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

[KillerLeft]

Its kind of ironic.  This is exactly how I feel on those days when I think this team was likely a first round out.  Lively/Powell/Maxi are enough.  Watch for a year and let the kids develop. This summer we make our move.  But, on those days when I think the team has a higher ceiling, I want to make a move for a higher level target.  

The optimism centers largely on Lively and the higher I am on him the more I want to fill the rest of the center minutes with better quality.  He won't be ready for a 34 minute role in the playoffs.  Maxi/Powell won't fix our rebounding and PiP issues.  It is like I said yesterday.  We can all debate what position we most need to upgrade.  But, the level of player a person perceives we need (or is willing to pay for) seems tied to what they perceive as the team's upside.  Frankly, no one in the west outside of Denver scares me that much.  Therefore, I'm more willing to give up to get as long as I'm getting the right player.  I don't want a Band-Aid.  I want an addition to the core.

I think there are two conversations going on here.  1. The targeted player conversation.  Someone says Randle and I want to throw up.  I say Poeltl and others don't see it.  Someone says Caruso and I say great.  But how does that prevent points in the paint or help our rebounding?  2.  The thing I mention above regarding upside...the level of player we need conversation.  Maybe its timeline.  Maybe its perceived upside.  Call it what you want.  The biggest change in our outcome would come at the 5 or the 4/5 as long as the 4/5 is a two-position defensive stud (thinking Siakam).  One thing I want to be really careful about is adding players who need the ball to succeed.  It just isn't going to work next to Luka.  So, no need to pay for it.  I think Nico was dead on in identifying the biggest hole we have.  If a proposed name isn't helping with that, it probably isn't the right name.

The level to which the team is ready to achieve now plays no part for me. I might feel differently if I, like you (unless I'm misunderstanding) thought there was a move that could lead to a championship this season, but I just don't believe that. What I'm interested in, mostly, is seeing how close this core is to championship contention now, knowing that they'll continue to improve a TON as they accrue time playing together.  I feel pretty strongly that when you have a team THIS young who is THIS ready to actually compete on a night to night basis (that's where going young almost always fails), there's almost no way you can mess that up. One of the only ways is to start replacing those guys with "win now" types. That should come later, when "win now" is actually a possibility. Grant Williams is a VET LEADER on this team, and dude is like 25. Are you positive he can't become a better rebounder over the course of playing more consistently over the coming seasons? I'm not! 

Agree with much of your last paragraph, except, again, I'm not thinking in terms of fixing this season's team. We literally don't even understand this year's team yet. I think in a general sense, Caruso is a player who fits next to Luka/Kyrie, so I'd be in favor of adding him if the price wasn't bonkers. Replenishing the pile of attractive assets is pretty high on my list, to be sure.