The Lakers have failed to land a marquee free agent thus far this offseason, and unless LeBron James has a major change of heart regarding where he’d like to play next season, that’s not likely to to be altered. No disrespect to reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams and forward Brandon Bass, but those agreements don’t necessarily qualify as franchise-altering deals. Adding big man Roy Hibbert via a potential trade could turn out to be a solid move for the team, and Los Angeles did add a potential superstar via the NBA Draft in D’Angelo Russell. But this season’s Lakers don’t appear on first pass to be a fundamentally better squad than the 2014/15 version.
But that’s just my take, and this is my segue to the question of the day: How do you grade the Lakers’ offseason moves thus far? If you’re a Laker fan, are you content with what the team has accomplished, or are any of you seriously contemplating switching allegiances to the Clippers as a result of your frustrations? What move that the team has made has impressed you/frustrated you the most? Take to the comments section below to share your thoughts and opinions, or to simply vent your angst at the state of the purple-and-gold. We look forward to what you have to say.
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as a fan, wasn’t so excited about these free agents this summer so my expectations were low to begin with. I actually like the new roster that I think if Kobe can somehow manifest that efficient year with Dwight or be a pseudo facilitator we can actually contend for an 8th seed. Wishful thinking I guess
Not necessarily wishful thinking. I think the Lakers probably will have a shot at the last playoff spot or two when it’s all said and done. It’ll be an uphill climb in that Western Conference, though, and they’ll need good health from Kobe and others.
I’m happy with the additions the Lakers have made this off season. Hibbert is better than Kosta koufus , I always liked Lou Williams and Brandon bass is a solid vet. I think they need to add a wing, maybe dorell wright on the vets minimum . they are good enough to at least make the 8th seed, but they won’t go all the way, pending any franchise changing mid season trades. I have been a Lakers fan my whole life, that will never change . I’ll rep purple and gold even if they are the worst team in the NBA .
I don’t think the moves the Lakers have made this offseason are that bad, either. It would have been great to get the big fish, but these are some nice consolation prizes. That said, consolation prizes and eighth seeds won’t cut it in L.A.
True, but I haven’t seen the Lakers in the playoff for 2 years, ill take the 8th seed. I don’t think anyone wants to play with Kobe, sadly. Tough personality for anyone to get along. Hopefully Durant will sign with us next season. Wishful thinking though
Saw today that LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t have a problem with Kobe, so at least that wasn’t a negative. I do think the notion that guys don’t want to play with Kobe is overblown, and even if it wasn’t, he’s likely entering his last year, anyway.
I don’t think it has to do with Kobe, to be honest. I think it has more to do with the rest of the roster and timing
All Faker Fan’s are Idiots….The Lakers Blow….Kobe Blows….B-Scott Blows….Mitch Kupchak’s recruiting pitches super Blow…lol….Clipper’s own LA…..
You are trying to get a reaction out of Lakers fans to your post but I’m going to stay classy unlike you. Have a nice day sir. P.S. DeAndre Jordan
Oh so your a Faker Fan…are you ready for another 20-win season….congratulations on the new lottery pick….where’s Kobe’s wife I need another blow….
You seem to like trying to start online fights with people. I wonder why that is? I would love to do a psychological evaluation on you
Feel like that would be a good college psychology class,
“Inside the mind of an internet troll”
Is this supposed to be satirical?
And why is your name “SHAQ” if you’re hating on the Lakers so hard?
stop feeding the troll. Its the same guy for the last week, if you hadnt noticed. You can easily change your name countless times with this commenting system
Not hate’n…these Fakers…just Blow….Gota go…Kobe’s wife giving me a Blow…..
Signing L.A. would have been huge for many factors, mainly being attractive to other free agents. Notice how many other people went to San Antonio after he signed?
Another terrible off season that could have been great. With such an incompetent front office, I don’t blame the likes of Monroe going to the Bucks(!).
We may have a storied past, but the present and the future are very murky right now from the fans’ perspective.
Yeah, it seems like a lot has changed since the passing of Jerry Buss, though I’m not sure how much direct influence he had in the last few years of his life, when the Lakers were still winning titles.
I’m not a lakers fan, but I’ll comment on this subject…They’ve done decently so far. They had a very good draft, and signed a very good undrafted free agent. Only way they could have come out better was by taking RJ Hunter over Larry Nance.
