ESPN: Lakers 2.0 The failed reboot

[Mamba Mentality]

All the misfits on this team are gone, Magic is gone, coaching staff is gone, but Pelinka still remains. How much more damning material do you need to get rid of this guy?

[dockingsched]

Baxter Holmes has always been a quality writer and he obviously has sources from within the organization that are or were in a position to provide Baxter that type of access. I don’t see this as a “hit” piece on the Lakers and more so just a well researched look at how things operated under Magic.

Despite what some of us wish happened with the front office after Magic left, I can’t help but be ecstatic that he’s gone.

[Cafu]

What a surprise! A Laker front page article when the Final just about to begin lol
I dont know what the Lakers FO did to them but ESPN is just jerking at them non stop.

I read the article, at first it was worrying but I just realize they are just alots of stupid stories that could happen in every big company in the world.
Yes, the Lakers FO is a mess but who the **** care about Rich Paul riding the same charter with the team one freaking time?
Oh a bully boss? How about a sexual harassment boss in Dallas?
And **** the old staff that leaked the stories about every little things on the team like that. You deserved to be fired.

[Mind_Odyssey]

This is LeBron James at work. He gets his crew to talk to media outlets and spread fake news.

[MAMBAEMD]

Holmes is an excellent writer in my opinion and I feel that most , if not all of what he puts in this article is probably true.
It makes me happier to have seen Magic leave because it feels as though he was the main contributor to the toxic culture.
That said , the sky is not falling and calls for the Buss family to sell the team because of this are premature.
They need to get their act right for sure but I wouldn’t panic at all. This article unfortunately describes many corporate cultures with top down leadership styles. It’s accentuated because the Lakers aren’t winning, and there is perception which may not be far from reality that the FO doesn’t have a good handle on day to day operations. But if they were in the playoffs year after year, this article would probably not have caused as much attention as it’s going to get.
We just need to stay steady and ride this out.
The Lakers have survived much worse over the last 40 years that I’ve been following the team.
If we get a solid FA this year and make the playoffs all this will be forgotten.

[dockingsched]

This is LeBron James at work. He gets his crew to talk to media outlets and spread fake news.

Then entire article is Baxter relaying what anonymous current and former staffers, how the heck is that lebron james at work?

[dockingsched]

Pelinka has also been known to sit in on pregame and halftime coaches' meetings, something staff members and other front-office executives -- including general managers -- said is irregular for an NBA GM.

"It's weird from the player's standpoint," a Lakers coaching staff member told ESPN. "The players are not able to open up and speak freely, because you've got the guy in the room who supposedly controls your future, so why would you open up and be honest and confrontational when that might be what is required for that moment?"

The staffer described those meetings by saying, "It's very quiet in there."

At least once, Walton addressed the issue with Pelinka, telling him that his presence was, at the very least, uncomfortable, coaching staff members said. Walton also pointed out to Pelinka that when he coached as an assistant at Golden State, Warriors GM Bob Myers didn't sit in on such meetings. Pelinka responded to Walton that he had communicated with Myers -- and that Myers was now, in the years since Walton's departure from Golden State, sitting in on these meetings. Sources in and around the Warriors' organization told ESPN that Myers does no such thing.

This story struck me as one of the more aggravating stories about having to work for Rob.

[PharmD]

Pelinka has also been known to sit in on pregame and halftime coaches' meetings, something staff members and other front-office executives -- including general managers -- said is irregular for an NBA GM.

"It's weird from the player's standpoint," a Lakers coaching staff member told ESPN. "The players are not able to open up and speak freely, because you've got the guy in the room who supposedly controls your future, so why would you open up and be honest and confrontational when that might be what is required for that moment?"

The staffer described those meetings by saying, "It's very quiet in there."

At least once, Walton addressed the issue with Pelinka, telling him that his presence was, at the very least, uncomfortable, coaching staff members said. Walton also pointed out to Pelinka that when he coached as an assistant at Golden State, Warriors GM Bob Myers didn't sit in on such meetings. Pelinka responded to Walton that he had communicated with Myers -- and that Myers was now, in the years since Walton's departure from Golden State, sitting in on these meetings. Sources in and around the Warriors' organization told ESPN that Myers does no such thing.

This story struck me as one of the more aggravating stories about having to work for Rob.

Agree. It seems that Pelinka is a habitual liar and also a really bad one in that it's easy for everyone to see through his lies and also fact check them. Did he really think that Luke Walton wouldn't be able to call the coaches he used to work with in Golden State and ask?

