- Sep 19, 2012
- 7,892
- 10,897
**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by licensed to ball,
- Start date
- Jan 18, 2006
- 40,623
- 45,605
Sell the damn team. Being hand cuffed by a superstar is old.
- Sep 19, 2012
- 7,892
- 10,897
According to A. Turdwin…
darthska
Staff member
- Apr 30, 2004
- 47,478
- 32,288
darthska
Staff member
- Apr 30, 2004
- 47,478
- 32,288
Nah, I got you in my sights when Bron is gone, however that happens, and she's still at the helm.
We'll be trash, but without Kobe or Lebron, and I want to read you go "Good! Glad he's gone!" when we're still mid at best.
I have no interest in Bron being gone. You literally been wrong about me the entire time.
Jeanie/Rob can go.
I said TWO YEARS AGO, trade AD for Max picks/leverage, and HONOR whatever Bron wants.
He wanna stay? Let him stay.
He wanna leave? Let him leave.
He has earned that right, but do it respectfully, thru his agent, not wake up and he's traded to New Orleans or somethin. Work WITH him to see what he wants.
They held tight, ok, made a small run, great times, but this day was always coming. AD value is now two years older and more expensive. Meaning, we may have lost return value. Same with Bron. But Bron was NEVER my focus.
I have zero idea why you think I'm an anti Lebron guy because I said he was old.
The mother****er old, why would anyone be offended by that? Jeanie/Rob gotta go. Sooner the better. And I got LAMBASTED for sayin that **** just a few months back.
Now? Seems to be some folks leanin. As I said with Die Hard gif (to everyone) Welcome to the Party Pal.
(Do I think they leave? Sadly, no, not yet) But I can keep prayin for it. I even agree with the idea of Dodger ownership group makin a bid.
- Sep 21, 2012
- 12,610
- 13,416
Can't even take credit, heard the players in the locker room were calling him that behind his back.
That's cotdamb brilliant.
How tf did that name take this long?
I am 10000% stealing that.
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,202
- 131,652
Windy reporting Bron doesn't want to leave, wants Lakers to improve via trades.
Also the Lakers are looking for defensive big and guard.
Also the Lakers are looking for defensive big and guard.
- Aug 6, 2012
- 58,186
- 62,218
He wants the bubble team back. You know **** that works best on a Lebon led team.
3&D, and a big man to help AD.
- Sep 19, 2012
- 7,892
- 10,897
If Lebron and AD were able to stay healthy during the 21 or 22 season and we get another title out of this core would y’all still feel like Jeanie and Rob would need to be replaced?
Assuming in this scenario that the team still ends up in the same position they’re in currently… with year 22 Lebron on the doorsteps of retirement.
Assuming in this scenario that the team still ends up in the same position they’re in currently… with year 22 Lebron on the doorsteps of retirement.
- Aug 2, 2008
- 37,744
- 13,170
Unless you have 1 to 1 upgrades.
Top 6 should be safe. I don’t factor in Vando.
The problem has almost consistently been they can’t play their 7-12 guys more than 2-3 minutes at a time. Gabe, Cam, Max unless he’s with DLo (go look it up back to last year), Wood, Hayes…. etc. whenever they try to run more than 1 of the 7-12 guys at a time. It’s a disaster. That’s why they are the 8th seed and not the 2nd/3rd. They can barely even absorb one injury to the starting 5.
Dennis isn’t an upgrade over DLo. Especially if you need to give anything to BK for Dennis
DFS or Cam would be over Rui. But a marginal one. Not trading any firsts for either, unless it was to get rid of Gabe.
If you trade DLo + JHS + Max Lewis for Cam Johnson let’s say. Forward spots are a bit out of sorts as you have 4 Power Forwards (if you count Vando) . And no recourse for a backup center except for trading either Max Christie or Gabe.
Lakers have a lot of holes 7-12 that are far bigger than 1-6. Make a deep team (you know you have a geriatric and AD leading the team). Not one where you’re screwing around with 1-6 just because you might get 10% better. But more than likely fall on the other side of standard deviation.
Top 6 should be safe. I don’t factor in Vando.
The problem has almost consistently been they can’t play their 7-12 guys more than 2-3 minutes at a time. Gabe, Cam, Max unless he’s with DLo (go look it up back to last year), Wood, Hayes…. etc. whenever they try to run more than 1 of the 7-12 guys at a time. It’s a disaster. That’s why they are the 8th seed and not the 2nd/3rd. They can barely even absorb one injury to the starting 5.
