The Lakers really can’t escape the injury bug this year. Steve Nash is out for the year with his recurring back/nerve root issues. Prized rookie Julius Randle is also out for the year with a broken leg. Ryan Kelly is on the shelf once again with his hamstring issues. And now, Xavier Henry may also be out for the year after hurting himself in a 3-on-3 drill in Monday’s practice. From the Lakers’ twitter account:
.@XavierHenry suffered a left Achilles injury today in practice. Suspected to be a rupture. He’s getting an MRI right now to confirm.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) November 24, 2014
Byron Scott is hopeful it is not that serious, but at this point that likely is just hope. If Henry’s MRI confirms the tear he will not play again this season and the Lakers have suffered another blow to their already depleted roster.
Henry was re-signed this past summer with the hope that he could contribute to a wing rotation that, save for Jodie Meeks’ departure, was retained from last year. However, summer knee surgery and issues with his back had kept Henry out of training camp. And while he saw game action earlier than expected after going to Germany for regenokine treatment, he’d not yet found a consistent role on the team as he tried to work his back into playing form.
In the past couple of weeks Henry had played for the D-Fenders (the Lakers’ D-League affiliate) in the hopes of finding his rhythm and getting back into game shape, but now his season looks to be over.
As for what this means for the Lakers, they almost surely will now need to sign another wing if for no other reason than they need another body. Without Henry and with Kelly still injured, the Lakers’ only healthy perimeter players who can play either SG or SF are Kobe, Nick Young, Wes Johnson, and Jordan Clarkson. Lin could also be slotted into the SG spot, but considering the Lakers are also shallow at PG, they need another body regardless. The Lakers recently held a workout that involved former Nugget Quincy Miller, but no moves were immediately made. They may need to revisit those options now.
But those are the team logistics. Really, today’s news isn’t so much about that but instead about Henry. I truly feel bad for him as he’s worked extremely hard to try and get his career back on the track he was on when drafted with the #12 overall pick in 2010. That process really began in earnest last season when he had a nice season with the Lakers under Mike D’Antoni. The Lakers brought him back with the hopes that he’d continue his growth this year. Now, however, he’s likely out for the year, on an expiring minimum contract, and looking at one of the more grueling recoveries you can face in sports.
Hopefully he’s back as good as new next season. I will be rooting for him, that’s for sure.
T. Rogers says
Terrible news for Henry. He really showed some promise last season before getting injured. And now this. I hope he can salvage his career. When healthy I think he’s shown he belongs in this league. Good luck to him.
bryan S. says
Really sad for the young man. Good guy by all accounts, and where it not for his injuries last season, showed that he belonged in the league.
Aaron says
Robert,
The reason the Lakers are in this position is because the FO understands you need to be bad before you can be great. That’s the way of the modern NBA. They could have met Dwight’s demands and kept him. They could have gone after free agents like Thomad and Stevenson. But that keeps you in first round pergatory for seven years. The Lakers want to win championships. It’s what seperates the Clippers from the Lakers. The Clippers are happy being a first and second round exit. In fact they are celebrating it like the Lakers do chanpionships. “They run this town”.
PurpleBlood says
for Pete´s sake…
the best of luck to Xavier-hope i´s not as bad as has been predicted, and if so, then a speedy recovery, would like to have him back with us
Anonymous says
Aaron: Dwight was an elite FA and the Lakers tried to keep him. Thomas and Stephenson are good not great FAs who the Lakers put on hold while trying to sign Carmello.
My point is that the Lakers wanted to keep Howard and tried everything to keep him. You are intimating that the Lakers FO secretly wanted to pass on Howard because he was not elite. That is not true.
Regarding Howard, the only thing they could not do was have Jim bless the return of PJ as coach. Things had gotten so touchy between PJ and Jim/Dr. Buss over PJ’s relationship with Jeannie (among other things) that there was no way Jim would allow PJ back. As it turns out the MDA hiring was only surpassed by MBs hiring when rating disaster coaching hires. Of course Kobe going Mamba on Howard all season sealed the deal.
But make no mistake about it – the Lakers wanted Howard back.
Mid-Wilshire says
I am so sorry to hear this. Best of luck to Xavier. I agree that he belongs in the league. He will have had back-to-back major surgeries — knee, wrist, and (it now appears) his achilles.
