madmaxmedia wrote:Kilroy wrote:I'm not saying our FO is perfect... In fact it seems pretty dysfunctional to me... But I think the negative effect of this dysfunction on the product on the court is either completely fabricated, or vastly over-blown.
That's the perspective I have of our record... We have a talent-vacuum created by Kobe deteriorating and retiring...
Nothing's changed... It's all largely to be expected.
The talent vacuum was not created only by Kobe deteriorating and retiring, not by a long shot.
-Trading for Dwight Howard, and mismanaging his time here.
-Trading for Steve Nash (and totally overpaying)
-The fallout with Pau Gasol which led to his departure
-A treadmill of head coaches
-Subpar free agent pitches (perhaps not fact, but pretty widely reported)
-Wasting a year on Kobe farewell tour- 35.8% FG% on 17 shots a game (this one is arguable but I thought it was mishandled)
-A significant risk of losing 2 of the next 3 1st round picks due to the first 2 moves above
Even if you can argue that each move was reasonable at the time, it's still a lot of bad outcomes- the kind that generally catalyze FO changes in other organizations (at least those who are doing everything they can to win.)
You say the talent vacuum didn't relate to Kobe deteriorating and retiring, and yet almost everything on your list directly relates to Kobe...
-Howard couldn't get along with Kobe... Didn't like playing second fiddle to one-legged, inefficient Kobe... But then again he hasn't really seemed happy before or since either.
-The fallout with Pau started as a fallout between him and Kobe, which eventually deteriorated to the point he was unreliable on the court and became part of a trade for Dwight and CP3 that didn't happen.. Honestly I didn't see a big difference in Pau pre failed trade vs after, other than when Kobe got injured and he got to play by himself... He looked great then.
-Trading for Nash was a reaction to the failed CP3 trade and an attempt to have Kobe, Nash, Howard while still keeping Pau... On paper, that's a gamble you have to take every time. Sure you give up prospects, but at the end of the day, are we really worse off as a result?
-It relates to 'wasting Kobe's final years' because Nash was apparently one of the few star players that wanted to play with Kobe. So the trade was also an attempt to maximize Kobe's final years, rather than waste them... Him breaking his leg was a freak think I'm not sure you can plan for.
-So risking the picks also directly relates to Kobe.
-Treadmill coaches... Kobe essentially ran Mike Brown out of town... MDA was an attempt to maximize Nash, to ease Kobe's burden... Scott was a coach Kobe respected and would accept for his victory tour and one the fans would accept and make loosing copious games in order to get a high pick, more palatable. Walton was the best available coach to replace Scott and start focusing on winning.
-Subpar FA pitches started because supposedly nobody wanted to play with Kobe... After that, it was because we had nothing really to offer but TV money.
So basically, all related to Kobe...