The incompetent people are still around. I'm glad Vogel got fired because he's a talented coach that would thrive with the right type of players (young, energetic and defensive minded). Laker fans still get to enjoy the lameshow by Jeanie and friends for years to come. Pelinka ain't going anywhere unless he resigns like Magic did. Jeanie doesn't fire her friends.
The Los Angeles Lakers were turnover-prone long before Russell Westbrookbecame their highest-paid player.
To see it, one needed only to look at their bench year after year.
In the last five seasons, the Lakers have cycled through three head athletic trainers, three head strength coaches and a couple dozen supporting staffers. To say nothing of a roster that has been overhauled annually.
Now, they are looking for their third head coach in that span.
With Rob Pelinka’s Lakers, there has always been someone to take the fall.
But after firing Frank Vogel on Monday, the Lakers general manager is running out of human shields.
What comes next will be squarely on him.
Pelinka seemed to understand that on Monday, when he acknowledged the source of the Lakers issues in a 33-49 season that ended on Sunday.
“Our roster did not work,” he said bluntly.
Contrast that to a year ago: When the defending-champion Lakers were eliminated in the first round by Phoenix, Pelinka lamented “a championship-caliber roster” that fell short because of circumstances “that weren’t within our control.”
To his credit, Pelinka struck a much different tone after a second straight disappointment, and third in four years.
“I’m the one who leads the basketball operations department,” he said, “and will take ultimate accountability for the roster decisions that are made.”
Pelinka still tried to tie his life raft to others. He hid behind the decision to fire Vogel as a “collaboration” with Jeanie Buss and Tim Harris, the Lakers president of business; he highlighted the responsibilities of the coaching and training staffs; he made sure to remind everyone that Kurt Rambis and brothers Joey and Jesse Buss had a hand in building the roster, too.
But after he pulled the trigger on the trade for Russell Westbrook, refused to match an offer for Alex Caruso, overinvested in Talen Horton-Tucker, and created such a void of depth that the Lakers needed to sign eight players to minimum contracts, there really was no point in Pelinka trying to hide behind anyone else in the organization.
This team was his responsibility.
And the next one will be, too.
Pelinka made himself more accountable than ever before, but he did not look comfortable doing so. Beneath the table, he tapped his left foot nervously, like a gliding duck paddling furiously underwater.
Is he on the clock? Would Jeanie Buss put him there?
Consider the next five months the Summer of Pelinka.
The GM is entering an offseason where he faces more pressure than he has since 2019, when Magic Johnson bolted and left Pelinka holding the bag.
“I’m confident that, like we did in 2019 after a year of disappointment, we (will) put our heads together,” Pelinka said Monday, “and I think we’ll spend the next several weeks and months doing an autopsy of what worked well and what didn’t work well this year and come out of that with a clear plan of how to get it right in July.”
But this is a different situation than three years ago. Back then, the Lakers had Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram. They had draft picks. They had assets to wave around like a whale on the casino floor with his roll of hundreds. This time, there is no trade to be made like the one Pelinka executed for Anthony Davis.
Honestly, Johnson left Pelinka with a golden opportunity: a wealth of trade assets and a motivated LeBron James.
This situation requires a far defter touch.
He will need to make a decision about Westbrook — a conundrum that would seem to put two of the Lakers’ fundamental values in opposition to one another: keeping the books clean to sign another top free agent in 2023? Or taking on long-term money to get rid of Westbrook and give themselves the best chance of winning with LeBron James next season?
It would seem to be an easy choice — the Lakers were ready to stray from their 2023 cap space plan last summer, when they nearly traded for Buddy Hieldinstead of Westbrook. But the Lakers remember all too well what happens when an embattled front office fixates too heavily on the short term: The Lakers only just stopped paying Luol Deng after the ill-planned summer of 2016 in which Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss signed Deng and Timofey Mozgov for a combined $136 million.
Kupchak and Buss didn’t make it to another summer.
Can Pelinka learn from the past and somehow navigate these narrow corridors? Acquiring multiple starters for Westbrook would seem to be a huge win for Pelinka. And while teams are always eager to shed bad contracts, would teams expect extra draft compensation to play ball with the Lakers?
Pelinka already bungled the first move of the offseason by failing to control the news of Vogel’s pending dismissal. Rather than acknowledge that Vogel deserved something better, Pelinka dismissed the initial news report as “speculative and unsourced.” Vogel wasn’t fired, in Pelinka parlance, he just transition “from being the leader of the Lakers to part of our legacy.”
Now he needs to find a willing replacement for a mistreated coach and to unveil a long-term strategy for the next stage of the Lakers partnership with LeBron.
