People act as if the 2020-2021 season never happened. KCP, Caruso, and Kuzma were bad, especially in the playoffs. They shot 21, 18, and 29% respectively from the 3 against the Suns, and were exposed defensively without AD. And why a team with 2 top 10 players in AD and LeBron can't return to being a title contender unless they have KCP and Caruso! This is ridiculous. The Mavs went to the WCF two years ago, then changed the entire roster around Luka and went all the way to the finals this year.
KCP got exposed? KCP was the 3rd best player on the championship-team for the Nuggets a year ago, exposing the Lakers 😂 Caruso got exposed? He was All-Defense with the Bulls and developed a reliable 3p-shot. All of those guys you mentioned were championship-proven role-players that became even better after leaving. Are you really trying to rationalize the madness of breaking up a championship-core because of one bad series where AD went down? Were KCP, Caruso and Kuzma really supposed to beat Booker and Paul? LBJ was the guy who needed to step up in that situation, but he was overmatched, quit and then proceeded to scapegoat half the team to get ... Westbrook. It was terrible and we are feeling the effects to this day.
The main problem wasn't trading the role players, it was trading them for a player making money like a top 3 player in the league, but contributing like a backup and on the top of that, he was clearly a terrible fit. If they have traded KCP and Kuzma for Anthony Edwards nobody would be talking about the role players.
@@overqualified420 Aaron Gordon was the 3rd best player on that team, and one may even argue that Bruce Brown was more valuable than KCP. KCP is a very good role player but he's erratic; one excellent season followed by average one. This happened with the Lakers and again with the Nuggets. Caruso has been a nobody on a bad team (the Bulls) for 3 years now. He's not even a starter save for the last season. I'm not saying that trading them and signing Westbrock was a good idea, but people have been romanticizing about what could have happened too much. That 2020 Lakers team was very similar to the 2012 Mavs. They had one last good run in them. After that, LeBron became a liability on defense, and everyone weren't as good, especially Rondo and Dwight Howard.
Excellent episode. IMO…LBJ & AD both need to leave the Lakers for a franchise that has actual ambition to win, and doesn’t take for granted the thing that has us relevant right now. Good luck finding a better duo in the next 25 yrs Jeanie (& Rob). I’m glad the media is finally starting to see what most Laker & frankly most NBA fans have been seeing for the past few yrs. It’s unacceptable. Don’t give me the Russ trade nonsense. Any halfway legit GM in the NBA vetoes that ridiculous idea immediately no matter what. So yea… just trade the two of them bc there’s no need in trading just LBJ bc we won’t get any true pieces back. Let’s start over w/ our precious future picks & what we can get back in a deal. It’s clear this FO has no intentions to compete & the haters can enjoy the lottery again. Btw… Imagine how fun watching those two make a run with another team would be… it would be sickening 🤢
Thank you Michael Pina. Finally someone with a different point of view, the move that should have been made was to make a deal for Kyrie Irving best fit for the Laker team. The media bias really got that one wrong!
If 'bron, or his fans, feels that the Lakers are "squandering his final seasons," there was a simple solution: He could have just left when he became a free agent, and signed on with a team who he feels/felt would've given him the best opportunity to win another ring (or, @ the very least, compete for a championship). Since he hasn't done so and actually resigned with the organization, on multiple occasions after opting out, maybe it's not the Lakers who are "squandering his final seasons," but 'bron himself .. Just a thought
Thanks for the great content, guys! My mornings don't feel complete without listening to your videos! I was originally going to articulate why I don't feel like the Lakers (Jeanie/Rob being the face of the Lakers), are squandering LeBron's final seasons. But, then I realized I was going to be typing out a 20 page dissertation, and immediately lost all interest 😂 So, I'll just say that I respectfully disagree with the notion that the Laker FO is solely at fault for how these last few seasons have played out. There are MANY factors at play, with many of them being out of the Lakers control. Focusing on the missteps that they did make, while conveniently ignoring all those other factors, skews proper context.
I enjoyed that, good stuff. Sort of a wax poetic episode, but he was an honest broker. He saw that Lakers were way too passive at way too many opportunities to take a shot.
