|| LocK Dis Up ||

[BIG LEEMELONE]

I fully trust mitch. That is all.

 

[(*Fin)]

I read it tho.

It's dumb, but its also hot air.

This season is about Kobe, not developing our young talent = I really ****** up with that Nash trade, so ima tank the **** outta this team and get me a nice lottery prize.

I'm with ya Mitchell. You're winning me back.

 

[pmatic]

 

[Lizakers]

Captain jack spittin that real

 

[mr j 858]

Something I read in a article a couple months ago is that when Mitch finally retires and Jim Buss if he follows through on stepping down if this current Laker team aren't contenders in like 2 years is that Jerry West's son Ryan West who is currently the Lakers assistant GM is next in line to take over basketball player personnel operations.

They say he's highly regarded and a lot of teams have tried to get him and it's not just because of his name and that his dad is the logo.

 

[CP1708]

I wanna look up his game logs from that year and see if he's right.

 

[pmatic]

The Jazz just waived Elijah Millsap to bypass guaranteeing his salary, opening up a roster spot. They also have $7.2M in cap space at the moment and a few first round draft picks in their possession (2017 Warriors and 2018 Thunder).

This sounds like an ideal trade for everyone. Jazz upgrade their bench, Lakers pick up an asset and Lou goes to the land of polygamy.

 

[vtotheinay]

I wanna look up his game logs from that year and see if he's right.

looks like he ain't lying haha. just checked it out. his minutes pretty much went super sporadic in february onward, but before that he was playing a consistent 25-33 mins a night


http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jacksst02/gamelog/2001/

 

[Lizakers]

It was Byrons way of saying "nothing is guaranteed in this league, minutes are earned". All that old school bull crap

 

[kingjaffejo]

And this is the person whom the FO placed they faith?! Lol

 

[had pants]

Yeah, Mitch just made the season officially dedicated to one player over the entire team. We all knew it already, but nonetheless.

 

[essential1]

The highlights...

"Under normal circumstances [in a season like this], at some point, you would probably concentrate on just developing all your young players," Kupchak told ESPN on Tuesday. "But we can't do that right now.


Every game, it's about Kobe. Even when he doesn't play, it's about Kobe. So in a lot of regards, there's a silver lining that our guys can develop under the radar and maybe make a mistake or make two mistakes and it not be a big deal."


"I was hoping that our young players, in conjunction with the veterans that we added, and Kobe at full health, would lead to a better record than what we have today," Kupchak said. "I didn't have any visions that we'd win 50 games or 45. Could we have won 45 or 40? I guess it's possible. In fact, it still is possible.

Link to the full article
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...movement-order-celebrate-outgoing-kobe-bryant

Pretty meh, no real responsibility directed to Byron at all, just more Kobe bashing and enabling and delusions of grandeur. The same old same old.

Now that he's said it though, the tank must be in overdrive.

You know what after thinking about it even more.. I'm even less mad about what he said.

Just based on the first two quotes.


He's pretty much said in the first two quotes it's a lost year. Forget the playoff talk, he knows they won't make it, but he's always trotted out the we can make it quotes.

In a lost year with a bunch of rookies and young guys, the entire focus would be on developing the young guys from inside the organization to outside perception.

But with Kobe retiring, there is almost zero focus on their development. As he said later in the article, they can make mistakes, and make a bunch of them, and no one will notice. Because the cloud of Kobe's era endings looms so large over it.

So in a normal year, they could focus on development, and there would be zero distractions. But Kobe's retirement prevents all of that. And it's not to say you can't do both at the same time, but it is to say that even if you did, nobody really cares when a Top 10 All Time player has publicly said he is hanging them up.




As for Free Agency, I don't know where the level of attractiveness is.. But it is certainly much higher this year than it has been the previous 2 seasons. Because we can offer 2, maybe even 3 max deals.

2013-14 was a lost year, we had no money left. I think we would have only had $2-3mil maximum in cap space if we traded Pau Gasol for nothing in the offseason, and at $19mil, that would have been a tough task.

