The LA Lakers dumpster fire

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Ogie Ogilthorpe

Ogie Ogilthorpe

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This is more entertaining than the NBA playoffs to this point.

Even though I hate the Lakers and I've never been much of a LeBron fan, last fall I was actually looking forward to this; it's good for the NBA, I think, when the Lakers are good and relevant and LeBron waking them up would/could have been entertaining.

But here we are. Magic walks away from running the show. Luke Walton is probably the happiest guy on the west coast that he was let go and ended up in Sacramento with a decent roster.

Arguably the best candidate available, Monty Williams, chose to go to the horrendously crappy Phoenix Suns than take the Lakers gig. And now the presumed guy all along, Tyronn Lue, says thanks but no thanks.

LeBron stopped caring about basketball the minute the 2017-2018 season was in the books. He can't seem to say no to anybody in Hollywood that approaches him with a stupid idea for a business venture/project, and he's more interested in offering his political opinion than he is about playing meaningful minutes for the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant handled his business in LA brilliantly; he waited until his NBA career was over until he started his off-court projects and now those have been massively successful. LeBron? Not so much. LeBron will never be Michael Jordan, on or off the court, and that will haunt him until he hangs up the shoes.

Who are the Lakers going to get to take this gig when the presumption is that LeBron is running the franchise (and not very well apparently)? Would any max contract Free Agent go to the Lakers, and pay the gawdawful ridiculous California state tax, to play with a LeBron James that has little interest in basketball?

What a sh*tshow.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
This is more entertaining than the NBA playoffs to this point.

Even though I hate the Lakers and I've never been much of a LeBron fan, last fall I was actually looking forward to this; it's good for the NBA, I think, when the Lakers are good and relevant and LeBron waking them up would/could have been entertaining.

But here we are. Magic walks away from running the show. Luke Walton is probably the happiest guy on the west coast that he was let go and ended up in Sacramento with a decent roster.

Arguably the best candidate available, Monty Williams, chose to go to the horrendously crappy Phoenix Suns than take the Lakers gig. And now the presumed guy all along, Tyronn Lue, says thanks but no thanks.

LeBron stopped caring about basketball the minute the 2017-2018 season was in the books. He can't seem to say no to anybody in Hollywood that approaches him with a stupid idea for a business venture/project, and he's more interested in offering his political opinion than he is about playing meaningful minutes for the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant handled his business in LA brilliantly; he waited until his NBA career was over until he started his off-court projects and now those have been massively successful. LeBron? Not so much. LeBron will never be Michael Jordan, on or off the court, and that will haunt him until he hangs up the shoes.

Who are the Lakers going to get to take this gig when the presumption is that LeBron is running the franchise (and not very well apparently)? Would any max contract Free Agent go to the Lakers, and pay the gawdawful ridiculous California state tax, to play with a LeBron James that has little interest in basketball?

What a sh*tshow.
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That darkie needs to just shut his mouth and play basketball, amirite?

And your rant about him not "caring about basketball" looks pretty insanely idiotic when one considers that he finished 8th in the league in PER at age 34 - in his 16th season. Most guys don't even play 16 seasons, and yet he's still unquestionably one of the best 10 players in the league (if not 5 best) when he's playing against guys 5 and 10 years younger, guys who don't have more than 50,000 competitive minutes played wearing on their joints.
Imagine what he'd do if he cared!
 
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Kobe had several business ventures while he was playing, including a$100M VC fund. Google it. Kobe must have hired a publicist to get several articles published about Granity last fall. It kind of backfired because, along with the publicity, came a renewed interest in his rape case in Colorado. Nobody in the entertainment business wants to talk with him now.

In terms of LeBron, I partially agree that he signed with LA for more than basketball reasons. However, do you think he anticipated that Magic would sign Michael Beasley and Lance Stephenson? SMH. The "sh%tshow" was on the organization, not LeBron.

Kobe was a great talent and a great individual player, but LeBron has brought far more value to his teams and to the league than Kobe did. LeBron takes care of other people and himself. Kobe takes care of himself.
 


Section2 said:
God are progressives boring.
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Wow! You went an entire post without mentioning Howie. Congratulations! Is the pin filed down to nothing now?

p.s. Your post wasn't boring at all. It was exciting!! Just like all your other posts where you say the same things over-and-over-and-over to the same people!!! Yay, Snowflake2!!!!!!!!
 


