When it comes to significant others, that's a line that's not to be crossed. That's a line that can't just be dismissed with " plenty of other players have done worse and been forgiven. " That aside, because I don't want to waste anymore words on that situation, don't need to..D'angelo's not leading anybody's team to a NBA championship in your life. Both he and Zo have dealt with injuries..I'd rather have Zo. Players like playing with him. Just hopefully he gets over the injury stuff
Kuz is probably going to be better than D'angelo at the end of the day. The pick I regret is taking Zubac over Malcolm Brogdon in the 2nd round in 2016, but that was a Kupchak pick. Not that Zubac was disappointing, but obviously, Brogdon has proven himself to be a hell of a player..sort of a supercharged Josh Hart
I don't think anyone had the Lakers competing for a championship this season after missing out on PG and the Warriors existing. However, making the playoff would have made them a lot more attractive to FAs than tanking and going 34-48 or whatever they end up at....right now, the outlook is pretty negative and it changing is based on a lot of hopeful scenarios. My fear is they adopt an AD or bust mentality and AD doesn't come here just like PG.
Again, the whole D'Angelo/Zo debate is a sidebar to my initial point that Magic cannot be trusted to make good decisions. Luke is the scapegoat right now and I'll never sit here and argue that Luke is a good coach or worth keeping, but the roster he was handed would leave a lot of coaches handicapped.
I don't believe this group of kids was ever an option moving forward, so even if they had made the playoffs I believe this group would've been blown to hell. Everybody except LeBron. AD signed to Rich Paul during free agency, so they already knew what they were going to go after. A Big 3 featuring LeBron, AD, and some free agent. Then build it out from there. Of course, now, they're in a situation where they may or may not have to bring the kids back and that's not a good feeling because kids don't win championships. But maybe they can at least add Zion to the group.
The scapegoat stuff is media born BS. Luke's a bad coach and was never going to be this FO's guy, no matter how this year ended, no matter what team he was handed. I call him a placeholder. He can do the job when expectations are low or title hopes aren't high, but has to move out of the way when they have a real shot. No different than his playing career and how he had to move out of the way and give his spot to Artest and Ariza. Luke is lucky to still even be in the league. Lucky to have been drafted by the Lakers, lucky to have been loved by Phil, lucky to have scored that 5yr contract as a player during the lean years, lucky to have been hired as HC by the Lakers during down years, etc. It's been a long, magical ride for Luke. I'm not one who feels for him..history says he'll land on his feet. Lol
As a matter of fact, the rumor is that Luke is going to take to HC @ UCLA after he's canned. Not that I'd consider that landing on your feet because they suck, but it could be worse
Tragic has done a horrible job. There was no reason to try and clear all that cap space. All they needed was the space to sign LeBron. They could have figured out how to get rid of contracts later. If they kept the players they had they could have added some of the cheap backups and rolled hard until 2020. Then they would have had the cap space to sign AD and add him to LeBron. There was no reason good reason not to give guys like Lopez and Lou Will fat 2 year deals like KCP got. You make it about the team, about the Lakers family. Right now its about LeBron and his 'posse' while the rest of the players feel like mercenaries at best and disgruntled employees at worst. These guys should have been taken care of for now while the team builds. LeBron will try to take the kids and these vets as deep into the playoffs as possible and go into playoff mode to steal a ring. PG: Lonzo, Lou SG: D'Angelo, Hart SF: Ingram, Lance PF: LeBron, Kuzma C : Randle, Lopez That team would have been inspired enough to win LeBron a ring this year. Or at least put up a good show on a nice run. Right now we would have to make another big choice. Randle and D'Angelo are restricted FA the coming year. You have options. You could trade the improved Randle and D'Angelo and get great picks/prospects. You can sign one and let the other walk. And it would essentially be replacing one of Randle or D'Angelo with AD. At that point you have two good all star caliber players and you get two keep one and trade the other for a superstar center. Hell you never know. If you had treated your players like the Laker Family the Buss's like to talk about and not the mercenary company Magic is running its real possible that knowing the plan guys like Randle and D'Angelo take cap friendly extensions til 2021. Once AD is signed the Lakers can start rewarding all their players with great deals. PG: Lonzo, D'Angelo SG: D'Angelo, Ingram SF: LeBron, Kuzma PF: AD, LeBron C : Randle, AD That is a tough 7 man rotation. LeBron the lead singer who runs the show but sometimes acts like a diva and drinks way too much wine. AD tenses that brow and drops slick licks as the superstar guitar lead with great tone, feel, and technical excellence. D'Angelo the rhythm guitarist, songwriter, backup singer with real lead singer/guitarist street cred but a head case probably on heroin. Lonzo and Randle who are the stable drum and bass section that keep things tight and do it right funky or white. Kuzma with his power chords bro rhythm guitar and harmonies with Ingram laying down synth tracks keep things fun and new. Fucking Magic better pull a rabbit out of his ass.
if he doesn't pull a rabbit out, or more likely a gerbil, it will be a complete squandering of the future for nothing williams, randle and lopez should all still be Lakers, maybe d'angelo had to go idk still this is on the precipice of an absolute tragic tragedy of epic proportions
It just feels like we are in a pretty bad situation. We got nothing back for Julius/Russell except cap relief and the current young guys have the lowest trade value they've had since being Lakers. The biggest trade chip the Lakers may end up having will be their first round pick in the coming draft. Kuzma at best is a 3rd option on a contender, Ingram has been very inconsistent and has the current unfortunate situation with his arm, Lonzo struggles to find the court, and Hart dropped off big time in shooting this season. Hard to blame any team that isn't jumping for joy at the idea of landing any of those guys.
