Is Our Season (Possibly Our Future) Screwed?

Who wants to bet the Lakers have a worse record than the Clippers this year? Dallas goes back to the finals?
Thanks Mitch.

Whatthef? wrote:Who wants to bet the Lakers have a worse record than the Clippers this year? Dallas goes back to the finals?
Thanks Mitch.

^Thank Stern and Co.

Things aren't looking good.

Stern screws us and now CP3 is a Clipper.

And because of this it looks like we've waited to long to swoop in on Dwight too.

To top it all off, we lost our third best player for trade money to the defending champions (the same team that swept us might I add).

Kobe doesn't have a legit backup right now and our bench looks terrible.

let's get off the whole Stern screwed the Lakers. It's done. He's in charge of running a team and when you trade a superstar without having another one waiting in the wings, it's time to rebuild. Odom/Scola/Martin is a very good package for a team that is looking to keep the train moving. Do I think it was a messed up situation? Hell yes. But he's trying to sell that team for top dollar and that involves rebuilding properly. The package they got is vastly superior to ours.

Jim Buss is screwing us that hardest.

He turned down Bynum for Melo
He hired Mike Brown over Rick Adleman and JVG.
He let's Shannon walk and signs Kapono as our backup 2.
He trades Lamar Odom for a TE and a late first round pick.

Do you actually think for a min that these were Kupchak's moves? Hell no.We had the opportunity to keep this team in tact, made small tweaks like a starting pg, signing McRoberts, etc. and we would have been ready to go. Now we have lost our 6th man, our #2 player has lost all focus, and Kobe is slowly getting angry.

So yeah, CP3 to Lakers was a messed up decision by Stern, but Jim Buss is a POS owner and he's going to kill this franchise.

At least if we kept Odom we could have traded Bynum/Gasol for Howard/Hedo and Sasha TPE/Jameer.

Howard//Odom//Artest//Kobe//Nelson
McRoberts//Hedo//Barnes//Shannon//Blake
Caracter//Ebanks//Kapono//Fish

That would have been fine also.

Now were are banking on getting Howard for Bynum and the TPE. If it doesn't hapen, we better find a way to flip that TE into some collection of players so that we can round out our bench.

This franchise is in a state of emergency. Unless Bynum turns into a prime Kareem/Shaq/Duncan mix....

Out of all of our needs, look at what we've improved since last season

Starting PG- Nope
Backup SG- Nope
Shooters- Check
Back Up big man- Check. But we lost Odom, so NOPE.

Fisher and Blake are still starters. Kapono is a backup 2. No more Odom.

Oh and QUIT BLAMING MITCH.

Mitch is the most conservative GM out there. No way he'd trade Lamar becuase he was butt hurt. This was Jim Buss and Jim Buss only. He wanted to make a statement that he's in charge. Message recieved, but not respected.

I am also very disappointing, if we still have our core - Kobe, Gasol, Odom and Bynum (yeah i considers Odom one of our core players) in the roster than we are still top 3 in the league and good to go, but dunno why we traded Lamar unless if would help us to get Howard. The reality is with CP3 joined Clippers and D12 seems off in the trade market so things don't look good for us.

All of this because of Stern ! would really hope that had we just done nothing at all and we wouldn't have lost Lamar and keep our core.

Yes Stern played a role....but let's not let LO off the hook here.

1. LAL didn't want to trade LO. They had to if they wanted to get CP3. That's part of the business of being an NBA player. It's not like LAL didn't want LO around. They had to do what they had to do. If CP3 wasn't a viable option, no way LO would be in a trade discussion unless there's a good deal out there.

2. It's not like LO wasn't traded before. Sack up.

3. No excuse for LO to act like a vag....

So for me, 50% Stern, 50% LO. Pau didn't act up like a little B....just sayin'.

We still have Pau. We're blessed certainly. Don't lost hope.

