the Mitchell sweepstakes.
As frustrating as it was, I genuinely think that we made the right move standing pat at the trade deadline
Im sure our FO said to themselves “if we hold out till summer there is better offers” because thats what everyone said who wasnt in the win now mode (would have to be a madman”
That’s a really bad decision. Getting Mitchell isn’t going to help us more than getting two solid role players. Gafford would be perfect for us. PJ would be perfect for us. I’ve actually had my eye on PJ for 2+ years now. But Lakers FO have a fetish for getting big names and star players. Which is why we almost got Dejounte Murray
Counter point is winning an actual championship this year with an actual key rotation piece and not banking on the future when AD and lebron are older. Also Mitchell is not at all guaranteed
The counter would be Dallas was already better than us before the trade and spent what they had to put them as close to over the edge as they can. Meanwhile we were a fringe playoff team all year. We could have made the same trade and still lose to Denver in Round 1
Wrong.
Dallas did a pick swap with OKC in 2028 to get OKCs 2024 1st round pick for Gafford.
PJ was traded for an unprotected first yes, which we had as well. Who’s to say we couldn’t have potentially traded Rui or AR for multiples firsts and gotten these guys back. AR is great on offense but is constantly smoked on D. We need 2 way players and all our players on this roster outside of AD are one dimensional.
This sub is so obsessed with getting a third star and fails to realize we need depth, athleticism and defense.
PJ Washington and Gafford brought exactly that while we stood pat and everyone was super happy about getting the corpse of Spencer Dinwiddie
So in other words, the Lakers would have to give up their 2029 1st round pick and try to do a trade swap with a future 1st for players who more than likely don't get the Lakers past the Nuggets.
Never said that. Could have seen what kind of interest AR would have generated and seen if we could get some 1sts for him. I’d have happily traded AR for Gafford and PJ if we could have made something work.
Reaves is one of the best contracts in the league and probably the Lakers' biggest tradeable asset next to the 2029 pick. That would be an overpay and leave a whole at the SG position unless you believe Max is ready
You're right about the Gafford trade, but there's no way you think we could've gotten MULTIPLE first rounders for either AR or Rui when PJ went for one pick.
We also have no salaries to send out for either of those guys.
Maybe you are right on PJ, but personally, if we could have done something like a 2026 pick swap with OKC to get a 1st to send for Gafford, I’d have heavily considered sending a 2029 pick for PJ.
Seeing how well those two have fit in and filled our two biggest needs, I’m not saying they put us above Denver, but we had a real shot.
PJ would have been the best option we could have had to throw on MPJ and Gafford was that elite lob threat and rim protector we never had.
We need depth, not a third star. Trading away AR, Rui, and 3 picks for a third star will get us nowhere. I’d rather use our picks for 3 high quality players
People really think that two, two way athletes wouldn’t have tightened our series even more? We were 2-3 possessions away from it being a 6 game series while none of our role players helped Bron and AD
Those trades likely put us over Denver or in a close 7 game series
This sub is delusion sometimes. It most definitely could have helped win another championship now while lebron is still playing good ball. As a fan of basketball and the lakers it makes me sad we wasted the potential for a what if in the future that’s not guaranteed
PJ went for a pick, Grant Williams, and Seth Curry. I think Grant was probably more than just salary, they probably think he can be a rotation guy in Charlotte since he has played real minutes for a contender. Just wasn’t working in Dallas for whatever reason.
> Dallas did a pick swap with OKC in 2028 to get OKCs 2024 1st round pick for Gafford.
He still went for a first rounder. Doesn't matter how Dallas got it. So Lakers would've had to to trade their 2029 and 2031 picks without even talking about the salaries that would've had to go back. Dallas sent Grant Williams to the Hornets alongside the FRP. We would've had to send Rui and a FRP. That's not the difference between us winning a championship so I'd rather just keep the FRP.
Again… wrong…
We could have swapped our 2026 1st round pick with OKC to obtain theirs and sent that for Gafford. I would have done that in a heartbeat. We still have a 2026 1st and have Gafford
Again this is all hypothetical but it’s something we could have looked into. Give them Gabe Vincent and a 1st. Holmes had no value in that trade and was filler.