I hope he can rebound from this. He has one thing on his side: his youth. I wish him well.
I see no other recourse at this time but for Byron to start playing Jordan Clarkson. It seems that time has certainly come. And I agree that they’ll have to find another body (or two). But the first priority will be to give Clarkson some minutes.
Again, I wish Xavier a speedy recovery.
rr says
Too bad about Henry. Good luck to him.
Everclear says
Let’s just file this under Lakers Luck and consider his Achilles exploded in half.
To be honest, I’m surprised we still have enough uninjured players to form a team.
The basketball gods are very, very vengeful right now.
Aaron says
Anonymous,
I’m just re telling what everyone close to the Dwight Howard sittuation has said over and over again. Dwight wanted to be here but the Lakers wouldn’t meet his demands.
The other free agents were all out on hold to see what LBJ and then Melo would do. Lance and Isiah both said they wanted to sign with the Lakers but the Lakers were not interested.
BigCitySid says
-Really sorry to hear about Henry’s injury. Adding insult to injury, Henry’s contract is up on July 1st, and by NBA standards can truly be described as “only about a $1 million contract”.
-Pertaining to a possible replacement, just read the Nets are seriously considering waiving Andrei Kirilenko, 33 and in his last contract year.
-Two of the Lakers next four games are against the inept & injury plagued T ‘Wolves & just plain bad Pistons. Lakers have an excellent chance to go 2 and 2 (other two vs Grizz & Raptors) over the next four.
mud says
Aaron, Dwight’s demands were nothing short of stupid, if the “demands” we have heard of in the press are real. for the last time(probably not really), PJ was NEVER going to come back to coach for anybody.
i’m very sorry to hear about X’s problems. of course i liked him and had high hopes for him. it’s too bad. hopefully, he can make a full recovery. he can ask Kobe for advice…
Anonymous says
@ Aaron too bad you’re sources weren’t right about lbj and melo coming to the lakers… maybe this is another FO secret plan in order to wait for Michael Jordan coming out of retirement.
PurpleBlood says
The basketball gods are very, very vengeful right now.
___
ain´t it the truth
Jerke says
Mud is right – there’s a little bit of re-writing history in some peoples minds when it comes to the PJ/MDA hiring – people forget that they did actually offer him the job – and that offer was contingent on a necessary quick decision – either you want a chance to coach 4 hof caliber players or you don’t: and PJ hemmed and hawwed and want’ed more time and Mitch/Jim didn’t want to wait on his whim and psuedo wise man act and took MDA. C’est la vie – given the injuries and general pussification of Dwight Howards ego I don’t think that team would’ve been much more successful anyways w PJ there. But that’s all over and done w anyways.
For those that were killing Nash for how dare he work out w Durant – apparently it was at Laker facilities w Lakers blessing – w/ the idea that a greater endgame is the possible plan. Given the fact of how much respect/likability Nash garners from his peers they do have a point in making him a quality recruiter for the organization.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2278440-steve-nashs-absence-may-irk-lakers-fans-now-but-may-leave-them-smiling-later
Chearn says
“For those that were killing Nash for how dare he work out w Durant – apparently it was at Laker facilities w Lakers blessing – w/ the idea that a greater endgame is the possible plan.”
______
Regardless, Nash should be with the Lakers in some capacity. Last year, people lambasted Kobe for not sitting on the bench and traveling with the team while the Lakers paid him. So Nash deserves that same criticism this year. What’s good for the goose is good for the….
If Nash can recruit Durant then he’s worth his contract. Does he also have a connection to Anthony Davis because that would be a coup?
rr says
Jerke,
D’Antoni failed here. He didn’t win a playoff series, and he was by all accounts one of several people who alienated Howard. Was that all his fault? No. Is he a terrible coach, or a worse coach than Byron Scott? No. Was all the criticism aimed at him fair? No. But he failed to do either of the things that he was hired to do. End of story. The fact that the team is even worse under Scott doesn’t get D’Antoni off the hook.
As to what exactly happened with Phil, at this point, pretty much everybody involved has a slightly different version of things. But the KBros nailed it: once Phil’s name was out there, the smart play by the FO was to let him either turn it down, or let him take it. The team was doing better under Bickerstaff than it had been under Brown, so they could have waited a little longer. Add that to the fact that Howard has since stated publicly that he let the FO know that he wanted to play for Jackson, and it was an easy call. Certainly they could have worked with Phil and his handlers and set a timetable–10-14 days, whatever. But the FO blew how they handled the hire.
