Hoops Tonight - What do LeBron James and the Lakers do next?

It took several hours on Thursday morning to just kind of stare at everything about this season, kind of recapturing what I thought was a really interesting and up and down Lakers season. We're gonna talk a little bit about Rob Polinka and some of the narratives surrounding him in this season, and then we're gonna go into the roster and what I think are strengths and weaknesses and the way that I would go about addressing this offseason. You guys know the joke before we get started. To subscribe

to the Volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss any show announcements, and if for whatever reason you miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts.

Under Hoops Tonight, all right, let's talk some basketball. So I want to quick do it like a little review of this Laker season, because I think, even in the disappointment of losing in the conference finals, I think it was undeniably a success, certainly relative to expectations. I tend to disagree with the Jannis idea that there's no such

thing as failure. I would argue any season with Lebron James and Anthony Davis on the roster that ends without a championship is a failure, and I believe that Lebron and Ad probably feel that way, and I think some of the reporting coming out of the demeanor of those guys after the game probably solidifies that. That said, if you really look at the roster that they came into the season with, there was no chance in hell they were winning an NBA championship. Everything was based on a

potential trade. Everybody knew it had to be an absolute home run. We knew a million things had to go right, and it's just really hard to have a million things go right in a season, and so I don't think it's a failure relative to expectations, but obviously anytime you have that type of talent, top end talent on the roster, technically, it's a failure relative to your goals of winning a championship. They started two and ten in large part because of

the front office. That was their toughest part of the schedule. Just go look at the Lakers' first twelve games and look at their opponents, and when you really factor in that they had no shooting on the roster, no perimeter size, and the jank russfit, it was just gonna be really difficult for them to win those games. They dig themselves

in a two to ten hole. Now, one of the most underdiscussed stretches of the Lakers season was everything that happened from then to the trades, because there must have been some sort of a message that was communicated from the top down to Lebron James and Anthony Davis that they were going to make a trade because there was a level of effort and give a shit, so to speak, from Lebron James and Anthony Davis that didn't really match up with what their roster was and what their capabilities

were to start the season. And both of those guys had independent stretches where where the other was injured, and they floated the ship just well enough to keep them alive until the trade deadline. So everyone knew they had to make a trade. But they knew that. We all figured they were gonna wait till the deadline. It was known before the season, but it is what it is.

We'll talk about that in a little bit. But they had to stay alive from the day the Lakers woke up to and ten to the day they started playing the players that came back in the rush trade. The Lakers went twenty three and twenty one, so over five hundred over a forty four game sample size doesn't seem like much, but when you factor in the russfit, the imbalances, and the roster, the lack of perimeter size, Lebron James and Anthony Davis both missing significant chunks of that stretch.

Going twenty three and twenty one is a slam dunk home run. And again then there was a stretch where Lebron was out with a groin injury. Anthony Davis kind of kickstarted the run. That's when he had that fifty

point game in Washington. He was incredible. Then Anthony Davis gets hurt and Lebron James and even Russell Westbrook, as critical as I was of him over the course of the year and a half, he was a Laker that stretch there when Anthony Davis was hurt, russ was pretty good and that was a big part of why they won as many games as they did. And they just stayed enough in reach for the trade to give them

a chance. So then they make the trade. Lebron misses the first two games, they go one and one, they beat the Warriors in Oklahoma City or they beat the Warriors in Golden State, and then they lose to the Portland Trailblazers. Then Lebron comes back and they go three and oho in three games, including that big comeback win against Dallas. But Lebron hurts his foot and misses the

next thirteen games. During that thirteen game stretch, Anthony Davis goes for twenty seven and thirteen on fifty six percent shooting with two blocks per game, and the team goes eight and five without Lebron and that was with a couple of games in there that they basically tossed away, the one to the Mavericks with the game winner from Mexic Kiba and the game where Anthony Davis sat out on the road in Houston. Then Lebron returns for the final eight games of the season. They go six and

two and improbably after their two to ten start. They finished the year at forty three and thirty nine get the seventh seat. They beat the Timberwolves in the play in. They beat the Memphis Grizzlies, who had the fifth best record in the league, without home court. They beat the defending champion Warriors without home court. And that's the same core seven players that hoisted the trophy last year. And