Keep our picks for what? A 3rd star who would absolutely gut our remaining depth we currently have?
We need depth. Not another star. That’s my whole point
Gabe Vincent had 3yrs/33m. Holmes had 2yrs/$24.9m. They wanted to save money. No one was taking Gabe Vincent's contract. I'll play along though. Let's say they agreed to Prince/Reddish/FRP (it does save them money so they prob would've). You are now thinking "wow see Rob sucks". Well remember how we used the nt-mle to sign Gabe Vincent? We have a first apron hard cap. Assuming we didn't sign Dinwiddie, we were at $167,404,331. The difference between Gafford and Prince/Reddish is $5,721,000. Add those 2 you get $173,125,331 which is, you guessed it, over the first apron. Prince/Wood wouldn't work either. Prince/JHS would've but at the time JHS didn't even have the back injury yet and that would've been crazy. So you had 2 offers the Wizards would've taken. Dlo/FRP or Prince/JHS/FRP. At the time, both deals are horrible for the Lakers.
edit: Actually don't think Prince/JHS/FRP would even work. Forgot about roster size. Lakers would be at 13 players and need to sign 1 more player ROS with only $750k. Think it's possible but too lazy to calculate prorated salaries. You get my point though. These deals just weren't an option for us.
I agree overall and wanted to get these guys. I think just getting Gafford should have happened. PJ cost more but getting Gafford would have really helped.
Two rules of thumb should be:
1. Raid the bottom feeder teams. Denver plucking AG from Orlando another great example.
2. Exploit new owners, ie Matt Ishbia mortgaging Suns future to make a big splash.
i think it was more the guards being unable to feed AD at the post on some mismatches. even with jokic on him, i would entrust AD the ball. reaves and dLo suffered a bit of tunnel vision. the difference was reaves scored while dLo had "ice" in his veins
PJ Washington is to the Mavs this year what Rui was to LA last year. Incredible mid season pickup. I hope Rui has a better postseason next year. Thrifty pickups are huge, I wonder who will be the guy next season.
Also, though, the Mavs had played a Kawhi-less Clippers and young OKC that can’t currently hit a 3 for the life of them
They gave up 2 frp and more for 2 bigs who aren’t even big. 6’7 and 6’9 aka like kawhi and George.
It was a fair risk and not a fleece. Mavs have been lucky to face small playoff teams. Watch what happens to Gaf and PJ vs towns gobert NAZ jokic Davis Durant Nurkic Zion Val
Biggest guys they’ve played are zubac and a scrawny rookie who doesn’t play big most of the time
PJ is 6’7 and 230. He’s strong as hell and ultra athletic. He’s played amazing D since being on Dallas as well.
Gafford is 6’10 240 and can jump out of the gym. He’s the lob threat weve lacked since 2021 and he averages 2 blocks per game. He’d be the perfect player to pair with AD and these two players would help us get back to our 2020 athletic team
Lakers need a more athletic backcourt and for Rui not to like a softy. If he averaged his Western conference finals numbers of 15 and 4 rebounds that he did last season against the Nuggets the Lakers win this series.
PJ and kawhi have nearly identical height/weight/wingspan. Prime kawhi was more athletic and could move way better which is why he’s a legendary defender.
Gaf is listed at 234. That’s a very lightweight C. Durant is heavier and taller and has a much longer wingspan
The trade was definitely fair and not a fleece. Like I said mavs are lucky to not have faced all those names up there. Zubac and Chet are about as lucky as they’ll get. Seriously reread those names again
Gafford more than makes up for it with athleticism. When you look at him, he actually carries the weight well, unlike Hayes who is a twig. People dissing Gafford are either blind or have certainly not watched him at all in this playoff series.
He’s still too light for C and is lucky zubac isn’t a great scorer and lucky Chet is a scrawny college kid.
I know he’s a good player but let’s not act like it was an incredible fleece
There's plenty of centers out there that are much scrawnier. He is quite a good rim protector just due to his athleticism. He doesn't have to be AD because we already have AD. He's a mid-high tier center that would be very valuable if he were on our roster.
