2014-15 Lakers Season Thread (21-61) KAT

[art vandelay]

I won't ever post in here again, not eem a lakers fan, but Steve Nash was that dude and I hate that this is how it may end. I wanted him to hang it up on his own terms. He's always been my favorite point guard and he was an overall good dude and an ambassador. Him and the Suns seven seconds or less made basketball fun to watch again for me and I was hoping with all hope he would bring at least a little bit of that to the "Lake Show". You guys deserve to catch a break, if not for anything else when the Lakers are good then it is good for the league. Good luck to y'all and sorry that this had to happen to such a good guy.

 

[mj 23]

Exactly^ people forget he's a legend

 

[mr j 858]

Steve Nash's lost season in L.A.


Steve Nash has back and nerve problems that will sideline him for the 2014-15 season, and now Kobe Bryant's contract is no longer a leading candidate for What's Wrong With The Lakers.

Bryant looks as if he can still drop 20 points a night this season. That might not be commensurate with the production expected from the highest salary in the league ($23.5 million), but the cost/stats ratio won't be as bad as the steady stream of blank numbers that will accompany Nash's $9.7 million. Nash will make more than Pau Gasol ($7 million), Shaun Livingston ($5 million) and Spencer Hawes ($5 million) and the same as Luol Deng, to name just a few free agents who moved this season. Any of them would have been more helpful than even the 2012-13 version of Nash.

So Nash's salary looms as the bigger albatross, unless ... the Lakers use his expiring contract as a trade chip. That could turn Nash's contract from a detriment into a referendum on the mindset of the Lakers.

Teams only seek expiring contracts when they want to move long-term commitments that no longer appeal to them. For the Lakers to take two years or more of a contract back it would imply they were no longer committed to clearing as much cap space as possible in 2016. It might even mean they acknowledged they no longer view themselves as the top shoppers who can have their choice of free agents.

They could tolerate long-term contracts coming their way if draft picks came along with them to replenish their supply. Or perhaps they could nab a promising young player who's still on his rookie scale contract. The question is whether they'd want to head in that rebuilding direction while Kobe is still under contract. It would seem out of character for this franchise, but it would make more sense than the treadmill than their current patched-together roster that's neither dominant nor dismal, whose principle attribute is its financial flexibility after the season.

The Lakers are committed to only $36 million in 2015-16, and only $5.4 million the year after that. If they move Nash, it would signal a shift toward tangible assets rather than the promise of cap space. But if they value maximum financial freedom in 2016 over everything, it would be a tacit way of saying that maybe Kobe and his contract are impediments to the Lakers' renovation project after all.

The Lakers' position is that having Bryant in house helped them more than any player they had a realistic chance of signing. Neither LeBron James nor Carmelo Anthony was going to come to Los Angeles for an empty roster if the Lakers had cut Kobe loose. If nothing else, Kobe's presence assures the Lakers will remain relevant in the NBA discussions, even if they're not a part of the NBA playoffs. Honestly, the contract makes an increasing amount of sense the more you think about it.

Nash's contract just grew more lamentable.

I don't blame the Lakers for taking on Nash for $28 million over three years in 2012, just as I don't blame them for taking the one-year risk on Dwight Howard. It seemed like a good idea at the time, right?

But history has no choice but to record it as a bad deal. For the money paid to Nash and the two first-round and two second-round draft picks sent to the Phoenix Suns in the 2012 trade to get him, the Lakers got Nash for 65 games - and he was limited in the vast majority of them by the nerve issues that developed from the leg injury he suffered in his first game wearing the purple Lakers road jersey.

The Nash deal goes in the same stack as the hiring of coaches Mike Brown and Mike D'Antoni: The Bad Decision Pile.

The Lakers still have their lore. The league's move to put little Larry O'Brien trophies on the jersey necks is a style touch that suits the Lakers particularly well, since there will be a "16X" to remind everyone how many championships they've won. What the Lakers don't have is a run of recent good decisions made by the front office.

They're in a slump. This puts even more pressure on rookie Julius Randle to develop into a better player than anyone selected after him in this year's draft. Randle, the seventh pick, is the highest draft choice the Lakers have had at their disposal since they took James Worthy with the top overall selection in 1982.

If the Lakers are going to be The Lakers again, Randle needs to become an All-Star, the way Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel did in the 1990s. The lure of Los Angeles and the Laker lineage of centers wouldn't have been enough to get Shaquille O'Neal to Los Angeles in 1996. He needed a playoff team if he was going to leave an Orlando Magic squad that had gone to the NBA Finals and Eastern Conference finals the previous two seasons.

Good moves can lead to other good moves. The Miami Heat's pick of Dwyane Wade in 2003 helped them get LeBron James in 2010. The Cleveland Cavaliers' abundance of lottery luck enabled them to get James back and add Kevin Love this summer.

