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

The problem is: Jeanie, the Rambii and Rob are still “Living in the Past.”
Great Jethro Tull song, but not a very smart way to run a Franchise.

 

Totally agree, we’re run like a nepotism mom and pop shop. I think it can improve without selling the team, but if not, I’d be on new owners bandwagon too.

An owner like Balmer with the Lakers would make us near unstoppable.

 

So I see, you're saying it's virtually the same for a star player to play for The Hornets as it is The Lakers. Do you even realize how silly that sounds?

 

The only capable people in the Organization are found in our scouting department. I wish they could take over all of the basketball calls. The only way this turns around is if somehow Jeanie changes her mind about Rob’s abilities.

 

I’m not saying that. That’s you putting words in my mouth.

What I’m saying is, a player will play wherever the situation is best for them. Example: Giannis in Milwaukee. Because a player’s reach, earning potential and visibility isn’t impacted in this day and age like it use to be.

Technology has levelled the playing field. And it would be stupid for the lakers to assume and rely that it hasn’t.

 

Beal has been a very poor 3 point shooter as well in the last few seasons.

Turner/Hield are obviously not better players, but they would be a much better fit around Lebron+AD.

this franchise is doomed, if Beal is our masterplan.

 

Already doomed until the reigns are removed from Jeanie’s hands.

 

Well I completely disagree with you and the quality of life here, do you even live in So Cal? I lived in LA for 30 years and never had a single incident of crime in my neighborhood, the schools were great for my kids (both went on to graduate from universities), I knew all my neighbors, work was plentiful, pay was excellent, you think a player living in Bel Air or Brentwood isn't going to experience a high quality of life? As for traffic, every single player in the NBA plays in a big or fairly big city and almost all of them play downtown where there is traffic. The rest of the time they don't have to deal with traffic at all, they have people run out and get them what they need or they go locally.

You bring up the fact that most live here in the off-season....um, surpised? And you think being away from their family and kids who live in LA isn't a hindrance? I just read Lebron complaining that he misses his family on road trips. There's only a few of those a year imagine living in a different state during the season. There is no way you can convince me it isn't a big deal to live here to an NBA star. Anyway you said you are not saying it is the same for a star to play on the Hornets as it is the Lakers in fact you took offense to it, so your point is moot.

 

Southern California used to be one of the best places in the world to live. Now, it’s barely recognizable. Homelessness is out of control. The never ending barrage of taxes have decimated the middle class. I’m not even going to go into how damaging the policies of our current Dictator have made things significantly worse over the past few years.
It’s unrecognizable from the place I once loved and grew up in.
Even if I were a multi millionaire and could afford a house overlooking my favorite surf spot, I would still be looking to move.
Anyway, if I were a great ball player who’s been paying attention to how this current regime has been running things in Lakerland, I wouldn’t consider for a second signing with them.

 

Just want to say first off that I’m glad you’ve had a good life in LA! It’s nice to hear that in comparison to a lot of bad media.

I’ve lived in some of the highest quality of life rated places in the world like Melbourne, Zurich and Vienna. But even without looking at international places for perspective, it’s pretty clear you’re overvaluing living in LA and the endorsements/weather/celebrities. Just check out the quality of life index. Take the Milwaukee vs LA example:

- 35% higher purchasing power in Milwaukee
- Milwaukee is a bit more than 30% safer
- healthcare is comparable across the US
- LA’s climate index is about 30% nicer
- The cost of living is 15% cheaper in Milwaukee
- Property prices to income ratio is 1.8x in Milwaukee vs 6.8 in LA
- While traffic and pollution is a little over twice as bad in LA as Milwaukee
- crime from homicide, robberies, drug use, homelessness is all rampant
- taxes are very high in socal

Endorsements and following is kind of equal everywhere. So what are we actually selling here? Better weather?

The facts speak for themselves - just remember Melo didn’t come here when he was a FA during Kobe’s years, Greg Monroe didn’t come here, Aldridge didn’t even give us an interview, Paul George stayed in OKC, Dwight left.

My point is, we need to start running our organisation as the best in class and not rely on gimmicks like weather or Hollywood. Otherwise we’ll be back to the lean years hoping.