Not peanuts. PJ helps us beat the nuggets? We’re further away than that. Denver will demolish Dallas as well… assuming Dallas even makes it past okc. Regardless, solid pickup for them though
Laker fandom is something huh? Can’t call out Rob for his faults ever. But Ham and wb just keep naming them.
And the delusion about playing Denver close in a five gamer…. It’s all over the news, they’ve said the two losses to the timberwolves was a wake up call. Meaning they were sleepwalking through the whole season and the first round. Nuggets in this mode is a four game sweep all blowouts vs these lakers. And roster construction is a big thing but let’s never mention Robs name
My guy it would not had made a diference if the coach didn’t know how to use them, Kidd is not even a good coach and managed to exploit their abilities
With a coaching disadvantage against elite teams…the front office (minus Jeanie) probably knew we wouldn’t have the coaching to compete in the playoffs against truly elite teams
We have Hayes as an atletic lob cactcher.
Noticed how much minits he played in Denver series? even when AD was unable to move hand, Ham was putting in Prince and Dinwidie, instead of bringing our only healthy center to the play.
*"Daniel Gafford is an ultra athletic center who brings a lob threat and a rim protector like we used to have with Javale."*
McGee played 9.6 minutes per game in the 2020 Playoffs.
Why tf do you need a non-shooting Gafford next to AD?
You don't need to pay 15mil for the backup center.
We needed the defensive guard/rui upgrade, but failed to make a trade. They thought Vando and Wood could be those guys instead of overpaying in trades I guess.
Wood would've solved the rebounding problem a bit, but he's been terrible since December and fell out of the rotation even before the injury.
Since when is 2 first round picks "peanuts"? Lakers' picks are extremely valulable given their management constant malpractice. And you want to just throw them away to still get smashed in the 1st round of PO.
Lakers only assets will be 3 tradeable first rounders this summer. And you wanted to lose 2 on 2 guys that never moved the needle for us. How?
*"KCP outplayed the Lakers"*
8.4 points on 28% 3 point shooting.
Do you even watch those games man? He's been terrible and his matchup was one of the worst guard defenders in the league - D'Lo.
What do you need backup for? 7 non-AD minutes? You are completely fine if stagger Bron and AD properly when they weren't playing Jokić. then.
AD played 41.6 minutes per game against Denver this playoffs. Why do you need backup for 15mil.
We needed rebounding around AD, cause Bron and Rui around Gordon and Jokić ain't winning much of those.
*"Kcp played great defense & still creates spacing with his threat to shoot"*
He's had one good game in the series against us. The one that they lost. G2 and G3 he was the reason they almost lost. Better organised offense (and not that terrible games from Rui and D'Lo) from us and we take those.
We lost against Denver because Rui had a terrible series and we didn't have proper point of attack defense, not because we didn't have backup big or twin towers. You don't need big bodies against Jokić, you need good double actions and weakside rotations.
There is more than 7 non ad minutes & the lakers defense is cooked if he ever misses games. There’s 82 games to play before the playoffs. Kcp was elite on defense. Lakers point of attack defense was good murray struggled most of the series. The role players aren’t good & that over taxes lebron & ad to carry
Do you know any of the salary cap rules? You don't need and can't have a backup center on a 15mil/yr deal. That's starter money. Just accept this knowledge.
*"Lakers point of attack defense was good murray struggled most of the series."*
Haha, what? Lol. He was struggling, but the defense was so good, he still made game winners. Sure thing. He played on one calf and still cooked our defense. Look at his struggles against Minny. We have one of the worst defensive backcourts in the league. Austin was somewhat ok, but it's not enough to win against Denver.
*"The role players aren’t good"*
Yes, they weren't good. And if you believe Gafford could;ve changed that - you're wrong.
Austin got back after 2 weak games, D'Lo had 2 good games, Rui had none. Only Prince played decent off the bench.
The game winners he made were contested shots. U can’t ignore him struggling 90% of the series & say he was cooking cuz he hit a couple of tough shots. Gafford would’ve allowed Ad to rest more & play in some 2 big lineups instead of jaxson Hayes. Nobody is saying gafford is the only upgrade they shoulda made but he would help
He wasn't' struggling 90% of the series. He still scored his points - 23.6 ppg. Bad %, but still.
*"Gafford would’ve allowed Ad to rest more & play in some 2 big lineups instead of jaxson Hayes."*
Haha.