then they lose to the Nuggets. Now they got swept, but all four games were relatively close, Like it was clear that the Nuggets were the better team, but it wasn't like a complete outclassing, you know, within the confines of the series, every game was competitive. The Nuggets just pulled it out. As a matter of fact, the only game that didn't include a clutch situation, which is within five with less than five minutes left, was Game two when the Lakers held a double digit lead in the

second half. It was just that crazy shooting spurt that put it away. So the Lakers were right there. So the way I'd look at it is it was an absolute success relative to their expectations. They were one of the final four team standing. That's not nothing. That's top four out of thirty NBA teams. But they also clearly need to get better if they're going to beat Denver.

Denver has all five starters coming back next season under contract, and they will probably lose Bruce Brown just because he played so well that he'll probably get an offer, but who knows, maybe they can retain him. And no matter what, if they win the championship, which I believe they will, they're gonna be able to bring back a couple of solid bench players at discounts like you typically see alongside an unselfish playmaking superstar with a team that actually has

a chance to win a championship. They'll struggle a little bit with it being Denver, but I have a feeling they're gonna be able to bolster their bench a little bit. So not to mention, when you have the confidence of being a champion, you play better so Denver's better and the Lakers are gonna have to figure that out. So the question is, how do the Lakers improve their roster enough to knock off the Nuggets and win a championship

next season. We're gonna look at every single position group and take a look at how I would approach this offseason. Before we get there there, I want to talk a little bit about Rob Polinka. So Rob Polinka got a ton of praise after the deadline. The phrase executive the year of the year was thrown around a lot, even by some people that I respect a great deal, But I think a lot of people looked at that whole situation with rose colored glasses in a lot of ways.

So I want to try to give a fair encapsulation of this season for Rob Polinka. Here's the good thing. They managed to pull off a relatively successful Russell Westbrook trade with only one first round draft pick. That's very good. Also, Rob Polinka straight up stole Ruy Hachimura from the Washington Wizards, who is a pivotal top four kind of like pillar of the team. And so that's an absolute home run for Rob Polinka. And again, as we shift over to the details, a couple of things I want to kind

of establish. First of all, Rob Polinka was supposed to block the Russell Westbrook trade. At the time of the trade, Kyle Kuzma and KCP were both better players. I said that at the time, most Laker fans felt similarly, most Laker fans were targeting more of a kind of a one for one type deal where it was going to be Kyle Kuzma and Montrez Harral for Buddy Healed, where Kyle Kuzma obviously was a very good player, but the

Lakers just needed a little bit more shooting. So it was like flipping one role player for one role player. And the Lakers were kind of done with Montrez's hair anyway, because he didn't really fit into their playoff rotation right. But for whatever reason, I'm sure there was a lot of pressure from Lebron James and I'm sure there was a lot of pressure from Anthony Davis. But as the executive of the team, it's your job to filter through

that and stop that from happening. He did not, and he shipped off all the team's depth in the process undercut the team's championship ceiling. So that is an important part of the story. But even then, even just forgetting that coming into this season, there was risk in waiting to trade Russell Westbrook on a bunch of different levels. If you guys remember I said before the season, I said, I am sure that Rob Polinka can get twenty percent better return on a Russell Westbrook trade if he waits

to the deadline. But those of you guys have been listening to the show for a while, you remember I said, but I view a great deal of value in training camp to establish continuity that you used during the regular season, and I thought it was going to dig them a hole in the standings. And where Lebron James and Anthony Davis out, all of those things came true. They dug

a massive hole in the standings. They had to play playoff intensity basketball for the last third of the season, and Lebron James in particular had to play through a foot injury and it absolutely impact him in this playoff runt. Before the injury, Lebron James averaged thirty points, eight rebounds, and seven assists on fifty percent shooting. After the injury, in the regular season, he averaged twenty five points, eight rebounds,

and six assists. On forty nine percent shooting. Then in the playoffs he averaged twenty five points again, ten rebounds, seven assists on fifty percent shooting. So clearly a thirty point per game guy before the injury, a twenty five point per game guy after the injury. It undeniably took a level off of what Lebron James was capable of. At the time that he injured his foot. He was

dealing with a stress injury in his left foot. As many of you guys know, when you have an injury in one of your feet, you compensate by putting a lot more force and impact absorption and all those things on the other side of your body as an attempt to save your bad foot from taking contact. And literally

his right foot gave up on it. And so had they made a trade before the season, I think it's far more likely that they end up in a situation where they can take it easy throughout the season and Lebron James can take a little bit more time on any one of those injuries, Anthony Davis can take a little bit more time, and they have a better chance to go into the postseason with a healthy Lebron James.

