"Nobody Knows What To Make Of Timofey Mozgov's Ludicrous Lakers Deal"

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nobody-knows-timofey-mozgovs-ludicrous-135620212.html

Some of my favorite tweets:

Well, congrats to the #Lakers for winning the Timofey Mozgov sweepstakes

When the only free agent who will meet with you is Timofey Mozgov

Lakers are gonna have Mozgov and Evan Turner. Its over.

Dear All Other NBA Fans,
At least your team didn't sign Mozgov to 4 yrs/$64million.
Love,
Laker Fans


I gotta think tj spent the night with his head over the toilet bowl. If he's honest he'll admit it...

http://www.sbnation.com/2016/7/1/12077938/lakers-exceptionalism-nba-free-agency-2016-timofey-mozgov



Lakers exceptionalism is dead and buried


By Tom Ziller  @teamziller on Jul 1, 2016, 9:55a 25


By signing a 30-year-old career backup center in the earliest hours of free agency, the Lakers signal they have accepted their fate.


Back in 2012, I wrote about Lakers exceptionalism, the idea that the rules of the NBA don't apply to the most famous basketball team in the world. I wrote that as the Lakers sat teetering on the edge of the cliff of irrelevance. They'd fired Mike Brown five games into the season, abandoning an offensive system he just installed. They'd snubbed Phil Jackson after dangling the job in front of his nose. They'd bought into the idea that Dwight Howard (coming off back surgery) and Steve Nash (almost 40 years old) would team with Kobe Bryant to lead the Lakers back to the NBA Finals.

Instead, Nash's career quickly unraveled, Howard bolted and Bryant got old. The Lakers have had the worst three-year stretch in the franchise's history since then.

Under Jim Buss, the Lakers shoot airball after airball in free agency. The Jim Buss regime failed to keep Howard, failed to lure LeBron James, failed to lure Carmelo Anthony. Kevin Ding reports that recently Buss claimed the Lakers would get Kevin Durant this summer and Russell Westbrook in a year. Durant refused to even take a meeting with the Lakers this week.

It wasn't just Durant: DeMar DeRozan, who grew up in L.A. idolizing Kobe, quickly inked a hefty deal to stay in Toronto. He told Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star why he didn't consider the Lakers.

"And for me, to be second all-time scoring, the most wins as a Raptor, that's something — you might not see it now, but that's a legacy. Unless you go there and win seven championships, there's no overshadowing who played (with the Lakers) for 20 years. That's that. My whole mindset has always been, what can I do here that'll separate me from others? And maybe someday, somebody will say, I want to try to pass DeMar. I want to do what DeMar did."

There's no glory in being a Laker right now. In Los Angeles you compete against the ghosts of the past. In their current state, the Lakers are in no position to contend for titles. So, as DeMar indicates, what's the point? You'll be a hero to no one. There's no upside for a young star -- even one with deep L.A. roots -- to join the Lakers.

Buss claimed the Lakers would land Durant and Westbrook just a few months ago. Yet in the first hours of July 1, one of the first major deals reported was the Lakers handing Timofey Mozgov some $64 million over four years. The same Mozgov who played just 17 minutes per game last season. The same Mozgov who was pushed out of the Cavaliers' rotation in favor of Channing Frye and Tristan Thompson. Mozgov, who played just 76 minutes in the entire 21-game Cleveland postseason run and who turns 30 this month (he's eight months younger than Dwight). The same Mozgov who was not among SBNation.com's top-50 free agents or our top-10 free agent centers.

Timofey Mozgov. $16 million per season. Seventeen percent of the salary cap for a 30-year-old career backup center.

This is not the behavior of a team that considers itself exceptional.

The Lakers considered themselves exceptional for so long that, for a time, they seemed to forget that horrible teams don't get LeBrons, Melos or Durants. They get Mozgovs, and they pay through the nose for the opportunity. The Lakers know now. The Lakers have found their footing, and they are getting comfortable. They are making the moves of a losing franchise, a derelict and moribund team just hoping to graduate from god-awful to mediocre.

The Lakers have made the most New York Knicks move possible -- well, the most New York Knicks move since the Lakers traded multiple firsts for Nash (they still owe a pick on that), or since the Knicks traded picks for Andrea Bargnani -- at a time in which the Lakers' leader himself thought the brain trust would be preparing to pepper Kevin Durant with talk of Hollywood and courtside celebrities and warm winters.

Reports suggest the Lakers didn't even reach out to Al Horford or Hassan Whiteside when the clock struck midnight because L.A. considered landing those higher-tier centers unlikely. And so, Mozgov. This is wholly rational for a team in the Lakers' position, coming off a 17-win season that followed a 21-win season that followed a 27-win season. Teams that win 26 percent of their games over three full seasons sure as hell don't get LeBrons, Melos or Durants. They don't even get Horfords or Whitesides. They get Mozgovs.

Make fun of this deal all you want, but the Lakers have finally reached the last stage of grief after mourning the death of their exceptionalism for so long. With Mozgov, the Lakers have accepted their fate. Applaud them on their progress. Only now can the Lakers come back as strong as ever. Only now can the Lakers be great again.


bob
MY NOTE:  There, but for the grace of Danny and KG's willingness to waive his no-trade clause, could be us...


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steve3344 wrote:http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nobody-knows-timofey-mozgovs-ludicrous-135620212.html

Some of my favorite tweets:

Well, congrats to the #Lakers for winning the Timofey Mozgov sweepstakes

When the only free agent who will meet with you is Timofey Mozgov

Lakers are gonna have Mozgov and Evan Turner. Its over.