I have no idea how David Kahn's guy Kurt Rambis has remained relevant in the league, but alas...

per RandBall: Ex-Wolves coach Kurt Rambis is reportedly mucking up Lakers hire

*Former Wolves coach Kurt Rambis, who was an almost impossible 100 games under .500 (32-132) in just two seasons here working alongside GM David Kahn, is reportedly exerting quite a bit of control over the Lakers coaching hire.

Los Angeles was closing in on a deal to have Tyronn Lue coach the team — Lue won a championship in Cleveland with LeBron James, making this a natural reunion — but things fell apart Wednesday. ESPN’s reporting suggests Rambis played a major role.

Lakers adviser Kurt Rambis has assumed an increasingly powerful voice in basketball operations and has played a central role in the coaching search, league sources told ESPN. His wife, Linda, works closely with team owner Jeanie Buss. Rambis and general manager Rob Pelinka had interviewed Jason Kidd for the head-coaching position, and they became convinced Kidd should be a key member of a Lue coaching staff, league sources said.

There are other factors in play, including the fact that Lue is still owed $10 million by Cleveland and therefore needs a substantial contract from the Lakers to see any financial benefit.

But yeah, good luck to the Lakers.

http://www.startribune.com/ex-wolve...-reportedly-mucking-up-lakers-hire/509694002/

Howl Wolves!!
 

Did anyone ever imagine that the Clippers would be the main LA destination for free agents?

Ballmer has been hands off, much like his Microsoft partner (the late Paul Allen), and Lawrence Frank, Michael Winger and Doc Rivers have run a very good operation.
 

So everything is A-okay in Laker Land and we should expect a boon of an offseason for them in the way of incoming heavy-hitting Free Agents? Whew!! That's awesome to hear!

Of course his stats were good this year, when he actually played (by far the fewest games in a season of his career); LeBron had nobody on the court that was willing to come to LA and play with him other than the likes of Beasley, Lance Stephenson, Javale McGee and Rondo, mostly on one year deals.

Without question there is disfunction in the front office and that's a contributing factor. But at the end of the day, this is the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the biggest brands in professional sports in the world, and they can't get players to come and play with LBJ or coaches to come and coach them.

As far as "shut up and play basketball", yes, I would guess there are at least a few of the guys in the locker room that think he doesn't have his complete focus on what's happening on the court.
 




Ogee Oglethorpe said:
So everything is A-okay in Laker Land and we should expect a boon of an offseason for them in the way of incoming heavy-hitting Free Agents? Whew!! That's awesome to hear!

Of course his stats were good this year, when he actually played (by far the fewest games in a season of his career); LeBron had nobody on the court that was willing to come to LA and play with him other than the likes of Beasley, Lance Stephenson, Javale McGee and Rondo, mostly on one year deals.

Without question there is disfunction in the front office and that's a contributing factor. But at the end of the day, this is the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the biggest brands in professional sports in the world, and they can't get players to come and play with LBJ or coaches to come and coach them.

As far as "shut up and play basketball", yes, I would guess there are at least a few of the guys in the locker room that think he doesn't have his complete focus on what's happening on the court.
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It likely won't be a great offseason in LA. Players don't want to come to dysfunctional organizations and LA was dysfunctional before LeBron arrived. LA has been screwed up since Jerry Buss died. The Knicks are dysfunctional too which is why nobody wants to come to NY. You seem to want to put all of this on LeBron and I'm not sure why. Is it because he has been publicly critical of Trump? Why would you compare him to Kobe and hold Kobe up as someone who did it the "right way?" After Kobe and Shaq split up, players weren't exactly lining up to play with Kobe.

LeBron played fewer games because he got hurt. It happens.
 

jamiche said:
But you hang on their every word, deuce.

How many posts would you have if you were excited about this board?
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insult, insulting nickname.

insulting question told in arrogant condescending tone?

-Every Jammer post.
 

Section2 said:
insult, insulting nickname.

insulting question told in arrogant condescending tone?

-Every Jammer post.
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My goodness, deuce. You don't hesitate to take shots early and often at howie, jake, me, et.al. When it comes back the other way, you get very out of sorts.
 

Danny Barrero had a good recommendation - bring back Pat Riley. Give Rambis and Pilinka the boot
 



JimmyJamesMD said:
Danny Barrero had a good recommendation - bring back Pat Riley. Give Rambis and Pilinka the boot
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I heard him say that. Probably worth a shot. There are probably half a dozen people in the league (just a guess) who could work effectively with LeBron and Riley would be one of them.

