Why is everyone mad at Mitch?

iml84myd8s · Starting Rotation Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 598

Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

Jerry Buss came out and publically said it was his decision to trade Shaq for Odom, Bulter and Grant. Jerry made it clear it was his decision and Phil, Mitch or Kobe had anything to do with it.

Jim Buss was tooting his horn after the draft and during preseason. We all heard Jim on the Loose Canon talking about how he learned from the best, Jerry West. Jim made it clear he was the man who would be making the decisions but keeping his dad informed. Jim made it clear he wanted Bynum rather than a player who could help now. Jim also made it impossible to get Artest, regardless of Phil Jackson's desires.

Speaking of Phil Jackson, in case anyone forgot, he is the one making $10 million per year. Not Mitch. Phil Jackson has more to do with the Lakers success and failures than Mitch. Even after Phil's tell-all book that ripped the organization and Kobe, Jerry Buss still made Phil the highest paid coach in the league. Jerry Buss isn't going to make Phil Jackson the highest paid coach and not give him final say over Mitch.

This isn't a Mitch issue. Mitch's job is to get deals done with the players and trades that he has available after the Buss family and Jackson approve them. That's it. Mitch is a pawn. Nothing more.

KobeButler · Franchise Player Joined: 14 Nov 2004 Posts: 10179

Mitch is labled as the GM. Regardless of who makes the final decisions or not, he still labeled as the gm. If hes hired just to be the "pawn" then why shouldnt we get mad at him? Hes being paid for being it.

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Pain is temporary, at the end of pain is success...

eniq 0x00 · Star Player Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 2724

Mitch is the evil henchman who is out to destroy our chances at success, apparently.
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"In essence, the trade was: Shaq, Rick Fox and Gary Payton for Odom, Kwame, Mihm, Profit, 2nd round picks, a 1st round pick and 30 million in luxury tax saviings." - LakerJam

^^ Farmar

iml84myd8s · Starting Rotation Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 598

Sidious · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 8:55 pm Post subject:

Buss is too busy working on his sorry ass poker game

KobeButler · Franchise Player Joined: 14 Nov 2004 Posts: 10179

aiel · Star Player Joined: 16 May 2001 Posts: 1211

"He practiced against Kobe all of last year, so obviously it was sweet revenge for him," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We deserved that. We didn't know who he was, we gave him up to Charlotte, we had no idea how good a player he was." - seattlepi.com.

It seems phil's not too happy with managements decision.

angrypuppy · Retired Number Joined: 13 Apr 2001 Posts: 32754

Mitch catches flak unfairly for many of Dr. Buss' decisions. I don't think Mitch is an awful GM, but I get the feeling that he's not man enough to stand up to the Buss family either. Too many shortsighted moves were made during the Shaq period to maximize short-term cash flow. Now were supposed to sit patiently while the same management team makes a long-term plan.

The saddest part is that when we land career scrubs like J. Jones and L. Profit, they become integral role players on our team. That speaks volumes as to the quality of our team. And when we save a few bucks by terminating Devean's contract early, or trading K. Rush for second round picks, it blows up the the franchise's face. It all reeks of shortsighted management, and yet we are now being held hostage to a nebulous long-term plan.

venturalakersfan · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:49 pm Post subject:

Drifts · Retired Number Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 28374

venturalakersfan · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:54 pm Post subject:

Drifts · Retired Number Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 28374

venturalakersfan · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:07 pm Post subject:

I think Green could be a pretty good triangle player. I haven't seen him enough to judge his defense.
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tgf5 · Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:39 pm Post subject:

Mitch wasted the MLE for 2 seasons in a row. Byebye Divac and we have yet to say hello to McKie.

laker4life · Star Player Joined: 26 Nov 2001 Posts: 7320

angel · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 2:45 am Post subject:

I'm not, so it not everyone.
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"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." ~~Martin Luther King Jr.~~

VonWafer&KobeBryantFa · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:37 am Post subject:

iml84myd8s · Starting Rotation Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 598

LakerFan4Lyfe · Starting Rotation Joined: 30 Sep 2005 Posts: 761

you have to admit... The buss Family wants to win!!! and they will do anything to get to the top again. The Lakers will not turn into the celtics and eventually Jerry west will retire. SO this is a good learning part on both sides.

However, I disagree on blowing 3 seasons to get cap room. ABsoultely ridiculous!!!

wolfpaclaker · Retired Number Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 58344

Mitch is someone that follows instructions really well. On his own vision, it's hard to really say if he has a good one or not.

I think he makes very good moves for the future. I mean all his trades and aquisitions these past two years have been with the future in mind.

Bigmen
Andrew Bynum - 18 year old Center that has shown great talent
Chris Mihm - Young Center on the rise
Kwame Brown - Project Bigman
Ronny Turiaf - Energy PF that is expected to bring a Mark Madsen dynamic with more athletecism
Brian Cook - Shooting PF that extend defenses

Backcourt
Smush Parker - SPL pickup that is starting for the Lakers
Sasha Vujacic - Young guard that's still learning the game on both ends
Devin Green - Rookie that's shown good athletecism and was another SPL pickup
Von Wafer - Scoring guard that light up SPL

While you can say all of those players are not All-Stars or even really, really good - they have been aquired with the mindset to get better in the future.

Moving forward. That's the plan. Get a good FA in 2007 or 2008 and you can fill out the roster with some of those players for cheap.

We may hate that 8-10 players on this roster are unproven scrubs, but in 2 years if 2-3 of those scrubs develop - we will be really happy with the overall roster considering the FA money to aquire another superstar.

Anyway, let's see what happens. I think Mitch doesn't care much about today as he does 2 years from now.

wolfpaclaker · Retired Number Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 58344

Freakout · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:29 am Post subject:

iml84myd8s · Starting Rotation Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 598

bambam · Star Player Joined: 03 Jul 2003 Posts: 9013

bambam · Star Player Joined: 03 Jul 2003 Posts: 9013

Mitch is responsible for his crappy drafts and the CRAP trade for shaq.