FIRE MAGIC: Something Rotten in the State of Lakerland

[Jedi32]

it's sad how quickly folks have turned on magic. he has done a great job imo. the pelicans are butt hurt and they are the one's who were leaking everything. magic and rob turned the mess we had before into lebron and cap space with young talent. we had a top 4 record in the west before the injuries. they have done a great job imo. it takes two to tangle and the pelicans with the help of bitch ass pop decided from the gate they were not trading him here. instead of being men and stating that, they acted like bitches and leaked everything to the media.

[milesfides]

“I’m going to hug ’em," Magic Johnson, 2/9/19

"Quit making this about thinking these guys are babies, because that’s what you’re treating them like," Magic Johnson, 2/10/19

[milesfides]

Asked what having Johnson there does for the team, Rajon Rondo said, “nothing." - Los Angeles Times, 2/11/19

[Kilroy]

Magic is handling this very poorly... I don't think he's ever been in the position as a Lakers figure... It seems like the personality and positivity are wearing thin for most fans...
I think fans want to like him and support him, but he just seems pathologically incapable of providing them with a sincere, respectful response... He underestimates this fan base and how much times have changed.

He's clearly on his heels a little bit... It's going to be real interesting to see if he recovers and how.

Magic Rob and LeBron, ALL need this team to win about 10-12 games in a row right now... Not only do we pretty much need to do that to get back in the playoff hunt, those guys and their reputations among Laker fans, need a few weeks of positivity, otherwise this fanbase may completely turn against them...

But instead of that, I see them trying to scapegoat Luke over the all-star break... Unfortunately, that seems like the kind of superficial gesture this FO is capable of... All they're capable of...

And I have huge fears about who Magic an Rob would choose to replace Luke...

At some point, if they haven't already, the general fans, those not on RealGM and privy to the knowledge base here, are going to start looking at how many terrible seasons we had to suck to amass assets, only to watch them get nickle and dimed away for little or no return.

[dockingsched]

Yesterday Magic let everyone know that Ben Simmons wanted to meet with him and pick his brain.

This morning Elton Brand said he shot this idea down over a month ago.

Read on Twitter

If true, the hell was Magic’s point of bringing it up? And why would Rob be the one to let Philly know who their player wants to meet with? These guys are so transparent with their Klutch enabled tampering attempts that it’s almost embarrassing for those two.

[Slava]

I hope he misspoke and it was Rich Paul calling him, otherwise this is too funny.

[Kilroy]

Yesterday Magic let everyone know that Ben Simmons wanted to meet with him and pick his brain.

This morning Elton Brand said he shot this idea down over a month ago.

Read on Twitter

If true, the hell was Magic’s point of bringing it up? And why would Rob be the one to let Philly know who their player wants to meet with? These guys are so transparent with their Klutch enabled tampering attempts that it’s almost embarrassing for those two.

If the league goes into full on revolt against us and Klutch... And it sounds like it probably has already... I'm concerned how long the stain of our association effects our relationship with free agents and other teams...

It seems like there's already 2 camps among players developing... The Klutch players like AD, Simmons, and LeBron, and the non Klutch players like Kawhi and KD... Which to me makes sense why the Clippers all of a sudden are a preferred destination for guys that used to be rumored to want the Lakers...

If that's the case, maybe we shouldn't be too optimistic about our chances of bringing in guys like Kawhi and KD to play with LeBron...

Miles may be right... We may need to trade LeBron ASAP just to keep the Klutch thing from damaging our relationship with the league and other players...

It certainly feels like the shoe is about to drop on Klutch... I feel like the League is about to take a stand, if they haven't already. No way we don't get stepped on too, at this point....
If we haven't already... I mean.

[mannyd7]

You guys remember in like '07 when Kobe said something along the lines of "We're talking about Jason Kidd, Trade all these **** and get him here" outside a Mall?

LeBron is the real GM (Haaaaa) and these shortsighted blockbuster moves are exactly what a Hall of Famer would want. This is why there are layers of authority in the workplace, to prevent someone with a narrow focus from mortgaging the future of the organization.

Ok....but AD is gonna be 26 in a few weeks. He's got a long road ahead of him too.

