The Official Los Angeles Lakers Thread

[tennischmp]

Back on track

[HaloMilliVanilli]

That's more like it.  The Lakers don't have to own the worst overall record to claim the #1 pick, and we don't need to own the #1 overall pick to get a stud player or even the player of our choice.  Philly already has drafted Nerlans Noel and Joel Embiid.  They don't need another center although that doesn't mean they wouldn't draft one if they thought he was the best available player and just trade from their strength.

[tennischmp]

I'm sure the Lakers can work out with trade with Philly if they get a #2 or 3 pick

[nate]

The idea of being a teammate never crosses Kobe's mind http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/11914742/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-says-hometown-discount-deals-big-coup-owners

[xboom28x]

Kobe and everything in that article are correct.

[nate]

He has no understanding of what a salary cap is then.

 

Players that care about winning are willing to take less money so they can have more talent playing with them.

[Stradling]

Riiiight, Kobe doesn't care about winning. Jesus Nate get a clue. He refused to take less because he knows how much revenue he generates for the team and the league. Would I do what he did if I was silly rich like he is? Probably not, but it has nothing to do with whether he cares about winning or not. It is more ego driven than anything else. Your hate has you looking as bad as Toby looked in threads about his brother.

[nate]

lol again, if he really cared about winning he would have taken less so the Lakers could attract and bring in more talent to play with him.

 

Kobe cares about one thing, himself.

[Stradling]

He cares about himself, he cares about winning, he cares about the preparation it takes to win. He also cares about work ethic.

[Stradling]

Nate you should take a pay cut so they can surround you with better employees.

[tennischmp]

Does it matter why he did it? Doesn't change the fact that he is taking up over 1/3 of the salary cap. Yea he is correct taking the money but I care more about it hurting the Lakers than Kobe's pockets

[Stradling]

I care more about the Lakers than I do Kobe, but this isn't only on Kobe. How bout the front office take some blame for how shitty they have done of late.

[nate]

Nate you should take a pay cut so they can surround you with better employees.

 

If you can't tell the difference then you really must have Kobe's nuts in your mouth.

[Stradling]

Of course I can tell the difference. But to ignore the revenue he creates for the team is asinine.

[nate]

Again that doesn't matter one bit with the hard cap.

 

Also, I contend that the team definitely isn't making much money with the shit they have on the court.  Not to mention any tax they have to pay because of his idiotic contract.

[Stradling]

I'm sure Kobe wrote up that contract, presented it to himself, then signed the contract. He accepted the offer that was presented to him which was about a 20% pay cut. This is the same front office that gave Hill $18 million over two years.

[xboom28x]

The front office didn't even ask Kobe if he was willing to take less. Why? Because they knew damn well no one was coming here for Kobe's final farewell. People are still going to Staples to watch because Kobe is an NBA legend.

 

Who was coming here Nate? Duncan? Parker? Nowitzki? Bosh? Melo? Howard?

 

No one was coming because they all could make more with the teams they re-signed with. I hope you are just as mad at every FA that stayed with their respective teams to sign for the most money possible. They were money hungry bitches that didn't care about winning also.

Edited November 24, 2014 by xboom28x

[HaloMilliVanilli]

Amare Stoudamire ($23+ million) and Carmelo Anthony ($22+ million) are taking up nearly $46 million of New Yorks salary.  Carmelo could've taken less money and come to LA to team with Kobe and try to win a championship.  But he didn't.  He knew his team would be hamstrung by signing him to a max deal and went back anyway.  No discount. 

 

Joe Johnson ($22+ million) and Deron Williams (almost $20 million) take up right at $43 million.  They are getting max money.

LeBron, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh and Chris Paul all make over $20 million.  All could be playing somewhere else (or where they currently play) for less money to leave room for quality player signings.  They are all getting max money.

 

Looking over the top-25 or so player salaries this season, I am left thinking Kobe is making what he has earned.  AND I might add that he has actually taken a fairly sizable pay-cut (roughly 25%) from what he could be making per the CBA...which is nowhere near max money.  He is also making only $500,000 more than he made in our last championship season, 2009-2010.  Why wasn't his salary as much an issue then?  As XBoom pointed out....nobody was coming, and if someone was willing to come the Lakers would've gone over the cap to fit them in.  Still nobody.

[tennischmp]

Amare Stoudamire ($23+ million) and Carmelo Anthony ($22+ million) are taking up nearly $46 million of New Yorks salary.  Carmelo could've taken less money and come to LA to team with Kobe and try to win a championship.  But he didn't.  He knew his team would be hamstrung by signing him to a max deal and went back anyway.  No discount. 

 

Joe Johnson ($22+ million) and Deron Williams (almost $20 million) take up right at $43 million.  They are getting max money.

And what do these have in common with the Lakers? They both suck and were unable to make any quality moves in the offseason

[Angel Oracle]

Joe Johnson signing for that amount was truly mindless.

Again, my only beef was giving Bryant 2 years instead of 1 year. There are no other obtainable individual accomplishments once he moved into 3rd on the career scoring list. This would have been the perfect farewell tour season, being age 36, before going off to Europe to finish up there.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Angel Oracle

[HaloMilliVanilli]

My point was that none of the stars of the league are taking pay-cuts.  It's a coincidence that there are two "stars" on the New York and Brooklyn teams.  No one was choosing to come to LA and pair with Kobe.

[nate]

The front office didn't even ask Kobe if he was willing to take less. Why? Because they knew damn well no one was coming here for Kobe's final farewell. People are still going to Staples to watch because Kobe is an NBA legend.

 

Who was coming here Nate? Duncan? Parker? Nowitzki? Bosh? Melo? Howard?

 

No one was coming because they all could make more with the teams they re-signed with. I hope you are just as mad at every FA that stayed with their respective teams to sign for the most money possible. They were money hungry bitches that didn't care about winning also.

 

Or because they knew Kobe wouldn't take less?  His recent comments tell you all you need to know.

 

And yes, the FO is as much to blame.  Buss Jr. has made some awful moves.  Kobe's deal is only one of them.

[nate]

Oh and by the way, if you are going to have a total shit team (according to you because they cannot acquire any of the talent you listed) why would you pay 30 million dollars to a player that will lead your team to a bottom 5 record?

[Stradling]

They are paying $24 million a season to one of their own, who also happens to be one of the top ten players of all time. Plus they wanted to be able to say they had him for twenty years, it would be the first time an NBA player played 20 years with one team I believe.

If the Angels need to pay a premium to have Trout play his final years in an Angel uniform I hope they do it.

[Jay]

Nate is approaching Rain Man status on this Kobe thing.