(Translator’s note: the author of this article is Eric Pincus, a reporter with the lakers in the bleachers. The content of this article does not represent the views of the translator and the platform. The data in this article is up to december 7, beijing time before the game.)
The Los Angeles Lakers (10-12) won eight games in the past ten games, and Anthony Davis officially entered the discussion sequence of best value players. The team, which was regarded as a laughing stock a few weeks ago, finally began to get on the right track and finally needed to be taken seriously by the opponents.
Last weekend, heavy eyebrows cut 44 points in Milwaukee, led the team to beat the stag with a super-God performance of 16 wins and 6 losses, and then cut 55 points and 17 rebounds against the Wizards, declare that he has completely recovered the peak of the year in the bubble division. Now it is time for the Lakers management to seriously consider the short-term future of the team.
Just a few weeks ago, the poor operation of Lakers management almost ruined the season. Because they didn’t want to get two available first-round signatures (2027 and 2029), they failed to send Westbrook off in summer to correct the previous wrong decision. They have signed a bunch of players in the free market and seem to have been lying flat waiting for the 2023 draft convention, ready to upgrade the lineup completely by then. Next summer, the Lakers will have about $3000-$35 million in salary space.
However, the recent surge in the team’s record directly led to the increase in the trading value of some players in the team, which made the lake tube get a higher flexibility of operation than in the past. Heavy eyebrows have played so well recently. Maybe this year is an opportunity to make achievements. However, due to too few chips in hand, there is no first round signing, and the salary space has been locked. If you want to upgrade, the lake management really needs to pay some attention.
It is hard to tell when the heavy eyebrows recovered completely. He scored 23.8 points and 10.6 rebounds in the game in October, and his performance was not bad. But in november, his average field data directly soared to 27.2 points and 13.5 rebounds. It seemed that his back injury could not make him feel troubled any more. Although james’s performance was still slightly different from his average level, but the rising momentum of the Lakers is obvious.
According to previous reports from many parties, the Lakers plan to start the deal after December 16, and there are several plans being weighed, and the latest party will complete the lineup upgrade before the middle of January. Now we have several issues to discuss.
The performance of heavy eyebrows in the center position will directly affect the trading direction.
Davis knew very well that he was the best fit to play power forward, and he declared his preferences to everyone more than once. In the 2019-20 season, McKee and Howard were among the champion Lakers in rotation. Heavy Eyebrows will indeed top the center position at the critical moment, especially in the playoffs, but most of the time, he is only active in the fourth position. The experience of heavy eyebrows playing center can only be described in luxury for fans.
Then the problem comes. If the heavy eyebrows can make such a big killing in the center position, why should we destroy the obvious upward state? Why chase Miles Turner, Pertel, or Vucevic? Their arrival will only hinder the best players in the team.
Heavy eyebrows don’t need a tough guy like Adams as an insider partner. He needs a speed center that can provide some relieve a garrison. The Lakers now have Thomas Bryant, gabriel and Damian Jones to reduce their burden on the defensive side, the inner line team does not look too shabby.
The league is becoming more and more inclined to the small ball style. Few traditional big players can take up too much time. Facing the remaining centers, heavy eyebrows have absolute advantages in figure. I know a lot of people want heavy eyebrows to play number four to reduce his chance of injury and ensure his higher attendance. But let’s take a look back at his recent injuries, which are basically caused by accidents, such as accidental falls and stepping on the feet of other players. Can playing power forward really keep him away from these injuries caused by random events?
Evaluate Westbrook from a realistic perspective
It is well known that the Lakers have been trying to send weishao away since last season’s trading deadline, but this does not mean that weishao will definitely leave Los Angeles this season. He may not be able to form a perfect starting partner with James and Davis, but since he became a substitute, he is helping the team in his own way.
The core trouble now is that Wei Shao can indeed serve as the sixth member of the team in the regular season, but it may not work well in the playoffs. Because in the playoffs, all teams will reduce the rotation lineup, and at that time, Wei Shao will no longer have a large number of opportunities for rivals that are obviously weaker than his players. His problems will be magnified again. Only when there is a ball in hand can there be a threat. When he plays without a ball, his opponents will often choose to ignore it and put more pressure on James and Davis.
If the Lakers choose to trade with less power, they need to bring back an energetic organizer in this deal and must have a relatively balanced projection ability, this can greatly reduce the organizational burden on James, and also enable heavy eyebrows to continue to get a lot of comfortable opportunities. In fact, the Lakers chose to return to Wei Shao from The Wizard with these purposes, but they didn’t expect him to be so incompatible with Zhan Mei. The Lakers need an organizer, which is why they are chasing Owen crazily throughout the offseason.
Will Owen be the answer to the Lakers? It remains to be seen, but how many teams do not want such a high-level organizer + scorer? But now Owen has passed the trust crisis, at least it seems that he will not leave Brooklyn in the short term. Maybe we have to look at other options.
