Shout out to the Lakers. LeBron has made me root for them much longer than I feel comfortable with. And Luka was probably my second favorite player in the league behind him. You know what happened there. Also, my Godson is named Luca. His Dad is a Lakers fan. I think I’m stuck caring about this team for a while, whether I want to or not.
I say that to say I want things to work out for the Lakers. Unfortunately, Jovan Buha reported the following, according to HoopsHype: “I have heard that the Blazers want something like two firsts for Camara, so maybe they view Dalton and a first as sufficient, but I think Portland probably says no, to be honest.”
Toumani Camara enjoyed a bit of a breakout in his second season with the Blazers — averaging 11.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game. His youth, athleticism and defensive versatility could be a huge addition for the Lakers. Two firsts for Camara could be too much depending on where the pick would fall, but the Lakers are always trying to be good. And while Dalton Knecht could be a bit of a redraft, him and whatever late first they get would probably not be as impactful as just keeping Camara. He’s just too fun on defense anyway. Let Portland have fun.
If no Toumani Camara, what do the Lakers do now?
My recommendation is that they fold the team. They’ve had a good run, but it’s time to let the other teams shine. This situation is just too difficult to try and manage.
Just give up. That’s probably the best plan. Have you ever gotten really close to accomplishing something and then kind of gave up out of lack of stamina, or waning interest, or fear of what might happen if you actually succeeded? Yeah. Those are good things. You want to feed into those.
I’m thinking we contract the Lakers, the Celtics, the Knicks, and the Jazz. The Lakers and Celtics are obvious. Too many championships. Too greedy. New York already has a team in the Nets, so we don’t need a copycat franchise out there. And then there’s the Jazz.
Not anymore. Get out.
Good. I feel like we may have just replaced our initial problem with a much larger, scarier set of problems, but that’s just kind of what people do nowadays.