 

they wouldn't trade him for AD. teams never trade their best young star for a more expensive older star (even if the older star is better). we traded ingram for AD, but ingram wasn't doing what shai is. if ingram was, he would have been off the table, even for AD. the funny part is that at least AD is still more valuable than ingram. because PG may not be more valuable than SGA right now, and the clips gave up even more on top of him in that deal.

as for the location debate, i actually think svtzr is underselling the advantage we have. yes, all those guys spurned us when we were terrible--and this matters, we can't suck forever again (which is why i don't give up picks for turner/hield).

but PG tried to force his way here, leonard had us on the short list twice, lebron came here, and AD forced his way here. we've also had lower dollar guys come for less. miami and la definitely have advantages for nba players, both historically and currently. they also seem to like houston and phx, for whatever reason (warm weather is often cited).

the breakdown of milwaukee vs. la doesn't make sense to me, as nba players don't need to concern themselves with much of what we regular folks do. school districts? you can send your kid anywhere when you make a bazillion dollars. crime? you don't live near it. housing costs--immaterial when you're going to sell whatever it is at a profit. taxes matter to some degree, but we've yet to see it play out like the breathless sports media claim it will. nobody ever signs in dallas or san antonio.

anyway, i think the climate and the proximity to other famous people is actually a big selling point for the top guys. as svtzr said, the world is smaller due to technology, but being neighbors with snoop or something carries a lot of cache. and it's dumb stuff like that that starts to matter when you can literally buy anything.

all that said, this obviously isn't enough to just land all the free agents. in fact, the top players rarely move via FA until like, 10 years into their careers.

 

Yeah. Of the names that are being tossed around he would be a top target if we’re going this route.

 

Don't believe anybody.

Anything is possible.

Especially after 20 games.

Hahahahahahahahahahah

 

Are you aware that people make a hell of a lot more money in LA than in Milwaukee? Talk about misdirection with stats. You purposefully don't mention earning ability or worse, are unaware of it. Almost every statistic you list is completely dependent upon that. I could never have done what I have business-wise in an environment like Milwaukee. Pollution in LA? It's clear you haven't even been here. We have blue skies year round, Bad pollution was a thing of the '70s-'90s. Now there are some bad areas in LA completely on the other side of town that most people you or I would know don't live in and it's been my experience that those sectors pretty much stay within their own areas. If you want to live in South Central and Compton, go for it, no one with any sense does. I really don't know what the crime rates are, I don't go to those places because that's where all of it takes place. You talk about homicide, robberies, drug use, and homelessness but I and everyone I know who lived in LA never experienced any of that.

Every other point you make is related to money well, guess what? There's a lot of money in So Cal. Honestly your argument just falls apart on the money issue. And do you think that matters to a rich star player anyway? Endorsements are not equal everywhere lol! That's complete gibberish. You think a car dealership in Oklahoma City is gonna pay out for an ad like a huge dealership conglomerate here in LA like Cerritos Auto Square the world's largest auto mall will contract a player for upper 6 figures if not more? We have aerospace, the world's entertainment center, tourism, banking, ocean economy, over 30,000 restaurants, a MASSIVE TV contract, global fans (don't forget we are huge in China and everywhere else) and on and on and on and despite disgustingly high-priced tickets, we have a perpetually sold-out basketball arena no matter how well our team is doing. As soon as Westbrook got here I saw his face all over ads he would not have got in smaller franchises. So stop with misleading stats that have no bearing on an NBA star in the first place your argument is weak and changes nothing. Other than stars being able to reach out through social media now, which certainly helps the smaller franchises no doubt and I am glad that the situation is a little better but you still can not compare small markets or medium markets to LA, New York, and Chicago. And especially not to us. With the ability to promote stars' Film, TV, and music entertainment fantasies which many of them seem to have, and frolic amongst the stars of Hollywood, LA is a destination franchise for stars in this league. Period.

 

other than the usual trade suspects, i'm keeping my eye on chicago, miami, minnesota, and maybe even dallas as teams that are slightly underperforming and may look to shake things up as the season progresses towards the 20-gameTM mark.

 

We could easily swap Nunn for McGee on 12/15 if Rob wasn't terrified of deals longer than 1 year. Can't cut into that Dray bag for this summer.

McGee looked good last year, he hasn't really fit that well in Dallas. Don't think he fell off that quickly. He was on of the best chemistry guys we've had in a long time and he has a short hand with AD and Bron and is capable of playing minutes in a NBA game. Something i cannot currently say about our newest centers for one reason or another.

 

We could probably swap Beverley/Nunn and a few SRPs for Turner. They have no other offers and will lose him this summer.

 

The Lakers will always be a destination. My point is, it’s not what it was 20 years ago. Technology, globalisation and social media have levelled the playing field.

The proof is in the pudding, when we were bad around 2013-2018, we couldn’t get meetings with some stars and no one considered us. That was because of how we were run and the team we put together.

We shouldn’t rely on things like weather or the fact LA has celebrities. Also endorsements are everywhere and state taxes are better almost anywhere than Cali too. You guys are overstating these benefits that no longer matter so much and I’m saying we need to become a world class organisation. I don’t see how it’s arguable.

 

You'll see Rob and his true skills be revealed after 20 games.