Matt Barnes: Lakers' Free-agent Rut Due To Front Office, Not Kobe

i don't see what's wrong with management. realdeal is right, imo. in the modern era, players are afraid of a challenge, and so a bare cupboard is terrifying. once the cupboard is less bare, i think the lakers will be back as a top FA destination. with the same management they have now (and had when they were winning).

 

I'd love the Lakers FO if I were a FA. They've shown that they will overpay for you if they want you and give you an extra year or two for an added bonus.

 

i think players do like organizations that show loyalty via slightly bloated contracts to guys who have performed there. the antithesis would be houston, and that's why goran dragic isn't playing there despite their ability to offer a better trade package than miami did.

 

I'd have to read the full article to see if Barnes elaborates, but I think his main point is simply to defend Kobe, not anything specific against the front office. From his outside perspective, Kobe's not the reason so as a result, it must be management.

Or if anything, he probably just means that management has failed to put together enough pieces to make us a good enough team to attract free agents. And that's understandable for him to think that considering he's an unattached NBA player, not a fan who has paid enough attention to this team to realize that we actually do have some assets and young players with potential.

And for the record, I did always like Barnes . I mean I still hate him whenever I see him play as a Clipper, but he's the kind of guy you want on your team. Sometimes he plays dirty, but he also does a lot of the dirty work. He was a good defender, an underrated rebounder, and he'd occasionally catch fire from three. Unfortunately, IIRC he went ice cold in his last few weeks as a Laker during a playoff run.

 

I liked Barnes when he was with us, he's the kind of guy you want behind you, the guy that won't back down. Unfortunately he made a disappearing act in the playoffs if I remember correctly. Now I hate him, I think that has to do more with playing for the Clippers.

 

If i remember right we had Ebanks at the time, who was suposed to replace him and was younger.

 

That's how I saw it too. Reporter might have even been trying to get him to slam Kobe and Barnes didn't take the bait.

 

Barnes tweeted in the past that he left because of Mike Brown. So that's on management. Not Kobe.

 

shocked to hear that coming from barnes but i believe it

never liked him with the lakers but it's refreshing to see him basically reiterate what most of us already know about kobe. unlike what the media says, guys actually do want to play with him. it's the losers like dwight who don't care much about winning that give him a bad name

 

I thought he always got injured during the PO, isn't that the reason his stats dropped?

 

I believe you are correct. And if I remember correctly it was 2 years in a row he got hurt just prior to the playoffs.

 

do it mitch

 

I agree that he's probably talking about Kobe but if a player criticizes management there could be something legit there, at least in his case. If enough players do it there's prob something there. I mean the FO made some decisions that haven't worked out very well and the end of the Phil era went pretty badly for players and coaches. Was B. Shaw treated well? So IMO he's got a point.

 

The full article came out today. It's long but a very good read. He doesn't really expand upon the Laker's FO, but there are some interesting stories about Kobe and Phil.

 

Wow. Interesting insight into who Matt is. Of course didn't like him pre-Lakers but loved him, like I loved Ron Ron.... going to war with Kobe rather than against him. Interesting stuff hearing about the different coaches. Just too bad with the pre-playoff injuries and Potato following Phil. Don't know what additional to make of "front office" comments.