2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers Thread

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

He's a tough guy to rank. If he's healthy, of course there aren't 39 guys in the league that are better than him. But dude played 6 games last year.

Honestly i'm not surprised by the ranking. Kobe gets alot of disrespect from the media and i was surprised they ranked him that high. I was more irritated when they ranked him 25 the year before. Now that was total bs Kobe was straight ballin that year he willed the Lakers in to the playoffs.

Originally posted by Kaz9er:

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
He's a tough guy to rank. If he's healthy, of course there aren't 39 guys in the league that are better than him. But dude played 6 games last year.

Honestly i'm not surprised by the ranking. Kobe gets alot of disrespect from the media and i was surprised they ranked him that high. I was more irritated when they ranked him 25 the year before. Now that was total bs Kobe was straight ballin that year he willed the Lakers in to the playoffs.

Right, but he was only ranked #25 because he was coming off of a devastating injury.

Didn't catch the game last night. Randle already makin good strides I hear? Anyone watch

No but as a Jazz fan I'm already tired of the hype the Burks crossover on Kobe is getting. It's preseason, Kobe isn't playing that hard, and he's old yet it's still a big deal. If it was in the playoffs when Kobe was in his prime then hell yeah but not now.

Originally posted by DynastyChile:
Didn't catch the game last night. Randle already makin good strides I hear? Anyone watch

Had a really nice 4th quarter stretch. Hit a couple of jumpers, blocked a couple of shots, had a coast to coast drive where he blew past everyone. Lots of talent there. Just needs to play and make his mistakes. Start around 8:50 if you want to see the Randle highlights.

I promise you guys I'm not trolling, but this article was a really good read:

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11717596/is-kobe-bryant-reason-los-angeles-lakers-downfall

It seems pretty obvious that at this point Abbott is right. But I think this may be a blessing in disguise for you guys long term. Don't lock down another huge contract so when Kobe leaves you have real flexibility.

I like old, bitter Kobe. Dude is awesome with the media now. The sound bites just keep coming and coming.

Originally posted by sacniner:
I promise you guys I'm not trolling, but this article was a really good read:

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11717596/is-kobe-bryant-reason-los-angeles-lakers-downfall

It seems pretty obvious that at this point Abbott is right. But I think this may be a blessing in disguise for you guys long term. Don't lock down another huge contract so when Kobe leaves you have real flexibility.

I like old, bitter Kobe. Dude is awesome with the media now. The sound bites just keep coming and coming.

This piece is so intellectually dishonest on so many levels, which is par for the course when it comes to Abbott on Kobe. I can get into it more thoroughly if you'd like...including the fact that he's been working on this piece for the better part of a year, collecting evidence that supports his thesis and discarded evidence that doesn't.

This piece was supposed to come out last season, but then the Lakers signed him to a 2-year extension, dealing a pretty damaging blow to the notion that the Lakers FO "can't wait until he's gone".

And this is coming from someone who didn't support the extension at all. This is nothing more than a hit piece. Give me a year of interviewing people and collecting quotes, and I can find enough material to support whatever narrative frame I want to support.

Lmao at using Ramon Sessions as the foundation of his argument

Originally posted by sincalfaithful:
Lmao at using Ramon Sessions as the foundation of his argument

The Lakers traded for Steve Nash & had Steve Blake on the roster. Of course they weren't giving him a multi-year deal.

"I think about it at times," Sessions said Saturday before his current team lost to the Lakers, 88-85. "It's one of those things that when I opted out, I wasn't expecting to leave. I was expecting to work something out. But you know how the NBA business is.

"A few weeks later, they end up signing Steve Nash. He was a great player, a Hall of Fame player. That's what they wanted."

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/14/sports/la-sp-lakers-fyi-20131215

So he's expecting to work something out, and some time after the Lakers traded for Steve Nash he decided that he didn't want to play with Kobe? Ya, that's totally what happened.

The Lakers are in this position because they swung for the fences in 2012 with Howard & Nash, and they struck out. That, and the fact that they routinely jettisoned off their draft picks between 2008-2013. Howard's departure being motivated by Kobe is the only somewhat accurate element of the article, and even that is lacking context. Howard's been a Drama Llama for years, and placing the blame squarely on Kobe is specious at best. I'm glad we didn't retain him, although losing him for nothing hurt badly in a pragmatic sense. Melo signed for a whole lot more money than the Lakers could pay, and LeBron was either staying in Miami, or going home to Cleveland. If anything, Kobe's the only reason the Lakers had an outside shot at Melo. Saying that he's the reason that the Lakers haven't been able to attract FAs is silly. Abbott even cites Paul George, to which George replied...

Paul George @Yg_Trece · Oct 21

Now how crazy does that Kobe story sound to you ? #MediaReachingAgain

Anyone got a link?

CP3 trade being vetoed also played part in the current state of the Lakers right?

Originally posted by LA9erFan:
This piece is so intellectually dishonest on so many levels, which is par for the course when it comes to Abbott on Kobe. I can get into it more thoroughly if you'd like...including the fact that he's been working on this piece for the better part of a year, collecting evidence that supports his thesis and discarded evidence that doesn't.

This piece was supposed to come out last season, but then the Lakers signed him to a 2-year extension, dealing a pretty damaging blow to the notion that the Lakers FO "can't wait until he's gone".

And this is coming from someone who didn't support the extension at all. This is nothing more than a hit piece. Give me a year of interviewing people and collecting quotes, and I can find enough material to support whatever narrative frame I want to support.

Thanks for the response LA... please go into more detail if you have time. Thanks.

You may have some sources, I definitely don't. I have no idea how dishonest the piece is, and I promise I never hated Kobe. But judging on how he is perceived, he seems like he would be a major a*****e to play with (ala MJ). So myself, and a lot of readers of the piece, can believe a lot of it.

Originally posted by LA9erFan:

Originally posted by sacniner:

I promise you guys I'm not trolling, but this article was a really good read:

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/11717596/is-kobe-bryant-reason-los-angeles-lakers-downfall

It seems pretty obvious that at this point Abbott is right. But I think this may be a blessing in disguise for you guys long term. Don't lock down another huge contract so when Kobe leaves you have real flexibility.

I like old, bitter Kobe. Dude is awesome with the media now. The sound bites just keep coming and coming.

This piece is so intellectually dishonest on so many levels, which is par for the course when it comes to Abbott on Kobe. I can get into it more thoroughly if you'd like...including the fact that he's been working on this piece for the better part of a year, collecting evidence that supports his thesis and discarded evidence that doesn't.

This piece was supposed to come out last season, but then the Lakers signed him to a 2-year extension, dealing a pretty damaging blow to the notion that the Lakers FO "can't wait until he's gone".

And this is coming from someone who didn't support the extension at all. This is nothing more than a hit piece. Give me a year of interviewing people and collecting quotes, and I can find enough material to support whatever narrative frame I want to support.

That article is one the most if not the most biased self serving agenda filled Kobe bashing article I have ever seen. Any real Laker fan knows that Kobe as great as he is can and probalbly is an asswhole.

To say that he is single handedly destroying the Lakers is ridiculous. Seriously though Ramon Sessions, Smush Parker and the infamous anonymous sources good lord. Smush Parkers best season was with the Lakers what did he do before and after that. So much speculation and Hyperbole in that artice.

Jeanie Buss will be on First Take tommorrow.