Dennis isn’t an upgrade over DLo. Especially if you need to give anything to BK for Dennis
DFS or Cam would be over Rui. But a marginal one. Not trading any firsts for either, unless it was to get rid of Gabe.
If you trade DLo + JHS + Max Lewis for Cam Johnson let’s say. Forward spots are a bit out of sorts as you have 4 Power Forwards (if you count Vando) . And no recourse for a backup center except for trading either Max Christie or Gabe.
Lakers have a lot of holes 7-12 that are far bigger than 1-6. Make a deep team (you know you have a geriatric and AD leading the team). Not one where you’re screwing around with 1-6 just because you might get 10% better. But more than likely fall on the other side of standard deviation.
- Jan 18, 2006
- 40,623
- 45,605
Something ain't adding up
- Aug 2, 2008
- 37,744
- 13,170
- Sep 19, 2012
- 7,892
- 10,897
I am targeting all the IG models I see come up on my timeline.
See how that works lol
See how that works lol
Vogel got fired for what Rob did. Why shouldn't they?
If Jeanie made a move on Rob, then I might consider her staying.
But she's loyal to Kobe's agent moreso than actually winning. She doesn't have the pockets that others do, fine, then pass the sticks.
Meanwhile, she's working on a Riley statue, a Phil statue, a 2nd Kobe statue, and I bet she's working on LeBron's retirement tour/statue.
Instead of trading Bron to Golden State, I hope they get Steph traded to LA. Then we at least get a "one last run" type effort. (We know they won't trade Steph tho)
So if Bron honestly did want to go somewhere, you honor that because of who he is.
But I don't have interest in Jeanie and Kobe's agent trying to rebuild.
MIKE LOWERY
formerly chuck finster
- Mar 1, 2007
- 7,674
- 4,861
Is it really that big of an ask to get the owner and gm improve the team? This **** feels like sacred geometry with Rob/Jeanie
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,202
- 131,652
What’s wrong with the Lakers? The biggest questions and concerns answered
The Los Angeles Lakers have four consecutive days off during a rare light week in the NBA because of the NBA Cup.
They’re only practicing once — on Wednesday — and using the rest of the week for a reset and reassessment ahead of Friday’s game in Minnesota.
“We’ve already started doing some internal auditing,” coach JJ Redick said after the Lakers’ 107-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. “Some comparisons between the first 14 games, really offensively the first 15 games, and what we’ve done the (next 10 games). Just trying to figure out what works, what doesn’t. … It’s a good opportunity for everybody.”
There is a lot for Los Angeles to audit. Three weeks ago, the Lakers were 10-4 and third in the Western Conference. Anthony Davis was garnering buzz as a backend MVP candidate. Redick was quieting his doubters amid a strong coaching debut. The vibes around the team were great.
But 10 games later, the Lakers are just 13-11 and eighth in the West. The season seemingly went off the rails after a (potential) sliding-doors moment in a crunchtime loss to the Orlando Magic. Including that defeat, they endured a stretch of losing seven of nine games, with four losses by 20-plus points.
LeBron James suffered one of the worst shooting slumps of his career. Davis’ usage and efficiency have cratered. The body language of the group has ranged from odd to concerning. Players have declined to speak to the media. Redick has been transparent about some of the internal discord.
As the Lakers attempt to resolve their recent woes with their much-needed break, here are some of the most important questions.
What’s been going wrong with the Lakers?
Just about everything. The Lakers are 3-7 over their past 10 games, with their average margin of defeat over that span being 19 points.
Los Angeles has the 28th-best offense, 24th-best defense and 28th-best net rating during that stretch. The Lakers are not even getting to the free-throw line (26th in attempts per game over the past 10 games), which has long been a hallmark of James- and Davis-led offenses.
To compound matters, their season-long metrics are concerning. They have a minus-3.7 point differential, which is 12th in the West and tied for 20th in the league. Their net rating is even worse — their minus-3.9 mark is 12th in the West and 22nd in the NBA.
Up to this point in the season, the Lakers profile more like a team barely hanging onto a Play-In spot than a team a move or two away from contention.
Why have they slipped since their hot start?
Several factors have led to their recent struggles.
First, the schedule has become more difficult. The Lakers had one of the easier schedules to open the season, in part due to opponent injuries (Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans). But once they started facing more challenging teams, such as the Magic, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns (for the third time), Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves (for the second time), they started losing — and often convincingly.
