Tracking the 2013 Draft Picks

[Randolphkeys]

Steve Nash has gone from being a bad defender to being an absolutely embarrassing defender. This just doesn't help...

 

[Just Checkin]

This loss was inevitable. At least I saw it coming.

This was why the Bobcats game was so important. 24-28 with a nice little home stretch coming up for the Lakers. They can do some damage.

Plus, Orlando won today. Giving us a little help on both of our 1st rounders (top 4 seeding in lottery and Lakers gain a little ground on the 9th seed, baby steps).

It's gonna be real interesting week coming up.

 

[daytripper]

The Kings are beating the Rockets by 4 at halftime. It would be sweet if they could help the Lakers playoff chances for the 2nd night in a row.

 

[Hydroponic3385]

Props to the Kings and Magic tonight for handling the Rockets and Blazers, respectively. Always nice to have shitty teams improve our pick, as well as the odds that we get LA's pick. Thanks!

 

[daytripper]

Thank you Queens....er, Kings!

Despite the Lakers loss today in Miami it figures to possibly be a good weak for their playoff fortunes.

Tuesday in particular could be a good day. Lakers have a home payback game against the Suns, Thunder take on the Jazz, Portland on the road against the Heat, and Houston on the road against the Warriors.

Utah in particular has a very tough upcoming schedule while the Lakers schedule starts to get much easier.

 

[kovanovich]

As of today, Hollinger's Playoff Odds projects the Lakers to finish tied with Utah at 41-41 for the final playoff spot. I understand Utah has the tie breaker, but this is the first time we have seen the Lakers projected as a playoff team since I have been tracking them.

Also has the Cavs projected at 27-55, tied (with Sacramento, who has beaten the Cavs twice) for the 3rd worst record. Charlotte and Orlando are worst and second worst, respectively. Phoenix is right ahead of (or behind) Cleveland-Sacramento in the 5th slot at 28-54.

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds

So this would mean we would be looking at, potentially, the 3rd pick, the 15th (if the Lakers can win one more game, or Utah lose one more game, compared with the projection), the 32nd, and 33rd. I'll let Douglar do the graph.

 

[UDcleveland]

Lakers have a huge opportunity to make up ground going into the break:

Tonight:

PHX @ Lakers
HOU @ Golden State (who is pissed after being shown up last week)
OKC @ Utah

Tomorrow:

HOU @ Clippers (Houston traveling for the 2nd part of a back to back against a rested Clippers team)
Utah @ Minnesota (Utah traveling for 2nd part of back to back against a rested, albeit shitty, Minnesota team)

Thursday:

Clippers @ Lakers (Clips on the 2nd night of a back to back)


Lakers could realistically go into the break 1.5 GB Houston and 3 GB Utah... And Houston gets a date with OKC to welcome them back from the break.

 

[daytripper]

Unfortunately Utah is beating OKC handily tonight..they goes on the road tomorrow where they have been horrible this year.

 

[*L-Train*]

at this point our only hope might be Utah trading Al Jefferson and/or Paul Millsap to give the young guys more playing time...

 

[Giambiwannabe7]

Honestly, most of these projections right now have to be taken with a grain of salt. It's fun to track, but it can't be considered incredibly accurate until after the deadline. Teams on the fringe will go one way or the other, realizing they just don't have what it takes, or buying in and trying to make key additions to make a run. The teams at the bottom of the barrel may start to see who can tank the hardest. I think we'll have a much better take in a few weeks.

 

[Pioneer10]

Don't know if it would salary capwise but we should just give Boobie and Ellison to the Lakers as a gift at this stage (if it's illegal to literally not take back anything in a trade add a second round pick to make it look legit and some cap fodder). By getting the Lakers into the playoffs and thus nabbing number 14 pick in the draft we would have created a lot more value then what we would normally get for them

 

[chrisrich91]

Don't know if it would salary capwise but we should just give them Boobie and Ellison at this stage to the Lakers for nothing (or make it a second round pick to make it look legit and some cap fodder). By getting the Lakers into the playoffs and thus nabbing number 14 pick in the draft is a lot more valuable then anything else we could get by trading them

:chuckles:

Honestly you're right. Anyone that could help the Lakers and doesn't factor into our long term plans could just be sent over there for some 2nd rounders if they have a trade exception.

After looking, the Lakers have 4 trade exceptions that add up to ~ $4.5 million...which is what Boobie makes. Ship him out for a couple 2nd rounders!

 

[wuck]

After looking, the Lakers have 4 trade exceptions that add up to ~ $4.5 million...which is what Boobie makes. Ship him out for a couple 2nd rounders!

Because of previous trades, the best the Lakers could offer right now is a conditional 2nd rounder in 2017. If they waived the protections on the 2015 pick they already traded, they could offer us a 2016 2nd-round pick.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be worth doing something to help make them better, though I wonder if the Suns would sue both of us for collusion.

I think that in the end this is going to be about whether or not one of the teams above them falls (due to a trade of their own or injury issues).

 

[Jon]

Honestly, most of these projections right now have to be taken with a grain of salt.

I think the main problem with the projections is we're talking about an unpredictable team in the Lakers. They have so much talent and so many weapons, but they haven't come close to playing up to it. I don't think anyone would be surprised if they rattled off 7 wins in a row ... or 7 losses in a row.

 

[daytripper]

Utah is really starting to piss me off. They win again tonight. If they get into the playoffs they will just get swept by OKC or the Spurs in the first round like they did last year. smh. No one wants to see boring Utah in the playoffs. Stern needs to fix this...obviously Danny Crawford needs to be working more of their games.