Rambis definitely needs to go. I attended a party where some Timberwolves people were present shortly after Kahn and Rambis arrived on the scene. I chatted with Kahn for a couple of minutes and he was just as pompous in private as he was publicly. The best part of the convo was his obliviousness to the ugly food stain on his shirt as he was pontificating away. Rambis was a nice guy, but super spacey.
 
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It would be nice to have a thread about the lakers without all the political BS...

The OP mentions the taxes in cali but it is still the lakers and Lebron is still the king, they may not be able to pull ANY superstar but they will get a couple. Whether or not it is enough to actually win a title I don't think they will.
 

bottlebass said:
It would be nice to have a thread about the lakers without all the political BS...

The OP mentions the taxes in cali but it is still the lakers and Lebron is still the king, they may not be able to pull ANY superstar but they will get a couple. Whether or not it is enough to actually win a title I don't think they will.
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I read somewhere that LeBron spends $1m-1.5m/year keeping his body in peak condition (nutritionists, trainers, special recovery equipment, massage therapists, chiros, etc). Maybe that will extend his career but he’s 35, he’s played a ton of minutes and every player ages out. He’s on the downside and a player at his peak is going to question LeBron’s viability as a championship partner.


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bottlebass said:
It would be nice to have a thread about the lakers without all the political BS...

The OP mentions the taxes in cali but it is still the lakers and Lebron is still the king, they may not be able to pull ANY superstar but they will get a couple. Whether or not it is enough to actually win a title I don't think they will.
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Income taxes is definitely part of the discussion though. The difference between the staggering taxes in California compared to states like Texas and Florida that have none, it makes a big difference in free agency; agents and players have acknowledged this.

It's one of the reasons I think the Raiders have a good chance of success when they come to Las Vegas. No state income tax in Nevada. It's already been mentioned in a few articles I've read about the Raiders trying to attract free agents. The players are well aware of it. Economy of scale, that's a major dent in their bottom line.

As far as the Lakers disfunction, I'm not saying LeBron is the primary cause of it; he's certainly not. But there is definitely some rumbling that there are players and apparently coaches that don't want to engage in the LeBron show. At any rate, it's pretty entertaining for Lakers hating Wolves fans that the Lakers are such a mess right now. I doubt there's a quick and easy fix.
 

jamiche said:
I read somewhere that LeBron spends $1m-1.5m/year keeping his body in peak condition (nutritionists, trainers, special recovery equipment, massage therapists, chiros, etc). Maybe that will extend his career but he’s 35, he’s played a ton of minutes and every player ages out. He’s on the downside and a player at his peak is going to question LeBron’s viability as a championship partner.


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Yeah and honestly he looked like a 40 year old when he was in highschool so I gotta believe his body is breaking down. Missing the playoffs this year was probably good for him, look at the months of extra rest and recovery he is getting.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Income taxes is definitely part of the discussion though. The difference between the staggering taxes in California compared to states like Texas and Florida that have none, it makes a big difference in free agency; agents and players have acknowledged this.

It's one of the reasons I think the Raiders have a good chance of success when they come to Las Vegas. No state income tax in Nevada. It's already been mentioned in a few articles I've read about the Raiders trying to attract free agents. The players are well aware of it. Economy of scale, that's a major dent in their bottom line.

As far as the Lakers disfunction, I'm not saying LeBron is the primary cause of it; he's certainly not. But there is definitely some rumbling that there are players and apparently coaches that don't want to engage in the LeBron show. At any rate, it's pretty entertaining for Lakers hating Wolves fans that the Lakers are such a mess right now. I doubt there's a quick and easy fix.
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When the guys are forming these super teams taxes may play some role but their point is to win championships. The taxes didn't stop Lebron from moving there.

The quick and easy fix will be the 2 additional super stars they will sign and be a top seed next year in the play offs. IT doesn't matter who the coach is.
 

bottlebass said:
Yeah and honestly he looked like a 40 year old when he was in highschool so I gotta believe his body is breaking down. Missing the playoffs this year was probably good for him, look at the months of extra rest and recovery he is getting.
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He always looked older than his stated age, like Miguel Sano.
 



jamiche said:
Sano has to be 30.


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How do you figure? The era of Latin American players getting way with lying about their age ended long ago.
 

dpodoll68 said:
That darkie needs to just shut his mouth and play basketball, amirite?

And your rant about him not "caring about basketball" looks pretty insanely idiotic when one considers that he finished 8th in the league in PER at age 34 - in his 16th season. Most guys don't even play 16 seasons, and yet he's still unquestionably one of the best 10 players in the league (if not 5 best) when he's playing against guys 5 and 10 years younger, guys who don't have more than 50,000 competitive minutes played wearing on their joints.
Imagine what he'd do if he cared!
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Swish. His political views have nothing to do with his play. Ogee would like to differ. But we're talking about Oh gee. Don't let that stop a weird political right turn.
 

