If you write any comments I do appreciate any suggestions. To get an understanding of the moves I made I'd suggest to read my explanation for all my offseason transactions.
Also I got a lot of my ideas from this trade machine https://fanspo.com/nba/s/general/trades/G_KqcOoOUcTpHM/what-i-would-do-as-the-los-angeles-lakers-gm-2022-offseason-plan-depth-galore .I did use a lot of my ideas from this trade machine, so I wanna give credit for the inspiration.
This is my first "If I Was The GM Of The _: 2022 Offseason Plans" series and I will continue the series slowly. Please leave comments or suggestions to improve this offseason with. I will be glad to respond to any comments.
Hire Darvin Ham as your new head coach(Already Official: 4-Year Deal With LAL)
Trade Russell Westbrook, THT, 2023 Second Rounder, 2027 Top 5 Protected First, & 2028 Second Rounder Via WAS for Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier, Nerlens Noel, Buddy Hield, & Oshae Brissett in a Three Team Trade with the Knicks & Pacers
Trade Kendrick Nunn, 2023 Second Rounder Via CHI, & 2025 Second Rounder to MIN for Jarred Vanderbilt
Accept the Team Option on Austin Reaves, Stanley Johnson, & Wenyen Gabriel
Resign Dwight Howard to a 1 Year Deal at the Minimum(2.3M)
Resign Mac McClung to a 2 Year Deal at the Minimum(1.3M per season)
Sign Goran Dragic to a 1 Year Deal at the Minimum(2.3M)
Sign Lou Williams to a 1 Year Deal at the Minimum(2.3M)
Sign Thaddeus Young using the MLE to a 2 Year Deal Worth 12M(6M per season)
Explanations:
The 2022 Lakers ended up being a dumpster fire. From injuries to coaching to bad play, this team needs a whole makeover desperately. The first thing they need to do is find out what to do with Westbrook's 40+ million dollar contract.
The first move the Lakers will do is a three team trade with the Pacers & Knicks to grab more shooters and more depth. The trade goes
LAL: Kemba Walker, Evan Fournier, Nerlans Noel, Buddy Hield, & Oshae Brissett
NYK: Malcolm Brogdan, Talen Horten-Tucker, & 2023 Round 2(LAL)
IND: Russell Westbrook, 2022 Round 2(NYK: #42), 2023 Round 2(NYK via DET), 2024 Round 1 Top 8 Protected(NYK), 2027 Round 1 Top 5 Protected(LAL), & 2028 Round 2(LAL via WAS)
The reasoning for this trade for the Lakers is to gain veteran depth across the roster. Kemba Walker has playoff experience and is still a really solid offensive minded PG. Fournier is a average defender with an off ball shooting ability that would expose defenses with Lebron and Kemba's playmaking and passing skills. Buddy Hield adds an amazing catch and shoot ability and with Lebron's playmaking talent Hield can do what he did in Sacramento shooting upwards of 7-8 threes a game. Nerlans Noel gets all the stuff your big man needs to do including catching lobs, defense, rebounding, & does the gritty work so AD doesn't get injured. Oshae Brissett adds a solid 3 and D player to also pair with Lebron.
For the Knicks they wanna get back into the playoffs. Getting Brogdan definitely helps their playoff case if he's healthy, but they also get a young guard in THT and a second rounder. They get off of Fournier's 18M contract and it gives them enough money to go after better FA's this year. Plus Kemba is heading on the decline and was very injury prone for them this past season. Overall I think they only improve by just a little, but I think if the Knicks stay healthy they are a playoff team.
The Pacers are definitely going through their rebuilding phase and getting all these picks is exactly what they want. While even though they get Russell Westbrook's huge contract, it's just for this next year. They also get rid of Brogdan's 22.6M contract who has been injury prone for years and Buddy Hield's 21M contract(Both contracts are for more than 1 year). This for sure gives them picks to look forward too and overall gets cap space for Free Agency down the line.
