Magic: "Im embarrassed to be associated with Lakers"

Hey, Magic there are worse things being associated w/ the Lakers, ask MJ and the Bobcats (or Kwame Brown)...

I wish he would've go into the lockerroom after a loss like that and say it to their faces, no doubt this would be much more effective

Magic is ignoring that we were 6-1 in the last 7 games at the Garden.

We are now 6-2....big deal.

Wow.... he must be getting old.... does he not remember one of the most embarrassing moments in Lakers History in Boston?...... When HE DRIBBLED OUT THE CLOCK AT THE END OF GAME 2 IN 1984 WITHOUT EVEN GETTING A SHOT OFF.....OH AND THEN HE MISSES TWO FREE THROWS AT THE END OF THE OVERTIME.

That was the second biggest blunder by a Sanctimonious Ex-Laker in a 10 second stretch in the biggest game of the Franchise to that point.......

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ1bd2g3p1Y[/youtube]

EDIT.... Why won't this Youtube embed? ^^^

Rooscooter wrote:EDIT.... Why won't this Youtube embed? ^^^

you have to take the "s" out of https://

^^^^Thanks! I didn't see that it was secured. It's usually the "player"at the end of the string messing it up

Some things are better left unsaid. What he said is disrespectful to Jerry Buss after everything the Lakers organization did for him. One game.

We are under .500 50 games into the season ok this is not about just one game I'm embarrassed to call myself a fan of any sub .500 teamn too.

Magic is ignoring that we were 6-1 in the last 7 games at the Garden.

We are now 6-2....big deal.

We are under .500 50 games into the season and thats all that needs to be said..past seasons are successes are irrelevant except to establish what we are supposed to be doing yet failing at in the grandest of fashions.

Hey, Magic there are worse things being associated w/ the Lakers, ask MJ and the Bobcats (or Kwame Brown)...

Not really the Bobcat fans only know losing so they are probably quite content right now. Its like being a fan of UM College Football (miami that is) they've sucked for the last decade and I've grown used to it and now expect nothing less so I'm no longer upset or even phased when they lose since I expect a loss almost everytime they play, maybe after a decade of times like this I'll feel the same way about the Lakers and can see the team the way the Bobcats see theirs as just a loveable group of losers

I don't know what's gotten into Magic, but let's see how the Dodgers fare this season. They stunk up the joint last year missing the playoffs.

We are under .500 50 games into the season ok this is not about just one game I'm embarrassed to call myself a fan of any sub .500 teamn too.

Unless you are very young....you've spent the better part of the last 13 years rooting for a team that has made a habit of going to the NBA Finals.
Sure, this year hasnt been fun so far but we have so many great memories in reserve that one awful season doesnt erase it all.

I have no problem with Magic calling out this so called 'dream team'. 'Embarrassed to be associated with' mighta been a little too strong a comment. But I understand where he's coming from. No way this team should have a losing record 51 games into the season. Injuries or not.

There were plenty enough games where the 'fab 4' played together to expect more. Losing home games to bottom feeders is unacceptable. Downright embarrassing. A team with this collection of players should be playing at a .600 pace until they start to gel and play at a .800 pace.

The possibility of missing the playoffs is real. And if that happens, it would have to rank as one of the biggest disappointments in the history of team sports.

Granted this interview was done before the Lakers played the Nets and Gasol went down, but still, its good to see we still have the Logo's support!

Jerry West believes in Lakers!

"I believe they're going to make the playoffs," West said Tuesday in a phone interview with ESPNNewYork.com. "Look out West, there are some teams two or three games over .500, so they can do it. ... Can the Lakers win the championship? They have to get to the playoffs first, and I think they will get there."


"Sometimes (the Lakers) have been good, and sometimes they just don't seem to have it," West said. "Their biggest issue has been defensively. But I think they're playing better defensively now, and Kobe's play has been extraordinary, the way he's not shooting as much and getting other people involved."