Jerke says
Thanks for the lecture rr – not really sure what your point is since I wasn’t making a case at all anywhere in there for mda and haven’t since he’s been gone – or against bscott for that matter – just that all sides have stated that PJ was approached/did have an opportunity to take the job and for whatever reason didn’t/wanted more time to decide – and that either the FO purposely gave him no extra time because he wasn’t saying yes immediately or they felt an arguably legitimate need to install a coach asap. Kbros can argue that the “smart play” would be to let PJ decide but personal feelings aside between the FO/PJ – its perfectly reasonable that any FO would not want to twist in the wind indefinitely when there is a huge amount of pressure to get a coach into that situation. There has just been a myriad of recent posts w people saying if only PJ had been offered the job etc… that things would be different – well he was, he didn’t take it when offered on the FO’s terms – and even if they had given into his requests etc… given the injury situation and everything else that transpired it doesn’t necessarily mean that PJ could’ve turned things around or had any better results. Forget the relationship/personal issues – just the injuries and fundamental flaws in this team in terms of lack of speed/defensive ability/athleticism /bball iq would make it tough on the best coach – especially in the western conference – to field a competitive team.
rr says
not really sure what your point is since I wasn’t making a case at all anywhere in there for mda and haven’t since he’s been gone
—
Yeah, you were. And it’s not the first time, and you are still doing the same thing with Nash–in this thread, in fact. Check the tone of how you refer to Phil–hemmed and hawed, pseudo wise man act, left the Lakers twisting in the in wind, etc. Plus, you flatly state that you don’t think things would have worked out any better under Phil. Look, I get that you and other people, like karen, who think that MDA got shafted, are going to jump on this issue, given how bad the team looks under Scott, since there was a group of people here who hammered on D’Antoni multiple times a day, every day. But that doesn’t change the fact that D’Antoni simply didn’t get the job done.
As to the point about the KBros, they were pointing out, among other things, that the way the FO handled the hire made things even worse for D’Antoni. If Phil had turned the job down publicly, then that would have made it easier for MDA. I backed both the Nash deal and the MDA hire at the time, but the fact is that neither move came close to working out for the Lakers.
rr says
My tone is a little heavy in that post. Sorry.
J C says
I have always loved Kirilenko’s game. He can play the 3.
He can play defense.
He’s unselfish.
Will we pick him up?
I would love it.
And I doubt it will happen.
Why not?
Because the FO is proving its incompetence in new ways every day and it would make too much sense.
bleedpurplegold says
If we are tanking, we wont pick him(ak47) up…..but if the fo is trying to win as much as possible, i think they should strongly consider singing him…if he wants to sign with us, which i strongly doubt…..i see him on a contender for the vets minimum
Best wishes to henry and his family, i am sad to see him go down
Question to u guys: is anyone seeing the kings as a real contender in the west? The way they look to me, i have got to admit that i couldnt see this before the season….cousins looking like the best center in the league by far right now….wont say the make it out of the west, still belive in dallas, but heck i can even see them earn home court if they keep playing like that!
Renato Afonso says
Too bad for Henry. I really liked how he played last season. I hope he gets well soon and finds a roster spot in the NBA soon enough. He deserves to be in the league.
We do need another wing player and even AK47 is needed. Anyone to man that SF spot… However, I do hope that Henry’s injury doesn’t turn Clarkson into a backup SG. The kid needs to develop some PG ability (passing, court vision and dribbling) because he won’t make it as an SG. He’s undersized to play the 2 spot and he doesn’t shoot well enough. Westbrook was not considered a PG (ignore the talent difference here) nor did he play PG in UCLA and they still made him into one. We should do the same for Clarkson and probably relegate Ronnie Price to spot up minutes if either Lin or Clarkson are struggling.
About the PJ/MDA/Brown discussion, there’s really not much to add but I still think about one thing: why was there such a rush to get a new coach? Bickerstaff was actually winning some games and showing good on-court play. What happened to cause this? Was Bernie that bad of a coach or did he simply rub people the wrong way? If an interim coach has success why not let him run the team and see if he can actually become the actual head coach.