In free agency, they’ve pretty much done almost what they did last year. After going hard after the main guys, they didn’t try to get the mid tier guys, and let some good options bypass them. That being said, Lou Williams and Brandon Bass are good pickups. Not so sure about Hibbert, but he should help defensively…I think they need more shooting on the wing. Still, I don’t like the idea of Kobe, Nick Young, and Lou Williams on the same team. They should probably look to move Nick Young somewhere, and look to pickup a couple of wing players through free agency or through a trade
great points all around, agree with the trio of kobe/lou/young being too ridiculous
RJ Hunter is overrated. Everyone loves his range, but his shooting percentage was not good. Nance is the superior athlete and defender, with an improving perimeter game of his own.
The Lakers have improved over last season, not to the point that many would have like to have seen; but improvement none the less. I foresee an 8th seed in playoffs or so, but i think the explosive growth will be with the departure of Kobe. Let him have his last hoorah in the playoffs this year and then cut bait. 2016 starting lineup- PG: Williams SG: Swaggy P SF: Kevin Durant PF: Julius Randle C: Al Jefferson/ Roy Hibbert… looks pretty good to me!
Sir….please smack yourself….For putting K_Durant on the 2016 Fakers…..lollll…………..
#KDLaker16′!
Young is much more likely to be shipped out than promoted to starter. Williams starting over Russell is ridiculous in it’s own right. Durant will be a tough get, but Lakers could potentially improve at SF with Batum, Deng, or Chandler if they can’t get Durant.
i think the Lakers have a chance to make playoffs now but there are many unanswered questions. How quickly can Russell and Randle adapt to the pros? Will Clarkson and Tarik Black continue to develop? Can Hibbert regain his All Star level play of a couple of years ago? Does Koby have one more great season in him? I like the pick ups of Bass and Williams for depth. I am hopeful that Larry Nance and Anthony Brown can make team and be productive. Finally, if he has mastered his demons, Robert Upshaw could be a steal.
I agree with all of this. I think this season will test the coaching mettle of Byron Scott as he works with a lot of new faces and a mix of young and old. If the Lakers don’t come close to a playoff berth, well, I imagine you’ll hear the name of Tom Thibodeau quite a bit.
He has to give up that idea of only shooting 10-15 3s at most..
Probably looking at an 8-11th seed, but lets be honest, the real win here is that the Lakers will be WATCHABLE this year!!!
Last season went down the drain in a matter of 14 minutes (save for the late season emergence of Jordan Clarkson)…
In terms of free agency, I’m just glad the Lakers finally made some moves!
Should have resigned Ed Davis, but save for that, I am happy to not see the likes of: Hill, Boozer, Lin, Price, Johnson, etc no longer donning the purple & gold.
Brandon Bass was a great pickup, Lou Williams (though a redundant talent) has a reasonable, and very tradeable contract, and though Robin Lopez/Kosta Koufos were not terrible fallback options, Roy Hibbert most likely offers the most potential upside, and given the nature of his expiring deal gives the Lakers the ability to reset in a year, should he fail to live up to expectations.
At this point, the Lakers desperately need a veteran SF (Anthony Brown/Larry Nance Jr. could very well be the future, but currently they are looking at a Kobe/Nick Young platoon at one of the most important defensive positions…sigh…) There are still a few quality FA options out there (Landry Fields, Gerald Green, etc.) or potential trade options (Terrance Ross w/ Demarre Carroll/Demar Derozan locking down the 2/3 in Toronto for the foreseeable future, or potentially Tony Snell w/ Jimmy Butler locked in long-term in Chicago), and then lastly, there is the matter of shedding Nick Young’s contract (due to his constant clashes w/ coach Scott, and the recent signing of Lou Williams, making him and his no-defense/hero ball antics expendable).
All in all, the focus of the 2015-16 season for the Lakers will be on developing the young talent (Clarkson, Russell, Randle, Black, Anthony Brown, Nance Jr., Jabari Brown, Upshaw), and Season 20 of Kobe “Bean” Bryant’s HOF career, and most likely swan song before he hangs it for good, and is memorialized in the rafters of Staples Center along w/ all of the Lakers legends before him…
It will tough for the Lakers to turn it around that quickly but if Randle can stay healthy and Russell proves he was the right choice at No. 2, their future will look a lot brighter.
Lets also not discount that Byron Scott, for all of his deficiencies as a coach, has proven time and time again to be a great developer of talent, especially when it comes to point guards.
