RealGM

If you had to pinpoint a point where a back to back champion that still had title pedigree started the descent, which would it be?

Would it be not making the Bynum for Melo trade in 2010-11? The vetoed Paul trade? Dwight leaving? Which would you say it is?

Although the descent started in the final year of Phil Jackson, the most dramatic drop off in "pedigree" occurred the moment they headscrathingly hired Mike Brown.

From that point on, the Laker brand has been in dramatic decline IMO.

The passing of Jerry Buss.

Dr Aki wrote:

Spoiler:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKiQsg-8nEM[/youtube]

this.

Kobe was still top 3 player in the NBA (top 5 at worst) and the Lakers was in momentum.. all the momentum they built gone with that injury..

when sasha left

In order:

The decline of Kobe
The new cba
The death of dr buss

That all those 3 happened at the same time is quite a mountain to climb. If the lakers are able to somehow contend with the next 5 years it'll be a monumental accomplishment and one that shouldn't go unappreciated.

Decline of Kobe
Basketball reasons
New CBA
Death Of Dr Buss...

But the single biggest factor in my mind is Basketball Reasons... That doesn't happen, I don't think Kobe declines as fast... Basically, I think that murdered our franchise.

When the Lakers let go of Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza. Those are the 2 glaring mistakes Mitch made. They should have overpaid Ariza and shouldn't have done Odom dirty. Lamar and Pau's chemistry on court was insanely good, and Ariza was a young, up and coming, rock solid 3 and D player, who fit seamlessly into the triangle offense. That whole time we had 1 big weakness, and that was the PG spot. The lakers probably should have paid Rondo and they wouldn't have missed a beat.

The 2nd decline was when the league vetoed the CP3 trade. That set us back a lot.

We did Lamar and Pau 'dirty' because we thought we were going to replace them with Prime CP3 and Howard... I promise you, nobody would even remember Lamar and Pau if that had happened according to plan.

Am I missing something or is this only Kobe's second year in sharp decline?

Before that, in one and a half years with Brown and D'Antoni, Kobe was Kobe, right?

The Lakers began their descent well before Kobe began his decline.

This problem is more than just two years in the making.

Hiring Mike Brown is when many of us, consciously or subconsciously, began to scratch our heads regarding this organization. It's here where they truly began bumbling.

ALL HAIL wrote:Hiring Mike Brown is when many of us, consciously or subconsciously, began to scratch our heads regarding this organization. It's here where they truly began bumbling.

I think whenever the descent started, it was made permanent when they replaced Brown with D'Antoni. They had a chance to right the ship and at least point it back in the right direction, instead the D'Antoni thing blew up in their faces harder than I personally could have imagined.

For an organization that spent all summer trying to gain PR, they have fallen further into the gutter with every single day thanks to Scott's one man crusade against logic and reason.

Dr. Buss passing was definitely the tipping point for this team, in my opinion. Dr. Buss was the magician behind the success. He had that mystique and charisma about him that attract talented people, players, coaches or front office folks to work for him. When he passed, all of that Laker allure went out the window. Jim was and still is viewed by most people in the NBA as a joke of an owner. Nobody wants to play or work for an owner like that, because it is easy to replace coaches, executives and players, but it's almost impossible to replace owners.

D'Antoni over Phil Jackson.

TyCobb wrote:D'Antoni over Phil Jackson.

Its kind of funny now reading other forums, twitter etc and the same people who couldn't stand D'Antoni now suggesting how good a fit he could be to develop Russell and Clarkson.

Slava wrote:

TyCobb wrote:D'Antoni over Phil Jackson.

Its kind of funny now reading other forums, twitter etc and the same people who couldn't stand D'Antoni now suggesting how good a fit he could be to develop Russell and Clarkson.

And Kelly'd be the backup center.

ALL HAIL wrote:

Slava wrote:

TyCobb wrote:D'Antoni over Phil Jackson.

Its kind of funny now reading other forums, twitter etc and the same people who couldn't stand D'Antoni now suggesting how good a fit he could be to develop Russell and Clarkson.

And Kelly'd be the backup center.

he never did that and utilized Kelly perfectly. Infact this was his most used line up for the season: Marshall-Meeks-Johnson-Kelly-Gasol

http://www.82games.com/1314/1314LAL2.HTM

Slava wrote:

TyCobb wrote:D'Antoni over Phil Jackson.

Its kind of funny now reading other forums, twitter etc and the same people who couldn't stand D'Antoni now suggesting how good a fit he could be to develop Russell and Clarkson.

That ain't me. But I could see their point now with the makeup of the current roster.

I do not want to go back down that route again though.