Good call. I think this happens with the quotes from Marc pre trade deadline. Plus Toronto has a few roster spots they need to fill.
Pelinka is a pretty good sales man when it comes to explaining things and finding excuses. He just doesn't seem to be particularly bright in constructing teams and evaluating talent. Sadly neither does Magic. He thinks his job is to bring a couple stars and that's it. But once you have those stars the tough thing is fine tuning that talent with complementary pieces (without salary cap) and I don't see this FO ever succeeding at that.
I think he kisses a** too much. That's why he goes into these diatribes and soliloquies after every transaction or trade. He's genuinely a nice guy.
In terms of big picture I am supremely confident in Magic getting s*** done...I know he'll get the big names even with all the hate that he's had to endure through (Pritchard, Mintz, Lavar, Pop/Buford, Benson/Nawlins management, tampering allegations from petty franchises, and even Lakers fans, which is bizarre seeing how much he's actually done for the Lakers as a player and as an exec in this short stint still)... I understand the stop gap contracts this last summer (#2019lan & #SmashBros and look at the list of free agent shooters that were willing to take 1yr deals...I'll save you time, there wasn't much of a list). But the auxiliary moves beyond that, like dropping TB, giving Beas BLo's bag, dropping Zu for no apparent reason (even if we needed the roster spot)...those are the ones that are wtf-worthy. One thing is for sure...Rob will make excuses about the construction of the roster, but they have a willingness to pivot from it. Everybody said they needed shooters around them, so they traded for shooters. Magic revealed that they were in talks with Detroit for Bullock for a while, but Detroit didn't want to pull on a deal till closer to the deadline. So shooting that wasnt really available in free agency was something they were looking for via trade as soon as Dec. 15th. Either way, the FO is listening to the noise and attempting to do something about it, rather than stubbornly hold onto the playmakers around Bron approach (although I do see benefits to that as well in a playoff series; see 27 straight 3ball misses from Htown vs the dubs in the playoffs last year). Rob needs to evoke his inner Mamba this summer...if/when the big fish happen, you gotta construct the remaining pieces to the roster accordingly. He has a nice guy facade to him, but being around Kob for so many years, you know there's a killer in there somewhere. We need that guy badly this summer. Btw, with this last roster spot, I wanna see a team option for a second year. We can then use it for salary matching purposes in a trade this summer if for whatever reason we get cap-strapped (which would be ideal). Work them books more efficiently, Rob.
with a lot of silly moves post the Lebron signing, my confidence in ths FO is the same with Kupcrap post Mosdung signings. Zero
Young front office that's still figuring things out. I don't think they'll trot out a roster with glaring holes like this one again next season.
I dont blame Rob for roster contruction, at least not yet. Those signings looked like Magic imprint all over them
Not a finished product tho. This is a stopgap roster with the hopes of making some noise in the playoffs. They're a disappointment in that the playoffs are in danger. But in terms of truly competing for a chip, that hopefully comes next year. Legit title contenders: Dubs - too many Allstars and names to count OKC - 2 Allstars/max slots Htown - 2 Allstars/namers/max slots Toronto - 2 Allstars Philly - 3 Allstars Boston - 2-3 Allstars/namers (if you consider Hayward) and a g0d Our team needs another legit all-star (ie no injury sub and a player that comes out the loaded west)...then and only then are we close to a finished product with some tinkering left. I'm frustrated as the next person cause "this" team is underperforming. But this isn't the team Rob/Magic envision as their team till that max slot gets filled. Btw: imho Jokic and Giannis are dope but their teams are playing over their heads and I don't really consider them legit title contenders till they show otherwise in the playoffs this year.
See, this is what I disagree with. You can figure things out but what's there to figure out when you have zero shooting and the NBA is ALL about shooting?? Are these guys mentally didabled? What's there to figure out when you gift Zubac to a direct competitor and get their hot chocolate back? These aren't things you "figure out", these are things a healthy brain just knows. If your basketball IQ needs to figure out what every human being on the internet had figured out, then you should GTFO. As I have said in other threads... There are mistakes you can do and there are mistakes you cannot do. Some of the moves we made raise dark red flags. These are mistakes you cannot do because they don't include ANY complexity . Not even as a fan do I need to figure it out, let alone as a GM. I'm very bitter at some of their stupidity especially because they went against overwhelming conventional wisdom and every friggin metric this game has to offer. Inexcusable. Get outta here before you screw my beloved Lakers.
Yeah every fan who follows the league with just a little knowledge of the game was making fun of these moves as soon as it happened . These are ' I haven't watched NBA games for 5 years+ and think the players I signed are still as good as they were in 2011" type of mistakes . Inexcusable . AND keep in mind the FO still didn't admit it was wrong at the deadline when they finally add shooting with Bullock . But sure let's be optimistic about next summer
You and I have never been more aligned in all of 15 years we've been together on different sites. :thumbsup:
As Wcsoldier and KB24 have said, these are not rookie mistakes. These are mistakes your grandma who doesn't watch more than 2 games a year would make. Magic is getting players that would have thrived......in the 80's when he played. Pelinka is best friends with Kobe who played a style that would need to be seriously altered to work in today's game. There were warning sides everywhere with Magic. His high praise of some players is beyond questionable. Also his opinions on coaches. We were coming off of the Bupchak era and Magic was a lot of Laker fans favorite player. We were looking at him through rose colored glasses. The problem with that is rose colored glasses make red flags the same color as everything else.