James may have said on Monday that he had not yet given much thought to the two-year extension he will be eligible to sign later this season, but you can bet Pelinka has.
“Every indication that we’ve received is that he sees the Lakers as his home,” Pelinka said.
That extension can’t be hammered out until August anyway. So between now and then, the two people who will be watching Pelinka most closely will be James and Jeanie Buss.
Sources have told The Athletic that Pelinka has two years left on the contract extension that accompanied his promotion to vice president of basketball operations last year. Would Jeanie fire Pelinka, who she views as an extension of Kobe Bryant?
Another disaster like last season, and she would almost have no choice. Pelinka didn’t have to tell us he would accept responsibility. He’s the only one left.
Still, I wouldn’t even give this dude next season to figure it out. He needs to be out right the F now. eScapeGoat gotta go-@ me if you disagree. I want all the smoke haha. _________________ Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!
The Los Angeles Lakers were turnover-prone long before Russell Westbrookbecame their highest-paid player.
To see it, one needed only to look at their bench year after year.
In the last five seasons, the Lakers have cycled through three head athletic trainers, three head strength coaches and a couple dozen supporting staffers. To say nothing of a roster that has been overhauled annually.
Now, they are looking for their third head coach in that span.
With Rob Pelinka’s Lakers, there has always been someone to take the fall.
But after firing Frank Vogel on Monday, the Lakers general manager is running out of human shields.
What comes next will be squarely on him.
Pelinka seemed to understand that on Monday, when he acknowledged the source of the Lakers issues in a 33-49 season that ended on Sunday.
“Our roster did not work,” he said bluntly.
Contrast that to a year ago: When the defending-champion Lakers were eliminated in the first round by Phoenix, Pelinka lamented “a championship-caliber roster” that fell short because of circumstances “that weren’t within our control.”
To his credit, Pelinka struck a much different tone after a second straight disappointment, and third in four years.
“I’m the one who leads the basketball operations department,” he said, “and will take ultimate accountability for the roster decisions that are made.”
Pelinka still tried to tie his life raft to others. He hid behind the decision to fire Vogel as a “collaboration” with Jeanie Buss and Tim Harris, the Lakers president of business; he highlighted the responsibilities of the coaching and training staffs; he made sure to remind everyone that Kurt Rambis and brothers Joey and Jesse Buss had a hand in building the roster, too.
But after he pulled the trigger on the trade for Russell Westbrook, refused to match an offer for Alex Caruso, overinvested in Talen Horton-Tucker, and created such a void of depth that the Lakers needed to sign eight players to minimum contracts, there really was no point in Pelinka trying to hide behind anyone else in the organization.
This team was his responsibility.
And the next one will be, too.
Pelinka made himself more accountable than ever before, but he did not look comfortable doing so. Beneath the table, he tapped his left foot nervously, like a gliding duck paddling furiously underwater.
Is he on the clock? Would Jeanie Buss put him there?
Consider the next five months the Summer of Pelinka.
The GM is entering an offseason where he faces more pressure than he has since 2019, when Magic Johnson bolted and left Pelinka holding the bag.
“I’m confident that, like we did in 2019 after a year of disappointment, we (will) put our heads together,” Pelinka said Monday, “and I think we’ll spend the next several weeks and months doing an autopsy of what worked well and what didn’t work well this year and come out of that with a clear plan of how to get it right in July.”
But this is a different situation than three years ago. Back then, the Lakers had Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram. They had draft picks. They had assets to wave around like a whale on the casino floor with his roll of hundreds. This time, there is no trade to be made like the one Pelinka executed for Anthony Davis.
Honestly, Johnson left Pelinka with a golden opportunity: a wealth of trade assets and a motivated LeBron James.
This situation requires a far defter touch.
He will need to make a decision about Westbrook — a conundrum that would seem to put two of the Lakers’ fundamental values in opposition to one another: keeping the books clean to sign another top free agent in 2023? Or taking on long-term money to get rid of Westbrook and give themselves the best chance of winning with LeBron James next season?
It would seem to be an easy choice — the Lakers were ready to stray from their 2023 cap space plan last summer, when they nearly traded for Buddy Hieldinstead of Westbrook. But the Lakers remember all too well what happens when an embattled front office fixates too heavily on the short term: The Lakers only just stopped paying Luol Deng after the ill-planned summer of 2016 in which Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss signed Deng and Timofey Mozgov for a combined $136 million.
Kupchak and Buss didn’t make it to another summer.
Can Pelinka learn from the past and somehow navigate these narrow corridors? Acquiring multiple starters for Westbrook would seem to be a huge win for Pelinka. And while teams are always eager to shed bad contracts, would teams expect extra draft compensation to play ball with the Lakers?
