Los Angeles Lakers, NBA General Managers have lost their darn minds

The Los Angeles Lakers are done with tanking, the Lakers are done with development, they are on the stacking train to God knows where, and have lost their damn minds.

What are the Los Angeles Lakers doing, exactly? What has the NBA come too? The Players Association made some ground gaining more power under their latest agreement with the NBA owners, being able to at times, and depending on their situation, dictate where they want to play and with whom. But now we are seeing trades that just blow our damn minds. What the heck are they thinking?

Some GM’s are in tank mode, where a team and coach is told to lose games on purpose to secure a lottery pick in the upcoming draft. In that boat, this season, are the Cleveland Cavaliers after losing LeBron James, the New York Knicks (we will get to them later), the Chicago Bulls (injury bugs have plagued this team and they fired their head coach) from the Eastern Conference. In the Western Conference, it is the Phoenix Suns.

These team’s fan bases are going nuts, threatening to abandon their teams, upset with management, and blaming the players or anyone they find at the moment to blame. If they just look at the Lakers these past five to seven years, they should learn the breakdown and develop up does not ensure an NBA Championship.

Lakers fans went through this when Byron Scott was at the helm. There were high hopes for the fans with the roster they had, which included Kobe Bryant who suffered some major injuries.

The coach loses because his record goes into the toilet and loses all respect. But the irony is that his GM asked him to tank at some point. So purposely lose. Yet the media continued to ask the players why they lost games and lambasted the coach for not putting the best players in at the end of the game to win.

The irony is overwhelming. It’s a rouse for fans who hadn’t bought in to tanking, and it’s painful for the fans that love the team and hate to see them lose. The players are trying to live out their dreams while being told to lose, or knowing that the goal is to lose so some unknown unproven rookie can save them all.

This is the saddest part of what is going on this season. Players trying to make it to the league on two-ways are not necessarily being played for fear of the team winning games. Undrafted rookies have it the hardest. How can you prove your worth when the goal of the organization is to lose five times more games that win?

How many lottery picks are Kobe, LeBron James or Kevin Garnet? Players with little college experience also don’t do their schools any service because they are so focused on the NBA career, they don’t want to play as hard as they would normally.

Lose, lose, lose, everyone loses. Why do I say that? The Lakers are a prime example.

The Lakers tanked and got four lottery picks in the last five years. The Lakers drafted Julius Randle No. 7 in 2014, D’Angelo Russell No. 2 in 2015, Brandon Ingram No. 2 in 2016, and Lonzo Ball No. 2 in 2017.

Developing the “young core” was the theme that kept fans going all those years. Note, Russell, developed by the Lakers in part, earned a spot on the NBA All-Star roster this year, happy for him.

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1091442916688609280

Enter Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson. The two came in with the same mantra, develop the young core. They kept on Luke Walton because he understood what it takes to win a championship after working under Steve Kerr to do just that for the Golden State Warriors.

But, they also came in talking about getting some huge stars to join the young core. Okay, Lakers fans bought in and we were excited.

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Rob and Magic, this season, abandoned their original plan when they brought THE star to the Lakers in LeBron James. Everyone knows he wants to be the coach, player, star, GM and that coaching him is a nightmare.

It’s no mystery that he was going to call the shots and that he wouldn’t be able to stand losing or not making the playoffs for even one season. It was impossible and a ton of Lakers fans embraced that. But, now to say that you are willing to trade away the farm for Anthony Davis? That just goes way too far for this Lakers fan.

They already abandoned Randle and Russell (who just happen to have the same agent in CAA’s Aaron Mintz). Neither was the savior for the team and most NBA fans should already know it’s a long shot and a gamble to base all your championship dreams on one unproven lottery pick. Look at the Suns! They had a great line up and then drafted Deandre Ayton No. 1, but then got rid of veterans and even though they have some up and coming stars, they are not killing it in the win column by any means.

The bombshell of the week was the Kristaps Porzingis trade to the Dallas Mavericks. Mark Cuban gave up Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan, Dennis Smith Jr. and two future first-round draft picks just to get one player, with an added bonus of Tim Hardaway Jr., Trey Burke, and Courtney Lee. The Knicks may want to use the cap space on Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to come to the Big Apple or something like that.

This is NOT about making the game of basketball better. This is not about making the fans happy. This is all about money.

With that said, the Lakers are now in the hunt for Anthony Davis, currently with the New Orleans Pelicans. Magic and Rob are about to trade away a player in Kuzma who turned out to be a huge asset even though he was not a lottery pick, two lottery picks in Ingram and Ball, and one player they spent time and money developing in Ivica Zubac, all playing great lately. On top of that, they are throwing in as a bonus, a first-round draft pick! CRAZINESS!

Sources: Lakers let Demps know one of trade scenarios would include Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Ivica Zubac, No. 1 pick, per source.
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) January 31, 2019

Most fans are not happy that I have seen on social media, it’s way too much to give away. We got to love these players, and the Lakers organization keeps ripping our guys away from us.

How can we have an affinity for a team where the players are changing so quickly? We can’t! We may win a championship by stacking our team, but will we care? Who is the team exactly? I’m getting to love Lance Stephenson, will he be in LA next year?

Next. Anthony Davis Trade Talks From A Pelicans Perspective. dark

Please, I beg of you Lakers brass, do not trade away Kyle Kuzma, give another pick away, at least he is proven to be a star. The Lakers are done with tanking for lottery picks (no Zion Williamson will not solve all your problems Bulls fans), they are done with development, they are not on the stacking train. It worked for Golden State Warriors, it will work for Los Angeles. But at what cost? And I am not talking about money.

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