About the inaction of the Lakers management: not every operation is profitable, why can't you be more patient!

Qing Yang said

2024-07-03 11:15Posted in Anhui Sports Creators

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01 The Lakers have made a number of moves in the 2023 free agent market, but the results are not ideal, and there are problems with the roster.

02 D'Angelo Russell's role in the team was crucial, but his emotional instability and self-centered personality affected the team's performance.

03 However, the Lakers have not found a significant target in the free agent market, and Dejounte Murray is the only player who could be added this season.

04 In addition, the Lakers management pursues trades too much in the process of operation, which may cause the team to lose valuable opportunities.

05 Overall, Lakers fans and James fans should give the team more time instead of rushing to avoid another mistake.

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Let's turn the clock back to a year ago, July 1, 2023.

When the free agent market opened, the Lakers completed a series of operations at a gallop:

Within half an hour, Vincent was signed for 3 years for 33 million and Prince for 4.5 million a year.

After another hour, the contract with Hachimura was renewed for 3 years and 51 million. He also signed Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish for two years and 4.5 million in a row.

The next day, he renewed his contract with Russell and Reeves for 2 years and 37 million for 2 years and 54 million for 4 years.

operated in one go, so that the fans shouted the Lakers championship with pride.

Then, there is no then.

Vincent and Vanderbilt were injured, Russell and Hachimura were alternating, and even Wood and Reddish were out on the bench for long periods of time.

The "14-man team" that was blown up by Lakers fans last offseason has not appeared in a complete appearance in the entire 2023-24 season.

From the Lakers in '20 to the Celtics this year, the success of each championship team has its own historical particularity and irreplaceability, and no championship team has reached the top by copying other teams.

Because of LeBron's plausible and misty "salary cut promise", many Lakers fans and James fans began to chase the Lakers and hurriedly operate.

But ignoring the addition of two newcomers this offseason, Cornet and Bronny, as well as Russell, Reddish and others exercising player options, the Lakers now have 13 players on the roster with official contracts (excluding James), and the total salary has reached 140 million.

It's a full-fledged rotation that most people have gone through for a full season, not just a piece of chicken feathers.

If you have high hopes for last season's squad, why are the same people being looked down on this year?

So does the Lakers' roster need to be optimized now? The answer, of course, is yes.

But when Dejounte Murray was cut by the Pelicans on June 30, before the free agent market opened, the Lakers didn't have a suitable target to immediately upgrade the team on the player market.

Where is the Lakers' biggest problem right now? Naturally, it is D'Angelo Russell, who serves as the team's main control in the regular season and the assistant control at critical moments.

The Lakers went 1-6 without Russell last season, which shows how important he is to the team.

But this importance is not based on Russell's strong individual ability, but the position he is in is too critical, which can be called the "eye of the storm" of the Lakers' team.

For a team like the Lakers, one of the two salary caps was given to LeBron, who was 39 years old and selectively worked in the regular season, and the other was given to the thick eyebrows who could not be nucleated on the offensive end and had an obvious gap between their independent offensive ability and Jokic, Embiid and other big cores.

A "secondary control" that can eat enough ball possession from the Lakers in the regular season, straighten out the team's offense, and seamlessly switch between LeBron who takes over the game in key games such as the playoffs is particularly important.

Stylistically, Russell is a very good candidate.

He can organize the offense, but he is not the top, he can launch a block with thick eyebrows, but he does not have the production of Zhan Mei and Augmentation back then. He has a crazy three-pointer that no one can stop, but the consistency is really not complimentary.

It can be seen from the playoffs for two consecutive years that Russell is incomparably compatible with the current Lakers in terms of style, but he is not up to the requirements of the Lakers in terms of ability.

That's why the Lakers have always been willing to give him a chance and see how he looks.

And most importantly, Russell is an extremely emotionally unstable person, completely self-centered, and even above the team's interests.

After winning the midseason in December, trade rumors broke out about him, and the Lakers went on a four-game losing streak and went 11-of-35 in three games.

Ham then put him off the bench in a fit of rage, and the team went 4-6, including another four-game losing streak, during which he watched from the sidelines with his free card, and the Lakers lost their core guard when they hit an injury spree. Even if Zhan Mei plays hard, the Lakers can still lose to the Pelicans, the Heat, and the Grizzlies.