That's an important part of this story. So they absolutely saved a pick, but in the process they hurt themselves in the standings, forced their stars to play their injuries, and you had to play three consecutive really good opponents on the road in the playoffs. So, for instance, the Lakers had to play Not only did they have to try the end of the regular season, they had to play a playing game against a very good Minnesota Timberwolves

team that was a knockdown, drag out fistfight. Then they had to play a top five team in the league in the first round without home court. Then they had to play the defending champions without home court. Then they had to play Denver. What did Denver have to do? They coasted the last third of the season. They played the worst team in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Then they played a Phoenix Suns team that was a middle seed that had some flaws, and then they got

to play the Lakers. So Denver, even though I do believe they were better, they were also fresher. So again, as we talk about the the trade from Rob Polinka this summer and the job that he did, it's undeniable that there's a lot of good to it. But there's another side to the story, and it was another side of the story that we all knew was the case before the season and was really under discussed for a while. Now, I want to just pretend for a reason, just as

an exercise. Let's pretend that before the season, the Lakers make the Buddy Heeled in the Miles Turner trade. Now you have to remember, the real reason the Lakers made a long playoff run was they got Russell Westbrook off the roster, which kind of invigorated the team and helped them with their chemistry and with their on court chemistry and off court chemistry. Also, Lebron James and Anthony Davis

were legitimately healthy and locked in. At least Lebron James was the level below, but the two of them were healthy. The previous seasons, Lebron and Ady could not even play to end the season, right. Lebron couldn't finish last season, Anthony Davis couldn't finish the season before. So this year both guys were actually available to play in the postseason,

even though Lebron was somewhat limited. And then the third big reason was Austin Reeves in the absence of Russell Westbrook, Austin Reeves got moved into the starting lineup, became a primary ball handler and was awesome. Okay, that's why the Lakers made a long playoff run. Malik Peasley was completely out of the rotation by the end. D'angela Russell had some playoff moments, but he also was unplayable for stretches,

and the same could be said about Jared Vanderbilt. So again, did the trade help, Yes, not as much as people were leading you to believe. So now let's pretend as this exercise that they make the Buddy Heel the Miles

Turner trade in the offseason. Now you have a legitimate backup center that allows you to be more functional when Anthony Davis rest's games, gives you a bench big so Lebron doesn't have to play center in the bench groups and gives you a two big look because Miles Turner could shoot, So you had this other identity that you could have had with two centers on the floor like

they did in the twenty twenty season. It's also a more complimentary roster was shooting around Lebron James because you're gonna have Buddy Heeled and Austin Reeves in the backcourt, and they could still make the Hatchamura trade using the Kendrick Nunn salary right. As a result of that, from the start of the season, they would have had a more talented roster that was more complimentary and ready to go from day one, which would have given the Lakers

the ability to ease their way through the season. So I just think as we're talking about Rob Polinka, he still has, in my opinion, a lot of work to do to make up for the damage that he did to the twenty twenty roster, which was a bonafide championship roster. And so as we're talking about Rob Polinka, I think it's inaccurate to just say that it was an executive the Year type of season where he solved all the Lakers' problems. No, he dug the Lakers in a really big hole. He

made some progress getting them out. He still has a lot of work to do, and so this summer is going to be a great opportunity for Rob Polinka to establish himself as a respected GM in this league, in my opinion, because what he has is he's got a bonafide pairing of stars in Lebron James and Anthony Davis. He's got a couple of really good start and Austin reason in Rueyachimura, and he's got a boatload of options this offseason, a bunch of middling salaries we'll talk about.

