Firing of Alex McKechnie (Conditioning Trainer) still "hurting" the Lakers (literally)
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Nash Vegas
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:04 am    Post subject:

Jordan-esque wrote:
yinoma2001 wrote:
I'm sure the team has people in the preventative department but not in the caliber of experience as the previous guys?

Not certain if Lakers had one until Phil came in and brought Chip Schaefer from the Chicago Bulls then later hired Alex McKechnie.

Ronnie Lester wasn't replaced, Jim Buss basically filled that role with himself and Mitch.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/22/sports/la-sp-lakers-layoffs-20110723

Quote:
Now Ronnie Lester is speaking out — and not just for himself, but also for other longtime Lakers employees who must find jobs after the team parted ways with them because of the NBA lockout.

Some were told their contracts would not be renewed and some were laid off. All told, about 20 Lakers employees are, or soon will be, looking for jobs, including some of Phil Jackson's former coaching staff.

It was the manner in which they were let go by one of the most successful and profitable franchises in the NBA that bothered Lester.

"You think of the Lakers and you think they are a great organization," Lester said. "But if you work inside the organization, it's only a perception of being a great organization. It's probably not a great organization, because great organizations don't treat their personnel like they've done."

Lester said Jim Buss, the vice president of player personnel and son of the Lakers' owner and his siblings are making more decisions and have increased roles.

Lester said Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak wants him to return, but there is resistance inside the organization.

"Mitch wants to bring me back, but he can't get the Busses to agree to bring me back," Lester said.

Lester was asked whether it was true that Jim Buss has taken Phil Jackson's former office, which would imply that Buss will be around more.

"Jim Buss is not around much," Lester said. "The only time he is here consistently is a week or two before the draft."


A Lakers spokesman said the team declined to talk about Lester's comments.

The Lakers did not offer contracts to four of the five members of the team's training staff and couldn't guarantee that they would rehire them after the lockout.

Chip Schaefer was the Lakers' director of athletic performance and had been with the team since 1999. He's been with Phil Jackson for all 11 championships. His contract ran out June 30 and he was picked up by the Sacramento Kings.

Alex McKechnie had been the team's athletic performance coordinator since 2003. He landed a job Thursday with the Toronto Raptors as their director of sports science.

Lester wondered why the Lakers couldn't keep more employees on their payroll, given all the money the team has made.

According to Forbes, the Lakers had an operating profit of $33.4 million on $214 million in revenue for the 2009-10 season, and the team is valued at $643 million.

The Lakers recently signed a 20-year television deal with Time Warner Cable, an agreement that starts with the 2012-13 season and reportedly is valued at $4 billion.

"I don't want anybody to lose their jobs," Lester said. "But I am curious about something. Why is it just the basketball operations people losing their jobs? That's what I want to know."


Damn Ronnie
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pmacla
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:11 am    Post subject:

Same crap different package for those who hate Jim Buss
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Nash Vegas
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:12 am    Post subject:

You know I don't remember the Lakers falling like flies during practices like they have been these last 2 years or after getting contact that didn't look too serious like a sprained ankle but then next day upgraded to a broken foot.
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CabinCreek44
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:55 am    Post subject:

Certainly not defending the Lakers medical staff of late, but wasn't Andrew Bynum hurt all the time when McChechnie was around? Why didn't he make sure that didn't happen?

I'm not sure we can blame old guys breaking down on the fact that McChehnie was not retained. And yes, they did clean house of the Jackson guys. Businesses do that sometimes when there's been a messy divorce with one of the principals. Sometimes their "guys" get caught up in the collateral damage.

Vitti has been with the team for 30 years. I don't recall Lakers breaking down left and right during all those years. So, he was a good trainer for 27 years, and in the last 3 he's become lousy. Ok.
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ch3cky0selff00
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 7:59 am    Post subject:

Jordan-esque wrote:
ch3cky0selff00 wrote:
Lol this is a bit of a reach.