Second, their best players all dropped off offensively, including Davis (7.4 fewer points), James (1.3 fewer points) and Austin Reaves (4.5 fewer points). All three have seen their field goal percentage decline by at least 4 percent as well. With the Lakers dependent on Davis and James, in particular, to be great to have a shot most nights, their decreased scoring output and efficiency has made the Lakers’ previously elite offense rather pedestrian.
Lastly, injuries have certainly played a role. Jarred Vanderbilt (their best perimeter defender) and Christian Wood (their potential backup center) have yet to play this season. Reaves (their third-best player) has missed the past five games. James, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Cam Reddish each missed a game due to injury over the past 10 games. Davis is fighting through plantar fasciitis that has sapped some of his burst.
How much of this is on JJ Redick?
As Redick said after the Lakers’ 41-point loss in Miami, some of this is on him. While he’s not the principal figure to blame — that’s probably the roster or certain individual players — Redick is still culpable, to some extent.
To his credit, he’s taken accountability for the Lakers’ underperformance.
“I’ll take all the ownership in the world,” Redick said in Miami. “This is my team and I lead it and I’m embarrassed.”
There are concerning trends — limited two-way players on the roster, poor transition defense, bad body language, tuning out the coaching staff — that precede Redick’s tenure and have been ingrained in the roster and locker room for multiple years (and now multiple coaches).
There are certainly things Redick can do better. The Lakers’ switch-heavy scheme has burned them, especially late in games. The offense has gone too far away from what worked earlier in the season, in part to appease James, who had a career-low usage percentage. Redick also said he wanted continuity with the starting lineup and rotation but has incessantly tinkered with it, struggling to find lineup combinations that work (which is arguably more of a reflection of the limitations of the roster).
But blaming Redick is a cop-out. He’s met, if not exceeded, expectations.
How much of this is on the players?
A lot. The players deserve a healthy share of criticism, particularly after their blowout losses in Minnesota and Miami in which they visibly gave minimal effort and appeared checked out.
As mentioned, the Lakers’ wild swings in focus and awareness have been issues for several seasons. As the leaders of the group, James’ and Davis’ body language and defensive effort (Davis’ has slipped recently) have ranged from disappointing to inexcusable. That has trickled down to the rest of the team, with defensive effort and communication being optional for far too many stretches of games recently.
The players can’t coach themselves or assemble a better roster. But they can remain bought into the coaching staff’s systems and schemes a quarter of the way through the season. They can make defensive rotations, box out, screen harder and move with purpose off the ball.
On some level, many of the Lakers’ problems stem from this group just not playing very hard consistently.
How much of this is on the front office/stakeholders?
Just as much as, if not more than, the players. The Lakers largely returned the same roster that won 47 games, was the No. 7 seed and lost in the first round last postseason — and expected better results. There was an argument to be made that the additions of Redick and rookie Dalton Knecht, along with better lineups and more continuity, could elevate the Lakers into the upper half of the West playoff picture.
But that was always the most optimistic outcome. The current results reflect the limitations of a roster in which nearly a third of it is injured, another third isn’t capable of playing spot minutes and the remaining third is asked to do too much. Even if the Lakers felt remaining patient into the season was the best route, they could’ve dumped one of their minimum players, along with a second-round pick or two, onto a team with cap space to create a roster spot to at least upgrade their depth (a path Dallas and Denver took, for example).
This roster was always going to be temporary. But the primary counterpoint to that plan was that, if the team could barely tread water in the unforgiving West, the organization would stand pat and refrain from using draft capital to substantially upgrade the roster. That seems more of a possibility given the Lakers’ recent skid.
What needs to change internally to turn things around?
Players getting healthy would be a good start. The Lakers need Reaves back, and they need Davis and James to get back to their physical forms from earlier in the season (James began suffering left foot soreness in Miami).
James and Davis also need to commit to being more engaged on a nightly basis. It has been more of an issue for James, especially on the defensive end. But as the two leaders of the team, the rest of the group looks to them for guidance and what’s acceptable. They have both fallen short recently.
Redick can probably do a better job of holding players accountable by pulling them for lackadaisical defensive lapses and ensuring that everyone is buying in.
If Reaves can return on Friday, and Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes and Wood can be back within the next few weeks, the Lakers have a chance to recapture some of their success from earlier in the season.
But in the grand scope, the only way this situation will truly be resolved is with external reinforcements.
