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blakngold4 · 04-13-2005, 07:57 PM

"You're all pinning this on Kobe? Why not Mitch Kupchak? Ever since he took over for Jerry West, it's been all down hill.

Look at his moves in comparison to other elite teams in the west:

Horrible late round draft picks. Would you rather have Parker, Ginobili, and Udrih or Walton, Cook, Medvedenko.. etc.. ugh.

NO midseason acquisitions. Everyone around the west is looking for a boost before the trade deadline.. but not the Lakers... for some reason."

i think you hit the nail on the head there...then pounded it straight through the board. when you really think about how these things compound on each other, you suddenly realize at quarter til midnight how the lakers collapsed like they did. they brought in old talent to fill out their team, and it retired or got dumped. you mentioned the draft picks...it hurts on two levels: 1) they don't have young players progressing to become actual contributors/sidekicks, and 2) such young players are often the trade bait that gets the wheels turning (am i mixing metaphors? whatever) around the deadline.

seriously...go back in time two months (or 14 months if you wanna look at last year's squad)...you're any of the 29 GMs besides mitch cup-check (i won't comment on the fact his Carolina roots should have scared everyone off to begin with) who would you actually trade for on the lakers? i looked this up out of curiousity, and i was floored to find that slava medvedenko was their 5th leading scorer, after shaq kobe gary and karl. yikes. george was next, then fisher and rush. that's terrifying. george was the only remotely expendable player on the roster with any trade value, but they already overpaid to keep him in town, so he would likely bring a less talented player with a less troublesome contract. this year's team is full of small parts who might contribute a little or be a "final piece" type player for a championship team, but guys like jumaine jones don't really get the phones lit up. i think it all boils down to player development and the draft like you mentioned. if you want a baseball analogy, teams like minnesota develop talent and use it. teams like the yanks have good talent and trade it for older, more expensive talent. either way, without talent, the formula falls apart and you're left with the royals and the mets (maybe not this year, but we'll see)

04-13-2005, 07:57 PM	#18 (permalink)
blakngold4 Upright	"You're all pinning this on Kobe? Why not Mitch Kupchak? Ever since he took over for Jerry West, it's been all down hill. Look at his moves in comparison to other elite teams in the west: Horrible late round draft picks. Would you rather have Parker, Ginobili, and Udrih or Walton, Cook, Medvedenko.. etc.. ugh. NO midseason acquisitions. Everyone around the west is looking for a boost before the trade deadline.. but not the Lakers... for some reason." i think you hit the nail on the head there...then pounded it straight through the board. when you really think about how these things compound on each other, you suddenly realize at quarter til midnight how the lakers collapsed like they did. they brought in old talent to fill out their team, and it retired or got dumped. you mentioned the draft picks...it hurts on two levels: 1) they don't have young players progressing to become actual contributors/sidekicks, and 2) such young players are often the trade bait that gets the wheels turning (am i mixing metaphors? whatever) around the deadline. seriously...go back in time two months (or 14 months if you wanna look at last year's squad)...you're any of the 29 GMs besides mitch cup-check (i won't comment on the fact his Carolina roots should have scared everyone off to begin with) who would you actually trade for on the lakers? i looked this up out of curiousity, and i was floored to find that slava medvedenko was their 5th leading scorer, after shaq kobe gary and karl. yikes. george was next, then fisher and rush. that's terrifying. george was the only remotely expendable player on the roster with any trade value, but they already overpaid to keep him in town, so he would likely bring a less talented player with a less troublesome contract. this year's team is full of small parts who might contribute a little or be a "final piece" type player for a championship team, but guys like jumaine jones don't really get the phones lit up. i think it all boils down to player development and the draft like you mentioned. if you want a baseball analogy, teams like minnesota develop talent and use it. teams like the yanks have good talent and trade it for older, more expensive talent. either way, without talent, the formula falls apart and you're left with the royals and the mets (maybe not this year, but we'll see)