He's got a couple of draft picks he can use he has, He's got a really good hand of cards here, and if he plays these cards right, the Lakers have a chance to win a championship next year. And so the opportunity is there for Rob to kind of flip the narrative about himself. So let's go by position group here. I want to start with the stars and then we'll go centers, wings, and guards. Angie's list is now. Angie your home for everything Home. Angie doesn't just get your

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a NGI dot com. So with the Stars, Anthony Davis got his ass kicked by ass kicked by Nikola Jokich, but he still proved he's a top ten player in the league in my opinion, clearly was the very best defensive player in the entire playoff field and is probably the most devastating defensive weapon in the entire league when he's healthy again. The only time I've ever discussed trading Anthony Davis was during his times when he couldn't stay on the floor healthy. He demonstrated that he could finish

the season strong and stay healthy throughout. And so at this point, there's no point in trading Anthony Davis. As soon as you trade him, you immediately lose your championship ceiling because of what he does with rim protection and all the defensive versatility that he brings to the table, and his ability to be complimentary with your ball handlers and pick and roll and to score effectively in pick and roll, which is where most of his scoring comes

these days. So like when we're talking about Anthony Davis trades like it's just it's a non starter for me, unless AD just has a serious injury again, at which point that's something that you have to start thinking about. But he's healthy, he's gonna have a full offseason to work on his game. You have to continue to build around AD. The big thing that I want to see from him this offseason is he needs to polish up his perimeter game. He does not need to be what

he was in the bubble. I also think that was an outlier. But he doesn't need to be a liability either. He needs to be an effective knockdown jump shooter, and he needs to be in a situation where you can toss him the ball in the block or in a face up situation. And he could score close to a point per possession in this postseason run and Anthony Davis post up or ISO including passes was good for only zero points. Seven to eight points per possession. Just not

good enough for a player of his caliber. He's capable of much better. Needs to get in the gym this summer and round all of that stuff out. Lebron James, first of all, no, I don't think he's gonna retire. I think that I think that Lebron, like most competitors, can look discouraged and kind of succumb to the fatigue

of it all after a season. There was a moment after the twenty fourteen finals when they lost to the Spurs where Lebron had some similar comments where he was like or no, it was in twenty fifteen after they lost to the Warriors. So he loses in heartbreak to the Spurs, and he loses in heartbreak to the Warriors, and in the postgame presser, he's basically like, this is

really hard. And I can't remember the exact words, but basically he said, is like to get this close and to come up short as like devastating to his body and to his mental Like it was just really really hard for him, right, And I think that that's probably what happened. He gave it all, risked his body literally because of the foot injury, to try to make this happen, and it didn't work. So I think he was just discouraged.

But a couple of things. He's way too competitive to give it up, especially since the Lakers have a legitimate championship roster to work with next year too. He's gonna make fifty million a year the next two years, so like, I think Lebron's gonna play at least one more year, if not too. Even with the foot injury, he was still a top ten player in this postseason. I know he joked after the loss to the Nuggets. He goes, I'm better than ninety percent of the league, or maybe

ninety five. It's more like ninety eight, because he's clearly one of the top ten players in the league. I'll ask you guys this, and if you disagree with me, I want to see it in the comments. How many players in this playoff field were definitively better than Lebron, not maybe better, definitively better. I had four Jimmy Butler, nikolea Jokicic, Steph Curry, and Anthony Davis. Those are the four guys that I thought were better than Lebron James

in this postseason run. Everyone else same level or worse like Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Jason Tatum. If you really look at the impact that they had on winning on both ends of the floor. Lebron was right there with those guys. So even if you put him at the bottom of that list, he was the eighth best player in the league in this postseason run, and I'd say he's probably closer to that five to six area right

even when he's injured. He had the defensive versatility to be able to help on the back line, to be able to have some success guarding nikolea jokicch He was an incredible playmaker in the Denver series and throughout the playoff run. He rebounded at the high level when they needed to he applied its hunt of rim pressure. Lebron James ran a one hundred and thirty post ups in ISOs in this postseason run, including passes, and scored one

hundred and forty two points. It's well over a point per possession, and we were just talking about how Anthony Davis couldn't do that. So he's still a bona fide top ten player in the league in my opinion, and probably closer to top five when he's healthy, because I just broke down how he's the top eight player in this postseason run when he was clearly hampered by a foot injury. So you are starting from a very good