Dear All Other NBA Fans,
At least your team didn't sign Mozgov to 4 yrs/$64million.
Love,
Laker Fans


I gotta think tj spent the night with his head over the toilet bowl.  If he's honest he'll admit it...

Steve,

I don't care about the money per year, I just don't like giving him 4 years.
Some players on rosters will be underpaid while others are overpaid.

The Lakers won 17 games last year.
Of course Kevin Durant isn't interested in going there.

I am quite happy to have Russell, Clarkson, Randle, Nance and Ingram as my core.
Signing Mozgov doesn't minimize the youth and possible talent the Lakers have in those core players.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-jim-buss-had-crazy-ideas-about-getting-durant-westbrook/



Jim Buss had crazy ideas about the Lakers getting Durant, Westbrook


It's good to have dreams, at least


Matt Moore
mugshot by Matt Moore
@MattMooreCBS


Tuesday, Jun 28, 2016 • 3 min read



Jim Buss' run as head of the Lakers' basketball operations has been a worst-case scenario since his father, the legendary Jerry Buss, passed away several years ago. Even the good moves he's made have backfired, like trading for Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. His coaching hires have been disastrous, his free agency signings ineffectual, and worst of all, he's failed to sign any major stars in his time to try and facilitate the kind of instant rebuild that the franchise is used to.

What's worse, there doesn't appear to be any sign that Buss has learned from his past failures with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and even LaMarcus Aldridge. In a wide-ranging and damning piece from Bleacher Report detailing the state of discontent within the Buss family, Kevin Ding reports that Buss was "telling people" of a fairly insane plan, which has already turned south, that included signing both of the Thunder's big stars.
So Jim told people that Carmelo Anthony was coming the next summer. He told people that Howard was staying the previous year.

He told people as soon as the Lakers' recent season was winding down that Kevin Durant was coming this summer...with Russell Westbrook the next.

This, of course, is totally insane if true. It's already been reported that the Lakers won't even be getting a meeting with Durant. The team has been a disaster the past five seasons, and are entirely built around young players that a veteran star like Durant would not want to babysit. There continues to be this idea that by being A) the Lakers with their historic legacy of success and B) in L.A., that it will be enough to draw stars without actually having a plan. Aldridge's initial meeting was so bad last year that he granted them a second meeting just to try and improve upon their first before signing with the Spurs.


The Suns were a more likely destination for the top free agent last year than the Lakers were. Think about that.
That's not to rule out the possibility of such a move happening in the future. It's been whispered that Westbrook, in particular, would have an interest in returning to California where he's from and taking the reins. If Durant were to leave for Golden State, for instance, there's a good chance

Westbrook leaves the next year and the Lakers would be attractive. But those moves should be made with kind of a "If this happens, great" approach, and not "This is our plan, because we're the Lakers."

All of this is summed up in the phrase "Lakers exceptionalism," which we've talked about for three years and once again, it's over. It's gone. It can be rebuilt, but the Lakers as an organization need to understand that the only way for them to get back to where they want to go is for either a Black Swan event like Westbrook deciding to save the franchise or the young core they've built (and they've done a great job in that regard) to become a contending core. They cannot snap their fingers and make stars appear in a puff of smoke.

The landscape has changed. The market has changed. The franchise has changed. And if Jim Buss doesn't realize that and start adjusting whatever plans they've made with consideration of that, his job title is going to change as well.

Buss' sister Jeanie has said that if the team does not make significant progress (which is downgraded from a goal of being a second-round team with championship aspirations by the way) by the end of next season, she'll look to replace her brother as head of the team. There's widespread speculation that could mean Phil Jackson leaving the Knicks to join his betrothed back with the team he won five championships with.


bob
MY NOTE:  This man needs to be put in a room with nice soft walls so he can't hurt himself.


.

I thought Jeanie Buss was going to find a way of getting her brother out of the decision making process,
This contract is soooo stupid. i

TJ I would be happy with most of your core, but you have to admit signing Mosgov to a contract like this is ridiculous. Paint it what ever way you want to, it is irresponsible financial handling. Now you are saddled with this contract for it's duration because, who in the heck would take that on in a trade???

Your only hope is he is a late bloomer!!!!

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I thought Jeanie Buss was going to find a way of getting her brother out of the decision making process,
This contract is soooo stupid.  i

TJ I would be happy with most of your core, but you have to admit signing Mosgov to a contract like this is ridiculous. Paint it what ever way you want to, it is irresponsible financial handling. Now you are saddled with this contract for it's duration because, who in the heck would take that on in a trade???  

Your only hope is he is a late bloomer!!!!

Rosalie,

I'm not thrilled with the Lakers paying Mozgov this amount of money, but this is the new NBA.
The Lakers had a need in center, so they overpaid to a degree.
In two years, the salary cap will be about $127m from $94m this season and $72m last season.
If Mozgov is the Lakers starting center in two years, teams would love to pay a starting center only $16m per year.

Do you remember how everyone felt Avery Bradley was overpaid? Now his contract is a complete bargain for Boston.

Next year and the year after, I doubt people will look at Mozgov's contract the way they are looking at it now.

I guess that it means that this guy no longer has to moonlight as a hardware store clerk in the summer months.

actually everything I have read says the salary cap will FLATEN after the 2017-18 season.

the big increase are this year and next, after that it may depend on any change to the CBA. But if left close to what the breakdown is now, the future salary caps will be somewhat flat, more like normal increase in the past.

best to structure contracts with more money in the next two years , if that is true.