How about a Laker Elimination Day.
- Thread starter jaytftwofive
- Start date
Steph said "thanks, no thanks"
Stephen Curry on LeBron James’ comments: ‘I’m good right now’ (yahoo.com)
It was to fix the generally unwatchable late season NBA product where more than half the league was trying to lose games. It’s done a very good job of giving us much more competitive games down the stretch as teams in the 6-8 spots fight to avoid the play-in games and teams in the 9-12 spot fight to reach them.
Yet the KG-era single Championship Celtics are glorified forever. All rationality completely thrown out the window.
I mean I’m loving watching them play out the string as much as anyone but bashing the LeBron era that resulted in a Championship doesn’t make much sense to me. They accomplished what they set out to do just as we did with KG.
Really?
You think shit, bubble title, quick out, and shit is what LeBron and Lakers united for?
The KJ run in Boston. Five straight division titles... two trips to the NBA Finals... One NBA Championship... and a wheels falling off the bus final year record above .500.
LeBron in LA, and his bubble rest-filled gift title, isn't worthy of this comparison.
If it’s about Championships, as we always say here, how is 1 to 1 any different? Enough with that bubble crap. Good god. I hate the Lakers but winning those playoff series whether it be in the bubble, at Staples or in Indonesia isn’t relevant at all. Is anyone calling the Mavericks championship in 2011 a gift bc it was a shortened season?
Starting in the 2005-06 season, Lebron James made the playoffs every year through 2018. He had a first round exit 0 times during that span. Then he went to the Lakers and missed the playoffs twice in four years and a first round exit, too.
They won a title, so that is obviously worth it, but this is still an unmitigated disaster for a team with Lebron James.
They won a title, so that is obviously worth it, but this is still an unmitigated disaster for a team with Lebron James.
The Celtics were one of the best teams in the NBA for four seasons, from 2008-2011. They were competitive for a title for all but the last year and didn’t miss the playoffs entirely twice. This is kind of a silly comparison.
Here’s what Phil Jackson said about the ‘99 Spurs winning the championship in a lock-out shortened season:
“New York finished 8th that year and obviously an up-and-coming San Antonio team, which turned out to be quite a great team, but those were the teams that ended up in the finals, but when teams would play 18-19 games in the last month of the season it broke down some of the older steady teams because of that impact of a heavy schedule. I always kind of term that as an asterisk season out of this fun at poking fun at San Antonio.”
Seems fair to say the same of the 2020 shortened, interrupted, bubble, Mickey Mouse Lakers, no?
If the KG era featured 1 title but 2 playoff DNQ's and one first round exit, the memory of those days would be far less fond than it was when the Celtics made a 2nd Finals appearance with the new Big 3 and damn near pulled it off despite injuries and the refs conspiring against them.
The first DNQ of the LeBron era wasn't a goal, but it was understandable to some extent in that the rest of the Lakers roster was a horrible fit. And everyone except Ainge knew that Davis was heading to LA the following season. The post-title season dip is also defensible to some extent, as it is really difficult to repeat. But there is no way, no how, that even the Lakers dysfunctional ownership/management team made the AD trade thinking that the playoff DNQ was a forseeable or acceptable outcome in the 3rd season of the Big 2.
I'm sure some stupid opposing GM will bail them out somehow by giving up assets to take on Westbrook for some unknown reason. But until then I am going to enjoy dancing on their grave.
The first DNQ of the LeBron era wasn't a goal, but it was understandable to some extent in that the rest of the Lakers roster was a horrible fit. And everyone except Ainge knew that Davis was heading to LA the following season. The post-title season dip is also defensible to some extent, as it is really difficult to repeat. But there is no way, no how, that even the Lakers dysfunctional ownership/management team made the AD trade thinking that the playoff DNQ was a forseeable or acceptable outcome in the 3rd season of the Big 2.
I'm sure some stupid opposing GM will bail them out somehow by giving up assets to take on Westbrook for some unknown reason. But until then I am going to enjoy dancing on their grave.
2011-12 EC Finals doesn’t count bc that was a shortened season.
Said on The Ukrainian Children of Stanslav Medvedenko in the Spring of 2013 prior to our 25-win season.
Klutch got to HRB. They've infiltrated SoSH like Windhorst at ESPN for LeBron.
Hey don’t get me started on LeBron or else I’ll talk about all his GM successes prior to his Westbrook > DeRozan miscue.Klutch got to HRB. They've infiltrated SoSH like Windhorst at ESPN for LeBron.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Russell Westbrook took 43 bottles of Gatorade from the Lakers practice facility before leaving today. <a href="https://t.co/tFoKNIrIIq">pic.twitter.com/tFoKNIrIIq</a></p>— Hoop Central (@TheHooopCentral) <a href="View: https://twitter.com/TheHooopCentral/status/1512525333295255560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
">April 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
">April 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I used to play pick-up basketball at Healthpoint/BSC in Waltham were the Celtics practiced. While the Celtics had their own private courts away from the general public, there was a back hallway that connected the Celtics area to the public court. Some guys figured out that they never locked the door, and they had basically an unlimited supply of Gatorade back there; so pretty much every time they would duck back into the hallway and swipe bottles of Gatorade. This went on for years and nobody ever seemed to notice.
Thats one bottle for every million dollars of salary (assuming he drank one before he carried them out). Must be in his contract.
View: https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1513375357352943616
Frank Vogel has coached his final game for the Lakers, a decision that’s expected to be shared with him as soon as Monday, sources tell ESPN. Lakers’ search expected to be lengthy and expansive with no clear initial frontrunner.
Vogel led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA Championship and assuredly will be a candidate again in the league’s future head coaching cycles.
