Lakers 2014 Off-Season Thread

[Wamu]

Jim Buss

Can we blame Mitch Cupcheck as well?

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Mitch has been one of the best, if not THE best GM over the last decade!

 

[Wamu]

Mitch has been one of the best, if not THE best GM over the last decade!

If I could give you more than one thumbs up I would!

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Lakersboy is slacking. There's a game tonight and no game thread yet.

I did the pre season game thread for all 7 pre season games in one. I think it's better that way until the season starts. Don't you think ? :no idea:

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/5639675-post1.html

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/los-angeles-lakers/165714-lakers-2014-pre-season-game-thread.html

 

[trojanfan12]

I did the pre season game thread for all 7 pre season games in one. I think it's better that way until the season starts. Don't you think ? :no idea:

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/5639675-post1.html

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/los-angeles-lakers/165714-lakers-2014-pre-season-game-thread.html

Missed that.

I agree that for the pre-season, 1 thread is plenty.

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Missed that.

I agree that for the pre-season, 1 thread is plenty.

Maybe we can reach 10,000 on that thread.

 

[Vitamike]

So the game starts at 7:30 does anybody know if it's going to be televised?

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

So the game starts at 7:30 does anybody know if it's going to be televised?

The Game will be on NBATV, and TWCSN.

 

[overtone22]

Saw my first preseason game last night. Kobe looked solid for the time he was in and I loved the energy that Randle brings. Even Lin looked pretty decent.

However, the defensive mindset Byron Scott is trying to establish still hasn't sunk in yet. There was a lot more defensive effort last night than I saw all of last year, but the team still has a long way to go in that regard.

 

[trojanfan12]

Saw my first preseason game last night. Kobe looked solid for the time he was in and I loved the energy that Randle brings. Even Lin looked pretty decent.

However, the defensive mindset Byron Scott is trying to establish still hasn't sunk in yet. There was a lot more defensive effort last night than I saw all of last year, but the team still has a long way to go in that regard.

Yeah, the energy was there on defense, but the communication and execution weren't. Those are fixable issues that should improve with more time together.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Looks like ESPN is having a pop at Kobe after he called them 'idiots'

Is Kobe Bryant the reason for the Los Angeles Lakers' downfall?

Fucking morons! Only reason I frequent their website is to get the scores off games. Their writers are just outright douchbags!

 

[lakersrule]

Looks like ESPN is having a pop at Kobe after he called them 'idiots'

Is Kobe Bryant the reason for the Los Angeles Lakers' downfall?

Fucking morons! Only reason I frequent their website is to get the scores off games. Their writers are just outright douchbags!

Abbott is a known Kobe/Lakers hater. This one-sided article doesn't surprise. He makes stuff by the way.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Yeah, Kobe cursed the Lakers with 5 championships, what a disappointment lol.

I'm sure that article coming out a few days after Kobe's comments was mere 'coincidence'. Typical BSPN sensationalism, their mantra got old a few years ago and is the reason I haven't watched their programs in years.

 

[Keeping it Ghetto]

Not sure Kobe is 100% to blame in the Lakers rebuild process but he is a huge part of it....

 

[wildturkey]

Looks like ESPN is having a pop at Kobe after he called them 'idiots'

Is Kobe Bryant the reason for the Los Angeles Lakers' downfall?

Fucking morons! Only reason I frequent their website is to get the scores off games. Their writers are just outright douchbags!

Eh...there's some truth to his reporting. That's not the first place you've heard some of that stuff about Bryant so its not like he made it up. There's no doubt there are players that would find him difficult to deal with. It's also 100% true he has no qualms about blasting teammates publicly. While a good portion of his rants are true (like Shaq being fat), it's sometimes best to keep some of that in house. So you can see how that type of behavior would turn people off. Kobe strikes me as someone that has a very high IQ but is also a bit of a sociopath. He doesn't really fully understand the emotions of other people and how what he sees as truths can be hurtful to others if taken a certain way.

