**LA LAKERS THREAD** Sitting on 17! 2023-2024 offseason begins

[DLF]

Russell Westbrook is indefensible

I agree

Hard to guard him

Bring him back.

 

[MVP]

MVP still out here trying to cape for Russ even after last year's debacle. Gotta love the perseverance



I think the championship window would have been open because if we had Buddy Hield, KCP and most likely Caruso we would have been able to thread water while Lebron and AD were out. Lebron and AD missed alot of time in 2020-21 but we were able to maintain at least make the playoffs (before AD got hurt again). Do we win the title if AD and Lebron are hurt but we could have made the playoffs and given ourselves a shot.

Nobody is caping for anything. Y'all just changing the facts. Only reason we 'treaded' water is cause Bron and AD were healthy to start the season in 21 and we piled up wins to start the year as I stated.

AD went down before the AS break and Bron soon after and we cratered. How do you maintain when Bron goes out 2 weeks in an AD hasn't shown to be able to do anything as far as sustained winning without him on the floor and vice versa.

Bottom line if AD keeps missing 50% of the games as he has the last two seasons and Bron misses almost 40% as he las the last two seasons were going to continue to be in that same area, nothing more, regardless of who's around them. That includes Kyrie or whomever.

 

[tupac003]

I don't think anyone disagrees that we have to have Bron and AD in order to do well.

But Russ never ever fit with this team. He should not have been a Laker...

Yes he is getting 99% of the blame for last year and I agree that some off that blame should come of him and go on to the injuries.

But Russ's attitude made it so easy to blame him.

 

[sohi 23]

i would’ve been willing to work with Russ til I heard his exit interview. Never seen such an entitled player. Dude took no blame for ANYTHING. look into the mirror once in a while my guy. Have some humility.

 

[MVP]

I don't think anyone disagrees that we have to have Bron and AD in order to do well.

But Russ never ever fit with this team. He should not have been a Laker...

Yes he is getting 99% of the blame for last year and I agree that some off that blame should come of him and go on to the injuries.

But Russ's attitude made it so easy to blame him.

This is a fair assessment. I'm not defending his appetite attitude or any of the accountability stuff. He's stubborn, bull-headed and all of what y'all say. It makes him unlikeable especially on this team with this fanbase.

I was speaking more on the bolded like there are legit ppl thinking that if we just remove him from the equation alone yet everything else remains equal (ie injuries keep occurring at the rate that they have been) that we're somehow going to be more than a play-in team. That's just not really accurate when we've had 3 other seasons of non-Russ shenanigans to and seen how it's played out.

Saying all that I know he has to go. The situation is untenable, chemistry is non-existent on court as well as off so even though he is my guy, gotta Wesley Snipes him.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Just playing out a little hypothetical, Lakers never trade for Russ. Do the Buddy Heild deal keep KCP. AD still misses half the season and Bron misses the time he does, how exactly is that a championship window being still open? Our fortunes have been almost entirely dependent on whether or not AD is in a Laker uniform actually on the court in the Bron era. That's since he came in 19. Four seasons of evidence. Sure would the locker room have been better w/o Russ, of course. Would the chemistry have been better? Unequivocally. But to pinpoint he as the sole reason for us not being a contender anymore is a bit over the top. AD is the key. He always has been and always will be. Bron can put up all the numbers he wants to and it doesn't matter.

If somehow we acquire Myrie and AD is hurt the way he has been over the last couple seasons, we won't have a chance either.

So in other words, the key to winning a championship is a Big Man

 

[CP1708]

Yes he is getting 99% of the blame for last year

*Ahem....*

 

[tupac003]

*Ahem....*

Don't start

 

[CP1708]

Don't start

You just need to fix that 99 is all.

 

[tupac003]

Ok 98%

 

[CP1708]

Ok 98%

 

[grittyman]

To me the Russ trade was nothing more than a Hail Mary attempt at making some kind of championship run with a Big 3 and spare parts…I didn’t have a lot of faith in them pulling it off but I also didn’t have much faith in them running it back with this group and a lame duck coach against an improved Western conference so I’m not really missing any of these names below.

At the same time the main thing that hurts about all this is if you take all the assets Rob used to acquire and prob trading Russ they could have taken these same guys on the list and really upgraded the supporting pieces around AD/Bron.

SMGDH.

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Spoiler

 

[DLF]

To me the Russ trade was nothing more than a Hail Mary attempt at making some kind of championship run with a Big 3 and spare parts…I didn’t have a lot of faith in them pulling it off but I also didn’t have much faith in them running it back with this group and a lame duck coach against an improved Western conference so I’m not really missing any of these names below.

