Steve Nash 2.0 -- Reality Check

Bottom line reality check: When dealing with superstars, the operative phrase is -- "Keep it close and let _____ take over." The blank could be filled in with MJ, Kobe, LeBron, Steph, Harden, etc.

Well our ragtag "trading block irregulars" did exactly that: they kept it close against Atlanta and then it was supposed to be LeBron time. Unfortunately, Bron can't do it no mo.

Facts is facts Jack. Looks like we got Nash 2.0 but with a bigger ego.

Charles "The Laker Hater" Barkley said it best when he opined on the Nash trade: (paraphrased): "Any team that depends on a 34 year old to be the savior ain't gonna be saved." Or something like that.

Just wait until James is 38 years old and is posterized by Zubacs!

Our only hope (my opinion): Fire Maginka, hire David Griffin as GM and hire a new coach.

Your opinion?

Bron ain’t the problem... we are just a poorly coached team. I am as a big Luke supporter but I cannot justify Rondo hit a huge game winning shot against Boston and then demoting him to the bench for Reggie Bullock?!?!? Also, I think this really important Zo is to our team. Our defensive efficiency is vastly diminished when he is out of the lineup

Think it's a team problem, from ownership down. Lebron not giving a 100% , young guys pouting about trade. FO still star chasing and if rumors are true ownership interfering with who gets drafted. Unfortunately think Luke does need to go now, but also think he was put in a bad situation, with roster and all the turnover.

https://twitter.com/DanDuangdao/status/1095499245119885312

I strongly think it's time to seriously consider trading LeBron this summer. He is on the down side of his career and can no longer carry teams as he has done before. This team has so many problems and I think we are at a point of blowing it up and starting anew.

LeBron James doesn't appear enthusiastic about playing for this team. You can clearly see his negative demeanor every game where they are struggling. I would imagine at this point that he will be asking for a trade unless we can supply him with what he needs. This FO has had such a terrible track record when it comes to FA that I highly doubt we will be able to make him happy. Trade him while he still has value. Either that, or ditch these morons who are making the decisions. They clearly don't know what the **** they are doing.

I read an article this morning about how Lebron mentioned that the rest of the team will have a lot more time to decompress than he will because he is playing on an ALL STAR GAME. What a pompous a**. I'm sort of done with this guy and this season.

I sure do!!!!....lol.

I said it on one thread and got a lot of ridicule and pushback..lol, but I feel this team can go only as far as Lonzo can take them.

PS: This is not Lavar’s burner account. Lol.

ROTFL!!!!!!!

Could Not have said any better. Rondo is the coach for this team. It baffles me not to play Rondo in the starting lineup.

magic johnson already burned the bridges between players when he throw their names on the trades. At the beginning, johnson said he'll keep the lakers core and ball is lakers future and so on. But now he run them over. He said one thing and did another thing. I don't see how 'trust' is still effective lol

Lebron is a talented player but he's also a drama queen. He doesn't have the mentality like kobe to win games, instead lebron is like its either you do whatever he says (trade the whole team away, new coach, etc.) to make his life easier or he won't give full effort.

I WANT TO VOMIT: DLo is tearing it up tonight and Zubac has 18 points so far without missing a free throw. And Lou Willaims is hitting every three in sight.

Oh I forgot: We have Mike Muscala.

And without Dlo or Lou trade, you wouldn't have had Kuz ( your Kobe 2.0). Lmao

And did they take points away from Zu ? because I only see 16 in final box score.

Think this might have something to do with record this season too.

https://twitter.com/Trevor_Lane/status/1095905356243496961

I’d be willing to bet we’d still get Kuzma since it seems one or both our FO boys were very high on Kuz (I suspect Pelinka). Pre draft boards didn’t have him in the first round, DLo certainly looked more impressive as a scorer and willing passer off the ball back then, I’m sure he and Zo....

Two separate segments on ESPN:

1.) Up and coming Kings (30/27) look to make playoff run.