Can a trade save the season?
Potentially. Depending on one’s definition of “saving.”
The Lakers clearly need to make a trade — and, really, at least two — to have any shot at competing for a championship this season. They’ll also likely need to use at least one, if not both, of their first-round picks (2029 and 2031) to add the type of player or players that could actually raise their ceiling in a significant way.
Even if they swing a trade that upgrades their rotation, plugs their holes and keeps their primary pieces, is there really a trade that’s going to put them on the same level as Boston, Oklahoma City or even Cleveland? It doesn’t seem likely, especially with the rumored names that are expected to be available. It would almost certainly require a seismic deal no one sees coming.
What about pivoting and blowing it all up?
It’s highly unlikely. Historically, the Lakers aren’t a franchise that likes to rebuild. Each year, the objective is the same, no matter how ludicrous it seems from the outside: Win a championship. They want to prioritize youth and development under Redick in a way they previously haven’t (outside of the brief Baby Lakers before James arrived), but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to tear it all down.
There is also the matter of what James and Davis want. James just re-signed six months ago. Davis signed an extension last year. Things escalate quickly in the NBA, but indications thus far have been that both superstars want to figure this out and make it work in Los Angeles. Unless that changes, the Lakers aren’t going to decimate their status as one of the more star-friendly organizations in the league by coldly trading James or Davis.
Additionally, they don’t have their 2025 draft pick, which is going to the Atlanta Hawks via the New Orleans Pelicans. Even if the Lakers wanted to tank for a top pick in next summer’s draft, they can’t. Perhaps they could acquire a first-round pick from a team that projects to be in the upcoming lottery, but that team will also likely rise in the standings by acquiring James or Davis.
They will always be relevant because they are the Lakers, but employing James and Davis gives them a certain level of cachet and relevance. It wasn’t that long ago that things were bleak. It’s much more likely that the Lakers stand pat or make a small move than blow it up.
Are things going to get better?
Maybe. Probably. They should.
They almost certainly can’t get much worse barring a serious Davis or James injury.
The 41-point loss to the Heat was the second-worst defeat of the James-Davis era in which both superstars played (last season the Lakers lost by 44 points in Philadelphia). It was as listless of a performance as a group could give. The Lakers have seemingly hit their nadir of the season.
Difficult conversations were had after the Miami loss. The Lakers responded with a spirited effort in a two-point overtime loss to a red-hot Atlanta team and then a win over the Trail Blazers without James and Reaves. The group’s energy and spirit is trending back upward.
How much better their season will get is unclear. The schedule only gets tougher: The Lakers have the sixth-most difficult remaining schedule, per Tankathon. They should stay in the Play-In mix as currently constructed, but the same problems that have plagued them the past few seasons remain: James and Davis need a better supporting cast.
The Los Angeles Lakers have four consecutive days off during a rare light week in the NBA because of the NBA Cup.
They’re only practicing once — on Wednesday — and using the rest of the week for a reset and reassessment ahead of Friday’s game in Minnesota.
“We’ve already started doing some internal auditing,” coach JJ Redick said after the Lakers’ 107-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. “Some comparisons between the first 14 games, really offensively the first 15 games, and what we’ve done the (next 10 games). Just trying to figure out what works, what doesn’t. … It’s a good opportunity for everybody.”
There is a lot for Los Angeles to audit. Three weeks ago, the Lakers were 10-4 and third in the Western Conference. Anthony Davis was garnering buzz as a backend MVP candidate. Redick was quieting his doubters amid a strong coaching debut. The vibes around the team were great.
But 10 games later, the Lakers are just 13-11 and eighth in the West. The season seemingly went off the rails after a (potential) sliding-doors moment in a crunchtime loss to the Orlando Magic. Including that defeat, they endured a stretch of losing seven of nine games, with four losses by 20-plus points.
LeBron James suffered one of the worst shooting slumps of his career. Davis’ usage and efficiency have cratered. The body language of the group has ranged from odd to concerning. Players have declined to speak to the media. Redick has been transparent about some of the internal discord.
As the Lakers attempt to resolve their recent woes with their much-needed break, here are some of the most important questions.
What’s been going wrong with the Lakers?
Just about everything. The Lakers are 3-7 over their past 10 games, with their average margin of defeat over that span being 19 points.
Los Angeles has the 28th-best offense, 24th-best defense and 28th-best net rating during that stretch. The Lakers are not even getting to the free-throw line (26th in attempts per game over the past 10 games), which has long been a hallmark of James- and Davis-led offenses.
