re: 2015 NBA Offseason Thread - FA/Trade News and Rumors Here

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Yeah. I hope I don't lose my sports fandom as I age, but it seems to happen to most.

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Yeah. I hope I don't lose my sports fandom as I age, but it seems to happen to most.

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I used to fill it up with jamal in nba live 2006. Had a dynasty with isiah's knicks. Eddy Curry was an all-star

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Yeah. I hope I don't lose my sports fandom as I age, but it seems to happen to most

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The trouble really started in the 80s.

The Forum in the 80s, you kids have no clue, how wild
it was. If you want to know what kind of a vibe it had listen
to Marvin's Star Spangled Banner. It was nuts, I tell you.

Of course, wild times often lead to sobering realities.

Magic HIV. Gut punch.

Then you had the Magic circus. And by now, the Lakers
hadn't won a title since '88. Jerry was feeling restless, West
was feeling restless.

Jerry being the wise man that he is, knows he needs to invest
to get out of this mess. Instructs West to get him the best free agent
money can buy, and to spend as much as it'll take but, you know, within
reason.

So West keeps having to call Jerry back to see if he'll up the offer.
And Jerry keeps going up, with an expletive matched at the end of
every raise.

But they finally get him. But then West decides I'm gonna do something
no one's ever done before. Pair two alpha athletes together. Everyone is
telling him, You never go two alphas. And West says, That's why I'm doing it.
Because that man has a cross to bear, like nothing you've seen.

Then enter Dell Harris. Jerry's biggest regret. Always believed cost him his
chance to win catch the Celtics. Also, the reason why Brown got the axe. He
reminded Jerry of Dell.

Then you bring in Jackson (I don't call him Phil anymore). Sometime you have
to shake hands with the devil. Or in this case a shaman jester, but with legit voodoo
skills.

And they give Jerry a magical ride.

Around this time, Jerry had already promoted Jeanie (she'd been working her way
through the business side).

Jerry also brings in Jim, so he can hang around the basketball side. Because he was
already setting up a dynamic in his head, Jeanie doesn't really care about basketball
but she's good at marketing and community relations. And Jim can learn the ropes like
West did with Bill and Mitch is doing with West.

Only problem is, when your father brings you in and places you with career guys - guys that
played the game then moved into management or coaching positions - they're going to wise-crack
you. It doesn't make it okay. But that's just the reality. You can't build up petty resentments. Easier
said than done, though.

Jackson woos Jeanie.

West leaves. Because he's already very difficult to work with. Didn't like Phil's hippie personality. And
we wasn't going to baby sit Jim.


With West gone. Mitch steps in. And he shows Jim respect and is willing him teach him the front office side of the game. Simply because
Mitch is a good man.

Then Shaq and Kobe fight, because that is what two Alphas do.

Shaq demands Jerry over pay him. Jerry's calls his bluff. Shaq ask for and gets traded.

Jim, probably a little too eager, hires a coach, a championship coach at that he hopes will diminish Jackson's large shadow.

Doesn't go too well. Not really his fault. There were injuries. But fans still drunk off the championship bubbly of previous years,
start to make a stink.

Enter Jeanie. Gives the bad news to daddy. The fans hate the new coach, daddy. We need to bring Phil back. Jerry always sensitive to fans
feelings. Steps in and gets rid of Rudy. Then rehires Jackson.

So, of course, being back in the cat-bird seat, Jackson turns the volume to 11 on the wise-cracking. That's how he's wired.

Although, to be fair, he did take Jim on road trips and had him sit in on meetings, to continue his seasoning.

Kobe asks for a trade. Jerry calls Kobe's bluff like a champ.

We get Gasol and finally get over the hump again. Giving Jerry his second favorite Lakers' memory.

At this time, Jim influence in the front office is growing bigger. He really pushed for Artest, as did Jackson and Jerry, and it was the right
call. Because it squeezed one more championship, not to mention a win the finals against the Celtics, when Jerry's health
was starting to falter.

And then comes the crash and burn of a championship. Jackson's retirement.

Jim decides to wipe every inch of the Lakers HQ of Jackson's fingerprints.

Jim gets hoodwinked by the huckster known as Mike Brown.

Jim's crowning achievement undone by lack of sibling communication. Pick up the
phone and tell your brother, The climate is toxic for this kind of deal at Gov board meeting.
Delay it.

Chris trade gets vetoed.

Jim puts together a super team.

Unfortunately, he's done in by huckster Brown and an injury to his PG.

Jerry not wanting to see the lakers underachieve in his final months.
Nixes Brown sensing the Harris stench.

Jeanie calls her media people and tells them Jackson is interested in coaching
the team.

Jim and his father decide that with Jackson in the way, Jim will never get a chance to prove himself, and at worst, Jackson will try to push Jim out of basketball OPs with Jeanie's help.

So, they decide to go in a different direction. But see, because Jeanie leaked Jackson was interested, they had to go big, someone they could sell as a real alternative.

Instead of just letting Bernie take over time being, take their time and find a good alternative, they were pressed and grabbed Mike. Really put Mike in a no-win situation.

But this could've all been done with a little grace, but after years of petty resentment, Jim decided to rip Jackson back, by really broad-siding him.

Jeanie of course is incensed.

The team struggles with injuries. Kobe blows out his achilles and we lose our center to FA.

Kobe gets his extension. This was a family decision. They both needed cover. And kobe's the best insurance policy in this city.

The next season we're even worse.

Jeanie pulls the same stunt as she always pulls. Floats Jackson's name for FO position. Jim doesn't budge. Why should he?

Jaskson goes to NY.

We hire our backup backup backup coach. Because no one else was available.

Then comes this curious Jim timeline. Why the hell is this timeline even made public? It places undue pressure on people that are trying make moves based on sound decision-making, not some clock. For some reason Jim decides to confirm this publicly.

Jeanie then uses our TV partner to reiterate who's in power to fire and hire. Why? That just belittles your brother. You're supposed to be working together.

Then we suffer through an even worse season. But have the best draft in a longtime.

Then this FA period happened.

Seriously, what are you two thinking?

If there was too much attention on marketing and business and not enough on basketball and analytics, you don't go make that public. That just makes you look out-dated and jurassic. And gives plenty of ammo to the media to double down on the lakers-are-a-mess narrative. How does that help you or the org? You fix those things quietly.

And you don't make some arbitrary timeline public that was discussed behind close doors. You don't repeatedly mention it, in a threatening manner, and use it as some countdown for the general public. That is incredibly short-sided
if your long term goal is putting together a winning roster, which you claim is all you care about because we owe it to the fans.

Let the animosity go. Or sell the team. Those are the only two options.

Laker fans deserve better than this.

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why the FO maxed out Kobe's final contract

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