Trust In Magic. Believe in Pelinka. Stand up for the new regime.

[Mirjalovic]

As bad as I thought the Russell trade was, my frustration is more with the vision going forward. Its the same nonsense that Jim/Mitch peddled. Maintain cap flexibility, wait for a top 10 player to fall in our lap. That's not a plan, that's a fantasy. I'm trying not to be Eeyore, but if they don't land two top free agents in 2018, its going to be hard not becoming a bitter fan.

I get this but our drafted youth was no where near what OKC's was several years ago. Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden. They didn't get a chip out of that group. We don't have the leader you need to drive a team to the ultimate success. What we have is a lot of potential and some very lofty if not unrealistic expectations.

The comparison is always GSW yet that team is a rarity not a norm. Their first championship had some fortunate injuries to their opponents. They didn't win the second year. They added the second best player in the game to that team by managing their cap.

Our previous "eras" are all combinations of home grown and acquired star players (trades or FA).

Don't get me wrong, I'm skeptical of the "Plan" too but I was even more skeptical of re-signing our youth one by one in the hopes that everyone one of them fulfilled the sometimes crazy projections surrounding them. At some point you have to have "now" players to make a jump that will attract more "now" players. If we can get just one more top 10 player I think we can be a place to come for FA's

The one think Magic can do to hinder this is by flapping his gums about "face of the franchise" and "no leader" etc. He did this in the 90's (without the power of Twitter) and it took a progressing team and and fractured it. I'm not sure he's done Ball any favors with his comments about Kidd and himself being comparisons and then the "face of the franchise" comment was even worse.

he can take it. Lonzo is that good

[Landsberger]

Lets say I concede your point on the young guns. There are better ways to get "now" players, then using your young players in a straight salary dump, for cap space they're not even planning to use until next year. What's more, they're talking like they have no backup plan if they don't get their second magical FA. If Cousins, Westbrook, and Lebron all spurn you, then what?

I'm skeptical as well. It's a plan we've seen before. The faces have changed and lets hope the results do as well.

As for trading Russell. We may have differing views on him but neither of ours matter. What looks like a "dump" I'm sure was worked on for a long time and with due diligence. Russell being included and Magic's comment tell me that they didn't think he was going to develop into a leader and may not have the ability mentally to coexist with Ball becoming the "face of the franchise". Top that off with some strange knee issues for a 20 year old and they pulled the trigger earlier rather than risk the potential fall out. To just call this a dump with no return fails to understand that Russell was most likely offered to a lot of teams for various returns and this was the best that they could get while reducing our cap commitments.

[Landsberger]

As bad as I thought the Russell trade was, my frustration is more with the vision going forward. Its the same nonsense that Jim/Mitch peddled. Maintain cap flexibility, wait for a top 10 player to fall in our lap. That's not a plan, that's a fantasy. I'm trying not to be Eeyore, but if they don't land two top free agents in 2018, its going to be hard not becoming a bitter fan.

I get this but our drafted youth was no where near what OKC's was several years ago. Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden. They didn't get a chip out of that group. We don't have the leader you need to drive a team to the ultimate success. What we have is a lot of potential and some very lofty if not unrealistic expectations.

The comparison is always GSW yet that team is a rarity not a norm. Their first championship had some fortunate injuries to their opponents. They didn't win the second year. They added the second best player in the game to that team by managing their cap.

Our previous "eras" are all combinations of home grown and acquired star players (trades or FA).

Don't get me wrong, I'm skeptical of the "Plan" too but I was even more skeptical of re-signing our youth one by one in the hopes that everyone one of them fulfilled the sometimes crazy projections surrounding them. At some point you have to have "now" players to make a jump that will attract more "now" players. If we can get just one more top 10 player I think we can be a place to come for FA's

The one think Magic can do to hinder this is by flapping his gums about "face of the franchise" and "no leader" etc. He did this in the 90's (without the power of Twitter) and it took a progressing team and and fractured it. I'm not sure he's done Ball any favors with his comments about Kidd and himself being comparisons and then the "face of the franchise" comment was even worse.

he can take it. Lonzo is that good

I'm not sure you can be that sure of it. The pressure of being the next face of this franchise is huge.

Even if he can.... what does his less than quiet dad do the first critical tweet from Magic? That aspect of this has the potential to be a huge mess. Ingram stars the year off not shooting well. Daddy starts tweeting that his kids assist numbers are down because no one can shoot. This is real with this guy IMHO.

All that said, Ball, so far, shows maturity beyond our current and past young core. That much is sure.

[Pythagoras]

Lets say I concede your point on the young guns. There are better ways to get "now" players, then using your young players in a straight salary dump, for cap space they're not even planning to use until next year. What's more, they're talking like they have no backup plan if they don't get their second magical FA. If Cousins, Westbrook, and Lebron all spurn you, then what?