Pina is a great guest and a wake up call to the Lakers' management "hopefully". I understand that the Lakers are limited on the moves they can do during this off-season but you can't use the new CBA as an excuse to not be creative. If they are really trying to making Lebron happy and trying to maximize Lebron's window, you can't meddle with developing young players and trying to contend just like the Warriors are doing. As I would like to keep the core of Reaves, Rui, Vando, and even Dalton together I think there are no available moves that you can say that trading your remaining assets will make a huge improvement to the team. They will need to make a hard decision to trade those players if they want to win.
Locked on Lakers is becoming Locked on Lebron. What about when he comes out disinterested and has 3 turnovers in the first quarter of a game against Utah in mid January and they are down by 12 at halftime? People ignore all those games during the season but that is why they end up in the 10 spot fighting for their lives to get in the play-in at the end of the season.
Lol. Honestly you weirdo haters have really began to embarrass yourselves. Turnovers happen, esp in a team that has no one to take the load of its two stars for long stretches. LBJ has the ball in his hands 85% of the time. Go check the offense when LBJ is on the bench. Go check the defense when AD is on the bench. Zero roster creativity/ balance & overall lack of ambition. But hey continue w/ your narrative of hate.
@@taylormadevibeThat man ain't hating he telling the truth. And one more thing if LeBron James truly believes he the GOAT why is he still playing basketball
@@taylormadevibeI don’t hate Lebron. I am a Laker fan since the day Magic laced em up for the team and I watch the games. It’s not hate. You can go back through mad videos from all the Lakers shows where they admitting during the season that his and sometimes AD effort is lackluster in these games they should win but loose. That all adds up to being in the 10 spot. U can’t ignore that in a 30 minute video dissection.
This dude Michael Pina is the only not delusional. The Lakers are not a contender they a play in team who is, gonna get eliminated in the first round again
Magic and Pelinka jettisoned arguably equal or more talent than Dirk's, Kwahi's, Jokic's, or Giannis' supporting casts from their finals Teams. I don't trust Pelinka's trade IQ.
I feel like this is a disingenuous article that is aimed at getting clicks. The Olympics was 6 games. We saw Lebron get hype for 6 games and win the NBA cup. We also saw Lebron not be able to last the last 12 minutes of the 4th Quarter against Denver in games the Lakers roster got double digit leads in. Is that on the front office?
So u want this 40 year old man to carry the whole lakers squad? That my friend is disingenuous. That's why it is a team sport. You need your teammates to chip in. Lebron and AD played Joker and Murray to a draw. We got beat by their supporting cast. The Lakers supporting cast never showed up!!
Pelinka's lack of creativity is a really great point! He lacks vision; hence the Lakers are always trying to climb out of a hole. I think Pina's suggestion that Mike Connelly would have been a better fit is a good example.
Lebron has major responsibilty for the actual status of the lakers.. AD is a lebron request, and Russ the same.. the russ trade totally killed the depth and still, we have a pretty decent roster.. the real issue are not the role players, but our stars who, for different reasons, cant play 40 minutes for 80 games..
Finally, I see a real Lakers fan speaking the truth. The narrative I always hear is that Lakers has been ruining Lebron. In reality, it's really Lebron James fault. None of these Lakers channels don't have any backbone to say it. It's a reason why people call Lebron, LeGM
No because LeBron is not that guy anymore. He looked good in the Olympics because he had the best players around him going against guys that are Not starters in NBA or not in the league.! Davis and Embid went up against jokic and wemby.
@gregorybrown5419 yeah but watch LeBron last 6 minutes in the 4th. Last 2 playoffs hes to tired to finish. That's natural age. teams are not lineing up to give up their best players to the lakers.
@Davidj3 That also come from tryna carry team. Lakers don't have nobody to carry team. Lakers need 2 way players, all they have is 1 way players. Also Pelinka has made too many mistakes under his watch
This is what led to the Westbrook trade is the nets acquisition of Harden. People can try to make all the talking points they want. That is what did it. LeBron started playing GM and courting players at his house to come to LA. Stopped a trade. So you know he went in with AD and played salesman. He sold them on that idea. But the main problem was they had to gut the team to do it. And with Westbrook 47 million, you couldn't make any moves.