This guy was going to prevent Damian Lillard from colliding with Steve Nash causing his eventual demise?

This guy was going to prevent Kobe Bryant from injuring his achilles on a move he's done 20 million times?

THIS guy was going to prevent Julius Randle from breaking his leg?

I mean.. if it helps y'all sleep at night trying to pin-point the cause for the Lakers misfortunes then.. right on.

I don't know who y'all are going to want to replace Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak but I sincerely hope it has nothing to do with Magic Johnson lol. This dude was the conductor of the Mike D'Antoni hate train and publicly endorsed BYRON SCOTT.

Be careful what y'all wish for.


I hope you didn't really believe that what you just said. It's not to prevent getting hurt but prevent and limit the severity from seriously getting hurt. You condition yourself so that when you do get hurt your body is more prepared to handle the burden.

Also he was basically the Lakes' recovery specialist who was brought in to expedite Shaq's recovery and then Lamar's. Trudell on Mason/Ireland or Kellerman even said having McKechnie around when Nash got hurt his 1st year here would've given Nash a different kind of recovery that might have prevented him developing nerve irritation during his recovery.


This isn't NBA 2k. You can't just bring people in and they reduce recovery time by 10%

Perhaps you know more about it than I do. Explain to me so I better understand.. What would this guy have done specifically to help out the injuries sustained to the Lakers players.
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LakesGnrLake
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:03 am    Post subject:

CabinCreek44 wrote:
Certainly not defending the Lakers medical staff of late, but wasn't Andrew Bynum hurt all the time when McChechnie was around? Why didn't he make sure that didn't happen?

I'm not sure we can blame old guys breaking down on the fact that McChehnie was not retained. And yes, they did clean house of the Jackson guys. Businesses do that sometimes when there's been a messy divorce with one of the principals. Sometimes their "guys" get caught up in the collateral damage.

Vitti has been with the team for 30 years. I don't recall Lakers breaking down left and right during all those years. So, he was a good trainer for 27 years, and in the last 3 he's become lousy. Ok.


I think the fact that Bynum was on the court a good portion of the time attest to how good he was. The second Bynum gets traded you hardly saw him on the court after that.
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audioaxes
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:08 am    Post subject:

yawn who needs Alex when we have the Vitti and his awesome old school techniques and snake oil remedies
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Moises
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:21 am    Post subject:

Lots of reminiscing of old times from rose colored glasses. Who can forget Bynum, Odom, Farmar, Walton, Ariza, etc. being out for stretches during seasons (with McKechnie and Schieffer). The big difference from now and then is the depth the team had to withstand the injuries. Right now we have no depth, the backups are not even adequate to be backups on most teams. Would having both of them help? Absolutely. But they wouldn't solve all our injury problems. Injuries are going to happen.
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msb212
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:30 am    Post subject:

The chickens are home and roosting.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:41 am    Post subject:

ch3cky0selff00 wrote:
Jordan-esque wrote:
ch3cky0selff00 wrote:
Lol this is a bit of a reach.

This guy was going to prevent Damian Lillard from colliding with Steve Nash causing his eventual demise?

This guy was going to prevent Kobe Bryant from injuring his achilles on a move he's done 20 million times?

THIS guy was going to prevent Julius Randle from breaking his leg?

I mean.. if it helps y'all sleep at night trying to pin-point the cause for the Lakers misfortunes then.. right on.

I don't know who y'all are going to want to replace Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak but I sincerely hope it has nothing to do with Magic Johnson lol. This dude was the conductor of the Mike D'Antoni hate train and publicly endorsed BYRON SCOTT.

Be careful what y'all wish for.


I hope you didn't really believe that what you just said. It's not to prevent getting hurt but prevent and limit the severity from seriously getting hurt. You condition yourself so that when you do get hurt your body is more prepared to handle the burden.

