Lakerholics

A Lakers Fan Community

Posts

How LeBron James and Jeanie Buss squashed Lakers drama

By 1 Comment

When their schedules finally aligned, on an off night in early March 2019, it wasn’t exactly an ideal time for either. James and the Lakers had just lost five in a row, the fifth being a particularly galling 120-107 loss to the Kyrie Irving-led Boston Celtics at Staples Center. The groin injury that had bothered James since Christmas Day wasn’t getting any better. And the team was about to head out on a five-game East Coast road trip.

But James wasn’t canceling this dinner. He’d been wanting to spend time with the woman who ran the Lakers since he’d chosen to sign with the franchise the previous summer, and he had something important to tell her.

“We understand that things happen. We’re not pointing the finger at anybody, and we’re going to stay down with you,” James’ agent Rich Paul, who attended the dinner along with James and Lakers executive Linda Rambis, recalled to ESPN. “We’re committed to you and we’ll come out of this on top. We’ll come out of this different than what the world sees. Let the people who talk, talk. We just gotta do the work.”

The message was clear: There might be drama engulfing the Lakers, but James wouldn’t be adding to it. They were in this together.

James told Buss he’d long been an admirer of her late father, Dr. Jerry Buss, and how he ran the NBA’s glamour franchise. He was displaying an understanding and appreciation for Lakers history that both surprised and touched Buss, according to a close associate of hers.

“It was very genuine,” Paul said.

And it was completely different than the relationships James forged with the two previous owners he’d played for. Powerful as he is, James had historically preferred to let Paul or others from his business team deal directly with ownership. He was cordial with Miami owner Micky Arison and chilly or professional with Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert, but there was never a huge personal investment in his relationships with owners. That served two purposes, both of which added to James’ power: No one went directly to James, and personal affection would never affect his decision-making.

Paul doesn’t even believe James had ever formally dined with Arison or Gilbert. All of which made his dinner with Buss at Wally’s Beverly Hills especially significant.

Clippers not only flamed out, they punched Lakers’ Finals ticket too

By 4 Comments

This is certainly not the matchup the Lakers expected, but after taking care of their own business in the first two rounds, the West’s top seed sat back and watched as the Clippers collapsed and handed the Denver Nuggets a golden ticket to the conference finals.

It was the sudden culmination of a year in which the Clippers had won the free agency battle for Kawhi Leonard and fired repeated shots across the bow in the form of a thinly veiled marketing campaign that included a billboard near the Lakers’ training facility in El Segundo. The message was clear: The Clippers were the anti-Lakers, encroaching on the turf of the establishment.

So, of course, on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, there was no small amount of schadenfreude within the Lakers’ fan base and the organization itself. Players like Jared Dudley and J.R. Smith seemed to make subtle jabs on Twitter. Following Wednesday’s practice in Orlando, Kyle Kuzma insisted the Lakers had not derived any particular pleasure from the Clippers’ demise before casually landing a zinger of his own.

“We’re not focused on the Clippers, and we never really were,” he said. “It’s all about who is in front of you. When you focus on other teams instead of taking care of your food, shit happens like that.”

Nailed the dismount.

Because as appealing as an all-L.A. conference finals may have been, it always meant more to the challenger than it did the incumbent. In an organizational sense, the Lakers had little to gain from a series against the Clippers. A win would only reinforce the status quo, whereas a defeat would fan the flames of the idea that Steve Ballmer and his billions pose some kind of existential threat to the Lakers’ hold on Hollywood. The hierarchy of Los Angeles basketball has been preserved.

Instead of the Battle for L.A., all the Clippers won in the bubble was the Race Back to L.A.

Where Does Antetokounmpo Go and What Can the Bucks Do To Keep Him?

By 1 Comment

MVP superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has a career defining decision to make after the Milwaukee Bucks’ disappointing five-game second-round loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals six days ago.

As much as the Bucks would love to control the situation, Giannis has the power to control his destiny like Anthony Davis did last offseason when he forced the New Orleans Pelicans to trade him to the Los Angeles Lakers. Does Giannis stay in Milwaukee and trust the Bucks to acquire another superstar to make the team a legitimate championship contender or exert the power of his looming free agency like AD and chose his future home?