You can hate the trade...you can hate Lebron. It's your life, thats all good. But let's not call signing a 25-year old top-10 talent "shortsighted".

You can take a 'glass half empty' approach to Magic (some prefer the 'glass is smeared with sh** view), and you can take a 'glass half full' view. He got the biggest fish. Got us out from Moz and Deng, and is working hard on a 2nd mega-star.

The truth is prob somewhere in the middle.

Signing him in 2020 wouldn't be shortsighted at all. Mortgaging your entire roster to get that guy a year early is. At any rate this may not be an option anymore. There's a great class this season and all we need is one of them, then we fill out the roster with discounts and the buyout market

[dockingsched]

Yesterday Magic let everyone know that Ben Simmons wanted to meet with him and pick his brain.

This morning Elton Brand said he shot this idea down over a month ago.

Read on Twitter

If true, the hell was Magic’s point of bringing it up? And why would Rob be the one to let Philly know who their player wants to meet with? These guys are so transparent with their Klutch enabled tampering attempts that it’s almost embarrassing for those two.

If the league goes into full on revolt against us and Klutch... And it sounds like it probably has already... I'm concerned how long the stain of our association effects our relationship with free agents and other teams...

It seems like there's already 2 camps among players developing... The Klutch players like AD, Simmons, and LeBron, and the non Klutch players like Kawhi and KD... Which to me makes sense why the Clippers all of a sudden are a preferred destination for guys that used to be rumored to want the Lakers...

If that's the case, maybe we shouldn't be too optimistic about our chances of bringing in guys like Kawhi and KD to play with LeBron...

Miles may be right... We may need to trade LeBron ASAP just to keep the Klutch thing from damaging our relationship with the league and other players...

It certainly feels like the shoe is about to drop on Klutch... I feel like the League is about to take a stand, if they haven't already. No way we don't get stepped on too, at this point....
If we haven't already... I mean.

I think where we diverge is that you think by removing Klutch the front office can cleanse itself, but to me Magic and Rob are just as slimy and open to tampering as anyone. They’re not these innocent characters being led astray by Klutch.

[Kilroy]

Yesterday Magic let everyone know that Ben Simmons wanted to meet with him and pick his brain.

This morning Elton Brand said he shot this idea down over a month ago.

Read on Twitter

If true, the hell was Magic’s point of bringing it up? And why would Rob be the one to let Philly know who their player wants to meet with? These guys are so transparent with their Klutch enabled tampering attempts that it’s almost embarrassing for those two.

If the league goes into full on revolt against us and Klutch... And it sounds like it probably has already... I'm concerned how long the stain of our association effects our relationship with free agents and other teams...

It seems like there's already 2 camps among players developing... The Klutch players like AD, Simmons, and LeBron, and the non Klutch players like Kawhi and KD... Which to me makes sense why the Clippers all of a sudden are a preferred destination for guys that used to be rumored to want the Lakers...

If that's the case, maybe we shouldn't be too optimistic about our chances of bringing in guys like Kawhi and KD to play with LeBron...

Miles may be right... We may need to trade LeBron ASAP just to keep the Klutch thing from damaging our relationship with the league and other players...

It certainly feels like the shoe is about to drop on Klutch... I feel like the League is about to take a stand, if they haven't already. No way we don't get stepped on too, at this point....
If we haven't already... I mean.

I think where we diverge is that you think by removing Klutch the front office can cleanse itself, but to me Magic and Rob are just as slimy and open to tampering as anyone. They’re not these innocent characters being led astray by Klutch.

Nope, no divergence at all... What I'm saying presupposes the firing of Magic/Rob... They have to go.
As you may remember, I never thought hiring Magic was a good Idea... I thought firing Mitch for Magic was almost laughable...
My one positive hope was that Pelinka would come with an in depth knowledge of negotiations with players/teams and help be the brain to Magic's emotion/confidence... Instead, it seems like Rob is just as delusional as Magic... Which makes sense, because I should have know Magic would never hire someone who was a threat to his status.

I love Magic, but within certain parameters... One of which is you can't give him too much control over the day to day running of the team or Personnel decisions... He's not cut out for it...