Frank Vogel has coached his final game for the Lakers, a decision that’s expected to be shared with him as soon as Monday, sources tell ESPN. Lakers’ search expected to be lengthy and expansive with no clear initial frontrunner.
Vogel led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA Championship and assuredly will be a candidate again in the league’s future head coaching cycles.
LA times is pushing for Doc Rivers to be the next head coach
Column: Lakers’ next move: Doc Rivers is right choice to replace Frank Vogel as coach
Column: Lakers’ next move: Doc Rivers is right choice to replace Frank Vogel as coach
https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2022-04-11/los-angeles-lakers-coach-doc-rivers-replace-frank-vogel
Rivers would be a good fit with the Lakers, frankly. I don't think it'll happen given his contract and Lakers obvious dysfunction, but if I were going to imagine a coach for Lakers to succeed (which of course is the opposite of what I want) a guy who manages egos well and can ignore media noise is the right fit.
The only guys with f-u credibility to tell this roster to deal with his program are Red (who is dead), Riley (who isn't coming back), and Pop (who ain't taking this gig). Absent that, you need someone who can manage AD and Lebron while also getting the other guys to produce.
Phil Jackson once had that credibility but those days have passed, imo
The only guys with f-u credibility to tell this roster to deal with his program are Red (who is dead), Riley (who isn't coming back), and Pop (who ain't taking this gig). Absent that, you need someone who can manage AD and Lebron while also getting the other guys to produce.
Phil Jackson once had that credibility but those days have passed, imo
Daly (dead) and Wilkens too (too old) I think
Lakers may need to trade Davis for assets to rebuild
Westbrook is probably untradeable
Lakers may need to trade Davis for assets to rebuild
Westbrook is probably untradeable
A few years ago LeBron went on and on about his love for then CBS. I wonder if PBS achieves a goal this year whether he'd be willing to take the call and become CBS/PBS again. Wouldn't be the first Hoosier hoop genius to be seduced by LA.
There is one other ex coach with the gravitas to coach this Lakers team, the coach with the third best career winning percentage, Larry Bird
If they lose to the Raptors I think he's done in PHI.
Would be a good fit in that he's also someone who people thought was a good a decade and a half ago, but has seen his prouction plummet in comparison to his peers and now is widely considered not very good.
That is an interesting idea--he does have the gravitas. But talk about a guy who doesn't have an ego that requires going to coach a team he hates, too. I certainly could be wrong, but I think there's only two teams in the league he'd even take a phone call from about a coaching job....and neither is the hated Lakers.
If Magic had been treated differently and were grand poobah there I think Bird would take the call, but not the job.
I would love Jordan to take the Lakers job. The thought of 60-year-old Jordan throwing down his whistle and challenging Westbrook to a game of one on one he thinks he would win would be fantastic.
2012 was the shortened season. Mavs in 2011 were 57-25, 82 games. In 2012 the champion Heat were 46-26, 72 games.
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LeBron is reportedly “enthused” about the Lakers hiring Mark Jackson as their new coach:
https://theathletic.com/3244418/2022/04/12/amick-lebron-james-wants-to-win-more-championships-could-that-lead-him-to-turn-down-a-lakers-extension/
I can't imagine a really established head coach taking the Lakers job. It seems like a nightmare and you wouldn't ever wield any real power within the team or the organization. That has been the case for a while for a LeBron-led team, but was rectified by the fact that your team was always a top title contender. Now that ship has sailed and the coach would be stuck with a bunch of headaches, an incompetent front-office, and no guarantee of success.
My guess for the next coach will be a former player who has never had a head coaching gig before. Jackson is a good suggestion (even though he has coached before) because he is the kind of guy who isn't really a serious coaching candidate for most organizations but has a level of public cache that fits the Laker brand.
My guess for the next coach will be a former player who has never had a head coaching gig before. Jackson is a good suggestion (even though he has coached before) because he is the kind of guy who isn't really a serious coaching candidate for most organizations but has a level of public cache that fits the Laker brand.
I agree that's the most likely profile. The other is sort of the "Barry Switzer" profile, which someone like Mark Jackson fits----a former coach who for whatever reason is not really thought of as likely to get a gig this high-profile again and is willing to swallow the rest of it to get back into the spotlight.
Related:
I’m not even sure what this means:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33721269/los-angeles-lakers-russell-westbrook-opens-disconnect-frank-vogel-disappointing-season
I always wonder what the narrative would have been if the Broncos hadn't won in 2015. Overall the Manning era was successful there: 4 years, 2 Super Bowl appearances, 1 title. But had the Pats beaten them in the 2015 AFCCG... would the 4 years have really been a success? On the one hand, they won a lot of regular season games and set a bunch of records. On the other hand, they went 1 and done two out of the 4 playoff seasons, and got humiliated in the Super Bowl, and then in the final year Manning was a complete joke. It's really too bad that one of the million things that went right for that team didn't go wrong, because I'd love to live in this world.
I’m enjoying this visual.
I get that Doc would be a profile fit in that he can be his own good cop/bad cop….but I love the fact no coach is going to have success because the guy who shopped for the groceries is a sucky GM and the actual GM sucks too. Any lack of success will immediately spawn the coaches firing squad, which the coach will know going in.
Hilarious, yay Lakers Schadenfreude.
Laker spin starting early or has Gordo's value plummeted that much? Yikes, good miss on not resigning GH
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/266579/Lakers-Unlikely-To-Trade-Russell-Westbrook-For-Gordon-Hayward
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/266579/Lakers-Unlikely-To-Trade-Russell-Westbrook-For-Gordon-Hayward