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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26335718/how-lakers-wasted-year-1-lebron

Just an absolutely fantastic break down of this year by Dave. Filled with all kinds of absolute nonsense. Here's some highlights (or lowlights, if you want to call them that).

George never gave the Lakers an opportunity to take their shot. But he had a wealth of information available to him about the inner workings of the Lakers without ever hearing a word from Magic Johnson. For example, George played in Oklahoma City with Corey Brewer in the second half of the 2017-18 season, after Brewer was waived by L.A. in February. Brewer divulged his Lakers experience to George, sources said.

The following season, Randle -- Mintz's other client on the Lakers -- saw his role fluctuate, bouncing from starter to bench player, from playing big minutes to a much more limited role.

Only after pressure from fans and media mounted did the team stabilize Randle's role.

At least that's how it was perceived, stirring questions of just how strong the organization's backbone was if it could succumb to public scrutiny.

Four months later, when the Lakers' pursuit of James to fill the same forward slot Randle occupied had become widely known, the former Kentucky product again became an afterthought.

Even though the Lakers controlled Randle's rights as a restricted free agent, L.A. never made an offer to him, sources told ESPN. This despite coach Luke Walton and his staff's preference to keep Randle, as earlier reported by The Athletic and confirmed by ESPN.

Mintz eventually asked the Lakers to renounce Randle's rights and navigated his client to the New Orleans Pelicans, where he signed a two-year, $18 million contract with a player option on the second year. Randle was won over, sources said, by the fact that the Pelicans really wanted him -- which wasn't the feeling he got from the Lakers.

When Zubac finally got meaningful minutes, he averaged 17.7 points and 8.7 rebounds, including an 18-point, 11-board effort on Christmas Day.

Zubac -- drafted as a raw 7-1, 240-pound center in the second round in 2016 -- had turned himself into a viable prospect under Walton.

And then, at the trade deadline, that prospect was gone. The Lakers sent Zubac and Beasley to the L.A. Clippers for Mike Muscala, primarily to clear a roster spot for a potential playoff push.

The Lakers had visions of signing a shooter such as Wayne Ellington, or another big man such as DeAndre Jordan or Enes Kanter, or possibly even signing Carmelo Anthony.

None of those things happened.

Giving up Zubac to add an impactful player to the roster would have been a necessary cost. Trading a promising player to free Beasley's spot -- who the Lakers could've simply cut -- for Muscala, who shot 20.8 percent from 3 in his first 11 games with L.A., was a self-inflicted wound.

Shortly after the trade deadline, Clippers consultant Jerry West -- who spent more than 40 years with the Lakers as a player, coach and executive -- got together for dinner with old friends who also had former Laker ties, sources said. He couldn't believe how Zubac fell into his lap. The Clippers, sources said, never even called the Lakers to inquire about Zubac. The Lakers made the offer and the Clippers gladly accepted.

Sources said those at the dinner table shared a hearty laugh at the Lakers' expense.

For the first time in years, James wasn't surrounded by elite-level shooters. And for the first time in years, his team wasn't going to be playing in the postseason.

What did James think of the Lakers' grand experiment? How did he view the idea of prioritizing playmaking over shooting.

"That experiment?" James said of the roster construction for his first season in L.A.

James stared out onto the court for a moment, turned his attention back to the conversation, pursed his lips and stuck out his tongue as he trumpeted air out of his mouth, making a raspberry sound.

"THBPBPTHPT!"

Anyone think that this is other teams trying to leak any story they can because they fear the lakers can sign a star and get a star via trade? I’m not saying that our organization is the best but all these leaks at once show me that the rest of the league is likely freaked out by what we could do this offseason. We already knew we were the most hated team in the league. This just confirms it. Don’t fall for the sexy stories that will leak for the next four months. Trust me I read them too. Let’s see what happens in the summer before we give any of the media credibility. I know Dave is a good guy and a Laker guy. But still I wouldn’t put it past him for this leak to happen because ESPN needs a story


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If there’s any silver lining to this depressingly dissapointing season, it’s that a spotlight is being shone on our FO’s woeful decisions. Maginka needs to begin this offseason by looking in the mirror and assessing their decision making process before they try to address anything else on this team. We’re not going to fix anything until that happens.

myersia wrote:Anyone think that this is other teams trying to leak any story they can because they fear the lakers can sign a star and get a star via trade? I’m not saying that our organization is the best but all these leaks at once show me that the rest of the league is likely freaked out by what we could do this offseason. We already knew we were the most hated team in the league. This just confirms it. Don’t fall for the sexy stories that will leak for the next four months. Trust me I read them too. Let’s see what happens in the summer before we give any of the media credibility. I know Dave is a good guy and a Laker guy. But still I wouldn’t put it past him for this leak to happen because ESPN needs a story


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If Magic were to be fired tomorrow (I know he won’t but let’s just say he were in this hypothetical), but he wanted to try again in his same role on another team, do you think anyone would want to hire him?

