>No clue who'd take an expiring Russ deal on its own, and
>*especially* no clue who'd give anything of value in exchange.
>To make the money work, the Lakers would almost certainly have
>to send away picks with Russ.

Obviously the market for Russ is limited (to say the least) - but a deal for him was always much more likely to materialize mid-season (if at all).

Many teams are hopeful they can do something to start the new season, but after ~35 games, inevitably some teams will already be out of the playoff picture, and will be looking to cut losses and deal.

For a team tanking and/or wanting a hard rebuild, that gigantic expiring Russ contract means considerable financial flexibility once it expires (in about 40/50 games at that point).

I think there will be takers for that expiring deal, but the question is whether you have to give up both picks for it, which Lakers have thus far refused to do (and have publicly stated that they would only do it if they were getting a championship difference maker).

>I'm not convinced there's a
>realistic plan in place.

Given the track record of this FO in past decade, I'm not either lol.

>Russ should come off the bench anyway, tbh. He has basically
>no value in an offense with Bron and AD unless he's shooting
>well from 3 (which he won't) or provided positive defensive
>value (which he won't). Nunn won't be a good defender, but
>he's a better shooter than Russ by a lot. Russ has the most
>value at this point as a sixth man bullying second units with
>his high-usage, high-volume play. If he can accept that role,
>he might be able to show some value in the market after this
>season. (I am skeptical he will accept that role.)

Yea I'd like to see Russ either come off the bench, or just let him start the 1st quarter & 3rd quarter when the game is more free/wide-open, then have Bev/Dennis/Nunn close games.

Patience will run thin at warp-speed if Russ is the same Russ from last year. He has to go through a Melo like metamorphosis and be a solid role player at this stage of his career, or this actually could be his last year in the league. Joking (kinda) - as I'm sure he could get a MLE somewhere, but his late-stage career dilemma reminds of Iverson, who just simply could not adapt his game late-stage when he was no longer elite.

>
>I'll be surprised if Beverly isn't in the starting lineup-- or
>at least the closing lineup-- by season's end. He's the only
>net positive point-of-attack defender they have in the
>backcourt (in a backcourt with a lot of mediocre to awful
>defenders), he shares the ball well, and when he was with the
>Clippers, he shot nearly 40% on standstill catch-and-shoot 3s.
>That's everything the Lakers need from their starting PG with
>Bron and Davis on the floor.

Yea I'm kind of high on Beverly for *this* team, because they desperately need some on-ball attack defenders and competent 3-and-D's - and Bev is exactly that.

I actually wouldn't be surprised to see Nunn/Dennis, Bev, Bron & AD all on the floor at the same time late-game.