His best use is as a figure you bring in to help close deals that are already close to completion.

I think so far, Magic and Rob have been all about appearances and no substance... That's not going to change any time soon, and we're freaking REBUILDING... We need some serious, genius people in charge, not a smile and a pretty face...

So to clearly state where I'm at as of today ... Trade LeBron, Fire Magic and Rob... KEEP Luke... Promote West, and hire his dad as a consultant...

[dockingsched]

Makes more sense now why Rob was calling Brand about it:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[gts1]

One of the things the FO has failed to realize from the very start was the Lakers true place in the NBA landscape. Before Magic and Pelinka were installed in the FO the Lakers were not on the top of everyones Christmas list other than excepting the yearly revenue sharing. Teams have long held the position of not helping the Lakers amass anymore trophies unless it clearly helped you. Everything from the big CBA adjustment a few years ago followed by the league blocking the CP3 trade has been geared to stopping teams like the Lakers from running roughshod over the league by flexing their wallet and image.

Enter Magic with his smiles, wink winks and nudge nudges very publicly making wild claims about the franchises future, where the team is going and how they are going to do it. The Lakers fanbase and media sucked it up but the rest of the NBA was either cringing or laughing... Magic has zero experience running an NBA front office or in sports management, he himself has admitted in his business dealings to putting the right people in place, staying out of their way and letting them do their job, but here Magic has done neither, instead sticking himself right smack dab in the middle of something he knows nothing about. Maybe that's because they guy he hired to do that job in Pelinka has no experience in that position either.

Either way you have two guys running a team that probably shouldn't be when you look at their experience in running an NBA team. Make that team a high profile team like the Lakers, a team that already has to be extra careful when making deals just because of how they are viewed by other NBA FO's.

Sign Lebron, and you add another dynamic, he and Klutch sports and what some view as their strong arm tactics when dealing with NBA teams. No more evident then the Davis signing with Klutch then demanding a trade within days. Just flat out bully tactics. I'm not against players wanting to set the course of their own careers but there are these things called contracts, negotiated in faith with the FO and when a player starts trying to change the course of that contract things get touchy. When it's done with such blatant calculation folks are going to be really upset. Then there' the fact that not every big time NBA player wants to play with Lebron, heck some of the biggest names coming up on the market have already beaten him in the NBA finals, they don't need Lebron to win ring. Others clearly see what happened to big names when teamed up with Lebron and how the are diminished on the court and ecplised in the spotlight. We'll see but it would not shock me to see the only big name free agent that considers the Lakers this summer may be Kyrie.

All this means is as a FO you need to tread carefully, you need to handle things in a way that respect the process, not openly parade about pretending you're operating with a different set of rules then everyone else because you are the Lakers. Something Magic seems incapable of doing because the most important thing to Magic is Magic's image.

[Danny Darko]

Pelinka might work but Magic needs to go back to being a twitter troll

[Danny Darko]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[Danny Darko]

ehhhem

Read on Twitter

[RamonSessions7]

0-2 since Magic’s self leaked pep talk.

[walk with me]

Again speaking as an outsider...

I can’t tell anyone how to feel about magic and rob because I’m not a lakers fan. BUT, when you have Lebron on your team you’re essentially forefeiting your team over to him. 95% of decision making has to go through him and Klutch.

It happened in Miami
It happened in Cleveland once he came back
And now it’s happening in LA

I only say this so everyone understand how to temper their expectations. Lebron is the ultimate Ponzi scheme, you mortgage all your assets to let him have all the glory and deflect any of the blame. Once he’s leave your city all your assets are gone and you’re no longer built for sustainable success. Take it from a very long time heat fan, rob and magic may not be perfect but if Lebron wasn’t currently on the lakers the teams trajectory would be much better.

Klutch blew the ad trade and the rest of the nba didn’t want to participate because they’re sick of Klutch
Same goes with the Pg trade. You think PG would have scoffed at LA if Lebron coming wasn’t possible?
Now Klutch has isolated the younger guys and ruined team chemistry.

