Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant And Mike Brown

Our course now is because of what Stern did that day. Like kenzo said, the most important thing this trade would have done is prolong Kobe's career. We'd have a Top 3 player at PG, SG, and C all on the same team and that would have helped each of their careers with a lot less pressure on themselves.

Those three would have probably eaten Mike Brown alive. I'd expect us to find another coach.

Also retrospectively, we'd have a team that was really brittle. Howard's body is disintegrating. He's missed quite a bit of time this season. Paul is a pretty brittle player... Obviously I'd take that team 10 out of 10 times over our current situation, but I think our window would be shorter than we'd have hoped.

 

Exactly. It's true we shouldn't dwell on the past, but that doesn't mean we have to just forget about it. It's important to remember what was done to us to get us here. We can't rely on the NBA to give us anything anymore which is why the Lakers have been forced to tank. If it wasn't for Stern we wouldn't be here right now. The Lakers, who have been damn near untouchable for more than 30 years, have been stabbed in the back by the NBA. They're sacrificing our success to build up their other brands. Small market towns like Atlanta, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, oh and the Clippers (who happen to share our market but somehow Chris Paul wasn't allowed to go to a "large" market) all needed a leg up and that leg was ours. Stern cut it out from under us knowing we as a franchise would survive because of our incredible fan base across the country.

Now that we're at rock bottom though, I still don't expect the NBA to give us the "rebuild treatment". I don't expect them to gift us THREE #1 picks in FOUR years like the Cavs. I don't expect them to give us the number one overall pick to save a horrible trade like the Hornets/Pelicans. I don't expect them to help because they've already tried to bury us so now we have to throw our lot in with the awful teams of the world. Now we HAVE to tank in order to protect our assets unlike the other **** franchises around the NBA that can't figure out how to win to save themselves.

 

Interesting theory. I still think Stern really did believe in what he was doing. That is NOT to say it was ethical or right, but I think his reasons were to make the Hornets/Pelicans awful with youth and picks...a blank slate if you will for the new owner (whoever that may have been at the time). He also had Gilbert's comic sans manifesto to contend with and the lockout that proceeded it. I don't think he was looking at the Lakers and how to screw them. He has publicly said his dream Final is the Lakers vs the Lakers. He was more looking at making a team with some young assets and draft picks as more appealing than a mediocre team with some OK middle aged players, and making sure the big dog didn't somehow get even better because of a desperate situation a small dog found themselves in. Did it screw us? Yep. Was it wrong? Absolutely. But I don't think Stern had it out for us. It was for business reasons, not basketball.

 

I agree, but I think burying the Lakers was something of a high-risk/high-reward move for them at the time.

It's all business but by burying us with that trade he was able to build up at least two other franchises in the short term: New Orleans and the Clippers. Two teams that mysteriously end up being sold within a relatively close time frame. I'm not going to say Stern planted some way to get Sterling out and get Ballmer in, but he definitely used the Lakers' misfortune to build up a franchise that was going absolutely nowhere.

He banked on the Lakers' fanbase and their incredible worldwide popularity to keep them profitable (which worked). By tearing apart their trade though he sends Paul to the Clippers and builds up a "rivalry" in the second largest market in the United States and the best market for media growth. This town is inundated with basketball like never before. Then he gives New Orleans the #1 pick and they luck out with Anthony Davis. Now that team is fighting for a playoff spot and is I'm sure more profitable now than it was in 2012. Even if it's not more profitable now, it was worth the effort to try to build it up and like you said make it more attractive for a buyer.

From a business standpoint burying us made plenty of sense. They got some of the "parity" that they wanted and they built up two franchises at our expense. Now it's time to pay us back though. Their cash cow can't stay down for too long or the league will start losing opportunity profits. We're STILL the biggest team in the world. We're STILL the biggest franchise in the NBA. We need that pick now and we need someone to make a move here this summer. Even if we're not great, the NBA needs us competitive again within the next couple of seasons or they'll start losing value in their strongest franchise.

 

^^ I'll disagree a bit Savory. I think Stern very much had to save face and his primary motive was to block the Lakers from acquiring Paul and secondarily Howard later on. He had publicly said he didn't want teams like the Lakers (yes, he actually named our franchise as a case in point), putting together a super team and stockpiling the top free agents. Was he caving to the professed interests of the smaller/less successful franchises? No doubt. Gilbert was at the head of the whistle blowers on the trade. But I think it was absolutely more about stepping in and stopping us over what the Pelicans were going to get out of it. When the NBA took over the franchise he stated that he would not interfere with the plans of their GM because it was a conflict of interest. But then when Gilbert blew the whistle on us, he did that exact thing. It was clearly reactive to the move we made.

That whole debacle stinks. But I'll say this at the end of the day: I'm ok with the consequences in terms of personnel going forward. I can't stand either Paul or Howard now, so despite the fact that we would have been reloaded, I feel fine with rooting against both of those players instead of for them.

This CBA does really suck though. I wish we could pry a guy like Durant away. He's the top guy I'd like to see in a Laker uni. The CBA was absolutely anti-Laker in design on purpose. They even said so publicly.

 

^^ This all day. Great post real.