[EggIsCooling]

What would the NBA do without the Lakers??? The dynastic Warriors are prying for a 3-peat against the first time playing in the Finals Raptors, and the Lakers are front page news. Something tells me Baxter Holmes is a leprechaun... this guy bleeds Celtic green.

[Cafu]

Regarding Pelinka telling lies etc.. I have a hard time believing that people that could be that stupid, especially “the snake” like him but in my experience some people are that stupid, telling lies that can easily double check with a simple call so I don’t know.
Let’s wait to see what Kobe would tell. For example if the Ledger story was true Kobe would certainly come out and defend him.

[TylersLakers]

There's a lot of ugly stuff in there.

Society as a whole has an issue. People generally can't respond to a little bit of tough criticism. There's financial benefits to having "panic" attacks from your work. That's just the way it is in life, and I realized that when I came into a management position in my job. With that said, you can't just act as an employer that your s**t doesn't stink and keep on berating people like that. You have to adjust to the person and manage personalities individually. Different people need to hear different things. Some you can be harder on, some you have to take a different approach and that's on a good management team to figure out by investing in their employees and actually caring for them.

The stuff about the draft, the coaching, the roster moves, the two war rooms, etc.. Just an awful, awful, awful look.

[Michael Lucky]

Not surprising that all of this is getting out with an exodus of staffers. Having said that the sources reporting it dont exactly seem neutral in all of this. At least Magic is gone so i would expect things to settle down a bit.

[Michael Lucky]

Regarding Pelinka telling lies etc.. I have a hard time believing that people that could be that stupid, especially “the snake” like him but in my experience some people are that stupid, telling lies that can easily double check with a simple call so I don’t know.
Let’s wait to see what Kobe would tell. For example if the Ledger story was true Kobe would certainly come out and defend him.

Well Golden State wouldnt admit to it even if it is true.

[Danny Darko]

So do we have to start a boycott petition to get Jeanie to hire Riley to save this **** show?

Read on Twitter

[Kilroy]

Once you get to a certain point the amount of dysfunction achieves critical mass and new stories just don't matter anymore... You're just "dysfunctional" and trying to put a finer point on it, is silly...
We're past that point by any reasonable measure, so I can't even track any new stories... It's all noise...

I honestly don't care... I'll tune in when the trades start happening or don't, until then, it's all just reporters shooting fish in a barrel... It's too easy.

[machine18]

If I try my hand at optimism, all of this noise is to show Kawhi that you can single-handedly lead a team to their first finals appearance (and first of any non-US city) and the Lakers will still dominate people's attention. Media would still rather talk about the same internal struggles of the Lakers on repeat and about KD NOT playing than about you playing out of your mind and getting to the finals. That all changes when you put on the purple and gold.

And if it wasn't the plan in the first place (which I imagine it wasn't at all) let's make sure that uncle Dennis gets reminded of that daily until the off-season.

[Yank3525]

This is LeBron James at work. He gets his crew to talk to media outlets and spread fake news.

Then entire article is Baxter relaying what anonymous current and former staffers, how the heck is that lebron james at work?

Yeah, and Rich Paul came out looking terrible as well. This isn't an example of Team LeBron trying to control the narrative.

[Sedale Threatt]

Baxter Holmes has always been a quality writer and he obviously has sources from within the organization that are or were in a position to provide Baxter that type of access. I don’t see this as a “hit” piece on the Lakers and more so just a well researched look at how things operated under Magic.

Despite what some of us wish happened with the front office after Magic left, I can’t help but be ecstatic that he’s gone.

Baffling to me that anyone could still be in denial about the extent of the complete sh*t show we’ve become. Our performance over the past decade — the worst stretch in franchise history, by far — speaks for itself. And you don’t fall in a hole that deep by accident.

[LAKESHOW]

Well one thing is true, Lebron James aint runnin the organization

[stan francisco]

We need John Black back. We need a tight lipped news leak culture and the occasional measured press release. This is a ****show.

And if Pelinka is detrimental to a healthy locker room culture, fire him. Do it, Linda! No, no that. Fire him. Lol. If he’s a two faced snake to the players and staff, it doesn’t really matter if he looks like Rob Lowe.

ESPN have always had a Laker hate MO. Whenever they show career highlights of any star from any other NBA team it’s usually predominantly featuring dunks and highlights against the Lakeshow. Most of the time this is actually true. The Laker hate from ESPN is obvious. I think the players know this.