I hope I’m not speaking out of place but lakers fans should know the truth regarding the influence that Lebron has and the problems that come with making him a member of your team. Imo the problems aren’t worth it in the long run and that’s stated as a heat fan. Lakers fans may feel differently.

Edit:
Study the history of Lebron in miami
Study the history of Lebron in Cleveland

History is repeating itself. The only different is wade was waiting for LBJ in miami, Kyrie was waiting for LBJ in Cleveland. The lakers had nobody waiting for Lebron as the rest of the nba caught on to lebrons gimmick.

[Landsberger]

Again speaking as an outsider...

I can’t tell anyone how to feel about magic and rob because I’m not a lakers fan. BUT, when you have Lebron on your team you’re essentially forefeiting your team over to him. 95% of decision making has to go through him and Klutch.

It happened in Miami
It happened in Cleveland once he came back
And now it’s happening in LA

I only say this so everyone understand how to temper their expectations. Lebron is the ultimate Ponzi scheme, you mortgage all your assets to let him have all the glory and deflect any of the blame. Once he’s leave your city all your assets are gone and you’re no longer built for sustainable success. Take it from a very long time heat fan, rob and magic may not be perfect but if Lebron wasn’t currently on the lakers the teams trajectory would be much better.

Klutch blew the ad trade and the rest of the nba didn’t want to participate because they’re sick of Klutch
Same goes with the Pg trade. You think PG would have scoffed at LA if Lebron coming wasn’t possible?
Now Klutch has isolated the younger guys and ruined team chemistry.

I hope I’m not speaking out of place but lakers fans should know the truth regarding the influence that Lebron has and the problems that come with making him a member of your team. Imo the problems aren’t worth it in the long run and that’s stated as a heat fan. Lakers fans may feel differently.

Edit:
Study the history of Lebron in miami
Study the history of Lebron in Cleveland

History is repeating itself. The only different is wade was waiting for LBJ in miami, Kyrie was waiting for LBJ in Cleveland. The lakers had nobody waiting for Lebron as the rest of the nba caught on to lebrons gimmick.

It's not like Bron broke the door down and just jumped on our team. There was a long and drawn out process to get him here and it started higher than Magic. He was the target of our ownership and Magic.

As for the history of LeBron in Miami and Cleveland.... Wasn't there championships involved? Isn't that the ultimate goal? There were no assets left in Chicago or LA after Jordan and Kobe either. It's the price of contending in the modern league financial structure.

[walk with me]

It's not like Bron broke the door down and just jumped on our team. There was a long and drawn out process to get him here and it started higher than Magic. He was the target of our ownership and Magic.

As for the history of LeBron in Miami and Cleveland.... Wasn't there championships involved? Isn't that the ultimate goal? There were no assets left in Chicago or LA after Jordan and Kobe either. It's the price of contending in the modern league financial structure.

I think it kind of depends on your view of what a team should be willing to SACRIFICE for a ring.

A success depraved franchise like the cavs we’re willing to do anything at all costs to get a ring and they got one. I doubt any cavs fans resent their journey to a ring since they’ve never had any sustained playoff success before.

SPEAKING FOR MYSELF (not all heat fans) I always have mixed feelings about our journey under Lebron to get a ring. 4 finals trips 2 rings.... cool. Lebron leaves with out any notice and didn’t give us an opportunity to strategize for life after Lebron which sucked (the planning... not him leaving). That for me kind of cheapened the rings, he left us in a selfish way. If he’d conducted himself with more tact (putting in your two weeks before quitting a job) I would have felt like he had more respect for our franchise. He also didn’t think the fans which was confusing.

So I guess lakers fans have to ask what’s the ring worth to them. Do you want a ring so badly that you’re willing to sign Klutch as your team president and Lebron as your GM and head coach? When lebrons 4 years as a laker is up and he potentially leaves you without notice for some other advantageous situation, are you content with having getting a ring from a player that doesn’t really care about purple and gold in exchange? Lakers are the most storied franchise in the NBA so I’m sure that answer will be different for different laker fans.

[LAKESHOW]

That for me kind of cheapened the rings.

We gave you pat riley. We gave you your coaching staff. We gave you SHAQ. We gave you your Championships. Be more appreciative. And stop drinking the HATERade.