Re: Mitch Kupchak Not Thinking About Jim Buss' Deadline

[RealGM Wiretap]

Mitch Kupchak is unconcerned with the deadline Jim Buss declared for the Los Angeles Lakers to return to the Western Conference Finals.

In 2014, Buss said that if the Lakers weren’t there in “three to four years” he would step down. This season marks the third since that declaration.

“I’m not even sure what was said with certainty,” Kupchak said. “From my point of view, we’ve created a team that has a lot of young talent that can grow into, I believe, really good [players] and hopefully NBA players that can leave an imprint on this league. I think we’ve surrounded them with some older veterans that can help us win games.”

The Lakers won just 17 games last season and are expected to miss the playoffs again in 16-17.

Via Tania Ganguli/Los Angeles Times

[The_Hater]

Well how can Kupchak be concerned with making the WCF when they might not even win 20 games? Backing unrealistic goals would only put him in the exact same mess that Jimmy is going to face soon enough which is 'unemployed'

[Tiesto_Lakers]

Mitch deserves just as much blame as Jim Buss for the vast decline of these Lakers.

Sure, in 2011 we got robbed by not being allowed to acquire Chris Paul, which would have led to acquiring Dwight Howard and David West, but the problem lies in the situations where we messed up countless amount of times after that. We acquired Nash for Odom, which wasn't a bad deal at all. We ended up getting Howard, but it was Buss' fault for choosing D'Antoni over Phil in the fall of 2012. This absolutely destroyed the franchise, because D'Antoni couldn't fit Gasol and Howard (two guys who were monsters in 2012) into his system. He was only concerned with utilizing his buddy Nash, who was 40 at the time. Mitch also messed up during this season by not trying to trade Gasol for multiple role players/draft picks - this could have allowed Howard to have the paint to himself while having stretch 4's on the floor. If you're going to be playing a Run'N'gun style, it's better to go all out then mess around and hope post players will adjust. You know your team is messed up when you have Earl Clark starting over Gasol.

Mitch just hasn't done a great job ever since then. He hasn't had much to play with due to Bryant's massive contract in recent years. Couple that with the fact that Kobe also wasn't worth what he was getting paid and players didn't want to play with him leads to lottery year after year. I believe Mitch has drafted well, as he always has, but we'll see how it pans out. I actually really like both Randle and Russell - I think in 3-4 years they could be all-star type players, but I could also be a homer. I haven't seen much of Ingram yet.

The Deng and Mosgov signings were just atrocious. Those guys hardly deserve 8 or 9 million a year, let alone $17 mill each in long-term deals.

[Donnyxc]

I mean they got Russell. Maybe not the Russell they wanted.

[moocow007]

So Jim Buss said 2 years ago that he would step down if the Lakers aren't in the Western Conference Finals in 3 to 4 years (or basically by the end of the 2017-2018 season)? That may turn out to be a win win situation for Lakers Nation no? Make the WCF or Jim Buss steps down. Either would be a win.

Knick fans would love it if James Dolan made that same promise.

[Loneshot]

It would be a win-win. Trading for Howard was a great set back as he's no good and was always terribly overrated. But very little team growth was going to happen with Kobe still there. I'll miss him but it would have been great if hev retired while we still had Gasol.

[Sam195]

lakers first round pick is still protected top 3 for the 16-17 season and than its owned unprotected by philly for the 2018 nba draft. Lakers need to tank out one more year as potentially the worst team in the league to pick up another high pick/prospect to add to their core of clarkson, russell, randle and ingram. Lakers with another high pick on the rosters and tons of cap space in the 2017 summer can be a real player in free agency next year and potentially take the key steps to become a contender again in the nba.

[Bruteque]

Kupchak is probably like, "O RLY? Well then as soon as he steps down I'll try to make the playoffs."