Offseason Outlook: Los Angeles Lakers
Guaranteed Contracts
- Kobe Bryant ($23,500,000)
- Steve Nash ($9,701,000)
- Robert Sacre ($915,243)
Options
- Nick Young ($1,227,985, Player)*
Non-Guaranteed Contracts
- Kendall Marshall ($915,243)
Free Agents / Cap Holds
- Pau Gasol ($20,250,143)**
- Jordan Hill ($6,650,000)
- Chris Kaman ($3,819,600)
- (Ron Harper $2,860,000)***
- No. 7 pick ($2,497,800)
- MarShon Brooks ($2,179,354)****
- (Shammond Williams $2,100,000)
- Jodie Meeks ($2,015,000)
- (Karl Malone $1,800,000)
- Kent Bazemore ($1,115,243 – QO)*****
- Ryan Kelly ($1,016,482 – QO)******
- Jordan Farmar ($915,243)
- Xavier Henry ($915,243)
- Wesley Johnson ($915,243)
- (Andrew Goudelock $915,243)
- (Horace Grant $915,243)
- (Jim Jackson $915,243)
- (Ira Newble $915,243)
- (Theo Ratliff $915,243)
- (Mitch Richmond ($915,243)
- (John Salley $915,243)
- (Brian Shaw $915,243)
- (Joe Smith $915,243)
Draft Picks
- 1st Round (7th overall)
Cap Outlook
- Guaranteed Salary: $34,116,243
- Options: $1,227,985
- Non-Guaranteed Salary: $915,243
- Cap Holds: $57,286,538
- Total: $93,546,009
The summer ahead for the Lakers will be unlike any the franchise has ever faced. The purple-and-gold are coming off their worst season since before they were the purple-and-gold, having only finished with an inferior winning percentage once, in 1957/58, as the Minneapolis Lakers. That bunch of Lakers took Elgin Baylor with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1958 draft and made the Finals in 1959, but chances are the team won’t be adding a Hall-of-Famer with the seventh overall pick this month.
The pick is just one of several priorities for GM Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss, the team’s co-owner and executive vice president in charge of basketball operations. The Lakers are conducting a methodical coaching search that’s threatening to extend past the draft and into free agency, when the team will have to rebuild a roster with just three players on guaranteed contracts for next season. Kobe Bryant, empowered by a two-year, $48.5MM extension that won’t kick in until next season, excoriated management earlier this spring, insisting that he has “not one lick” of patience for another losing season. Bryant later backed off some of his remarks, expressing support for the organization, but no one still with the franchise is more of a symbol for the Lakers than he is. His words will echo throughout the summer, even as Kupchak downplays Bryant’s influence on the team’s coaching search.
Indeed, Bryant might not have a direct effect on the team’s decision, but Kupchak pointed to the ability to get the most out of Bryant as a top priority as the team sifts through its coaching options. Mike Dunleavy, Byron Scott, Alvin Gentry and Lionel Hollins have received interviews, and while there’s dispute over whether the team’s discussion about the head coaching position with assistant coach Kurt Rambis constituted an interview, it’s clear that he’s a candidate for the job. Still, those five aren’t necessarily the front-runners, and more interviews appear likely. In other years, when more obvious choices were present and the Lakers fortunes were brighter, the search might not move so slow, but with Phil Jackson ensconced as Knicks team president and serious doubts surrounding the roster, there is no easy answer.
The same could be said of the team’s approach to free agency. LeBron James seems increasingly likely to remain with the Heat for at least one more year. Carmelo Anthony is thinking of taking a pass on free agency, but the Lakers aren’t that high on him, anyway. There’s mutual interest with Chris Bosh, but he says he’s staying in Miami, too. The Lakers have considered a bloated offer for Eric Bledsoe, but the Suns intend to match whatever comes their way for the restricted free agent. League executives reportedly believe the Lakers are among the teams most likely to throw a max offer at Greg Monroe, but he, too, is a restricted free agent, and Pistons boss Stan Van Gundy has been speaking highly of him. There’s been little chatter connecting the Lakers to fellow restricted free agent Gordon Hayward, and he seems most likely to return to Utah. Dwyane Wade probably won’t leave Miami, and even if he does, the Lakers already have an aging shooting guard with mounting injury woes. The team apparently isn’t high on Kyle Lowry, and while the Lakers like Luol Deng, they’re wary of overpaying him. Zach Randolph pointed to the Lakers, among others, for their tradition of loyalty when he was upset over trade rumors this season, but he and the Grizzlies are in preliminary talks on an extension. That accounts for all 10 players in the latest Hoops Rumors Free Agent Power Rankings, casting serious doubt over whether the Lakers will use their ample cap flexibility to pull off a marquee signing this summer.