The cynic in me thinks Jeanie and Rob are actively sabotaging the LeBron era to prevent him from tying Kobe with 5 titles in a Lakers uniform. I can't find any other way to explain why they would abandon the formula that won them a championship. This off-season LeBron offered to take less money if they signed a player like Valanciunas. The Lakers let the Wizards beat them in acquiring a coveted free agent. They let Dan Hurley get away this off-season as well. It begs the question, are they even trying? It just feels like they're intentionally trying to be bad but drafted Bronny and hired Redick to make sure all the blame for an inevitably bad season falls on LeBron. Even if LeBron wanted to play with Steph instead of returning to the Lakers, how could he justify leaving to his family and his fan base after the Lakers drafted his son and hired his business associate?
All the things “to be concerned” about Kyrie was overblown BS. People in the media were scared to death of seeing A LeBron/ Kyrie/ AD roster build. So they went full smear campaign to make it seem like Kyrie was damaged goods (who should not even be in the league). The Lakers brass being the shallow, image obsessed, trend monsters they are, ate that garbage hook line and sinker. … The history of Kyrie and LeBron playing well together is clear (and we have seen it). That LeBron Kyrie combo could easily be a three peat championship duo (if not for that Durant/ Golden State BS). Not going after Kyrie, when his value was at its lowest, was an absolute blunder. A complete gaffe by the Lakers brass.
Respectfully, you are badly reaching with the idea of the media being "scared to death" of a LeBron/AD/Kyrie trio. That makes absolutely no sense at all. What would they possibly be afraid of? The Lakers, aka the league's Tiffany franchise, succeeding benefits the entire league, which by extension benefits the media covering said league. And for the media specifically covering the Lakers, the team being great is literally all upside. I'll put it in the most blunt terms possible. It's much more profitable for us as Lakers podcasters when the Lakers are great because more wins equals more sustained traffic, and more sustained traffic equals more money. (And if you think the media is rooting against the Lakers because they're a bunch of "haters," you're simply overrating how much most people in media care one way or the other about whatever teams. They just want compelling stories.) If you want to say the media who thought adding Kyrie was a bad idea overestimated whatever problems they anticipated, that's a different story. We'll never truly know how he'd have performed or acted (or stayed healthy, which has been an issue throughout his career) in L.A., but Kyrie's been terrific on and off the court in Dallas. As someone openly skeptical about bringing him to the Lakers, I may have ultimately been wrong. I'll own that, even while standing by the validity of my concerns at the time. But the idea that I (or damn near anybody else) was against it because I was worried about the Lakers "dominating too much" or something like that is just silly. Appreciate you watching. AK
@@LockedOnLakers I don’t think it’s a Lakers thing. It’s a not wanting LeBron to succeed more (and encroach on Jordan’s GOAT status) thing. There is definitely a faction in the national media that root for LeBron to fail. Some overtly and some in a more covert manner. Everything negative LeBron is provided as proof as to why he is nowhere near Jordan. Everything positive LeBron is minimized or ignored entirely. Some in the media knew that a LeBron and Kyrie combo (without a Golden State colossus to obstruct them) would be a definite threat to add to LeBron’s ring total. They started the smear nationally, and many on the local level (who never really wormed to LeBron, out of affiliation to Kobe anyway) jumped on board to be amongst the cool kids (national media). I could be way off on this, but I don’t think I am. Kyrie to LA had to be squashed.
@@hieroglyphy6181 Okay, I better understand what you mean now. I don’t disagree that there are fans and even pundits who gate-keep Jordan’s legacy/GOAT status. And in that sense, you’re not wrong about their insistence on keeping MJ at the top, no questions asked, end of story. If you even want to say some treat it too personally, I won’t argue. Where I think you’re still off, however, is the way you’re connecting this to the negative takes on Kyrie joining the Lakers. Those were real, sincere thoughts. (Certainly within media, if nothing else. I know some of the people who also thought it was a bad idea, and it wasn’t driven by an anti-LeBron agenda.) Like I said before, if you disagree with all the analysis of why it wouldn’t have worked, thought people misjudged Kyrie, etc., fair enough. And perhaps you were even right in hindsight. (Again, we’ll never truly know, but Kyrie has certainly made the case in his favor.) But this had nothing to do with wanting to “stop LeBron.” It was very much “this is a bad idea, because we don’t trust Kyrie, and it won’t help LeBron or the Lakers.” For real. I truly think you’re adding motive here that doesn’t exist, even if you’re not wrong at all about an overarching protectiveness of MJ. AK
Lakers git too caught up in getting players they feel would help ease the stress on LeBron that they even sold off what made them champions in the 1st place.