Agree says
Have you guys seen the Kobe last “team huddle” of the game where Kobe pretty clearly stated “Get the F**K out of the way”? That type of crap would have irked me 10 years ago when Kobe was actually still Elite. But at this point he just gets to shoot a ton because of his history, not his present ability. Kobe plays the most, but gets to rest the most at practice apparently. Of course why do anything but shoot around drills IF your are Kobe, since he isn’t going to play with the team anyway. Seriously, screw him, he’s always seemed like a bit of a D-bag to me, but the end of his career is just confirming it.
I will root for the Lakers again when they become an actually team, rather than just watching a fading Diva chuck shots regardless of the other people around him. Its not like its going to be fun watching this crap anyway, and half of the fans seem to just be rooting for losses so they can get a draft pick that most likely won’t mean anything anyway. Kobe retiring and Coach Scott being canned, that’s when the rebuild will actually start. This is just crappy basketball most of the time and hero ball off the back of someone who if this was a meritocracy would be playing 20mins a game due to crap defense and crap shooting. Hasta Luego’
T. Rogers says
bleedpurpleandgold,
The Kings may not be a contender yet. But they will put a scare into at least one of the top Western seeds if they make the playoffs. If Cousins can keep his head right then he clearly is the best center in the league. The things he can do at his size are truly impressive.
Shaun says
I’m actually going to be in Detroit for work so i’m gonna get to see them play live (i’m from Montreal)
Has anyone ever seen a game in Detroit?
When I went to go see them in Toronto a few years ago I got my jersey signed by Shannon Brown, i’d like to try and get some more signatures on it when I go to Detroit … any tips?
Robert says
Coaches: Without regard to your like/dislike of Phil/MB/MD/Byron: One thing is certain. The management of our coaching position has been handled poorly. The way MB was hired (and Shaw was dissed), the Phil/MD debacle, and the extended consternation/wait for Byron to name a few situations that should have been avoided. Our relationships with our players have also been handled poorly. DH felt unwanted, Pau felt misused and unwanted, ditto Kaman, ditto Farmar, etc.. These relationships with both coaches and players is a basic human resources function that any business must perform. We are horrible at it and because of the strange division of powers in our organization, nobody owns this issue and therefore nobody is accountable for the failures. Internet posts mirror this lack of accountability in that everything is the fault of the coach and the star player. Others are out sight (literally) and therefore – not accountable.
Vasheed says
Assuming AK47 gets waived I’m not sure they could pick him up off waivers. His contract is at 3.3 million, and the Lakers still don’t have an injury exception for Nash. But otherwise I would love to get him.
jerke says
@rr lol funny that you mention Karen et al – while I do find the MDA posts amusing at this point I’m over it – and it sure as hell wasn’t me posting anon posts in support of MDA in here a couple weeks back lol. As for B Scott, yep I don’t think he’s a good coach, made that point earlier in the season and don’t see any need to post further or belabor that point. I also think the FO has in no way set him up to succeed at all this season either and between that and Scotts rigid thinking that it’s a recipe for what we’re seeing right now. My only issue was w the hypocrisy of magic/worthy et al but I don’t really even care anymore. Everyone on that team/connected to the franchise would be best served by working hard and keeping their heads down not making dumb statements that cannot obviously be fulfilled or are completely out of touch w reality.
As for Nash, a couple weeks back I posted about a cool segment from Durant’s hbo documentary where it shows him training w Nash and Nash teaching him all the old tricks etc… which was cool behinds the scene stuff – and because some individuals aren’t aware that this goes on all the time between lots of players- there were posts about nash being a traitor etc yadda yadda yadda. Then yesterday Ding posted his piece basically explaining what was going on – that Durant was training at the Lakers facility w their blessing w Nash – who he really respects and this is all part of a long term plan to keep Nash in the organization post playing career. If you have Nash recruiting for you – especially in a post Kobe world- I can’t think of a better person to sell you on the franchise. They just need to move beyond this year and most likely Scott as a coach and get a clear direction and philosophy as to how they’re going to play. It’s a shame Blatt couldn’t have waited a bit – on a post Kobe, younger team w lower expectations other than to grow I think he’d find a lot of success. Bad mix in Cleveland.
team says
Robert,
Not that it matters who I blame…
I start out with the understandable decision by the organization to roll out pretty much the same team that won back to back championships. A truly forward leaning team might have valued youth a bit more and recognized the need to take some action when the team was at its highest value. Perhaps not a championship in 2011 being the goal, but a re-vitalization for 2012 and beyond.
