Where the Lakers go from here!!

[trojanfan12]

Frankly, I would be much more interested in real talk about whether or not to re-sign Dwight and whom to amnesty. And what about Pau.

But if you want to keep talking about Jeannie Buss and Phil Jackson- go ahead and carry on.

I think that the Lakers have to make every effort to bring Dwight back for a couple of reasons.

1.) The Lakers went all in on Dwight!! The plan from day 1 was to pair him with Kobe and Pau for a couple of years to try and get at least 1 more title before Kobe retires and then re-build around him. He showed as his back got stronger that he can return to his Orlando form and that is the Dwight that we were all looking for.

2.) When healthy, he is a top 5 player in the league. That type of talent doesn't come along everyday. Yes, he has some growing up to do. So did Kobe at the same age. Yes, he got himself ejected in the 2nd half of an unwinnable game. I remember Kobe shutting it down in a game 7 vs. the Suns taking only 3 shots and scoring 1 point in the 2nd half of that game.

I think you bring him back, work on his offensive game, free throw shooting and leadership skills. Kobe learned how to be a more effective leader, so can Dwight!!

As for Pau!! I think it depends on a couple of things. What system will they run and can they get anything of value in return if they trade him? If the Lakers can get good value in a trade, trade him. If not, keep him and let his contract come off the books after next season. Pau is still the most skilled big in the game and showed late in the season that he and Dwight can co-exist in the middle.

As for amnesty. At this point, I don't know who the Lakers amnesty that will make much difference. The only viable option seems to be MWP. I love his effort and commend him for the fact that he leaves it all on the floor every single game, but he is too erratic offensively and is no longer the defender that he used to be. I think that the Lakers call him in to the office and basically give him a choice. He can pick up his player option and be amnestied or he can decline the option and be a free agent. They should make it his choice out of respect for his efforts!!

 

[Thumper]

Please recall that

KOBE BRYANT wanted to get Steve Nash to QB his offense for his last year or 2.

Kobe Bryant, Mitch Kupchak, and Jimmy Buss discussed it.

Kobe approved.

Mitch approved.

Jimmy made it happen.

But oh no- they should have called JEANNIE BUSS to save the day and tell Kobe

NO WAY! We will save the picks and draft some point guards for your twilight years, contrary to your wishes, Kobe.

I know more than you, about b-ball, Kobe- I got splooged on my grill by 11 time Champ Phil!

 

[Big Red Slugs]

Mitch approved.

Jimmy made it happen.

Do you really think that's how it works?

Personally, I think Mitch is the one making things happen, i.e. on the phones. Then Jimmy approves what he wants and sticks it on Mitch and Dr. B when things look stupid, i.e. "unanimous decision."

 

[Big Red Slugs]

Let's face it, Jimmy is scared/intimidated by Phil for a number of understandable reasons, principally because Phil will call his ass out publicly. You think Phil would have let Jimmy stick that "unanimous decision" tag on him? Yeah right!

At any rate, I still think the wisest/mature decision for Jimmy would be to bring Phil into the three-fold approach, because it'll take a great deal of pressure off him publicly and it's just simply a smart basketball move. How many teams right now are lining up for Phil, yet the Lakers, the franchise he won 5 championships for while coaching and making personnel decisions, is seemingly the only reluctant one? Seems odd. Everyone knows this is about Jimmy's incompetence and ego. Sorry, Thumper, you're just plain wrong about the guy.

 

[jayviabay]

Please recall that

KOBE BRYANT wanted to get Steve Nash to QB his offense for his last year or 2.

Kobe Bryant, Mitch Kupchak, and Jimmy Buss discussed it.

Kobe approved.

Mitch approved.

Jimmy made it happen.

But oh no- they should have called JEANNIE BUSS to save the day and tell Kobe

NO WAY! We will save the picks and draft some point guards for your twilight years, contrary to your wishes, Kobe.

I know more than you, about b-ball, Kobe- I got splooged on my grill by 11 time Champ Phil!

If this is true, why didnt Kobe allow Nash to QB the offense then? I hardly seen nash bring the ball up court not to even mention QB an offense that he ran for years

 

[Thumper]

Do you really think that's how it works?

Personally, I think Mitch is the one making things happen, i.e. on the phones. Then Jimmy approves what he wants and sticks it on Mitch and Dr. B when things look stupid, i.e. "unanimous decision."

No, we got to run it all by Jeannie. But the thing is- She was WRONG. Nash will still pan out. Kobe wanted Nash as his going out PG. but we could have drafted some 18 or 19 year old to be Kobe's PG for his last year or two?