Kevin Love and perhaps Rajon Rondo loom as stars obtainable via trade, but the competition for Love is fierce and the Celtics seem more focused on adding stars around Rondo than dealing him away. The Lakers have sign-and-trade fodder, a middling lottery pick, and little else to offer in exchange, making it difficult to envision them coming up with an offer that’s attractive enough for a rival team to part with its star. The quickest path back to contention probably involves waiting for next summer, when Love, Rondo, and a host of other enviable names can hit free agency, but the willingness of Bryant to buy into that idea is a questionable prospect, at best. That’s no doubt playing into the team’s coaching search, as Kupchak and Buss seek someone able to manage Bryant’s moodiness during a non-contending season in a way that doesn’t poison the locker room. Bryant could just as easily serve as a model of passion and preparation for whomever the team drafts at No. 7, so getting the best out of Bryant off the court will be as important as getting the best out of him on it.
Power forwards are clustered within range of the seventh pick, with names like Julius Randle, Noah Vonleh, Dario Saric and Aaron Gordon likely to be in the mix. Former coach Mike D’Antoni might have liked to have seen the team shy away from traditional fours, but the position is a need if the Lakers are to return to a conventional attack. Point guard Marcus Smart is interspersed among that bunch, but the Lakers already have Kendall Marshall, who’s yet to turn 23 and is just two years removed from having been the 13th overall pick. His 8.8 assists per game in 54 contests would have been tied for the second most in the league had he played a full season. There’s little need for the Lakers to upgrade at his position.
The necessity for a big man is much greater, and that becomes even more so if Pau Gasol heads elsewhere. Gasol has gone back and forth about his unrestricted free agency this summer, and his latest comments put the Lakers in the mix for him along with the Grizzlies, Bulls and Spurs. The resignation of Mike D’Antoni removed a likely barrier to his willingness to re-sign, and that was after Bryant pegged the chances that the Spanish 7-footer would stay at 80% this past March. Nonetheless, 50% appears a more realistic figure, and even that might be too high. Jordan Hill and Chris Kaman also appear less than likely to return, putting pressure on the team to re-sign Ryan Kelly and aggressively seek big men from outside the organization.
The team has no such problem with perimeter players. The Lakers and Nick Young have mutual interest in a return, as do the team and Jodie Meeks. The same can be said for the Lakers and Jordan Farmar, and Wesley Johnson believes the team reciprocates his desire to re-sign. There’s also a chance, however faint, that Steve Nash will contribute in some significant way to the team next year. The Lakers have little need to use the stretch provision to waive Nash and reduce his cap hit unless the team’s options in free agency improve drastically, and indeed the team plans on keeping the 40-year-old under contract. Stretching his deal would compromise the team’s cap space for the summer of 2015, and the Lakers need not extend the pain of what’s already proven a burdensome arrangement.
Buss said in October 2012 that the Lakers wanted to make a “splash” in the summer of 2014, but it was at about that point that fortunes for the franchise suddenly went south. The same verbiage was used in regard to the team’s plans for its coaching search, but it seems less likely by the day that the team will hire anyone with jaw-dropping credentials. The glitz and glamour surrounding the Lakers may never vanish, but the winning has. The chasm wasn’t as deep between Finals appearances in 2004 and 2008, but Bryant nearly forced his way out before management proved adept at building the team back to contention. Bryant’s ability to remember that experience will have much to do with how well the Lakers are able to climb back toward the familiar top.
Cap footnotes
* — Young’s cap hold would be $915,243 if he were to opt out, an outcome that appears likely.
** — Gasol’s cap hold will be the lesser of $20,250,143, which is 150% of his 2013/14 salary, or the maximum salary for a veteran of 10 or more seasons, which won’t be determined until after the July Moratorium.
*** — See our glossary entry on cap holds for an explanation of why Harper and others listed in parentheses below his name technically remain on the books for the Lakers.
**** — The cap hold for Brooks is equivalent to the greatest amount the Lakers can offer him for next season. Because the Celtics declined their fourth-year team option on Brooks before the season, the Lakers aren’t allowed to re-sign him for a 2014/15 salary that’s more than he would have earned on that option. That’s true even though Brooks was traded twice, first to the Warriors and then the Lakers.
***** — The cap hold for Bazemore would be $915,243 if the Lakers decline to tender his qualifying offer.
****** — The cap hold for Kelly would be $816,482 if the Lakers decline to tender his qualifying offer.
ShamSports and Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ were used in the creation of this post.