I then blame Stern and the NBA for the veto.
After that, most blame falls on the Busses — even if I blame Brown or D’Antoni (or Phil) for doing things I view as wrong, the Busses hired those guys and let things play out.
I think blaming fans or players is pretty far down my list, although I think both groups have contributed to elements of this swirling sh*t storm.
But having said that, who cares about the past? My concern is how to change things moving forward. I sincerely hope Aaron is right and the current choices lead to a dramatic near-term turnaround.
jerke says
@robert – well put. I’ve been pretty patient w the FO for a variety of reasons but their recent moves and comments are starting to stretch credulity at this point. My issue is that even if current FO is removed, leaving Jeannie in charge – who is going to help guide her to make a credible FO hires? She can’t lean on PJ and West isn’t around – there are no former Lakers that could competently step into the FO even on a temp basis (and I’m not saying that as disrespect – if someone can name a former player that could come in and do a competent job in terms of hires etc… please name one ) and it’s not as if they could just move the coach upstairs as Scott will likely be fired at the same time. For all of what Jeannie is good at (pr, figurehead, business acumen, posing in playboy) I don’t have any proof that she has the necessary bball acumen to install a competent new FO (if she even truly has the hire/fire power, which has never been truly clarified/somewhat a grey area)
Worried says
Robert: I agree with your take on how dysfunctional our organization is and how the separation of powers leaves many important tasks in the gray zone where no one is accountable. That word ‘accountability’ is what is missing from these Lakers. Jeannie says she’s in charge yet goes out of her way to reinforce the fact that Jim is in charge of basketball operations — a topic which she does not understand and hence does not get involved with. Just re-read that last sentence and think about what that disconnect means to the Lakers and how the organization is perceived.
Jeannie is pushing the argument that paying Kobe his current salary sends a message to other FAs that the Lakers take care of their superstars. Their hand holding of Nash reflects a similar message – we go above an beyond to take care of our own. So on the one hand you have this attractive messaging yet at the same time you have the realities on how (as Robert stated) we have mishandled coaching hirings/firings and how star players were marginalized to the point where they left significant money on the table just to get away.
Jeannie can’t have it both ways. She can’t portray the Lakers as a caring organization if all of the evidence is to the contrary. Another poster made the statement that good FAs sign for the money — elite FAs sign for the money, the organization (trust in management) and a chance to win. Yes, elites want to get paid but they don’t have the time to spend with an organization that doesn’t have the talent to win or an FO that isn’t all in for a similar goal.
Unless Jeannie begins to actually lead the Lakers and shore up the glaring weaknesses we have in how the organization works together — the team will continue have a huge disconnect on what she says and how they act. It is this dysfunctional perception which will cause the Lakers to lose out on the elite talent needed to sustain future championship runs.
mud says
waaa waaa waa, blame, blame, blame….
this is how it is. cheer for your team because until the next opportunity arrives, it’s going to stay bad regardless of who coaches or who starts.
Kobe is not the cause of the team’s current woes and although they have made mistakes, it’s not really the FO either. there are circumstances that just cannot be avoided, that as a whole make a better team impossible RIGHT NOW. one can make guesses about the future, but those are just guesses. some are more accurate than others, but even the most accurate guess can be derailed by unforeseen events.
there’s no one to blame and nothing to do about it but work. if the team wants to be the big babies that the press and fans are, or want them to be, then they won’t get better. if each player takes responsibility for his own, personal job, regardless of glamor, then the team can improve and maybe even get on a hot streak. if they act like the fans, then the team is certainly sunk. fans better get used to this, because they have no control over the process. while fans have no control, they may have some influence, so they best use that influence positively.
Stuart says
Worried: Unless Jeannie begins to actually lead the Lakers and shore up the glaring weaknesses we have in how the organization works together — the team will continue have a huge disconnect on what she says and how they act. It is this dysfunctional perception which will cause the Lakers to lose out on the elite talent needed to sustain future championship runs.
