Lakers shopping in own backyard. After striking out on lamarcus Aldridge, Kevin love, and Greg Monroe - the lakers made their own splash in the free agent pool albeit the shallow end in their own backyard signing Ed Davis and Wayne Ellington to deals that would have been unheard of 5 years ago. But these are not your fathers lakers and the rules of the NBAs salary cap have changed in part because of the Chris Paul trade vetoed by David stern in the interests of being bad for basketball. The jury is still out on that sentiment but one thing is for sure - the NBA has more millionaires than ever and not because of expansion of the talent pool but rather the dilution of it. Scarcity breeds mediocrity and in this case elevates the player to superstar status in the wallet - it's a players league - but is it good for the game? Fake headline.
I don't blame Mitch and company to be tired/overwhelmed. Not making an excuse for them at all, but they have been going hard these last 24-36 hours. Nothing to show, but the effort is there.
Don't waste the time on any more humiliating dinners or meetings. Pick up the phone, grab the old roladex and hold a press conference for the first 4-5 guys that take you call and say yes.
It's interesting that there aren't reports of any other team having "underwhelming" meetings, just us. Are we really that bad?
DJ should've been given the LMA treatment, so to speak. Them star-humping the bigger name/worse basketball fit is a bit startling.
Just Mitch and Byron? Mitch can be boring, and Byron is just Byron. I'd feel 'somewhat underwhelmed', too.
We're running out of combinations to try. The red carpet approach is dead. The one with the two potential bosses (coach, GM) doesn't seem much better. I'm all for the roladex approach I mentioned above or the divide and conquer approach. Send each person some place different, first to bring a contract of a real life NBA player back gets a raise...I mean everyone from Madsen, to Chazz, to Swaggy and Iggy, to Larry Nance Jr.
I agree, but the danger of making an offer sheet to a RFA is that our money is completely tied up until Orlando decides to match or not.
Jet-lag... Kupchak's personality isn't magnetic to begin with. Scott can be personable. Jordan received a free dinner. This is just so tragic. Aaahhh...god.
Yo, Mitch, hire John Calipari. Get him some top notch assistant coaches, and he'll get some Free Agents!
The meeting went like this: Mitch: dj we uh uh Byron: the lakers have won 16 rings and we are looking for hard workers like you who play d Mitch: And hate Chris Paul Dj: guys Mitch: so how does a Dj : guys Mitch : max contract? Sound? Silence Dj: Guys thanks for dinner I already signed with dallas