I'm skeptical as well. It's a plan we've seen before. The faces have changed and lets hope the results do as well.

As for trading Russell. We may have differing views on him but neither of ours matter. What looks like a "dump" I'm sure was worked on for a long time and with due diligence. Russell being included and Magic's comment tell me that they didn't think he was going to develop into a leader and may not have the ability mentally to coexist with Ball becoming the "face of the franchise". Top that off with some strange knee issues for a 20 year old and they pulled the trigger earlier rather than risk the potential fall out. To just call this a dump with no return fails to understand that Russell was most likely offered to a lot of teams for various returns and this was the best that they could get while reducing our cap commitments.

Ok, our differing views on him don't necessarily matter. Fair. A few things though. For one, I don't really care to sidetrack the conversation about his knee issues. You and I have already been down that road and I don't really want to get into it. For another, I have every reason to doubt Magic doing his due diligence. He has no track record as a GM. He has no track record as a talent evaluator. He didn't believe in Russell. Fine. Fair. He still made this deal when there was absolutely no pressure to make one now.

As for the salary dump thing, you're not actually arguing this wasn't a salary dump, because it absolutely was, and has been presented as such. You're arguing this was the best possible return. Sorry, I don't buy it. I do think it's interesting that they rejected Jerry West's offer to come back and help them, as I wonder what he would advised? We'll never know, but either way Magic has chosen his path, and we'll find out if he's proven right.

[Landsberger]

Lets say I concede your point on the young guns. There are better ways to get "now" players, then using your young players in a straight salary dump, for cap space they're not even planning to use until next year. What's more, they're talking like they have no backup plan if they don't get their second magical FA. If Cousins, Westbrook, and Lebron all spurn you, then what?

I'm skeptical as well. It's a plan we've seen before. The faces have changed and lets hope the results do as well.

As for trading Russell. We may have differing views on him but neither of ours matter. What looks like a "dump" I'm sure was worked on for a long time and with due diligence. Russell being included and Magic's comment tell me that they didn't think he was going to develop into a leader and may not have the ability mentally to coexist with Ball becoming the "face of the franchise". Top that off with some strange knee issues for a 20 year old and they pulled the trigger earlier rather than risk the potential fall out. To just call this a dump with no return fails to understand that Russell was most likely offered to a lot of teams for various returns and this was the best that they could get while reducing our cap commitments.

Ok, our differing views on him don't necessarily matter. Fair. A few things though. For one, I don't really care to sidetrack the conversation about his knee issues. You and I have already been down that road and I don't really want to get into it. For another, I have every reason to doubt Magic doing his due diligence. He has no track record as a GM. He has no track record as a talent evaluator. He didn't believe in Russell. Fine. Fair. He still made this deal when there was absolutely no pressure to make one now.

As for the salary dump thing, you're not actually arguing this wasn't a salary dump, because it absolutely was, and has been presented as such. You're arguing this was the best possible return. Sorry, I don't buy it. I do think it's interesting that they rejected Jerry West's offer to come back and help them, as I wonder what he would advised? We'll never know, but either way Magic has chosen his path, and we'll find out if he's proven right.

You misunderstood. I think Russell has been offered to everyone and the best opportunity was as part of a salary dump. This is the return we got. I think he was getting moved no matter what (I think Randle will be moved as well). I'm sure that if someone really thought he was a future franchise player we would have gotten a better deal. Another take could be that we needed a strangling salary gone and we wanted to move Russell for reasons stated.

I'm one of the ones that was offering alternative opinions on Magic from the beginning. There is a very limited track record of success for great players making great talent evaluators. His ego has been present since his second year in the league and he's been openly critical of the Lakers players and front office for over 2 decades. Evaluating our talent isn't just Magic however. I'm sure Luke and the rest of the coaching staff was heavily consulted in the decision to trade Russell.

As for there being no pressure to make the deal now.... If Magic and/or the staff didn't believe in Russell then maybe getting rid of him was the reason to make the deal in his mind. It clears the way for Ball without distractions.

[Spanish_Laker]

I'll trust them when they improve this team, not getting it worse.

[myersia]

I get this but our drafted youth was no where near what OKC's was several years ago. Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden. They didn't get a chip out of that group. We don't have the leader you need to drive a team to the ultimate success. What we have is a lot of potential and some very lofty if not unrealistic expectations.

The comparison is always GSW yet that team is a rarity not a norm. Their first championship had some fortunate injuries to their opponents. They didn't win the second year. They added the second best player in the game to that team by managing their cap.

Our previous "eras" are all combinations of home grown and acquired star players (trades or FA).

