Suns get lottery pick from Lakers if they miss playoffs

[sunsfan88]

Now, I'm not saying that they definitely will miss the playoffs or anything but by the look it, its definitely a strong possibility. Despite having 4 All Stars on the team, the Lakers are absolute trash and their counting on a 40 year old player to save their season.

Usually, you can look at this and say "Fine, Lakers will finally miss playoffs but at least they will be able to add a stud rookie from the draft and finally get some young blood to team with Kobe & Co"

But that, apparently, is not the case here. The Lakers traded their *protected 2013 first round pick and unprotected 2015 first round pick to acquire Steve Nash from Phoenix this past off season.

*the restriction is that if the Lakers make playoffs, then the Suns would get the worse of the Lakers and Heat 1st round and the Cavs would get the other 1st rd pick. HOWEVER, IF THE LAKERS MISS PLAYOFFS, THAT LOTTERY PICK BELONGS TO THE PHOENIX SUNS.

**If by chance the Lakers MISS the playoffs this season (they are 9-12 right now), the Suns get their pick outright.

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2...babby-ready-to-act-sooner-than-later-on-trade

This is actually a plus sign for the Laker fans. It means that the Lakers and their FO will do absolutely whatever it takes to at least make playoffs (meaning trades) since it would quite embarrassing for them to miss post season and not even get awarded for it. Lakers, unfortunately, are too smart for that.

But yea missing playoffs for the Lakers is a loss-loss scenario. :clap:

Right now, their competing with the follow teams for playoff contention:

SA
OKC
MEMPHIS
LAC
GS
UTAH
DALLAS
DENVER

*Also Minnesota once they get Rubio healthy would be dangerous too. Same can be said for the Lakers too after they get Nash, so we'll see.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Just as a reference, here are the only (5) seasons the Lakers have missed the playoffs:

1957-1958
1974-1975
1975-1976
1993-1994
2004-2005



Go Lakers !!

 

[Cheesebeef]

i never thought I'd say this, but if they don't get Nash back healthy (and without the Suns unparalleled training staff and Nash's age who knows what could happen), they might not make the playoffs. I REALLY don't expect that to happen, but who knows with how awful they look right now... and have looked since DA took over.

 

[sunsfan88]

Here's an interesting thought, once the Lakers lose to the knicks ,they would be 9-14 with 59 more games left. If they win 60% of the remaining, which is 35 out of those59 games, it would leave their record at 44-38.

Is 44-38 enough to make it in this year's competitive West with teams like Utah and Golden State on the rise?

 

[D-Dogg]

Don't hold your breath.

 

[Folster]

Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum made it to the playoffs last year handily. I just can't fathom Kobe, Gasol, Howard, and Nash when he returns not making the playoffs.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum made it to the playoffs last year handily. I just can't fathom Kobe, Gasol, Howard, and Nash when he returns not making the playoffs.

agreed but the big question is IF Nash can return early enough to get them out of this tailspin... or if he comes back at all. At first his injury was supposed to only keep him out a week or two... then another week... then another... and now every time we hear something else, it gets extended another two weeks.

that being said, I fully expect him to come back and get the Lakers back in relative swing and probably end up with a 6 seed at worst. them missing the playoffs and us getting their lotto pick just ain't something that happens to this woe-begone franchise.

 

[Phrazbit]

Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum made it to the playoffs last year handily. I just can't fathom Kobe, Gasol, Howard, and Nash when he returns not making the playoffs.

Their bench is even worse than it was last season and their stars got older. Nash, Gasol and Howard all have health questions. Then you've got Mike D who is probably the worst candidate possible to coach a team with that should rely on its big men in the post. He wants to spread the court and run run run... but this team is slow slow slow and lacks shooters. Whenever Nash finally does come back you can expect him to quickly get reinjured because D'Antoni will probably play him 40 minutes a night.

I still think the Lakers will make the playoffs because for as poorly as the parts fit together... they are great parts. But it is by no measure a certainty. If Nash does end up missing 50+ games this year and they cant get the parts they need in a Gasol swap then they will be in big trouble.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum made it to the playoffs last year handily. I just can't fathom Kobe, Gasol, Howard, and Nash when he returns not making the playoffs.

I don't know, really. I expect them to make the playoffs but Kobe has a lot of basketball mileage on him and it shows, Gasol's knees are in even worse shape than they were last year and he's clearly been in decline for awhile now and Howard still isn't the player he was pre-injury. This is a team that desperately needs a healthy Nash not to mention a healthy Steve Blake and I think they struggle until they get at least one of them back into the lineup. That is, barring a trade.

