RealGM

Before I begin this, I would like to request a favor on LeBron James' behest. He asked me to tell you, and I quote, "PLEASE!!! Keep that same narrative ENERGY". So I humbly thank you in advance for respecting the wishes of LeBron and myself when talking about the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers. We shall now cut them open and see what's inside...

Here is the data from last year's Post-Mortems:
Post-Mortem Results I: GM Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results II: Coaching Confidence Meter
Post-Mortem Results III: Performance Compared to Expectations
Post-Mortem Results IV: Rising/Treadmill/Waning

Team Name: Los Angeles Lakers
Record at Time of Death: 43-39 (.5)
GM: Rob Pelinka (2017-) (Please be proud of me for my self-restraint in not making the obvious joke here)
Coach: Frank Vogel (2019-)

Offensive Rating: 23rd
Defensive Rating: 23rd
Rebound %: 25th
Turnover %: 20th

GM: Change or keep?
Coach: Change or keep?
Relative to expectations, how did they fare this year?
Rising, falling, or treadmill?
If you were in charge, what would you do this offseason?

Notes:
Players under contract next year:
LeBron James ($44m)
Anthony Davis ($38m)
Talen Horton-Tucker ($10m)
Stanley Johnson ($2m) (Partially Guaranteed)
Austin Reaves ($2m)

Team Options:

Player Options:
Russell Westbrook ($47m)
Kendrick Nunn ($5m)

Free Agents:
Avery Bradley
Wayne Ellington
Carmelo Anthony
Dwight Howard
Trevor Ariza
Kent Bazemore
Malik Monk
D.J. Augustin
Wenyen Gabriel
Mason Jones

Previous Post-Mortems:
30. Orlando Magic
29. Detroit Pistons
28. Houston Rockets
27. Indiana Pacers
26. Oklahoma City Thunder
25. Washington Wizards
24. New York Knicks
23. Portland Trailblazers
22. Sacramento Kings
21. Los Angeles Lakers

i still refuse to call lebron a REAL laker, let alone a laker all-time great

he does not deserve to be in the same discussion as kobe, shaq, jerry west, worthy, kareem, magic, pau, etc

Have we seen the last of some of these guys? Dwight? Melo? Ariza?

Talks of the Lakers perhaps using the stretch-provision on Russ in the hopes of freeing up some space. That would be something...

Fire everyone and trade LeBron imo.

smartyz456 wrote:i still refuse to call lebron a REAL laker, let alone a laker all-time great

he does not deserve to be in the same discussion as kobe, shaq, jerry west, worthy, kareem, magic, pau, etc

Yooooooooo the inferior candy man is back!

Why are you only here for the bad times bruh?

I'm real curious to see what LeBron does next.

Ahh, everything is right in the world right now.

Thank god this season is over. this team was unwatchable. I hope this is the last we see of Westbrick, AD, and Lebron in purple and gold.

This is what happens when nepotism and “do you know what I once did?!” runs an organisation, but all the competition continues to evolve.

Fire the GM. Fire the Coach. Trade everyone.

Nuke it.

Trade the whole roster, please. Sign Giannis, Luka and Jokic. Fixed

vege wrote:Fire everyone and trade LeBron imo.

Doesn't he have a no-trade clause? Besides if he's breaking Kareem's record, the Lakers would want it to happen with them.

HEKTOR wrote:
Talks of the Lakers perhaps using the stretch-provision on Russ in the hopes of freeing up some space. That would be something...

If the FO stretches Westbrook i’m done with this team

Sofia wrote:

smartyz456 wrote:i still refuse to call lebron a REAL laker, let alone a laker all-time great

he does not deserve to be in the same discussion as kobe, shaq, jerry west, worthy, kareem, magic, pau, etc

Yooooooooo the inferior candy man is back!

Why are you only here for the bad times bruh?

I mean he isn't wrong

Keep the GM
Keep the Coach
Performed Better than Expected
Waning Team

I voted to keep Pelinka because I don't think the abysmal roster moves were his choices to make. It seems hard to assess the guy with either Magic Johnson or LeBron James making decisions behind his back. Although maybe the fact that he can't put his imprint on the team among larger than life personalities means he isn't the right fit in LA? I don't know. He did preside over a championship, so there is that.

I voted to fire Vogel. I'm not saying a lot of coaches could have had success with this team, but there just seemed to be so much sniping and malaise. It was a doomed team, but he didn't make them any better. He started out great on Indiana, but they soon inexplicably crumbled. Next, he had less success than his successor in Orlando. I don't think he deserved this job from the start. Same as Pelinka, though, he did get a championship at the post.

The Lakers obviously have more talent than their record shows. They also have gigantic warts that ended up taking center stage all season. The largest was Westbrook refusing to change his game to play within a system. I'm not sure LeBron did a great job as a leader either. The combination of LeBron, AD, Westbrook, Carmelo, and Howard seems like it could lead to a pretty toxic locker room. Monk, I believe, is one person who voiced the awkward power dynamic on the team. AD's continued injury saga also was no help.

What should they do? I think if they can find a way to dump LeBron AND Westbrook, it's time to turn the page and look toward the future. I'm guessing they want to keep him around to break various career benchmarks as a Laker, though. So assuming they keep LeBron and cannot move Westbrook, they just need to try to come back with a new coach and new supporting role players. If I were an NBA player, it's the last place I'd want to play with their locker room and the microscope on it, but they can't get much worse. Hopefully the next mix of bottom of the barrel free agents provides a little more than this one did.

They definitely would've been better this year with another year of guys like Caruso, Kuzma, and KCP. They would've been a LOT better if they had somehow managed to get Derozan. There weren't many timelines worse than this one.

?s=20&t=QM9PhzMwKuZrNCfwZqzuZg

Lebron needs more help.

He's carried scrubs to 4 rings. He'll do it again.

Only way they can keep Monk is if they stretch Westbrook yeesh that's a tough one.

Oh yeah

smartyz456 wrote:i still refuse to call lebron a REAL laker, let alone a laker all-time great

he does not deserve to be in the same discussion as kobe, shaq, jerry west, worthy, kareem, magic, pau, etc

Yeah and you’re a REAL Laker fan!