5 THINGS

Maybe not so much. Everyone just chill out for a sec. I did a couple podcasts and watched angry comment after angry comment along the lines of “Rob can’t close” and “Jeannie sucks” or “LeBron has ruined the Lakers…waaaaaah” and found it all, well, hilarious. They couldn’t play Salary Cap-A-G-Go because they had no-go. Here are some facts: the Lakers started free agency capped out if all of their player option players opted in. They all opted in, leaving LeBron James as the sole player with an option left to pick up or a deal to renegotiate. There was a rumor, not one started by LeBron I imagine, that he would take a pay cut in order to facilitate a small list of preferred players onto the Lakers. If true, that would have been interesting to see just how magnanimous the King was willing to be. Since most of the players on this infamous mystery list have signed onto other teams let’s take a moment to breathe and let reality work it’s magic.

1. LeBron isn’t ruining jack. Honestly…just…just stop with this BS. The man plays harder at 39 than half the league that’s almost half his age. He was never going to leave. I doubt he was ever actually considering a pay cut given the cap gymnastics it would require of Rob who, frankly, simply isn’t up to the task or the job. Had such a thing happened it would have surprised me. I’m not too full of myself to admit that now, even if it does end up happening, in order to free up the full MLE LeBron would have to take something like a $20 million dollar pay cut (my apologies for being bad at math and not having a ton of time to work this out. As I understand it-and I could be wrong and welcome factual corrections-in order to use the NTPMLE we’d need to get below the 2nd apron line by the amount that we use, with LeBron’s $50 million cap hold we’re at $178 mil, the 1st apron stops at $170 mil which means we need to get down to $158 mil…I think???). You don’t like him hoping to play with his kid? Seems kinda heartless given how much of his time he’s given basketball and now he dares, DARES, to want to share that time with his eldest son?!?!?! The nerve of the man… Don’t like how the coaches he doesn’t respect get fired? Tell that to Magic fucking Johnson who got a head coach fired before it was en vogue, he’s the OG coach firing guy folks. Don’t like how it feels like we’ve handed the keys of the entire franchise over to one player? Tell that to Kobe Bryant (R.I.P) who basically got Shaq traded after a season he spent the majority of in a Colorado courthouse so he could settle out of court. If you don’t get that this is the Laker Way I honestly don’t know what team you have been watching.
2. Rob Pelinka sucks at his job. Don’t believe me? Let’s count how many $8 million contracts are being lined up for THT who, if he’s lucky, will sign for a vet minimum but more likely end up playing for more money overseas with Dwight Howard or something. Stop blaming LeBron for a weak-kneed, jelly-brained GM. LeBron is doing what he can, he’s even working the phones trying to get a buddy to come play for cheap. No, no this entire team has the stain of ineptitude left by Rob all over it. From another rookie head coach (back-to-back baby!) to another strained salary cap situation and no discernable plan in sight these are the hallmarks of a Rob Pelinka team my friends. Now, in Rob’s defense, he didn’t have a lot to work with coming into the season. So if the plan was to hope that every single player option didn’t get picked up thus reducing the amount LeBron would need to donate back to the Lakers to zero if that list included Russell…well…that’s an incredibly shitty plan. If the plan, and I really have to assume there was one of some kind, was to hope that DLo, Cam, Wood and Jax all opted out and sought greener pastures so that we could open up the Non Tax Payer MLE (thus losing 4 players for one much cheaper player) the man should be fired. If the plan was to convince Chris Paul, Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan to take the vet minimum like he did Trevor Ariza (no other team wanted him) and Carmelo Anthony (no other team wanted him) and I forget what other NBA AARP member was on that ill-fated squad, he’s just not paying attention.
3. Where’s AD? Just like the 4th quarter of a big game…AD is nowhere to be seen. I’m sure he’ll bounce back tomorrow. Argentina? Cape Town? Who knows. He’s locked in anyhow, he can’t renegotiate his deal, so not too sure what he’d do to help other than remind LeBron to eat his power shake made from the souls of NBA legends long since passed. “AD, the Jerry West shake is DELICIOUS!” (too soon?). I kid though, AD is the cornerstone and is doing his job as quietly as this modern world allows. I hope.
4. It’s not that bad y’all. Seriously, it isn’t. At this point let’s assume that LeBron is going to end up taking the max for 1,2 or 3 years, hopefully with team and/or player options of some kind that make it so we’re not screwed if he gets seriously hurt. We have AD, for all his strengths and flaws, DLo who can be a difference-maker in the regular season and a couple good games in the playoffs (maybe), solid players on cheapish contracts and we’re getting younger. That’s the main thing I think is being influenced by Reddick in all honesty. There may be a conflict of interests in that I can’t imagine J.J. Reddick wants to spend his first few season butting heads with vets who are about his age and have done more in the league than he ever did. I think he would much rather coach a team with a vet he knows well (LeBron) a vet he’s hopefully apologized to for ranking him so poorly defensively (AD) some solid role-players still looking to make a serious mark (the rest of the starters and most of the bench) and young guys (Knecht and I dunno…JHS I guess, maybe Lewis and Castleton). Remember, we ended last season just 5 games out from being the 4th seed. That was with injuries to Vando and Vincent that sidelined them most of the regular season. If AD and LBJ can largely replicate their health from last season and some of the role guys improve or just play, that could be a big enough swing to take us out of the playin and into the playoff realm. One could also argue the west got a little weaker this summer with talent dispersing itself more equitably (by design and courtesy of the new CBA).
5. So, in your opinion Jamie just why has this been such a quiet free agency for the Lakers? Glad you asked, here’s what I think: we had no cap space, not even the TPMLE to start free agency because we had to wait on players to opt in, not surprisingly they waited until basically the last second because they hoped something better would open up, when their agents told them that wasn’t likely they opted in thus removing all potential cap space from the equation. Simple logic. Concerning our draft picks 5 years out and the pick swaps and all that…they’re not as valuable as they used to be (or some people think they are) because nobody knows how bad the Lakers will be. If the Lakers are good, the picks will probably be mediocre, at best. The lottery system also dissuades teams from giving up the ghost for a potential rookie 5 years from now when GM X may or may not even have a job. The new CBA penalties are draconic and we’re seeing that play out in free agency. Max contracts for under-performing players are toxic. Injured players with gas left in the tank (their opinion, of course) are signing for pennies. My takeaway is that having 10-15 million in actual cap space every summer is going to be the new modus operandi for a lot of teams now. We’ll see more teams taking a hit by letting a guy walk to free up space so they can use all the spending tools a lot of teams absolutely rely on to fill out the margins. Otherwise you’ll be like the Knicks: watching a quality player walk for nothing to another team with money to pay him. Bird Rights in trades will be ESSENTIAL going forward because we saw Hartenstein walk and the Knicks had his Early Bird Rights…wasn’t enough. That second apron will be the death of super teams and the three super star model, by design, but it may also herald the end of the two superstar teams depending on which superstars are available at any given moment. We got 2 guys taking up over 50% (approaching 60%) of our 1st apron tax space.
   