Steve

 

[elindholm]

The probability of the Lakers missing the playoffs is so remote as to be really not worth worrying about. Take a look at the Western Conference standings and ask yourself honestly how many of those teams could finish in front of the Lakers over an 82-game season.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

The probability of the Lakers missing the playoffs is so remote as to be really not worth worrying about. Take a look at the Western Conference standings and ask yourself honestly how many of those teams could finish in front of the Lakers over an 82-game season.

I agree that they likely won't miss the playoffs, but the fact is that if they get off to a bad enough start they might not win more than about 45 games or so even if the get hot at some point. 06-07 was the last season that a western conference team got to the playoffs with less than 46 wins in an 82 game season. Though this seems like a year where 1 or 2 teams might make it at close to .500.

 

[asudevil83]

the way i see it, there are 4 teams that are locks for the playoffs. OKC, SA, CLIPS, MEM. and their are 4 slots remaining.

there are possibly 8 teams fighting for those remaining 4 slots. Of those 4 slots, 4 teams have players coming back from major injury. GS with Bogut, Dallas with Dirk, LA with Nash, and Minny with Rubio.

so you have to ask yourself. Does Nash make the Lakers strong enough to overtake a GS team that is 14-7 without Bogut, a Dallas team that is 11-10 without Dirk, a Minnesota team that is 9-9 without Rubio, and a Houston team working in a new core of Harden, Lin, Asik?

IMO the worst they do is #10. OKC, SA, CLIPS, MEMPHIS, DALLAS, and then you shuffle (Lakers, Warriors, Rockets, Jazz, Wolves.) they could finish as high as #6 IMO though.

it depends on when Nash comes back, so its hard to say. i think when the end of Feb rolls around we might have something to root for (that would be the lakers losing).

In the long run though, my curiosity is piqued at the 2015 unprotected pick. A.) do the Lakers keep Dwight B.) the Lakers let Kobe retire a Laker C.) Do they trade Pau for value D.) Do they keep Nash E.) Can they get ANY value for their terrible contracts (Metta, Blake, Duhon, Hill) combined are $19.1mil of ugly contracts.

 

[Griffin]

There is no way the Lakers are missing the playoffs. David Stern would never allow such scenario, it's simply bad for business. As BiM pointed out with his list of Lakers lottery seasons, during Stern's near 30-year reign as The Commish the Lakers have only missed the playoffs twice. In finance, they call this "too big to fail". If the Lakers are in any real jeopardy of missing the playoffs before the trading deadline, I anticipate a major league-orchestrated bailout forthcoming

 

[slinslin]

the way i see it, there are 4 teams that are locks for the playoffs. OKC, SA, CLIPS, MEM. and their are 4 slots remaining.

there are possibly 8 teams fighting for those remaining 4 slots. Of those 4 slots, 4 teams have players coming back from major injury. GS with Bogut, Dallas with Dirk, LA with Nash, and Minny with Rubio.

so you have to ask yourself. Does Nash make the Lakers strong enough to overtake a GS team that is 14-7 without Bogut, a Dallas team that is 11-10 without Dirk, a Minnesota team that is 9-9 without Rubio, and a Houston team working in a new core of Harden, Lin, Asik?

IMO the worst they do is #10. OKC, SA, CLIPS, MEMPHIS, DALLAS, and then you shuffle (Lakers, Warriors, Rockets, Jazz, Wolves.) they could finish as high as #6 IMO though.

it depends on when Nash comes back, so its hard to say. i think when the end of Feb rolls around we might have something to root for (that would be the lakers losing).

In the long run though, my curiosity is piqued at the 2015 unprotected pick. A.) do the Lakers keep Dwight B.) the Lakers let Kobe retire a Laker C.) Do they trade Pau for value D.) Do they keep Nash E.) Can they get ANY value for their terrible contracts (Metta, Blake, Duhon, Hill) combined are $19.1mil of ugly contracts.

You excluded Denver.

 

[carey]

I wouldn't hold my breath on this one, but dreaming is free.

 

[jagu]

Lakers suck lol, it's more fun for me to watch the Lakers free-falling than the Suns sucking it up.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

D'Antoni is still terrible.

 

[taz02]

Sure would make the last half of the season, at least some what interesting.

 

[95pro]

lakers look terrible tonight

 

[Battle of Evermore]

I must admit I am enjoying seeing D'Antoni and the Lakers getting their brains beaten out of them by the Knicks. The Suns are just behind them in the won loss record. It will be great if we get that pick and it is a lottery pick

 

[SunsTzu]

As much as I hope the Suns can get this pick in the lottery, I just can't convince myself the Lakers won't find a way into the playoffs.

 

[95pro]

lakers lose

 

[slinslin]

As it is and based on history the Lakers need a .600+ winning percentage throughout the remaining games to get the #8 seed.

If they win less than 5 of their next 10 it will look good for us even if the Lakers turn it around eventually.

 

[SunsTzu]

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[JCSunsfan]

Yup. The longer they go ...