The problem is Denver, nothing more, nothing less. I'm tired of the Dlo slander too. He and 2 others came to us and helped get us to the Western conference finals. We don't have a Dlo problem we have a Denver problem. STOP BLAIMING DLO! We need the Hulk for Joker and Sabonis. Sign Dwight
If the Lakers would have known that Lebron would be playing this well at this age then they may have waited a year to get AD in Free agency instead of trading for him. They believed then that Lebron's window was closing and made a ridiculous trade that has hampered the franchise ever since. They lost valuable future trade assets such as first round picks! They gave up valuable future role players or trade assets for 1 player. The lost a chance at a dynasty but hindsight is 20/20
@@jefftomasello3258 That is a fascinating “what if?” I’ve never thought about along these specific terms. Might come up on a show next week. Appreciate you watching. AK
All these lakers podcasts been spinning wheels all summer when they clearly know other teams don’t want to do business with us EVEN if we had legit talent in return for them. I’ll be the first to agree both Rob and Jeanie are lackluster in the roles and thought process BUT it’s like being a single guy wanting all the finest women out here, but if none want to give you the buns there’s nothing (morally… u sick individuals disregarded) you can do. With the hold on lakers past memories I wouldn’t be shocked if they didn’t want lebron to catch Bean in rings and I’m 100% a Kobe over Bron fan.
We must Remember that We gave up Our Championship Team & Perfect Role Players for LBJ/AD (Carushow/KCP/Kuz) along with 2 Centers that were Aging but, perfect to slow down Joker (McGee/Howard). We could’ve won 1-2 more 🏆 Championships and We have to blame Pelinka however, LBJ is complicit in this Tragedy!!! My Hope/Pray is that We make a Trade and I believe Our best Trade Partner is BKNY (Cam or DFS and/or Schroder and/or Day’Ron) however, Rob has to plan for the Post LBJ Era and I don’t feel bad for LBJ - We just Drafted Bronny, LBJ will inevitably have His Jersey Hung in Crypto next to LAker Greats and The 👑 King will get a Mamba 🐍 Like Farewell Tour!!!
If this dude thinks Grant is what THIS team needs he is out of his damn mind We need rebounding a defense Grant sucks arse at both So yeah let's way overpay for a guy that makes even worse in our worst ways...oh and we gotta throw in a decent player and some picks too Genius
People act as if the 2020-2021 season never happened. KCP, Caruso, and Kuzma were bad, especially in the playoffs. They shot 21, 18, and 29% respectively from the 3 against the Suns, and were exposed defensively without AD.
And why a team with 2 top 10 players in AD and LeBron can't return to being a title contender unless they have KCP and Caruso! This is ridiculous. The Mavs went to the WCF two years ago, then changed the entire roster around Luka and went all the way to the finals this year.
KCP got exposed? KCP was the 3rd best player on the championship-team for the Nuggets a year ago, exposing the Lakers 😂 Caruso got exposed? He was All-Defense with the Bulls and developed a reliable 3p-shot. All of those guys you mentioned were championship-proven role-players that became even better after leaving. Are you really trying to rationalize the madness of breaking up a championship-core because of one bad series where AD went down? Were KCP, Caruso and Kuzma really supposed to beat Booker and Paul? LBJ was the guy who needed to step up in that situation, but he was overmatched, quit and then proceeded to scapegoat half the team to get ... Westbrook. It was terrible and we are feeling the effects to this day.
AD was our anchor defensively and we didn't have someone to replace him as a rim protector center, of course the defense gonna collapse
The main problem wasn't trading the role players, it was trading them for a player making money like a top 3 player in the league, but contributing like a backup and on the top of that, he was clearly a terrible fit. If they have traded KCP and Kuzma for Anthony Edwards nobody would be talking about the role players.
