According to ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to a four-year contract with JJ Redick, who will become the new head coach of the Purple and Gold.
From this news, we can also draw one thing: Lakers management is preparing for the post-James era.
It's worth mentioning that the Lakers had contact with Tyronn Lue before hiring Ham as their head coach. is unwilling to give the latter a contract with a super high James age (there were still 3 years left at the time). So, Tyronn Lue chose the Clippers.
In fact, Dan Hurley's six-year contract is a good proof of this. In the official language of the Lakers: seeking to build a team system like the Celtics, Heat, etc.
Let's briefly summarize:
Since the beginning of the title defense season, the Lakers have purged the roster every offseason, which has made it difficult to form a team system, a winning culture, and a sense of belonging to the team. The most intuitive impression: Zhan Mei has an injury, and it is difficult for the team not to collapse.
So what kind of players are suitable for the Lakers after the change in team building policy?
First of all, not to exclude players with multi-year contracts. This can also be seen in the fact that Reaves, Vanderbilt, Hachimura and Vincent were given at least three years of contracts last offseason.
Secondly, James' retirement from the Lakers will inevitably build a team around thick eyebrows. The characteristics of thick eyebrows, needless to say on the defensive end - this season's first defense can be well demonstrated. On the offensive end, the mid-to-long range shooting is unstable, and more can only be finished on the inside - 67.8% of the shots in the regular season come from the inside.
Based on the second point, considering the thick eyebrows, it is better for the new signings to have ball-handling and projection attributes, especially the latter point.
To sum up, it is not difficult to understand why the Lakers are interested in Mitchell, Dejounte Murray, and Trae Young.
First, aside from Mitchell, the remaining two have multi-year contracts;
Second, all three have good ball handling and shooting ability.
But then again, Trae Young and the remaining two are very difficult to trade. To put it bluntly, once the Cavaliers and Hawks choose to put on the trade shelf, the Lakers are completely unable to compete with teams like the Thunder, Spurs, and Jazz with a lot of draft picks.
Meanwhile, according to Windhorst, the Lakers are still interested in Jeremy Grant. It's a rumor, but it seems credible to me.
First of all, Grant is 203 tall and has a standard forward build;
secondly, judging from the average of 21.0 points per game this season and the drop in the shooting rate of limited opponents from 51.2% to 48.3%, it has both offense and defense;
Moreover, this summer, Grant still has a four-year, 133 million contract.
More importantly, compared to Mitchell, Dejounte Murray, and Trae Young, Grant has a much smaller hand. Potentially, the probability of trading is relatively high.
To sum up, the Lakers' interest in Grant is fine. Given that the Trail Blazers are a rebuilding team, and the Lakers are willing to come up with two protected first-rounders, Reaves, etc., I think there is still a good chance of getting Grant.