I have no problem saying that and I'll say it again: they're babies that need to be babysat. Ingram and Ball can't legally drink yet, they're freaking babies. Very talented babies, but babies nonetheless who don't know what it takes to win games. It's a pragmatic view and one that prospective FAs will have unless they prove otherwise. If these kids went on a 15 game win streak, we could talk otherwise, but they're not doing that right now. And it's up to the Lakers to show George what the future in OKC would be. You'd better bet though that OKC would tell a much different story to George when the time comes.
I just meant that come the start of next season with the every reason to be expected improvements in Ingram, Kuzma, Ball, Randle and even Hart who is already an NCAA champion that that group is going to need to be "babysat" . They need a "closer." That's how I look at it. And of course the FO filling in the roster spots with some great vet choices hopefully. That is a lot more personnel attractive situation in my observation than what will be left in OKC and PG has an agent as well to explain to him what he's seen in L.A. prior to the improvements that can be expected by the start of next season.
I don't disagree with you, I'm just giving you the other, outside perspective. A guy who wants to win right now can't look at these kids and think they're objectively a better tool to win with than Westbrook or Harden or Durant. It's just not the way they'll see it. That's why it was important to open the other slot. Can George make that call by himself? Sure. But if you're able to pitch to him that he can have LeBron too? There's no better tool (pun intended) to win with in the NBA than LeBron James. That's a better card to play than Harden or Westbrook or Durant. The guy has been there, he's won it all, he's done it, whether we like him or not. The game changed when we got the 2nd slot, it's just up to the Lakers to make it worth our while. Meanwhile, those kids have to really improve. If they can go 18-7 or something and get to .500 the rest of the way (a la the Thunder when Durant/Westbrook got hot), that paves the way to a potential game changing summer. Realistically they probably go 15-10 or 10-15, but as long as they're competitive, the window is open.
well, since none are really blowing the doors off of anything, it doesn't have to be a downfall. it just has to be stagnation or even less-than-expected upward trajectory. as real said earlier: the rest of the league doesn't view any of them as surefire stars the way people on this forum seem to. point is that none has established himself, for a full season, to be even the substar you mentioned earlier. but when has someone joined a bunch of unproven young players over joining established veteran stars? george would have to be a pioneer.
Well we'll see. But if with more front line players this year..... prior to the gutting for PG to go him and Westbrook against the world after Melo is gone for a PG extended year contract, over joining what is happening with the Lakers talent very clearly ..... they get bounced in the playoffs prior to the WCF why in the world is he going to be thinking that's a good idea to stay. Gentleman's bet on that LBJ or no LBJ.
The bigger obstacle to him leaving, IMO, rather than thinking once the team's lost all its other good veteran and more expensive players that it will be championship capable against all odds, is that he will feel honestly badly about leaving Westbrook. That will bother him as they have played well together and now he has been in the trenches with him and RW has already had that happen to him with KD.
hey, if it were me, i'd join the lakers. the weather's nice; you'll be a hero, and you should be competitive (though not likely a contender). i'm just looking at what folks in similar positions have done, and almost nobody does this. not sure if i've said this, but my fan heart would be happiest if we just signed george and used whatever was left to get the right complementary pieces for luke's system. in fact, i'd be happiest had we simply kept clarkson and nance and done this. ultimately, i think the FO was right in that george isn't coming without another big name. but i still think they were wrong to pursue the cap space route in the first place. time will tell indeed.
If it all turns to s*** .... I'm guessing we can both drown the abject disappointment with several pitchers of your and my favorite Lakers watching
I'm with LT on this. I think being competitive is only part of the equation for George. If OKC were legit contenders like GSW or the Cavs yeah there'd be a great chance he'd stay, but they're still a couple of big pieces away, putting them in the same ballpark as us. Several months of playing with Westbrook will not supercede a life-long dream of becoming a Laker. The decision is an emotional one for George. Winning 5-10 more games means nothing.
