2016-2017 Season Record: 44-38

 

Season Highlight:

 The 2^nd half of the season.  The Lakers started off woefully bad last year.  They were reeling from the change of engines coupled with a team that was not gelling the way a Greeny led team normally does.  However, this is Greeny, so he righted the ship with a few trades that made his team a more cohesive unit and then plowed ahead to end up with a playoff spot.

Season Lowlight:

 Swept in the 1^st round.  This was the defending NLL champions, so to be ousted in a sweep in the 1^st round had to be pretty demoralizing.  Expect Greeny and his Lakers to have EVERY game vs the OKC Thunder circled as statement games for next year.

Best Trade:

The Boston Celtics send Michael Beasley and Nikola Vucevic to the LA Lakers. The LA Lakers send Andre Iguodala and Mason Plumlee to the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics send a 1st-Rounder (Sac) to the LA Lakers. The LA Lakers send a 2nd-Rounder (LAL) to the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics receive 5 GM points. The LA Lakers trade -5 GM points.

Vucevic became the MVP of the Lakers and really solidified the Center position after the void left by trading away Tyson Chandler. Sure, they lost Iggy, but his overall is declining and he was potentially walking away at the end of the year.  LA got younger and filled the Center position, where there really are limited quantities of good players.

Worst Trade:

 The Charlotte Hornets send Iman Shumpert to the LA Lakers. The LA Lakers send Tyson Chandler to the Miami Heat. The Charlotte Hornets trade -7 GM points.The Miami Heat receive 7 GM points.

Remember just a few lines ago how I mentioned how difficult it is to get great Center play in the NLL.  Well, Tyson Chandler is an elite defensive C.  With the engine making defense more important, the last thing that should have happened was to move a defensive anchor, but Greenmig did just that.  And he paid the price early on.  There was such a gaping hole left with Tyson’s departure, that he had to end up pulling the trigger on what ended up being his BEST TRADE.  Shame that he wasted his best to cover up his worst.

Other Notable Trades:

 The LA Lakers send Brandon Bass to the Detroit Pistons. The Detroit Pistons send a 2nd-Rounder (Phi) to the LA Lakers. The Detroit Pistons use their trade exception over $ 1,551,659.

That LA was able to dump their worst FA signing and get at least a 2^nd rounder for him shows how shrewd Greenmig can be when trading.

The LA Lakers send Iman Shumpert to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send DeMarre Carroll to the LA Lakers.

Iman wasn’t playing as well as the Lakers expected.  Plus, SG was a Laker strength, so they went after a more well rounder SF.

 The LA Lakers send Aron Baynes to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs send Marvin Williams to the LA Lakers.

Williams is a microwave scorer, but a little bit of a tweener player.  He played PF mostly for LA, due to their lack of quality bigs.

The LA Lakers send Nick Young to the Washington Wizards. The Washington Wizards send Spencer Hawes to the LA Lakers.

This was a move to solidify Laker big man depth.  Did it work?  Not really, as Hawes was mostly average at best.

Best FA Signing:

 Jordan Crawford – Initially on a 10 day contract, Crawford earned a permanent deal at a cheap rate, but man this guy came out guns blazing.  He immediately made an impact, scoring almost 15 a game and helping the Lakers woes at PG.

Worst FA Signing:

 Brandon Bass – Signed to help depth at the PF position, Bass was anything but good.  He averaged 2 and 2 over the 19 games he played for LA.  He actually was even a starter for 5

Star:

 Nikola Vucevic – Man this guy is one of the best all-around Centers in the league. He averaged 17 and 12 per game, also contributing almost 1.5 blocks per too.  When Vuc was on the court, you could just see the Lakers play more confidently.  Sure, Wade was the best scorer, but Vuc was the team’s driving force.

Surprise:

 Manu Ginobili – Manu saw major decline in his game this year.  He had career lows in almost every category.  His 7.7 points per game were half what he scored just the previous year.  His 18 minutes per was his lowest ever, and his 8 starts were easily the lowest as well.  Remember, Manu was one of the biggest reasons the Lakers won the NLL championships over the last few years, so it’s sad to see such a drastic decline in a previously elite player.

Goat:

 George Hill – He was brought in to secure the PG position, an area that the Lakers have had trouble with over the years.  However, Hill’s injuries continue to get the best of him and he only played half the season, forcing Greeny to be creative with his starting lineups.

Draft Report Card:

 #19 – DJ Wilson, #50 – Damyean Dotson, #55 – Alpha Kaba, #57 Aleksandar Vezenkov

(Merencio -C+ )  (Nenjabin -B )

Looks like both the graders were pretty much in agreement with the Lakers draft.  Dotson and Kaba were added via trade, so Wilson and Vezenkov were their picks.  Wilson will likely be thrust into a contributing role early on, as he was drafted as a need.  Vezenkov is a flier that the Lakers will be watching as he hopes to develop overseas for the time being.

Looking to the Future:

 The Lakers will look to build around their young talent, as they have shipped off Wade after the draft.  They will have a lot of free agents to decide on, but overall, I would assume that Nikola Vucevic will be the player to build around.  Timothe and Malcolm are good young players for backcourt and Greeny looks to follow the general NLL trend to chase after all the young players.  Being in the West, LA could likely still be a low seeded playoff contender, but some of the other teams have taken steps forward, while it feels like the Lakers are starting to hit the “Reset” button and have accepted they are in rebuild mode.  Greeny has to make a big decision, release a lot of this dead weight and go after a big name FA, or keep going with this squad as is.  Releasing Hill, Manu and Hawes could free up 42 million and make the Lakers a potential player in FA day 1.

Upcoming Free Agents:

 Jonathon Simmons (RFA) – This guy is a constant on the Laker trade block. He’s got the potential, but has yet to see it materialize in the NLL.

Spencer Hawes – He’s a big man.  That alone merits value, but should he be resigned, or should the Lakers go after a new player? 

Manu Ginobili – Big dilemma here.  He’s rapidly deteriorating and his 21 million cap hold will hurt LA during free agency, especially since he won’t become available until FA day 2.  LA should cut bait and run.

Josh Huestis (RFA) – cheap affordable resign.  May finally see a chance to reach potential.

Troy Williams (RFA) – Young player that could develop.  Fits the current Laker rebuild mode.

George Hill – When healthy, he’s a top level combo guard.  He wants to test FA though, so he will be pricey to keep, even though his cap number drops by 4 million.

Marreese Speights – Another solid player, but another that wants to test the market.  He’s only going to cost about 2 million in cap, but will be expensive with GM to keep.  May be wiser for LA to release him early on.