Lets talk Lakers '16

[Little Earl]

6 hours ago, abenjami said:

How was the league's handling of the trade when the Lakers got Kobe from the Hornets for a bunch of crap?

Or how about the Bynum trade to the 76ers?

[rns90]

6 hours ago, JakePA_Titan said:

And my whole complaint was that the NBAs handling of it was unprofessional. Would you dispute that? 

No it wasn't.  The Hornets at the time were owned by the NBA, which means that 29 teams (or however much) each owned a stake in it.  If a majority of the shareholders (teams) didn't like the proposal, they were well within their right to veto it.

9 minutes ago, Little Earl said:

Or how about the Bynum trade to the 76ers?

Or the Gasol trade?  Although it has worked out for MEM, at the time that trade was a joke.

[Oiler FANatic]

Now that Kobe is retired they should try and get Howard back, he's the best player that the Lakers can hope to sign anyway.

[wiscotitansfan]

11 hours ago, Oiler FANatic said:

Now that Kobe is retired they should try and get Howard back, he's the best player that the Lakers can hope to sign anyway.

Fuck that, everyone wants to play for LA just to worship the ground Kobe stood on. Do you think they may enshrine his locker instead of just retiring his number throughout the NBA?

[wiscotitansfan]

@JakePA_Titan Haha I just like being a rabble-rouser.

But I get the appeal of LA. I personally can't stand large California cities. SF was the worst big city I have ever been to.... and it wasn't even close. My brother lives there and just had to laugh at how much he loves the idea of living in SF as compared to actually opening his eyes to see how shitty it is. That being said, if I were making millions and didn't have to deal with the shit that regular people do I see why someone would want to live there. I would still choose most other cities, especially if I were good enough to be a targeted FA instead of just going to where a place would allow me PT.

I think LA is going to have a very rough up-hill battle and people get way too optimistic at any realistic expectation, especially from people still cling on to Kobe's greatness when it's been what seems like almost half a decade since he has been truly relevant. There's nothing else to do but mock people who are that far out there.

 

Obviously doesn't contribute to the conversation but doing what is basically data entry essentially at a financial company isn't the greatest job for mental stimulation.

[rns90]

47 minutes ago, JakePA_Titan said:

To the bolded....If that's the case why did Stern say the owners had no influence on his decision??? Makes a lot of sense, right?

And you can honestly say the trade they got from the Clips was a better deal than the one they would have gotten from the Lakers?

Lakers trade. Hornets would have got Odom, 14th overall pick, Scola, Kevin Martin and Dragic.

Clippers trade. Hornets got Eric Gordon, Kaman, Aminu and 10th overall. That's it!!

Remember, this was before Odom went downhill. He was a very versatile player who was coming off winning two titles.

No sane person would say the Clippers deal was better. Even in hindsight. Dragic and Martin would have been better than Gordon. Odom and Scola better than Kaman and Amina and the picks are damn there equal.

Again. The owners were afraid of LA getting CP3. No other reason not to allow that trade but allow Clippers to do so.

The huge problem here is that you are looking at this AFTER the fact.  At the TIME of the trade, MIN was coming off the worst record in the NBA.  What rebuilding team in their right mind turns down the  unprotected 1st rounder of the team who had the worst record in the league?  And they had no majority owner at the time so taking Odom and Martin (multiple years left, Scola was an expiring) and adding significant payroll didn't make much sense.  And you keep on bringing up Dragic.  At the time, he was just a backup in PHX so don't try to act like he was some big prize or anything.

If you're a rebuilding team and one that is about to be sold, you want as many cheap players + picks as possible.  LAC gave them Aminu + Gordon+ MIN pick.

[rns90]

9 minutes ago, JakePA_Titan said:

I understand the logic. What I don't understand is how this wasn't a conflict of interest on the part of Stern. Also, Dragic was a coveted player at that time and was being targeted by several teams in trade talks. Even though he came off the bench, you could tell he could play and play well.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-paul-trade-2014-11

Good ass article of this. Here's a piece. 

"The NBA hired Demps to be general manager, and had no business overruling him on a basketball decision.

Ok.  I agree with you on this part. So yeah, we finally agree on something after arguing for 2 pages.  If I recall, they didn't have some other guy above him who had experience as a GM or a personnel guy (like Riley in MIA) so this does seem suspect.

But trades are vetoed all the time in pro sports, especially by owners/higher ups.  Look at the Pirates, they turned down a Cliff Lee for Jason Bay trade in 2007.  You're also making a big assumption that Kobe + Paul+ Bynum and whatever role players would have gotten out of the West that year.

Edited June 22, 2016 by rns90

[wiscotitansfan]

11 minutes ago, JakePA_Titan said:

Never been, but have you been to Philly? Pretty bad as well.

Never have. The big cities in America I have been to are Chicago, NYC, Boston, Miami, SF, LA, Tuscon/Phoenix, New Orleans, Atlanta, Savannah, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Jacksonville, Detroit (don't count it for obvious reasons), Milwaukee (Don't count it), Pitt... I'm sure there are others that I am missing or don't consider a real "city" but SF was fucking awful and don't get people's fascination with it.

Never been to Texas but in terms of cities have only heard good things.

[Oiler FANatic]

11 hours ago, JakePA_Titan said:

Whiteside and AL Harford are targets. So is Derozan. No one wants Howards punk ass.

Like I said, none of those guys are going to LA because they want to play for a contender. The best the Lakers can hope for is Howard.

[OILERMAN]

Stephen A. Smith mentioned LeBron and Durant going to LA as a team

[rns90]

10 minutes ago, OILERMAN said:

Stephen A. Smith mentioned LeBron and Durant going to LA as a team

SAS is full of shit and has no sources.  LeBron might leave CLE when they aren't a contender anymore but that isn't likely to happen in the next 2-3 years anyway.  Durant mentioned that money isn't the main thing and the Lakers are so far from contention it's not likely to happen at all.

[OILERMAN]

I think LeBron could leave, he can claim he brought the title to Cleveland

[rns90]

Not this year though.  He already announced he'd be back with the Cavs to defend the title.  Did you read some of the pieces written by the Undefeated.  He seems like he geninuely likes living in Ohio.  He also does a TON of philanthropic work there. 

[wiscotitansfan]

30 minutes ago, JakePA_Titan said:

I agree. He and Durant will probably return for one more year and then go from there. At the same time, he likes to create headlines and he likes people to believe one thing then do the opposite.

Not really, he had "The Decision" and then returning home was pretty expected imo if he was going anywhere other than Miami. One drastic thing (Taking his talents to South Beach) barely defines a career and lifetime of choices.

[Oiler FANatic]

15 hours ago, JakePA_Titan said:

Where is your insider info coming from? If the resource is your own head, I'll wait to see how it plays out.

It's called common sense dude. Why would great players leave Miami, Toronto, or Atlanta to play for a terrible team like the Lakers?