Zach Lowe podcast with Ramona Shelburne discussing Lakers

Post #1 » by **Slava** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 11:23 am

Some really good stuff in Zach Lowe's podcast with Ramona Shelburne on the Lakers.

http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=18969493

Some highlights

> Apparently Johnny Buss brought Ron Jeremy to Dr. Buss' funeral
> Johnny and Jimbo hired lawyers and planned to oust Jeannie even before Jeannie met Magic or fired Jim
> Jeannie was forced by everyone to act right after it started leaking that they were filing court papers to form a board of directors without her and Joey Buss
> Kings' demand for Cousins was D'Angelo and Ingram
> Jim wanted to do the deal, everyone else was against it
> Magic is very good at delegating business to his associates and colleagues
> D'Angelo's knee issues are a concern around the league
> Russell is the most polarizing player around the NBA
> The recent move to SG is with a view of the top 2 picks in 2017 being PGs
> The team is still trying to figure out how best to use Russell
> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster
> Lowe really believes in Randle, thinks the disparity between when he is dialed in and not is pretty huge and he is top quality when dialed in
> Shelburne suggests Randle has wild swings of confidence which affects his effort level
> Mitch was in favor of hiring Brian Shaw over Mike Brown but Jim overruled it

iamworthy · Post #2 » by **iamworthy** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:12 pm

>Byron works out with magic in the mornings

TylersLakers · Post #3 » by **TylersLakers** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:03 pm

Mitch made mistakes but it's really unfortunate he had to fall on the sword because of Jim's even bigger mistakes. I think Mitch would be a valuable member of the front office in some capacity, but that ship has sailed.

Post #4 » by **TyCobb** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:25 pm

Nice, new information. Great thread. :lol:

> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster

That's the biggest indicator to me that they plan to build around him starting this offseason.

iamworthy · Post #5 » by **iamworthy** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 3:47 pm

TyCobb wrote:Nice, new information. Great thread.

> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster

That's the biggest indicator to me that they plan to build around him starting this offseason.

What's your line of thinking on that? I didn't really come to the same conclusion so I'm just curious.

Karmaloop · Post #6 » by **Karmaloop** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:10 pm

Nothing in there is surprising, pretty much hits the nail on the head on a LOT of the stuff.

Jody Smokz · Post #7 » by **Jody Smokz** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 4:59 pm

I don't think that means they are building AROUND him but more so WITH him. There are very very few guys you can build a team AROUND in the NBA and be successful. GS isn't built AROUND Steph but with him. When you build around a guy you limit the ability for the team to succeed unless that player is Lebron James.

TyCobb wrote:Nice, new information. Great thread.

> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster

That's the biggest indicator to me that they plan to build around him starting this offseason.

MrWaffles · Post #8 » by **MrWaffles** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 5:23 pm

Thanks for the breakdown Slava.

Should be an interesting summer. I don't believe the knee issues of D'Angelo is that big of deal.

SashaTheMachine · Post #9 » by **SashaTheMachine** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 6:19 pm

Slava wrote:> D'Angelo's knee issues are a concern around the league

Really?

Post #10 » by **dockingsched** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 8:37 pm

TyCobb wrote:Nice, new information. Great thread.

> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster

That's the biggest indicator to me that they plan to build around him starting this offseason.

That quote stood out to me too just in that it acknowledges that Russell is both the only competent play making guard on the team as well as its best scoring guard, so anyone you put next to him isn't really going to benefit his own play.

El Hardee · Post #11 » by **El Hardee** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:15 pm

Im kind of disappointed that they are high on Randle, i think he is garbage and needs to go. He Defense is atrocious and he finishes about as strong as a impotent man. I really want him gone.

Post #12 » by **TyCobb** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:18 pm

Jody Smokz wrote:I don't think that means they are building AROUND him but more so WITH him. There are very very few guys you can build a team AROUND in the NBA and be successful. GS isn't built AROUND Steph but with him. When you build around a guy you limit the ability for the team to succeed unless that player is Lebron James.

TyCobb wrote:Nice, new information. Great thread.

> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster

That's the biggest indicator to me that they plan to build around him starting this offseason.

If you're going to say the Warriors aren't built around Steph, then this is just semantics. :lol:

Post #13 » by **TyCobb** » Wed Mar 22, 2017 9:23 pm

dockingsched wrote:
TyCobb wrote:Nice, new information. Great thread.

> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster

That's the biggest indicator to me that they plan to build around him starting this offseason.

That quote stood out to me too just in that it acknowledges that Russell is both the only competent play making guard on the team as well as its best scoring guard, so anyone you put next to him isn't really going to benefit his own play.