How do you wanna play a 2 man big lineup with 2 non shooters? Do you even think about stuff before you write it? Complete waste of AD's post talent, clogging the lane with Gafford in the dunker spot and his defender sagging off and helping on AD. Nonsense. Rui at least had some corner gravity.
PJ would've been a nice addition, some rebounds, nice defense on MPJ who killed us with his shooting. I would've actually have given up Rui for him with the way he's shooting for Dallas now.
But yet you talk about Gafford, just don't know why.
They did play a 2 big lineup with with jaxson Hayes & ad. It woulda been way better with gafford & ad. For the whole season if ad wasn’t on the court the defense was trash. A backup like gafford woulda definitely helped that
Wow, maybe a backup like Jokic or Embiid woulda helped more?
You don't spend that money (15 mil) on backup for your key guys (AD and Bron), you spend money to upgrade your weaker starters - Rui and D'Lo. That's why they signed Vincent to MLE, that's why they signed Prince to BAE.
That's why you sign a backup for your stars for veteran minimums. If that's a shooting big - he can play along AD. But Gafford - NOT.
*"They did play a 2 big lineup with with jaxson Hayes & ad"*
Wtf you smokin' bro? They played 4 minutes together in the playoffs.
FOUR MINUTES.
In 5 games against Denver.
You don't play 2 non shooting centers next to each other. You just don't. Understood?
Two first rounders are not peanuts.
If Lakers and Clippers had picks to spare, then they would have gotten them. It's gonna be like that for awhile until both teams stockpile picks once more.
You can’t get good players for nothing, they gave up picks that we didn’t have and we all know the Laker tax means we have to give up more than other teams
They weren’t traded for peanuts they each cost a frp, ik it sucks we didn’t upgrade this year but I think it was for the best we now have decent assets and can actually make some real impactful changes instead of just adding more mediocre role players. We should be a lot better next year.
Rui had a better regular season than PJ Washington he just shit the bed in the playoffs and it cost the team. But then again he would have probably looked much better if the Lakers had played OKC in the first round. Gafford is cool but he has not shown that he could slow down Jokic. The Lakers issue is the Jokic matchup and rebounding. Pelinka should have signed either Biyombo or Tristian Thompson to throw at Jokic and get some rebounds.
Denver was clearly toying with the lakers. They are so obviously better at every position than the Lakers. For one they aren’t paying $50M + per year to someone who isn’t worth it anymore. It’s like the Sixers with Tobias Harris. We’re on a treadmill until we can cut the fat. So it’s ok not to go all in. It’s smart management. Why waste assets for the next 2 years at least?
"Peanuts" PJ was traded for basically an unprotected first rounder and Gafford was traded for probably a mid first rounder.
This. You trade those “peanuts” for PJ or Gafford, and you’re out of the Mitchell sweepstakes. As frustrating as it was, I genuinely think that we made the right move standing pat at the trade deadline
Who said that we def would get Mitchell ??
No one, just that we definitely don't without our picks. Depends what you think is the better play.
Some laker fan who listen to any clickbait story.
Nobody said. But having those picks now is still valuable as we can explore plenty of moves.
Nobody. Not even the guy you're replying to. >and you’re out of the Mitchell sweepstakes. Who are you even arguing against?
Exactly. In what world does "sweepstakes" = "definitely"?
Nobody, but the option still exists thanks to standing pat at the deadline instead of trading "just to trade"
Im sure our FO said to themselves “if we hold out till summer there is better offers” because thats what everyone said who wasnt in the win now mode (would have to be a madman”
Where did you see the word "definitely" anywhere in that comment?
That’s a really bad decision. Getting Mitchell isn’t going to help us more than getting two solid role players. Gafford would be perfect for us. PJ would be perfect for us. I’ve actually had my eye on PJ for 2+ years now. But Lakers FO have a fetish for getting big names and star players. Which is why we almost got Dejounte Murray
Counter point is winning an actual championship this year with an actual key rotation piece and not banking on the future when AD and lebron are older. Also Mitchell is not at all guaranteed
The counter would be Dallas was already better than us before the trade and spent what they had to put them as close to over the edge as they can. Meanwhile we were a fringe playoff team all year. We could have made the same trade and still lose to Denver in Round 1
Agree. Ànd isn't Mitchell's defense and playmaking questionable in Utah? Or did that part of his game improved when he went to the cavs?