Thunder GM On Brooks, Fisher, Jackson, Perkins
It appears that Scott Brooks will remain coach of the Thunder, as GM Sam Presti said today that Brooks has done an “excellent job” and expressed optimism that the coach will perform even better next year, as The Oklahoman’s Darnell Mayberry notes (Twitter links). Mayberry has plenty more from the GM’s press conference, and we’ll pass along the highlights here:
- Derek Fisher seems to have Presti’s blessing to chase head coaching jobs with other teams this summer. Presti said the free agent guard has no obligation to keep the Thunder informed of his plans and has to do what’s best for him, as Mayberry passes along (Twitter links). “The only thing we have a right to do is to support him,” Presti said.
- Presti appeared to downplay the idea of an extension for Reggie Jackson this summer, though the GM cautioned that the team is not considering a trade that sends him out, reminiscent of the decision to trade James Harden rather than give him an extension. “Generally, these things don’t happen in July, and the trend now is they don’t happen by the October 31st deadline,” Presti said, according to Mayberry (Twitter links).
- The team hasn’t given thought to amnestying Kendrick Perkins, Presti said, according to Mayberry (via Twitter).
- Oklahoma City is open to trading its pair of first round picks, Presti said, as Mayberry tweets. The Thunder have reportedly promised Kristaps Porzingis that they’ll draft him in the first round.
- The GM indicated that the club will exercise caution with long-term deals in free agency this summer to protect future flexibility, Mayberry tweets.
- Presti gave Mayberry the impression that he won’t push to sign “draft-and-stash” players Tibor Pleiss and Alex Abrines. The GM suggested that he’ll examine it, but cap worries would likely forestall a deal with either of them, Mayberry believes (Twitter links). “A lot of it is timing for them,” Presti said.
Saunders Strongly Considers Coaching Wolves
Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders is strongly considering filling the team’s coaching vacancy with himself, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Saunders would target Chauncey Billups for an assistant coaching position in that scenario, Stein adds (Twitter links). Billups remains under contract with the Pistons, who hold a $2.5MM team option on him for next season, but he’s indicated that he’s mulling retirement.
The idea of Saunders becoming Minnesota’s head coach next season, reprising the role he had from 1995 to 2005, is not new, but it appears as though the team is circling around to it after failing to gain traction with other coaching candidates.
Draft Notes: Gordon, Napier, Spurs, Raptors
The draft is three weeks from tonight, and players continue to travel around North America to show off for teams and make the best of their chances. Here’s the latest:
- The Jazz are among the teams on Aaron Gordon‘s workout schedule, tweets Sean Cunningham of News10 Sacramento.
- Shabazz Napier is set to audition for the Bulls today, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
- The Spurs are working out Cleanthony Early, Glenn Robinson III, and Isaiah Austin today, according to Goodman (via Twitter).
- The previously unreported prospects showing off for the Raptors today are the similarly named DeAndre Kane, DeAndre Daniels, K.J. McDaniels and C.J. Fair, the team announced.
- The Suns worked out Aaron Craft, Markel Starks, Tarik Black and Casey Prather on Wednesday, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter).
- Bryce Cotton will audition for the Sixers next week, as agent Harold B. Woolfalk tells Tyler R. Tynes of the Philadelphia Daily News.
- The Knicks are set to get a look at Arkansas State forward Kirk Van Slyke today, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).
Wolves Find Celtics Unappealing Suitor For Love
THURSDAY, 7:55am: The Celtics have yet to make an offer for Love, though they are prepared to do so, reports Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. It’ll almost certainly include the No. 6 pick, though Ainge has been in contact with two teams in the top five about moving up, Murphy adds.
WEDNESDAY, 11:48pm: Kevin Love is willing to consider a long-term deal with the Celtics, sources tell Jackie MacMullan of ESPNBoston.com, but the Wolves aren’t thrilled with what the Celtics can offer, MacMullan hears. The Wolves privately maintain they’ve received better offers from Bulls and others, according to MacMullan.
Minnesota owner Glen Taylor is reluctant to deal with Boston, stung by the divergent fortunes of the Celtics and Wolves following the 2007 Kevin Garnett trade, MacMullan writes. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has hard feelings about Flip Saunders, who holds the same title in Minnesota, feeling as though Saunders undermined former Wolves boss Kevin McHale, Ainge’s longtime teammate, as MacMullan details. There are basketball-related stumbling blocks, too. Minnesota, like most others, is enamored with Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid and Jabari Parker, but Boston’s pick, at No. 6 overall, isn’t as nearly as attractive as one in the top three, MacMullan notes. Still, the Wolves aren’t interested in trading with the Cavs, either, according to MacMullan, in spite of Cleveland’s possession of the No. 1 overall pick.
