not sure i buy everything coming from magic. maybe by "backstabber" he meant rob told jeanie that magic was drunk-trading us into oblivion (which he was) and maybe needed to stay in his lane as a glorified mascot of sorts.
Magic has a lot of good qualities. Talent evaluation isn't one of them. And apparently he doesn't like being called on the carpet for lack of appropriate time spent on specific tasks related to his job. You simply can't finesse certain jobs for very long and not get exposed. Since Magic has been out of the picture, Rob has surely shown us how it's done.
Yeah. Nothing about Magic ever said "grinder" to me. There's lots of places I would plug a guy like Magic into in an organization just not the final decision maker or a guy who needs to be on the ground running things every day. I think Magic can open doors to players that others can't as we don't get LeBron without him. That should have been his role. If they wanted to give him a formal advisor title or whatever, that's fine. However, I feel pretty confident that Jeannie knew what she was getting with Magic and was okay with that. Especially given that they are still close. We'll never get the real version and I hate how he left, but I can't dismiss everything Magic said on his way out the door either.
All that said, Rob's a Russ deal away from calming the waters. The Indiana deal has grown on me a lot especially if he can pull that off without giving up both the picks.
I think we'll have a better feel for Rob once leBron is out of the picture. Early on, felt like not only did he has a plan A, but a Plan B, C and D in case that didn't work out. Did he suddenly quit trying? I don't think that is it at all. I think he caved too much to cater to his stars and their lack of experience in these matters as objective team assemblers. He has a little hole to dig out of and has learned some valuable lessons along the way. I'm pulling for him to make a major turnaround. He has assembled some interesting pieces this year that are infinitely movable near the trade deadline, and has not mortgaged the future further. Good for him. You do you Rob, and go down swinging doing your job the best you can. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but you won't go down blaming Klutch or anyone else for affecting the outcome. Agents need to know their place in the pecking order. So while consulting with your stars is nice and considerate, they are terrible personnel people. Period. Zero objectivity, and they clearly don't care about the financial portion of the equation.
only if you place blame for westbrook on him. otherwise, the rob/non-magic moves have been pretty uniformly good, imo.
Early on I was super impressed. I'm super disappointed he caved as much as he did to bRon's team's wishes. Never again I hope.
signs have been encouraging there since the westbrook trade. i guess some will focus on lonnie/klutch, but i've already been over why i think it was a good move considering our options.
yeah. I agree. Just not impressed with him. I can’t just blame everyone around him and let him off the hook when it’s literally his job to put the roster together. Klutch is the only real relationship he seems to have right now so I just can’t envision him doing better if LeBron isn’t around. If anything I think the opposite and he will completely fall on his face due to a lack of relationships around the league. So yeah, no more benefit of the doubt. Show us an improved roster and the noise will die down. Until then, the criticisms are going to keep coming.
I have no way of knowing anything but the appearance to me was they did everything they could to get rid of Russ without getting fleeced again and there just wasn't any takers. We are set pretty well if a trade does materialize. The best acquisition of the off-season for me was Coach Ham. That hiring is going to help us for many years. No, it likely won't fix everything in one season but it was a good step. Extending Lebron shows we treat our superstars well but unless he can turn back the clock a couple of years it did make it hard to contend. I do expect a better Lebron. At the very least we are going to be a team that plays hard and is fun to watch. Complete opposite of last season.
yeah, still having trouble figuring out why everyone's pissed about this summer (and still waiting to hear which russ deal people would have actually done if they were rob). last summer was awful. this one was fine. if you're going to blame the gm for stuff that's not fully in their control, then it doesn't matter who our gm is, tbh. they will all suck if players, owners, and ancillary basketball ops folks have hands in all decisions.
I know we all want the perfect team going in each season but I'm actually excited with what we have. I'm glad I am not the GM. I probably would have caved and made a bad deal...lol I think most will be happy with the unity Ham brings and his coaching philosophy. I liked Frank but since the FO didn't support him and he had to go I don't think we could have done better.
as i said in the other thread: pressure was EXTREME to move russ at all costs. rob would have saved his job temporarily if he gave up 2 picks for hield/turner. fans would have learned to accept it like we did the russ trade, and the bill wouldn't come due for a few years. his moves this summer are the moves one would make with the long-term health of the franchise in mind. this includes not using the mini MLE for multiple years on a vet. you don't want to be dallas paying javale mcgee 8 million dollars three years from now. it hurts your ability to do other things. and i agree that ham was the best coach available, so that has to be considered a win, too.
Well as far as what I would've done, how far do we want to go back? Lol. I feel confident saying most of the board outside of our diehard Russ guys wouldn't have made that deal, would've kept Caruso, etc. I didn't really think the critiques of Rob just started, but maybe it was just me and a couple of other guys who had doubts. There was definitely a pretty vocal contingent of fans who weren't happy about those moves and didn't hide it. Overall, if it was me and I’m really just a figurehead and the team forced me into all these moves, won’t listen to me, etc then I’d probably just leave. Pay me my money and I’m out and I’ll sit back on some beach laughing while the team struggles and possibly misses the play in game again. I wouldn’t ever pull a Magic but if I’m already a millionaire and we’ve got a contract and you’re not letting me do my job, then yeah. See you around. I’m dead serious on that. I’d let my legal team handle the details and go on with my life and work/do something else. If I can't do my job then why I am even here. That said, for this summer, yes, I take the best deal and move Russ. Still would. I agree on the long term health of the franchise but I think the short term health is important too. I think moving Russ is good for him and the team. His whole family cracked under the Laker spotlight and we saw how it impacted him. The team looked miserable out there and it showed in the results. Battling it out for the play in game isn't good for the team or the fans. Folks are already disappointed and if we wobble out of the gates I think it will get really ugly really quickly. The fans are not going to give the team the benefit of the doubt they had coming into last season. Looking at our schedule through December, I can easily see us losing 9 to 12 of those games as the roster is currently constructed. I'd much rather give the team a roster that at least fits together on paper and then ride AD/Lebron as far as they can carry us. If the best deal was Hield /Turner, then yes, I likely do that. Especially after trading for Pat Bev and signing Dennis. Try to get somewhere in the 4 to 6 range in the West and see what our big two can do in the playoffs. I definitely wouldn't have spent the time it at lest seemed like we did waiting for Kyrie. I'm worried that the real reason we are passing on deals is to chase after him next year because we think we might be able to get him to sign for a bit less. So yeah, my thoughts are very pessimistic and I honestly don't like feeling this way about any team I support. If we start the season well, knock off the Clippers and Warriors, Russ works in the role Ham has for him, Walker shoots and defends, etc etc, I will be thrilled and breathe a huge sigh of relief. Until then though, there's probably going to be more less than optimistic takes for me about the team. lol
i don't know about that. maybe he likes the organization despite his lack of autonomy and doesn't feel like retiring from management at age 50 or whatever. so you're on record saying giving up 2 1sts (btw, i bet indy was asking for reaves and/or another swap or some such, too) in the indy deal was the right move. i just don't think that deal moves us firmly into contention. we'll see how it all plays out, but i'm against moving 2 1sts for anything short of an allstar in his prime right now. i'd rather have another bad year this year than 5 more starting two years from now. seems like we were negotiating all over the league even during the kyrie stuff, and i have no idea on the latter, but i hope not. i'd want rob fired if that ended up being the case, but i don't think that's what we're planning. i think the THT move was just to have more expiring money in case something came up at the deadline, not necessarily to use it in FA next year.
