Lottery Stock Update

[Neurotic Guy]

why does all this negative talk about the lakers make me smile? 

I guess so, but with the Lakers it's all about extending the period of contention dormancy for as long as possible.  I've said it before, but the Lakers GM job is by far the easiest GM job in sports.  I am not saying the it doesn't take some brains and skill, but relative to other GM jobs, it's a piece of cake.  Basically, it's about gaining cap space.  What team in the NBA wouldn't be at least ten years in NBA purgatory after trading multiple assets for Dwight Howard and then losing him for nothing the following year? No problem for the Lakers -- within 5 years of every downfall, the Lakers will always be back in contention.  Have you ever heard of a player ask to be traded and not list the Lakers as a desired destination?  Have you ever heard a FA not consider the Lakers as a posibility?   Does it matter that the Lakers were terrible last year, are terrible this year, and that their roster is an uninspiring mess with the prospect of its $25M  man pushing 40 around the corner?  No, it doesn't matter.  Kevin Love will still have Lakers on his wish list, as will Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo and every other high profile FA.  So what if they didn't land a big fish last year, they'll get one next year. 

So, here's hoping that the Lakers don't add both Julius Randle AND a top 5 pick this year to their assets.  It will be within a few years that they'll be knockin's on the door of #17 no matter what. I can only hope that losing the top 5 pick this year makes the window just a little bit longer.

[Redz]

Some fun stuff here:  http://www.tankathon.com/power_rankings

[SHAQATTACK]

Another loss for the lottery cause.


Utah vs Lakers ......either way a victory is good for us in that match up

[Boris Badenov]

It's not clear that sitting Kobe will make the Lakers much worse. His net plus/minus this year is -13.6. With him on the court the Lakers score 4 fewer points and give up 10 more points per 100 possessions.

Kobe is generally going against the other teams starters and best players which is going to negatively impact his +- compared to some of his shooting guard backups who not only have the luxury of playing against the second stringers, but also play a lot of garbage time where +- is pretty meaningless. If you watched Kobe dish out 17 assists last night, get 19 points on 14 shots and watched Nick Young come in and launch bricks and do nothing else, this argument becomes pretty hard to make.

I'm looking at NET plus-minus, which compares Kobe's plus-minus when on the court to the Lakers plus-minus when he's off the court (i.e., when the bench is playing). So it accounts for the sort of thing you're talking about.

I suppose you could justify it by saying the Lakers bench is dominant relative to benches across the rest of the league...but I don't think there's a serious case to be made there. Feel free to make it if you want to.

[Boris Badenov]

Some fun stuff here:  http://www.tankathon.com/power_rankings

Those values they use for calculating the "score" don't make any sense though, if those bars are to scale. There's no way two second rounders have equal value to a high first rounder.

[hwangjini_1]

Some fun stuff here:  http://www.tankathon.com/power_rankings

Those values they use for calculating the "score" don't make any sense though, if those bars are to scale. There's no way two second rounders have equal value to a high first rounder.

probably, but now we know the source of danny's affection for collected second rounders.

[hwangjini_1]

why does all this negative talk about the lakers make me smile? 

I guess so, but with the Lakers it's all about extending the period of contention dormancy for as long as possible.  I've said it before, but the Lakers GM job is by far the easiest GM job in sports.  I am not saying the it doesn't take some brains and skill, but relative to other GM jobs, it's a piece of cake.  Basically, it's about gaining cap space.  What team in the NBA wouldn't be at least ten years in NBA purgatory after trading multiple assets for Dwight Howard and then losing him for nothing the following year? No problem for the Lakers -- within 5 years of every downfall, the Lakers will always be back in contention.  Have you ever heard of a player ask to be traded and not list the Lakers as a desired destination?  Have you ever heard a FA not consider the Lakers as a posibility?   Does it matter that the Lakers were terrible last year, are terrible this year, and that their roster is an uninspiring mess with the prospect of its $25M  man pushing 40 around the corner?  No, it doesn't matter.  Kevin Love will still have Lakers on his wish list, as will Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo and every other high profile FA.  So what if they didn't land a big fish last year, they'll get one next year. 

So, here's hoping that the Lakers don't add both Julius Randle AND a top 5 pick this year to their assets.  It will be within a few years that they'll be knockin's on the door of #17 no matter what. I can only hope that losing the top 5 pick this year makes the window just a little bit longer.

dwight howard?

[colincb]

Since it seems more and more unlikely that this team is not going to be able to win a ton of games after the trades of Green, Wright and Rondo I am closely following the other seemingly lottery bound teams as their play really has about the same impact on lottery results as our own.
The Dregs:

76ers - They have been a bit more frisky the last few weeks and are up to 7 wins. However, they are also the most blatant tanker and their GM would shut down or trade any productive player if they are start to win many games.

Knicks - They were down 14-0 to start the game against the Bucks in London and never got back into it. The question isn't whether they will win more games than the celtics, but when they will next win a game at this point.