Taylor would be willing to re-sign Love for the max if he changed his mind about wanting out, and he’s otherwise not eager to take a drastic step down in a trade involving Love, MacMullan writes. MacMullan lists the Celtics, Bulls, Warriors, Suns, Lakers and Rockets as teams that will make a run at trading for Love. Certainly every team in the league has some level of interest in the Second Team All-NBA power forward, but MacMullan appears to indicate that those six are the clubs poised to make the most aggressive pushes.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported about two weeks ago that Boston was becoming more and more appealing for Love, who, with agent Jeff Schwartz in tow, made a high-profile visit to the city this past weekend. Still, Love is not yet a free agent. The Wolves will have the final say over where he plays next season, and it doesn’t look like they’re as high on the Celtics as Love is.
Thompson, Waiters Part Of Preliminary Trade Talk
The Cavs have had “exploratory” trade discussions involving Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters with another team in the lottery that’s looking to move up, tweets Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio. Amico wrote earlier this week that either the Bucks or the Sixers had inquired with Cleveland about acquiring the No. 1 overall pick, though it’s unclear if the discussions about Thompson and Waiters took place with one of those teams or another within the top 14 picks.
Teams around the league have reportedly held interest in Thompson and Waiters, suggesting that Cleveland GM David Griffin wasn’t the one who floated those names in the talks. Indeed, Griffin has spoken fondly of his backcourt pairing of Waiters and Kyrie Irving. Thompson has meanwhile expressed a mild frustration with Cleveland’s rapid coaching turnover, and he, like Irving, is up for a rookie scale extension this summer. It would be difficult to trade Thompson if he received an extension, thanks to the Poison Pill Provision, so perhaps Griffin feels as though the best time to deal him is before the October 31st extension deadline.
Owner Dan Gilbert’s impatience has led to speculation that the Cavs will trade the top pick for veteran help. Sending young vets Waiters and Thompson away in any deal that doesn’t net a significant upgrade would seem to run counter to the goal of winning in the short term. Still, given the exploratory nature of the conversations, it seems that neither former No. 4 overall pick should feel it necessary to have a bag packed.
Anthony Morrow Still Mulling Player Option
9:40pm: While Reid doesn’t foresee Morrow agreeing to the minimum salary, he does believe that the free agent will give the Pelicans the first shot at signing him. (Twitter link)
JUNE 4TH 4:05pm: Morrow has yet to decide what to do about his player option, as his agent, Wallace Prather, tells John Reid of The Times Picayune. The Pelicans likely would attempt to retain Morrow with a more lucrative deal than his existing minimum-salary arrangement, Reid writes.
”We haven’t specifically sat down and discussed it with (Pelicans GM) Dell Demps yet, so we don’t have anything to say about it right now,” Prather said.
MAY 29TH: Sharpshooter Anthony Morrow will turn down his player option with the Pelicans and become a free agent this summer, a source tells Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype. The 28-year-old was set to earn nearly $1.146MM next season, but a bounce-back year behind the arc apparently has him confident he can earn more.
The six-year veteran hit 45.1% of his three-point looks this past season, more in line with the 44.7% accuracy from behind the arc that he displayed over his first three seasons. He only hit 37.1% of his long-range attempts in 2011/12 and 2012/13, leading the Perennial Sports & Entertainment client to sign two-year a minimum-salary contract with New Orleans last summer. The deal included clauses that would have made part of his salary non-guaranteed if he missed time because of back and hip injuries, but he played in a career-high 76 games this past season.
The Pelicans have about $54MM in commitments for next season, so Morrow’s decision preserves the team’s full flexibility beneath a projected $63.2MM salary cap. They can attempt to re-sign him using Non-Bird rights that would allow for a starting salary worth 120% of what he made this past season. I’d be surprised if Morrow doesn’t have his eyes on a larger raise than that, one which would force New Orleans to use cap space or another exception.
Stan Van Gundy On Bower, Monroe, Drummond
Pistons owner Tom Gores and his partners had an active role in the search for GM Jeff Bower, as coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy told reporters, including MLive’s Brendan Savage. Van Gundy said he sees the influence as a positive, giving him confidence that he can have a successful working relationship with the club’s owners, Savage notes. Van Gundy had plenty more to say as the team introduced Bower to the media, and we’ll round up his most relevant comments via Savage and Perry Farrell of the Detroit Free Press.
