Management Is Growing Along With The Young Guys

oldlakerfan · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 6:14 am Post subject:

I think the big miscalculation that the management team made was to go all in with older veterans. They trades away the farm on a washed up Nash and miscalculated badly on Howard. They also missed that Kobe was not Kobe anymore and saddled the team with a terrible salary and hurt the cap.

We have been terribly lucky so far by keeping our picks and being able to secure some great talent. Lets hope we don't go overboard during this free agency period and sign some guys to the max or close to the max that are not close to max type players. This will be the year of over paying for mid level talent and we must keep our powder dry for future unless we can land one of the top centers and top wings.

While we are much more attractive this year next year we will be much more attractive as I believe Russell, Randle, Nance, Clarkston and Ingram will all show significant improvement. If we are able to add someone like Whiteside this year we out to have cap space available to land another star player and we should be the most attractive team in the league draw them to us.

I hope the management team is taking a 2 year approach because if they play it right we will have a team that is a contender for the long haul. They have done well at rebuilding but have gotten very lucky with the draft picks and the lottery balls. They know how to pick talent so lets hope have a 2 year horizon and a plan for long term sustained success. I think they do but will really hype up getting FA this year from a marketing standpoint. It would be okay if they could land a Whiteside, Batum and Biyombo but I think that is just unlikely to happen.

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kikanga

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Actually, lately Mich and Jim have been doing good picks. Maybe it is
because their back is against the wall.

So far:
2 number two picks. Ingram will be a star. Maybe Russell.
#7 pick Randle has potential and if he can develop a jumper watch out
Clarkson and Zubac good second round picks.

Lou William good hire
Bass good hire
Black good hire

So the future is bright.

The key is to stay patient and keep making those good decisions.
With 2017 and 2019 pick to other teams, they might have to hit
in FA. Dont give away any more draft picks please.

It will be a crapshoot. But if patient they can succeed.

Dr. Funkbot · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 1:21 pm Post subject:

The way to build a team under the modern CBA is through the draft, which is what we are doing.

Our biggest mistake was trading away all of our picks for Nash. There is no quick fix for our situation unless we want to be the Knicks or the Nets. Sure we could overpay for a vet and trade away our future - again- but that would get us a series of first round exits and no way to improve.

I am the biggest Jim Buss critic you can find, but he is right this time. He is learning from his mistakes and I think that shows growth on his part.

And I love the Luke hiring. No more re-tread "safe" coaching hires. He is shooting for the moon and doing it decisively!

Impatient fans and management go us here. Got us to the worst Laker record of all time. And if Jim listens to all of the people pissing and moaning here we are doomed. We should have blown up the team 2 years ago and gone into rebuild mode. But we didn't. We overplayed our hand and outside of keeping a few picks, we have wasted 2 years of valuable rebuilding time.

We must think of the long game if we want to get a title. It is way too soon to cash in our chips at this time. Settle down people and go for the ride. It will be fun to see the kids grow and when the time is right, we will cash in a few chips to put us over the top!

Mitch and Ryan West are on the top of their game. Their picks have been stellar. No need to move them, they are doing great.
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Omar Little

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kikanga

kikanga · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 1:50 pm Post subject:

I know I sound harsh towards the front office. But I'm in no way attached to my negative perspective.
My criticism will quickly turn to praise if we sign just B level talent this free agency. For a 17 win team that's been at the bottom for multiple seasons, signing B level talent would be a HUGE win. Far exceeding expectations.

If our FO secures talent that lifts us out of the bottom of the league (via trade or free agency). I will heavily praise them for it.
I have friends and family members who are season ticket holders who are far more unreasonable than me. They think our FO caused our rapid decline post-Phil. So they shouldn't get credit if we improve back to league average eventually. That's a stupid perspective in my book.
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Omar Little · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 1:59 pm Post subject:

One of the things to remember is that as a general rule, the better your draft slot, the worse your free agent prospects. So if LA lands a top or even second tier free agent in a normal year, that would be a coup given their record. If they do it in a year where everybody has money, even more so. For better or worse, most of the time in this position you have to sign pretty mediocre free agents and combine them with your youth until they win enough to get to the better guys.

This is precisely why the Lakers swung so hard at a reload, and why they took the big names or bust route the last few years. They knew that they needed the picks and some unspectacular guys to get to the prime guys, unless they got lucky. And they knew grabbing to many of the mediocre free agents too early would cost the draft slots. Fine line to dance.
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kikanga · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 2:33 pm Post subject:

The piece of the puzzle that's missing is: trades. And like you said Omar, we're dancing a fine line.

You accurately described the upside to the route the Lakers took these past 2 offseasons. Swing for the fences. When it doesn't work out, you get a top tier pick. And that pick will have a higher potential than the B-level free agency talent we passed on.

Problem with pushing wins down the road and going potential/talent is. Sooner or later, the wins have to come. Sooner or later you have to push your chips (assets) to the center of the table and try to cash in (trade for top tier talent). Otherwise, you're hoping (not a guarantee) your lottery picks are "the ones" and will far exceed their peers 3-4-5 years down the road. In the meantime you're in a potential-filled limbo.

I wanted to get the B-level talent the past 2 offseasons. Since we'd (1) get more free agent success because we have more wins and a more of a win-now roster. And (2) we could potentially make some Mitch-highway-robbery trades with talent on the books that are relatively cheap assets (since the cap is increasing so rapidly).

And I know this route I'm describing appears to neglect bringing in cheap, young top-tier talent through the draft. But we could always trade away some cheap B-level talent on the books for the right 1 or 2 first round picks.

Seeing what we've done late in the draft. I think that route would've produced great results.
But maybe DLO, Ingram, or Randle become all stars years down the road.
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"Every hurt is a lesson, and every lesson makes you better”

Omar Little · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 2:42 pm Post subject:

lakerlove123 · Starting Rotation Joined: 07 Jul 2015 Posts: 361

You know, I don't know if it's called "The Circle of Life," but I am thankful for the last few years. Success is way more fulfilling if you tumble down every few years, learn something new, and build up again. I, for one, no matter how much of a Laker fan I am, would not want to live in an NBA world where the Lakers are always at the top. Where's the fun in that? Where's the competition and the ups and downs of the down years, waiting to see something grow?

Call me crazy (all right, I'm ready for it

) but I DO believe Mitch, Jim and the FO did the best they could do the last few years. Like I said, I believe in the Circle of Life and karma and in the natural revolution of things it was time for the other teams to shine. Those teams have had time to shine, now, and our re-building process is under way. A few years from now, I hope we will be at the top.

But I'm thankful for the wait.

kikanga · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 2:50 pm Post subject:

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We were better than a 17 win team. They were held back by Byron and the KFT. I expect us to be very competitive next year.

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