Also he was basically the Lakes' recovery specialist who was brought in to expedite Shaq's recovery and then Lamar's. Trudell on Mason/Ireland or Kellerman even said having McKechnie around when Nash got hurt his 1st year here would've given Nash a different kind of recovery that might have prevented him developing nerve irritation during his recovery.


This isn't NBA 2k. You can't just bring people in and they reduce recovery time by 10%

Perhaps you know more about it than I do. Explain to me so I better understand.. What would this guy have done specifically to help out the injuries sustained to the Lakers players.


Car Bumper -

Think of it like a car bumper on your vehicle. The bumper is not going to prevent you from getting into an accident, but if you do, it sure will minimize the damage on your whole car when you end up ramming into a light post.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 9:01 am    Post subject:

ch3cky0selff00 wrote:
Jordan-esque wrote:
ch3cky0selff00 wrote:
Lol this is a bit of a reach.

This guy was going to prevent Damian Lillard from colliding with Steve Nash causing his eventual demise?

This guy was going to prevent Kobe Bryant from injuring his achilles on a move he's done 20 million times?

THIS guy was going to prevent Julius Randle from breaking his leg?

I mean.. if it helps y'all sleep at night trying to pin-point the cause for the Lakers misfortunes then.. right on.

I don't know who y'all are going to want to replace Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak but I sincerely hope it has nothing to do with Magic Johnson lol. This dude was the conductor of the Mike D'Antoni hate train and publicly endorsed BYRON SCOTT.

Be careful what y'all wish for.


I hope you didn't really believe that what you just said. It's not to prevent getting hurt but prevent and limit the severity from seriously getting hurt. You condition yourself so that when you do get hurt your body is more prepared to handle the burden.

Also he was basically the Lakes' recovery specialist who was brought in to expedite Shaq's recovery and then Lamar's. Trudell on Mason/Ireland or Kellerman even said having McKechnie around when Nash got hurt his 1st year here would've given Nash a different kind of recovery that might have prevented him developing nerve irritation during his recovery.


This isn't NBA 2k. You can't just bring people in and they reduce recovery time by 10%

Perhaps you know more about it than I do. Explain to me so I better understand.. What would this guy have done specifically to help out the injuries sustained to the Lakers players.


Have you ever had contact with a doctor before? There's a reason why you see one every year and get a physical. You need to think beyond the box. It's not so important that this 1 play caused the injury but what precipitating/risk factors lead to it. It's not always so black and white.

Again recovery time can be reduced by bringing in people. Hip/knee replacement or surgery. You expect someone to recover fully on their own without help? No! You bring in physical therapy and get them in rehab. The addition of this significantly reduces recovery time.

Example with Randle:

A. Poor conditioning and physical therapy in preseason

Heavy practice during preseason using his legs til he was dead tired -> Possible hairline fracture from stress of not being used to the practices -> Hits right tibia that had these stressors -> Complete Fracture

B. Great conditioning/preventative care in preseason due to Alex

This becomes a protective factor Randle. Reduction of stressors in tibia. Repeat that same play where he broke his leg and maybe nothing would have happened.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 10:03 am    Post subject:

DiFrancesco is the guy that replaced him aka grassfed. It's not like that position is empty.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 12:28 pm    Post subject:

MJST wrote:
DiFrancesco is the guy that replaced him aka grassfed. It's not like that position is empty.


This times a million.

Y'all act as if dude was let go and nobody replaced him lol.

But.. This is a witch hunt to lay blame on somebody so presenting facts is pointless when somebody's mind is made up about why something happened.
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22
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 12:55 pm    Post subject:

You guys have me skeptical of DiFransesco now

I wish Luca was here to shed some light on this
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:07 pm    Post subject:

Not all Doctors are created equal, and not all trainers are created equal. Getting rid of a proven well respected training staff, or parts of a training staff makes no sense, especially a staff that trains multi million dollar athletes.

