2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

While all valid points, at the end of the day there is still no viable option on the roster for us. Its a results business and he hasn't gotten a center.

 

I did refute your points. We have a different viewpoint on various things you posted.

Shaq? That's a weak comeback professor, you can do better than that. AD was all NBA as a PF in New Orleans. All Defense too. However his best squads there, had another bigman on it too.

Yeah Dennis declined the offer initially, but again you conveniently overlook a couple of things on that. 1. We could have traded Dennis and Tucker, for Lowry and a 1st rd pick at the trade deadline. Rob declined that offer.
2. He never made another offer to Dennis after the season ended. Shroeder signed for the vet minimum, you really think that's what he wanted to do? He says he never heard from Rob during the offseason at all. No offer period. Pelinka had already decided to let him walk for nothing.


The Westbrook trade had nothing to do with Caruso. It was him or Tucker before that trade ever came up. You think KCP and Buddy Hield were going to run PG or something?

We lost to Denver because Tinkerbell couldn't hit shots, of any kind, or facilitate others either, true. We also lost, because we got beat up on the boards, and besides AD, we couldn't guard a damn chair. Their size and length was a big problem, on offense and defense. We got swept for more than 1 reason. Yet we could have survived, if you boy, the one that we couldn't realistically replace, had showed up.

We had nothing to counter Minnesota with, because Pelinka didn't invest in any bigs behind AD period. We had nothing else, besides a vet minimum player to put out there

I don't know what's been offered and declined, I keep hearing about supposed offers, I have to see one concrete proposal that we put on the table for a big yet. We definitely seem to be interested in giving up assets for another wing player even now. I have just not seen that level of motivation on our part in regards to a big man yet. Kessler is on a cheap contract, so was Williams, the quibble is draft compensation. However I keep seeing that same draft compensation being floated for a wing, including salary. That somehow isn't that unrealistic. Maybe you just agree with Rob, wings are more needed than bigs. I totally disagree.

Rob's poor decisions deserve to be put front and center in these discussions too. However you continue to minimize and downplay them. It's Lebron, it's Westbrook, It's AD being stubborn, it's Ham, it's Jeanie. It's never mostly Rob. I call BS on that take.

 

that was ten years ago. and i agreed that we should have had a center next to AD if only to start halves--but the westbrook trade prevented us from having the assets to get one. we've only had vet mins for centers for years now.

fair points. but schroder's not a center. the discussion is "fire rob cuz no centers". what i'm asking for is evidence that a good center was ever available to us for a reasonable price? who's the center that moved for something we could have offered? nick richards maybe? i'm genuinely curious. list the names, and we can discuss whether those are reasonable and grounds for being upset with management. my contention has been that getting your hands on a good center has been difficult.

thank you proving my point. yes, if dlo doesn't wet himself, we probably beat denver. without any non-AD centers.

we invested all the vet mins available to us.

because we only had those and the tpmle, for which no centers up to anyone's standard has signed for...maybe ever? in the entire history of the tpmle?

ok, this is just dissembling and in bad faith. if you have to see an offer in writing signed by robert pelinka to prove that we've tried to get centers (i mean, i guess the fact that we literally traded for mark williams isn't enough), i'm not sure what to tell you. it's not a rational discussion. we've clearly called everyone. this idea that rob is just laying around on his couch hoping jesus will deliver a center is infantile.

actually, it seems like we're not? as miami supposedly wants assets, and no deal has been struck?

we traded for one. we traded for one. we traded for one. we traded for one.

we gave up almost as much draft compensation as we could in the williams deal. it was the 2031 first (the only one we have outright), one pick swap (2030), and knecht. i suppose you could throw in one more swap (2028), but that's literally it, i think. the word today was the kessler price is "multiples of multiples" or somesuch. we literally don't even have that. i don't get a ferrari because i REALLY REALLY want it.

i don't. at all. nobody thinks this. what i agree with is you try to upgrade in ways possible. center does not seem possible unless something changes. as someone else mentioned, negotiating about wings is also a signal to those trying to bend us over for centers that we can just walk away.

i call bs until i see the list of centers. quit whining and start listing.

 

imagine being the GM but still not having as much power as the owner's childhood friend and a guy who used to play for her dad's soccer team in the 80s

 

Lol..man you are too much sometimes. Now I need to go back and come up with a list. SMH

The only big I can remember us being interested in, was Myles Turner. Turner was coming off of back to back, foot issue seasons. He was at a low value and being shopped. Nobody offered anything for him,including us. The rumor was the Pacers wanted 2 first rd picks, for Turner and Hield, for Westbrook. However the Pacers said they never discussed any trade with the Lakers for those guys, let alone discussed draft compensation. Funny enough, the Pacers were actually interested in Tucker for some reason, and said the Turner/Hield stuff is not accurate.

I brought up the Dennis/Lowry trade for this reason. Lowry would have solved the PG issue, and then he was bringing a 1st rd pick with him. We wouldn't have made the Westbrook trade, if Rob hadn't passed on that. Now you have that pick, plus the pick we traded for Russ, AND KCP and Trez. Which could have been flipped for a big, PLUS..now that we've traded Tucker, you can keep Caruso. It's the decisions this guy has made, that put us in these situations.