starting point with Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Just these versions of these guys are both top ten players, and I think both of them have an opportunity to get much better this offseason, just in the sense that they need to fix their jump shots. Lebron James has been a great jump shooter his entire tail end of his career except for two seasonsy fifteen in twenty twenty three. My guess is he comes back next season a good jump shooter. Anthony Davis, my guess is he comes back

a functional jump shooter. So if that's the case, they're clearly one of the best duos in the league, if not the best, right Like, I had a lot of Nuggets fans being like, oh, Jamal Murray was better than Lebron. No, he wasn't. Jamal Murray is a great pull up jump shooter who hit a lot of shots. In Denver's offense, he was in absolute defensive liability and the Lakers attacked him NonStop and Denver had to do a lot of

stuff to hide him. Jamal Murray's moved up a lot, and when we rank players this summer, I wouldn't be surprised if he's top fifteen. But he's not better than Lebron James, and he's not better than Anthony Davis. And so you have as your starting point for the Lakers the best duo in the league in my opinion, because I think they're better than Jaylebron and Jason Tatum too. So that's a great foundation. Let's look at the position groups. Center.

Lebron is too old to keep playing backup center, you know, unless you're playing against a team that doesn't have a backup center, which just doesn't happen frequently enough. So that's a position of great need this summer for three reasons. One, it allows you to play functional basketball when Anthony Davis sits out games instead of trying to play small ball all game. Run some traditional pick and roll coverages and kind of maintain the same identity you had with Anthony Davis,

even if you won't be as good. You need a backup center to be able to do that. You want to have a two big look. A two big look would have been really interesting to unleash against Denver. They unleashed it against Denver almost NonStop in the twenty twenty bubble, and they didn't have that look this year and then last. It prevents Lebron from having to take on those sorts of responsibilities even when Anthony Davis is available but is on the bench. So I think they need to get

a backup center now. I don't think Mobamba is that guy for the postseason, but I think he can eat those innings during the regular season. I also would consider bringing Tristan Thompson to camp. I thought he looked decent in that game against Denver. Just bring him to camp doesn't hurt anything. He's not gonna get an offer anywhere else, bring him to camp, let him see if he comes into camp and shape see if he can help your team. That's an interesting option. You can look at the veteran

minimum market. I would see if you could poach a guy like Brook Lopez from Milwaukee for the taxpayer mid level exception, or you could be aggressive in the trade market for someone like Miles Turner. But no matter what, but you can't finish next season going into the playoffs without a solid backup center. I think they can get away with a less than solid backup center during the regular season, but during the playoffs, are gonna need a

solid backup center. Looks look at the forward position. I think Lebron James, Jared Vanderbilt, Ruy hot Chamura is about as good a group as you can find there around the league. It's a really good group of forwards. The only downside is Ruey has some defensive limitations depending on the matchup, but really only against super small teams. I thought he was effective in two of the three playoffs

series that they had, and even in the Warrior series. Like, yeah, it sucks when you're asking him to chase a guard around screens and stuff, but I still think that he could have played more in that series had they needed him too. And then Jared Vanderbilt obviously had some issues in the offense with teams ignoring him and conceding corner threes. So a couple things ruy working another summer with Phil

Handy getting better as a score. I thought he made huge strides just in one half season with Phil Handy. I would imagine Wizards fans are devastated to see where we look as good as he did. So one more summer with Phil Handy goes a long way. Jared Vanderbilt just shooting a million corner threes this summer would go a long way towards helping him be playable, and then

Lebron James fixing his jump shot. So I think they're already a really good group of forwards and it's only gonna get better this season as the guys get in the gym. I think the Lakers are in good shape. There were things get interesting is than the guards, So I'm gonna split it into two groups. On ballguards and

more like second side, you know, off ball guards. So the only on ball guard that they're most likely gonna have back next year is Austin Reeves, who knows if someone's gonna offer him a giant contract and the Lakers have to match. Hopefully the Lakers can get him for that four years, fifty million or whatever that they're hoping for, but we'll see either way. I expect Austin Reeves to be a Laker on next year. He was incredible in

this first playoff run. He averaged one point two to one points per possession in spot up situation, still one of the best shooters and close out attackers in the league. He shot sixty nine percent effect did field goal percentage on catch and shoot jumpers in the playoffs, forty nine percent in effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers. In this postseason run, he was solid and pick and roll just under a point per possession. He was over

a point per possession in isolation. He averaged seventeen points per game on sixty two percent true shooting, averaged five assists per game, and had a two point nine assist to turnover ratio. And I thought he held up really well defensively. So that's like five stars for a young undrafted guard in his first playoff run. I think he's the perfect starting guard starting two guard, probably to have next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis off ball guards.

