Landsberger wrote: As for Davis.... he didn't come here via FA. He came here because we traded and we had picks and players that someone else wanted....you know... those picks we that created boarder line stars....
I think this is a half truth here. Yeah, we traded for him. But he wanted to come to Lakers (maybe there were 2 other choices he'd take) and he made that very clear. Admittedly once Lebron came.
We prob gave too much in a desperate attempt to get him NOW (seems like we do that often), but he had made it very clear that he wanted out, and wanted to goto LA. That forced the Pelicans to deal pretty much exclusively with us. It's not like they looked at the package we offered, and called AD in to let him know he was being traded.
You are right though. Lebron is a star who is very unselfish on the court, and is a bit of a swiss-army knife out there. He works well with just about anyone (except low-iq guys who can't shoot, but insist apon taking lots of shots, and not learning /committing to D). You can plug in about 90% of stars out there, and it'll go really well. This isn't the case for alot of guys.
There are alot of teams out there with 2-3 stars who never really gell, or have the talent to get over the hump. Kobe-Shaq, Healthy Lebron and AD...those aren't just a couple stars....those are 2 of the top 5 players in the game, at that time.
There are a bunch of ways to do it these days....I don't know that any one way is right. I mean Dallas and Milwaukee built a solid team around a great player.....and just hung around year in and year out....and eventually both got an opportunity, and walked away with a title. Milwaukee may do it again, if they can keep the squad more or less intact.
Toronto landed a top FA...went all in, got a title, and then it all blew up.
Lakers got 2 top FA...went all in, and got 1.
Warriors drafted incredibly well, and got 1. THEN landed a top FA, and got a couple more. May still win 1-2 more before its done.
I think the tax stuff is overrated. Lebron came. AD came. Westbrook came. Durant went to GS. I don't see Curry, or Klay wanting out. Derozen wanted to join the Lakers. The two dopes took the max in Clipper-land. The Lakers will often (maybe not always) have an edge signing stars.....but there has to be SOMETHING attractive to come to.
I think the NBA has definitely changed a bit, and being a Laker may not be quite what it was....but I don't know. We kicked Jim and Mitch to the curb, and got Magic, and isn't it just remarkable how fast it all changed to winning a title?? That doesn't happen in Chicago, in Philly, Portland, Utah....etc etc. Even Toronto. Yeah...it happened once. But I'd bet the Lakers do this 3 more times before Toronto does it again.