2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

I don’t think he’s saying LeBron is blameless. More pointing to the lack of accountability from the front office. Yes Klutch has a lot of power but the front office still has the wallet. The buck stops there.

 

its an interesting point. I don’t know that I wouldn’t call his bluff here given the salary cap ramifications if that deal but that’s definitely hindsight.

I just have a hard time believing everyone didn’t buy in to this initially especially given the comments when it happened.

I think they legitimately thought they were going to shock the world and make everyone eat crow. And I think that’s part of why the Kamenetsky bros wrote that.


A lot of hubris across the board.

 

Results are what counts and we didn't make a freak in play in game.

If I am Rob, everything is on the table.

 

@abeer3 i will add though that your earlier point about Klutch seeming to be the first group to try and deflect blame may also be important. Front office could just be pushing back.


I’d prefer them to just take the high road though and deal with that type of stuff behind the scenes…for once.

 

I definitely agree. I don’t feel like anyone is untouchable but it’s definitely hard to get value for guys like LeBron and AD and we know the issues with moving Russ.

 

send albig 3 to clev, maybe dan gilbert still has soft spot for Bron

 

hmmm...not sure about that last part. what is the FO supposed to do? second guess its own move in real time? as ox often says, watch what people do. we negotiated a trade with sac. then abruptly shifted gears.

i think lebron did. again, the fact that they had fully negotiated and nearly executed a different deal tells me the FO couldn't possibly be so sure.

and once more--the FO refusing to attach assets to move russ at the deadline reinforces my belief that they weren't sure about russ and rode along, then told lebron they were driving at the deadline. hence klutch's brief hissy fit before they came to their senses and realized that escalating the issues with the lakers would endanger their agency long-term. when lebron's gone, they lose SO much leverage. just like the lakers, they need to be thinking about their place in the post-lebron nba. lebron will be the VERY last person to think about this.

 

Lol..maybe he needs to fire the training staff first...again.

 

yeah. That’s all very plausible based on what we’ve heard. I just wonder out loud how vocal they were with any concerns.

 

Who gives a s*** who's fault it is. It's over. Time to fix it. Time to focus on that. You make a bad business deal, you don't sit there and whine all day, go get another one and make the money back. It's not hard when you aren't wasting time b****ing and whining...

 

What a sh!tshow this Franchise has become.
Sometimes I wish I could just ignore the reality of the situation and pretend it’s all from dumb injury luck.

 

probably not very. do you think lebron would have listened? if they don't make the russ deal he brokered, do you think lebron and AD aren't grumbling all year, talking about other teams with third stars like they talked about lue's masterful adjustments (i must admit, having marcus morris hit a double clutch three with a guy on top of him was a masterful stroke of strategy)?

in a way, the spectacular failure of the russ trade may be the thing that allows the FO to work unfettered.

i think it matters to some degree because it has bearing on who should be making the next decision. has the FO performed so poorly that it should be someone else? i lean towards letting rob try to fix things. but if people are already leaning the other way, he needs to be replaced NOW, because we can't afford instability heading into 2023, which is a big summer for us (lots of flexibility and AD still under contract).

 

Agreed.

 

The finger pointing bothers me because every camp involved is in spin mode. We need real leadership from the top.

“We all agreed to the deal for Westbrook and it didn’t go the way we planned. We will regroup and move forward” or something like that. No t** for tats with Klutch because it’s pointless. LeBron isn’t going anywhere. and none of the “we wanted Derozan or whoever” talk because that ship long sailed away.

You went with Westbrook. Fine it was LeBrons idea but again, the front office has the final say and they went for it. Own your role in the mistake and move forward.

 

i feel like the finger-pointing mostly ended when klutch backed off after the trade deadline, unless i missed something?

i think vogel is definitely in spin control mode, and i don't blame him for that. but it doesn't feel like rob/jeanie/lebron are going at each other currently.

 

I'm lumping in some of the tweets from reporters and even Magic's little PR tour.

 

yeah, i don't think magic speaks for anyone in the organization, nor do most of the tweeters. seems like the finger pointing is mostly emanating from outside to me. but who knows. we'll definitely see in terms of how people do or don't push back on whatever vogel has to say on his way out.