I would’ve let Lebron walk and never drafted his stupid kid, and traded AD to fuel the rebuild, but all I care about is winning. Lebron was never taking any less money and the team didn’t have any assets worth a crap to get anyone good. Did anyone actually believe they were going to get Lebron to play for like 33mil to open that MLE no one wanted?

Murray was the only one worth rolling the dice, but he exhibits all the characteristics of a good stats, bad team guy who’ll falter under bright lights. Klay and Derozan both got gross overpays on deals the Lakers couldn’t afford with trades of assets they didn’t have. Who da hell else we talkin about? Ainge wants another Gobert type deal to move Markannen. Lakers have neither the assets nor cap space to bring on another max guy.

The only realistic way out of this cap purgatory is to end the Lebron era, but that’s not happening until he either walks away voluntarily or hobbles off the floor one last time. Management doesn’t have the cajones to send him packing otherwise.

The problem would be easy to fix but I doubt it will ever happen. Jeanie is the problem. She is so insecure that she surrounds herself with a committee. In a way I feel sorry for Rob. Most GM’s make moves and the owner signs off. Robb has to run it by Jeanie’s posse. I mean why does Linda Rambus have a say in basketball decisions? The solution is turn the basketball decisions over to Jessie and Joey Buss. Dr Buss had them interning with Mitch when they were teens. They have grown up in the basketball operations side. They put together and run one of the best scouting departments in the NBA. I wonder how they felt about drafting Bronny. Probably bleed from biting their tongues so hard. Anyway they probably have more basketball knowledge than most owners around the league. I know Jessie admired the Spurs organization and fought hard to build a scouting department. With development more important than ever because of the CBA I really think they would do a good job. But like I said, it probably will never happen.

lmao….and just in comparison: Presti & OKC just picked up Caruso & Hartenstein while losing Josh Giddy and ZERO DRAFT PICKS. Hell, we can’t even find coaches to fill out the staff for JayJay The Basketball Messiah. It really feels like the rest of the league knows we’re running a clown operation right now. Hurley was smart not to fall for the bullsh!t.

Damn.

@MongoSlade. I am not sure if there is anybody out there who is more frustrated than I am. Every day I wake up I would be expecting some good news about what the Lakers are doing to improve the roster, but instead I am feeling like someone whose relative is in hospice care with no expectation of any good news. This lack of action is taking a toll on me mentally. I understand that we’re financially handicapped, but somebody got us in this mess to begin with. And there is no other person to point fingers to other than Rob the culprit. The worst part is nobody knows when these dark clouds hovering above us will dissipate. What a horrible feeling!

Folks like to make excuses for Rob (much like Broussard did in this clip) and I get it. Good looking, slick talking dudes of a certain persuasion often get a pass that others don’t (we’re gonna see it ALOT with JayJay The Basketball Messiah over the next few years). I didn’t expect many free agency moves from us simply because of our salary & roster construction right now. Lebron gave a ray of hope but as I said above…it’s turning out not to be as simple as it first seemed. But Rob put himself in that predicament! He’s not a victim of circumstance or some sort of unforeseen calamity; he did this sh!t on purpose! The thing we’re most desperately missing is a grown-up in the room and that’s the main difference between Dr Buss & Jeannie. He knew his own shortcomings and the value of hiring folks who knew more than he did. That’s a component of leadership that alotta folks in those positions never grasp.

Lakers stuff @about the 4:25 mark. Sounds like Lebron needs to drop all the way down to $30mill (ouch!!!) and we lose Christie in order to open up that MLE. That’s about a $20mill haircut for LBJ; about double what was 1st being reported.

This one I’m a little surprised by but it also makes sense for both sides. He showed a lot of improvement last season, if he can build in that he’s in a good position to cash in next summer. Not a ton if money or roles out there better than this situation.

Russell has a genuine desire to remain with the Lakers and to see how JJ Redick and his new staff can impact the Lakers’ approach https://t.co/5Q4qrjcqnZ https://t.co/i3OBKe1tuk

— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) June 29, 2024

That’s alot less than what I thought it would cost.

Gotta wait now to see what D.Russell decides tomorrow.

Looks like no one’s super hyped on some draft pick 100 years from now.

This tells me the Lakers (and by extension Reddick) value Reaves more than Murray and that expiring $$$ is more valuable than Hachimura, at least to Atlanta.

I desperately wanted a backup center but it was good to see Rob ‘adapt’ and make a JJ Redick pick and not let a dead-eye shooter like Dalton get by.

It will be interesting to see how he does defensively. He has 2nd best vertical and is athletic. Reminds me of Bogdan Bogdanovic. Great size at 6′ 6″ w/6′ 9″ wingspan.

I’m with you on the future of the league is tall, long, fast, athletic players who can shrink the court defensively and rain threes. The JJ Redick era is going to modernize the Lakers.

Hiring JJ will give the Lakers somebody with a vision at last.

The other misconception is that we’re fine offensively. The truth is our failure to embrace the 3-point revolution has saddled us with a 10-points per game negative differential in made 3-point shots. Imagine if we eliminate that differential but still win PIP and FTM. That’s a championship formula. No question we need to get better defensively but we also need to get better offensively, specifically in taking and making more threes without losing our domination in the paint and at the line.

Couldn’t agree more and it’s really funny to me that Rob has set the bar so low we all get happy and congratulatory when he simply makes the correct decision “Oh, Rob didn’t blow it?! YES!!!!” was my basic vibe last night. Very low bar for a job that should have much higher standards.

You make so many good points, Mongo. As the son of an entrepreneur, I can understand why Jeanie wants to hold onto the Lakers and her role as the franchise’s governor and final decision maker. She has her network of trustworthy allies and it’s doubtful that will change for the foreseeable future.

We can wish she would see how hiring Bob Myers to take over could double the value of the Lakers but the best we can do is hope they hire a coach who somehow someway can turn out to be a legacy coach who will provide the team with an identity and develop a championship culture and chemistry.

For me, that’s where JJ Redick comes in. Of course, he’s the typical out-of-the-box both logical and risky solutions everybody knows I love but I give Rob and Jeanie credit for being inspired. There will obviously be lots of bumps along the way but I think JJ is exactly the kind of person who could be the visionary we need.

I do agree he needs a visionary. I’m sure there will be some discussions the next few days with the Finals all but over about staff. Be great to have Stan Van Gundy, whom JJ played for, maybe as that mentor/lead assistant. Also might be good to have somebody who is great as a defensive coordinator to balance JJ’s obvious offensive bent.

Anyway, I’m thrilled. We’re lucky to have avoided Hurley imo and JJ will modernize our offense and take and make a lot more threes w/o sacrificing PIP & FTM.

Mongo and everybody, when you post a tweet, you have to change x to twitter for the tweet to work. Trying to find out why x is not working on WordPress. Click,,, and chose edit and replace x with twitter.