S56 Lakers preseason presser
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2022 9:54 am
Well, that happened. Season 55. Started with hope and ended in a massive retooling of the future. Our guy of the future, Alex Caruso, we decided he just was not the guy anymore. And his trajectory did not head upward in the way we had hoped with Kenny Heard and Danny Campbell peaking (DC may not have even peaked yet - more on that later). So with a dominant defense and a decidedly lackluster offense, we decided to start over, but not for nothing. (Well, Caruso is fully purple now so life is yet again a PBSL existential crisis.)
We chose not to throw away our season but ultimately save $$$ on the taxes we were about to accrue. So with Caruso out, Zack Keller and future MVP Darius Garland in, we sacrificed very little in our current lineup. Keller is not Caruso - not even now - but he’s not demonstrably worse for what we needed from the 4 spot either.
Our next piece to fall was Blakemore, who was not holding up as our starting PG. His $30m suddenly felt like $60, and he had to go. He did well to back things up in OKC even though they got slaughtered by the Bulls in the finals (would have been a different story with Tex, but that’s how the sim cookie crumbles).
That ended up being a pretty weird trade though, huh? How many reaccepts did we do?
Moving on…
We shipped out Kenny Heard in the offseason to…the locker room down the hall. He’s a Clipper now. And Lyman Bradley is a Laker. Mamba rightfully saw the value in the all-star, and we saw the value in Bradley who, despite a rotten TC last year, should bounce back this year as a solid big man…and bloody fracking hell. We hoped he put in some good strength and conditioning training this offseason, but noooooo. Maybe Rati Andradobombvili will bounce back this year, too, but nooooo.
So we have our future starting to take shape anyway. We’re still seeking some primary offense in the next build and we are confident that the resumes of our best guys - DC, Olney, Connell and Keller - can net us that future offensive threat. Until then, expect all of our offense to run through Danny Campbell who will have the year that made the rest of the league wish they called up the Laker front office this offseason. He knows he’s languishing in LA, but until he finds the right team in contention, he’ll be out there dunking, blocking shots, grabbing boards and breaking your best players’ legs for the team that truly understands his value: The LA Lakers. Yeah, we saw him tank and then get right back to his 100 DRB, 100 PSD and 100 BLK old self, and now he will ruin you.
We don’t know what to expect this year, and it all hinges on who stays and who goes. We’ve had a few conversations around the league but no one is biting. If they bite, we’ll be in next year’s draft lottery. If not, we’ll see you in the playoffs, and our boy DC will go down swinging…at your best players’ legs, with a crowbar, calling them Nancy Kerrigan Nancies.
Who’s got the first question?
We chose not to throw away our season but ultimately save $$$ on the taxes we were about to accrue. So with Caruso out, Zack Keller and future MVP Darius Garland in, we sacrificed very little in our current lineup. Keller is not Caruso - not even now - but he’s not demonstrably worse for what we needed from the 4 spot either.
Our next piece to fall was Blakemore, who was not holding up as our starting PG. His $30m suddenly felt like $60, and he had to go. He did well to back things up in OKC even though they got slaughtered by the Bulls in the finals (would have been a different story with Tex, but that’s how the sim cookie crumbles).
That ended up being a pretty weird trade though, huh? How many reaccepts did we do?
Moving on…
We shipped out Kenny Heard in the offseason to…the locker room down the hall. He’s a Clipper now. And Lyman Bradley is a Laker. Mamba rightfully saw the value in the all-star, and we saw the value in Bradley who, despite a rotten TC last year, should bounce back this year as a solid big man…and bloody fracking hell. We hoped he put in some good strength and conditioning training this offseason, but noooooo. Maybe Rati Andradobombvili will bounce back this year, too, but nooooo.
So we have our future starting to take shape anyway. We’re still seeking some primary offense in the next build and we are confident that the resumes of our best guys - DC, Olney, Connell and Keller - can net us that future offensive threat. Until then, expect all of our offense to run through Danny Campbell who will have the year that made the rest of the league wish they called up the Laker front office this offseason. He knows he’s languishing in LA, but until he finds the right team in contention, he’ll be out there dunking, blocking shots, grabbing boards and breaking your best players’ legs for the team that truly understands his value: The LA Lakers. Yeah, we saw him tank and then get right back to his 100 DRB, 100 PSD and 100 BLK old self, and now he will ruin you.
We don’t know what to expect this year, and it all hinges on who stays and who goes. We’ve had a few conversations around the league but no one is biting. If they bite, we’ll be in next year’s draft lottery. If not, we’ll see you in the playoffs, and our boy DC will go down swinging…at your best players’ legs, with a crowbar, calling them Nancy Kerrigan Nancies.
Who’s got the first question?