How does the Lakers front office recover from this?

[Slava]

Posted this in the LMA thread but it deserves its own space and this is a debate that probably has to happen.

I'm not sure how the front office can put a positive spin on this. All year long they have been exaggerating that the city will sell itself and the legacy of the team will attract free agents but as the time comes, its becoming increasingly clear that the Lakers just do not have the necessary basketball expertise to entice a proper free agent to sign with the team.

You can still blame this on the Kobe deal and think all will be well once it expires but it remains a fact that the team with a $100 million operating profit still cannot spend enough to organize a proper basketball operations team that is in tune with the modern NBA.

I personally think its a wake up call to make some changes with the front office and basketball ops.

[miggs]

I'm not sure how the front office can put a positive spin on this. All year long they have been exaggerating that the city will sell itself and the legacy of the team will attract free agents but as the time comes, its becoming increasingly clear that the Lakers just do not have the necessary basketball expertise to entice a proper free agent to sign with the team.

You can still blame this on the Kobe deal and think all will be well once it expires but it remains a fact that the team with a $100 million operating profit still cannot spend enough to organize a proper basketball operations team that is in tune with the modern NBA.

I personally think its a wake up call to make some changes with the front office and basketball ops.

how far would you go in those changes slava?

I share much of the same sentiment as well, I just feel we've lost our shine. The Kobe and LMA didn't quite gel well part really stings, I just hope things get better but definitely so far it feels like a solid blow to the gut.

[The Prodigy]

I'm not sure how the front office can put a positive spin on this. All year long they have been exaggerating that the city will sell itself and the legacy of the team will attract free agents but as the time comes, its becoming increasingly clear that the Lakers just do not have the necessary basketball expertise to entice a proper free agent to sign with the team.

You can still blame this on the Kobe deal and think all will be well once it expires but it remains a fact that the team with a $100 million operating profit still cannot spend enough to organize a proper basketball operations team that is in tune with the modern NBA.

I personally think its a wake up call to make some changes with the front office and basketball ops.

These are the dangers of nepotism.

[Star-Lord]

I'm not sure how the front office can put a positive spin on this. All year long they have been exaggerating that the city will sell itself and the legacy of the team will attract free agents but as the time comes, its becoming increasingly clear that the Lakers just do not have the necessary basketball expertise to entice a proper free agent to sign with the team.

You can still blame this on the Kobe deal and think all will be well once it expires but it remains a fact that the team with a $100 million operating profit still cannot spend enough to organize a proper basketball operations team that is in tune with the modern NBA.

I personally think its a wake up call to make some changes with the front office and basketball ops.

I think it's definitely pretty clear that the organization needs to embrace analytics in a big, public way, at the very least.

[Jakay]

I'm not sure how the front office can put a positive spin on this. All year long they have been exaggerating that the city will sell itself and the legacy of the team will attract free agents but as the time comes, its becoming increasingly clear that the Lakers just do not have the necessary basketball expertise to entice a proper free agent to sign with the team.

You can still blame this on the Kobe deal and think all will be well once it expires but it remains a fact that the team with a $100 million operating profit still cannot spend enough to organize a proper basketball operations team that is in tune with the modern NBA.

I personally think its a wake up call to make some changes with the front office and basketball ops.

Hopefully they just focus on the basketball side of things from here on out. No player worth having is going to care about anything else. Endorsements aren't tied to cities like they used to be.

[Slava]

I'm not sure how the front office can put a positive spin on this. All year long they have been exaggerating that the city will sell itself and the legacy of the team will attract free agents but as the time comes, its becoming increasingly clear that the Lakers just do not have the necessary basketball expertise to entice a proper free agent to sign with the team.

You can still blame this on the Kobe deal and think all will be well once it expires but it remains a fact that the team with a $100 million operating profit still cannot spend enough to organize a proper basketball operations team that is in tune with the modern NBA.

I personally think its a wake up call to make some changes with the front office and basketball ops.

how far would you go in those changes slava?

I share much of the same sentiment as well, I just feel we've lost our shine. The Kobe and LMA didn't quite gel well part really stings, I just hope things get better but definitely so far it feels like a solid blow to the gut.

