James & Pelinka Have Made Their Bed…

[Ed Monix]

…and now they have to sleep in it.

I have said this before and I’ll say it again, Pelinka doesn’t cop enough flack for being a pretty terrible GM. LeBron & Klutch were stupidly in a rush to win now, in doing so they have decimated a team that should have been title favourites for close to a decade.

Together the two have combined to leave the Lakers with a terrible roster that’s trapped under a pile of rubbish contracts and IOU draft picks.

After the Lakers injury ravaged 2018-19 season, their roster consisted of:

Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma, all on cheap contracts. They also had the 4th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, which became De’Andre Hunter (Darius Garland was selected next).

All the Lakers had to do was wait ONE season and Anthony Davis would join them as a free agent and given Ainge and the Celtics were very publicly rebuffed by Davis’ father, Pelinka should have just waited for Davis and not give up one of the biggest draft hauls in nba history.

The pandemic most likely saved Pelinka & LeBron’s legacy. In the bubble, their role players went nuclear and the season suspension gave LeBron the rest he needed to play at his best in the playoffs bubble.

2020-21 Los Angles Lakers
(what could have been)

Anthony Davis
LeBron James
Brandon Ingram
Lonzo Ball
Alex Caruso

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, De’Andre Hunter or Darius Garland

* Plus all their picks available for trades

[Donoghus]

This conversation was just touched on the past few pages of the NBA Season thread.

[liam]

They just won a championship.

[Vermont Green]

…and now they have to sleep in it.

I have said this before and I’ll say it again, Pelinka doesn’t cop enough flack for being a pretty terrible GM. LeBron & Klutch were stupidly in a rush to win now, in doing so they have decimated a team that should have been title favourites for close to a decade.

Together the two have combined to leave the Lakers with a terrible roster that’s trapped under a pile of rubbish contracts and IOU draft picks.

After the Lakers injury ravaged 2018-19 season, their roster consisted of:

Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma, all on cheap contracts. They also had the 4th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, which became De’Andre Hunter (Darius Garland was selected next).

All the Lakers had to do was wait ONE season and Anthony Davis would join them as a free agent and given Ainge and the Celtics were very publicly rebuffed by Davis’ father, Pelinka should have just waited for Davis and not give up one of the biggest draft hauls in nba history.

The pandemic most likely saved Pelinka & LeBron’s legacy. In the bubble, their role players went nuclear and the season suspension gave LeBron the rest he needed to play at his best in the playoffs bubble.

2020-21 Los Angles Lakers
(what could have been)

Anthony Davis
LeBron James
Brandon Ingram
Lonzo Ball
Alex Caruso

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, De’Andre Hunter or Darius Garland

* Plus all their picks available for trades

Would they have had cap space to sign him or would they have had to do a sign and trade?  Remember, I sign and trade hard caps you.  I don't remember all the details from back then but I suspect that it would not have been as simple as just wait and sign him.

I do agree though that the Lakers are in a kind of roster purgatory.  It is going to be tough to get out.  But even with that, if LeBron and Davis are healthy, they will contend.

[Roy H.]

Would waiting have worked out?  Making the trade when they did won them a championship.  They gutted their franchise,but the ring makes it worthwhile even in hindsight.

[coco]

Being a Laker GM probably is the easiest job in the NBA

….no need for recruiting skills.

[Ed Monix]

Would they have had cap space to sign him or would they have had to do a sign and trade?  Remember, I sign and trade hard caps you.  I don't remember all the details from back then but I suspect that it would not have been as simple as just wait and sign him.

I do agree though that the Lakers are in a kind of roster purgatory.  It is going to be tough to get out.  But even with that, if LeBron and Davis are healthy, they will contend.

Yes they definitely would have had the cap space to sign him, Ingram & KCP were restricted free agents that off-season and the rest were still on rookie deals.

[nickagneta]

Weirdly enough, except for that bubble year, the Lakers got exactly what Anthony Davis has always been before getting to the Lakers: A constantly injured star that put up sparkling numbers but didn't make any player he played with any better and rarely raised the team he played on anything above mediocre.

The Lakers are 71-65 since winning the title, playoffs included, and that with the 2nd best player ever being on Davis' team. Davis is showing his true self since that one title year that basically gave him a half season of rest right before the playoffs.

I don't care how bad the rest of that team is, if Davis was truly a top 5 player in the league, there is no excuse for being 71-65 since raising that trophy.

Pelinka needs to use Davis as a sweetener in dumping Westbrook and start over with some great talent that he should be able to get for moving those two. And if he doesn't get enough good talent to surround Lebron with.....move him too.

[Ed Monix]

Would waiting have worked out?  Making the trade when they did won them a championship.  They gutted their franchise,but the ring makes it worthwhile even in hindsight.

Obviously nothing is certain but IMO the West was wide open last season and health permitting should have gone to the Finals.

That bubble championship win was a one in a million accident, it was not the result of roster building but a once in a lifetime pandemic coinciding with Rondo turning into Steph Curry.

[Moranis]

Davis was going to get traded the summer he did.  There is absolutely no guarantee he ends up in LA the following year as he may have actually liked whatever team traded for him.  Remember when everyone said Paul George was going to go to the Lakers in free agency and then he re-signed in Oklahoma City because he actually liked it there (and they could give him more money).  Maybe Davis would have ended up in LA, but maybe he wouldn't have.   Secondly, as we all know Lebron is old and on the downslope.  By waiting a year, you waste whatever time you have left of Lebron.  There was certainly no guarantee that Lebron would still be a good enough had they waited a year.  It turns out Lebron still would have had enough left, but that was far from a given.  I mean plenty of this board basically wrote Lebron off when he went to LA.  And then his first year there, he suffered the first major injury of his career and the Lakers missed the playoffs entirely.  When you have a guy like Lebron, you don't wait and rely on chance.  You go all in and try to maximize your title chances.  The Lakers did that and actually won a title. 

Last summer was the disaster.  By most accounts they easily could have had DeRozan or Hield instead of Westbrook (they would have been able to keep KCP or Harrell as well - Kuzma was gone in the trade in all 3).  They let guys like Caruso, Drummond, and Schroder go because they didn't want to pay as much in luxury tax.  They could have had a vastly different roster had they not gone all in for Westbrook.

I mean how much better is this team then the one they have now

PG - Schroder, Caruso, Rondo
SG - Hield, KCP, Bradley, Reaves
SF - James, THT, Matthews
PF - Davis, Anthony
C - Drummond, Howard, Jordan

Plenty of blame to go around in LA land, but it seems the biggest impediment was Jeanie Buss getting cheap and the pursuit of Westbrook instead of
a better fitting player like Hield (which most everyone including Pelinka and James thought was the better option and obviously didn't work out like they thought it would).