Here’s a quick look at the four options Giannis Antetokounmpo has:

1. Giannis Signs Supermax Contract with the Bucks.

There are good reasons why Giannis might actually prefer this as his best option. To start with, we’re in the middle of a pandemic that’s devastated the economy and transformed the future of the NBA from rosy to uncertain. There’s a case to be made the smart move would be for Giannis to take advantage of the mega dollars on the table and lock in generational wealth and security for his family. After all, who knows what the future holds?

Then there’s Giannis’ team first personality and professed love for the city of Milwaukee. It’s easy to imagine him deciding to sign the supermax contract offered by the Bucks and trusting them to do what they need to improve.

2. Giannis Declines to Sign Supermax with the Bucks.

This is probably the easiest and most likely option for Giannis to choose, basically remaining committed to the Milwaukee Bucks but smartly kicking any signing of the supermax contract down the road until next offseason. This option keeps Antetokounmpo’s options open while putting intense pressure on the Bucks to make substantive changes to upgrade the roster for next season, which could be a challenge considering their situation.

While the most reasonable path for Giannis right now, this option would ratchet up the pressure on the Bucks to make major moves to upgrade the team and transform them into a legitimate championship contender.

3. The Bucks Trade Giannis to Team of Their Choice.

One thing the Bucks cannot afford to do is lose Giannis Antetokounmpo to free agency with nothing in return so if he declines to sign a supermax contract, Milwaukee might be wise to quietly investigate the trade market. The offers the Bucks could receive for Giannis now with a year left on his contract would certainly be better than any possible sign-and-trade deal he’d have to approve a year from now or the risk of losing him for nothing.

While the Bucks don’t want to part ways with Antetokounmpo, they may have no choice because their current roster and financial constraints may make it impossible for them to upgrade the team. May be time to cash in.

4. Giannis Demands Trade to Team(s) of His Choice

What the Bucks don’t want to happen is for Giannis to decide to follow the route Anthony Davis took and demand to be traded to a specific team or list of teams because that could diminish what Milwaukee receives in return. Just the threat of Antetokounmpo doing this could be enough to make the Bucks seek to trade him this offseason, especially if getting him to sign the supermax deal seems like long shot and options to upgrade the roster dim.

This is the option the Los Angeles Lakers are hoping will become the path for Giannis joining LeBron and AD to form a new superteam dynasty whose championship window would extend well beyond James’ retirement.

Milwaukee and Antetokounmpo have started the process by meeting to discuss the future and how to improve the team. The showdown will come when the Bucks formally present Giannis with the actual supermax offer. Should Giannis lose faith in Milwaukee’s ability to upgrade the team and decline to sign, the Bucks probably can’t afford to take the risk of waiting until the following offseason and would be smart to look to trade him now.

The problem with the Lakers planned pursuit of Giannis is the only way they could acquire him would be through free agency a year from now as they don’t have the trading chips to even make a viable sign-and-trade deal. Joining the Lakers could only happen if Giannis committed to signing with the Lakers as a free agent next year and declared he wouldn’t re-sign with any team to whom he was traded, which is an unlikely long shot at best.

Frankly, Giannis signing the supermax deal with the Bucks would be good news for the Lakers in my opinion. I prefer seeing him stay in Milwaukee than creating a superteam somewhere else to compete with the Lakers. Further, I also dislike the idea of the Lakers wasting the coming offseason saving cap space to sign Giannis in free agency a year from now. Smacks too much of the lost opportunities of waiting for Kawhi Leonard last offseason.

I also don’t see Giannis as the kind of player who would want to follow the Kevin Durant’s lead and join a team like the Miami Heat who just beat him. He strikes me as the kind of loyal player who wants to stay in Milwaukee.

Vogel expects to use McGee and Howard more in Western finals

By 1 Comment

“‘Joker’ is one of the most unique players in the world, and one of the most unique players ever to play the center position in this league,” Vogel said Wednesday. “He can basically hurt you in all ways. He can hurt you at the 3-point line, in the pocket, playing the 4-on-3 game in the post, and obviously with his passing. …

“It does make this series a little different — a lot different, actually — in terms of how much we’ll use our centers. I don’t want to get too much into detail, but obviously we’re going to be the L.A. Lakers, who we’ve been all year. We adjusted to a small-ball team last series, but I would expect us to return to form.”