Nah, Nash was an obvious choice. And he's not dead yet. They wouldn't have looked so bad if he was running things.

It's what Kobe wanted. I'll give more respect to Kobe Bryant over True Basketball Mind Jeannie.

We didn't know Nash would bust his leg.

 

[Thumper]

Let's face it, Jimmy is scared/intimidated by Phil for a number of understandable reasons, principally because Phil will call his ass out publicly. You think Phil would have let Jimmy stick that "unanimous decision" tag on him? Yeah right!

At any rate, I still think the wisest/mature decision for Jimmy would be to bring Phil into the three-fold approach, because it'll take a great deal of pressure off him publicly and it's just simply a smart basketball move. How many teams right now are lining up for Phil, yet the Lakers, the franchise he won 5 championships for while coaching and making personnel decisions, is seemingly the only reluctant one? Seems odd. Everyone knows this is about Jimmy's incompetence and ego. Sorry, Thumper, you're just plain wrong about the guy.

Please explain to me why Jimmy is incompetent, and by exstention, Mitch Kupchak, and Kobe Bryant. Jimmy buss gets all the blame- Not Mitch and not Kobe. All that ails us is Jimmy??? Solved by a Royal Wedding of Jeannie and Phil, right?

 

[Thumper]

If this is true, why didnt Kobe allow Nash to QB the offense then? I hardly seen nash bring the ball up court not to even mention QB an offense that he ran for years

You missed how Nash busted his leg and was gone?

 

[Silas]

Last thing Metta said is that he wants to retire as a Laker, so I suspect that means he will want to pick up his option. That leaves his fate up to the Lakers.

PJ apparently is talking to a lot of clubs, but maybe he's doing that to put pressure on the Lakers to bring him back in some capacity.

Whoever ends up in the decision making mix will have a full plate. It is entirely possible that the Lakers end up becoming a lottery team next season. Without Kobe for much of the season, a healthy and effective Steve Nash, an effective presence in the middle, a perimeter shooter and some semblance of a bench, next season could be very ugly.

 

[Thumper]

Try and recall- Kobe was NOT demanding to run the triangle offense. btw, what NBA teams are running the triangle?

We had Mike Brown who was supposed to be the defensive guru. But all the sudden he went crazy and it was all about the Princeton Offense...



Old Dog Kobe didn't want to learn some brand new, really, really old weird offense that nobody uses or can understand.

This was the point of Nash & D'Antoni. Uptempo. Showtime returns. That's how Kobe wanted to go out. Nash would run it. He knows how. Kobe doesn't have to learn some complicated funky offense in the twilight of his career. All you needed was D'Antoni. (You didn't need Triangle Phil to bring in that new system- for most of them)

Fluke injuries prevented it from coming to fruition as planned.

 

[trojanfan12]

Try and recall- Kobe was NOT demanding to run the triangle offense. btw, what NBA teams are running the triangle?

We had Mike Brown who was supposed to be the defensive guru. But all the sudden he went crazy and it was all about the Princeton Offense...



Old Dog Kobe didn't want to learn some brand new, really, really old weird offense that nobody uses or can understand.

This was the point of Nash & D'Antoni. Uptempo. Showtime returns. That's how Kobe wanted to go out. Nash would run it. He knows how. Kobe doesn't have to learn some complicated funky offense in the twilight of his career. All you needed was D'Antoni. (You didn't need Triangle Phil to bring in that new system- for most of them)

Fluke injuries prevented it from coming to fruition as planned.

Actually, Mike Brown went to Kobe after last seasons playoff exit and ran the idea of the Princeton offense by him and Kobe thought it was a great idea. Brown (and Kobe) knew that they had just been "outrun" by OKC and it wasn't like they were going to suddenly get fast and be able to keep up with OKC!! The idea was that they would use the Princeton to slow the game to a manageable pace and frustrate teams like OKC!!

The problem was that the Lakers then went out and got Dwight and Nash. At that point, Brown should have realized that the Princeton was not going to work and gone with a different offense. Even if it meant bringng in another coach to concentrate on installing the offense while he concentrated on the defense!!

 

[OutlawImmortal]

Fluke injuries prevented it from coming to fruition as planned.

Yes, that is what D'Antoni is begging all of us to believe. While I do think a healthy Lakers squad would have done considerably better, I don't think D'Antoni is the guy to get us to the Finals.

 

[lakersrule]

Actually, Mike Brown went to Kobe after last seasons playoff exit and ran the idea of the Princeton offense by him and Kobe thought it was a great idea. Brown (and Kobe) knew that they had just been "outrun" by OKC and it wasn't like they were going to suddenly get fast and be able to keep up with OKC!! The idea was that they would use the Princeton to slow the game to a manageable pace and frustrate teams like OKC!!