"Nobody is going to want to play them in the first round. With the veterans the Lakers have, I don't think it's going to make a big difference to them if they creep in as the 6, 7 or 8 [seed]. In the playoffs, they're going to be dangerous."

Source: http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/8919143/jerry-west-believes-los-angeles-lakers-make-playoffs

Basically, Magic Johnson hates Jim Buss. It's not that hard to figure out. I don't fault Magic for saying he's embarrassed to be associated with Jim Buss. Even I'm embarrassed to root for Jim Buss's team at this point.

Oh dear god.... the crap we're seeing on the floor is Jim Buss's fault?..... I'm as skeptical as anyone about him but 5 months ago all was forgiven about Buss when we got Nash and Howard..... now he's a reason to be embarrassed? Wow.... talk about misplaced emotion....

Rooscooter wrote::man10: Oh dear god.... the crap we're seeing on the floor is Jim Buss's fault?..... I'm as skeptical as anyone about him but 5 months ago all was forgiven about Buss when we got Nash and Howard..... now he's a reason to be embarrassed? Wow.... talk about misplaced emotion....

Yup. Phil was ready to coach, and the person who stood in the way of his return was Jim Buss. Little Jimmy could not take the embarrassment of Uncle Phil coming to "save the day" after he's F'ed it up yet a 2nd time (make this a 3rd time) with a terrible coaching hire. Not a doubt in my mind Phil would have this squad playing top-4 basketball.

Instead piling on the "GTFO Magic, u have a short term memory!" comments, I like to think he has an inside track on the inner workings of the Lakers organization - more than anyone here, that's for sure. And newsflash: HE DOES. When he gets on TV and says "I believe in the Lakers organization, but not Jim Buss", that is more telling than anything else that is said here.

Stacked, talented roster + wrong coach. Who's fault is it?

purp n gold wrote:Stacked, talented roster + wrong coach. Who's fault is it?

Jim Useless Basterd Bush errr Buss

purp n gold wrote:

Rooscooter wrote::man10: Oh dear god.... the crap we're seeing on the floor is Jim Buss's fault?..... I'm as skeptical as anyone about him but 5 months ago all was forgiven about Buss when we got Nash and Howard..... now he's a reason to be embarrassed? Wow.... talk about misplaced emotion....

Yup. Phil was ready to coach, and the person who stood in the way of his return was Jim Buss. Little Jimmy could not take the embarrassment of Uncle Phil coming to "save the day" after he's F'ed it up yet a 2nd time (make this a 3rd time) with a terrible coaching hire. Not a doubt in my mind Phil would have this squad playing top-4 basketball.

Instead piling on the "GTFO Magic, u have a short term memory!" comments, I like to think he has an inside track on the inner workings of the Lakers organization - more than anyone here, that's for sure. And newsflash: HE DOES. When he gets on TV and says "I believe in the Lakers organization, but not Jim Buss", that is more telling than anything else that is said here.

Stacked, talented roster + wrong coach. Who's fault is it?

Coaching isn't the problem with this roster. The stacked Roster wouldn't be here if "Jimmy" didn't hold his breath until Mitch relented on the Sean May choice and picked Bynum..... No Bynum.. no Howard and no way to entice Nash.... thus no "Stacked Roster".

Phil Jackson coming back would be the final ring in this circus...... and he'd be gone in a year or two... tops. Tell me how he fixes what we are seeing? Is Howard going to develop a post game in a week?.... Is MWP going to hit more wide open shots?..... Is Nash going to do well in the Triangle without the ball? Can he "heal" Pau? He and MDA have one common trait..... not practicing defense. While I respect what Phil did I'm not in the camp that thinks he can or could have made this squad a contender.

I don't like MDA one bit but what we are seeing on the court isn't a product of coaching..... it's thinking that a bunch of aging All Stars can play together with a horribly imbalanced team and no bench. That may be Jimmy's fault but then again someone signed off on the massive expansion in payroll to do this...... too bad no one knew how to "craft" a TEAM instead of assembling NAMES....

purp n gold wrote:Basically, Magic Johnson hates Jim Buss. It's not that hard to figure out. I don't fault Magic for saying he's embarrassed to be associated with Jim Buss. Even I'm embarrassed to root for Jim Buss's team at this point.