@@overqualified420 Aaron Gordon was the 3rd best player on that team, and one may even argue that Bruce Brown was more valuable than KCP. KCP is a very good role player but he's erratic; one excellent season followed by average one. This happened with the Lakers and again with the Nuggets. Caruso has been a nobody on a bad team (the Bulls) for 3 years now. He's not even a starter save for the last season. I'm not saying that trading them and signing Westbrock was a good idea, but people have been romanticizing about what could have happened too much. That 2020 Lakers team was very similar to the 2012 Mavs. They had one last good run in them. After that, LeBron became a liability on defense, and everyone weren't as good, especially Rondo and Dwight Howard.
@@firas.alhamdanilooks like you are One of the few that still uses his brain here..
Excellent episode. IMO…LBJ & AD both need to leave the Lakers for a franchise that has actual ambition to win, and doesn’t take for granted the thing that has us relevant right now. Good luck finding a better duo in the next 25 yrs Jeanie (& Rob). I’m glad the media is finally starting to see what most Laker & frankly most NBA fans have been seeing for the past few yrs. It’s unacceptable. Don’t give me the Russ trade nonsense. Any halfway legit GM in the NBA vetoes that ridiculous idea immediately no matter what. So yea… just trade the two of them bc there’s no need in trading just LBJ bc we won’t get any true pieces back. Let’s start over w/ our precious future picks & what we can get back in a deal. It’s clear this FO has no intentions to compete & the haters can enjoy the lottery again. Btw… Imagine how fun watching those two make a run with another team would be… it would be sickening 🤢
Well said
He always say he don't take up for Pelinka. Yet he do
When did I/we? AK
@LockedOnLakers If you gotta say that before u talk. U Def doin it
@@gregorybrown5419 Or maybe I gotta say it because certain listeners can’t do nuance. 🤷♂️ AK
Nobody has described D'Angelo Russell and Russell Westbrook better than Pina. One more great guest.
@@luisnash bro came w/ the flamethrower 🔥
Absolutely squandered bron and AD chance of winning. AD should ask for a trade
Thank you Michael Pina. Finally someone with a different point of view, the move that should have been made was to make a deal for Kyrie Irving best fit for the Laker team.
The media bias really got that one wrong!
If 'bron, or his fans, feels that the Lakers are "squandering his final seasons," there was a simple solution: He could have just left when he became a free agent, and signed on with a team who he feels/felt would've given him the best opportunity to win another ring (or, @ the very least, compete for a championship). Since he hasn't done so and actually resigned with the organization, on multiple occasions after opting out, maybe it's not the Lakers who are "squandering his final seasons," but 'bron himself .. Just a thought
Squandering? It's already squandered
Dlo clears Tyus Jones. Gary Trent Jr is trash. Josh Giddey is not. the bias is insane
Thanks for the great content, guys! My mornings don't feel complete without listening to your videos!
I was originally going to articulate why I don't feel like the Lakers (Jeanie/Rob being the face of the Lakers), are squandering LeBron's final seasons. But, then I realized I was going to be typing out a 20 page dissertation, and immediately lost all interest 😂 So, I'll just say that I respectfully disagree with the notion that the Laker FO is solely at fault for how these last few seasons have played out. There are MANY factors at play, with many of them being out of the Lakers control. Focusing on the missteps that they did make, while conveniently ignoring all those other factors, skews proper context.
I enjoyed that, good stuff. Sort of a wax poetic episode, but he was an honest broker. He saw that Lakers were way too passive at way too many opportunities to take a shot.
The guy at bottom of screen is legit. The brothers are sometime bias
Pina is a great guest and a wake up call to the Lakers' management "hopefully". I understand that the Lakers are limited on the moves they can do during this off-season but you can't use the new CBA as an excuse to not be creative. If they are really trying to making Lebron happy and trying to maximize Lebron's window, you can't meddle with developing young players and trying to contend just like the Warriors are doing. As I would like to keep the core of Reaves, Rui, Vando, and even Dalton together I think there are no available moves that you can say that trading your remaining assets will make a huge improvement to the team. They will need to make a hard decision to trade those players if they want to win.
