I would be more upset about giving up on Russell if he's off the court/work ethic wasn't such a big question mark. There is a reason no one wanted to give up anything for him.
Yup. It starts with Lonzo but others will have to do their jobs...hopefully that makes things easier for them and they capitalize on opportunities. And vise versa, people in Ingram and Randle along with our starting SG need to step up to open things for Lonzo as well.
I haven't trashed Mitch, and I didn't trash DLO. I do and will trash Jim Buss because I think the reason we are in the position we are in the first place is due to him. None of the players liked him and felt like he was a selfish owner, who was more concerned with his bottom line than in treating his employees with dignity. He had a bad rep and we were being black listed because of it. That is what I think of him. My comment about DLO was meant as a tentative thing. I have no idea what information Magic had, that I am not aware of. When you are employed in those positions, you hear things behind the scenes. I'm just saying, I am more than willing to take a waiver on it and figure the Lakers FO had their reasons and Magic made them clear. Like it or not, stuff happens. Being down on the Lakers now, while they are in a crucial period of rebuilding a roster that truly sucked, is NOT going to help us as a team or help our organization become great again. One thing that fans like us need to realize. We reflect on the team. How many players are going to look at an entitled fan base and think they have nowhere to go but down? They know fans like us can be constantly negative and not support the team much. In this day of social media, it makes a difference. If you can go to a team that does NOT have all the negative fans with entitled expectations, you can be a savior right from the beginning. Not here. It takes a guy with extreme confidence, they need to know that they can turn us around as a team. If they can't, their legacy is likely going to take a big hit. Yeah, I think we Lakers fans would do our team a great favor by being more positive about them, but I know that will never happen. I also feel like it's a negative towards the team and works against us being great again.
@ElginTheGreat you are among my favorite posters, but I really don't get this post. Every member here is free to criticize anyone they want for whatever reason they want.
I'm fine with anyone criticizing any Laker, past or present. Except Kobe. He's off limits. And Lonzo Ball. And Lavar. But yeah, the rest are fair game. But don't talk bad about Fisher either. he's one of my favorites. J/K I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but I think a lot of fans have the big brother mentality. You can talk about other teams players and former Lakers, but don't talk about current Lakers. I don't hold this view. I have little patience, which is why I spent 3/4 of the year criticizing Ingram and the last 2 months praising him. At the end of the day, 99% of us are Laker fans and we all want the same thing. Dog days of the off-season bring out good debates, but also people (including me) digging their heels in and defending a player or position too much.
Likewise @TIME (and thanks) but I do think there is some validity to what @abeer3 is saying. It's more the reaction from everyone when you point out certain things. That's not a shot at the forum or you guys though. This is the only Laker forum I regularly comment at and you guys do a great job here.
I agree with this. And I know I can be critical of the team and players but I support all of them. Even the guys who frustrate me like Randle and Clarkson
I understand being turned off by some people's enthusiasm, but hopefully we can actually try to enjoy this.
sorry, a post like wino's wasn't going without a response from me. heart might have been in a fine place, but it was poorly executed. opinions aren't policed. we don't actually influence the world we discuss here. and discouraging appropriate criticism is anti-intellectual and not in keeping with the spirit of forums in general. if i feel like questioning rob pelinka, i can do it. if i feel like questioning jerry west, i can do it. i form opinions based on available evidence and my reckoning of said evidence.
Damn guys. I take my daughter to the beach for two hours and this site has an existential crisis. I think it's a given that we're allowed to praise or criticize whomever we want, so long as we don't ever praise or defend Jim Buss, yes? That's the one.
Yeah abeer and people are really turned off with that type of mindset. Im gonna do something or say something just cause i can?... Its like saying to a teenagers family that the teenager is gonna be a failure in life cause hes not going straight to college after high school. You simply dont know the outcome of their life yet so why not wait before criticising. Hope you catch my drift but everyone does have the right of an opinion. I know when to walk away though if i do disagree. Everyone can play it to how they want. Not that serious doe, just throwing in my.02 cents
I'm just discussing it, telling you how I see it. I'm not the boss of here, I'm new here. But if you are going to tell us your opinions, isn't it fair game for me to tell you mine? I'm not denigrating you.
i'm not sure who you were denigrating, but it was someone. that was my point. i'm not attacking the entire ethos of the people who are pro-2017 lakers, nor is anyone else, really (not that i see). some people think trading away an adequately performing high draft pick to dump salary is a questionable move. others think it was excising a tumor before it metastasized. these are fine viewpoints to hold. my issue is with the claim that one of them somehow negatively reflects on the character of the person holding the viewpoint. if the argument is that it's blind pessimism, one can simply turn the tables and suggest that blind optimism is also a poor life strategy. safest to assume that neither side is blind.
I thrashed Mitch because he deserved it with the Mozdeng deal, and continue to thrash him for the Russel/Mozgov trade. Pelinka/Magic has my full trust and confidence like Mitch did before he gone rogue and signed Mozdeng. Jim Buss is a d****** so I never thrashed him much because it might be deemed too insensitive, you know on account that he is a r*******. Oooops.
