Magic Johnson stepping down as Laker's President.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by TEX

They just need to interview one - Jerry West.

He's not volunteering to work with Lebron James.

I really don't know where they go from here.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He's not volunteering to work with Lebron James.

I really don't know where they go from here.

I'd choose West over Lebron any day. If Lebron wants to stay in LA, he can play for the Clips via a trade. He's not winning anything in the West anyway.

[milkman]

The first thing I'd do as the new president is trade Lebron.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by milkman

The first thing I'd do as the new president is trade Lebron.

Exactly.

[chiefzilla1501]

The worst part of this might be that Jim buss uses this as an excuse to gloat. Magic was not good. And that call falls on Jeannie buss. But while they made a lot of bad moves they also fixed a lot of Jim buss's messes. I think Jeannie is a lot more equipped to turn things around. But relying on magic was a big early mistake for her.

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by milkman

The first thing I'd do as the new president is trade Lebron.

Originally Posted by TEX

Exactly.

Perfect analysis.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

The worst part of this might be that Jim buss uses this as an excuse to gloat. Magic was not good. And that call falls on Jeannie buss. But while they made a lot of bad moves they also fixed a lot of Jim buss's messes. I think Jeannie is a lot more equipped to turn things around. But relying on magic was a big early mistake for her.

I haven't followed the Lakers all that closely over the years, but it seems the biggest mistake Jim Buss and Mitch Kuphhack made was giving Kobe that huge contract as he was entering his career twilight years.

And when look at their last 2 or 3 drafts. they looked to be headed in the right direction.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by milkman

I haven't followed the Lakers all that closely over the years, but it seems the biggest mistake Jim Buss and Mitch Kuphhack made was giving Kobe that huge contract as he was entering his career twilight years.

And when look at their last 2 or 3 drafts. they looked to be headed in the right direction.

Nah - that didn't really do much to them because it was fairly short term.

The biggest mistakes were the deals to Iguodala and Mozgov and drafting Lonzo Ball. Oh, and hiring Byron Scott to try to lead a rebuild.

You don't sign Iguodala and Mozgov, you don't need to deal Russell to get ready of Mozgov's deal. If you can keep Russell, you don't have to draft that half-wit, constantly injured rock-chucker Lonzo Ball and instead you take Jason Tatum to play alongside Russell. You also don't have to build a roster full of scraps to make up for the dead weight you're lugging around on Iguodala's deal so you can keep Julius Randle.

Randle
Ingram
Tatum
James
Russell

Kuzma's probably still the guy they'd have picked with pick they used in the Josh Hart swap, so they probably still have Kuzma off the bench. With Tatum and Russell out there you've put some shooters around James. Even Randle can play a legit stretch 5 now that his 3pt% is in the 34-35% range. He's not excellent there but he's dangerous enough that he'd have to be respected.

Iguodala, Mozgov and Ball are 3 decisions that will hold this franchise back for probably a decade. Just staggeringly awful decisions that led to ripples that removed 3 outstanding young players off the roster or simply never brought them here.

All in the name of Jim Bus being desperate and Magic Johnson being arrogant. And they were maneuvers that were obviously wrong (to me anyway) from the instant they were made. That's not even hindsight shit - I hated all those moves the second they were announced.

[JakeF]

Originally Posted by milkman

The first thing I'd do as the new president is trade Lebron.

Absolutely. Lebron James is a great player but terrible for organizations. He's a player who wants control and that almost never works out well. He helped Cleveland win a title and then destroyed the organization on his way out. Firing coaches, forcing trades. Lebron is a terrible GM.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by JakeF

Absolutely. Lebron James is a great player but terrible for organizations. He's a play who wants control and that almost never works out well. He helped Cleveland win a title and then destroyed the organization on his way out. Firing coaches, forcing trades. Lebron is a terrible GM.

And there's the conundrum. If Lebron doesn't get his way, he will make life a living hell for his coach. Or in some cases he's mailed it in. So the Lakers have a choice of either letting Lebron do his thing and getting the best of Lebron (which does improve the roster but it also means making a lot of really bad moves that make it impossible to compete a few years from now) or you ignore Lebron and hope he'll put up. For an older Lebron I don't know if it's worth it to go door #1.

You're absolutely right. Lebron is a great player, but he's a terrible GM. Worse, even though he's a terrible GM he insists on doing it instead of letting his front office do their job.

[ROYC75]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

He's not volunteering to work with Lebron James.

I really don't know where they go from here.

Someone with an altered ego to match Lebron !

" The Worm " would be perfect!