   One last point, on the pride of an elite athlete. It has been tossed about that a player of Chris Paul’s caliber and possibly even Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan could be had for the vet minimum. I’m not talking specifically here, just in general I see a lot of that stuff. I don’t think we factor in things like “personal pride” or “hard work” enough. Ask yourself a simple question: if someone who had never done your job before, who was also the owner manager of your work place, came up to you and said something along the lines of “I know you make $25/hour now…but about taking $15/hour so we can hire someone else? Oh, also and by the way, I’M not taking any kind of pay cut at all. So…whaddaya think!?” you would be pissed. You would be angry. You would do what Klay Thompson just did and find another job, maybe even for the amount the other guy asked you for because eff you pal. These are people who are elite, all of them, even JHS. They are the top 1% of the basketball world and it’s by a really large margin. It’s everyone’s choice how to view that and factor it into trades or contract offers but in this one area I actually think the Lakers lead the league and that is respecting the work. Getting off the soap box now, next man up.

This feels familiar. Oh yeah, because this happened oh so very recently. Like deja vu of the worst kind, if you’re a Lakers fan. With the news that UCONN head coach Dan Hurley has spurned the Lakers 6 year, $80 mil offer to stay in the NCAA the Lakers are, once again, forced to pivot from their very public first choice. Coach Hurley now joins the illustrious (and infamous) list of Tyronn Lue, Monty Williams, I honestly don’t recall the other 2 candidates in front of Vogel before we settled on Frank, and Juwan Howard as using the Lakers for leverage or looking at the behind the scenes chaos and feeblemindedness and thinking the job was better off in somebody else’s hands. There is no way to spin this well, this is a bad look for LA.

