Kilroy wrote:Walton was the top Coaching prospect that season by far... I don't know how that's even debatable... He's the perfect coach for LA and this young team. They can grow together.
I'm pretty happy with the Walton signing....and I agree that he was the 'sexy' new face. But this is his first year as a head coach. You can HOPE he becomes a premier coach...but as of right now, he has a 19-41 record as a head coach.
Kilroy wrote:Magic said they're tanking... The plan was to try to be good but if they weren't by all star break, they had the pick to shoot for. There is absolutely no question they're tanking now and have been for weeks... So yeah, that's 'Mitch's plan.'
The reason I draw that distinction is because Magic has been screaming about tanking for the last few years... One got the impression that was something he would never condone... So here we are.
Wait wait wait.....the allstar break is 75% through the season, right? (give or take a couple games). You might be right that Mitch and Jim had seen the inevitable these last couple weeks, but to talk about this draft pick (which we may never even get) like it was something Mitch and Jim had deftly set up for us, is IMO a pretty major misrepresentation of what actually happened.
As far as Magic is concerned....I mean come on. He's inheriting a team with about 20 games to go, that's sitting at 19-39. Ditch Williams for a first-rounder....play out your youth....and regroup with your new team next season. That just makes sense right? I'm not trying to spin everything he does into some positive.....but I mean, that's a pretty clear, and logical path if you or I were taking over this team, right? Nobody around here honestly thinks anyone could come in and make some tweaks with guys minutes and suddenly go 21-0...and miraculously make the playoffs. So I think you really can't count any of this as Magic's work. He's just waiting for the season to end.
Yes...I agree that that team was pretty old. Especially Nash. But Pau was about 31 when Jim took over, and Dwight was like 26-27.
I further agree that Jim's team was definitely going to just get older and worse, while this team is (hopefully) gonna get older and better. But this team was the 2nd worst team last year, and is the 3rd worst this year at the time Magic took over. So while there's definitely more room for improvement now compared to then, there's an argument to be made that that team made the 7th seed even with all the crazy injuries....and I'm not sure that if you made zero moves for 3-4 years, that this team would make the 7th seed. I'd like to think it would. I thought for sure it would 3 months ago. But now I'm not so sure.
This team really went nowhere compared to last year....wouldn't you agree? There's been no sizeable growth. That's why Jeanie pulled the plug. If this team was really stocked with all this good stuff.....a premier coach, etc etc, we wouldn't be where we are.
If a person is gonna say that Luke is this amazing coach. Much better than Scott....and that Ingram was a great get. And that Randle,Russell are stars in the making, and that our almost $40mil spent on free-agents were decent, or even good signings, then I want that person to explain why we're basically exactly as bad as last year.....which was the worst year in our franchise's history.
Would you say it's unfair to argue that the picture you painted....and the last 60 games we've watched don't add up?
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