Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[michaeltex]

They need more consistency in developing players. Their player development pipeline is way too sporadic and infrequent.

DFS 2016
Maxi 2017
Brunson 2018
2019 - none
2020- none [they did draft a 1st rounder here, Green]
2021 - none
Hardy 2022
2023 - none [they did draft two 1st rounders here, Lively and Prosper]

You can see the deep development area in 2019-2021 was not very aggressive or effective. So nothing was really added, And if you don't find and develop some projects every year to create an ongoing pipeline, where you can have some ready to replace those who will inevitably leave, in time you run dry. The most cap-friendly replacements are internal, and rarely other teams' free agents or players made available in trade.

I'll agree with needing more consistency. I would point out that the 19-21 gap is the Porzingis Effect (PE). Would have continued in 23 except for an eleventh hour mini-tank and luck with the lottery balls. Green's first two years were screwed up due to the COVID Vortex, but he seems ready to contribute now. To me, Hardy is TBD. The rookies are giving us pre-season thrills, but we need to see if they hold up in league play.

So we have 4 main team guys and a couple on 2-ways that are worth watching. I'd say that's a decent development pipeline given the special events noted above.