In 2014, we had nothing to offer. Had they paid Kobe half the money he got (2 year / $25mil), we would have had enough cap space for 1 max cap slot, and a Trevor Ariza caliber starter. Of all the 2014 Free Agents, Carmelo was the only max guy willing to come here, or at least consider it. But we had nothing to offer. Even if Kobe was paid half of what he got. Now maybe stretching Nash on top of paying Kobe half of what he got would have allowed it to happen with us for Melo. But I think they were just ready to be done with Nash, and if they couldn't get the guy they wanted, they wouldn't stretch Nash. And unless that second guy who we theoretically add with Melo in this hypothetical makes a leap in talent, what happens in the last 18 months is not really any better.

2015, Kobe's not retiring impacted us. Had he been signed for 2 year / $25mil, which would have been fair and made sense in hindsight, we would have needed 2 max FAs to take a couple million dollars pay cut each. Kobe's money had to be gone almost completely. Not having 2 max deals made us immensely unattractive. We were not a good team, and if Aldridge joined us, we would have been a 42 win team max. And yeah they'd take a huge leap next year, but he wanted now. And if he wasn't getting NOW, he might as well have just stayed with the Blazers. Even with all of that, and the horrendous meeting Jeanie led, we got a lot closer than we should have had with Aldridge. I'm also pretty convinced that had we had 2 max cap slots, Aldridge & another max free agent are Lakers this season.



Now we have multiple max cap spaces available to mix and match players. Something we did not have previously. And with some management, a good amount of money in 2017 as well. That is far more intriguing to a FA, that they could add more. Where as telling someone, well we stink, and can only afford you, and you alone. Or you and somebody who makes no difference really. Also this is their team, not Kobe's. Whoever comes in, it become their team. And in all honesty our attractiveness is really not changed whether we keep the pick or not. If we keep it, that's nice. But it won't change anybody's mind. It will certainly be better if we keep the pick.. But it won't make someone who was on the fence pick us.

 

[619destroyer858]

Ben Simmons will change everything.

i doubt it,,,IMO that kid is OVERRATED!!

 

[619destroyer858]

such a D-bag no wonder he's out of the league now ,,,for NOT listening to his Head Coach look at him now compare to some other players came to the league same time as him

 

[Johnny_Cakes]

Captain Jack played 15 years in the league, what do you mean?

 

[MVP]

i doubt it,,,IMO that kid is OVERRATED!!

View media item 1858785

 

[kingjaffejo]

And a NBA champion...

 

[kingjaffejo]

He can't shoot worth **** but he def ain't overrated lol

 

[moonman818]

Captain Jack played 15 years in the league, what do you mean?

For real

 

[essential1]

Although I do think he'll have serious trouble in the NBA... It's hard to overrate him

 

[jab step]

I took that article as simply Mitch protecting Byron and the rookies. Mostly Byron. It's easy to blame Kobe and the farewell tour. Keep the attention on that and not how bad Byron is as a coach. 

His whole point that Kobe's last season doesn't allow true development is null when Kobe is out of games and Russell and Randle only play 15-20 minutes. 

 

[kal-el-8]

i doubt it,,,IMO that kid is OVERRATED!!

View media item 1858785

dont eem bother with that dude man

 

[kal-el-8]

Quote:

Windhorst: Hassan Whiteside 'Absolutely Not A Heat Player'

Hassan Whiteside will be a free agent in the offseason and the Miami Heat don't own his Bird Rights.

"This is a guy who is going to get a max contract in the summer. And he's absolutely not a Heat player," said Windhorst on Zach Lowe's podcast. "His style of play, his personality, the way he goes about his business is not congruent with the way the Heat normally go about themselves.

"The Heat have a decision to make: do you ride out the season with Whiteside or do you package him with (Luol) Deng before the deadline."

Still would probably pass. but I know a few of you guys want him. 

 

[Los Angeles]

Someone get their dude 619destroyer out of here

 

[MVP]

Whiteside