The Lakers need to make a right move before they can make their next big move. Randle, who has looked both "lost" (Byron Scott's term) and tantalizing in this preseason, is their best hope at the moment.

It won't be Nash. In Phoenix he was a two-time Most Valuable Player who transformed the Suns into must-watch pyrotechnic basketball. In Los Angeles he'll simply be another in a growing line of regrettable decisions.

Link:

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...sh-contract-continues-cost-los-angeles-lakers

 

[mjsaver]

" The Lakers' position is that having Bryant in house helped them more than any player they had a realistic chance of signing. Neither LeBron James nor Carmelo Anthony was going to come to Los Angeles for an empty roster if the Lakers had cut Kobe loose. If nothing else, Kobe's presence assures the Lakers will remain relevant in the NBA discussions, even if they're not a part of the NBA playoffs. Honestly, the contract makes an increasing amount of sense the more you think about it."

Hmmmmm do I get to toot my own horn as well , or is that reserved for senior NT Laker fans ?

I guess somebody else doesn't " get it " either

 

[CP1708]

"Remain relevant", ie, finishing in last place, having negative articles drive a media frenzy, and be generally clowned like what Jeanie went thru today.

#Relevant

#WorthEveryPenny

#GetsIt

 

[sea manup]

lets get ready to ruuummmmbbbbllleee 

 

[CP1708]

No, no rumble. He wanted to throw shade, fair enough, I probably deserve it. I countered with a point about relevancy is all, relevant don't always mean good things.

No need for any rumble.

 

[mjsaver]

"Remain relevant", ie, finishing in last place, having negative articles drive a media frenzy, and be generally clowned like what Jeanie went thru today.

#Relevant

#WorthEveryPenny

#GetsIt

The point is the national media said it, ya know the national media the same guys you love to quote when they're backing you.

Only now it doesn't matter because you don't agree, so as long as they agree the national media is cool...but if not they're all fools who don't get it ?

Ok good to know thanks.

#onlyCPcanberight

#ifudisagreeudontgetit

#onlyroomfor1onteamtoothorn

Like you told me recently , surely you can't be that sensitive that Jeanie's getting roasted we've had much worse said about us over the years.

#teamthickskinbynow

 

[CP1708]

Who said it doesn't matter?

You quoted me, where did I say that?

You been clockin me for months, now you're full on making up quotes for me?????

Relevant isn't always good. Today was thee PERFECT example. We got HAMMERED today, by the National Media, who pointed out bad roster, bad contracts, bad choices by management.

So by all means, take the article to heart. Someone pointed out Kobe is "worth it" even if they don't make the playoffs, meaning, they print money while losing.

Which we've been saying all this time.


So go on, make up some more quotes for me, just make them funny please.

 

[kal-el-8]

So go on, make up some more quotes for me, just make them funny please.

 

[sea manup]

"The view in the Lakers thread is that any real rebuild will have to wait until after CP's retirement. "This has finally come home," says a Lakers insider. "Major players don't want to post with CP, and SKA is waiting for him to leave."

 

[CP1708]

That's a fair request, right? If you're gonna make up **** in my name, throw some humor in there.

CP's favorite player is Steve Nash.

CP said he wants LA to be the 8th seed.


Stuff like that.

But funny.

 

[CP1708]

"The view in the Lakers thread is that any real rebuild will have to wait until after CP's retirement. "This has finally come home," says a Lakers insider. "Major players don't want to post with CP, and SKA is waiting for him to leave."

Ooooooohhhhh, this might be the winner right here. Man, Saver gonna need a real unique pull to top this. Bravo man.

 

[sea manup]

wanting LA to be the 8th seed is funny without adding CP's name to it 

 

[mjsaver]

Who said it doesn't matter?

You quoted me, where did I say that?

You been clockin me for months, now you're full on making up quotes for me?????

Relevant isn't always good. Today was thee PERFECT example. We got HAMMERED today, by the National Media, who pointed out bad roster, bad contracts, bad choices by management.

So by all means, take the article to heart. Someone pointed out Kobe is "worth it" even if they don't make the playoffs, meaning, they print money while losing.

Which we've been saying all this time.


So go on, make up some more quotes for me, just make them funny please.

relax ain't nobody making **** up ( really that's all you got )

Nobody trying to be funny right now, just real that's it....I really couldnt care less if the article agrees or not that's not my point.

My point is you don't post things like that, things that go against what you say....you post propaganda and things that further your cause. If you were as clearheaded and objective as you want to appear you'd show both sides of the coin but you don't. Like Dennis said you just beat us over the head with negative **** and if people don't agree they don't "get it"


I wasn't clocking you personally but I made some statements not too kind about team tank and since that's your baby you felt the need to engage and that's where this whole back and forth stems from.