Another failure of current Lakers management. Getting rid of the long time equipment manager is different even though that was taking away a man's livelihood which was calloused to say the least, getting rid of an employee that trains million dollar assets is poor management.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:52 pm    Post subject:

The FO does seem to be a bit passive when it comes to personnel unless it is a big name
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:58 pm    Post subject:

Jim Buss doesn't do anything to dispel the negative image that's portrayed of him by the media, and there is every indication that the buck stops with him. Personnel, coaching, conditioning, whatever. It's all a sham.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:43 pm    Post subject:

ch3cky0selff00 wrote:
MJST wrote:
DiFrancesco is the guy that replaced him aka grassfed. It's not like that position is empty.


This times a million.

Y'all act as if dude was let go and nobody replaced him lol.


"Mike Brown is the guy that replaced Phil, aka Mr. Potato Head. It's not like that position is empty."

See what I did there?

Now say if it's still this times a million.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:09 pm    Post subject:

22 wrote:
You guys have me skeptical of DiFransesco now

I wish Luca was here to shed some light on this


Him and Vitti also brought on doctor Cate Shanahan in 2012, a nutritionist. Seems like her hiring correlates with our string of bad luck in the injury department.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:17 pm    Post subject:

dont_be_a_wuss wrote:
22 wrote:
You guys have me skeptical of DiFransesco now

I wish Luca was here to shed some light on this


Him and Vitti also brought on doctor Cate Shanahan in 2012, a nutritionist. Seems like her hiring correlates with our string of bad luck in the injury department.


the link between strength training/conditioning and injury prevention is one thing, putting it on a nutritionist seems like we're taking that a little too far.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:30 pm    Post subject:

44TheLogo wrote:
dont_be_a_wuss wrote:
22 wrote:
You guys have me skeptical of DiFransesco now

I wish Luca was here to shed some light on this


Him and Vitti also brought on doctor Cate Shanahan in 2012, a nutritionist. Seems like her hiring correlates with our string of bad luck in the injury department.


the link between strength training/conditioning and injury prevention is one thing, putting it on a nutritionist seems like we're taking that a little too far.


Randle breaks his tibia by kicking himself in the leg. How is conditioning going to help that.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 4:55 pm    Post subject:

Quote:

Ronnie Lester wasn't replaced, Jim Buss basically filled that role with himself

That's being replaced. A life long loser who inherited his daddy's millions and whose inflated ego leads him to openly question the need for scouts when he can just do the scouting himself. Has there ever been such an "owner" in the history of professional sports? No wonder the supporting cast sucks.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:35 pm    Post subject:

dont_be_a_wuss wrote:
44TheLogo wrote:
dont_be_a_wuss wrote:
22 wrote:
You guys have me skeptical of DiFransesco now

I wish Luca was here to shed some light on this


Him and Vitti also brought on doctor Cate Shanahan in 2012, a nutritionist. Seems like her hiring correlates with our string of bad luck in the injury department.


the link between strength training/conditioning and injury prevention is one thing, putting it on a nutritionist seems like we're taking that a little too far.


Randle breaks his tibia by kicking himself in the leg. How is conditioning going to help that.


It D'antoni's fault.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:54 pm    Post subject:

They should have kept Craig Hodges
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 9:47 pm    Post subject:

Moises wrote:
Lots of reminiscing of old times from rose colored glasses. Who can forget Bynum, Odom, Farmar, Walton, Ariza, etc. being out for stretches during seasons (with McKechnie and Schieffer). The big difference from now and then is the depth the team had to withstand the injuries. Right now we have no depth, the backups are not even adequate to be backups on most teams. Would having both of them help? Absolutely. But they wouldn't solve all our injury problems. Injuries are going to happen.


Walton and Bynum were genetically broken and somehow we got several years out of them.

Farmar and Odom I don't remember being out so much that it was a problem. Ariza broke his foot right after joining us or something like that right? Maybe our guys didn't have time to work with him properly.
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