If we got Kidd, we would have Kidd + prime Kobe ie. an extremely willing passer + the league's most potent offensive weapon. Flip it however you want, that's a scary af prospect.

CP3 on the other hand, would had come at the declining stage of Kobe's career. That said, CP3 would definitely had been able to prolong the longevity of Kobe's career; which obviously would be welcomed. As a Kobe fan, watching the last few years of his career was truly heart-breaking.

There are two rotation variations. One where LaRavia starts (though this could be whichever wing defender plays the best next season), and one where Mamukelashvili starts. I think an important notion worth dispelling in the Mamu starter rotation is that he can be the starting 4 while also being the primary back-up 5, he'd just be playing more minutes overall.

Dark purple blocks represent the minutes each player is on the court. White blocks represent when they're on the bench. Light purple F blocks represent flex minutes where the minutes can be split or given to whoever earns those minutes by playing consistently better.

I have Thiero and Carr getting limited minutes but I could see them quickly eating into the minutes of other guys if they play well. For both, I think defense and 3pt shooting is going to be their limiting factors.

Both rotations have 12 players getting minutes or flex minutes. Given that the team is likely to run a 10-man rotation for the regular season which will get shortened to a 8~9-man rotation during important moments, some of these guys are not going to see nightly play.

Vanderbilt, Hardy, Knecht, and Bronny are not in the regular rotation. But, as injury insurance, they give the team a certain amount of resiliency for injuries and rest-days.

General line-up principles --

2 of the trio of Luka, AR, and Sexton are always on the floor aside from a few flex minutes. The idea is that when Luka is the primary on-ball creator, he will have AR/Sexton as a secondary creator for exit passes out of double teams and traps. And, when AR is in the primary creator role, Sexton will be that secondary creator. Alternatively, both AR and Sexton have the ability to bring the ball up and set-up the offense to allow the primary guy to catch in motion. If Hardy gets minutes, it'll be when one of these guys rests or is injured.

Between Grimes and Thybulle, one of them is always on the floor as a PoA defender. If one of these guys get injured, I could see Bronny getting minutes in the same role.

Mamu and Luka are staggered. This is obviously not completely possible while starting Mamu, but outside of the starting and closing runs for each half, they're staggered. The point is to allow Doncic to be the defensive 4 as much as possible to conserve energy.

I kind of don't think it's bad to play Mamu with Looney (hence some of Looney's flex minutes). The minutes without Kessler will have size issues and that's solved by playing 2 bigs. Looney still has "Adams" gravity. Because of his ability to offensive rebound, defenders might be hesitant to leave him to help. So, while he doesn't have much vertical gravity, he might still be able to keep teams honest on the roll or as a dunker. Mamu is fine as a floor-spacer.

Few final thoughts --

I think the biggest missing piece on the team is a 4 who is a good enough perimeter defender to play with Luka alongside Kessler while also being big/strong enough to play the 4 with Mamu at the 5 and not make those line-ups too small. This would alleviate the necessity for a higher quality back-up 5 because of the increase in Mamu at the 5 minutes.

Or, alternatively, they could sign a higher quality back-up 5. I actually prefer this to signing a 4.

A higher quality back-up 5 would allow Mamu to play more of his minutes at the 4, alleviating the need for a higher quality 4. Though, I'd still try to stagger him and Doncic as much as possible.

What Did We Address This Offseason and What Category Do We still Need to Tend to? Not a complicated question by any means, but a way to stop and reflect on where we improved vs the parts of this roster we still need to patch up

Same Walker Kessler deal

Rui Hachimura 14m | 28m/2 | team option year 2

Quentin Grimes same deal

Kelly Oubre Room exception | team option year 2

No Ayton trade

Nick Richards vet min back-up center

Brandon Williams vet min back-up point guard

Waive Knecht, Sign Matisse Thybulle

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Walker Kessler / Deandre Ayton / Nick Richards

Rui Hachimura / Jake LaRavia / Jarred Vanderbilt

Kelly Oubre / Quentin Grimes / Adou Thiero

Austin Reaves / Cameron Carr / Matisse Thybulle

Luka Doncic / Brandon Williams / Bronny James