with AD's injury history and how he's forgotten to shoot and westbrook's age, i don't have much faith in those two leading the way in the future
It is ok to be "grateful" that Lebron/AD/Pelinka/Vogel/Jeanie and 2020 team brought a title back after years of mediocrity. It is also ok to criticize those same people for their decline. They have collectively been less than great since 2020, have not met the high expectations so far. Lot of people are frustrated that things may not turn around around this year. Both can be true and its alright to feel both sentiments. The frustration right now is because Laker fans know what a championship team looks like. This roster has players who are resting on their past laurels and think its going to work in 2021. They have gotten comfortable and for a whole list of reasons simply have not met the Laker standard. We know what a title contender looks like and this isn't it.
Me neither. I hope we get a new alpha in here once Bron retires. It will take time, but it always does.
I mean before the season started people were already saying this won’t work and Russ is a bad piece for LA ! I just had my homer Rosie glow glasses on … but there were people that actually said LAKERS won’t even make the playoffs with this roster … but will see .
i thought they did well in the offseason post-title. getting gasol and matthews on mins and stealing trez from the clips were great moves. honestly, trading green for schroder made a ton of sense, too. things started falling apart when they let schroder dictate his role, then when they brought in drummond. it wouldn't have mattered because AD's injury was a season-long problem that was going to prevent a title. they don't get a pass on this summer from me. they had a nice roster balance and could have returned last year's team intact and been in third place right now (or better) and a presumptive title favorite, imo. they let lebron and AD gm us into the play-in again. guessing that mistake won't be made next summer, but the damage is done because we're on the vet min treadmill with our three stars.
Right...the excuse we heard last year was health/short turnaround. So if thats the case why not bring the band back (except Schroder). The Westbrook trade was such a killer move in constructing the roster, it took away KCP, Kuz, AC...all the guys who did the dirty work for Lebron/AD. We might salvage this if we can optimize him but its gonna require Lebron/AD to adjust and step back. On the court Westbrook still does a lot of good things but we are not optimizing him. Just my opinion, I think there is a way for us to still make the playoffs but its gonna require someone to become 2012/2013 Kobe with super high minutes/usage and control of the offense. I'd rather that be Westbrook. It will be fun and at least gives us a greater chance to win many regular season games if we try that route.
It wasn’t that bad getting Russ , I APPRECIATE Jeanie wanting to win … it’s just that LBJ almost certainly will miss magnificent amount of time cuz he just older and AD is basically made of glass … AD is like John Paxson or bill cartwright, he is a great luxury piece but he is just not cut out to be the main piece.
Alphas don’t wanna sign with us !!! We are the devils the anti christ the villains! We just have to accept it that we are worse than the Yankees … we were hated already then we got LBJ and then signing carmelo and Russ just made every other alphas not wanting to sign here just to stick it to us !!! They HATE US cuz they AINT US !!! let that sink in
You can attract free agents to play with those guys particularly AD. Only on the hook for Russ for one more season even though I think overall he’s playing better than some give him credit.
The Westbrook trade cost us Trez, KCP and Kuz. Trez wasn’t a factor for us. And I would argue that Melo replaced much of what Kuz gave us. Russ alone is better than KCP and Kuz by a fair margin IMO. The issues I have is we let AC go to cut costs which is disappointing. And we didn’t use Schroder as a sign and trade to conclude our business for the off season and net us a bigger SF. We could of really gone all in. Westbrook/Nunn/Rondo Monk/Caruso/Ellington S&T SF/THT/Ariza Lebron/Melo Davis/Howard/Jordan The good news is basically everyone has started off terribly. So we are right in the thick of it
kuzma's rebounding is sorely missed, but yeah melo is definitely an upgrade on offense but KCP, along with caruso, was one of the key defensive players and they got rid of both without bringing in anyone to replace them. that's been the key issue
if russ is replacing everything out of those 4 minus ac, why does this team look worse than last yrs team?
Because Alex left and FO let him walk, when Alex left this team went on a therapy and they still have not recovered.
