One-on-One: We absolutely can't unsee Lakers' offseason circus

Keane: Why are the Lakers such a lightning rod at all times? Do you think Melo and his hat collection are truly being blackballed from the league? And what’s the best option for filling the job vacancy at center?

Heery:  Beyond the tradition, the championships, the superstar personalities and celebrity following, the Lakers are a lightning rod at all times because their ownership and front-office situation resembles the Roy family and Waystar Royco in HBO's show "Succession." Much like Logan Roy, Dr. Buss' sons were ill-equipped to run the family business, and so he gave the keys to his daughter, Jeanie, who, like Shiv Roy, is ruthless enough to oust family members from the business, but perhaps equally unsuited for the job herself. I'll stop with this analogy before I spoil the show for anyone, but the Cousin Greg of the Lakers is definitely the @RDAmbition Lakers "insider" on Twitter and Reddit who declared Kawhi to the Lakers to be a done deal July 1.  

Before we get to my umpteenth dismissal of Melo this summer, let's pour one out for Boogie Cousins' complicated prime. Three major injuries to the same leg in three years is absolutely brutal, unlucky and sad. There's a better chance that Carmelo Anthony makes an NBA All-Defensive team this season than Boogie returning to his pre-Achilles tear form at this point. And while it's always tough to tell people to feel bad for a former star NBA player, in retrospect, it's unfortunate that Cousins bet on himself in consecutive summers and signed "prove it" deals with the Warriors and Lakers instead of securing a more hefty payday with the Pelicans following his initial injury. (He rejected a two-year, $40M deal). Turn off injuries!

As for Boogie's replacement, calling the remaining big-man market scarce is an understatement. They'll probably sign a veteran like Howard or Noah, but what they really need is a youthful center who is athletic and can play every night during the regular season (they can snag a buy-out big for the playoffs later in the season). I'd take a swing on a guy with a bit of a pedigree and some upside like Deyonta Davis and hope that Frank Vogel can work his magic on a raw, failed prospect. Or maybe take a swing on former No. 2 overall pick, Hasheem Thabeet, who is pursuing a comeback. Just kidding. Kind of. Or just tell Anthony Davis, "you're playing center this year, and we're winning the title." That might work too.  

As for Mr. Anthony, the first-ever full-time "Black Ops Runs" player, he's not being blackballed by anyone. Royce White clearly has no idea what "blackballed" means in terms of professional sports. Latrell Sprewell got blackballed from the NBA after he infamously rejected a $14.6M contract extension and said "I got my family to feed." Colin Kaepernick probably got blackballed from the NFL for his social protest. You don't get blackballed from the NBA for being a ball-stopping, inefficient, past-his-prime, one-dimensional scorer -- that's just called not being good enough to help a team. Sure, Melo is better than Jared Dudley ... at one-on-one. He's worse than Dudley at every three-and-D skill though. He's also never shown any indication that he's willing to transition his game from superstar to role player a la Vince Carter. Royce "I'm Tryin to Look Like Suge Knight" White has no idea what he's talking about. 

Who gave him this platform? And why are we discussing his NBA takes again?

Keane:  I can see why people would think the Lakers would want Carmelo Anthony, because LeBron James loves playing with former All-Stars who are well past their prime, like Dwyane Wade in Cleveland, Shaq or Ben Wallace in Cleveland, Rashard Lewis in Miami, or Rajon Rondo right now in Los Angeles. Which is why if you squint your eyes, you can imagine Dwight Howard, who was washed up three years ago, ending up on the Lakers. But like Melo, he's shown no signs he's going to adjust his game to the realities of the changing league and his degenerating body.

Of course, every summer we hear that Dwight has seen the light and is ready to change his game -- this year's story is that Howard lost 25 pounds, which is impressive except that last summer's story was that Howard lost 23 pounds, and in 2017, the story was that Howard lost 20 pounds. So unless Dwight now weighs in at about 197 pounds, I have to doubt the sincerity of these dramatic weight-loss efforts.

While I'm sympathetic for Royce White's mental health issues, it's hard to take seriously the hot takes of a former first-round pick who played nine total minutes in his NBA career. Was it a slow day in the BIG3 when he started popping off about Jared Dudley? My theory is that he knows Carmelo Anthony's destiny is to challenge Joe Johnson for the 2020 BIG3 MVP title, so he's starting the recruitment effort early.

Speaking of the BIG3, most of the Lakers' wing defenders seem closer to the BIG3 than the NBA. Rajon Rondo peaked about seven years ago, Avery Bradley's defense fell off a cliff since he was traded from Boston two years ago, and Jared Dudley is 34 years old. Dudley still knows where to be defensively all the time, but his brain is writing checks his lateral movement can no longer cash. Tough defensive assignments in the regular season will fall to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who's mainly on the team because LeBron's best friend is his agent. KCP will have to be the primary defender on wing scorers this year, because LeBron doesn't start playing defense until after the All-Star break.

I agree that the obvious solution to a lot of these issues is to convince Anthony Davis that he actually is a center, despite his distaste for the position. Look, we pretended that Tim Duncan was a power forward for years even when he was a center, and apparently we're pretending LeBron is a point guard, so it's not a stretch. 

Keane: What do you think is the biggest gaping hole on the roster? And does it really matter what position LeBron and AD are ostensibly playing as long as they're on the court with somebody in May and June? 

Heery: Wing defense is obviously a concern for the Lakers (and seemingly every LeBron James team since he stopped playing defense in the regular season), but I would point out that they do have Danny Green and -- let me explain before you laugh at me -- Kyle Kuzma. Kuzma at least plays with some effort on defense -- that's half the battle. His time with Team USA this summer, learning from Popovich and Steve Kerr, should enhance his game enough to at least give Vogel something to work with on that end of the court. I think the bigger issue is at point guard, especially when it comes to defending elite point guards. The hope for LA is that either KCP or Bradley, both of whom should still be in their athletic prime, are rejuvenated by playing on a contender. We've seen it happen before with the likes of JR Smith early in his Cleveland stint, George Hill last season with Milwaukee, and even Green in Toronto last year. I'm still skeptical though.

And you bring up a good point about positions with LeBron and AD -- basketball is practically positionless in today's game, so as long as those two are on the court together in the playoffs, the Lakers will always have a chance to win. The problem will be the regular season. While they'll definitely make the playoffs barring a catastrophic injury, they could end up with a brutal first-round matchup if they're not one of the top two seeds. I pity the team that lands the No. 3 seed and gets rewarded with a matchup against a fully healthy Warriors team. Or the team that lands the No. 4 or No. 5 seed and gets the load-managed Clippers in the first round. 

After the Boogie injury, where do you see the Lakers finishing in the regular season? They have a relatively easy early-season schedule this year. Will they take advantage and bank some wins on their way to a top-two seed? Or are they be the sleeping giant No. 5 or No. 6 seed I alluded to above?

Keane: While I believe Anthony Davis is poised for an MVP season, LeBron doesn’t care about regular-season wins anymore. The 2018 Cavaliers made the Finals as the No. 4 seed, winning a Game 7 on the road in the conference finals to do so. I don’t think seeding will reflect the actual dangerousness of the teams. Denver, Utah and Houston could easily be higher seeds than the Warriors and the LA teams, plus Portland always outperforms its projected win total. 

Why won’t LeBron care? Because home-court advantage means nothing when your primary rival plays in the same building as your team. No offense to Billy Crystal, Frankie Muniz and the other Clippers superfans, but a best-of-seven series against the Clippers at the Staples Center means seven home games for the Lakers.