He elevated Jason Kidd’s game in New Jersey. He helped Chris Paul become an elite point guard in his stay in New Orleans. He developed Kyrie Irving in Cleveland. Last year, he took Clarkson, far less heralded than those three by every measure, and turned him into a serviceable point guard for the future.
And now he has D’Angelo Russell.
On top of that, Kupchak has salvaged the off-season by bringing in high character guys like Bass and Williams to surround these young players with (and likely will ship out Young). Add in the continued development of Randle, and the swing-for-the-fences potential of Upshaw, and it’s hard to call this off-season a failure, despite the lack of marquee signings.
While it wasn’t the capital S success of an off-season the Lakers had hoped for, Kupchak and company has put the pieces together to develop these players into potential stars in the future.
So even if you are not a die hard lakers fan – it is time to get behind the team and management so fat idiots like Brian windbag quit trashing out beloved lakers
First – analytics my ass – if the d antoni system was so wonderful Dwight Howard would have stayed – lebron single handedly almost beat the Warriors and none of the 3 point shooting teams consistently win
Second – analytics my ass
For those of us who remember magic worthy and Scott AC green Rambis and cooper running the fast break – the best ever offense in the history of the nba past present or future was all triggered by speed and brilliant one of a kind ball handling by magic -they would have destroyed the Warriors and any team that jacked up threes
Reason is very simple – 3 point shots even if a team shoots 40 percent the remaining 60 percent it is up for a rebound and every time somebody misses in a nano second the laker team would score demoralizing the other team and then of course they would have to play half court
Even Phil Jackson teams an elite Michael Jordan or Kobe or the ultimate dominator shaq would have destroyed the opposition as they were very controlled
I don’t blame Scott or magic one bit as they know a methodical offense or a scintillating point guard can beat modern day analytics any day – we hope that is de Angelo Russell
Now we hear these moronic pundits talk about gasol leaving. – remember he was the moron who let his play be affected in 2011 by the loss of his girlfriend and we lost for no reason at all to Dallas
In fact gasol always outplayed nowitzki so lakers wanted to get rid of him I would too
And he didn’t do jack for Chicago anyway
Dwight who needs him – Houston hasn’t done squat so that was no loss at all – only downside was we could not do a sign and trade
Hibbert if he can be motivated maybe by Kareem will be more than fine
Also remember with the exception of shaq no major free agent came – everything else was trades which the lakers are still the best at
Remember both blazers and clippers are not going to the playoffs
And with a healthy Kobe we will be in the playoffs
Go lakers and all the naysayers go fly a kite
Can’t blame everything on Mitch. The sales pitch debacle is on Jeanie, selling the players marketing potential as opposed to the Lakers future/title aspirations for the FIRST 90 minutes is bad business! As in any business, get to the freakin point!… time is money. Lakers grade thus far IMO C-. If they’d pitched the Lakers future and how they intend to turn things around in the near future FIRST then they’d have a better shot of landing LA.
But FO, likely meaning MITCH managed to acquire some good pieces with what was left over in FA aside of acquiring Hibbert tho many expected a pick in return as opposed to a pick being dealt. Although, Mitch gets plenty of blame but it takes an overall team effort aside of everyone being in the same page to get the job done. IMO, best for FO to make a move before the trade deadline to increase their odds of having a better shot in landing potential star talent in 2016FA.
In the end, if the inept stay put without making any impact-ful changes to help their odds in 2016 FA not certain star talent will have much interest playing for the Lakers in the near future. But with that said the Lakers long-term prognosis looks good 4+ years from now (=Lakers youth). By then this FO would’ve also kicked themselves out of their respective roles with their false promises thus far.
Been calling FO inept for the last 3 off seasons and they haven’t disappointed so far smh.
I think the Lakers will be fine and exciting this year with the line up of Russell, Clarkson, Bryant, Randle and Hibbert. No loss if they don’t want to be here. The way I see it is they don’t have the balls to take on the responsibility of being the main guy, hence no “killer instinct.” So let’s move on fellas and hope for the best this season. It may not happen in the next year or so but I believe D’Angelo will bring us #17 before the Clippers advances to the WCF, if ever!
So how the Lakers were supposed to make “franchise-altering deals” during this free-agency in your opinion
Forcing LMA or Jordan to sign with them?