I understand is a business and how everyone feels about Odom. But put yourself in his shoes, the guy could of left us during free agency and he stayed loyal to us, he battled through so many ups and downs as a player and the least the Lakers could of done was give him a phone call, thats all he was asking for. We keep talking about how the Lakers are a classy organization but this year they have been far from being classy, not only with Odom but with the rest of their employees who have been with them for years.

Whatthef? wrote:Who wants to bet the Lakers have a worse record than the Clippers this year? Dallas goes back to the finals?
Thanks Mitch.

You can't blame Mitch for this. He had no clue that Stern was going to veto the trade that sent LO and co. to their respective destinations. If that would have went down everyone would be happy. Since Stern stepped in, LO got mad and he was dealt to Dallas. That is questionable, but LO may have turned into a cancer for this team. He had to be dealt.

The Lakers still have a good squad. Most fan were hoping to have an exciting December 25th because they thought they were going to have two next presents and now most fans are acting like spoiled brats because they won't have their new toys (CP3 and D12).

WE STILL HAVE A GOOD TEAM! We got to the final 2 out of the last 3 years with this squad. We can do it again. People seem to forget that Kobe is supposed to come back heather and better this year.

We will be competitive and a contender.

Let's hope steve blake can actually be effective under Brown's offense, let's hope our rookies pan out real quick, and let's hope bynum out plays dwight this year. And let's hope Kobe can have an mvp type year. A LOT of hoping right now in Laker land.

Snake Eyes wrote:

Whatthef? wrote:Who wants to bet the Lakers have a worse record than the Clippers this year? Dallas goes back to the finals?
Thanks Mitch.

You can't blame Mitch for this. He had no clue that Stern was going to veto the trade that sent LO and co. to their respective destinations.

As a GM he should of been prepared or had a back up plan, even Phil Jackson called this a year ago. So part of the blame does go for Mitch and the rest of management.

borri wrote:Yes Stern played a role....but let's not let LO off the hook here.

1. LAL didn't want to trade LO. They had to if they wanted to get CP3. That's part of the business of being an NBA player. It's not like LAL didn't want LO around. They had to do what they had to do. If CP3 wasn't a viable option, no way LO would be in a trade discussion unless there's a good deal out there.

2. It's not like LO wasn't traded before. Sack up.

3. No excuse for LO to act like a vag....

So for me, 50% Stern, 50% LO. Pau didn't act up like a little B....just sayin'.

Not true. Lakers wanted to get rid of Lamars Salary. He was a salary dump. We were forcing the hornets to take on Lamar. We did not want to take on okaefors salary. We wanted a trade acception. At this point I trade pau for scola, martin, and dragic.

Shadow wrote:

Snake Eyes wrote:

Whatthef? wrote:Who wants to bet the Lakers have a worse record than the Clippers this year? Dallas goes back to the finals?
Thanks Mitch.

You can't blame Mitch for this. He had no clue that Stern was going to veto the trade that sent LO and co. to their respective destinations.

As a GM he should of been prepared or had a back up plan, even Phil Jackson called this a year ago. So part of the blame does go for Mitch and the rest of management.

That is a fair point, Shadow. I think plan B was Dwight and that too has now fallen through. Hopefully Mitch is still working the phones trying acquire someone worthy of a starting PG.

The Mike Brown tenure is off to a rather pathetic start...

borri wrote:Yes Stern played a role....but let's not let LO off the hook here.

1. LAL didn't want to trade LO. They had to if they wanted to get CP3. That's part of the business of being an NBA player. It's not like LAL didn't want LO around. They had to do what they had to do. If CP3 wasn't a viable option, no way LO would be in a trade discussion unless there's a good deal out there.

2. It's not like LO wasn't traded before. Sack up.

3. No excuse for LO to act like a vag....

So for me, 50% Stern, 50% LO. Pau didn't act up like a little B....just sayin'.

i know Odom absences form training was unacceptable, unhappy and disgruntled, but do you believe he could soon embraced and settled it maybe after some Kobe, Fisher talks to him? because not only his performance on the court with us, but his personality also been liked by everyone in the roster and acts as a glue guy to us in the locker room, so having LO gone is definitely going to affect our team chemistry a little bit.

