Sorry in Advance, but we're coming up on the 4 year anniversary of.... Four years ago, on Dec. 8, 2011, two words altered the course of NBA history: “Basketball reasons.” http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...e-scars-from-the-chris-paul-trade-veto-remain http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/...-orleans-hornets-four-year-anniversary-120815 After reading the articles I still feel:
Won't surprise if ESPN eventually creates a 30 for 30 on this just to make us loyal Lakers fan feel it once again.
On the bright side, every year that goes by this stings a little less. As we start to see our picks from being awful develop, some very nice young players with potential to be very good or great start to show what they've got, the Luke hire, slowly getting out from under the effects of the Nash trade. It stings that Kobe probably would have had one more shot at a title had we gotten Paul and then still gotten Howard like I'm sure they planned, but at the same time those are 2 of my most disliked players in the NBA, so not having to root for them I see as a positive. As the article points out, Chris Paul for all his greatness still hasn't gotten out of the 2nd round (so while that's success for the Clippers, it's not for the Lakers), and Dwight will never grow up and will never win a thing, so I'm not broken up over this. I'm sure it set us back in signing good free agents, and again like the article says Kobe might ever have ruptured his achilles (but we don't know that for sure), we don't know if he and Kobe could have shared a ball (he and Nash couldn't really), so it is what it is. Eventually I think even had we gotten Paul and Howard together there's no guarantee both or even one of them stayed when their contracts were up, so we'd have had to rebuild post-Kobe anyway. The way things went down we simply started the rebuild sooner, got some very nice players in the draft, and look to be on the way back up finally, even if slowly. The person this really hurt more than anyone in the long run seems to be Lamar Odom, it's hard for me to get too down on where the Lakers are as a franchise when I see where that man's life went. It's a game in the end, it's entertainment. But all that said, article gets it right even if they didn't put it this way, Stern is a douche, a slimy little rat, and he screwed us. Oh and f*** Dan Gilbert too, I guess superteams are fine as long as it's your franchise.
I said it before and I'll say it again...West staring down Stern at Dr. Buss' funeral and stating that the late Laker owner had integrity unlike some. THAT makes me feel better in looking back.
you mean 5 year anniversary? im not gonna lie, it still stings. cp3 would have meant dwight ends up staying long term and there's no doubt those two would have had instant chemistry. kobe is probably still playing today. instead stern sets the franchise back years and here we are today. things are looking up but these past few seasons have been painful to say the least stern wanted to make sure his boy lebron had the easiest road possible in finally winning a ring
I've never wanted to stop being a basketball fan until that moment. The feeling didn't last long, but my disdain for D. Stern is as strong as ever.
My issue, and I'm sure it will come up next year and probably cause a lockout, is that 1. The Lebron superteam happened anyway and no one said anything. 2. The KD Free Agency situation and how the TV deal allowed that to happen.
Every year it stings a little less especially seeing the product we are putting on the floor out there. What pisses me off was Miami, Cleveland and now Golden State doing what we did and no one gives them hell cause they aren't the Lakers. Still, screw you David Stern and screw you even more Dan Gilbert.
The wand was shut down that year But Mitch has made a great recovery. I think he should be proud of his efforts, and Kobe knows they did their best to surround him in his final years with a competitive team. I think it made the situation a little easier for him to swallow.
http://www.lakersnation.com/david-s...-paul-trade-to-the-lakers-to-veto/2016/12/08/ What an enormous pile of excrement stern is.
Eh. I remember what that veto did to this organization, effecting it negatively in many ways.... but I hate the way Chris Paul plays so much, with the blatant flopping and complaining on every call, that I can't imagine a world where I would root for him.
CP3- Kobe would have been a bad fit ... I don't think this terrible call by Stern cost us a title and we still would be stucked with CP3 injury prone a** right now
*makes sure this isn't the optimism thread* sorry, this doesn't sting less with time. the damage done to the franchise is actually irreparable. i suppose maybe if the lakers had been given the #1 overall pick in the last two drafts (instead of the huge drops to #2), it might be easier to forget. but there's not a player on the roster who projects to have the impact that paul (or maybe even late career howard) has. with each successive cba making it more and more difficult to lure FAs, and with the impossibility of preventing superteams where superstars already exist, the current lakers are have-nots in the nba: no star, no means to recruit one, hoping to hit the lotto in a year where it matters. conversely, imagine the lakers had paul and howard in the fold and had been in the playoffs for the past couple years when the cap spike hit last year. they have their pick of the FA litter--i think durant is a laker. and when paul and howard age out, another prime star joins durant for his decline. rinse/repeat. this is why everyone hated the lakers. instead, we're looking to our left and right at the denver nuggets and sacramento kings with the same hopes and the same assets. we're looking UP at the minnesota timberwolves. absolutely impossible without stern's clearly unethical behavior. i'm really angry again.
And the fact he has the nerve to sit there and say, "there was no deal, it didn't happen" is an insult to our intelligence as fans. The GM in every organization is responsible for the movement of players to and from the team. The owner in about 90% of cases rubber stamps what the GM comes up with and the team moves forward. Very rarely does the owner get involved in player movement, it's why they hire and empower GMs in the first place. For him to say the deal never existed because he nixed it and therefore the Lakers and Rockets shouldn't be upset and therefore Laker and Rocket fans shouldn't be upset is lunacy and arrogance combined. He's as bad as any other person in a position of power who spits in the faces of those below him considering himself above our trivial lives. His actions cost us relevance the last 6 years and we're still a good 5-6 years away from relevance. The league decided it didn't need the Lakers anymore and here we are left to pick up the pieces while horrible people like Dan Gilbert are being given everything that they don't deserve.
Mr. "I know where the bodies are buried" Stern was the Suge Knight of the NBA. He was more like a mob boss than an executive. Good riddance Stern, and thanks for screwing us along the way. @abeer3 is right for the most part in my opinion. I don't think the damage is irreparable, but it will take years for us to recover. In fact we're just now barely starting to recover and it will take a few years at least to get back to being what we once where.
