Indeed; he's good at maximizing player performance for wins and for development simultaneously. Would Rick Adelman, PJ Carlissimo, Mo Cheeks, or Nate McMillain have done as well with this roster? Rick could probably (though he really only developed one rookie -- Cliff -- during his tenure), but I wouldn't trust any of the other guys to win 40+ with this roster.
This here is some great insight. I wouldn't recommend it for most teams, but somehow swapping the roles that Harkless and Vonleh have held virtually the entire year is paying dividends for us on both fronts. Pretty crazy that bench Vonleh seems to be more productive than bench Harkless, but starter Harkless is more productive than starter Vonleh, as well as more synergistic with Aminu. You'll NEVER get me to give that up. It is my God-given right as a sports fan to question every aspect of every major decision-maker employed by my favorite franchise!
Yep, it's like Terry knew EXACTLY what these guys needed, even if they didn't. He knew exactly when to swap their roles, too. A masterful use of two very young players that are still learning the NBA game. Both will be better in the payoffs and, with both having experience starting, will be so much further along next year. Everyone talks about how Vonleh is only 20, but Harkless is only 22. That's still a young player who is about 4 or 5 years away from entering his prime. I think he's learned more under Stotts this year than in three years in ORL under Jacque Vaughn. He's played less, but learned more. That's a pretty damn good job of player development. It's also the first time he's played on a team that's won more than 25 games. So, I think that, combined with his previous team giving him away for nothing has provided additional motivation and maturity. Yeah, he may not be perfect, but the man has proven he knows way more about player development, motivation and team chemistry than I ever will. BNM
Sucks that it's now going to cost us a lot more to keep him though, especially if he is an integral part of our inevitable "upset" of the Clippers. However, if he is a significant contributor to such an event, he will likely be well worth matching whatever offer he might receive this summer.
If he earns it, pay the man. It's just Paul Allen's money and we're so far under the cap, I don't worry about such things. Like Stotts, Olshey has shown he's competent, if not perfect. BNM
It's amazing we got the Lakers best player for MLE money while they wined, dined and got nothing from the stars. We beat the Lakers in free agency last summer. A trend that looks like it may continue for years. What a beautiful era to be an NBA fan.
Certainly not perfect; just look at the Afflalo trade. Will Barton is better than any wing we have and any player outside DameCJ. That's looking like Jermaine Oneal 2.0. Who knows what the draft pick will do in 5 years. I do think Neil is a great GM and his moves work out more often than not though.
Teams are so enamored with 3 point shooting I think we'll be able to keep Harkless for a big discount. Crabbe on the other hand; a team could put us in a bad bind. I could seriously see a team offering him the max.
Barton has a had a very good season, but he's NOT Jermaine O'Neal 2.0, not even close. He's the 6th man on a crappy team. Jermaine went on to become the the best player on a 61-win team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals (back when that meant something) and a 6-time all-star. Jermaine was 23 when he made his first all-star team. Will is already 25 and nowhere near an all-star. Jermaine was a young kid with a ton of upside. Will is pretty much as good as he'll ever be. At 25, he doesn't have a lot of untapped upside left. At the time of the trade, most here were more upset about losing Thomas Robinson than Will Barton. Hindsight is always 20:20. BNM
I believe same as any 0-6 year player such as Chandler Parsons. Starting around $23 mil per year. Probably unlikely Crabbe gets that much; but if Orlando, Brooklyn and the Lakers are left with 0 free agent signings a week into free agency and multiple max slots available they might do something crazy.
Sure its unlikely Barton hits that single season peak level of Jermaine. But he currently projects to be a quality starter for years which would be similar it that we sold very low on a young player we may regret for a long time. Most poster were not more upset about TRob leaving; that was a vocal few posters who wanted Tim Frazier to play big minutes or other ridiculous statements. At the time Neil signed free agents like Ed Davis and Aminu many weren't impressed. Many thought CJ couldn't coexist with Damian. Turns out those moves were far better than expected and we give Neil lots of credit. The Denver trade is a horrible trade knowing what we know now. If we're going to give Neil credit for his moves that work out better than expected a true analysis of his acumen needs to account for the opposite. Neil has been good; if not great as a GM. But he is no where close to perfect as I originally responded to.
I'm a huge Ed Davis fan as most would know. I like both scenarios for him, he plays well either way. What I've thought about before though is that what if he WANTS to start.... I know he's sat through half a season of watching Vonleh start for 14mins a game and then comes in and does this thing. If he wants that recognition n status of being a starter, and we crown him as the 'bench king' it could work against us with everything else being equal. I'm pretty sure he isn't like that, but some people are - ie if us and LA offer meyers the exact identical contract, but LA gives him a starting job, hands down he's gone..... tbh i really want this to happen, but still.... Basically, I'm a fan for competition in the team and people earning their spots and minutes, but yeah, Stotts knows the team and the dynamics, hopefully we can just keep Ed happy so he wants to be here for the long haul.
We did give Meyers a starting job. He shot 30%, played horrible defense and couldn't stay healthy. As Bones said we can match anything with him if we wanted so let him sign with the Lakers if he wants. Regarding your larger point with Ed he seems like a guy who just wants to play and hadn't been in a regular rotation until last season. Being on a 3 year deal I think he is more happy to just be appreciated and in a permanent long term place. If he is a starter he's going to be below average as has shown with his stats against starters; Stotts know what he's doing. Maybe a piece of him wants to start but we're never going to have every player on the roster 100% happy with their roles. It would actually be bad if we did because that means we don't have high enough quality players able to fill in for fatigue and injury.
Last season, Ed Davis led the Lakers in PER at 20.0. Yet he was only 12th in minutes per game. That's right, 20 ! http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2015.html
