Why your favorite team SUCKS

[Black Adam]

Free agents were uninterested because Jim Buss was running things. These days, you've got guys that aren't even free agents talking about playing for the Lakers (George, Durant, Lillard) because Magic is running things. The situation couldn't be more different.

CLEARLY a case of the past =what Wiggy HOPES to be the Lakers' future...

 

[trojanfan12]

what will be really interesting to see what exactly develops this offseason.

As the above poster said- there have been a string of high profile free agents that have had nothing to do with the Lakers.

Now that they are set to have cap space and what looks like the beginning of a nice young core- that may change- but there are certainly no guarantees. Its true that Lakers fans have been speculating about bringing in stars to fill their cap space for YEARS now and thus far- the best free agent they have gotten is of course the aforementioned KCP- and he got paid a MONSTROUSLY high rate on a 1 year deal.

Kevin Love was suposed to want to go back to California too I remember.

Being in LA might be a tiebreaker---- but the 2 most important things to free agents- by FAR the 2 most important things are MONEY and ABILITY TO WIN.

Its why I dont see Paul George as a lock to go to LA. The Thunder have the ability to pay him more, and a better chance to win having Westbrook.

3 of the bigger "destination" cities in the NBA are supposedly New York, Miami and LA. Those teams have not been able to bring in anyone significant in free agency the last few years since those teams (a) didnt have players Bird rights, and (b) were not ready to win at the highest level.

It could not be more obvious from what has happened the last few years in the Association that location is a distant third after MONEY and ABILITY TO WIN.

Much of this is true. However, you are forgetting two very important parts of the equation.

1.) Kobe: Many have criticized the Lakers for the contract that they gave Kobe for his last 2 years. However, the contract wasn't the problem. They still had room for at least 1 max level player over those 2 years. Kobe was an issue because of his age, injury and being an asshole. Because of his age and injury, Kobe was no longer a guaranteed deep playoff run. Because of that, no one wanted to put up with him being an asshole like they were when he was younger, healthy and a guaranteed deep playoff run.

2.) Short Buss and Mitch: This, more than Kobe, was the biggest problem. Short Buss had no viable plan to bring in FA's and thought that "just being the Lakers" was still good enough, even with an old and injured Kobe. LaMarcus Aldridge showed that when he went in to negotiations with the Lakers as his #1 destination and came away underwhelmed (to say the least) because he was presented no actual basketball plan for how to win games. Add to that Mitch's insistence on following the letter of the law (which didn't come out until after he and Short Buss were shown the door) by not contacting FA's until the exact time allowed under league rules and the Lakers were basically late to the party and didn't bring any beer.

Magic and Pelinka appear to have a solid plan in place and have put together a young roster that looks like it can be developed into something. I also liked that they mostly stayed out FA and didn't go "big game hunting" because they seem to understand that the youngsters are going to have to show some promise. If they do, I think the Lakers should be able to land a big fish or 2 this off-season. If not, they will have to continue developing the kids, look at a trade or 2 and try again the following off-season.

 

[trojanfan12]

Russell's immaturity and me-first game has really sunk his standing in the league in my opinion.

His immaturity definitely hurt him. He didn't really have a me-first attitude, imo. The problem was, he's a 2 guard who was having to play point. Apparently, the only time he has played point, was his one season at tOSU.

Because he's actually a 2, he often struggled when playing point between knowing when to go for points himself and when to defer to teammates. It's why he improved when Luke moved him to the 2 spot late in the season.

HE definitely still has time to grow up but he needs to be a floor general to have value. He has really good size- but hes not a GREAT athlete- not an above the rim guy. Its gonna be hard for him to ever be a good defender.

Agree. He can be very, very good, maybe even all star level offensively. On defense, the best he can hope for is being like Magic was...not much of an on ball defender, but a good team/help defender.

 

[trojanfan12]

the last thing i am trying to do is say the Clippers are the more vaunted franchise overall or are going to permanently usurp the Lakers position as THE basketball team in town----

Lol @you thinking you know anything about this. The Clippers window for ever being anything more than "that other basketball team in LA" has closed. If they had managed to win just one title during the time the Lakers have been down, they might have made some headway. They failed. They couldn't even get out of the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Even during the past few seasons, the talk on sports radio out here has been what is wrong with/how to fix the Lakers and virtually nothing about the Clippers. Even on the station that broadcasts Clippers games.

At one point, that station tried to have "no Lakers talk" for an hour...it lasted about 10 minutes.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Much of this is true. However, you are forgetting two very important parts of the equation.

1.) Kobe: Many have criticized the Lakers for the contract that they gave Kobe for his last 2 years. However, the contract wasn't the problem. They still had room for at least 1 max level player over those 2 years. Kobe was an issue because of his age, injury and being an asshole. Because of his age and injury, Kobe was no longer a guaranteed deep playoff run. Because of that, no one wanted to put up with him being an asshole like they were when he was younger, healthy and a guaranteed deep playoff run.

2.) Short Buss and Mitch: This, more than Kobe, was the biggest problem. Short Buss had no viable plan to bring in FA's and thought that "just being the Lakers" was still good enough, even with an old and injured Kobe. LaMarcus Aldridge showed that when he went in to negotiations with the Lakers as his #1 destination and came away underwhelmed (to say the least) because he was presented no actual basketball plan for how to win games. Add to that Mitch's insistence on following the letter of the law (which didn't come out until after he and Short Buss were shown the door) by not contacting FA's until the exact time allowed under league rules and the Lakers were basically late to the party and didn't bring any beer.

Magic and Pelinka appear to have a solid plan in place and have put together a young roster that looks like it can be developed into something. I also liked that they mostly stayed out FA and didn't go "big game hunting" because they seem to understand that the youngsters are going to have to show some promise. If they do, I think the Lakers should be able to land a big fish or 2 this off-season. If not, they will have to continue developing the kids, look at a trade or 2 and try again the following off-season.

We shall see this summer if this is the summer they finally bag a big free agent- or not.

Itll be interesting to watch---- but in the meantime we do have a season that hasnt even started yet

 

[trojanfan12]

We shall see this summer if this is the summer they finally bag a big free agent- or not.

Itll be interesting to watch---- but in the meantime we do have a season that hasnt even started yet

Agree.

I think the kids need to show promise. Obviously, because of how young the roster is, there are going to be growing pains. Example, as good as Lonzo is projected to be...guys like CP3, Westbrook, Curry, Lillard, etc. are going to be looking to teach him a thing or 2 about playing point in the NBA, especially with all of the hype his dad has thrown out there.

Hopefully, having vets like Lopez, KCP and even Deng will help a bit with those growing pains, but they will still happen. If the kids can play well and show improvement/development throughout the season, it will make Magic and Pelinka's job of selling them to top FA's much easier.

As @shopson67 pointed out, at least this year we are hearing about top players that seem to actually want to play for the Lakers rather than a list of top FA's that the Lakers are hoping to land.

 

[Win TWINS!!!]

I'm still waiting for the rest of the list....

 

[HurricaneDij39]

@Arizona_Sting You analysis about the Nuggets is pretty much right, though at least with a young nucleus of Harris, Murray, and Jokic, we could at least say that there's hope for better days ahead...

 

[WiggyRuss]

@Arizona_Sting You analysis about the Nuggets is pretty much right, though at least with a young nucleus of Harris, Murray, and Jokic, we could at least say that there's hope for better days ahead...

i dunno about harris

he is gonna cost a lot to resign and its not like he is a top half of the league starting PG- at least not yet.

Murray and Jokic are great building blocks------ id PROB rather have Booker and Jackson---- but id rather have Murray and Jokic than Ball and Ingram.