Locked on lebron!
Locked on Lakers is becoming Locked on Lebron.
What about when he comes out disinterested and has 3 turnovers in the first quarter of a game against Utah in mid January and they are down by 12 at halftime? People ignore all those games during the season but that is why they end up in the 10 spot fighting for their lives to get in the play-in at the end of the season.
Lol. Honestly you weirdo haters have really began to embarrass yourselves. Turnovers happen, esp in a team that has no one to take the load of its two stars for long stretches. LBJ has the ball in his hands 85% of the time. Go check the offense when LBJ is on the bench. Go check the defense when AD is on the bench. Zero roster creativity/ balance & overall lack of ambition. But hey continue w/ your narrative of hate.
@@taylormadevibeThat man ain't hating he telling the truth. And one more thing if LeBron James truly believes he the GOAT why is he still playing basketball
@@taylormadevibeI don’t hate Lebron. I am a Laker fan since the day Magic laced em up for the team and I watch the games. It’s not hate. You can go back through mad videos from all the Lakers shows where they admitting during the season that his and sometimes AD effort is lackluster in these games they should win but loose. That all adds up to being in the 10 spot. U can’t ignore that in a 30 minute video dissection.
@@taylormadevibeI did not even mention AD. To me AD the best defender in the league and it ain’t even close.
Is the lakers office goal too win the championship or to make money?
WHAT HAPPENED TO ROB
PELINKA? Has anybody,
Seen this man? Where is
He?
This dude Michael Pina is the only not delusional. The Lakers are not a contender they a play in team who is, gonna get eliminated in the first round again
Magic and Pelinka jettisoned arguably equal or more talent than Dirk's, Kwahi's, Jokic's, or Giannis' supporting casts from their finals Teams. I don't trust Pelinka's trade IQ.
I feel like this is a disingenuous article that is aimed at getting clicks. The Olympics was 6 games. We saw Lebron get hype for 6 games and win the NBA cup. We also saw Lebron not be able to last the last 12 minutes of the 4th Quarter against Denver in games the Lakers roster got double digit leads in. Is that on the front office?
So u want this 40 year old man to carry the whole lakers squad? That my friend is disingenuous. That's why it is a team sport. You need your teammates to chip in. Lebron and AD played Joker and Murray to a draw. We got beat by their supporting cast. The Lakers supporting cast never showed up!!
Don’t forget he was also playing a bunch of teams that had multiple players that aren’t in the NBA for a reason.
Who are you kidding? This team won’t win anything this year! The only team who made NO moves! They won’t even make the play in! Wasted off season!
Running it back = farewell retirement tour
Pelinka's lack of creativity is a really great point! He lacks vision; hence the Lakers are always trying to climb out of a hole. I think Pina's suggestion that Mike Connelly would have been a better fit is a good example.
Lebron has major responsibilty for the actual status of the lakers.. AD is a lebron request, and Russ the same.. the russ trade totally killed the depth and still, we have a pretty decent roster.. the real issue are not the role players, but our stars who, for different reasons, cant play 40 minutes for 80 games..
Finally, I see a real Lakers fan speaking the truth. The narrative I always hear is that Lakers has been ruining Lebron. In reality, it's really Lebron James fault. None of these Lakers channels don't have any backbone to say it. It's a reason why people call Lebron, LeGM
No because LeBron is not that guy anymore. He looked good in the Olympics because he had the best players around him going against guys that are Not starters in NBA or not in the league.! Davis and Embid went up against jokic and wemby.
He looked good last year. Year before last
@gregorybrown5419 yeah but watch LeBron last 6 minutes in the 4th. Last 2 playoffs hes to tired to finish. That's natural age. teams are not lineing up to give up their best players to the lakers.
@Davidj3 That also come from tryna carry team. Lakers don't have nobody to carry team. Lakers need 2 way players, all they have is 1 way players. Also Pelinka has made too many mistakes under his watch
@gregorybrown5419 yes I agree!