Last thing , so you been saying Kobe is worth it this whole time ?

Now who's making **** up

Don't get defensive you said it yourself you deserved some shade, we still team Laker.

 

[sea manup]

As the Lakers' contingent settled into the conference room's ergonomic chairs, it was clear that two-time MVP poster GTB, in a nice crisp shirt, listening attentively, was running SKA's game plan. But CP showed up, according to a person in the room, in "hoops shorts, a T-shirt and drinking mountain dew." He had also packed an attitude.

When L2B asked why his teammates let the injured poster take all the flak when the Lakers' started winning games, GTB said he didn't know that L2B had felt that way and that had he known, he would have acted differently. CP, on the other hand, offered a crash course in developing thick skin and a mini lecture on learning how to tank. Sources told Lakers Thread Insider RCK that CP's lecture was "a complete turnoff" for L2B.

 

 

[CP1708]

I've said (and mocked) that keeping Kobe is a money grab. The "printing money" is one of my phrases. It pisses me off, because we're supposed to be about more than that. (Winning)

You can say, "it was worth it" from a basketball perspective, I disagree with that. If Jim, Jeanie, Mitch, whoever think it's worth it from a financial perspective, I get that. I don't like it, but I get it.

You stay on this propaganda nonsense for God knows what reason. You so busy pissing at me, you don't even get anymore that I don't care about converting anybody. Root, how you want to root. I don't care about showing why we need to do this or that, it's not worth the hassle.

I've posted tons of articles over the years, some I agree with, some I don't. I didn't even agree with Abbott, and you jumped down my throat with both feet.

At this point, if I said NT stood for Niketalk, you'd spend days arguing about it. And others have been telling you that.

Whatever I did or said to rile you up has had you on this kick for months. You can think whatever you want, I have a clear head about what's goin on in LA. You can agree, disagree, like it, or hate, but stop searching for cigarette man conspiracy theories or "propaganda" searching when I post links, tweets, comments, video's, etc.

 

[CP1708]

As the Lakers' contingent settled into the conference room's ergonomic chairs, it was clear that two-time MVP poster GTB, in a nice crisp shirt, listening attentively, was running SKA's game plan. But CP showed up, according to a person in the room, in "hoops shorts, a T-shirt and drinking mountain dew." He had also packed an attitude.

When L2B asked why his teammates let the injured poster take all the flak when the Lakers' started winning games, GTB said he didn't know that L2B had felt that way and that had he known, he would have acted differently. CP, on the other hand, offered a crash course in developing thick skin and a mini lecture on learning how to tank. Sources told Lakers Thread Insider RCK that CP's lecture was "a complete turnoff" for L2B.


 

Fgtshjdgjghjg.

*Rockclap.gif*

 

[sea manup]

 

As the Lakers' contingent settled into the conference room's ergonomic chairs, it was clear that two-time MVP poster GTB, in a nice crisp shirt, listening attentively, was running SKA's game plan. But CP showed up, according to a person in the room, in "hoops shorts, a T-shirt and drinking mountain dew." He had also packed an attitude.

When L2B asked why his teammates let the injured poster take all the flak when the Lakers' started winning games, GTB said he didn't know that L2B had felt that way and that had he known, he would have acted differently. CP, on the other hand, offered a crash course in developing thick skin and a mini lecture on learning how to tank. Sources told Lakers Thread Insider RCK that CP's lecture was "a complete turnoff" for L2B.

 

Fgtshjdgjghjg.

*Rockclap.gif*

"It wasn't an easy meeting to be involved in," SKA later said on Antidope's radio show. "And I decline to go into great detail." L2B shortly thereafter chose to leave for the General Forum, even though it cost him roughly three hundred in guaranteed reps.

god dammit CP 

 

[pmatic]

"As the argument ensued, all PMatic could do was shake his head in the dark shadows. But this time, he knew it was too late and nothing could be done"

/end article

 

[mjsaver]

Ehh to be honest I shoulda said recently because it's only over these past 2 years you've gotten on this negative kick because were losing and/or you want us to lose.

Recently all you post is nothing but negativity and like you just told me others have said it as well.

In full disclosure that tanking **** kept me outta the thread last year, after some scrap wins I came in here and was mocked for not getting with the program and that I didn't "get it" so I just said **** it and barely posted at all. Mostly lurked here and posted in general/music.

