Kobe and Shaq pretty much did for 3 years. Then David (bleep) face allowed the zone defense after the 2002 seasons to slow Shaq down and then Shaq's prime dwindled quicker than it would have.
I don't think 'running it back,' would be as easy as that post suggests. Champions (at least some of them) want pay rises, and we were not going to afford to keep that core together.
The only person that worries me a little with chemistry is Harrell. Marc Gasol is the consummate professional and a high IQ player. Schroder is a dog and as long as you work your a** off you typically don't have problems on Lebron teams. Are we worried about Wes Matthews? lol. He's a pros pro. Lebron has tamed far worse than Harrell.
I took it to mean the temptation to try to run it back is there, as in the easy thing to do is to say hey this roster won it all, we don’t need to change anything. When in reality a number of the guys will be worn out, and as I think either Pete, Anthony or one of the other podcast pointed out the motivation for champions isn’t quite the same as new players hungry to win. They pointed out had we kept the roster the same we’d already know what they can do and we’d essentially be waiting for the playoffs all season because we’d seen the team gel and grow already. With this group we get to see that hopefully happen all over again, they’ll be hungry to win a title and hopefully won’t take the regular season lightly or have as much of a mental grind against all these teams that will be gunning for us trying to say they beat the champs. Defending a title is hard, the crap teams look to beat you, they treat it as if it’s their playoffs. Main point being, it would be easy to say let’s just try to keep the entire team together again, but instead they went out and improved or at least got younger and more versatile (as well as finding possible longer term fits) at almost every position.
Many greats teams know how to repeat. Winning three in a row is where it gets difficult. Injuries, fatigue and motivation all become issues. As does egos and team mates being sick of either other (cough, KD and Draymond lol).
we won handily, but we had holes in our squad that got occasionally exposed We've actually done a remarkable job addressing any holes on paper, but we'll have to see how it all comes together. Rob has already shown he's ready to pull the trigger midseason or wisely on the buyout market, so I doubt the team we start with is the team we end up with (100% anyways) But keeping your high mileage stars fresh while winning games is a big deal. There are only so many minutes to go around, but this squad seems to be well balanced with people that will handle sub 30 minute averages of playing time without issue.
^ Would've never happened in the previous regime. DG would've found out from Sham or Woj. Rob has been class and I found it odd he had so much doubt about his ability to function as GM. It isn't some old fraternity or masonic society of old chums, it's a dog eat dog job where everyone is trying to keep theirs and the talent will come out on top. Sales is sales and that's really what the job of GM is about. Selling the Lakers to players. This is the guy who compared our original signing of KCP for 18 mil 1 year as like the “time when the Israelites were wandering in the desert and all of a sudden bread came down from heaven.”. He has a flair for the dramatic. He should compare KCP's new deal to like the time when "KCP was at home playing NBA 2K21 and all of a sudden Rich Paul made it rain Laker paper from heaven"
danny's reaping what he sowed. AD was the real pivot point: a player finally just said "i know what you're about, and i'm not here for it".
Wonder how that played out for McGee with Rob? The reports were he was hesitant to pick up his option for fear of being traded and he did wind up in Cleveland with no Ty Lue there to play for. Maybe the reason “why” he waited so long deciding whether to opt in or not wasn’t what was being speculated? He was quietly checking what he might have interest wise from other teams for more money? Then again other bigs with less credentials got some nice paychecks.
I don't think the Lakers even knew what they were doing with the center position once Montrezl's name popped up. They probably were just out of the dark as much as McGee was. McGee probably could've gotten a better offer had he opted out, honestly. Now he gets sent to the Cavailers where he will be one of the five centers the Cavs have... I doubt McGee gets much playing time.
Yeah I think Javale’s agent must have canvassed the league and they determined it was unlikely for him to get more than $4 million on the open market. He had fit in well with us, but I don’t think he had much value around the league, especially if players like Dwight and Whiteside were going for the minimum. So I would bet that he opted in, fully aware that it would make him a likely trade chip. But $4 million and a risk of getting traded to somewhere undesirable like Cleveland was probably what he valued more than having to settle for the minimum even if he’d have a bit more say in where he went.
Financially, it might have been a good move because I expect there's a good chance he can negotiate a buyout, get on a better team and get an additional salary, a little double dipping.