—-
Well, we may have stumbled upon the real problem facing the Lakers going forward. How does Jeannie truly lead if she’s giving Jimmy three more years to turn this around? Three more years at the status quo likely means rolling over cap space year to year because elite FAs will find the same money with better fits elsewhere.
Unless Jimmy grows up in a hurry — get’s a PR makeover and more importantly begins to get some decisions to break his way then Jeannie will have to intervene for the sake of the franchise. I believe this means that Jim becomes a figurehead with Mitch being elevated and back filling the GM role with a smart up and coming executive we cherry pick from another organization.
Oldtimer says
Let us be realistic, you can’t consider yourself an avid fan and say nothing with the present mediocrity. The injured can’t play while the healthy ones don’t play well. One player shoots a lot while the rest are just standing giving away the ball to opponents or the lane for free pass. The only defense I could see is fouling a player and hoping that player misses his FT’s. Oh yeah, don’t forget I am a fan and I should continue cheering for this team. Oh yeah, I am another type of fan just like I wished for, right on the money to tank the season.
In a nutshell, evil triumphs when good men do nothing or say it another way, ball hogging continues when avid fans don’t really care.
Jack says
Stuart: Well, we may have stumbled upon the real problem facing the Lakers going forward. How does Jeannie truly lead if she’s giving Jimmy three more years to turn this around? Three more years at the status quo likely means rolling over cap space year to year because elite FAs will find the same money with better fits elsewhere.
____
Well here we are back at the Jeannie/Jim relationship. Well, we better get used to the dysfunction because I think Jeannie is serious about giving Jimmy those three years.
I used to work in consulting and when a previously successful company hit a stretch like the Lakers the company’s board would normally bring in a consulting firm to provide some insights on what might be going wrong and suggestions for improvement.
I’m not on the inside of the Lakers so all I have to go on is what I can see from the results. In my mind the bigger issue is not why we are in this position (that has been covered ad nauseam). The real issue is how to fix this mess and what are the impediments for success.
I don’t have the answers are but I do know that Jeannie and Jim’s relationship are at the heart of it. Jeannie’s rhetoric and Jim’s actions (as head of basketball operations) do not reflect that they are on the same page — as Robert and Worried have noted.
Craig W. says
Jack,
The thing to remember is that this isn’t like any other business. The NBA is a monopoly and there are rules defining what you can and cannot do. Then there is the CBA which restricts what you can do about players.
Whether or not you agree with this, it is the way the game works, so get used to it. Mud had it right in his/her post earlier – the structure makes this kind of stretch inevitable and we fans would do well to remember this when we make our exaggerated claims about what the Lakers should do.
Much of the CBA was aimed directly at the Lakers and targeted to limit what they could do. The irony is only heightened by the situation small market teams like OKC find themselves in, because of their desire to hamper the Laker’s previous way of doing business. Well, the other NBA owners got their way and the situation is very difficult for the Lakers. Now those same owner will find out how they will fare as Kobe leaves the scene and their arenas are half full when the Lakers come to town. Of course this doesn’t help the Laker fans any, but it wasn’t supposed to. We are in a tough stretch and it will take a while to dig out of.
Not saying mistakes haven’t been made, but all this ‘the sky is falling’ comments aren’t too based in reality.
mud says
the Lakers’ problem is not ball hogging.
i’m laughing.
Shaun says
What about signing shannon brown back for wing depth …. was just waived by miami so they could sign a center and he had his best years here …. kind of lile xavier but a better shooter …plus at least we would get the shanwow dunks back
Robert says
Shaun: I would love to see Shannon back, but it would be for sentimental and symbolic reasons only. To get stuff signed – you want to stand by the players tunnel (if you get there) about 1 hour before game time. You could get lucky but don’t even think about getting Kobe to sign under that circumstance. I know Detroit. You want to go to the London Chop House. MGM is the best of the 3 casinos. Greektown is a fun party area. You could also hit Bouzouki’s or the Windsor area if you are so inclined. Root hard for our guys – Auburn Hills is a little bit of a drive from Detroit.
Jerke says
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11939121/los-angles-lakers-granted-485-million-disabled-player-exception-steve-nash
Nash officially out now – Lakers musta been waiting on the sit down between him and Mitch this week before filing for the exception. They get 4.85 mill to use on signing someone else (can’t be combined w the 1.5 for Julias Randle, has to be two separate signings) – just not sure who’s out there that could legitimately help.
lakafan says
Will be a telltale sign if they use those exceptions or not, esp the bigger one. If they don’t use em, means we tanking baby!! ????
