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Basketball from a fans perspective

Someone's got to move!

NBA commissioner Silver as might be expected is in Las Vegas for summer league play, he addressed several issues one of them being league expansion. Silver mentioned the two leading candidates for expansion and neither city was a surprise. The commissioner named Seattle and Las Vegas, adding those two presents another issue…an unbalanced league. Both cities are in the West so two teams currently in the West would be moved for balance purposes. Who are the candidates for such a move, I can think of three maybe four teams. Memphis, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and perhaps Minnesota all cities in the Central Time Zone. If (or when) expansion occurs the West will contain teams in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Standard Time Zones exclusively.

The “new” Lakers

An interesting note, this new Lakers team appears to be quite similar to the old Lakers team. It might appear similar however it looks stronger overall. Stronger than the one that made a stretch run after being dead in the water. That run culminated in earning a playoff berth and beating both the Wolves and Grizzlies. The Nuggets were the better team in the Western Conference so that had to be addressed, I believe the Lakers have succeeded based on their effort. Below you is the new/old Laker team, those who were acquired after the 2023 trade deadline (including draft choices) are shown in bold as well as the free agent signings. This is the 2023-24 Laker team as of July 1, 2023.

Starters

LeBron James – SF under contract

Anthony Davis – C under contract

Jarred Vanderbilt – PF team option

D’Angelo Russell – PG re-signed

Austin Reaves – SG re-signed

Reserves

Rui Hachimura – PF re-signed

Jaxson Hayes – PF/C free agent

Taurean Prince – SF free agent

Gabe Vincent – PG free agent

Cam Reddish – SF free agent

Wenyen Gabriel – PF/C holdover

Jalen Hood-Schifino – SG draft pick

Maxwell Lewis- SG/SF draft pick

Bits n Pieces 

The overwhelming number of international basketball players arrive on these shores with NBA intentions. A smaller number intend to play college basketball, an even lesser number wind up playing play one of the professional teams here. His name is Izan Almansas and he hails from Spain. Although he’s signed to play for G-League Team Elite he’s not exactly new to the U.S. He’s already spent two years playing for OTE. As for the numbers Almansas stands 6 foot 9 in height and weighs 216 pounds, he is projected as a power forward in the NBA. If you check several 2024 NBA mock draft sites you will see Almansas’s name listed.

You lose some and win some, sometimes the Lakers lose when it comes to talent. I read Jazz guard Talen Horton-Tucker picked up an $11 million option from his team. You remember the Lakers decided to trade the youngster for Patrick Beverley, I believe we can ask the question how did that work out? This was written in July and I am still scratching my head trying to figure out what the Lakers hoped to accomplish. I’ve mentioned this in the past the Lakers have been able to draft talented players in the past the problem is they use them in trades similar to what occurred with Talen Horton-Tucker. He might be deficient defensively compared to Beverley but other portions of his game exceed Beverley.

Is this the year of tall skinny guys, I’m asking the question due to NBA player development? Victor Wembanyama was drafted by the Spurs, he arrives from France 7 foot 5 and 237 pounds. We almost forgot about Chet Holmgren of the Thunder, he was forced to sit out last season on what would have been his rookie year. Holmgren stands 7 foot 1 and 208 pounds (wow). The Magic released Bol Bol and reports are circulating that the Lakers might sign him. If the Lakers don’t pick up Bol surely some NBA team will pick up the 7 foot 2 and 220-pound Bol.