1. Rob Can’t Close. This is the 3rd coaching search in a row where the #1 candidate has said no and the second when the coach chose to stay at the NCAA level. Numerous reports prior to the Ham announcement reveal that Darvin Ham was not the actual first choice but rather Juwan Howard. Rob seems to have a problem closing the deal and this magnified for no reason whatsoever by the leaks of information coming from within the Lakers organization when they decide on a choice before getting them to sign on the dotted line. This, above all behaviors, serves absolutely no purpose. It just makes everyone in the front office and ownership look like foolish, amateur morons.
2. There is no plan, just constant, childish reactions followed by the carbon copy press conference for the poor sap who ends up with the job. Just for funsies I went back and watched some highlights from the Vogel and Ham introductory news conferences. Incredibly there is only a small amount of variance. Words like “first choice” and “we believe strongly” are used in a manner akin to a 12 year old writing a book report from passages in the encyclopedia without really being able to understand the task at hand. This is getting ridiculous now. If Jeannie could step away and see this from afar she would see that firing Rob is the only smart move at this juncture, the man is highly incompetent.
3. What does this mean for LeBron? Honestly, who cares. At this point he’s staying or retiring and that’s not for any reason other than we need him as much as he needs us. No other contender has the $$$ to pay him what he feels is deserved (which, in my opinion, is valid) and the Lakers need him to stay relevant. No offense to AD but he’s just not “that guy” the fans want to love, the media wants to talk to and he’s not breaking/setting long-held records every other game.
4. What does this mean for AD? To me this is the most pertinent question of all. Feels like we just lost the guy who understood development and spacing at an instinctual level. With LeBron trending out of his career at some point the onus of leading the Lakers will fall onto AD’s shoulders, if for no other reason that he’d be the highest paid player at that point. He certainly has never felt qualified to be “the man” on any NBA team. AD is a rock solid post player who can get hot from the outside but is best utilized in the paint. He’s at his best when he’s rebounding on the offensive end or finishing plays after the defense has been collapsed. While we’re likely to never know how Coach Hurley envisioned using him it stands to reason that the next man up in our coaching search will hopefully make that question their priority.
5. Who’s the next best candidate? For my money I am now hoping we choose Borrego who has interviewed twice and, I believe, was the front runner despite all the J.J. Reddick smoke. We’ll see, he’s also rumored to be in the running for the Cavs job and they’re just as ready to compete for a title as we are, maybe more so if they can lock in Spyda for 3-4 seasons. If/when that falls through either due to the Lakers incompetence or…well, there really isn’t another reason at this point. The Lakers just don’t seem to get it. They function as if it’s 1989 and Kurt’s playing beach volleyball with Linda and Jeannie like a Tab advert. Wake. Up.

The Alamo, that house in Young Guns, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, and the Lakers’ locker room. What do all these things have in common? A group of people with their backs up against the wall with nothing left for it but to come out guns-a-blazing and see if they can shoot their way out of their worries.

1. Keep forcing action in the paint. The three ball is important but the Lakers are utterly dominating in the paint and that needs to be the theme for the rest of whatever playoff life we have left in us. We can’t let Denver outscore us in the paint or in transition and the second-chance points need to at least be kind of close.
2. Attack their best players on offense. Can’t line change like in hockey so, when they’re on the court, attack Jokic and Murray as a first, second and third option. We got Jokic in foul trouble which did absolutely nothing to stifle his legendary excellence on offense but did mean he played with less, shall we say enthusiasm, on defense which made it easier on our guards and best players to score at the rim and in the paint.
3. Make Murray move. Make him fight through screens. Do everything but sweep the leg (sensei?) because if his hamstring is giving him trouble that’s a weakness we absolutely need to exploit just like Denver did to us last season with LeBron and his foot. Lateral movement is not a hamstring’s friend and neither is contact. Show Murray both sides of that coin.
4. 48 hard. I said it at the beginning and between every single game, this is not a team you can play 44-46 good minutes of basketball, it’s a full 48 of excellent effort or go home. It really is that simple. Whomever is on the court, whatever your role is, play hard and with force. Do not let the Nuggets dictate pace or physicality or you are toast.
5. There’s only one way to stop the Nuggets fans from chanting and we kind of frittered away what may have been our best shot of that in game 2. Win on their floor. Now we gotta do it twice and, no matter what articles are written or what media head says otherwise, all of the pressure is still on us. This isn’t a series until we win at Denver and, since we no-showed game 3, we need to do it twice in a row. Daunting? Yes, absolutely. Impossible? …No? I don’t think so…but nigh impossible. It will require the utmost of focus, execution, and not whining about the officiating. Just go out and play. Hard.

Bonus point: I’m not sure I’d throw Vando into this fire. Dude needed a few weeks to get back to the player we remembered from last season and this really isn’t the time. I’d say 100% no way except for we don’t really get that much out of the bench right now so I suppose he couldn’t hurt. Still, it’s a lot to ask a guy who hasn’t played in 2 months to come into a tense playoff atmosphere and bring his A game.