When the Lakers gave Kobe Bryant his massive two-year extension last November, it gave us a slight clue as to what their intentions were for this offseason. With nearly half of their salary cap now tied up in just Kobe and Steve Nash, we could conclude that they would only have enough cap room to offer one max contract to a free agent, and that would most likely come at the expense of losing Pau Gasol. We could also assume that they had most likely surveyed the upcoming free agent class and determined that nearly all of the top free agents were either going to re-sign with their current teams or were restricted free agents who would need to be grossly overcompensated to avoid having their offers sheets matched by their current teams.
Unlike the teams that actually had desirable assets with which to trade for someone like Kevin Love, the Lakers only had two things with which to improve their roster this offseason: the 7th pick in the draft and the ability to create as much as $32 million in cap space. With expectations low and hope high, Lakers fans entered free agency with cautious optimism. At least until we let our imaginations get the best of us.
Not long after the Melo meeting, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was on a plane to Cleveland to meet with LeBron’s agent to discuss the possibility of both LeBron and Carmelo joining the Lakers. It was also reported that Pau Gasol had said he would return to the Lakers at a discount if they were to sign Anthony. Even with most cautious of optimism, you couldn’t help but to momentarily fantasize about a starting lineup with Kobe, Melo, LeBron, and Pau in it.
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The Lakers would not only miss out on Melo and LeBron, but Pau had also decided it was time to move on, giving up his house on the beach for the cold winters of Chicago. Despite having all of that financial freedom, the roster that finished last season with a 27-55 record, might be worse next season. In addition to losing Gasol, they also lost Jodie Meeks, Jordan Farmar, Kent Bazemore, Kendall Marshall, Chris Kaman, and MarShon Brooks. Those seven were replaced by rookies Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson, as well as Jeremy Lin, Carlos Boozer, and Ed Davis. Those new guys join Kobe, Nash, and Robert Sacre, as well as re-signed free agents Nick Young, Jordan Hill, Ryan Kelly, Xavier Henry, and Wes Johnson.
I would have preferred to keep Meeks over any of the free agents they chose to bring back, but who expected anyone to offer him the 3-year/$19 million contract he got from Detroit? As for Farmar, it’s understandable that he didn’t want to wait on the Lakers any longer than he already had. For someone who gave up millions in Turkey to return to Los Angeles, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to not have to move his family again.
Losing Bazemore stings because the Lakers could have picked up his option for next season at a cost of only $1.1 million. They didn’t do it because they wanted to use the little bit of cap space his contract took up to pad their offers to Carmelo and LeBron. While they didn’t close the door on bringing him back, Bazemore ended up signing with the Atlanta Hawks for 2-years/$4 million; proving that they let a bargain get away for nothing.
Similarly, the Lakers had to waive Kendall Marshall to free up the cap space needed after they had won the auction for Carlos Boozer. They were hoping that Marshall would clear waivers and they could bring him back on a deal similar to the $915,000 he’ll make next season. Instead, he was claimed by the Milwaukee Bucks. While I enjoyed watching him play, losing Marshall is not a huge deal, especially with Lin, Clarkson, and Nash already on the roster. I’m just pointing out that their plan to waive him and re-sign him was just another in a pattern of things not really going the way the Lakers had hoped this offseason.
[divide]Kobe Bryant Answers Fan’s Questions, Talks Keys To The Game
PAGE 2: Trying To Make Sense of The Lakers Uneventful Offseason (So Far)
Before using all of their available cap space, the Lakers could have freed up another $6 million in cap space by using the stretch provision on Nash. Perhaps they were frightened by the potential of it backfiring. For starters, the only remaining unrestricted free agent the Lakers could have conceivably had interest in signing in the $8-9 million range was Lance Stephenson, and it wasn’t as if there were any reports that there was interest from either side. Using the stretch on Nash’s contract to free up cap space for an offer sheet to a restricted free agent like Phoenix’s Eric Bledsoe or Detroit’s Greg Monroe was just far too big a risk. If either the Suns or Pistons were to match, the Lakers could have been stuck with $3.23 million of Nash money counting against their cap for two additional years after this one.
If the front office felt the need to free up the $1.1 million on Bazemore’s option, Nash’s contract would have eaten up three times that amount. At least the Lakers can still try to trade Nash’s expiring contract until the deadline. Otherwise, don’t be surprised if they reach a buyout with him by March 1 and let him chase a ring with a contender.
**In case you’re unfamiliar with it, the stretch provision allows teams to waive any player who was signed after the implementation of the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement. By design, the remaining amount of money owed and it’s salary cap number are spread over twice the number of remaining years on the contract, plus one. Because Nash has one year left on his contract, the $9.7 million he’s due next season would instead get spread out over three years because (1 x 2) + 1 = 3. Since $9.7m/3 = $3.23m, the Lakers would take a cap hit of $3.23m over three consecutive seasons, beginning with the upcoming season.
A decent chunk of the Lakers’ available cap space was used to acquire Jeremy Lin and a first-round pick from the Houston Rockets. Since the Lakers won’t have a pick in next year’s draft unless it falls in the top-5, the Lin acquisition gives them draft insurance. By letting Chandler Parsons leave, trading away Lin and Omer Asik for cap space, and whiffing on LeBron, Melo, and Chris Bosh, the Rockets, who finished with the fourth-seed in the Western Conference last season could take a giant step backward. Should they miss the playoffs, which still seems unlikely although is no longer impossible, their pick would end up no lower than 14th.
