Will The Way The Lakers Handle Nash Now Change Their Future? (ding Article)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ers-fans-now-but-may-leave-them-smiling-later

 

It's the one I've been saying from the beginning. As hard as it is to be patient, the Lakers are playing a long game. It started with Kobe's contract. It's moved on to the way they've handled Nash. We're trying to build cache with the players as far as being the premiere location for Superstar treatment.

Will that get us some of these big name guys? Who knows? Maybe and maybe not, but it's worth thinking about. Everyone has bashed Kobe's deal to no end, and we've been banging on the door to get Nash out, but it's a long game they're playing here. Treating Superstars like royalty is something we're going to try to foster. We won't ask you to take less cash and we certainly won't treat you like anything other than a King if you come here.

Again, I'm not 100% sure it'll work, but I've known this was their goal. Build up credibility with the players and convince them that we treat them the best. That's what the Busses and Kupchak are trying to do.

 

Durant and Dragic? Sign me up.

 

Dragic might be realistic, but there is no way Durant signs here. I'll be shocked if he doesn't end up signing with the Wizards.

 

What players are you referring to?

 

I'll bet on that one. I think we're a better bet than the Wizards actually. I think the best bet is just staying in Oklahoma, but if not Oklahoma I'm going to say it's here, then Washington.

If we look at all viable of course.

 

^ That's their mentality absolutely. And @five6two they definitely passed on a few smaller names this summer, but their pitch to Carmelo was excellent. He had no intention of signing here, but Kobe convinced him to hear the pitch. Carmelo was so moved by our offer that he began considering us as a viable landing spot only after we gave him that pitch. It was fantastic according to anybody with knowledge of it. The Hollywood bit was only a small part of it.

I don't know if I agree 100% with their patient plan as far as signing only particular free agents. We saw Dallas fail at that for years. Then again, we aren't Dallas so maybe the situation isn't exactly parallel.

I think overall it would be better to find their "Monta Ellis" as soon as possible because that's the fastest way back to prominence. Would that mean passing on a couple bigger names? Maybe... But I think it makes more sense to be half-way competitive than to go into a full rebuild if we're trying to attract free agents.

Then again we've been attached to two names for years and they both come available this summer: Greg Monroe and Goran Dragic. Both are border-line All-Star talent and if we pick up one of them to go with Randle and maybe another top draft pick, things suddenly look much better for us.

Again though, the main crux of this article isn't their approach to who they want to sign, but how they treat people when they get here. We were really screwed by Stern nixing that Paul trade when it comes to player relations. How do you repair your relationship to Gasol after we give him the boot and he's still here? Then Howard came through and left us. It's important that we re-establish ourselves as a "player's" team. The good Doctor Buss was all about maintaining personal relationships and solid foundations with his players. Jeanie needs to rekindle that and I think the way we're treating Kobe, Nash, and even Pau on the way out of town (that crazy contract offer) are all indicators that we're trying to get back on the horse as the franchise that treats it's players the best in the NBA.

 

I think Kyle Lowry was also available / interested in playing for the Lakers. We couldn't commit though because we were waiting on Melo.

What happens next? He's leading the Raptors to the best record in the league. I've been saying for years that he's underrated. I don't expect the Raptors to stay this good for the rest of the season, but we probably could have gotten 2 good 2-way players as opposed to gambling for a single / 30-year-old / 1-way star like Melo.

Oh well.

 

I don't remember him being mentioned with us?

 

I remember there being several reports saying how Lakers were at the top of the list for Lowry. I found this on that:

http://lakernation.com/report-lakers-at-top-of-list-for-kyle-lowry/

 

Yeah I just read another article that said we initially showed interest, but told them we were waiting for Carmelo.

I think all the PG options fell through though once we got Lin. Lin and the 1st rounder were too good of an offer to pass up at the time and I don't think we had enough cash afterwards to pick up Lowry.

 

Much different take from the snarky, negative slants from Breshnahan's columns in the L.A. Times Sports section.

 

Players are using the Lakers like the NFL uses Los Angeles