Is Our Season (Possibly Our Future) Screwed?

I cannot believe we are on the verge of starting the season with Fisher as our probable starter

Now that the CP3 saga is over, we probably are screwed. Soon, the travesty of Stern playing outside the rules and screwing us will be forgotten by the media and we'll still be w/o justice in this matter.

The Original 81 wrote: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.

Boozer and Iggy are stars.

Okay, but so you took 1 word I used and turned that into a debate. Fine. In your eyes Lamar is not a star.

You still said McRoberts is "cheaper" replacement for Lamar.

He is not.

Nobody in the NBA does what Lamar does. Certainly no bench player.

You also said he did not act professional. What is your basis? He did not go out in the media and demand trades or smear the Lakers name. Emotional-- yes.

But it seems like there is a large double standard in the NBA. When players complain or leave their team, blasphemy. When owners cut ot trade players out of no where, it's part of the business. The Lakers should have told Lamar and Gasol. Hey- we're thinking of trading you. That's why Lamar was so upset. He got treated like just another number. I get that.

Center Court wrote:

The Original 81 wrote: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.

Boozer and Iggy are stars.

Okay, but so you took 1 word I used and turned that into a debate. Fine. In your eyes Lamar is not a star.

You still said McRoberts is "cheaper" replacement for Lamar.

He is not.

Nobody in the NBA does what Lamar does. Certainly no bench player.

You also said he did not act professional. What is your basis? He did not go out in the media and demand trades or smear the Lakers name. Emotional-- yes.

But it seems like there is a large double standard in the NBA. When players complain or leave their team, blasphemy. When owners cut ot trade players out of no where, it's part of the business. The Lakers should have told Lamar and Gasol. Hey- we're thinking of trading you. That's why Lamar was so upset. He got treated like just another number. I get that.

Boozer a star? Iggy isn't a star IMO either.

And the rest of your post I'm going to assume is directed towards Kray because I never said any of that and he did.

Odom gives us an advantage/mismatch over almost every other teams in the league, our insurance in case one of Bynum/Gasol going down, our best bench player (and as well as one of the best bench players in the league), sixth man of the year, could still probably start as PF for mostly other NBA team as well, so Odom was definitely played a big part of our succeed in the past and an important figure to us.

Center Court wrote:

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.

This is way off topic, but I think there is a definition by which AI and Monta are stars. Don't think so on Boozer. But the difference between AI/Monta and Odom is that AI was clearly the best player on his team for years, Monta was arguably the best, and Odom never has been (and wouldn't be, on any team). I really, really like Odom, and I'm very sad to see him go, but he's not a star. He's just a good basketball player who works very hard and did what was asked of him 95% of the time.

Ok, now that the dust has settled on this Chris Paul debacle I have a little more clarity. My feeling is that we've been royally SCREWED OVER by Stern and Company. However, I don't believe our season is necessarily screwed and certainly not our future (which is yet to be determined).

Stern and Co. definitely threw a wrench in our plans with full understanding of what they were doing. It stinks. They were never going to let the Lakers complete the ultimate coup by landing Paul and Howard after a whole summer of complaining about US specifically and how we we had this high payroll and monster roster. Wasn't going to happen. So they got their way and did it with collusion. Since Chris Paul did get moved, nothing will ever come of this, but it was definitely a shot leveled directly at the Lakers and it worked.

It's sad that Odom was part of the collateral damage of that take down. But it shows that he ultimately still had a lot of mental weakness. My only beef really in letting him go right now is that we let him dictate WHERE he ended up and that it turned out to be our main rival in the West. Other than that, it's unfortunate to lose someone with that much talent for nothing in return. But it is what it is. He demanded a trade, so be it.

While Odom demonstrated that he could finally bring consistency in his bench role last regular season, he still disappeared when it counted most in the playoffs. For that reason, ultimately it's ok that he's gone, IMO. I won't miss that Casper aspect of his game.

Going forward we still have Kobe, Pau and Bynum and for that reason alone I'm very happy. It's still the best front court in the business and I like it. I hope, really truly hope that Pau can get his mojo and fire back. He's got two ways to approach this busted up trade for Paul. He can use it to reinvigorate his competitive drive and prove that he's not the milk toast player he was in last year's playoffs and beyond (the reason he was on the block to begin with), or he can get all moody and depressed about it. So far, he's showing some stones and he's rising above it all. Great to see. Hopefully we can get back to our winning ways with him and he can take it out on the competition along with Kobe and Drew.

Let's go Lakers. F the rest of the League.

bumrusherer wrote: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.

Well keep in mind that the Triangle is history...and the whole Lamar facilitator role is gone too. So McRoberts' task list and role is a lot less versatile than what Lamar had to do.

Let's keep in mind we will be a more defensive oriented team ... it could help reducing the effects of the LO loss ... look at Chicago or the Lebron Cavs , sure they are/were in the East but both have won more games than they should if you are looking at their rosters on paper ... and the team we have has still more offensive talents than these teams

As long as we are being led by an incompetent owner, we will ALWAYS be screwed. Something needs to happen. Someone needs to check Buss Jr. and make him realize he's not fit to make decisions. He needs to let his qualified subordinates make them and just sit back on the sidelines. I'm pessimistic about the future of this team. What Buss has done so far is very worrisome. I know for a fact Kupcak would never make that Odom deal. No way.

Everyone else's teams has gotten some solid players, veterans, shooters, defenders. Chicago got Rip from Detroit. I don't think anyone cares about how dirty we were did trade wise because they're celebrating this Clipper trade it's gonna be disgusting people referring to them as the best team in L.A. until we do something that's gonna help our roster a little more. I know our organization is great so I won't count them out just yet.