I really don’t know what the Lakers intentions are with Lin. Do they envision him as part of their future, and if so, what type of contract would they be willing to offer him when he becomes a free agent next summer? Would he get anything close to an annual average of $9 million per season again? Between Nash and Lin, the Lakers have about $18 million in expiring point guard contracts. Although Lin will make about $15 million next season, his cap number for trade purposes is only $8.3 million.
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The Lakers added Boozer by winning the amnesty auction with a $3.25 million bid. By rule, players obtained via amnesty waivers can’t be traded for one year. In other words, because Boozer is in the last year of his contract, the Lakers can’t trade him. Much like Lin, the question with Boozer is where he fits into their plans beyond next season. He turns 33 in November and is coming off the worst statistical season of his career. If he was even half the player he once was, the Bulls would not have opted to pay him $13 million to play for someone else. The question is whether he can at least be better than he was last season. The best-case scenario is that Boozer and Randle find a way to coexist. Hopefully, Boozer’s mid-range shooting leaves the paint free for Randle to do what it is he does best. Worst-case scenario is the team doesn’t come close to making the playoffs and Boozer hinders the development of younger players by taking minutes away from them.
There’s a stat the NBA keeps track of that it calls contested rebounds, defining them as “the number of rebounds gathered where an opponent is within 3.5 feet.” Clarence Gaines II, the former Bulls scout during both three-peats and one of the first hires Phil Jackson made when he took over as Knicks president, has always been a big proponent of them. Gaines refers to them as “traffic rebounds”. Considering that Hill only averaged about 21 minutes per game last season, there was no way his 3.3 contested rebounds per game average was going to lead the league. That honor went to Andre Drummond of the Pistons, who averaged 6.1 per game. But if you were to break down the category per minute instead of per game, Hill had a better average than even DeAndre Jordan, the NBA’s rebounding champion, as well as other noted rebounders like Kevin Love, Dwight Howard, and Joakim Noah. In fact, Hill trailed only Drummond amongst players who played a minimum of 50 games. The big question with Hill is whether or not he has the durability and work ethic to play 30-plus minutes per night.
Hill’s contract probably garnered more head scratches than any other move the Lakers made this offseason. The first thing I thought of when I heard that it was for $9 million per year, with only the first year guaranteed, was Kwame Brown. Back in 2005, the Wizards had signed-and-traded Brown to the Lakers for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins. Brown’s contract was for three years and $25 million, with only the first two years and $16 million of it guaranteed. That seemed like a lot of money for someone who was coming off a season in which he averaged just seven points and five rebounds. The fact that the Lakers were also giving up Butler in the trade made it even weirder. Butler, who had struggled to fit in with the Lakers since coming over from Miami in the Shaquille O’Neal trade, had really figured things out towards the end of the season. Even though he averaged 15.5 ppg and 6 rpg for the season, he averaged 23 and 8 over the final month of the season.
[divide]Kobe Bryant Answers Fan’s Questions, Talks Keys To The Game
PAGE 3: Trying To Make Sense of The Lakers Uneventful Offseason (So Far)
I remember I had spent a few days back in 2005 thinking about why the Lakers acquired Kwame for that much money until it finally hit me. In February of 2005, the Lakers failed to make a trade for Baron Davis because they lacked something the Warriors had, the big expiring contract of Dale Davis. In January of 2006, the Lakers couldn’t make a play for Indiana’s Ron Artest because they lacked the big expiring contract the Kings had in Peja Stojakovic. When two teams over the salary cap make a trade, the contracts need to match up. For all the talk during the Summer of 2007 about Kobe wanting Andrew Bynum shipped out for Jason Kidd, the Lakers couldn’t have made that trade without including both Kwame and Lamar Odom because Bynum was still on a rookie contract while Kidd was making around $20 million annually.
By virtue of signing a player with Bird Rights to a deal for only one guaranteed year, Hill can’t be traded during the upcoming season without his consent. However, I see no scenario in which he would block a trade. If he knows that the Lakers have no intention of exercising his option for 2015-16, why wouldn’t he take a chance that his new team would consider it? So the Lakers have essentially signed Hill to be an expiring contract for next season and possibly the following one, as well as an ideal trade target next summer for a team looking to shed payroll.
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As things stand, the Lakers have 13 players including Jordan Clarkson, who has yet to officially sign. With two available spots, I’d like to see them add a true small forward. Kobe, Young, Henry, Johnson, and Randle can all play small forward if needed, but I don’t know think I’d prefer any of them starting there. For a team still lacking in scorers, I’d much prefer Young and Henry coming off the bench.
From top-to-bottom, their roster is still pretty underwhelming, especially for the Western Conference — at least as of now. It might be just a tad better than last season’s roster but not enough to realistically see a jump from 27 wins last season to more than 35 wins next season. I hope that I’m wrong. It’s more realistic that the Lakers keep their pick in next year’s draft than it is of them fighting for a playoff spot. At the same time, there’s very little a team can do to guarantee themselves a top-5 pick without finishing with one of the league’s two worst records. The Celtics had the league’s fifth-worst record last season and ended up with the sixth pick.
If I had to guess what the Lakers’ new strategy is, I’d say they’re buying time. They probably didn’t anticipate that LeBron would test free agency so soon. It seemed like everyone expected him to stay in Miami for at least another season. Nothing they did this summer compromises their flexibility going forward. With the salary cap expected to increase along with increased league-wide revenues, they have $35 million committed to four players in 2015-16 and only $9 million committed to two players in 2016-17. For the time being, all they can really do is wait for opportunity to knock.
Lakers fans are not exactly used to being patient. But as long as the league is set up to reward the worst teams with the best incoming players and give incumbent teams the biggest advantages when it comes to re-signing those players, we don’t really have a choice.
[divide]Kobe Bryant Answers Fan’s Questions, Talks Keys To The Game