And again I'm not talking about the guys that they could retain. I'm going to focus on who they are for sure going to have for now. So the only guy I think they'll for sure have back is Max Christy as an off ball guard. I think he's going to be a big rotation piece for the Laker next Lakers next year. Allegedly he's grown a little bit closer to six to seven. He was a knockdown three point shooter this year. He shot forty two percent from three.

He's very good defensive players, got good length, quick feet, navigates screens well. I expect him to play a lot next year. Wouldn't even be surprised if he played some small forward for them, if the if the muscle mass that he's gained in his length has improved as much as it has. So couple of really good options there. But you're gonna need three more guards, a couple of specific types that I'd look at. I think they need a really good athletic guard, and I mean with some

real like strength to him. Lanni's a good athlete, but he just couldn't hold up again in the physicality against some of the bigger, stronger guards. Kind of like what Bruce Brown was for the Nuggets this year, or what Alex Crusoe was to the twenty twenty Lakers. A guard between six four and sixty six who's like a solid two hundred and fifteen pounds or more that can move his feet well and can just be a functional, smart offensive player. Both Bruce Brown and Alex Kruse are excellent cutters.

That's kind of like more important than them knocking down spot up threes necessarily, although that obviously helps. Then I think they need another guy who can take on primary ball handling responsibilities. I'm talking about that in a second, so I'm gonna pause there, and then they probably need a third guard just off the bench for depth, and that's probably gonna be a veteran minimum guy. So as we zoom out, I think they desperately need a backup

center and they need to fill out that guard rotation. Now. A lot of people are talking about Kyrie Irving, and look, I agree, he's literally perfect. He fulfills the roster's biggest weakness, which is over the top shot making. He's great on and off the ball, super complimentary with Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and when engaged, he's actually a solid defensive player. But it's just unbelievably unrealistic from the standpoint of obtaining

him without giving up too much. So I think Laker fans need to move on from that idea, at least for the time being. So, yes, we'd love to see Kyrie in a Laker jersey, just don't think it's realistic. So what would I do if I was running the Lakers. I would just bring everybody back and I'd hang tight and I'd wait for the perfect trade. So let me break this down for you guys. I'd match any offers

for Ruey Hatchamura and Austin Reeves. Hopefully, if you're lucky, you can get them both for about the threaty million a year combined. I'd pick up Michael Malik Beasley's option. I guarantee Obama's contract. I guarantee I'm having trouble talking today. I guarantee Jared Vanderbilt's contract, and I'd try to re sign D'angela Russell on some sort of team friendly deal, which I think you're gonna be able to do after

how much he struggled in the postseason. So why because the shortcoming of this roster that we saw against Denver was over the top shot making, right, Yo Kitchen Murray beat them making jumpers over contests when Lebron James and Anthony Davis could not. That was the fundamental, biggest weakness in my opinion. Obviously, you want Anthony Davis to defend better.

You'd like to have another body to throw at Yo Kicch. Obviously, when you get swept there's more than one reason, but the biggest reason in my opinion is the lack of over the top shot making for the Lakers. So that's not going to bother you in the regular season. That's a playoff problem. In the regular season, the Lakers is currently constructed, are gonna win a shit ton of games, So this is not a problem you need to solve

this summer. If you bring back Dangel Russell, Malik Beasley, Mobamba, Jared Vanderbilt, and you run the same group, you're gonna win a shit ton of regular season games. You're gonna be sitting at you know, thirty seven and twenty two or something at some point during the season you're gonna win a lot of games, so that that's the route. Then you have all of this tradeable salary Mike Malik Beasley's contract sixteen million, Mobamba ten million, Jared Vanderbilt five million,

Dangel Russell probably around twenty million dollars a year. Right, So even if you do, even if you don't get d Lo, that's thirty one million in tradable salary that's tradable immediately this summer, and then if you wait till the deadline, you get that plus whatever Dangel Russell makes. Let's just for the sake of making the math easy, let's call it fifty million in total tradable salaries. There.

