Can't stand Rob -- who sort of epitomizes a sleazy L.A. agent vibe -- and also agree that he's had some big flops, especially the dumb RW trade. The Lakers are more opaque than most front offices -- given the Buss influence, Rambis as well as his wife Linda Rambis being best buddies with the owner, and the Klutch/LeBron GM-ing factor -- but whoever was ultimately responsible for that deal was idiotic. Not matching Caruso's offer was almost as dumb. So don't read this as a defense, but I guess I'm not seeing the "overall mess" and other posts along the same lines. With Pelinka as GM (or head of operations or whatever his title is), they have won a championship and last year went to the Conference finals. Whatever the ins-and-outs of the deals, I think pretty much any front office would take that as better than a "mess" etc.
Of course, whoever is responsible in the FO for their successes, is responsible in the same way that Ann Richards/HIghtower described Bush ("born on third base and thinks he hit a triple". Pelinka inherited LeBron and LeBron brought in AD, which is pretty much the basketball equivalent of being born on 3rd base. Pelinka et al has just needed to hope for AD/LBJ health and on top of that hit a few singles on the supporting cast to get the team home. Definitely have done a hit-and-miss job on that. Still, can't be described as a failure.
I hear that. To me, when Lebron is running things (which he has been) and picks to go there, Pelinka’s job is to get the details right around LBJ and AD. And he’s been bad at that all along—massive overpay for AD, and screwed up the cap piece of it to boot. Those details are always missing with the Lakers, and part of why they haven’t had a coherent roster is they have fewer tools…picks, cap room, salary slots—than they should. Consider how many moves Warriors have made with no cap room compared to Lakers!
the bubble championship counts. And, the critique of the roster all along was not deep enough/can’t sustain without LBJ and AD healthy. The only time they got that was the unprecedented three month midseason break. That doesn’t matter to some and to me, it does reduce my confidence that it would have worked in a normal season…as do the other seasons.
they could rally and prove me wrong this year, but they just had serious trade exploration of Lebron, are in ninth place, and since the bubble they lost in first round; missed playoffs; and won 43 games last year. You have AD and LBJ and in 3.5 seasons you’re precisely 4 games over .500 in total with two playoff series wins (neither of which likely would have happened if Morant was healthy in first round)
Pelinka tried to surround LBJ with “creators” and ballhandlers, costing assets and failed. He was very slow to get back to shooters and still hasn’t really made it work. There’s literally hundreds of NBA people who knew what Lebron has succeeded with and the Lakers found someone to make the calls who thought he knew better - he didn’t.
fully acknowledging it’s impossible to know who is deciding what there, letting Vogel go was bad and that came after several coaches looked at things and passed. And the RW trade.
to me, given he deserves zero credit for Lebron choosing LA and only a bit for AD (who forced his way there, and while he hugely overpaid Pelinka did get it done). What has occurred beyond those two is pretty rough isn’t it?