+1

Who cares ? Magic is a Clippers and Heat fan right now ... then he will jump back on the Lakers as soon as the team become relevant again ....

Magic , the "analyst" and the attention [Swearing is not permitted at Clublakers. You must edit this post prior to submitting.] is an embarassement for the Lakers organization

Rooscooter -

You are right.....
Jackson would have been here 2 years tops.....

That timeline would have fit PERFECTLY with this vet team and how long the CORE is signed for, mainly Gasol and Bryant who are tying up a huge chunk of change.

After those 2 year would have been the PERFECT time to change your philosophy if you felt the need to go to the stretch 4 spread philosophy with a faster pace with the cap room and firepower to reshape the roster quickly and efficiently.

You ask what Jackson would have done? well I could GUARANTEE you he would have actually featured our best overall big in the post more and his name is not Howard.... it would have been GASOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! the only big that this team has that actually has the tool sets to feature a post game around meaning he can score out of the post and the big one...he can PASS out of the post. My guess is MWP wouldn't be up there almost leading the team in shot attempts per game either. His offense would have a better chance of controlling floor balance when shots go up which also helps mask an already weak transition defense.....

This team in order to have a chance has to do 3 things:

- control pace by running the offense threw the post
- RESPONSIBLE floor balance when shots go up forcing a half court game
- play solid half court defense and force the ball to be scored from the perimeter essentially controlling the
paint

MDA's system fails in all 3 aspects of that but you keep telling yourself that coaching has nothing to do with it. It took over 20 more games before this team started playing a certain way in spite of Pringles essentially making him a glorified substations expert (which he sucks at too).

I agree with you 100% about the assembly of names instead of working pieces that fit together but at the same time hiring the wrong coach for that team doesn't help either...... and until the right coach playing the right way with the core players assembled it's hard to place all the blame on the roster itself IMO.... the coach is UNDERMINING this team's ability to compete further and to ignore that is being part of the core problem to start with.

Magic rubbed some fans the wrong way...totally understood. You got all types of fans and no one is supporting the team wrong. You got the eternally optimistic and seriously more power to this demographic. On the flip side, you got the cynical variety that came from a set off Seinfeld (which I feel I'm clumped into....unfortunately). Either way, we're all fans. And, I'm having a problem believing that Magic genuinely doesn't want a successful Lakers franchise. Some of us believe that it would be successful if the heir apparent wasn't Jimmy....but bottom line, we want Laker success.

That being said, Magic wanting Laker failure due to some gripe he has with Kobe is one hell of a conspiracy ploy. Has Magic done things in his past that were an embarrassment? Definitely! But the man has every right to say what he said about this team. And the fact that he wanted Phil over D'Antoni should tell you enough that he wants Laker success regardless if Kobe gets his 6th or not.

A group filled with HOFs failing in the NBA Finals is one thing...but to have a group of future HOFs along with arguably the best player (certainly in top 3) in the game right now demonstrating a sub .500 record with half the season finished is an embarrassment.

Of course it can't be proven, but if you look at each candidate's history as coach, it's more than a safe assumption that Phil and his coaching staff (ie Rambis on D) would not be sub .500 at this stage in the season. Their rotations may have even contributed towards the teams' overall health, but if the injuries were inevitable, Phil still had a largely healthy Kobe Bryant and that partnership has never ever resulted in an overall sub .500 record.

One other thing...why does this all come back to Phil?

Cause it's embarrassing how ego allowed the FO to overlook their own: Jeanie/Phil, Mitch's hard work at bat thus summer, Kobe & Pau...heck even our key FA....and the worst offense, being the fans themselves. The paying fans at Staples on numerous occasions voiced their opinion.