For me, I feel Russell was held back in four ways this season:

1. Walton playing games with his minutes
2. Russell's shot attempts being taken away by Lou Williams
3. Low IQ/skilled teammates (Clarkson, Randle, Williams, Black, Mozgov, Deng)
4. Too much time as main initiator (PG).

So it's nice to see Walton acknowledge #3 and #4, and see that with even how ahead of his time he is now, that he is still being held back.

Post #14 » by **Danny Darko** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:12 am

TyCobb wrote:Nice, new information. Great thread.

> Walton thinks Russell has more off ball capabilities that are not being unlocked due to the limitations of the roster

That's the biggest indicator to me that they plan to build around him starting this offseason.

They could always be building another team around him this offseason.

...like the bulls

Landsberger · Post #15 » by **Landsberger** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:25 am

The knee is interesting. Getting that procedure for "pain" is really vague. For a 20 year old it's very rare if he's truly got healthy knees. If the league is worried that means that his value is effected by it and that he's been most likely shopped.

Seeing him as a 2 is where I've seen him as well. Now we've got to get a solid PG to make it work.

I wouldn't have given one of Ingram or Russell for Cousins so regardless of who messed up that deal I'm happy.

Pythagoras · Post #16 » by **Pythagoras** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:13 am

El Hardee wrote:Im kind of disappointed that they are high on Randle, i think he is garbage and needs to go. He Defense is atrocious and he finishes about as strong as a impotent man. I really want him gone.

I've been a Randle critic for most of this season, and advocated trading him. He's certainly needs to add some range to his jumper, preferably out to the 3 point line, but since the AS break:

14/11/5 with a 112 ORating and an 18 PER. When a 22 year old player produces like that over an extended period of time it starts to catch people's attention. Its certainly starting to intrigue me.

Pythagoras · Post #17 » by **Pythagoras** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 10:27 am

Landsberger wrote:The knee is interesting. Getting that procedure for "pain" is really vague. For a 20 year old it's very rare if he's truly got healthy knees. If the league is worried that means that his value is effected by it and that he's been most likely shopped.

I very much doubt Russell is being actively shopped. There's no information we have right now to suggest D'Lo has bad knees. This knee thing could just as easily being rival GM's trying to drive down his value if they're worried about the Lakers using him in ammunition in the PG sweepstakes this offseason (I don't think they are, for the record, nor should they).

Jody Smokz · Post #18 » by **Jody Smokz** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:01 pm

I don't think Russell needs to be set in as a 2 or a PG. He just needs to play with another quality playmaker. Steph gets a lot of shots off ball due to other playmakers on the floor. Just forget about position roles and names for a second and think about how a person functions on the floor with other types of players.

Russell can't succeed as the primary playmaker b/c none of the bigs can shoot and the best finishing big in Zubac is still super young. I don't believe Russell is strong or athletic enough to consistently get his own shot off the dribble like say a Harden or Lillard. If he plays with another guard even similar to him he and the team can break ground. Lillard and McCollum are very similar but they work, atleast offensively.

Jody Smokz · Post #19 » by **Jody Smokz** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 2:02 pm

The problem with playing him with Clarkson is that Clarkson has the BB IQ of a 3rd grader. Im not sure how he lost all of that playmaking ability he showed us in his rookie season but that player would be what we'd be looking for.

Landsberger · Post #20 » by **Landsberger** » Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:53 pm

Pythagoras wrote:
Landsberger wrote:The knee is interesting. Getting that procedure for "pain" is really vague. For a 20 year old it's very rare if he's truly got healthy knees. If the league is worried that means that his value is effected by it and that he's been most likely shopped.

I very much doubt Russell is being actively shopped. There's no information we have right now to suggest D'Lo has bad knees. This knee thing could just as easily being rival GM's trying to drive down his value if they're worried about the Lakers using him in ammunition in the PG sweepstakes this offseason (I don't think they are, for the record, nor should they).

Find a list of 20 year olds who miss games with no apparent injury and then get Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy for their knee. Isn't that in of itself information to suggest a knee issue? This isn't a procedure you do for tendinitis.

The way the statement was written suggested that GM's are worried about his knees. If I'm a GM I don't call the Lakers and say hey I'm interested in trading for Russell but I want a discount because I hear he has bad knees. If you think someone has bad knees but don't know you don't call the ones who do know and negotiate from a standpoint of ignorance. Read Sun Tzu

I'm sure Russell has been shopped as has everyone else on the team. If our GM's aren't doing that to get better then we need new GM's. There are only a few players in the league at any given time who are untouchable. I don't think we have any of them.