It was the darkest years of last season for the Lakers, and it was also the month that was really pulled apart by the first group in the West.

So even if Russell was able to beat Lillard last season and score 40+ to lead the team to win against the Bucks, he also broke the Lakers' single-season three-point shooting record held by Kobe. But judging from the operation trends of this offseason, the Lakers no longer want the fate of the team to be at the mercy of Russell's emotions.

It is imperative to improve the stability and level of this critical position.

Dejounte Murray is the only consistent improvement that the Lakers can get in this trade market.

In the 21-22 season, he played an average of 21.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game in the Spurs.

With Trae Young this season, he can still play an all-around performance of 23+6+6. The overall performance of 1700 points + 400 boards + 500 assists in the regular season, only Jokic, Doncic and Lao Zhan can beat him in the league.

What's even more outrageous is that his salary in the next four years is 25.5 million, 2750, 29.6 million, and 31.6 million respectively, thinking that his agent is Rich Paul, we can even suspect that he was originally a "stand-in gift" arranged by Paul for LeBron in advance.

Not to mention that Murray is still a fan of James and has an excellent personal relationship, remember the wild ball game in Seattle in 2022 that cost Holmgren his rookie season? LeBron was able to participate in that game in a rare way because of Murray's invitation, and Seattle is his hometown.

In a word, when Derrick White has just renewed his contract with a four-year 126 million salary increase, Dejounte Murray, who is also from the Spurs, is the most cost-effective ball-handling attacker in the league today

I can't find anyone better than him at the same price, and the annual salary that is stronger than him is at least more than 40 million.

And when the Lakers lost the opportunity to get Murray, the hope of being able to significantly strengthen this season was extremely slim, and they had to find a way to deal with the "troublemaker" Russell.

The Lakers considered Harden, who is the only one on the market who is stronger than Russell and surpasses Murray in individual skills, but the Clippers don't give the Lakers a chance at all with 70 million in 2 years.

In addition, in fact, the Lakers would have had no significant targets in the free agent market.

As for the 4-year 80 million offer for Klay, it is not actually the original intention of the Lakers management, but more to please LeBron.

How much does it mean to get Klay when you already have Kornet, the NCAA's most consistent shooter? Do you want to make the hard-to-copy Kozai become the next Schifino?

In today's squad framework, it is not easy to get obvious reinforcements, but it is by no means impossible.

First of all, according to the latest collective bargaining agreement, whether it is a package for more or less or a middle-class sign, the Lakers must receive the limit of the first local tyrant line (179 million).

In the current situation that the number of personnel has reached 140 million, Lao Zhan's contract renewal can only be up to 40 million, and first of all, the Lakers must first reduce the number of players and the total salary.

Before the Lakers know it, they seem to be back to the situation they were in 2022.

Lakers fans around the world are eagerly awaiting a trade from the Lakers, then it was for Wei Shao, and now it's for Russell.

What remains unchanged is that the rest of the league is waiting to knock the Lakers on the bamboo bar.

The unspoken rule in the alliance is that the more you want to make a trade, the easier it is to lose.

In the NBA, no single operation can guarantee a guaranteed profit.

If you blindly trade for the sake of trading, it is easy to become a fat pig to be slaughtered.

Throughout the past few years that LeBron has come to the Lakers, those who are in a hurry to operate often do not end well.

In 21 years, Gasol Jr., Schroeder, and Harrell were introduced in a big way.

In 22, he sent away Pope, Kuzma, Harrell and a first-round pick for Wei Shao.

Last year, as soon as the free market opened, there were large signings.

On the contrary, in the 2019 offseason, after waiting for Leonard to be released, he steadily won Danny Green, Rondo, and Howard, and the final result is known to everyone.

For most of the year before the trade deadline last year, the world was urging the Lakers to make a trade to send away Wei Shao, waiting to see their jokes, and even broke the bastard remarks of "a first-round pick-up Wei Shao and a first-round rotation player". However, Pelinka finally managed to see the moon, sending away Wei Shao in the first round of 2027 with only one top-four protection, and at the same time, he got Russell, Vanderbilt and Beasley, and finally made a strong effort in the second half of the game all the way to the Western finals.

So, fans who really care about the Lakers and James and give them a little time, isn't it?

Even if you don't do anything, it's much better than doing wrong, do you want to have another 47 million Wei Shao?

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