The next move is to get off of Kendrick Nunn. After not playing a single game for the Lakers, Nunn at this point is just a body off the bench not doing anything and getting him for a back up defensive minded 4 in Jarred Vanderbilt is good value. The Timberwolves would like a solid veteran guard to their bench so there is some value with Nunn if he's healthy, as well as getting 2 Second Round Picks. Vanderbilt's main negative is his shooting, but his overall defense and rebounding IQ easily makes up for this. Vanderbilt is also a very good finisher and is an okay lob threat too. He just needs to be a gritty bench player which he can easily be. In addition Jarred has improved slightly as a playmaker and passer throughout his young career which really helps. He rarely plays the 5 because of his lack of lower body strength, but he may be able to play it on very limited occasions.
Next comes the NBA Draft. With many trades happening in previous offseasons, the Lakers don't have a pick in this years draft. A player I'd like to see the Lakers sign if they become undrafted is John Butler. Butler is a 7 foot 1 inch stretch four with a 7 foot 5 inch wingspan. He brings a very impressive offensive game for a 7 footer that you don't see very often. In college he averaged 3 threes a game on nearly 40%. He's agile and has very solid ball handling for his size. With solid rim protection and ability to move out to the perimeter on defense, he'd be a great pickup for anyone if he goes undrafted. Only negatives is that he's very skinny and his skills are very raw, but the Lakers don't need him to do more than just be solid in the G-League player this year.
Finally we have Free Agency. The Lakers are going to fill out the rest of their rosters using the tax MLE & minimum. They'd accept the team options on Austin Reaves, Stanley Johnson, & Wenyen Gabriel. All are solid role players that won't be getting too many minutes, but would help fill out the roster. Next they need to resign Mac McClung and Dwight Howard. Both bring decent play to the Lakers, but again just to fill out the roster for depth. They then sign Thaddeus Young to the MLE for 2 year 12M, 6M per year. Thad Young would be a solid backup to Anthony Davis and could even be a small ball center which I think he might play on this team. With the signing of Thad Young and resigning of Dwight Howard, there will be plenty of bigs on this roster so AD doesn't need to play the five and can always be the Power Forward, hopefully to cause less injuries. The Lakers would also sign two backup veteran guards in Goran Dragic and Lou Williams. Lou Will brings some scoring off the bench and playoff experience while Dragic brings solid scoring, passing, and playoff experience as well.
To finish the offseason they need to get a good coach to pull it all together. As of a few days ago they officially made Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham the new head coach and I believe it was the best move. Ham would help turn the Lakers from one of the worst defenses last year to an average to above average one. He would help add what made the Bucks these past years great with Interior Defense, By Forcing Teams To Shoot Bad Shots, Toughness, Transition Offense, & Transition Defense.
Roster:
Starting Lineup:
Kemba Walker, Buddy Hield, Lebron James, Anthony Davis, & Nerlans Noel
Bench:
Goran Dragic, Evan Fournier, Oshae Brissett, Jarred Vanderbilt, & Thaddeus Young
Additional Bench:
Austin Reaves, Lou Williams, Stanley Johnson, Wenyen Gabriel, & Dwight Howard
Two-Way/G-League:
Mac McClung & John Butler
Possible Starting Lineups:
Kemba Walker, Buddy Hield, Lebron James, Thaddeus Young, Anthony Davis(To Close Out Games)
Lebron James, Buddy Hield, Oshae Brissett, Anthony Davis, Nerlans Noel(Bron at the 1)
Kemba Walker, Buddy Hield, Oshae Brissett, Anthony Davis, Lebron James(Bron at the 5)
And plenty more.
Negatives:
The only true negative I see is the defense in the backcourt. While Fournier is a fairly average defender as well as Reaves being fairly good defender, Dragic, Walker, Williams, & Hield all bring below average defense. While I do believe their offense and overall fit makes up for it, there will be a lot of different lineups to choose from. You can easily go small ball with AD off the court, Have Lebron play the center like he did this season, or have Lebron at the 1. With this good of depth, if players go on bad stretches you have enough players to continue being one of the best teams in the league. I don't think the defense on the backcourt is too huge of a problem, but might be exposed in the playoffs. But with such good interior defense with AD, Dwight, Vanderbilt, Noel, & Thad Young with Darvin Ham as head coach I think it'll make up defensively for the entire team.
Thanks for reading! Please share your opinions in the comments.
Also, What Record Do You Believe This New Look Lakers Will Get?