Make it happen Rob and Magic and Luke with the pitch and the numbers. LBJ and PG and Randle all give a little to sign for a little less initially than they are worth and keeping everyone else. I'll trot that lineup out against anyone. And welcome LBJ with open arms.
would anyone attempt to trade for leonard, based on last rumor of him n sa not seeing eye to eye on handling his injury and now he might be out the rest of season. he is a socal native, would help us recruit pg n not have to deal with Lebron
I would be so shocked if that happened But for his sake, I hope he’s ok, and this a blip on his career and not something that lingers. He’s an easy guy to root for.
The annoying part is they will probably beat a young wolves team and face a Spurs team with No Kawhi. They might sneak deep into the playoffs and give PG a false sense of accomplishment. Man, I really hope they lose in the first round
I've seen this posted by a few people and it's a lazy take in my opinion. It only looks at one single point, which isn't totally true. Firstly, Clay Bennett isn't the sole owner of OKC but rather just the face of the OKC ownership group, with something like a 10-15% ownership. His worth is estimated at $400-500 million, but it doesn't take into consideration any of his company's - Dorchester Capital - holdings. Including roughly 1000 gas and oil wells that were transferred to his company by Aubrey McClendon (deceased owner of OKC) that do not appear under his personal net worth but ultimately vest in him which were worth $3bn prior to the transfer. So his net worth could very easily be counted in the $1-3bn mark. Regardless of this, there are 7 other businessmen who own anywhere between a 10-20% stake. George Kaiser is a financier/owner of BOK Capital, owns a 20% stake and has a net worth of $8bn. G. Jeffrey Records, Jr, CEO of Midfirst Bank, a billionaire as well. Aubrey Mclendon estate's stake (20%) is reported to now be owned by Howard Marks, owner and investor from Oaktree Capital with a net worth of $2bn. Jay Scaramucci is another financier owner worth a reported $1.5bn. Everett Dobson who owned Dobson Cellular and sold his stake to AT&T for $2.8bn. Robert E. Howard II, not much is known about him apart from he was the owner and CEO of an automotive company before selling it and beginning Howard Investments. It's reported he holds this part of the company in the interest of Harold Hamm who is worth $13.8bn William M. Cameron, Chairman and CEO of American Fidelity, also an ultra high net worth individual. To me it looks like Clay is the poorest of the lot and has to do the majority of the work for his stake. Most of these guys are Oil CEO's and Investors, which means they won't spend money pointlessly. But I definitely don't believe they'll kill their team's chances of winning a championship. Now the owner's net worth is only one part of whether a team has the ability to spend or not. Why would we just look at an owners net worth in determining their ability to spend? After all a sports team is a business. Last year OKC had an operating profit of $64m, that means after their expenditure they made money. And with the arrival of two new star level players, it's not crazy to think they can repeat that operating profit and raise their revenue even further. Which means in theory with an operating profit of $60-80m next year, even with a tax bill of $150m, they would make a loss of only $70-90m. If this loss is too great they also have the ability to add a jersey sponsor to alleviate some of it, in the range of $10-20m per season. So hypothetically they could lower their operating loss next year to anywhere between $50 and $90m and not the $150m loss everyone keeps quoting and assuming clay will pony up all by himself. The next point is, sport teams like businesses in general aren’t just run by revenues, expenses, profits and losses. OKC was valued at $325m when it was bought by the ownership group. It's now worth $1.25bn. The ownership group has almost a $1bn in equity from their purchase of okc assuming they borrowed all the money to buy the thunder in the first place. This gives them a huge ability to borrow against that equity at historically low rates to secure their team’s spending and not have to worry about where the $50-90m shortfall will come from next year. Alongside a healthy operating profit, I see no reason why an ownership group worth in excess of $10bn, with an equity to debt ratio of 75% in this endeavour, needs to gut or break up their tean. If they think they’re building a contender they will spend for it and no way they won’t give PG the max.