Pelinka already bungled the first move of the offseason by failing to control the news of Vogel’s pending dismissal. Rather than acknowledge that Vogel deserved something better, Pelinka dismissed the initial news report as “speculative and unsourced.” Vogel wasn’t fired, in Pelinka parlance, he just transition “from being the leader of the Lakers to part of our legacy.”
Now he needs to find a willing replacement for a mistreated coach and to unveil a long-term strategy for the next stage of the Lakers partnership with LeBron.
James may have said on Monday that he had not yet given much thought to the two-year extension he will be eligible to sign later this season, but you can bet Pelinka has.
“Every indication that we’ve received is that he sees the Lakers as his home,” Pelinka said.
That extension can’t be hammered out until August anyway. So between now and then, the two people who will be watching Pelinka most closely will be James and Jeanie Buss.
Sources have told The Athletic that Pelinka has two years left on the contract extension that accompanied his promotion to vice president of basketball operations last year. Would Jeanie fire Pelinka, who she views as an extension of Kobe Bryant?
Another disaster like last season, and she would almost have no choice. Pelinka didn’t have to tell us he would accept responsibility. He’s the only one left.
Still, I wouldn’t even give this dude next season to figure it out. He needs to be out right the F now. eScapeGoat gotta go-@ me if you disagree. I want all the smoke haha.
Vasashi believe it or not I actually disagree but for not the reasons you might expect.
I believe that Pelinka, Linda & Kurt Rambo should all be gone. Feels like the timing to make this move is wrong unfortunately as we're already dealing with enough chaos as is.
I also think this past season was such a downer that we'd struggle to find a suitable replacement to him. I could be wrong but I think that a successor would not want to start with a chokehold by Klutch. I could be wrong but I just don't see Jeanie having the ability to get a strong FO & coach any longer. She's been penny pinching a bit too long to instill the confidence that Jerry had.
I think our best path to viability that we can both get behind is the following
@elonmusk while you're at it, can you please buy the Lakers? _________________ Author of James Harden and the Strip Club
"The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter." - Malcom Gladwell
@ahaider: Haha, you’re wrong about thinking you could be wrong bro. You’re not wrong imho
I love Jeanie and how she wants to honor her dad and (certain haha) Laker legends…but it’s getting to the point that I believe new leadership could lead to better results. _________________ Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!
Whole interview is worth a listen, but things get interesting @the timestamp I linked y’all too. _________________ Not familiar with the salary cap/CBA rules & how it impacts our Lakers?
#GetFamiliar by CLICKING HERE!
Remember that LeBron left a strong front office in Miami with one of the best coaches so he could work with two weak front offices.
One could infer that either he doesn't have the elite BBIQ for which he is legendary, or he intentionally chose two weak front offices that he could control and mold.
To say he was surprised at the half ass nature of the Lakers front office doesn't make much sense. My guess is he and Rich chose a place where they could maneuver in comfort. Who needs Riley and his pesky suggestions.
One could infer that either he doesn't have the elite BBIQ for which he is legendary ...
So there's exactly 1 and only 1 kind of BBIQ which covers all possible intellectual skills related to basketball? Seeing plays while playing the game? In-game tactics as a player? Coaching game plan? Series strategy? Roster construction? Team-fit? Talent assessment & projection?
Could it be that he excels at some aspects while being mediocre at others? E.g. maybe he sees and remembers plays like a savant but is poor at assessing player fit and/or team construction?
Oh. Does Magic have a high BBIQ? (He certainly did on the floor, he was a floor genius).
One could infer that either he doesn't have the elite BBIQ for which he is legendary ...
So there's exactly 1 and only 1 kind of BBIQ which covers all possible intellectual skills related to basketball? Seeing plays while playing the game? In-game tactics as a player? Coaching game plan? Series strategy? Roster construction? Team-fit? Talent assessment & projection?
Could it be that he excels at some aspects while being mediocre at others? E.g. maybe he sees and remembers plays like a savant but is poor at assessing player fit and/or team construction?
Oh. Does Magic have a high BBIQ? (He certainly did on the floor, he was a floor genius).
That interview implied it was sort of surprise how unsophisticated the Lakers front office was. I find it hard to believe it would be a surprise to them.
And yes I get your point about both Magic and LeBron but both have also been savvy businessmen as well as brilliant basketball players.
Maybe BBIQ wasn't the right choice of a term... but it should have been no surprise that this front office was being run like a small time operation.
My point was that he probably preferred that to something a strong office would provide.
All times are GMT - 8 Hours Goto page Previous1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Page 5 of 5
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