This is what led to the Westbrook trade is the nets acquisition of Harden. People can try to make all the talking points they want. That is what did it. LeBron started playing GM and courting players at his house to come to LA. Stopped a trade. So you know he went in with AD and played salesman. He sold them on that idea. But the main problem was they had to gut the team to do it. And with Westbrook 47 million, you couldn't make any moves.
Lakers shouldn't have even considered Klay
Val should have been THE target
The cynic in me thinks Jeanie and Rob are actively sabotaging the LeBron era to prevent him from tying Kobe with 5 titles in a Lakers uniform.
I can't find any other way to explain why they would abandon the formula that won them a championship.
This off-season LeBron offered to take less money if they signed a player like Valanciunas. The Lakers let the Wizards beat them in acquiring a coveted free agent. They let Dan Hurley get away this off-season as well. It begs the question, are they even trying?
It just feels like they're intentionally trying to be bad but drafted Bronny and hired Redick to make sure all the blame for an inevitably bad season falls on LeBron. Even if LeBron wanted to play with Steph instead of returning to the Lakers, how could he justify leaving to his family and his fan base after the Lakers drafted his son and hired his business associate?
It's been too many mistakes under Pelinka. Too continue to let these mistakes happen. Now we get to Jeanie Buss malpractice
Free Lebron! Free AD!
This tell truth
All the things “to be concerned” about Kyrie was overblown BS.
People in the media were scared to death of seeing A LeBron/ Kyrie/ AD roster build. So they went full smear campaign to make it seem like Kyrie was damaged goods (who should not even be in the league).
The Lakers brass being the shallow, image obsessed, trend monsters they are, ate that garbage hook line and sinker.
…
The history of Kyrie and LeBron playing well together is clear (and we have seen it).
That LeBron Kyrie combo could easily be a three peat championship duo (if not for that Durant/ Golden State BS).
Not going after Kyrie, when his value was at its lowest, was an absolute blunder.
A complete gaffe by the Lakers brass.
Respectfully, you are badly reaching with the idea of the media being "scared to death" of a LeBron/AD/Kyrie trio. That makes absolutely no sense at all. What would they possibly be afraid of? The Lakers, aka the league's Tiffany franchise, succeeding benefits the entire league, which by extension benefits the media covering said league. And for the media specifically covering the Lakers, the team being great is literally all upside. I'll put it in the most blunt terms possible. It's much more profitable for us as Lakers podcasters when the Lakers are great because more wins equals more sustained traffic, and more sustained traffic equals more money. (And if you think the media is rooting against the Lakers because they're a bunch of "haters," you're simply overrating how much most people in media care one way or the other about whatever teams. They just want compelling stories.)
If you want to say the media who thought adding Kyrie was a bad idea overestimated whatever problems they anticipated, that's a different story. We'll never truly know how he'd have performed or acted (or stayed healthy, which has been an issue throughout his career) in L.A., but Kyrie's been terrific on and off the court in Dallas. As someone openly skeptical about bringing him to the Lakers, I may have ultimately been wrong. I'll own that, even while standing by the validity of my concerns at the time. But the idea that I (or damn near anybody else) was against it because I was worried about the Lakers "dominating too much" or something like that is just silly.
Appreciate you watching.
AK
@@LockedOnLakers I don’t think it’s a Lakers thing. It’s a not wanting LeBron to succeed more (and encroach on Jordan’s GOAT status) thing.
There is definitely a faction in the national media that root for LeBron to fail. Some overtly and some in a more covert manner.
Everything negative LeBron is provided as proof as to why he is nowhere near Jordan. Everything positive LeBron is minimized or ignored entirely.
Some in the media knew that a LeBron and Kyrie combo (without a Golden State colossus to obstruct them) would be a definite threat to add to LeBron’s ring total.
They started the smear nationally, and many on the local level (who never really wormed to LeBron, out of affiliation to Kobe anyway) jumped on board to be amongst the cool kids (national media).
I could be way off on this, but I don’t think I am.
Kyrie to LA had to be squashed.
@@hieroglyphy6181 Okay, I better understand what you mean now. I don’t disagree that there are fans and even pundits who gate-keep Jordan’s legacy/GOAT status. And in that sense, you’re not wrong about their insistence on keeping MJ at the top, no questions asked, end of story. If you even want to say some treat it too personally, I won’t argue.