Toronto Raptors (12 wins and 11 losses) have not yet determined the goal of this season. Van frit’s contract is about to expire. Once Raptors decide to give up this season, then the defender may appear in the market immediately. Will the bull send DeRozan away? Don’t think he is just a scorer. In the 20-21 season, drozan sent an average of 6.9 assists Spurs.
Last summer, before gaining power, the Lakers had seriously considered the possibility of getting DeRozan through trading. However, he relied too much on the technical characteristics of CIC and the unstable three points, which seemed to be the same as James, davis didn’t match well, which directly led the Lakers to give up the idea of getting him from Spurs.
This summer, hornets wanted to get donovan-mitchell from jazz. At that time, the lakers participated in and submitted a multi-party trading plan. They hoped to bring rochelle to los angeles, but mitchell finally joined the knight, the Lakers’ wishes failed again.
Rozil sent 5.8 assists from a new career in the Hornets this season, but his three-point hit rate dropped sharply, only. Will he still be the one the Lakers need?
After the Lakers gave the offer of Wei Shao + picks, would the heat be willing to send lorry (possibly Duncan Robinson) to Los Angeles? Does Russell, who has a bad life in Timberwolves, have a chance to return to the Lakers?
I have put forward many ideas above, but they are almost unrealistic and basically impossible to happen. Although weishao is likely to lose his magic in the playoffs, looking around the entire league, it is really difficult to find several defenders who can directly replace him in terms of organization and the lakers have real trading opportunities.
What else does the Lakers need now?
The lakers now have three stable starts, james, davis and lonnie walker. They also need a starting point guard and a defensive and projected flank. If I ask who is the most suitable, my first reaction is Gerami grant, but obviously the Pioneer will not let him go.
If Wei Shao is still in the team after the transaction deadline, Schroeder will basically continue to play the first game, otherwise Schroeder may give way to the new couple and enter the rotation himself. In addition, the main rotations of the Lakers include Reeves, little Troy Brown, Gabriel and Bryant. Maybe they need another substitute center, but this is a secondary issue.
In terms of rules, everyone on the Lakers list can trade except James. But some people obviously won’t leave, and the most likely to be regarded as chips are beverly (the salary of this season is 13 million dollars), nunn (5.3 million dollars), damian jones (2.3 million dollars) and Toscano-Anderson ($1.8 million). All of the above, except Jones, are expired contracts.
The Lakers also have two initial rounds of signing in the future, several rounds of signing are available, and the remaining chips include rookie Christie (salary of $2.7 million next season) and up to $6.4 million in cash. However, all the chips mentioned above, except for the first round of signing, will not get too many responses in the market.
Beverly Garner’s total salary is almost 22.9 million dollars. If the Lakers can pack them together with Anderson and Christie, they can exchange a contract worth 29.4 million dollars. If they can still send them away, the salary space of the Lakers will increase to $80 million +. For the market, this combination may cause a sensation. But almost no team has so much salary space and squad quota to directly complete the deal with the Lakers.
At present, it is not clear what is in the market, because except for a few teams that are sure to be rotten, most teams still do not have clear season goals. The trading market will start to heat up after December 16, when most newly signed players can be traded. If the Lakers want to get substantial reinforcement in the trading market, they may have to wait for several teams to decide to withdraw from the pursuit of results, but no one is willing to give up directly now, after all, it is not long before the season starts, and the opportunity for the Lakers will appear before the trading deadline (February 10).
The potential target players of the Lakers are:
Boyang-Bogda Norwich, Burks (piston)
Bamba, Gary Harris, Terence Ross (magic)
Hilde (Walkers)
Redishi, funier (Knicks)
Claude (Sun)
Gary Trent, annuobi, Chris Bucher (Raptors)
Kuzma
Ubray, plamley (wasp)
Eric Gordon, little Kenyon Martin (rocket)
Bogdan-bergdavi, John Collins (Eagle)
Seth-Curry (basketable Nets)
Caruso (bull)
Saibull (76 people)
Ottoman (Knight)
Some of these players have been put on the shelves or have generated rumors with the lakers, but more are just potential targets. They are not the non-selling products of the team, and the lakers will have opportunities. At present, bulls, Eagles, Raptors and Wizards are still focused on winning playoff seats, and the Lakers still have to wait.
Reinforcing seems imperative, but the lake management needs to be cautious. As the general manager of the team Pelinka stressed in the media day, they will not consider directly packing all chips and sending them out (mainly two first-round signatures), make a desperate deal. Instead, they will choose to make several separate transactions. The rational method is to test the market first, see what Beverly and naen can exchange for, and then make a decision on the future of Wei Shao.
The goal of the lakers this season should be to give james and davis a real chance to win another chance to compete for the championship. Considering Davis’s recent status is so hot, the Lakers finally have some hopes now, which may make Pelinka excited and make some really reliable operations before the trading deadline.
Original: Eric Pincus
Compilation: Best 15th person
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