The Underrated
NBA Free Agency: The Lakers Should Sign DeMar DeRozan ASAP
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- Duration:
- 8m
- Broadcast on:
- 03 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
I swear, watching Rob Polinka attempt to run the Los Angeles Lakers this off season is basically equivalent to, I don't know, going on a safari to do some bird watching. It has been, if you will, painful. The damn bird just ever showed up. That is exactly what has happened with Rob Polinka and the Los Angeles Lakers to this point. They didn't get their coach that they wanted, second, they didn't get their top two players that they were actually after. Now, personally, I think the player they should have been going after all along, thankfully, for Rob Polinka and the Los Angeles Lakers, is actually still available. Look, I am recording this on Tuesday night at 4.35. So as of this time of this recording, Demar de Rosen is still available, Rob Polinka. You should do everything that you can possibly do to deal with that first apron and second apron of the NBA salary cap, because at this point, the Los Angeles Lakers are going to be paying a huge tax fee anyways for this roster. So why not take a shot at actually getting Demar de Rosen? Demar de Rosen is probably the last person available in the association at this point that a LeBron James would actually be willing to take a bit of a shave on his salary to actually make it happen. Look, I'm not saying he's going to give away $20 million off of his salary, but certainly I'm willing to bet that LeBron would do it to bring in Demar de Rosen. Who, quite frankly, if you were to compare Demar de Rosen's stats and Paul George's stats and Clay Thompson's stats, you would probably wonder why wasn't Demar de Rosen, the number one player sought after by all of these teams during the early days of this NBA free agency to Rosen, who averaged over 24 points a game. Now it's not just the averaging of points a game that I want to point out. Now look, Demar de Rosen is not a three-point shooter like Clay Thompson or Paul George for that matter. De Rosen is sort of the king, if you will, of the mid-range jumper. Love watching Demar de Rosen play basketball, and I certainly think a de Rosen fit with the Los Angeles Lakers and this particular roster actually makes way more sense than a Paul George or a Clay Thompson does, especially after the Lakers went out and drafted Dalton Connect. Look, at the end of the day, Rob Polinka has the opportunity to actually redeem himself if he's able to figure out how to bring Demar de Rosen in. I am not even going to attempt to explain this NBA salary cap to you. There's Apron 1 and there's Apron 2. I sat through about an hour of explanation videos done by some of the folks over at ESPN, some people you've never heard of before, and I have to say, while I consider myself to be a relatively smart guy, this whole Apron 1 and Apron 2 thing is certainly confusing, especially when you consider that if the Los Angeles Lakers are going to be able to pull off a Demar de Rosen deal, it's going to be because they figure out how to actually trade a couple other salaries away. You might ask yourself who would they trade away to actually make this happen, and everybody always goes straight back to D'Angelo Russell, who is making over $18 million a year, but look, there are still some other parts of this Los Angeles Lakers roster that they could move off of the roster to actually free up a mid-level exception for Demar de Rosen. Jared Vanderbilt comes to mind as does Gabe Vincent, the Los Angeles Lakers basically got nothing out of both of those players, at least with D'Angelo, you know, three out of five games he actually shows up for. Look, D'Angelo is also very entertaining to watch and is certainly a crowd favorite. I'm willing to bet though, if they do make a move on Demar de Rosen, it will include D'Angelo being somehow shipped out of town to where nobody knows at this point. In terms of D'Rosen on his side of the fence, look, not even the Detroit Pistons made him an offer, look at how much money the Detroit Pistons actually gave to Tobias Harris over me. It is insane how much money the Detroit Pistons actually gave to Tobias Harris over me. And yet, Demar de Rosen is clearly the better basketball player between Tobias Harris and D'Rosen. So D'Rosen, who would love to get himself another three-year deal, is most likely going to have to settle for a one-year deal with the hopes of next offseason being able to secure a significantly larger deal and a larger bag of cash. What is where we are at North America at this point? I want to know what you think. Do you think Demar de Rosen will end up with the Los Angeles Lakers? If he doesn't end up with the Lakers, it will most likely be the Miami Heat, the Golden State Warriors who are currently fixated on Lori marketing, or the Los Angeles Clippers, which is where all really great basketball players go to receive some pretty big contracts and ultimately do nothing with the rest of their careers. If D'Rosen actually wants to have a legitimate shot at winning a ring, the Los Angeles Lakers are clearly the best fit. If the Los Angeles Lakers don't want to squander LeBron James's last year or two or three in the association, they should do everything in their power to go out and grab Demar de Rosen. Alright, that is it for today's underrated. As always, I am Dave D'Baugh wishing you all a tremendous rest of your sports viewing day to the always dramatic drum beats we go. If you've been listening to the underrated podcast with Dave D'Baugh, present it by underrated.media. See you next time. [Music] [Music]