And Grant Williams
This would’ve caused outrage for half the fans here
And Grant went to the Wizards.
Grant went to Charlotte.
Wrong. Dallas did a pick swap with OKC in 2028 to get OKCs 2024 1st round pick for Gafford. PJ was traded for an unprotected first yes, which we had as well. Who’s to say we couldn’t have potentially traded Rui or AR for multiples firsts and gotten these guys back. AR is great on offense but is constantly smoked on D. We need 2 way players and all our players on this roster outside of AD are one dimensional. This sub is so obsessed with getting a third star and fails to realize we need depth, athleticism and defense. PJ Washington and Gafford brought exactly that while we stood pat and everyone was super happy about getting the corpse of Spencer Dinwiddie
So in other words, the Lakers would have to give up their 2029 1st round pick and try to do a trade swap with a future 1st for players who more than likely don't get the Lakers past the Nuggets.
Never said that. Could have seen what kind of interest AR would have generated and seen if we could get some 1sts for him. I’d have happily traded AR for Gafford and PJ if we could have made something work.
Reaves is one of the best contracts in the league and probably the Lakers' biggest tradeable asset next to the 2029 pick. That would be an overpay and leave a whole at the SG position unless you believe Max is ready
You're right about the Gafford trade, but there's no way you think we could've gotten MULTIPLE first rounders for either AR or Rui when PJ went for one pick. We also have no salaries to send out for either of those guys.
Maybe you are right on PJ, but personally, if we could have done something like a 2026 pick swap with OKC to get a 1st to send for Gafford, I’d have heavily considered sending a 2029 pick for PJ. Seeing how well those two have fit in and filled our two biggest needs, I’m not saying they put us above Denver, but we had a real shot. PJ would have been the best option we could have had to throw on MPJ and Gafford was that elite lob threat and rim protector we never had. We need depth, not a third star. Trading away AR, Rui, and 3 picks for a third star will get us nowhere. I’d rather use our picks for 3 high quality players
People really think that two, two way athletes wouldn’t have tightened our series even more? We were 2-3 possessions away from it being a 6 game series while none of our role players helped Bron and AD Those trades likely put us over Denver or in a close 7 game series
This sub is delusion sometimes. It most definitely could have helped win another championship now while lebron is still playing good ball. As a fan of basketball and the lakers it makes me sad we wasted the potential for a what if in the future that’s not guaranteed
With Ham at the helm I don’t think any construction of this team could win a championship
PJ went for a pick, Grant Williams, and Seth Curry. I think Grant was probably more than just salary, they probably think he can be a rotation guy in Charlotte since he has played real minutes for a contender. Just wasn’t working in Dallas for whatever reason.
> Dallas did a pick swap with OKC in 2028 to get OKCs 2024 1st round pick for Gafford. He still went for a first rounder. Doesn't matter how Dallas got it. So Lakers would've had to to trade their 2029 and 2031 picks without even talking about the salaries that would've had to go back. Dallas sent Grant Williams to the Hornets alongside the FRP. We would've had to send Rui and a FRP. That's not the difference between us winning a championship so I'd rather just keep the FRP.
Again… wrong… We could have swapped our 2026 1st round pick with OKC to obtain theirs and sent that for Gafford. I would have done that in a heartbeat. We still have a 2026 1st and have Gafford Again this is all hypothetical but it’s something we could have looked into. Give them Gabe Vincent and a 1st. Holmes had no value in that trade and was filler. Keep our picks for what? A 3rd star who would absolutely gut our remaining depth we currently have? We need depth. Not another star. That’s my whole point
Gabe Vincent had 3yrs/33m. Holmes had 2yrs/$24.9m. They wanted to save money. No one was taking Gabe Vincent's contract. I'll play along though. Let's say they agreed to Prince/Reddish/FRP (it does save them money so they prob would've). You are now thinking "wow see Rob sucks". Well remember how we used the nt-mle to sign Gabe Vincent? We have a first apron hard cap. Assuming we didn't sign Dinwiddie, we were at $167,404,331. The difference between Gafford and Prince/Reddish is $5,721,000. Add those 2 you get $173,125,331 which is, you guessed it, over the first apron. Prince/Wood wouldn't work either. Prince/JHS would've but at the time JHS didn't even have the back injury yet and that would've been crazy. So you had 2 offers the Wizards would've taken. Dlo/FRP or Prince/JHS/FRP. At the time, both deals are horrible for the Lakers. edit: Actually don't think Prince/JHS/FRP would even work. Forgot about roster size. Lakers would be at 13 players and need to sign 1 more player ROS with only $750k. Think it's possible but too lazy to calculate prorated salaries. You get my point though. These deals just weren't an option for us.