Now how much of that contributes to the Lakers "downfall" is debatable. It seems ridiculous to pin it all on him. The story (conveniently) left out a HUGE reason for LA's current predicament; David Stern vetoing the Chris Paul trade. That was step 1 in the LA Front Office plan to transition into the next era. Had it gone through, it would have dramatically altered not only the Lakers, but damn near every team. Nothing we see today would be like it is. And if you remember, LA didn't include Andrew Bynum in that deal, meaning they still had the assets to bring Dwight Howard to LA as well. Suddenly that picture looks totally different if the Lakers have CP3, Howard, and Bryant on the team. Even if by chance both guys hated playing with Bryant, the way the contracts were set up, LA could have let Bryant walk in 2014 free agency and signed someone else (Melo, Lebron, Bosh, whoever) to play with Paul and Howard. So yeah, that's a pretty big detail to leave out.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Kobe just expects everyone in a purple and gold jersey to give 110%, like he does. If you're getting paid millions upon millions for 7 months work out of the year, he expects you to be on the practise floor at 6am putting up 500 shots before coach officially starts practise.

Dwight, for instance, expected himself to walk into El Segundo and be given the keys to the franchise without having to do any work for it.

 

[trojanfan12]

Eh...there's some truth to his reporting. That's not the first place you've heard some of that stuff about Bryant so its not like he made it up. There's no doubt there are players that would find him difficult to deal with. It's also 100% true he has no qualms about blasting teammates publicly. While a good portion of his rants are true (like Shaq being fat), it's sometimes best to keep some of that in house. So you can see how that type of behavior would turn people off. Kobe strikes me as someone that has a very high IQ but is also a bit of a sociopath. He doesn't really fully understand the emotions of other people and how what he sees as truths can be hurtful to others if taken a certain way.

Now how much of that contributes to the Lakers "downfall" is debatable. It seems ridiculous to pin it all on him. The story (conveniently) left out a HUGE reason for LA's current predicament; David Stern vetoing the Chris Paul trade. That was step 1 in the LA Front Office plan to transition into the next era. Had it gone through, it would have dramatically altered not only the Lakers, but damn near every team. Nothing we see today would be like it is. And if you remember, LA didn't include Andrew Bynum in that deal, meaning they still had the assets to bring Dwight Howard to LA as well. Suddenly that picture looks totally different if the Lakers have CP3, Howard, and Bryant on the team. Even if by chance both guys hated playing with Bryant, the way the contracts were set up, LA could have let Bryant walk in 2014 free agency and signed someone else (Melo, Lebron, Bosh, whoever) to play with Paul and Howard. So yeah, that's a pretty big detail to leave out.

The only part of this post that I would question is him publicly calling out teammates. Not saying that he doesn't as we can all think of multiple examples without even trying hard.

What we don't know is what he has said to them before he goes public. Is it something that he has been talking to them about and there has been no response/improvement? Sort of like Phil used to do.

For example: The first time he said something publicly about Shaq being out of shape. Was it the first time Shaq heard about it? Or had Kobe been talking to him behind the scenes and finally got fed up when he showed up to training camp fat and out of shape yet again?

Don't know for sure, but I'd pretty much be willing to bet my house that it's the latter.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Kobe just expects everyone in a purple and gold jersey to give 110%, like he does. If you're getting paid millions upon millions for 7 months work out of the year, he expects you to be on the practise floor at 6am putting up 500 shots before coach officially starts practise.

Dwight, for instance, expected himself to walk into El Segundo and be given the keys to the franchise without having to do any work for it.

Dwight's getting his just deserts, he wanted to go to Houston and laugh it up with his boy Harden. They're laughing themselves all the way to another 1st round exit.

 

[Retroram52]

Everywhere Howard has gone, the team finds out what everyone else knows about the guy. He is a narcissictic, egomanical, child that demands things he does not earn and then wonders why everyone hates him after he completely wears out his welcome with his immaturity especially the locker room farting he thinks is real cute.

 

[trojanfan12]

Dwight reminds me a bit of Lamar Odom. Like Lamar, Dwight is immensely talented. However, also like Lamar, he just doesn't appear to have it in him to put forth the effort and work required to maximize his talent.

The key difference between Dwight and Lamar is that Lamar was happy to accept a "supporting role" to win titles. Dwight thinks that he already knows it all and can lead a team to accomplish something that he's never done.

I pretty much learned all I needed to know about Dwight when Kareem offered to work with him and he declined. I don't care who you are or what team you play for, if a legend like that offers to help you, you take him up on it.

Hell, Kobe flew to Houston to learn a few things from Hakeem and Dwight thinks Kareem had nothing to teach him?