2011-12 Los Angeles Lakers Thread

Originally posted by StOnEy333:
Dude if you're going to make a post that big, you need to break it up a little.

my bad i was just lazy. lakers will be fun to watch though

Originally posted by sincalfaithful:
Looking

Motherf**kin Mitch!!

Looking at this gif just reminded me of the near impossibility of winning a playoff game in that building. That crowd is like the 12th man. Lakers might desire as few games as possible in that venue. If Miami had to go back there for 6 and 7, they could have very well been in jeopardy

SAS tanked the year prior to land Tim Duncan thus giving them the twin towers after which they pretty much pioneered loading up on a lot of international talents to essentially win 4 chips and become a force in this league since 1998. They are the exception along with DET winning the year the Lakers imploded due to the bickering of shaq and kobe over who was gonna score the most points regardless of what the percentages where and what and coach Phil Jackson said to do. Otherwise small market teams seem to have a steep hill to climb to compete with the major markets. BTW that tank the season to get a blue chipper loophole has been closed with the NBA lottery. MJ got screwed out in CHA and lost out on Anthony Davis. Or could the league have sabotaged things for themselves? NO?

Originally posted by Pillbusta:
SAS tanked the year prior to land Tim Duncan thus giving them the twin towers after which they pretty much pioneered loading up on a lot of international talents to essentially win 4 chips and become a force in this league since 1998. They are the exception along with DET winning the year the Lakers imploded due to the bickering of shaq and kobe over who was gonna score the most points regardless of what the percentages where and what and coach Phil Jackson said to do. Otherwise small market teams seem to have a steep hill to climb to compete with the major markets. BTW that tank the season to get a blue chipper loophole has been closed with the NBA lottery. MJ got screwed out in CHA and lost out on Anthony Davis. Or could the league have sabotaged things for themselves? NO?

And OKC?

Seems to me that small markets do just fine when they have good management.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/basketball/interview-lebron-durant-and-kobe-after-u-s-wins-gold.html

kobe's last answer made me sad. I can't imagine the lakers/nba without kobe, and reality is starting to hit that he'll be done soon

If this doesn't get you pumped for next season, Laker fans...

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
And OKC?

Seems to me that small markets do just fine when they have good management.

Didn't mention OKC because they haven't won anything yet. Now that u bring them up, do u think whether the lakers could resign ibaka and harden would even be a consideration in LA? No, because of the $5 billion tv contract revenue stream to subsidize the exorbitant luxury tax in keeping a championship team together would be irrelevant. They may be able to have harden and ibaka both consider taking a pay cut to stay, but they will be hard pressed in keeping them because they just don't have the cash resources to do what the lakers would do.

Case in point the lakers $97 million squad this year and beyond, they ain't worried about a 3 for 1 dollar luxury tax penalty. Look at this past offseason, Mitch was in part genius and in part fortunate that he is a laker. He opted in Bynum's contract to use him as a asset even though the lakers were well over the tax before that. Then he used the trade exemption to pay Steve Nash $9 mil per year afterwhich he peddled away Bynum and his $17mil contract to absorb Dwight Howard and his $22 mil contract? I don't have exact figures but u get the point.

No one outside of the NYC and LA markets can do exclusively outside of having a money generator like lebron, what the lakers or knicks can do. This is gonna be exciting to see these all star squads compete but sooner or later for the sake of the myth of competitive balance, there will need to be an NFL like hard cap or else fans in small markets can only hope that lightning in a bottle strikes in their lifetime.

The NBA is a joke

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

And OKC?

Seems to me that small markets do just fine when they have good management.

I guess it is just coincidence that the small market teams that are successfully managed happen to have once in a decade talents fall into their laps (Duncan, Durant).

Originally posted by monsterzero789:
The NBA is a joke

Maybe, but I still find it entertaining. Lakers will be a factor. I just feel for the smaller markets though. As for Orlando, they were just dumb and they have themselves to fault. Mitch did another great job this offseason.

Originally posted by 9erReign:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
And OKC?

Seems to me that small markets do just fine when they have good management.

I guess it is just coincidence that the small market teams that are successfully managed happen to have once in a decade talents fall into their laps (Duncan, Durant).

As opposed to the large market teams that are successfully managed?

And if franchise players were "once in a decade" type of talents, there would only be about one per decade, lol. In the last 20 years you've had Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, Kobe, LeBron, Howard, Durant, Rose. These guys aren't THAT rare.

Heck, Detroit...which is a mid-sized market...had 4 all-stars in their 20's, had the 2nd pick in the draft and won the title that following year. If they take Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, or Chris Bosh instead of Darko Milicic, they're sustainably successful for years to come. But they screwed up there, and gave money to guys that didn't deserve it, so they faded away.

There are no Oakland A's or Minnesota Twins in the NBA. Small market teams with good upper management that simply can't afford to retain quality players.

Originally posted by Pillbusta:
Didn't mention OKC because they haven't won anything yet. Now that u bring them up, do u think whether the lakers could resign ibaka and harden would even be a consideration in LA? No, because of the $5 billion tv contract revenue stream to subsidize the exorbitant luxury tax in keeping a championship team together would be irrelevant. They may be able to have harden and ibaka both consider taking a pay cut to stay, but they will be hard pressed in keeping them because they just don't have the cash resources to do what the lakers would do.

Case in point the lakers $97 million squad this year and beyond, they ain't worried about a 3 for 1 dollar luxury tax penalty. Look at this past offseason, Mitch was in part genius and in part fortunate that he is a laker. He opted in Bynum's contract to use him as a asset even though the lakers were well over the tax before that. Then he used the trade exemption to pay Steve Nash $9 mil per year afterwhich he peddled away Bynum and his $17mil contract to absorb Dwight Howard and his $22 mil contract? I don't have exact figures but u get the point.

No one outside of the NYC and LA markets can do exclusively outside of having a money generator like lebron, what the lakers or knicks can do. This is gonna be exciting to see these all star squads compete but sooner or later for the sake of the myth of competitive balance, there will need to be an NFL like hard cap or else fans in small markets can only hope that lightning in a bottle strikes in their lifetime.

I think you've made the best argument regarding this issue of anyone on the site, so kudos for that.

My understanding of the Harden/Ibaka situation is that OKC intend on re-signing both of them. The speculation that you're talking about is external, not coming from within the franchse.

Presti said the franchise will try to sign both Harden and Ibaka this offseason.

"We're looking forward to having those conversations," Presti said. "Those guys are guys we drafted and have developed internally. We see them as guys who are important to sustaining our team." http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--james-harden-s-eclectic-style-a-good-fit-for-thunder.html;_ylt=ApbkryIJUrABEVWoGnY9die8vLYF

Now, if either player thinks he can get a max contract somewhere, it wouldn't surprise me at all if OKC were to trade them, because neither player is worth a max contract, and this organization's philosophy is to play the basketball version of Moneyball. But it wouldn't be because they can't afford to keep them. OKC has been very profitable, generating $126M in revenue in the 2010-11 season. (this surely went up in their Finals run last year) http://www.forbes.com/teams/oklahoma-city-thunder/

Ebanks signed his tender, one-year deal.

Originally posted by GameOver:
Ebanks signed his tender, one-year deal.

Well that just ensured the dynasty.

I hope we pass Boston before Dr. Buss dies. He deserves it. Supposedly he hasn't been doing too well lately.