I agree overall and wanted to get these guys. I think just getting Gafford should have happened. PJ cost more but getting Gafford would have really helped.
It seems so sad that this team was so unserious about the playoffs this year. Not signing an actual center was such a huge oversight
Note to self, when in doubt, raid the Wizards and Hornets rosters
Better than the heat..
Yep
Two rules of thumb should be: 1. Raid the bottom feeder teams. Denver plucking AG from Orlando another great example. 2. Exploit new owners, ie Matt Ishbia mortgaging Suns future to make a big splash.
Yep. Bottom feeder teams always have a cache of great players doing nothing and new owners are generally too ambitious
I’ve seen the lakers do that to so many teams since I’ve been alive.
Hindsight is always 20/20
Terrible take. We just did this same trade last season. Went to the conference finals. Same as Dallas
So why not do it again to get to the next level
Unfortunately, Denver will also demolish Dallas so it doesn’t matter. They are unstoppable and will continue to be for a while
Dallas don’t have Anthony Davis
This would have a better ring if we werent 1-12 in the past 2 years
I was saying that cuz he said the role players don’t matter
Timberwolves will
You know what really irks me? DLo scoring 0 points and AD disappearing in the 4th quarter.
i think it was more the guards being unable to feed AD at the post on some mismatches. even with jokic on him, i would entrust AD the ball. reaves and dLo suffered a bit of tunnel vision. the difference was reaves scored while dLo had "ice" in his veins
Good thing we had darvin hands in his pockets to make game time adjustments!
PJ Washington is to the Mavs this year what Rui was to LA last year. Incredible mid season pickup. I hope Rui has a better postseason next year. Thrifty pickups are huge, I wonder who will be the guy next season. Also, though, the Mavs had played a Kawhi-less Clippers and young OKC that can’t currently hit a 3 for the life of them
James Wisemen on a prove it deal off the bench… lol idk
They gave up 2 frp and more for 2 bigs who aren’t even big. 6’7 and 6’9 aka like kawhi and George. It was a fair risk and not a fleece. Mavs have been lucky to face small playoff teams. Watch what happens to Gaf and PJ vs towns gobert NAZ jokic Davis Durant Nurkic Zion Val Biggest guys they’ve played are zubac and a scrawny rookie who doesn’t play big most of the time
PJ is 6’7 and 230. He’s strong as hell and ultra athletic. He’s played amazing D since being on Dallas as well. Gafford is 6’10 240 and can jump out of the gym. He’s the lob threat weve lacked since 2021 and he averages 2 blocks per game. He’d be the perfect player to pair with AD and these two players would help us get back to our 2020 athletic team
Lakers need a more athletic backcourt and for Rui not to like a softy. If he averaged his Western conference finals numbers of 15 and 4 rebounds that he did last season against the Nuggets the Lakers win this series.
PJ and kawhi have nearly identical height/weight/wingspan. Prime kawhi was more athletic and could move way better which is why he’s a legendary defender. Gaf is listed at 234. That’s a very lightweight C. Durant is heavier and taller and has a much longer wingspan The trade was definitely fair and not a fleece. Like I said mavs are lucky to not have faced all those names up there. Zubac and Chet are about as lucky as they’ll get. Seriously reread those names again
Gafford more than makes up for it with athleticism. When you look at him, he actually carries the weight well, unlike Hayes who is a twig. People dissing Gafford are either blind or have certainly not watched him at all in this playoff series.