Trading Randle or Russel or both of them?
Signing Lopez or Carrol (or both of them) with doube figures contracts for multiple years?
{Didnt read the comments below, pardon any repetition} I don’t consider the offseason to be a total loss. Did we want Aldridge? Yes. Jordan? Yes. Monroe or Lopez? Consolation prizes. I like Hibbert on a 1-yr experiment. He has to know that the fanbase is expecting so little, so I expect him to play with a chip on his shoulder. In reality, he’ll be playing for his next contract, so it’s imperative for him to succeed. Bass & Williams are nice role player additions, consummate pros. Bottom line, if you’re not a championship contender, you’d like to see the young guys grow, and with the current roster, Russell, Randle & Clarkson can shine. If they break out, that makes LA more appealing in future years to free agents, so we might not have this problem much longer.
There are disappointments for the Lakers sure, though I think realistically Aldridge was the only FA (as a Lakers fan) I thought they lost out on. I disagree with your saying they don’t look better than last season’s squad.
1) They will have Randle back for the season. He looks terrific in summer action, fwiw.
2) Russell already looks like someone who will make everyone else look better. Clarkson can slide over, having the two of them together gives Scott the backcourt he’s been dreaming of.
3) Hibbert isn’t exciting but at least gives them a center and some defense there.
4) Kobe will be back, too. And of course none of us have any idea what to expect from him – is he healthy? Can he still be a difference maker? Will he take too many shots again? But hard to deny that having him back presumably healthy will help their scoring weakness.
5) Lou Williams will be a much better 6th man for the *team*’s play than Nick Young. (Have to also wait and see if they can find a taker for Swaggy.)
None of this means the Lakers are on their way to going deep into the finals, mind you, and they still need to make another move or two, but they at least look like a fringe playoff team now, and that’s more than any of us could say last season (even early in the season). So I hope more moves are coming, but they may have to prove themselves as going in the right direction now before marquee free agents will want to play there. Rebuilding is painful for we spoiled Lakers fans ;) but 1 more year and they should be more legit.
How is this Lakers team not fundamentally better? They would be fundamentally better just getting Randle and Kobe back healthy. Add to that a full year of Clarkson, #2 overall pick Russell, and 2 more rotation guys from the draft in Brown and Nance Jr and this Lakers team is much better before even reaching free agency.
Now, add a rim-protecting big man in Hibbert (better than anyone the Lakers used at center last year by a substantial margin), the 6th man of the year in Lou Williams, and a solid vet and PF backup for Randle in Brandon Bass, and this team is clearly much improved.
Are they playoff level? Not likely, especially in the West where it could take 50 wins to get in as the 8 seed. Lakers could approach .500 this year though, a huge improvement over last season’s 21 win team.
good solid moves- Hibbert, Bass and Williams are solid role players, this year will depend on the development of Russell and Randle and of course the health of Kobe
First of all anybody who switches from the Lakers to the Clippers ain’t no real Lakers fan. You deal with the good and you deal with the bad. I think a lot of the fans are more frustrated with Jim Buss running operations and feel that Jennie Buss would be more of an influential person like her dad and should run day to day operations. With that being said, yes it would’ve been great to land LaMarcus Aldridge but I couldn’t see him going to a rebuilding project like the Lakers. Only thing we would have sold him on was the future of the Lakers (Clarkson, Randle, Russell) but for a guy who turns 30 soon he’s not willing to wait for that to happen 3-4 years down the line. Mitch K has a tough job in assembling a competitive team and if all pans out with the youngsters then this team can go from a 21 win team to a 30 win team at best. As for the offseason moves, I really have to give credit to Mitch Kupchak for trading for Roy Hibbert, he’s not an all-star center but he is a rim protector and rebounding machine. Bringing in Lou Williams should bring a more versatile player than Nick Young. Brandon Bass will provide another big body in the post that you can use for rebounding and defensive purposes. Plan B to me looks good so far but my feeling is that next year at this time when Kobe has retired and the Lakers will probably have like 60 million in cap space they will be able to attract a new 1-2 punch to LA. My hope Kevin Durant be one of those players. Only time will tell. Go Lakers!!!
I think the Lakers scrambled the last decent free agents they could muster. They added a few quality pieces, but not enough for them to compete for the 8th seed in the west. Best thing they can do is develop D-Angelo and Julius Randle and create some chemistry for the season after next.