You can attach them there. That's a bunch of different sizes, right, I've got a twenty million salary slot, a sixteen million salary slot, a ten, and a five. You can piece those together in any combination to get any type of player that you need. You have two available first round draft picks as of draft night to trade, and a bunch of second round picks. So I would be patient. I've heard a lot of people mentioning guys like Fred

van Vliet, for instance. I don't like that idea fred is a solid defensive player, but he's an inefficient score and he's small, so he doesn't help them in their contested rebound situations, which were a big problem in really in every playoff series. If they were to go the route of just getting some mid level guard, I'd go after a guy like Terry Rozier. But even then I'd wait. I'd wait. Unless you can easily get Kyrie Irving without

sacrificing depth, I'd wait. So again, I think if you can float in the regular season, you just see what pops up over the course of the year. And I wrote down a couple of options. So let's say, for instance, somebody like let's say like the pacer struggle this year, and you can poach Miles Turner for Mobomba and you know Malik Beasley and three seconds, Like, that's a fantastic trade that gets you a backup center that costs you

almost nothing and doesn't affect your rotation. Like, that's a really interesting deal that I look at for the Lakers during the season. Maybe it's a smaller move like that for a guard like Terry Rozier, like I talked about, Or maybe you get lucky and someone like Damian Lillard comes available, or someone like Bradley Beale becomes available, and

then you can offer as the salary filler. But you can offer two first round draft picks and a second round pick, or three second round picks or whatever it is. Whatever that option is that comes available over the course of the season, you are poised to jump on it when it arrives right that to me is the best route. You already are good enough for the regular season. That's a problem you just need to solve by February in terms of that top end shot creation. So just be patient,

hang tight. You never know what's gonna happen during the regular season. Maybe some superstar gets hurt on a team that like, maybe Kawhi gets hurt again, and the Clippers are like, we're looking to get rid of Paul George. Maybe you can jump on Paul George, Like, you don't know what you'd You never know what's going to happen, and so I don't think they need to be super aggressive to make a big move this summer on some

ancillary piece that's not gonna really move the needle. When D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Jared Vanderbilt ru Hatchmurr whoever it is that plays a three Lebron James, Anthony Davis with mobomb off the bench and and and Max Christy and Malik Beasley. You're gonna win enough regular season games, you just are. There's just there's no rush. So I would be really patient and just kind of look to pounce on the right move this summer, and I'd go big.

I'd go for a really good shot creator that can be the guy that go toe to toe with Jamal Murray running spam and pick and roll at the end of a game with you know, Anthony Davis and the dunker spot and Lebron James Setton screens or Lebron spotting up in Anthony Davis Setton screens. That's the way that I would go. Or hell, Lebron James running pick and roll with whoever that star player you bring bring in

as the screener. You can open up a lot of stuff there that Lakers had a lot of problems with the Nuggets hiding Jamal Murray on Denna Schroeder for instance, for that very reason. So I would be patient. So as we zoom out, the concept to the team is you have four core players right, Austin Reeves, Zurihach, Murray, Lebron James, Anthony Davis. You need a reliable fifth starter that you can run in closing groups, right. And you need a backup center to reach your eventual playoff ceiling. Right.

But you have De'angela, Russell, Malik Beasley, Mobamba, maybe a guy like Tristan Thompson if he does well in camp to fulfill those responsibilities during the regular season. Eat the innings until the right move pops up. I just wouldn't cash in all the chips for an average player before then. I think this team is the clear number two to the Denver Nuggets head into next season. They have a bright future with a bunch of young players around their

older Lebron James. I think Lebron still has two good years left. So it's it's an exciting time to be a Laker fan, and there's a lot of opportunity in the next calendar year for the Lakers to do some damage in the NBA. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. I will be back. Actually, I'm not sure what we're good. I think we might be taking the weekend off. It just depends I'm recording this before Game five of Celtics Heat, so it might be Game six Celtics Heat, or it might be a weekend off

before we get into NBA Finals stuff next week. As always, I appreciate you guys, and I'll see you. Then the volume