Still think that the action from Lakers to trade LO so soon to a rival for nothing in return was a bit rush, was it an overreaction from the lakers as well ?

Lamar was a salary dump...not much mystery there. If he had acted calmly and like a professional though....I wonder what would have happened? The way he acted gave the Lakers the excuse they needed.

McRoberts is a younger and cheaper version replacement for Lamar.

As for the trade with Houston...it's not a bad trade on its' face, but I question the need to do it. Earlier, I advocated it, but that was before I saw that Pau was handling the trade rumors like a champ. I think he's going to be fine, and I think we are better served with holding onto him.

kray28 wrote:Lamar was a salary dump...not much mystery there. If he had acted calmly and like a professional though....I wonder what would have happened? The way he acted gave the Lakers the excuse they needed.

McRoberts is a younger and cheaper version replacement for Lamar.

As for the trade with Houston...it's not a bad trade on its' face, but I question the need to do it. Earlier, I advocated it, but that was before I saw that Pau was handling the trade rumors like a champ. I think he's going to be fine, and I think we are better served with holding onto him.

McRoberts is NOTHING like Lamar.

You can be serious. LO was a bonafide star. Had it not been for Griffin and Love bursting on the scene, he was an all star.

LO can do EVERYTHING on the basketball court. There is only 1things that McRoberts has over Odom... athleticism.


Let's drop this whole Lamar forced his way out. Kobe went on TV asking to be traded to Pluto, Lakers didn't bite. LO was butt hurt and emotional. He met with Mitch and that same night he was traded.

Doesn't seem like Jimbo wanted Odom. Once he was back around his teammates playing ball, he would have forgot all about it.

LO a bonafide star? I love LO, but YOU my friend can't be serious.

kray28 wrote:Lamar was a salary dump...not much mystery there. If he had acted calmly and like a professional though....I wonder what would have happened? The way he acted gave the Lakers the excuse they needed.

I've seen players act far worse than he did and stick around with a team for years afterwards. It wasnt like Lamar was going to run the team chemistry for the next season..he is playing with folks who he considers good friends. No matter how he feels about the FO, he would still want his teammates to thrive.

McRoberts wont replace Lamar's production..I dont think he was brought it to do so. We needed a big body, one who can ball a little and that was that.

The Original 81 wrote:LO a bonafide star? I love LO, but YOU my friend can't be serious.

Yes. Lamar is a star. He was easily the 3rd most important piece to our team.

Is Andre Iguodala a star? Is Monta Ellis a star? Is Carlos Boozer a star?

Lamar is on that level. All of those guys may have an edge over Lamar in one area or another, but Lamar when focused and on his game is on those guys levels.

Don't really get your point by bringing up those 3 players, because they aren't stars either.

There's no doubt that we're going to miss LO's versatility. I'm just worried over a potential Bynum injury. That's our absolute worst case scenario especially considering CP3 is no longer an option.

Our season is definitely starting to look screwed. What are we going to do now to fill our needs? Who is really available in trade or as free agents in the starting PG category, the backup center category, we have serious needs and I cannot see how they get filled, really hope Mitch can see it.

I do not think we suck as a team as is though, I just can't see us seriously competing with Miami, OKC and a few other teams as is. I do think that a few players that were handcuffed offensively under Phil's system will have bigger roles in Brown's, like Artest and Blake specifically. Artest can still score, he can still play, he just wasn't used in that system as anything but a stand still shooter, and Blake has apparently been working hard this offseason and looks good right now.

If we don't get D12 somehow, then it might be screwed. Kobe is going to have to become beast mode to save this season, and we also need Pau to return to form if we have any chance in the playoffs. I hear Artest is bloated like a whale and completely out of shape. And we don't have LO now to come off the bench, that's a huge downgrade if we just dumped salary...which is terrible idea because you don't dump salary for the 6th man of the year...and LO actually had a very very reasonable contract.