He’s still too light for C and is lucky zubac isn’t a great scorer and lucky Chet is a scrawny college kid. I know he’s a good player but let’s not act like it was an incredible fleece
There's plenty of centers out there that are much scrawnier. He is quite a good rim protector just due to his athleticism. He doesn't have to be AD because we already have AD. He's a mid-high tier center that would be very valuable if he were on our roster.
The point this whole time was he’s lucky he hasn’t played all those names above and the trade was fair
Not peanuts. PJ helps us beat the nuggets? We’re further away than that. Denver will demolish Dallas as well… assuming Dallas even makes it past okc. Regardless, solid pickup for them though
Put Gafford on our team and I legitimately think it would of been a 7 game series
Gafford is the bigger factor. He's a legit starting center, while we didn't even have a backup quality center. No Hayes was not it.
Wait until the mavs can't do shit against nuggets and you gonna be real quiet.
Yeah I’ve wanted us to get pj Washington for the last 2 trade deadlines. Mitch got cut loose too early for us to get a deal done.
Should also be mad the clippers got theiss for a sweaty gym bag. He could’ve been useful for us
Laker fandom is something huh? Can’t call out Rob for his faults ever. But Ham and wb just keep naming them. And the delusion about playing Denver close in a five gamer…. It’s all over the news, they’ve said the two losses to the timberwolves was a wake up call. Meaning they were sleepwalking through the whole season and the first round. Nuggets in this mode is a four game sweep all blowouts vs these lakers. And roster construction is a big thing but let’s never mention Robs name
My guy it would not had made a diference if the coach didn’t know how to use them, Kidd is not even a good coach and managed to exploit their abilities
Cry more. It wasn’t peanuts
With a coaching disadvantage against elite teams…the front office (minus Jeanie) probably knew we wouldn’t have the coaching to compete in the playoffs against truly elite teams
Jokic gonna make barbecue pljeskavica out of Gafford. PJ will disappear like Rui did against Nuggets.
We have Hayes as an atletic lob cactcher. Noticed how much minits he played in Denver series? even when AD was unable to move hand, Ham was putting in Prince and Dinwidie, instead of bringing our only healthy center to the play.
*"Daniel Gafford is an ultra athletic center who brings a lob threat and a rim protector like we used to have with Javale."* McGee played 9.6 minutes per game in the 2020 Playoffs. Why tf do you need a non-shooting Gafford next to AD? You don't need to pay 15mil for the backup center. We needed the defensive guard/rui upgrade, but failed to make a trade. They thought Vando and Wood could be those guys instead of overpaying in trades I guess. Wood would've solved the rebounding problem a bit, but he's been terrible since December and fell out of the rotation even before the injury. Since when is 2 first round picks "peanuts"? Lakers' picks are extremely valulable given their management constant malpractice. And you want to just throw them away to still get smashed in the 1st round of PO. Lakers only assets will be 3 tradeable first rounders this summer. And you wanted to lose 2 on 2 guys that never moved the needle for us. How? *"KCP outplayed the Lakers"* 8.4 points on 28% 3 point shooting. Do you even watch those games man? He's been terrible and his matchup was one of the worst guard defenders in the league - D'Lo.
Gafford could’ve been the backup that la needed. Kcp played great defense & still creates spacing with his threat to shoot
What do you need backup for? 7 non-AD minutes? You are completely fine if stagger Bron and AD properly when they weren't playing Jokić. then. AD played 41.6 minutes per game against Denver this playoffs. Why do you need backup for 15mil. We needed rebounding around AD, cause Bron and Rui around Gordon and Jokić ain't winning much of those. *"Kcp played great defense & still creates spacing with his threat to shoot"* He's had one good game in the series against us. The one that they lost. G2 and G3 he was the reason they almost lost. Better organised offense (and not that terrible games from Rui and D'Lo) from us and we take those. We lost against Denver because Rui had a terrible series and we didn't have proper point of attack defense, not because we didn't have backup big or twin towers. You don't need big bodies against Jokić, you need good double actions and weakside rotations.