All we can do is take Kobe's advice and "trust that Mitch knows what he's doing". Yes, we got screwed. If it were any other team there would be more of an outcry. But no one feels sorry for the Lakers. They need to take the "Us against the world" mentality and use it to motivate them. But do it quietly, behind the scenes. Not like Lebron/Wade/Bosh did and announce it to the world. That just ticked people off more.

Lets Go Lakers wrote:As long as we are being led by an incompetent owner, we will ALWAYS be screwed. Something needs to happen. Someone needs to check Buss Jr. and make him realize he's not fit to make decisions. He needs to let his qualified subordinates make them and just sit back on the sidelines. I'm pessimistic about the future of this team. What Buss has done so far is very worrisome. I know for a fact Kupcak would never make that Odom deal. No way.

Someone needs to find the cure to aging....so we can make Jerry Buss young again. Jimmy is a strange cat though...very little is known about him, and it's like he knows how unpopular he is with the fanbase, and he knowingly keeps a low profile because of it. But it's common knowledge that he's making a lot of these decisions.

Yep Jerry needs to be the man taking the decisions ... have you heard what Stephen A Smith said ? I usually couldn't care less about the medias blowing things out of proportion (especially BSPN) but Kobe is probably letting everybody know how he feels about the situation via SAS ...

Yeah, SAS is the closest thing to Kobe's mouthpiece. Kobe isn't publicly demanding anything right now....he's giving the front office time to fix things.

Honestly though...if they had left well enough alone, I don't think Kobe would have been upset. He was happy to get CP3, and can't blame the FO for what Stern did, but what happened to Lamar pissed him off like the rest of us.

So I don't think it's bad enough that Kobe would demand a trade right now....but you know he's not happy with the direction of the franchise, and he's not happy with Jimmy.

Kobe isn't in a position to do anything because his age and contract doesn't make him a good player to trade for.

So he can be upset like the rest of us but like the fans, he has to just deal with it.

Kobe's not going anywhere. Any team that would trade for him would have to deplete their roster and that would almost guarantee they won't win a championship. It's better for him to stay in LA and see what happens.

bumrusherer wrote:Kobe isn't in a position to do anything because his age and contract doesn't make him a good player to trade for.

So he can be upset like the rest of us but like the fans, he has to just deal with it.

Teams would be static to have Kobe on their roster based off name alone, even if he was to play the 3rd role. A healthy Kobe at that? And a veteran? Shiiiiiiiiiet. But I agree about just having to deal with it for now, there's nothing he can do.

I wouldn't go far by saying were screwed yet because this Laker roster has not played a game together. We'll see what happens.

Lakeshow86 wrote:I wouldn't go far by saying were screwed yet because this Laker roster has not played a game together. We'll see what happens.

^^ Right attitude.

Stern and Co. definitely did screw us over, and we didn't do ourselves any favors by trading Odom to our rival for nothing or next to nothing. But I agree, we're far from done and in fact with our current lineup I still like us to take it in the West.

Couple things do need to happen though. We need one more backup big. And it would be great to get another player via Sasha's expiring. Also Steve Blake needs to start, Pau needs to play hard this year, Bynum needs to stay healthy (that's a longer shot) and World Peace needs to get his act together and get back in shape.

Lakerjones wrote:

Lakeshow86 wrote:I wouldn't go far by saying were screwed yet because this Laker roster has not played a game together. We'll see what happens.

^^ Right attitude.

Stern and Co. definitely did screw us over, and we didn't do ourselves any favors by trading Odom to our rival for nothing or next to nothing. But I agree, we're far from done and in fact with our current lineup I still like us to take it in the West.

Couple things do need to happen though. We need one more backup big. And it would be great to get another player via Sasha's expiring. Also Steve Blake needs to start, Pau needs to play hard this year, Bynum needs to stay healthy (that's a longer shot) and World Peace needs to get his act together and get back in shape.

I agree Lakerjones. And when it comes to Dictator Sterns descision I know for a fact it had nothing to do with keeping star players in small markets it was just a smokescreen. You know why? Because the last time I checked, the Clippers is not in a small market.

Maybe Mitch can trade Kobe to the Clippers for a bag of chips.

Lakeshow86 wrote:

Lakerjones wrote:

Lakeshow86 wrote:I wouldn't go far by saying were screwed yet because this Laker roster has not played a game together. We'll see what happens.

^^ Right attitude.

Stern and Co. definitely did screw us over, and we didn't do ourselves any favors by trading Odom to our rival for nothing or next to nothing. But I agree, we're far from done and in fact with our current lineup I still like us to take it in the West.

Couple things do need to happen though. We need one more backup big. And it would be great to get another player via Sasha's expiring. Also Steve Blake needs to start, Pau needs to play hard this year, Bynum needs to stay healthy (that's a longer shot) and World Peace needs to get his act together and get back in shape.

I agree Lakerjones. And when it comes to Dictator Sterns descision I know for a fact it had nothing to do with keeping star players in small markets it was just a smokescreen. You know why? Because the last time I checked, the Clippers is not in a small market.

Stern did something way out of lines IMO in the way it went down. But let's say the trade happened. Now let's say Howard did not happen.

Bynum
McRoberts
Artest
Kobe
Paul

is that better than what we had last year? I don't think so. Buss is screwing us. Giving Odom for nothing. If we had Odom we could trade Gasol/Bynum for Howard/Hedo and be done.

I think watching these playoffs give a clear answer to the question