You gotta start with the president of basketball ops and the GM. I'd personally ask Jimmy to take a hike, promote Kupchak to president and hire a younger GM.

[ak7]

It's real simple. Get smart basketball minds into the org and hope DLo averages 65 and 30 or we are lottery bound for a longtime.

Gone are the days where players only cared about the city, the women, the lifestyle and the materialistic things. Smart players go to the organizations who have the pieces in place to compete. All we have is young players with high ceilings and a competent GM, who I wonder if he actually isn't what we think he is.

At some point the GM needs to take responsibility for not having the right people at his side to adapt and evolve into the new NBA.

[ArC_man]

I'm not sure how the front office can put a positive spin on this. All year long they have been exaggerating that the city will sell itself and the legacy of the team will attract free agents but as the time comes, its becoming increasingly clear that the Lakers just do not have the necessary basketball expertise to entice a proper free agent to sign with the team.

You can still blame this on the Kobe deal and think all will be well once it expires but it remains a fact that the team with a $100 million operating profit still cannot spend enough to organize a proper basketball operations team that is in tune with the modern NBA.

I personally think its a wake up call to make some changes with the front office and basketball ops.

how far would you go in those changes slava?

I share much of the same sentiment as well, I just feel we've lost our shine. The Kobe and LMA didn't quite gel well part really stings, I just hope things get better but definitely so far it feels like a solid blow to the gut.

You gotta start with the president of basketball ops and the GM. I'd personally ask Jimmy to take a hike, promote Kupchak to president and hire a younger GM.

Maybe make Kupchak the president and promote Ryan West to be the GM.

[dockingsched]

I honestly don't have an issue with anything that has happened so far. There really isn't anything to blame anyone for anything.

Lakers are rebuilding, they've only completed two years of it after going no for it with Nash and Howard.

It's a slow process that starts with the youngsters establishing themselves as stars and a legitimate title contending core.

That the lakers have attempted to expedite the process by trying to attract top tier players despite long odds is nothing to despair about.

In the mean time build assets, develop players, and be flexible enough to be able to pounce on an opportunity.

[JustBlaze]

Honestly, the best thing the Lakers can do is perform on the court. Let's not pretend like the ability to win, and win now, hasn't been a major factor for free agents like LMA. I'm pretty confident that if the tables were turned and the Lakers were on the brink of contending and the Spurs just came off a 20 win season then LMA would be signing with us. Even if Buss and Kupchack bombed the presentation and Kobe was acting like a dick head.

Russel and Randle showing up and impressing this next year would be huge for us going into FA next year.

[Slava]

I honestly don't have an issue with anything that has happened so far. There really isn't anything to blame anyone for anything.

Lakers are rebuilding, they've only completed two years of it after going no for it with Nash and Howard.

It's a slow process that starts with the youngsters establishing themselves as stars and a legitimate title contending core.

That the lakers have attempted to expedite the process by trying to attract top tier players despite long odds is nothing to despair about.

In the mean time build assets, develop players, and be flexible enough to be able to pounce on an opportunity.

Today wouldn't be bad if the presentations were going good but the players simply did not like where the franchise was at in regards to contention but when people openly suggest that the basketball operations did not prove trust worthy or competent, that's a bigger blow than losing or signing any one free agent.

Aldridge already knew we were not close to contending before he even gave us a chance to meet with him. So there's probably a reason for it and he expected to hear something which the Lakers were obviously not able to deliver.

[frozt]

None of these free agents were long term parts of the plan anyway. Did you guys REALLY all want LaMarcus Aldridge at age 30 or an unproven 1st option in Kevin Love to really join the Lakers and be mediocre for at least 2-3 years. I actually thing DeAndre Jordan was the only good piece for the rebuild going forward.

[miggs]

I honestly don't have an issue with anything that has happened so far. There really isn't anything to blame anyone for anything.

Lakers are rebuilding, they've only completed two years of it after going no for it with Nash and Howard.

It's a slow process that starts with the youngsters establishing themselves as stars and a legitimate title contending core.