On the front office dynamic between him and Bower:
“Jeff is going to be our general manager on a day-to-day basis. He’s going to be talking to assistant general managers and the scouts and dealing with agents on the phone and things like that. I’ll be much more involved at this time of the year but as we get into the season, it will look like a pretty conventional NBA franchise. What we want is a collaboration process with a lot of hard-working, intelligent people who are thinking and then we use the process to come to a decision. I look at my role in this … as more working with Jeff to develop a vision and strategy of where we want to be and then Jeff will be the primary guy. This will be Jeff’s front office. I’ll be involved. We’ve talked about lines of communication to keep me involved. But day-to-day, he’ll be the one running things.”
On the front office chain of command:
“I know how important the general manger is in this thing. The general manager is going to have just about as much authority as he has anywhere. I guess at the end of the day, if we totally disagreed on who to sign, yeah I’ll be the one [to make the final decision]. I don’t think it will come to that.”
On Greg Monroe‘s fit with the Pistons:
“Before you talk about style of play we have a current roster right here, right now and we’ve got to build around that, and I think a key piece around that right now is the Greg Monroe situation as a restricted free agent. What’s going to go on there? With Greg and Andre [Drummond] you certainly have to play a little bit differently than we played in Orlando. That doesn’t mean you still can’t find a fit. We have two of the best young guys in the league. I value Greg Monroe highly. I do want him here, but obviously when you’re dealing with a free agent, even restricted free agents, the situation gets a little more complicated.”
On his interaction with Monroe and agent David Falk:
“We’ve sat down face-to-face and they know how highly I value him. Greg Monroe is a very good young talent. He has great offensive skills. He has very high character. Those are things we value a great deal. I hope he’s here for the long haul.”
On his pitch to Monroe:
“I’ve tried to sell him on our vision. I told him I have a pretty good track record with big guys being successful.”
Thunder Give Kristaps Porzingis Draft Promise
The Thunder have promised Latvian power forward Kristaps Porzingis that they’ll draft him in the first round, sources tell Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Twitter link), who’s updated his latest Big Board with detail. Ford surmises that It’s likely the Thunder have him in mind for the 21st overall pick, rather than the 29th selection, which they also hold, since there appears to be a strong chance he might not even be available at No. 21. Ford ranks Porzingis as the 18th-best draft prospect, believing he could go as high as No. 12. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress has him at No. 23.
The 19-year-old is variously listed as either 6’11” or 7’0″, and Ford cites his upside as explanation for why he’s been zooming up draft boards. Porzingis hasn’t produced much in the Spanish league, averaging 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 15.2 minutes per game for Cajasol Banca Civica this season.
Such promises are a standard tactic around draft time, and often prompt players to stop working out for other clubs. There haven’t been reports about Porzingis scheduling any workouts with teams, but if he’s indeed received a promise, he’s unlikely to audition for any NBA club other than the Thunder. Promises aren’t necessarily a guarantee a team will draft a certain prospect, as clubs have reneged on such promises in the past when a more enticing player unexpectedly becomes available. Other teams with higher picks can intercede, too. There were rumors that the Celtics had promised Dennis Schröder last year, but he wound up with the Hawks instead while Boston traded up for Kelly Olynyk.
Kings Take Lead In Race For Kevin Love?
4:09pm: The Kings have indeed made calls about Love, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee.
3:56pm: The Wolves have yet to speak with the Kings about Love, two sources tell Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link).
3:41pm: The Kings appear to be the front-runners to acquire Kevin Love, as Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio hears (Twitter link). That runs counter to Monday’s report from Sean Deveney of The Sporting News indicating that Sacramento wouldn’t be Minnesota’s preference. Still, the Kings are apparently willing to trade for Love even without an assurance that he’d remain in Sacramento beyond next summer, when he can opt out of his contract and hit free agency. The Kings would give up anyone other than DeMarcus Cousins to acquire the All-NBA second-teamer, according to Amico.
Sacramento is reportedly willing to surrender the eighth overall pick in this year’s draft, but the Wolves apparently would be unlikely to have interest unless they’re confident that either Julius Randle or Noah Vonleh will still be on the board at No. 8. Minnesota appears to be holding off on a trade until it names a coach, likely with the hope that a splashy hire will convince Love to change his mind about leaving.
Plenty of other teams are in the mix for Love, including the Warriors, Rockets, Bulls, Celtics, Lakers and Wizards, so the Kings will have plenty of competition. Given that Minnesota seems to be in a holding pattern, I wouldn’t be surprised if other clubs pull ahead of the Kings, nor would it be a shock to see the position of favorite in the Love sweepstakes go back and forth several times. Still, the Kings have proven one of the most aggressive franchises on the trade market over the past year under owner Vivek Ranadive and GM Pete D’Alessandro.