I'm not doing that this year, I won't do that this year and if I gotta battle the team tank prez on the reg because I wanna participate in the thread then so be it, like you said I been here for some years and only just a few months ago did I start to engage with you in a combative way. (I wonder why)

Please stop acting like you're some type of victim it's not a good look, don't pretend you're some anonymous dude who's getting picked on for no reason. Plenty of times I or others have posted something not in line with your master plan only to be scolded or mocked for not getting it, so it's only fair to defend myself aggressively or mock you if I see the opportunity.

Imma fall back tho and see what happens....from here on out like you said root how u wanna root.

 

[pmatic]

"This is not a five alarm fire, no need for concern. But Steve Nash is not playing tonight."

 

[pmatic]

2014 NBA Preview: The Lakers Are Even Worse Than They Were Last Year

After an offseason of homecoming parties, failed coups and depressing injuries, the NBA is back. To celebrate, we took each player’s projected Real Plus-Minus and wins above replacement, calculated a total for each team, and ran 10,000 simulations of the NBA schedule to divine likely records and championship odds.1 We’ve split the teams into the lower and upper tiers in each conference; these are the seven teams that likely won’t make the playoffs from the West. So ease into your red wine bath (hi, Amar’e) and let us tell you the stats, x-factors or regressions that offer a preview of the coming season.

As Kobe Bryant returns from the leg fracture that limited him to six games in 2013-14, the Los Angeles Lakers are hoping he has one more playoff push left before he ends his illustrious career. But that’s going to be hard to do with this supporting cast. The Lakers are coming off a 27-55 season, the highest single-season loss total in franchise history. And perhaps more troubling, they received an unusually small amount of production from their future Hall of Famers, traditionally the franchise’s bread and butter.

According to a wins above replacement (WAR) variant I computed based on a combination of Player Efficiency Ratings and Win Shares,2 the Lakers have received an average contribution of 20.6 WAR per season from their Hall of Fame-bound players,3 which places them second to the Boston Celtics’ 21.8 mark among NBA franchises since 1951-52. During the decade of the 1980s, and again in the first five seasons of the 2000s, the Lakers got more than 28 WAR per season from Hall of Famers alone. And from 2006-2013, as they won two more championships and another conference title, the Lakers received an average of 16.4 WAR from Hall of Famers per year. But last season, the Lakers’ future HOF contingent — which included Bryant (who has a 100 percent probability of making the Hall according to Basketball-Reference), Pau Gasol (61 percent) and Steve Nash (55 percent4) — generated just 0.8 WAR, the lowest such output Los Angeles has received since 1994-95, when nary a single Hall of Famer suited up in forum blue and gold.

The rueful joke about the Lakers, at least from fans of the league’s other 29 franchises, is that they consistently manage to “pick up a HOFer or two every 4 years or so when their team’s playoff performance starts to slide a little,” in the words of one Internet commenter after LA was on the verge of acquiring Dwight Howard in 2012. And it’s basically true: Shortly after George Mikan’s career wound down, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West reported for duty, to be joined later by Wilt Chamberlain. Soon came the next wave: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Magic Johnson and James Worthy, whose departures were followed within a few years by the arrivals of Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant. And four years after O’Neal left, along came Gasol. The supply of Hall of Famers rarely goes un-stocked in Laker-land.

That’s why, as a rule, the Lakers don’t stay bad for long. The team has only suffered back-to-back losing seasons twice since 1961, and in each case it snapped back above .500 — and stayed there for an extended period of time — starting the very next year.

The Lakers appeared to follow their classic “pick up a HOFer” formula when they eventually did snag Howard. But the cycle was, for once, broken; after a single disappointing season in LA, Howard did the unthinkable, spurning the Lakers for the Houston Rockets. Now the only future Hall of Famers in sight are the 36-year-old Bryant and 40-year-old Nash, as newcomer Carlos Boozer has but a 7 percent chance of ever making the Hall, and overhyped rookie Julius Randle will probably be lucky to be more than a bench player in the NBA.

The Lakers have a history of grabbing all-time greats to plug holes, and they will have salary cap space available starting next season. But as it stands now, they’re looking at the distinct possibility of painful Hall of Famer withdrawal after Bryant retires. The franchise has essentially never had to deal with that before. — Neil Paine

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features...kers-are-even-worse-than-they-were-last-year/

 

[pmatic]

@steven_lebron New NBA preview podcast w/ @DrewUnga. Kobe. Lakers. Kobe. Lakers. http://t.co/sZLADmga13

 

[darthska]

[quote name="sea manup"][quote name="Kal-El-8"][QUOTE name="CP"]So go on, make up some more quotes for me, just make them funny please.[/QUOTE] [/quote] "The view in the Lakers thread is that any real rebuild will have to wait until after CP's retirement. "This has finally come home," says a Lakers insider. "Major players don't want to post with CP, and SKA is waiting for him to leave."


[/quote]

(Canada: +1)