Yep..we traded for Williams and immediately got cold feet and backed out of that deal too. Using the physical as an excuse. This version of the story has come out after the fact. I can believe it too, Rob comes across as slimey as hell to me. Going to the Magic thing, Dwight, and Caruso saying Rob lied about their interactions, Lebron and AD saying that he was making up s***, about consulting them on moves. Maybe we are paying a Pelinka tax, on top of that Lakers tax, we all talk about? That could be why nobody wants to deal with us too. IDK...that's pure speculation on my part, but I wouldn't be shocked.

Luka is here now though, we can quibble about his position in the top 5, but the Don is big time IMO, and we can win with him as is. However Rob better step up, or Jeanie is not going to be able to save him.

Last thing on Jeanie. I don't think she's as cheap on player's contracts as it gets portrayed either. She needs to be convinced on the gameplan, if she is, she doesn't have a problem spending the money. I don't think Rob has put forth a compelling case. She was down to add the Hyena, with Lebron and AD already on the roster. She knew what that meant capwise. She also knew what Westbrook's contract was going to mean, and she pulled the trigger. So Jeanie being cheap gets a bit overblown IMO. If your GM doesn't think the center position is that important, why should she see it otherwise. That's why she hired him, to make those calls.

 

That didn't mean jack, when it came to Magic getting all the blame, did it? Why does Rob get a pass?

 

He only reads his own mind and his own face in the mirror.

 

Well...hell.reading isn't your strong suit..apparently.

 

yes. you (and others) keep claiming that not having a top shelf center is an indictment of management. i would think you'd have the list at the ready. since there are so many.

instead...

another way to look at it is that turner was never actually available. this TOTALLY INSANE view is supported by him continually being re-signed by his team despite trade rumors (that his team says had no basis). not sure how the case is being bolstered here.

this isn't "second guess all past decisions". that's your distraction. this is a game called "name the f***ing centers, slick". you've made one dubious entry. i look forward to the others. show me the centers who have changed teams in exchange for things that we could have also offered, with the result being an improved los angeles lakers basketball team.

you have once again burrowed into the minds of the decision makers, expertly divining your own special truth. extracting it from the completely nonsensical cover story that a team that's been trying to trade for a center traded for one and were so terrified by the medical report that they had the trade rescinded, probably fracturing their relationship with charlotte and their own rookie player in the process.

no, they're just wishy washy. that's it. them's the facts.

more baseless rob haterade, and list of centers stays at the dubious uno.

if your story about williams is true (it's not), he'll be fired and deservedly so.

and yes, he needs to continue succeeding if he wants to keep his job. the new bosses will definitely want to see results.

he'll also be deservedly fired if he trades everything that's not nailed down for vucevic to appease the masses, too.

getting a center wasn't an issue of money. that's not what has prevented us from getting a center. availability of centers has prevented us from getting a center.

 

Wow..big move.

 

this early? wouldn't you want to know who's on the board? or have we done something to scare away the suitors?

i guess we could have several guys and expect one will be there, but that would be sloppy.

edit: also just occurred to me that we could use the 45 and more cash to move even higher.

 

Freaking Nets still holding on to the 36th pick, are you kidding me? 6 rookies?

 

Yeah. I do agree with you on this. This process has been a problem for awhile and anyone whose been in any kind of leadership role on any level can see it. Magic even specifically mentioned it as a constant issue and that it was a part of the reason he left in such an abrupt fashion. It's not just him though that takes bullets. They all wanted Westbrook but that get placed on LeBron and AD. Picking THT over Caruso is on Klutch. Etc etc.

It's an interesting thing. Rob has somehow not played a major role in any bad decision we've ever made. Pretty impressive when you think about it.

And I'm going to just go ahead and state that I ain't going back and forth over it all afternoon either. lol

Fortunately, it should all be moot soon enough. The new ownership is coming and one of the best aspects of that is getting rid of all this decision by a committee of random friends and family stuff. No more Tim Harris and Linda Rambis input on trades and things like that.

 

NAH..you are bobbing and weaving, like Joe Frazier now bro. I don't have to time, to go look up every big that got traded, after we got AD. However I know that multiple bigs did get traded during that time though, bigs were getting moved all over the place, we never made an offer for one. Turner is the only name we were ever linked with, that I can remember. That doesn't mean that one was available at all. We weren't interested in pursuing them. I will say that Turner himself, was making the media rounds that summer, talking about it was up to the Lakers, to determine if he was worth draft picks. We still didn't make an offer, and Indiana gave him that bonus 20M, that they had to spend or lose, after he went out on the somebody come get me tour.

Second guessing decisions, is the fans prerogative, making wise decisions is a GM'S job. I pointed out to you, how we could have had these assets to trade, but Rob passed on it. That is just one example. Tacking on to that, was the 1st rd pick that he gave up for Dennis in the 1st place. That's 3 first rd picks right there, plus the contracts he could have kept!

Williams..we shall see how he looks moving forward, he's in the Western Conference now. What happened happened, if he doesn't show signs of these deal breaking ailments, then what? I'm curious to see what Phoenix has to say about his medicals too.

That situation is not going away until we actually get another big. So we shall see soon, how this plays out.

Just for kicks I'll give you a simple Google search on the center subject. Off the top of my head, I can say that Garrett got traded, Adams, Robinson, Gafford, Nurckef, and probably more than a couple of others. I might actually look it up later.

Still if you had 3 FRP and salary to match, there ain't no way in hell, you couldn't have gotten damn near any center you wanted the year after the bubble.

 

I love that the poster who has previously accused others of speculation, positions entire speculative arguments as fact.

Thank you for the comic relief, Slick.

 

I know I'm not the only one that has noticed this. Abeer just likes to argue(debate) with me. Lol.