Don't get me wrong, I'm skeptical of the "Plan" too but I was even more skeptical of re-signing our youth one by one in the hopes that everyone one of them fulfilled the sometimes crazy projections surrounding them. At some point you have to have "now" players to make a jump that will attract more "now" players. If we can get just one more top 10 player I think we can be a place to come for FA's

Lets say I concede your point on the young guns. There are better ways to get "now" players, then using your young players in a straight salary dump, for cap space they're not even planning to use until next year. What's more, they're talking like they have no backup plan if they don't get their second magical FA. If Cousins, Westbrook, and Lebron all spurn you, then what?

The one think Magic can do to hinder this is by flapping his gums about "face of the franchise" and "no leader" etc. He did this in the 90's (without the power of Twitter) and it took a progressing team and and fractured it. I'm not sure he's done Ball any favors with his comments about Kidd and himself being comparisons and then the "face of the franchise" comment was even worse.

Agreed here, we'll see how this plays out. If the Lakers don't land PG, he's definitely putting a lot of pressure on Ingram and Ball to keep things afloat.

Drafting Lonzo and keeping Ingram is enough for me to be pleased. Lonzo is that special.

[MAMBAEMD]

I like the direction so far.
They've so far traded 2 shoot first guards (Williams and DLo) and gotten rid of a giant restrictive contract (Mozgov)
They've drafted a very talented pass first play maker (Ball) and some fundamentally sounds players (Hart et al)
They pursued PG, and we may still get him, either this year or next.
And they've made in known that we will hold onto Ingram, who is our most valuable asset.
The team will look drastically different next year and the year after .
Which is a good thing.

[Mirjalovic]

I get this but our drafted youth was no where near what OKC's was several years ago. Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden. They didn't get a chip out of that group. We don't have the leader you need to drive a team to the ultimate success. What we have is a lot of potential and some very lofty if not unrealistic expectations.

The comparison is always GSW yet that team is a rarity not a norm. Their first championship had some fortunate injuries to their opponents. They didn't win the second year. They added the second best player in the game to that team by managing their cap.

Our previous "eras" are all combinations of home grown and acquired star players (trades or FA).

Don't get me wrong, I'm skeptical of the "Plan" too but I was even more skeptical of re-signing our youth one by one in the hopes that everyone one of them fulfilled the sometimes crazy projections surrounding them. At some point you have to have "now" players to make a jump that will attract more "now" players. If we can get just one more top 10 player I think we can be a place to come for FA's

The one think Magic can do to hinder this is by flapping his gums about "face of the franchise" and "no leader" etc. He did this in the 90's (without the power of Twitter) and it took a progressing team and and fractured it. I'm not sure he's done Ball any favors with his comments about Kidd and himself being comparisons and then the "face of the franchise" comment was even worse.

he can take it. Lonzo is that good

I'm not sure you can be that sure of it. The pressure of being the next face of this franchise is huge.

Even if he can.... what does his less than quiet dad do the first critical tweet from Magic? That aspect of this has the potential to be a huge mess. Ingram stars the year off not shooting well. Daddy starts tweeting that his kids assist numbers are down because no one can shoot. This is real with this guy IMHO.

All that said, Ball, so far, shows maturity beyond our current and past young core. That much is sure.

because of this

All that said, Ball, so far, shows maturity beyond our current and past young core. That much is sure

he can keep straight face vs his teammates in UCLA even when his father gone wild few months ago, and none bad things come out from his teammates. He has unflappable character and in his heart there is fire burning. He can always take it because he was born for that.

[Texas_Lakers]

The Lakers with Mitch and Jim were ranked 26th-28th worst front offices in the NBA for several years in row. I'm willing to bet that Magic and Rob will have the Lakers rating at top 10 in the league in a few short years. They have a vision for this team and so far, have started out with a bang.

[truehype]

As bad as I thought the Russell trade was, my frustration is more with the vision going forward. Its the same nonsense that Jim/Mitch peddled. Maintain cap flexibility, wait for a top 10 player to fall in our lap. That's not a plan, that's a fantasy. I'm trying not to be Eeyore, but if they don't land two top free agents in 2018, its going to be hard not becoming a bitter fan.

100 percent this. I was excited and had much more optimism before the trade was announced. Even with Jim Buss influencing Mitch he never made a move that had me going wtffff like this one.

[gts1]

As bad as I thought the Russell trade was, my frustration is more with the vision going forward. Its the same nonsense that Jim/Mitch peddled. Maintain cap flexibility, wait for a top 10 player to fall in our lap. That's not a plan, that's a fantasy. I'm trying not to be Eeyore, but if they don't land two top free agents in 2018, its going to be hard not becoming a bitter fan.

