Quick run down of a hypothetical offseason, what to do, followed by why, and risks/negatives I've left to a poll and discussion.

Draft Udoke Azubuike.

Call AD's agent, get refused a meeting...but you have to try.

Sign Nerlens Noel on the cheapest 4 year deal you can manage

Sign Kris Dunn on the cheapest 4 year deal you can manage Use the MLE for these transactions.

Drop Plumlee

Re sign Grant as cheap as possible. Once his price starts creeping north of 15 let him go for nothing or facilitate a sign and trade. I don't like Grant, I think he's fine, but actually worth under 10 mil, but teams will fall over themselves to get him at 15 for the same reasons folk here think he's good. There's also a chance we can get his usage up and maintain his efficiency and then he's worth the contract.

Re-sign Paul Millsap for 1+1 TO for 20mil annually Don't be afraid to go a little higher.

Trades: I'd keep a close eye on deals for Mikal Bridges, Kyle Anderson and Ben Simmons and be gauging them against Grant, Harris, Murray, MPJ, Barton . In the offseason I'd likely enquire on all of them. I would expect to only pull the trigger on Anderson for Barton in the offseason, may be get some more thrown in...Konchar for stats geeks?

Leaves one spot that must be filled and a second that doesn't need to be, but that can be opportunistically filled later. Provided Dunn and Noel were achievable for MLE this leaves you about 2 mil over the tax.

Big to small. Why?

Jokic is obvious.

Noel and Azubuike when we already Jokic, Millsap, MPJ and Bol might seem a weird call. You might imagine that 3 of them make a fairly sweet 3 man big rotation if we hit on all of them...but we may not. Even if we do tall athletic types tend to struggle on high minutes in a single game and over multiple games getting injured more easily, Howard and McGee for example have been effective for the Lakers on less than 20 minutes each. Noel and Azubuike can offer something on offence, they can both screen and roll effectively and have some post moves in the event of a mismatch, Azubuike is fantastic at the post and pin. Zero chance of either playing as Jokic lite. Noel is a great defender, but take a care with his rebounding, Azubuike is profiling as an elite defender in the Gobert mold. Both are long and athletic enough to play Giannis to Jokic's Lopez if we run that type of defence and we should. Both with length and skills enough to play Lopez to the others Giannis should they find themselves on the court together or with...

MPJ and Bol...I see them guarding at 4/5 and attacking at 3/4 and so could work with any of the other 3 bigs. If they can do that these guys are gold. The obvious point being someone has to defend at 3 and play at 4/5, the guys above can obviously cover the 5 to these guys's 4. Noel has some limited ability to do at 3, but more on this later. For now they are cheap with sky high potential.

Millsap...MPJ isn't ready, Bol isn't ready, Azubuike isn't ready and if on/off is anything to go by we drop out of the playoffs without Millsap. We've the capacity to pay him and keep him around so why wouldn't we? on a 1+1 he get's his money, and if we don't find a better option we can pay him again, if we do find a better option like one of the multitude of youngsters we can opt out and offer him a bench role and salary. If we don't need him it's a nice value for salary matching in trade. Millsap would be an excellent expiring for any contending team at the deadline the TO and price makes him attractive to rebuilding teams. In an ideal world he starts next season, before the season is up MPJ starts over him and before the end of the following season he's sliding behind Bol too.

Anderson, Grant, KBD, Cancar....remember that point above about playing D at 3 and offence at 4? Here are 4 options, 2 proven and desirable, but very different, then one with potential, and one solid in depth. I'm actually not thrilled with Grant here, but others will be. Anderson is great, but if I could get Simmons to stick and slot in here that'd be fantastic. Ryan's article would also slot Tyler Bey in here, and you could certainly shoot for that type of player, many of us wanted Brandon Clarke last draft who'd fill the same role, and I've advocated for Rondae Hollis Jefferson in that role and if we get lucky with money why not? Don't rule out Dunn here.

Morris Murray Dunn Harris, even toss in Anderson and Jokic. It's very deep with a nice high floor and sky high ceiling if Harris and Murray can tie their best selves both ways together. OK why Dunn? Dunn may be the most effective perimeter defender in the league right now. Both on and off ball he was excellent, generating TOs and limiting the FG% of his opponent even playing up in order to guard SFs. Dunn playing at SF was part of the Bulls starting 5 and on over 300 minutes they were better than our starting 5 due to great D. On over 300 minutes their net was 7th(we were 8th), their D 2nd. Dunn's on/off on D was 6.2. Moving forward to Monte's contract, you could reasonably keep all 4, or you could move any one of the 4 if opportunity presents itself.

This year.

Jokic Noel

Millsap MPJ

Anderson Grant

Harris Dunn

Murray Morris

1-3 years from now.

Jokic Noel Azubuike

MPJ Bol Millsap

Anderson Grant

Harris Dunn

Murray Morris

Risks. See poll below and discuss.