Ko says
I don’t think that was granted Jerke. They are reviewing medical records to determine if indeed he is really out. Might be 2 or more weeks. It would allow Lakers to even trade for player up to $5 million.
Chris J says
(pr, figurehead, business acumen, posing in playboy)
——–
Line of the day, man. Line of the day.
rr says
but all this ‘the sky is falling’ comments aren’t too based in reality.
—
Things can still get worse for the Lakers, but the sky has already fallen. The Lakers are one of the worst teams in the NBA, have very little projectable talent on the roster, and they owe Kobe another 25M in 2015-16. The most optimistic scenarios involve a combination of hope, speculation, conspiracy theories, and Lakers Exceptionalism–IOW, nothing remotely solid.
One can argue about how much the FO is at fault, and people should certainly continue having that discussion if they want to do so. But it is important to remember two things:
1. Every player and coach on the current team was signed to his current deal after both the passing of Jerry Buss and the departure of Phil Jackson. This is Jim Buss’ team.
2. Even if Jim is really a smart guy, he has given himself three more years to get this team back to serious contention, and his sister has echoed that statement more than once, in public. And right now, the Lakers about as far away from contending in three years as it is possible for a team to be.
R says
” … but all this ‘the sky is falling’ comments aren’t too based in reality.”
Craig, I’d have to agree, but only because the sky has already fallen …
BigCitySid says
The posters on this board disagree on a lot of issues, but one thing many here do agree on is questionable decision making in the FO. And to me, that’s the main problem we as Laker fans are facing going forth. Building a contender and turning it into a champion is an incredible undertaking, which includes many factors, luck being one of them. And many franchises have managed that.
What separates the Lakers (& to a slightly lesser degree Boston) from other franchises has been their ability to rebuild a title contender w/ all new personnel, after a successful championship run. Chicago’s (6 )& San Antonio’s (5) titles while incredible accomplishments, among the very best in NBA history, are tied to one superstar in each organization, Bulls around MJ, Spurs around Timmy.
And while the jury is still out pertaining to life after Tim w/ the Spurs, we see Chicago wasn’t been to the promise land for almost 20 years since MJ retired.
I’ve always been confident in the Lakers FO…until now. As a matter of fact it appears dysfunctional. And dysfunctional FOs don’t win titles…or do they? Does anyone know of a team that won a title in spite of their front office?…in any sport?
J C says
Old timer –
Thanks for the quote.
“Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.”
I like it.
Here’s another one:
“Where does an 800-pound gorilla sleep? Anywhere he wants.”
Right now Kobe is an 800-pound gorilla that neither management nor coaching staff has the gravitas to tame. Phil was the only guy whose ego and championship resume, besides Jerry West, that had the stones to corral #24.
The inmates are running the asylum.
This won’t change IMO until the Busses relinquish control of the team, probably via sale.
All this being said I’m still a fan!
I’ll be at the game tonight.
R says
BIgCity, the Steinbrenner/Billy Martin/Reggie Jackson circus comes to mind as an example of extremely messed up people winning on the field and winning big.
Shaun says
So Earl Clark … .Lets get Shanwow back too
Anonymous says
I don’t know how credible this is but it looks like their going to sign earl Clark https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/sources–lakers-working-to-sign-forward-earl-clark-153533837.html
Agree says
I liked Earl Clark, get him ready and then start him over Boozer. Since Boozer can’t play any defense, Clark even undersized will still play better than him. Or start him over Wes “one flashy play a game” Johnson.
Re: the “sky is falling”. I actually think there is a good chance the Lakers will be worse next year. I think they are going to lose alot of their mid-level talent and replace it with one overpaid max contract guy that doesn’t help them win and a bunch of worse players. Plus, Kobe is going to be worse next year pretty much guaranteed. So He’s going to shoot really lousy next year, and unless they manage his minutes big time (28mins max). So Kobe starts chucking with his eye on Kareem, no one says anything for another year “since the suck again” and the lakers take over the coveted draft position as being the team that is WORSE than Philly. Sadly next year even Young’s positivity is in jeopardy and he starts taking counsel from Dr. Phil.
BigCitySid says
R, great example…gives me a little hope.