You can tell the difference between a negative take that’s hating vs a genuine negative take pretty easy. When the GB talks about how much our young core sucks, then turns right around and talks about how we should trade them for peanuts to one of their teams, that tells you they’re just talking out of their butts. By contrast, nobody would legitimately want Magic making roster decisions for their org, and it’s becuase we have a pretty bad FO right now.

Jeanie Buss isn’t the answer. Isn’t there another Buss sibling with more common sense than Jeanie or Jim?

And...

"THBPBPTHPT!"

What exactly does this sound like?

Revived wrote:Jeanie Buss isn’t the answer. Isn’t there another Buss sibling with more common sense than Jeanie or Jim?

And...

"THBPBPTHPT!"

What exactly does this sound like?

I also wondered this.

I've said it out loud about 10 times and it hasn't made sense.

I dont buy the info on the PG part. I actually know westbrook. It was his Very strong connection with PG, convincing him to stay. PGs relationship with westbrook, not a relationship or info given to him by corey brewer

My takeaways.

Giving up on Russell -- a pace-and-space guard suited for the modern NBA -- after just two seasons was a risk, but L.A. got back a former All-Star in Lopez and a pick that turned into Kyle Kuzma. Plus, L.A. got out from under Mozgov's monstrosity of a deal.

But rather than leave well enough alone, Johnson couldn't help but take a swipe at Russell on the guard's way out the door.

"He has the talent to be an All-Star. We want to thank him for what he did for us. But what I needed was a leader," Johnson said days after the trade in June 2017. "I needed somebody also that can make the other players better and also [somebody] that players want to play with.

Magic has a big mouth. It resulted to alienating Mintz, the agent of DRuss, Randle and PG who probably influenced Julius and George to stay away from the Lakers.

The following season, Randle -- Mintz's other client on the Lakers -- saw his role fluctuate, bouncing from starter to bench player, from playing big minutes to a much more limited role

.
This is on Luke, probably one of his few mistakes, mishandling Randle.

Only after pressure from fans and media mounted did the team stabilize Randle's role.

At least that's how it was perceived, stirring questions of just how strong the organization's backbone was if it could succumb to public scrutiny.

Four months later, when the Lakers' pursuit of James to fill the same forward slot Randle occupied had become widely known, the former Kentucky product again became an afterthought.

Even though the Lakers controlled Randle's rights as a restricted free agent, L.A. never made an offer to him, sources told ESPN. This despite coach Luke Walton and his staff's preference to keep Randle, as earlier reported by The Athletic and confirmed by ESPN.

I don't believe that media and fans would have that influence on the team's decision on the players role and minutes played.
D'Russ was also yanked out of the floor by both Byron Scott and Luke bec of bad defense.
Also, Magic CHOSE to extend a Qualifying Offer on Randle so how can Dave say they NEVER MADE AN OFFER TO HIM.

This after the Lakers agreed to a one-year, $12 million deal to re-sign Caldwell-Pope. Any offer to Randle that was below what Caldwell-Pope received was untenable, considering Randle was more productive the previous season. Especially so with Randle playing in all 82 games and Caldwell-Pope available for just 74 because of legal issues.

KCP got more money per year because he was a RENTAL= off the books this summer. Why do you think Reddick gets 24 mil/year?
You have to pay them more to sign a ONE YEAR DEAL. KCP was a disppointment this year but he did have a very solid 50 games with the Lakers 2 yrs ago, finishing with 14 pts, 5 rebs and 38% from the 3pt area.
Randle wanted MULTIPLE YEARS.

July 8, 2018: Lopez leaves the Lakers and signs a one-year, $3.3 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks. He later tells The Lowe Post Podcast he was "a little surprised" the Lakers didn't work harder to keep him because he "would have wanted to play there."

this was a GLARING mistake of Magic. Brook also had a very solid 2nd half of the season and was top 5 in advanced stats in contesting shots esp when he wasted that precious $ on lance and Beasley. What made it worst was they didn't have a back up center until the old Chandler got bought out.