Timberwolves - Wiggins looks awesome, but they are still losing nearly every game and looking to trade off one of their productive NBA level players in Young. May get Pek and Martin back but still really locked in to bottom 3.

Throwing in the towel (and bad news for Celtics):

Lakers - They are continually competitive in games but are also accomplishing their goals of losing. With today's story that Kobe would accept being held out of games after already being on a 32 minute limit the tanking remains really strong. If you look at the guys they are playing when Kobe doesn't (Boozer, Lin, Wesley Johnson, Nick Young (playing horrible), Ronnie Price, Tarik Black, Jordan Hill) this team is a lot less talented than Celtics and with much less prospects.

Playing Good (and good news for Celtics)

Denver
Detroit
Orlando

All these teams are playing a lot better at the moment. Despite having the best record of the 3 Denver would seem to be the scariest tank candidate. For one, they play in the west where wins are harder. Second they could very well sell off a ton of veterans if they stay on outside of playoffs

Who Knows:
Charlotte: Jefferson hurt, maybe trading Stephenson. Not sure what they are trying to do.

Utah: Lots of talent, but maybe just too tough a schedule in the West. Could be "battling" the celtics for wins and losses all season

Brooklyn - If they trade Lopez  for Perk and Lamb they are definitely not trying to win this year. Deron is extremely gimpy and horrible when he plays. What a mess of an organization.

Think you need to add SAC in here. Their 2015 pick is top-10 protected and they're currently 11th with no way to reach the playoffs. Thus, there is a strong incentive for them to tank (and sooner rather than later).  4-6 in their 10 games against the weakest schedule of any team in the NBA. Floundering since they fired their coach for Ty Corbin who is back on the job market in June. Defensively, they've cratered.

http://www.sactownroyalty.com/2015/1/4/7486019/the-four-kings-of-the-apocalypse-a-statistical-journey-into-why-the

[colincb]

why does all this negative talk about the lakers make me smile? 

I guess so, but with the Lakers it's all about extending the period of contention dormancy for as long as possible.  I've said it before, but the Lakers GM job is by far the easiest GM job in sports.  I am not saying the it doesn't take some brains and skill, but relative to other GM jobs, it's a piece of cake.  Basically, it's about gaining cap space.  What team in the NBA wouldn't be at least ten years in NBA purgatory after trading multiple assets for Dwight Howard and then losing him for nothing the following year? No problem for the Lakers -- within 5 years of every downfall, the Lakers will always be back in contention.  Have you ever heard of a player ask to be traded and not list the Lakers as a desired destination?  Have you ever heard a FA not consider the Lakers as a posibility?   Does it matter that the Lakers were terrible last year, are terrible this year, and that their roster is an uninspiring mess with the prospect of its $25M  man pushing 40 around the corner?  No, it doesn't matter.  Kevin Love will still have Lakers on his wish list, as will Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo and every other high profile FA.  So what if they didn't land a big fish last year, they'll get one next year. 

So, here's hoping that the Lakers don't add both Julius Randle AND a top 5 pick this year to their assets.  It will be within a few years that they'll be knockin's on the door of #17 no matter what. I can only hope that losing the top 5 pick this year makes the window just a little bit longer.

Lakers can afford to spend more money on their team than anyone with their huge cable contract, but they cannot spend more money on any player and CA taxes don't help.  Don't think it's quite the destination it used to be, though it is still ahead of BOS all things being equal. I'd bet against your proposition that they'll be chasing #17 any time soon.

They do have a strong incentive to tank this year.

[SHAQATTACK]

I ve pulling for lakers win s........which puzzles my wife ....lOL .....they aren't tanking so much ....it's just so dang difficult to get wins out there.

I hoping they can win several eastern games to pass us in wins.

We really need to dump Bass and Thornton to complete the tank .

[Boris Badenov]

We really need to dump Bass and Thornton to complete the tank .

Agreed, though we are rapidly approaching the point where we have so much trash on our roster that the trash we take back in any trade might make us better rather than worse.

[ThaPreacher]

What is important is getting into the number 4 spot-where the Lakers currently are.
That puts us in a great draft spot with the available talent.  Who knows, maybe we move up!

Under no circumstances can we allow Utah and the Lakers to be in better draft position than us!

Okafor
Mudiay 
will probably go 1-2.

Will Towns be available at 4?
My question is who would you want at 4 or 5

[oldtype]

What sucks is that even if we're at 4 it is more likely than not than somebody moves up, so we probably end up at 5.

[clover]

We really need to dump Bass and Thornton to complete the tank .

Agreed, though we are rapidly approaching the point where we have so much trash on our roster that the trash we take back in any trade might make us better rather than worse.

Huh? We'd have to get better than Bass or Thornton back in trade in order to improve, no?

[PickNRoll]

We really need to dump Bass and Thornton to complete the tank .

Agreed, though we are rapidly approaching the point where we have so much trash on our roster that the trash we take back in any trade might make us better rather than worse.

Huh? We'd have to get better than Bass or Thornton back in trade in order to improve, no?

Not if Young were to play better than Thornton, for example.