And the 1st thing Muscala did when he joined LAL was catch the injury bug, so that's on Magic too. Lol The best thing about this corny narrative is that I recall Julius being benched for at least 1/3 of his final season with LAL, leading him to pout about having to be Nance's backup in his contract year. Which I don't blame Julius for because Nance is a fuckin bum, but it's just perfect timing right now for people to leak BS about the coaching staff begging for Julius to be re-signed because so many fans are already moaning about it anyway and will buy it. Yep, the same coaching staff that benched Julius and had him playing behind that bum Nance. Smh Of course, Julius wanted to move on. Season went down the drain, but yeah, I won't be buying any of these doomsday safety kits. Lol Ric Bucher reporting on the Lakers and Jeanie Buss..Ric Bucher. Once more for feeling....Ric Bucher. Lmfao The NBA's Nightengale..the 1st Nightengale. More Kobe interviews..less Bucher rumors. Kobe looks into the camera and tells you right to your face," fuck yeah, move those kids out. AD is already one of the all-time greats. "
One problem is this..look back over the long history of top talents that request/demand trades and tell me how an offer of Zo/Kuz/BI + multiple 1st round picks stack up historically. I can tell you this..even with their warts, that package stacks up rather favorably to what teams have gotten in return for stars in the past. That's the whole thing about a star requesting a trade..if you get 75 cents on the dollar it's considered a win. 50 cents on the dollar is pretty much par for the course. And with AD heading to the open market and team control dwindling, Pels can't genuinely expect more than what they were offered..but as it turns out, they didn't care what they were offered. They just weren't going to do business with the Lakers
In honor of the Jimmer signing by the Suns... @MagicJohnson 20 Mar 2011 For all of you out there questioning Jimmer Fredette of BYU, he is the real deal. #MenCare @RealSkipBayless 24 Jun 2011 Jimmer will be a little better pro than Kemba only because he's 3 inches taller and a much better shooter.
No doubt...it's this whole stick it to the Lakers/LeBron mindset that the Pelicans adopted that makes me fear that everyone else will think likewise and be willing to take a lesser package from another team. And with the current outlook of our young guys, they won't feel like they're missing out on a whole lot If you put our young core on say...the Hawks. Would they be viewed higher or lower? I think lower.
Pels are hiding behind their claim that LAL tampered with AD. 1) Every team tampers, so that's not a proper excuse to not do a trade. 2) You had 6 and a half years to build around AD..had the opportunity to go out and tamper and do whatever you felt necessary to get him the proper help, but you failed. Own it and move on. Bottom line is the Pels are a distant 2nd place in New Orleans to the Saints and both Benson and Loomis don't give a shit about the Pelicans, " so let's throw some dirt on the Lakers and take the focus off of our franchise that shouldn't even exist. "
Trevor LaneVerified account@Trevor_Lane LeBron James, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, & Lonzo Ball have only shared the floor 23 times this season. The Lakers went 15-8 in those games. Still one way to look at it if LAL ends up being shut out of the AD sweepstakes this summer
Yeah, the season went down the drain......again. I think this is year six? At what point are you going to accept, that we are now a shit franchise? longest playoff droughts kings suns magic Knicks lakers Let that sink in. Until jeannie sells and we bring in a competent owner, who then hires the right personnel and isnt bound by "laker loyalties" we will continue on this path of loserdom. It's not the showtime era anymore, time to move on into the future.,.... where nobody gives a fuck you're the lakers and nobody gives a fuck about living and playing in liberal hollyw......I mean los angeles.
You may as well admit it. You're afraid of the boogeyman. Afraid of what you can't see. You couldn't see LeBron landing, had your hanky out then too. If Anthony Davis were a free agent this offseason, you wouldn't be so down. Because I'm pretty sure he wants to play for the Lakers, and he's Top 5 in the league. In fact, AD's the 2nd Top 5 player in successive years that wants to join the Lakers. This is another example of what I'm talking about when I say you guys are smoking something Lol
..lest we forget, another Top 5'er who recently wanted to be traded to the Lakers. So other than Top 5 LeBron, Top 5 AD, and Top 5 Kawhi.." nobody gives a fuck you're the Lakers " We'll see what happens this summer.