Where I think you’re still off, however, is the way you’re connecting this to the negative takes on Kyrie joining the Lakers. Those were real, sincere thoughts. (Certainly within media, if nothing else. I know some of the people who also thought it was a bad idea, and it wasn’t driven by an anti-LeBron agenda.) Like I said before, if you disagree with all the analysis of why it wouldn’t have worked, thought people misjudged Kyrie, etc., fair enough. And perhaps you were even right in hindsight. (Again, we’ll never truly know, but Kyrie has certainly made the case in his favor.) But this had nothing to do with wanting to “stop LeBron.” It was very much “this is a bad idea, because we don’t trust Kyrie, and it won’t help LeBron or the Lakers.” For real. I truly think you’re adding motive here that doesn’t exist, even if you’re not wrong at all about an overarching protectiveness of MJ.
AK
Lakers git too caught up in getting players they feel would help ease the stress on LeBron that they even sold off what made them champions in the 1st place.
The problem is Denver, nothing more, nothing less. I'm tired of the Dlo slander too. He and 2 others came to us and helped get us to the Western conference finals. We don't have a Dlo problem we have a Denver problem. STOP BLAIMING DLO! We need the Hulk for Joker and Sabonis. Sign Dwight
If the Lakers would have known that Lebron would be playing this well at this age then they may have waited a year to get AD in Free agency instead of trading for him. They believed then that Lebron's window was closing and made a ridiculous trade that has hampered the franchise ever since. They lost valuable future trade assets such as first round picks! They gave up valuable future role players or trade assets for 1 player. The lost a chance at a dynasty but hindsight is 20/20
@@jefftomasello3258 That is a fascinating “what if?” I’ve never thought about along these specific terms. Might come up on a show next week. Appreciate you watching. AK
No, I feel like The Lakers have mortaged their future & got a title in return!
Hmm LeBron did it himself with the BRICKBRICK trade
I don’t believe the CBA thing one bit other teams who were in the second appron made moves peliinka is just lazy
Hope, THE CHICAGO BULLS,
PEDDLE ZACH LAVINE,
SOMEWHERE in the NBA,
But not in L.A, CA.
All these lakers podcasts been spinning wheels all summer when they clearly know other teams don’t want to do business with us EVEN if we had legit talent in return for them.
I’ll be the first to agree both Rob and Jeanie are lackluster in the roles and thought process BUT it’s like being a single guy wanting all the finest women out here, but if none want to give you the buns there’s nothing (morally… u sick individuals disregarded) you can do.
With the hold on lakers past memories I wouldn’t be shocked if they didn’t want lebron to catch Bean in rings and I’m 100% a Kobe over Bron fan.
We must Remember that We gave up Our Championship Team & Perfect Role Players for LBJ/AD (Carushow/KCP/Kuz) along with 2 Centers that were Aging but, perfect to slow down Joker (McGee/Howard).
We could’ve won 1-2 more 🏆 Championships and We have to blame Pelinka however, LBJ is complicit in this Tragedy!!!
My Hope/Pray is that We make a Trade and I believe Our best Trade Partner is BKNY (Cam or DFS and/or Schroder and/or Day’Ron) however, Rob has to plan for the Post LBJ Era and I don’t feel bad for LBJ - We just Drafted Bronny, LBJ will inevitably have His Jersey Hung in Crypto next to LAker Greats and The 👑 King will get a Mamba 🐍 Like Farewell Tour!!!
If this dude thinks Grant is what THIS team needs he is out of his damn mind
We need rebounding a defense
Grant sucks arse at both
So yeah let's way overpay for a guy that makes even worse in our worst ways...oh and we gotta throw in a decent player and some picks too
Genius
Pelinka is the worst gm in sports
Lakers FO is trash. Not serious in winning
LeBron clearly believes the Lakers will be highly competitive, otherwise we would have seen a James "decision".
Not necessarily. There were other factors outside of basketball that made him stay.
Lakers need Caitlin Clark to save this season.
Dominant?!😂😂😂😂
If u bozos believe lebron is better than Tatum in 2024……😂😂😂. Good luck in the play-in!
Pelinka is the worst gm in sports