To compound matters, their season-long metrics are concerning. They have a minus-3.7 point differential, which is 12th in the West and tied for 20th in the league. Their net rating is even worse — their minus-3.9 mark is 12th in the West and 22nd in the NBA.
Up to this point in the season, the Lakers profile more like a team barely hanging onto a Play-In spot than a team a move or two away from contention.
Why have they slipped since their hot start?
Several factors have led to their recent struggles.
First, the schedule has become more difficult. The Lakers had one of the easier schedules to open the season, in part due to opponent injuries (Philadelphia 76ers, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans). But once they started facing more challenging teams, such as the Magic, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns (for the third time), Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves (for the second time), they started losing — and often convincingly.
Second, their best players all dropped off offensively, including Davis (7.4 fewer points), James (1.3 fewer points) and Austin Reaves (4.5 fewer points). All three have seen their field goal percentage decline by at least 4 percent as well. With the Lakers dependent on Davis and James, in particular, to be great to have a shot most nights, their decreased scoring output and efficiency has made the Lakers’ previously elite offense rather pedestrian.
Lastly, injuries have certainly played a role. Jarred Vanderbilt (their best perimeter defender) and Christian Wood (their potential backup center) have yet to play this season. Reaves (their third-best player) has missed the past five games. James, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Cam Reddish each missed a game due to injury over the past 10 games. Davis is fighting through plantar fasciitis that has sapped some of his burst.
How much of this is on JJ Redick?
As Redick said after the Lakers’ 41-point loss in Miami, some of this is on him. While he’s not the principal figure to blame — that’s probably the roster or certain individual players — Redick is still culpable, to some extent.
To his credit, he’s taken accountability for the Lakers’ underperformance.
“I’ll take all the ownership in the world,” Redick said in Miami. “This is my team and I lead it and I’m embarrassed.”
There are concerning trends — limited two-way players on the roster, poor transition defense, bad body language, tuning out the coaching staff — that precede Redick’s tenure and have been ingrained in the roster and locker room for multiple years (and now multiple coaches).
There are certainly things Redick can do better. The Lakers’ switch-heavy scheme has burned them, especially late in games. The offense has gone too far away from what worked earlier in the season, in part to appease James, who had a career-low usage percentage. Redick also said he wanted continuity with the starting lineup and rotation but has incessantly tinkered with it, struggling to find lineup combinations that work (which is arguably more of a reflection of the limitations of the roster).
But blaming Redick is a cop-out. He’s met, if not exceeded, expectations.
How much of this is on the players?
A lot. The players deserve a healthy share of criticism, particularly after their blowout losses in Minnesota and Miami in which they visibly gave minimal effort and appeared checked out.
As mentioned, the Lakers’ wild swings in focus and awareness have been issues for several seasons. As the leaders of the group, James’ and Davis’ body language and defensive effort (Davis’ has slipped recently) have ranged from disappointing to inexcusable. That has trickled down to the rest of the team, with defensive effort and communication being optional for far too many stretches of games recently.
The players can’t coach themselves or assemble a better roster. But they can remain bought into the coaching staff’s systems and schemes a quarter of the way through the season. They can make defensive rotations, box out, screen harder and move with purpose off the ball.
On some level, many of the Lakers’ problems stem from this group just not playing very hard consistently.
How much of this is on the front office/stakeholders?
Just as much as, if not more than, the players. The Lakers largely returned the same roster that won 47 games, was the No. 7 seed and lost in the first round last postseason — and expected better results. There was an argument to be made that the additions of Redick and rookie Dalton Knecht, along with better lineups and more continuity, could elevate the Lakers into the upper half of the West playoff picture.
But that was always the most optimistic outcome. The current results reflect the limitations of a roster in which nearly a third of it is injured, another third isn’t capable of playing spot minutes and the remaining third is asked to do too much. Even if the Lakers felt remaining patient into the season was the best route, they could’ve dumped one of their minimum players, along with a second-round pick or two, onto a team with cap space to create a roster spot to at least upgrade their depth (a path Dallas and Denver took, for example).
This roster was always going to be temporary. But the primary counterpoint to that plan was that, if the team could barely tread water in the unforgiving West, the organization would stand pat and refrain from using draft capital to substantially upgrade the roster. That seems more of a possibility given the Lakers’ recent skid.
What needs to change internally to turn things around?