I get this but our drafted youth was no where near what OKC's was several years ago. Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka and Harden. They didn't get a chip out of that group.

That's because it was dismantled just as it was hitting stride, not a good comparison.. if they had kept them together they would have become a juggernaut... the flip side is what GSWs did in letting their youth mature over a few seasons while adding a few vets in support roles then landing the big fish... now they have a team that will contend for years

sonner or later you stop tearing a team down and rebuilding it and let the team start maturing... I honestly think at this time this (lakers) team has taken a step back from where they were last summer...

[XXBKXX]

Maybe Russell is current generation Van Exel/Eddie Jones or Lakers version of Monta Ellis.

At some point we need to sacrifice for going to next level

We're not even at the Van Excel/Eddie stage yet.. if we are playing the lakers comparison game... dlo was like our sedale threat when he had Perkins and Elden Campbell as running mates..


Sent from my XT1650 using RealGM mobile app

[Michael Lucky]

The Lakers with Mitch and Jim were ranked 26th-28th worst front offices in the NBA for several years in row. I'm willing to bet that Magic and Rob will have the Lakers rating at top 10 in the league in a few short years. They have a vision for this team and so far, have started out with a bang.

Ranked by media members which is utterly worthless. Mitch and Jim didn't make themselves available, Magic and Pelinka do.

For example, Stephen A never could get over the fact that Jim would not meet and do an interview with him. After that it was nothing but a never ending agenda to demean the owner publicly at every turn.

[danfantastk32]

Ranked by media members which is utterly worthless. Mitch and Jim didn't make themselves available, Magic and Pelinka do. For example, Stephen A never could get over the fact that Jim would not meet and do an interview with him. After that it was nothing but a never ending agenda to demean the owner publicly at every turn.

Our record the last 4-5 years doesn't play a role? The revolving coaching door....the mega-infighting we found out about later....the fact that Jim Mitch were at strike 15 with landing an allstar.

Guys like Pau walking for half the $$....Dwight leaving $$ to get out...horrible Nash deal....the Kobe extension...the fact that it wasn't until about the 4th year that they finally committed to truly rebuilding (even that has questions). Horrible pitches to Aldridge that were just repeats of the same failed attempt at Carmello (btw offering the max to carmello makes you a junk GM, right there...in my book. Nothing else needs to be said) and on and on. All culminating with 3 of the 4 worst seasons in franchise history.

None of that eh? Just butt-hurt media lobbing grenades?

[Texas_Lakers]

Ranked by media members which is utterly worthless. Mitch and Jim didn't make themselves available, Magic and Pelinka do. For example, Stephen A never could get over the fact that Jim would not meet and do an interview with him. After that it was nothing but a never ending agenda to demean the owner publicly at every turn.

Our record the last 4-5 years doesn't play a role? The revolving coaching door....the mega-infighting we found out about later....the fact that Jim Mitch were at strike 15 with landing an allstar.

Guys like Pau walking for half the $$....Dwight leaving $$ to get out...horrible Nash deal....the Kobe extension...the fact that it wasn't until about the 4th year that they finally committed to truly rebuilding (even that has questions). Horrible pitches to Aldridge that were just repeats of the same failed attempt at Carmello (btw offering the max to carmello makes you a junk GM, right there...in my book. Nothing else needs to be said) and on and on. All culminating with 3 of the 4 worst seasons in franchise history.

None of that eh? Just butt-hurt media lobbing grenades?

Yep, the FO ranking was justified in all fronts media/fans. And quite embarrassing if you really think about it.

[macNcheese3]

Magic and Pelinka have done a nice job so far- its only going to get better, IMO.

[Spanish_Laker]

Time will tell, but this team is not better than 16-17 squad.

[kobe808lak]

Let's see who they sign for this season before thinking about 2018. They need to fill out this roster with some guards.

[Danny Darko]

Time will tell, but this team is not better than 16-17 squad.

you keep saying that without calling out specifics unless I missed it in another thread.

So I'm guessing the basis is DLo, Lou, Moz and Swaggy > Lopez, Ball, Brewer, Hart, Kuzma

My problem with that is Lopez being the only allstar there, Ball (might be a sloppy rookie, or might be better than DLO's middling shooting, terrible ass D, and underwhelming ability to pass in the Pick N Roll). Also last we tanked (won't happen this year.. no pick), we sat Deng, and we closed strong with Brewer and Nwaba playing D and Ingram actually starting to look efficient and aggressive.

I think this years lineup is better if we get post all-star Ingram and Ball is decent rookie. Zu should be better, as well as Ingram, Randle, and Nance. Deng will more rested than he's ever been since entering the league, and Lopez is being underestimated because he's s rental.