That the lakers have attempted to expedite the process by trying to attract top tier players despite long odds is nothing to despair about.

In the mean time build assets, develop players, and be flexible enough to be able to pounce on an opportunity.

Honestly, the best thing the Lakers can do is perform on the court. Let's not pretend like the ability to win, and win now, hasn't been a major factor for free agents like LMA. I'm pretty confident that if the tables were turned and the Lakers were on the brink of contending and the Spurs just came off a 20 win season then LMA would be signing with us. Even if Buss and Kupchack bombed the presentation and Kobe was acting like a dick head.

Russel and Randle showing up and impressing this next year would be huge for us going into FA next year.

i really want to believe both of you guys but man the bresnahan tweets are really hard to swallow. makes our front office and kobe look like the oldest guys in the room, as if we don't get what's going on nor how to win a title in today's NBA nor impose our own brand of basketball

[Slava]

Ofcourse this would not feel like such a gut punch if we actually owned our pick for next season.

[Goudelock]

None of these free agents were long term parts of the plan anyway. Did you guys REALLY all want LaMarcus Aldridge at age 30 or an unproven 1st option in Kevin Love to really join the Lakers and be mediocre for at least 2-3 years. I actually thing DeAndre Jordan was the only good piece for the rebuild going forward.

Hmmmmm.....I wanted Love to sign, not so sure about LMA (kind of old for a rebuild).

[Lbmatt]

Its humiliating to the front office to say they dont know basketball and just talked about outside opportunities

[Star-Lord]

Aldridge already knew we were not close to contending before he even gave us a chance to meet with him. So there's probably a reason for it and he expected to hear something which the Lakers were obviously not able to deliver.

In fairness though, we have no idea what that something was. If it was, "Don't worry LaMarcus, you won't ever have to play center in a Lakers uniform." Then it's really difficult for me to get too worked up over how the front office may have handled the meeting. Ultimately, it's not going to make the franchise lottery bound for years to come unless our rookies do video game things like some are suggesting.

Like Doc said, the Lakers are rebuilding, and seem to be committed to doing it the right way, as far as making sure they have room to add a big salary, big impact player whilst developing extremely promising rookies. If the process can be expedited healthily, of course they have to give it a shot, but it's not like we just took our best shot at Westbrook and fell on our faces. That could/would be devastating. More than anything, today has simply been thoroughly annoying.

[dockingsched]

The reason I don't take issue with the "Hollywood" centric meeting is cause what else are they suppose to focus on? They're further back in terms of competing so they'd just be completely overwhelmed.

It would basically be the front office asking a star to sign on cope with the youngsters developing all while you're going from 30 to 33 waiting to compete. There's no way the lakers could have sold LMA on the lakers being his best basketball option.

Only real issue is the continued focus on Kobe and letting him even talk.

[SilentScream]

There are multiple factors to consider, but I would look at coaching hires as one sign of how "competent" a front office is. This past season, Boston and Golden State are two examples of what kind of difference a good coach can make on a team. Until we see otherwise, Brad Stevens overachieved with a collection of role players and Steve Kerr brought the Warriors to the promise land. Even Steve Clifford in Charlotte, despite the disappointment, made the Hornets into one of the better defensive teams in the league after signing Al Jefferson to man the middle. There were clearly unfavorable circumstances that contributed to their failures here, but I've never felt that Mike Brown, Mike D'Antoni, or Byron Scott reflected the kind of forward-thinking that a front office needs to succeed in today's league. D'Antoni would be the closest out of the three, but he alienated the #2 option on our back-to-back championship teams if those reports are to be believed. There is a reason these coaches have been fired time after time. If I am in LMA's shoes, none of these hires inspire confidence in the front office.

[Slava]

The reason I don't take issue with the "Hollywood" centric meeting is cause what else are they suppose to focus on? They're further back in terms of competing so they'd just be completely overwhelmed.

Only real issue is the continued focus on Kobe and letting him even talk.

I think it would have been best to explain their plans for 2016-17 and how they could target players around Aldridge that could make him the first option while being on a contending team, instead we probably showed him twitter follower counts and promotional opportunities. I also don't think Byron Scott is an encouraging option there.