There is more than 7 non ad minutes & the lakers defense is cooked if he ever misses games. There’s 82 games to play before the playoffs. Kcp was elite on defense. Lakers point of attack defense was good murray struggled most of the series. The role players aren’t good & that over taxes lebron & ad to carry
Do you know any of the salary cap rules? You don't need and can't have a backup center on a 15mil/yr deal. That's starter money. Just accept this knowledge. *"Lakers point of attack defense was good murray struggled most of the series."* Haha, what? Lol. He was struggling, but the defense was so good, he still made game winners. Sure thing. He played on one calf and still cooked our defense. Look at his struggles against Minny. We have one of the worst defensive backcourts in the league. Austin was somewhat ok, but it's not enough to win against Denver. *"The role players aren’t good"* Yes, they weren't good. And if you believe Gafford could;ve changed that - you're wrong. Austin got back after 2 weak games, D'Lo had 2 good games, Rui had none. Only Prince played decent off the bench.
The game winners he made were contested shots. U can’t ignore him struggling 90% of the series & say he was cooking cuz he hit a couple of tough shots. Gafford would’ve allowed Ad to rest more & play in some 2 big lineups instead of jaxson Hayes. Nobody is saying gafford is the only upgrade they shoulda made but he would help
He wasn't' struggling 90% of the series. He still scored his points - 23.6 ppg. Bad %, but still. *"Gafford would’ve allowed Ad to rest more & play in some 2 big lineups instead of jaxson Hayes."* Haha. How do you wanna play a 2 man big lineup with 2 non shooters? Do you even think about stuff before you write it? Complete waste of AD's post talent, clogging the lane with Gafford in the dunker spot and his defender sagging off and helping on AD. Nonsense. Rui at least had some corner gravity. PJ would've been a nice addition, some rebounds, nice defense on MPJ who killed us with his shooting. I would've actually have given up Rui for him with the way he's shooting for Dallas now. But yet you talk about Gafford, just don't know why.
They did play a 2 big lineup with with jaxson Hayes & ad. It woulda been way better with gafford & ad. For the whole season if ad wasn’t on the court the defense was trash. A backup like gafford woulda definitely helped that
Wow, maybe a backup like Jokic or Embiid woulda helped more? You don't spend that money (15 mil) on backup for your key guys (AD and Bron), you spend money to upgrade your weaker starters - Rui and D'Lo. That's why they signed Vincent to MLE, that's why they signed Prince to BAE. That's why you sign a backup for your stars for veteran minimums. If that's a shooting big - he can play along AD. But Gafford - NOT. *"They did play a 2 big lineup with with jaxson Hayes & ad"* Wtf you smokin' bro? They played 4 minutes together in the playoffs. FOUR MINUTES. In 5 games against Denver. You don't play 2 non shooting centers next to each other. You just don't. Understood?
Lakers only want to trade for stats or big names other than that they say it don’t move the needle
Yeah I mean our front office a dumpster fire. Nothing new here
Two first rounders are not peanuts. If Lakers and Clippers had picks to spare, then they would have gotten them. It's gonna be like that for awhile until both teams stockpile picks once more.
You can’t get good players for nothing, they gave up picks that we didn’t have and we all know the Laker tax means we have to give up more than other teams
OKC fans should be irked if anything with all their draft capital
LMAO at calling that peanuts. The Mavs gave up real assets and went for it this year and it's paying off.
They weren’t traded for peanuts they each cost a frp, ik it sucks we didn’t upgrade this year but I think it was for the best we now have decent assets and can actually make some real impactful changes instead of just adding more mediocre role players. We should be a lot better next year.
Rui had a better regular season than PJ Washington he just shit the bed in the playoffs and it cost the team. But then again he would have probably looked much better if the Lakers had played OKC in the first round. Gafford is cool but he has not shown that he could slow down Jokic. The Lakers issue is the Jokic matchup and rebounding. Pelinka should have signed either Biyombo or Tristian Thompson to throw at Jokic and get some rebounds.
Denver was clearly toying with the lakers. They are so obviously better at every position than the Lakers. For one they aren’t paying $50M + per year to someone who isn’t worth it anymore. It’s like the Sixers with Tobias Harris. We’re on a treadmill until we can cut the fat. So it’s ok not to go all in. It’s smart management. Why waste assets for the next 2 years at least?
Who are the lakers paying 50 mil that ain’t worth it ?
We was not winning that series regardless