2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers Thread

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
Lakers amnestied Artest, saving $30 million in Luxury Tax.

Not yet.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Lakers amnestied Artest, saving $30 million in Luxury Tax.

Not yet.

Right. The article I saw said they plan to. Any reason why they wouldn't?

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
Lakers amnestied Artest, saving $30 million in Luxury Tax.

Not yet.

I wonder if they were pissed at Kobe for announcing it on twitter... from what I heard this morning, they are still "thinking about it?"

You guys know more than me on the matter though.

Stephen A and a lot of other people on ESPN are saying they have no faith in Jim Buss. And this is a "different" Laker era now (for the worst). While I get that line of thinking, I think it's a little extreme.

Jim Buss has to do some really dumb s**t to mess this thing up as bad as some are saying. The Lakers may struggle this year, but you guys all know about the contracts coming off of the books and the allure of the team. Jim has the Laker brand. He has to f**k up real bad to mess that up. Also, he has Mitch Kupchak and other basketball people around him to advise him. Sure, Howard left. But he is a different type of guy. Mentally soft.

I know everything in LA is under a microscope, but I don't prescribe to the panic some in the media are portraying.

Originally posted by 9erReign:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
Lakers amnestied Artest, saving $30 million in Luxury Tax.

Hopefully the Kings put a bid on him.

no thanks, he can join Rodman on the clown tour

Originally posted by Frisco69ers:

Originally posted by 9erReign:

Originally posted by StOnEy333:

Lakers amnestied Artest, saving $30 million in Luxury Tax.

Hopefully the Kings put a bid on him.

no thanks, he can join Rodman on the clown tour

Aww, c'mon. He'd be a good mentor for Cousins. Crazy teaching crazy. Makes sense.

Originally posted by sacniner:
Stephen A and a lot of other people on ESPN are saying they have no faith in Jim Buss. And this is a "different" Laker era now (for the worst). While I get that line of thinking, I think it's a little extreme.

Jim Buss has to do some really dumb s**t to mess this thing up as bad as some are saying. The Lakers may struggle this year, but you guys all know about the contracts coming off of the books and the allure of the team. Jim has the Laker brand. He has to f**k up real bad to mess that up. Also, he has Mitch Kupchak and other basketball people around him to advise him. Sure, Howard left. But he is a different type of guy. Mentally soft.

I know everything in LA is under a microscope, but I don't prescribe to the panic some in the media are portraying.

I agree. 2012-2013 season was really his first rodeo. I remember when Jed took over and everyone blasted him because he made couple of bad moves to begin with. But, he figured it out. It's too early to judge Jim Buss. Yes, it's a stupid decision to choose D'Antoni over Dwight...but it also sets the precedence that a player is not going to dictate to the owner...and I get that. I just think D'Antoni deserved to be fired regardless of what Dwight wanted.

Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
I agree. 2012-2013 season was really his first rodeo. I remember when Jed took over and everyone blasted him because he made couple of bad moves to begin with. But, he figured it out. It's too early to judge Jim Buss. Yes, it's a stupid decision to choose D'Antoni over Dwight...but it also sets the precedence that a player is not going to dictate to the owner...and I get that. I just think D'Antoni deserved to be fired regardless of what Dwight wanted.

Espn reporting Artest wants to play for the Knicks or will retire if amnestied by the Lakers.

Personally, I think Jim Buss gets more grief than he should. He's been one of the main decision makers on the personnel side for the Lakers for quite some time. He was the guy in the front office that pushed for Andrew Bynum to be picked, while others liked Sean May & Raymond Felton. Dr. Buss had been a pretty hands off owner for the last decade, for the most part. My understanding is that Jim Buss is the one who pushed for Mike Brown (Kupchak wanted Rick Adelman), but it was Dr. Buss who stepped in and ordered the firing of Brown and pushed for the hiring of Mike D'Antoni over Phil Jackson. Both Jim Buss and Kupchak apparently agreed with him.

Remember, Dr. Buss' greatest contribution to basketball was his ability to make it a must-see entertainment event, which was best personified by the Showtime Era Lakers of the 80's. Is it any wonder that Buss...a dying man...thought that Mike D'Antoni could replicate this with Nash/Kobe/Dwight/Pau? It didn't work out...not in the least bit...but I totally get what he was going for.

Jim Buss has become the scapegoat when anything goes wrong, and Mitch Kupchak is the guy who gets praised when anything goes right, but it's a lot more complicated than that. Jim Buss has been in this role for a long time. The only difference is that he's the face of the franchise now, from a front office perspective. By no means is he beyond criticism, but he's not the grease fire that people make him out to be either.

I remember when Kupchak was taking over for Jerry West and he was getting blamed for everything going south after Shaq left. lol

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
I remember when Kupchak was taking over for Jerry West and he was getting blamed for everything going south after Shaq left. lol

lol this. The days of "Mitch Cupcake", whatever the f**k that means.

We signed Jordan Farmar to a vet's 1-year deal. Farmar, 26, will be returning to the purple and gold.

Rumor is we're pursuing LO as well...all we need now is Vujacic and Ariza and you can keep the Delorean

Originally posted by GameOver:

We signed Jordan Farmar to a vet's 1-year deal. Farmar, 26, will be returning to the purple and gold.

Rumor is we're pursuing LO as well...all we need now is Vujacic and Ariza and you can keep the Delorean

lol

Originally posted by GameOver:
We signed Jordan Farmar to a vet's 1-year deal. Farmar, 26, will be returning to the purple and gold.

Rumor is we're pursuing LO as well...all we need now is Vujacic and Ariza and you can keep the Delorean

Nice to have Ear Jordan back. He was really coming into his own when he left to play in Europe. His last season in Jersey was very solid, and he's still just 26. If we go all in on the '14 FA class, he could be a nice backup that we could re-sign after we maxed out our cap space since we'd hold his Bird Rights.