I think it's a given we retain Melo- we will needlessly bid against ourselves, max him out and handcuff the organization. Phil is not coming here to rebuild, but retool.

I can see Chandler getting traded, but not sure there is a market for him during the summer.

That said, I don't think L.A. would do anything unless they were perceived as the clear winner of any trade with NY.http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed

smackeddog wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:The Lakers are rumored to want Melo, so why not simply move him for their pick (projected to be 6th), Steve Nash's expirer and other incentives like pick swaps in 2015 and 2017? The move would allow us to receive an $11 million trade exception and the possible tools to (sign and) trade for Kyrie Irving in 2015. With the cap room we'd have then, I could easily see us adding Kevin Love and Marc Gasol, which would be a hell of a trio. Thoughts?

I doubt Melo wants to be a laker- they have even fewer pieces than we do. Their only saving grace is their pick this year- trade that away and who exactly is Melo wanting to play with? Broken down Kobe? Broken back Nash (who knows he should retire but said he wants the money)- they have NOTHING else, and their owner is basically west coast Dolan. Lakers are about to go on a long decline if they don't get to draft a franchise player in June.

You've got some good points and I agree with them all. But we're not apart of the Laker braintrust and so we should try to think like them (and not ourselves) when discussing something like this. As it stands now, they'll be slated to get the 6th pick, which is too low to draft any of the "franchise players" that are available in the draft. The Lakers have never been fans of the rebuild, so I think they'd be desperate to take an alternative route. Personally, I think they'd want to turn that pick and Nash's contract into a star, then fill out the roster with the remaining $22 million that they'd have to play with. Every move they've made under the Jim Buss era has been a starphuck and this move falls into line with that kind of culture.

As for Melo, I could see him thinking that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Kobe might be dinged up but he's far better than anything we currently have. More importantly, the Lakers will have more cap space and will have it sooner than we do, which should make them top dogs in the free agent recruitment process. Plus, Melo lives in LA during the offseason and his wife allegedly prefers LA because of her celebrity/profession. And then, there is the Laker lure and legacy. I don't think it would take much convincing to get Melo on board with the idea.

Vmart wrote:I thought about sending Melo for the Laker pick. I think we have to see how it plays out if the Lakers get a top two pick they may say its time to move on from Kobe and go for rebuilding. If the pick is say 5-6 they may trade it and stick with Kobe and go in to the win now mode and show interest in Melo.

Yeah, this question was predicated on the assumption that the Lakers finished outside of the bidding for Joel Embiid, Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, Marcus Smart and Dante Exum. If they are in position to get one of those players, I think they keep the pick 100% but the way things look now, that seems unlikely. Then again, I do think the league rigs the draft, so maybe they do get a top flight pick. I think it's already a given that the Mormon, Jabari Parker will end up in Utah.

Rookie wrote:L.A has already traded it's 2015 & 2017 1st rd. picks so I believe this falls under consecutive years and 2014 can't be traded, although I don't know if they can select for NY and then include the player in a sign and trade??

That said, I don't think L.A. would do anything unless they were perceived as the clear winner of any trade with NY.http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/detailed

Yeah, the Lakers could make the deal on draft night, assuming that Melo is willing to opt in to his contract.

VCoug wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

VCoug wrote:Why would LA do that? They only have $35M in guaranteed salary next year so they can sign Melo to a max deal outright while keeping their lottery pick.

Because Steve Nash represents $9 million of that $35 million and I think they'd prefer to maximize their ability to sign players than to develop talent. Trading the pick and Nash for Melo would only represent a net gain of $10 million to their payroll and would leave about $20 million to spend in cap space. Signing Melo outright would represent a net gain of $20 million and would only leave $10 million to spend in cap space. Besides, can you see Kobe being content with the no.6 pick as his running mate for the remainder of his career?

Well, it would be the #6 pick and Melo. If I were them I'd keep the pick, sign Melo outright, and try to convince both him and Gasol to sign at a discount. My team next year is Kobe, Melo, Gasol, and my lottery pick. It's not as if there are a lot of great free agents this Summer so I don't see what the extra $10M in space gets them.

It gives them the means to overpay players for just one year, in order to maintain cap flexibility and be major players in the 2015 free agent market. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with what you're saying either. I'm just curious about what the argument for the counterpoint is.