This Team, Organization Lacks Heart.

[snaquille oatmeal]

lol, this thread is foolish, we lose 2 games and its like the world is burning, crashing down.

Exactly LaLa, and that's why this thread reached 8 pages before I decided to post. Threads like this lack merit and if there is no previous proof of such claims, it's really moot to even state it. You have to realize some times in the playoffs it won't be easy, the team will lose games. It's very rare and becoming increasingly rare that teams will post records of 15-1 like the 2001 Lakers did. The game evolves too much each year.

To sum it up it was basically an overreaction post. I get the playoffs are emotional, but you've got to keep things in prospective.

come on DEEP! this is not the gb. nobody expects any team to go 15-1, not even the Heat minions. but what you are telling us is that you saw heart in game 5 and 6 from Bynum and Gasol? perhaps you should have read the thread instead of just the tittle before you posted. you obviously waited until the lakers won and not until the thread reached 8 pages so you could post your opinion as proof of how wrong the thread tittle is.

[Stebo_SSK]

Ill play devil's advocate here. Honestly with the new CBA and being swept last year what did you guys expect? The CP3 trade was golden. Odom's play didnt prevent a sweep last year and all of a sudden he would help the Lakers win a title this year? Fisher is inept at this point especially when they were in dire need of someone to create shots and score off the dribble. Odom was basically traded for Sessions and Fisher for Hill. How does this not help? Odom did contribute to winning 2 rings but he was never so good that his presence was felt if he needed to be counted on. Hill has come and worked wonders. Sessions has done well also outside of defensive play but then again the PG is an offensive position. Fisher was giving us 0 against contending teams. Mike Brown isnt a bad coach. The Lakers are actually a better defensive team than last year and if you guys remember the team never even had a training camp. The season was makeshift the whole time. This team is still in the hunt to win the title with a brand new coach and same level of talent as last year and you guys are complaining? And lets not forget they almost had Michael Beasley. The main problem with LA is that they have no one that can space the floor and hit the open jumper. Beasley would have brought this, seeing that he is avg 40 percent from the arc. Even if they lose this year, just be patience and see what moves they make. Stop being such babies about changes. This love affair with Odom is sickening. So what if he won 6th man of the year, b/c he posted good numbers at times. When did he come up big in the playoffs last year? Not one time.

[milesfides]

Honestly, I'm sick of this talk about the CBA and the Lakers.

Yeah it heavily penalizes teams way over the cap like the Lakers. But we're the LAKERS. The team benefits from playing in a huge market and making a ton of money. They operate in a radically different financial scheme than other teams.

You really can't compare the Lakers to other teams in the league. There is no rule that the Laker owners should make X millions more than other owners.

Look at Mark Cuban. He's a businessman, really handicapped his own team, complaining about the CBA the entire time. It's true, the CBA was unfavorable financially, so he made some business decisions. But anybody care about the pity party? His team is gone.

I believe owners can have heart. I believe Jerry Buss had heart. He basically adopted Magic Johnson, he loved him so much, and let Magic be the loose cannon he is today. But the Lakers were everything to Jerry Buss; he became defined by his love for this team and this city.

But complaining about the CBA, cutting Odom for a trade exception, cutting Fisher for mostly financial reasons, that's a LOSER mentality.

I'm not saying the Lakers should operate without any sort of concern for fiscal strategy. But if they need to sacrifice profit margins in order to win championships, then hell yeah, they should do it. I don't want just businessmen running the Lakers (although that would be an overstatement for Jim Buss; not sure what his qualifications are for anything really). I want owners who love their team so much that they're willing to sacrifice for them. And the way an owner sacrifices is with his stacks of cash.

Just look at our country. Not all billionaires are created equal. Some bitch and fight every tax increase, because they believe it's their constitutional privilege to live like kings while they oppress and sell out their countrymen.

And some guys like Warren Buffet buy page-spread ads to publicly lobby for more taxes on the rich. Stephen King, no pauper himself, wrote a public letter to Obama asking for more taxes. Why? Because these guys see the big picture, and they have big hearts. They know that they have to sacrifice to keep this great thing going, and sacrifice isn't incompatible with success.

Parity is good for the league. Tax is good for the league. Nobody should be able to just buy a championship.

But bitching about taxes, pinching pennies here and there, firing hardworking, behind-the-scenes workers, cutting leaders who have been the brains, heart, and voice of the team, all these moves are indicative of a loser's mentality.

What's frustrating is that we are so close. We still have Kobe. We have 3 positions that boast top 5 in the league. We have some quality role players. The Lakers brass could have (should have) added some players. They could have (should have) traded some players. They could have done a lot more.

But instead, the new direction of the team has resulted in a terrible bench, some gaping holes in leadership, and lapses in professionalism.

I think we still have a shot to win a championship. But if they do, it'll be because the players, flawed as they are, would have been inspired to be greater than what they are.

We need some more miracles from guys like Steve Blake. More digging deep past his manicured curls from Pau Gasol. More unexpected growth and maturity from Bynum. More deliberate unselfishness and knee-grinding defense from Kobe. More controlled insanity from Metta World Artest. More guts and glory from Barnes and Sessions.

Because that's all we got to win this whole thing.

[Kdot]

Miles speaks the troof.

[microfib4thewin]

What does Odom have anything to do with Sessions? We got Sessions from a cost cutting move, so it would not be related to dumping Odom for a TPE which is also another cost cutting move. I would be pissed if we don't resign Sessions or Hill provided that they play well the rest of the way.

[Jajwanda]

Honestly, I'm sick of this talk about the CBA and the Lakers.