It's embarrassing that the Lakers FO decides to go away from the obvious right choice and more importantly, the people's choice...due to an ego driven decision. I personally am embarrassed to be a fan of an FO that blatantly ignores tradition, ignores their current and future franchise player, ignores their fan base because one non-basketball mind felt threatened.

Embarrassing! Magic is saying just as much and I'm comfortable believing even Chickie calling the games would refer to this team having an embarrassment of riches and still having this record while laying an egg against "those guys!" The Logo and KAJ think otherwise. Nothing wrong with their opinion either...but if a previous Laker great and a present Laker fan call it an embarrassment...he's earned it and is entitled to it!

MC wrote:
You ask what Jackson would have done? well I could GUARANTEE you he would have actually featured our best overall big in the post more and his name is not Howard.... it would have been GASOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! the only big that this team has that actually has the tool sets to feature a post game around meaning he can score out of the post and the big one...he can PASS out of the post. My guess is MWP wouldn't be up there almost leading the team in shot attempts per game either. His offense would have a better chance of controlling floor balance when shots go up which also helps mask an already weak transition defense.....

This team in order to have a chance has to do 3 things:

- control pace by running the offense threw the post
- RESPONSIBLE floor balance when shots go up forcing a half court game
- play solid half court defense and force the ball to be scored from the perimeter essentially controlling the
paint

I'm sorry, I don't see it that way..... Pau's crap play was present under Phil..... do you not remember the Dallas series?.... Pau was healthy then and played worse than he has this year under MDA.... Pau's slide has nothing to do with "coaching".... injuries, age and playing year round for 10 years have taken their toll.

Explain how Nash fits the triangle again?.... he is worthless off the ball and in motion. At this point in his career he is only valuable with the ball in his hands 75% of the time and the other 25% as an occasional spot up shooter off the action. Nash is the antithesis of everything Phil likes at the Point......

Moving Howard out of the post in favor of Pau?.... You think the tantrum we're seeing now is big..... can you imagine what would be going on when Howard is relegated to the high post in the Triangle and is feeding Pau?....

We'll just have to disagree on this. Phil would have used Pau better.... but Pau's decline is so evident I'm not sure that would really help.... His presence would negate Nash's upside for this team and probably exacerbated Howard's problems even more. The last thing Howard wants is to be in a system where he is an "equal" which is how the Tri is set up..... He want's the entire team to support him.

We may be a game or two better but we still wouldn't be practicing defense and we'd still be slow, old and streaky...... We could slow the pace down when we have the ball but we'd still be powerless in doing so when our opponents have the ball..... and that's our real problem this season.

The roster doesn't work together that's evident to me by now..... regardless of the system. We need speed and athleticism at the two forward positions. I just don't think Phil changes that.... and I did not like the MDA hiring one bit.

Vasashi17 wrote:A group filled with HOFs failing in the NBA Finals is one thing...but to have a group of future HOFs along with arguably the best player (certainly in top 3) in the game right now demonstrating a sub .500 record with half the season finished is an embarrassment.

Here's where I thing you may be falling into the same trap Vasashi..... We may have a "group of HOF's" on the floor but in no way are they playing at the level that has made them future HOF's anymore. Perception over reality.

Nash is a shell of 2006.... so is Kobe truth be said. Pau has declined dramatically physically. Howard's back is limiting him and he's the only one that's in his "prime". Howard's persona has always been bigger than his game.... a lot of people are seeing that now. MWP and Jamison are way past their primes as well. So if you look at the names and associate their top years it may hard to imagine why we suck..... if you look at the realities of their individual play TODAY you'll see it. They don't complement each other.... especially in the front court. The need for another player that can create his own shot and shots for others in sorely evident.

Roos, I totally agree with you....this HOF roster is a shell of itself...but I really find it hard that another coach couldn't get more out of this roster.

Super teams are tricky, but for the most part, they do work: Boston, Heat and heck even the Lakers when Pau got picked up without giving up Drew or LO.

We have had a good enough sample size where we had a healthy Kobe and Nash along with one of our bigs....we should not be sub-.500.

FIRE MDA!