Players getting healthy would be a good start. The Lakers need Reaves back, and they need Davis and James to get back to their physical forms from earlier in the season (James began suffering left foot soreness in Miami).
James and Davis also need to commit to being more engaged on a nightly basis. It has been more of an issue for James, especially on the defensive end. But as the two leaders of the team, the rest of the group looks to them for guidance and what’s acceptable. They have both fallen short recently.
Redick can probably do a better job of holding players accountable by pulling them for lackadaisical defensive lapses and ensuring that everyone is buying in.
If Reaves can return on Friday, and Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes and Wood can be back within the next few weeks, the Lakers have a chance to recapture some of their success from earlier in the season.
But in the grand scope, the only way this situation will truly be resolved is with external reinforcements.
Can a trade save the season?
Potentially. Depending on one’s definition of “saving.”
The Lakers clearly need to make a trade — and, really, at least two — to have any shot at competing for a championship this season. They’ll also likely need to use at least one, if not both, of their first-round picks (2029 and 2031) to add the type of player or players that could actually raise their ceiling in a significant way.
Even if they swing a trade that upgrades their rotation, plugs their holes and keeps their primary pieces, is there really a trade that’s going to put them on the same level as Boston, Oklahoma City or even Cleveland? It doesn’t seem likely, especially with the rumored names that are expected to be available. It would almost certainly require a seismic deal no one sees coming.
What about pivoting and blowing it all up?
It’s highly unlikely. Historically, the Lakers aren’t a franchise that likes to rebuild. Each year, the objective is the same, no matter how ludicrous it seems from the outside: Win a championship. They want to prioritize youth and development under Redick in a way they previously haven’t (outside of the brief Baby Lakers before James arrived), but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to tear it all down.
There is also the matter of what James and Davis want. James just re-signed six months ago. Davis signed an extension last year. Things escalate quickly in the NBA, but indications thus far have been that both superstars want to figure this out and make it work in Los Angeles. Unless that changes, the Lakers aren’t going to decimate their status as one of the more star-friendly organizations in the league by coldly trading James or Davis.
Additionally, they don’t have their 2025 draft pick, which is going to the Atlanta Hawks via the New Orleans Pelicans. Even if the Lakers wanted to tank for a top pick in next summer’s draft, they can’t. Perhaps they could acquire a first-round pick from a team that projects to be in the upcoming lottery, but that team will also likely rise in the standings by acquiring James or Davis.
They will always be relevant because they are the Lakers, but employing James and Davis gives them a certain level of cachet and relevance. It wasn’t that long ago that things were bleak. It’s much more likely that the Lakers stand pat or make a small move than blow it up.
Are things going to get better?
Maybe. Probably. They should.
They almost certainly can’t get much worse barring a serious Davis or James injury.
The 41-point loss to the Heat was the second-worst defeat of the James-Davis era in which both superstars played (last season the Lakers lost by 44 points in Philadelphia). It was as listless of a performance as a group could give. The Lakers have seemingly hit their nadir of the season.
Difficult conversations were had after the Miami loss. The Lakers responded with a spirited effort in a two-point overtime loss to a red-hot Atlanta team and then a win over the Trail Blazers without James and Reaves. The group’s energy and spirit is trending back upward.
How much better their season will get is unclear. The schedule only gets tougher: The Lakers have the sixth-most difficult remaining schedule, per Tankathon. They should stay in the Play-In mix as currently constructed, but the same problems that have plagued them the past few seasons remain: James and Davis need a better supporting cast.
- Apr 24, 2006
- 18,867
- 13,204
Rob has the injury excuse for going on 4 seasons now
- Sep 19, 2012
- 7,892
- 10,897
You said all that but didn’t really answer my question.
Yes I did, just indirectly.
Vogel should still have a job if he won in 21, right? But he took the fall.
If we won in 21, and Rob makes the Russ trade and it blows up, he absolutely should be out.
- Sep 19, 2012
- 7,892
- 10,897
Maybe I should have expanded more about this hypothetical situation... it was basically preventing a ripple effect.
If Lebron and AD won back to back titles then Vogel probably doesn't get fired (right away at least) and the Russ trade never happens.
My point was mostly about how the situation would be viewed differently by fans, expectations and what not.
- Feb 5, 2013
- 39,612
- 41,418
- Sep 5, 2010
- 94,202
- 131,652
Vogel was like the fourth or fifth choice for the job, so he might've been fired by now even if they went back to back.