Yeah it heavily penalizes teams way over the cap like the Lakers. But we're the LAKERS. The team benefits from playing in a huge market and making a ton of money. They operate in a radically different financial scheme than other teams.

You really can't compare the Lakers to other teams in the league. There is no rule that the Laker owners should make X millions more than other owners.

Look at Mark Cuban. He's a businessman, really handicapped his own team, complaining about the CBA the entire time. It's true, the CBA was unfavorable financially, so he made some business decisions. But anybody care about the pity party? His team is gone.

I believe owners can have heart. I believe Jerry Buss had heart. He basically adopted Magic Johnson, he loved him so much, and let Magic be the loose cannon he is today. But the Lakers were everything to Jerry Buss; he became defined by his love for this team and this city.

But complaining about the CBA, cutting Odom for a trade exception, cutting Fisher for mostly financial reasons, that's a LOSER mentality.

I'm not saying the Lakers should operate without any sort of concern for fiscal strategy. But if they need to sacrifice profit margins in order to win championships, then hell yeah, they should do it. I don't want just businessmen running the Lakers (although that would be an overstatement for Jim Buss; not sure what his qualifications are for anything really). I want owners who love their team so much that they're willing to sacrifice for them. And the way an owner sacrifices is with his stacks of cash.

Just look at our country. Not all billionaires are created equal. Some bitch and fight every tax increase, because they believe it's their constitutional privilege to live like kings while they oppress and sell out their countrymen.

And some guys like Warren Buffet buy page-spread ads to publicly lobby for more taxes on the rich. Stephen King, no pauper himself, wrote a public letter to Obama asking for more taxes. Why? Because these guys see the big picture, and they have big hearts. They know that they have to sacrifice to keep this great thing going, and sacrifice isn't incompatible with success.

Parity is good for the league. Tax is good for the league. Nobody should be able to just buy a championship.

But bitching about taxes, pinching pennies here and there, firing hardworking, behind-the-scenes workers, cutting leaders who have been the brains, heart, and voice of the team, all these moves are indicative of a loser's mentality.

What's frustrating is that we are so close. We still have Kobe. We have 3 positions that boast top 5 in the league. We have some quality role players. The Lakers brass could have (should have) added some players. They could have (should have) traded some players. They could have done a lot more.

But instead, the new direction of the team has resulted in a terrible bench, some gaping holes in leadership, and lapses in professionalism.

I think we still have a shot to win a championship. But if they do, it'll be because the players, flawed as they are, would have been inspired to be greater than what they are.

We need some more miracles from guys like Steve Blake. More digging deep past his manicured curls from Pau Gasol. More unexpected growth and maturity from Bynum. More deliberate unselfishness and knee-grinding defense from Kobe. More controlled insanity from Metta World Artest. More guts and glory from Barnes and Sessions.

Because that's all we got to win this whole thing.

They're a change away. I can't put my finger on what change is yet, but it can be done. Perhaps it's trading Pau for the right players to open up that paint. Derrick Williams? That would be nice.

[milesfides]

I think they're more than a change away. Imho.

[kobeaki]

lol, this thread is foolish, we lose 2 games and its like the world is burning, crashing down. nothing is wrong with the organization, Jerry Buss still makes the final decisions, of course Jim Buss is getting some power, hes going to be running the franchise when Jerry is gone. and its pretty well documented that Jim, Mitch and Jerry make decisions together as a whole, with Jerry having the final say. you have absolutely nothing to back up your claims.

naw,,,,nothing at all....just all the living legends NOT affiliated with the team whatsoever, something that jerry in his active years always was careful to maintain...

look, i saw the same signs when peter o'malley took iver the dodgers...and there was 10 years of greatness and 20 years of mediocrity

and having lived through that, i am seeing the same signs and symptoms here, in this family dynamic...

you , sir, cannot prove yr point either...

What? Its been well documented in interviews conducted with Mitch and Jim Buss that they always makes decisions together, sometimes they agree sometimes they don't. Then they go to the boss Jerry and he always makes the final decision. And Kobe has had dinner with Jim, he said so in an interview. lol so don't tell me I don't have any proof when in fact you can't back any of your points with credible sources.

once again, i saw the same signs with the dodgers...walter o'malley was the gold standard of the mlb, american sports...the son was a pussy...the org floundered...

why dont you try disputing why weve let our brain trust walk away to competitors? why isnt the boyfriend of the daughter of the owner, a guy you may have heard of, phil jackson, winningest lakers coach ever, not part of the basketball family, since he is part of the actual family?

why is fish let go? for a few million bucks(peanuts in the grand scheme)?

and why am i arguing with carmelos wife?

[Jajwanda]

I think they're more than a change away. Imho.

What do you think of Hill-Bynum?

[kobeaki]

Also, lala... Buss, the old man has stated that Kobe alone makes 50-80 million a year in profits... And the new time Warner deal? 200 million a year just from tv, all into lakers coffers ... Now why do this deal, axe kcal in the process(35 years) if yr not putting that money into the team?

Maybe he will... But why fire the scouting/ operations/ EQUIPMENT MANAGER!!!!????

Simple... It's a coup, and he is getting rid of all of his dads loyal soldiers, because he is going to change the org top to bottom to his way of things... Except, he didn't earn a doctorate in chemistry like the old man, hasn't earned anything, for that matter... Except a old mans sympathy and empathy for his fledgling 40 something year old son...

If what I'm saying isn't true, why do all things he has done over the last few years?

And Kobe having dinner with guy proves what? My story? Or yours? Think about.. And pray miles and I are dead wrong...