If he can dump Russ this summer, without giving up a bunch of picks, or taking back too many bad players, he may just save his job. As for saying losing KCP, Harrel, and Kuz PLUS Caruso isn’t all that bad: Those were all assets that were movable either individually, or as a group that could have brought us actual players back in a trade(s) who could have HELPED us win games.
Yes but at the time, with the information available, it was a good move asset wise. We got a MVP, a guy who was averaging triple doubles in consecutive seasons. It's very easy to talk afterwards, but we must separate our opinions and put ourselves in the correct timeframe and context of things. And he got pressured to do it apparently, so on that topic I actually only blame him for not stepping up and saying no to LeBron.
From a basketball and fit standpoint, most of the basketball world said it wouldn’t work and we were right. We don’t know how much Rob pushed back against LeGM’s demand because none of us were there. That being said, there is a long track record of failure when it comes to pairing two ball dominate players together. Rob knew this, a number of smart basketball people within the Lakers knew this, but he caved to the demand of the all powerful LeGM. We also don’t know how much it would have hurt Pelinka’s chances of staying with the Lakers long term if he had stood up to LeGM. I guess my ultimate point is that for the sake of creating a cohesive, well balanced, Championship Caliber Team, he should have told LePrincess, “No, you aren’t going to have it your way this time.”
how is Rob suppose to stand up to Bron and say no to Russ trade when AD also was in on it, Jeanine couldn't/wouldn't do it and the last time a GM said no to him was Pat Riley and looked what happened then
It was his job first and foremost to put together a team capable of winning. He put this second behind appeasing LeGM. It’s really worked out so well that he caved.
let me know who this gm is that can say no to both their top 2 star. rob did well for the $ he had available to him....vogel has no system continues to play ultimate small ball, players constantly getting injured all yr. Rob isn't top notch but he also isnt Magic lvl incompetent either
Pelinka needs to be fired for signing 17,000 guards to the roster and no wings or bigs that can shoot. He let Matthews walk for nothing. He let Caruso walk for nothing. He let Dennis walk for nothing. He let Morris go (who fit our system well). I won't blame him for the westbrook trade - that's all LeBron/AD/Klutch on that front. They need to take 100% of the blame for that one. Also going to blame KLUTCH for hyping up THT - we overpaid him and it hurt us. If I had to choose though - ownership needs to fire themselves too for being CHEAP with Lue a few years back when he WANTED to be here, and again being cheap with Caruso and letting Dennis walk for nothing.
I don't think Rob is the issue beyond not holding ground against Lebron's wishes. He should have just trusted himself on building the team. Lots of blame to go around but early on we thought he was the bomb. Do we really know how much LeGM has affected decisions? Only way to know if to see what he does after Lebum is gone. But thank the Lord we have Linda and Kurt, or we'd be a total mess.
I don’t see it. But it will probably take a miracle move on his part to get us back in contention next season within Lebron’s window. If he pulls one off more power to him. He gets a pass from ownership for now because the Westbrook debacle came from Lebron and AD. We shall see about the future though.
While signing Russ was a bad move -- the original plan of giving Buddy all that money was wrong too. It's a "pick your poison" type thing. The truth is: we were doing just fine; needed to let Gasol go and get a young, athletic center who knows how to stay out of AD's way. Next, trade Trez for a bench player, keep Pope and Kuz because they are exactly what we needed -- a guard with some length who can defend and does not need the ball + a young, long wing who can rebound/defend/score and contribute major minutes. Finally, keep our elite perimeter guard who does not demand the ball in Caruso. We just needed that center upgrade AND THEN you sign Melo to come off the bench and do what he does. Finally, signing someone like Duke for the minimum would be 100% justified, whether he can actually contribute or not.. no one would have gotten upset if he ends up not playing much.
Buddy was not the best option, but we would have been way better off with him than Russ. Buddy would have allowed us to keep Caruso. Buddy can shoot. But in the end, you're absolutely right. Standing pat with last year's team with the changes being dumping Gasol and replacing him with a young rim runner. Still could have signed Monk.
The biggest issue with his construction of last year's team was the f***ing promised roles. Had we started AD at C a year sooner and built the rest of the roster around that decision. You can still even bring on DS but pair him with Trez like they should've been since day one. Instead you have all these weird lineups because we promised 3 players to spots in the starting lineup. I think there's 100% a championship team in last year's roster if we were healthy and Frank could coach without worrying about guaranteed spots and minutes. Rob's biggest repeat weakness so far is over correction. Has 1 championship roster, flushes it. Defies the odds, assembles what I think is another one, flushes it. Tries for 3rd time and fails miserably. Maybe he didn't realize how hard it is to put together a championship team because he did it so easily so early on in his position and that gave him a false sense of confidence.
Also, choosing THT over Caruso is looking bad. Caruso was a proven better fit player around Lebron who can play defense and was a better 3 point shooter than THT. The Westbrick acquisition made it more redundant of having 2 guys who hasn't proven to knock down the 3 shot. THT may be the better player years from now, but in a win now by dumping all our draft picks, they had to think of the future or winning now, Caruso would had helped more this season than THT with his defense and spacing for Lebron
I believe that Buss is the one that told Rob to let Caruso go. She didn’t want to pay the luxury tax bill. If so, there was nothing Rob could do. It never had to be a one or the other kind of choice. We could of had both if not for our cheapness.