The problem was that the Lakers then went out and got Dwight and Nash. At that point, Brown should have realized that the Princeton was not going to work and gone with a different offense. Even if it meant bringng in another coach to concentrate on installing the offense while he concentrated on the defense!!

Exactly. Kobe was initially on board. Mike Brown blew it though by sticking with that plan even though Nash and Dwight were signed during the summer.

 

[Thumper]

I don't think any team has ever had more injuries.

I think it was a record. Literally. A record.

 

[Thumper]

Right now, this is the Laker brain trust.

<<<These 4 guys are calling the shots.

Tuff- if you don't like it. You want to get rid of 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 of them?

Keep hitting the pipe- not happening anytime soon.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

When do you ever see reserve guards starting in the playoffs? Overall this was just the worst year you could possibly have lol and I really don't like mentioning the CP3 trade but when you talk about a bad luck anomaly...

 

[Big Red Slugs]

Please explain to me why Jimmy is incompetent, and by exstention, Mitch Kupchak, and Kobe Bryant. Jimmy buss gets all the blame- Not Mitch and not Kobe. All that ails us is Jimmy??? Solved by a Royal Wedding of Jeannie and Phil, right?

Jimmy is incompetent because he couldn't see that Mike D'Antoni was the wrong hire for this roster.

In fact, he tried to sell that shit pile to us, that MDA was the "best fit for this roster right now." Anyone could see that a coach who openly despises post play, wants to run, and has a known lack of regard for defense is not the right fit for an older, bigger team with two 7-footers in its starting line-up. That's why. At the time, I was beyond upset because it was plainly obvious. And I took note of all the NBA analysts who tried to say it was a good fit, never read their shit again because I found out they don't know shit based on that alone.

As for Mitch, his hands were tied and forced to walk the company line. Magic made that clear when he came out and said, "Jim does not have the basketball expertise to make these decisions. He needs to let Mitch make the decision." Paraphrasing, but that's fairly close. Mitch was reduced to a Yes Man by Jimmy.

As for Kobe, I don't think he nor Mitch understood how awful Mike D'Antoni really is until he got here and started talking about averaging 115 points. There's that clip of Mitch and MDA in the trainer's room, that they keep showing on TWC all the time, which is odd btw, where MDA says to Mitch that they should average at least 115 points because they were able to do it in PHO with Shaq, and Mitch just looks to the ground and starts walking away. Am I the only one who noticed that? And why does/did TWC keep airing that in commercials over and over again?

And bringing back Phil would have gone a long way towards solving the problems we experienced this season (lack of coherent identity, lack of defensive schemes, no post play for 5 months, unbridled discretion by Kobe in shot selection and playing time, players buying into the team, etc.), and he'd help a lot next season as well.

 

[Big Red Slugs]

Try and recall- Kobe was NOT demanding to run the triangle offense. btw, what NBA teams are running the triangle?

Funny you ask, the only teams I see running triple-post sets, i.e. the triangle, are the Spurs and Grizz. You know, the two most likely teams to represent the Western Conference this year.

Everybody else pretty much strictly runs screen-roll, which is effective but look what happens when it gets shut down, i.e. the Clippers. One-trick ponies.

The difference being that MEM and SAS run both. Phil actually said exactly what I'm saying here, but he said it back in February.

Phil Jackson discusses Los Angeles Lakers, Dwight Howard, his future - NBA - Jack McCallum - SI.com

 

[Thumper]

Originally Posted by Thumper
Please explain to me why Jimmy is incompetent, and by exstention, Mitch Kupchak, and Kobe Bryant. Jimmy buss gets all the blame- Not Mitch and not Kobe. All that ails us is Jimmy??? Solved by a Royal Wedding of Jeannie and Phil, right?

Jimmy is incompetent because he couldn't see that Mike D'Antoni was the wrong hire for this roster.

He didn't foresee the worst injury blight of all time in the NBA? But you did, (and called it,) of course.

And therefore Mitch Kupchak is ALSO incompetent.

And Kobe Bryant ALSO.

The 3 of them didn't see what you say.

 

[Big Red Slugs]

He didn't foresee the worst injury blight of all time in the NBA? But you did, (and called it,) of course.

And therefore Mitch Kupchak is ALSO incompetent.

And Kobe Bryant ALSO.

The 3 of them didn't see what you say.

Thumper, I honestly can't figure out if you're trolling, not reading what we're all posting, or just don't get it? Seriously.