LeBron can't even get guys to film Space Jam 2 with him, let alone get guys to come to the Lakers. They're a gong show, Jeannie Buss is great on the business side, but is in way over her head on the basketball side. Kurt Rambis has a say because of his wife. Vogel was a decent coach with the Pacers, but he's nothing special. LeBron posse tried to force an AD trade and it backfired. The Pelicans GM gave a metaphoric middle finger to the Lakers and gladly got fired for it. Now the Lakers young assets are either injured (Ball) or have a potential career ending illness (Ingram). Who are they gonna get? KD, Kyrie, Klay, Leonard? No chance

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ESPN: Sources: Lakers reach deal for Pelicans' Davis

The Los Angeles Lakers reached an agreement to acquire three-time All-NBA forward Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans for three players and three first-round draft picks on Saturday, league sources told ESPN.

The Lakers paid a steep price to partner Davis with LeBron James: sending Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and the picks -- including the No. 4 overall selection in Thursday's NBA draft -- to the Pelicans, sources said. The Lakers were able to hold on to forward Kyle Kuzma in the trade, which cannot be finalized until July 1.

New Orleans' trade package from the Lakers represents one of the most substantial returns on a single star player in modern league history.

Davis, who had requested a trade to L.A. in January, joins James in Los Angeles to create one of the most powerful duos in the NBA. Davis has long planned to sign a new contract with the Lakers once he becomes eligible for free agency in 2020, sources said.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26981805/sources-lakers-reach-deal-pelicans-davis

Howl Wolves!!
 

"One of the most substantial returns"? All of the active players are mediocre (at best) - the only truly valuable asset is the 4th overall pick, which might turn out to be junk too. I mean, I applaud the Pelicans for getting anything for a guy who was going to leave regardless, but it's pretty comical to call the return "substantial" when this trade was the equivalent of trading away a dollar for a dime and five nickels.

Man, the Lakers will be scary. Even with Davis, they still have room for a 3rd max contract. Depending on who they're able to sign (Kyrie?) they might be the favorites by the time next year's playoffs roll around.
 

dpodoll68 said:
"One of the most substantial returns"? All of the active players are mediocre (at best) - the only truly valuable asset is the 4th overall pick, which might turn out to be junk too. I mean, I applaud the Pelicans for getting anything for a guy who was going to leave regardless, but it's pretty comical to call the return "substantial" when this trade was the equivalent of trading away a dollar for a dime and five nickels.

Man, the Lakers will be scary. Even with Davis, they still have room for a 3rd max contract. Depending on who they're able to sign (Kyrie?) they might be the favorites by the time next year's playoffs roll around.
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Kyrie would be the perfect fit, but I think it's a bad look for him professionally to crawl back to LeBron so I doubt that happens. Even without another max guy they get two or three shooters, via free agency, they'll be fine. LeBron is such a great passer, needs those knock down shooters. That was their biggest issue last year

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The Lakers did a great job of outbidding.... themselves. With virtually no other serious players for Davis, the Lakers gave up a boatload. Three first round picks, including this year's #4, for a guy that was leaving anyway? I'd be somewhat surprised if at least ONE of the 3 young players, Ball, Ingram and/or Hart, doesn't develop into a very good player; Ingram and Ball are still 22 years old, Hart just turned 24.

If either James or Davis, or both, get injured and miss significant time this year (based on history, the odds are decent), that #1 pick next summer could be a mid-lottery pick.

They had to do it, and they got what they wanted, but I think David Griffin comes out looking awfully good after this deal. With black eye after black eye in the press for the last few months, the Lakers absolutely had to make this move and Griffin made them pay for it.
 

dpodoll68 said:
"One of the most substantial returns"? All of the active players are mediocre (at best) - the only truly valuable asset is the 4th overall pick, which might turn out to be junk too. I mean, I applaud the Pelicans for getting anything for a guy who was going to leave regardless, but it's pretty comical to call the return "substantial" when this trade was the equivalent of trading away a dollar for a dime and five nickels.

Man, the Lakers will be scary. Even with Davis, they still have room for a 3rd max contract. Depending on who they're able to sign (Kyrie?) they might be the favorites by the time next year's playoffs roll around.
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The Lakers opened as the betting favorites the day after the season ended (before the trade). Davis is immensely talented, but also soft as butter.
 

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