At the same time the main thing that hurts about all this is if you take all the assets Rob used to acquire and prob trading Russ they could have taken these same guys on the list and really upgraded the supporting pieces around AD/Bron.

SMGDH.

Agree

Russ averaged 18 points last year.

He was not the problem. He’s Mr triple double. None of these guys have a triple double his whole career.

Role players, like coaches, don’t matter.

I wish we signed more players that averaged lots of points. I would have done Lou Will, Harrell, Jamal Crawford, Melo with our signings this year. give me PPG any day I’d the week

 

[pmatic]

To me the Russ trade was nothing more than a Hail Mary attempt at making some kind of championship run with a Big 3 and spare parts…I didn’t have a lot of faith in them pulling it off but I also didn’t have much faith in them running it back with this group and a lame duck coach against an improved Western conference so I’m not really missing any of these names below.

At the same time the main thing that hurts about all this is if you take all the assets Rob used to acquire and prob trading Russ they could have taken these same guys on the list and really upgraded the supporting pieces around AD/Bron.

SMGDH.

I cut them some slack because of the short turnaround and injuries during the regular season. Dudes were overworked and had dead legs.

 

[DLF]

Plus tell me what Mathew’s did since he left LA?

He hasn’t played meaningful playoff games

What about KCP? The guy just got traded to Denver. He’ll be out of the league next year

kuzma is not getting an extension. He’s Sharks bound. He is small for his height and skinny for his weight. Plays little to no defense and has yellow hair.

That 22nd pick which was Jaden Mcdaniels or Desmond Bane is meaningless. Tell me the last time a young player played significant minutes for a playoffs team. I’ll wait?

Happy with Robs moves. Elite GM making Elite power moves.

 

[grittyman]

I cut them some slack because of the short turnaround and injuries during the regular season. Dudes were overworked and had dead legs.

Sure there were plenty of justifiable reasons why they struggled, I totally get that. But we know how this thing works, regardless of whatever you have to get it done or there might not be a next time. Even when healthy some of those same struggles existed..ability to hit shots, create off the dribble, etc

 

[grittyman]

Agree

Russ averaged 18 points last year.

He was not the problem. He’s Mr triple double. None of these guys have a triple double his whole career.

Role players, like coaches, don’t matter.

I wish we signed more players that averaged lots of points. I would have done Lou Will, Harrell, Jamal Crawford, Melo with our signings this year. give me PPG any day I’d the week

Great post buddy, couldn’t have said it better myself.

 

[pmatic]

Sure there were plenty of justifiable reasons why they struggled, I totally get that. But we know how this thing works, regardless of whatever you have to get it done or there might not be a next time. Even when healthy some of those same struggles existed..ability to hit shots, create off the dribble, etc

And this is where you hope another year of Schroder, the addition of Hield, improvement of THT (if he were retained) and an actual offensive assistant coach would've helped. But alas...

 

[Brosizzlew30.23]

Hindsight is 20/20. Fact of the matter is, there has been no chemistry the last 2 years due to multiple inconsistencies. No gel, no cohesion = no team identity, no championship.

The team we will have next year (aka the surrounding role players) sans Westbrick will automatically be better than the Lakers of the last 2 seasons, provided both Bron and AD play at least 70 games

 

[DLF]

Best thread on the site

We got a poster that thinks coaches don’t matter and another that thinks role players are irrelevant bc of their stats.

We deserve all that’s coming to us.

 

[grittyman]

And this is where you hope another year of Schroder, the addition of Hield, improvement of THT (if he were retained) and an actual offensive assistant coach would've helped. But alas...

That’s what I mean…hope lol

I was on board last offseason with bringing everyone back w/ some minor tweaks, I’m sure there’s old posts I made here supporting that. But I felt like changes were coming and based on how poorly the supporting cast looked I can understand why they panicked and made the trade for RW… not that I’m supporting it or anything like that.

 

[grittyman]

Best thread on the site

We got a poster that thinks coaches don’t matter and another that thinks role players are irrelevant bc of their stats.

We deserve all that’s coming to us.

If that’s what you got from my post then next time either read slower or ask questions if you don’t understand what I’m saying.

 

[DLF]

If that’s what you got from my post then next time either read slower OR LEARN HOW TO READ or ask questions if you don’t understand what I’m saying.

 

[DLF]

In all seriousness thank god we didn’t make the Lowry trade. He is more untradable now than Russ


But then again we trade for him, he leaves anyways in FA to Miami. We woulda pivoted to keeping CAruso. Traded Kuzma and Harrell for Hield

Caruso
Hield
Lebron
AD

Core. Not great but coulda then flipped Hield and all our minimums plus picks for kyrie.

Ended with kyrie caruso lebron ad


Dammit