And after a 2-5 start, Johnson called Walton into a meeting, expressing disappointment and demanding better results from his coach.

Johnson's preseason talk preaching patience to the fan base was just that: talk. The marching orders changed before L.A. had played a tenth of the season.

The most ironic part about this is Magic was such a failure as a coach and actually got rewarded for it by getting a % of ownership.

March 28, 2019: Brook Lopez goes 2-for-5 from 3, bringing his season total to 181 made 3-pointers. Caldwell-Pope leads the Lakers with the most made 3-pointers in the 2018-19 season with 127 made.

Well, Dave, It's great to use hindsight to make his point.
Brook shot 34.5% while KCP shot 38% from the 3pt area 2 years ago.
In fairness, Josh Hart also shot a remarkable 40% Kuzma shot 36.6, Ingram albeit didn't shoot much shot 39% 2 years ago. Who would have expected that ALL of them would struggle shooting this year.

L

This guy works for Lebron right?

LAKESHOW wrote:I dont buy the info on the PG part. I actually know westbrook. It was his Very strong connection with PG, convincing him to stay. PGs relationship with westbrook, not a relationship or info given to him by corey brewer

If the bolded is true then you would also know that he’s a completely arrogant piece of work that cares about nobody but himself. Stats are more important to him than team success and he’s proven that at every level of basketball whether it’s high school, college or the pros.

PG stayed in OKC more so because of the $$$ than Westbrook (Thunder offered him more $$ than any team in the league could) but obviously he’s not gonna admit that publicly since that won’t help his image as much as his “loyalty” to Westbrook and the Thunder.

Interesting.....

This part is the one I take exception to.....

Zubac -- drafted as a raw 7-1, 240-pound center in the second round in 2016 -- had turned himself into a viable prospect under Walton.

Zubac became an viable prospect in spite of Walton IMHO. Last year, a throw away year, we played Bogut and Lopez in front of him while proclaiming it was a "development year" for the young guys. Walton was the guy who made those decisions. He has no use for a more traditional big in his "modern" vision of the game.

Other than that this is a fairly decent account of what's happened. A lot of speculation in there as well. The part about Brewer discussing the Lakers with PG is implied but no proof that it had any effect. It boarders on fake news without some admitted impact by PG IMHO. My take on PG is that he wanted us to trade for him so he could get the extra year and higher $$. That's what he was after.

Revived wrote:

LAKESHOW wrote:I dont buy the info on the PG part. I actually know westbrook. It was his Very strong connection with PG, convincing him to stay. PGs relationship with westbrook, not a relationship or info given to him by corey brewer

PG stayed in OKC more so because of the $$$ than Westbrook (Thunder offered him more $$ than any team in the league could) but obviously he’s not gonna admit that publicly since that won’t help his image as much as his “loyalty” to Westbrook and the Thunder.

So then we agree, corey brewers relationship or influence did not have a serious impact on PGs decision.

Honestly articles like this stink of desperation. The Lakers and LeBron are down and everyone is getting their kicks in. It's pretty pathetic if you ask me but to each his own. I can't believe how some fans are falling for the okie doke on Magic when the guy turned Deng/Moz and Russell into Lebron with the young core plus cap space. Everyone wants to bring up the shooters but if this team had not gotten injured folks would be calling Magic and Rob genius's.

I mean, if Magic delivers another big time FA , none of this will matter.

I look st the standings and the Lakers would be an 8th seed with these scrubs and a healthy King


Settle down youngstas
Get robin and a decent cast and we got this

All this telling me is Dave McMenamin setting the stage for the Lakers’ big summer to come... get ready something big is going to happen... like San Andreas Fault earth shaking kind of **** will happen... big, huge, kaboom!!! So his next article will be Lakers back from dead overnight or something to that effect..

Rafer24 wrote:I mean, if Magic delivers another big time FA , none of this will matter.

Really? I would think they'd have to win some games before we called any other FA signing a success...

Getting Howard should have been a win for us, but at the end of the season, it just made us look worse...

This team needs to be in the WCF next season otherwise adding a second FA was just another form of failure.

The whole trade Russell to dump moz thing doesn’t make any sense when marks dumped mozgov at the price of 2 2nds

How the Lakers wasted a year of LeBron

He got injured