2.) Have the Lakers reached boiling point? (27/28)

People love watching a Laker train wreck. Annoying..

People have to stop it with the whole DLO thing! People seem to forget that he burned some bridges here while still on the team (the Nick Young video and the Lonzo tweet). I honestly wanted to see Zo and DLO together as I saw what Zo did for Bryce Alford at UCLA by moving him off the ball. I thought he could have done that and even more for DLO. But we needed to clean up after Jim and Mitch's mess of Mosgov. The price to pay was DLO. Let;s move on.

He wouldn't have made it to the 2nd rd, rumors where Spurs were ready to take him a couple of picks later.

^^^

They sure were......

We had the 28th pick as well. Of course it’s just me speculating but if Pelinka was high on him as I think he was he would’ve swooped Kuz with 28 instead of flipping it. But who knows.

Well said Baad. Good to see you come to your senses. I told you ahead of time and I said it when it happened. This would be a terrible signing. You said I wasn’t a real fan and should go root for another team. Interesting.

We’re no better off now as far as contending, yet we are much older and we’ve lost most of the young talent that we loved. We have fewer assets and word is no other stars want to come play with James. Can you blame any of them? He instantly brought the same dysfunction that he had in Cleveland. Even I am impressed by how fast James brought turmoil to this franchise. The only hope would be to fire Magic and somehow move on from James. Even then, they would’ve already set themselves back a few years. Sadly.

Luke ain’t the problem. James is. Luke just follows orders.

Great post. You should’ve never been on board with James to begin with. We need to get out from under his contract!

F*** no! We couldn’t just held on to Mozgov till his deal expired. Not traded away an all-star player to move on from it. All to go start chasing and bring in a 34 year old team cancer. We don’t need to move on from it. It was stupid then and it’s stupud now. Russell would be even better off the ball than he is now. Screw this trash front office.

Well ask him to waive no-trade Clause. Lmao

When we signed him, I had visions of a championship team being assembled. That obviously didn't happen.

I personally don't see that he has any interest in playing for this team anymore. It appears he just wants his paycheck. He looks disgruntled and that comment regarding the other players on the team having more time to decompress because he is in an all star game bothered me. I think it's time to start considering looking at options with LeBron James.

That’s exactly what we need

I never thought he was about winning when he signed with us. I may be a Lakers fan, but we were far from the best option for a top free agent to win a title, especially one his age. I think he came to Hollywood for personal business aspirations, not to win a title. He could’ve gone to Philly and played with Simmons and Embiid and still been in the east with an easier road to the finals. I think that’s what you’re seeing now. Someone who may want to win, but it’s not his top priority.

Not going to happen, they'll tear team around him apart, than try to build Heat/Cavs team around him.

Have 1 or 2 year run deep run in playoffs or possibly finals, than back to rebuilding and lottery in 4 yrs....smh

Here's something to make you feel better. Lol

https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1097170824509906945

Last night, watching LBJ during the ASG, I saw the enthusiasm that I wish he would display during the actual season. He didn't seem disgruntled and appeared to actually enjoy himself. Let's hope he brings some of that on Thursday. I'm tried of seeing him moping around as if we are not paying him enough.

I miss Kobe. That dude had heart.

Some fans think that LebrOn does not have the drive like Kobe did since he doesn’t seem to have the passion and he has a chip on his shoulder. I hear he’s upset with Magic since he’s not delivered on his promises to deliver a super star other then McGee and Chandler.

I just wish he'd relinquish some of the ball handling and get to the post and just use that massive body to abuse players. He doesn't have to become a complete post player but just split the time maybe 50/50 or 60/40. But hey what the hell do I know.....lol.

Put up or shut time tomorrow against HOU. We should be fully healthy as a team....."Maybe".

Bottom line: It appears the Lakers FO, for whatever reason, challenges Father Time to a duel. Steve Nash, Karl Malone, Kobe and his huge contract, Tyson Chandler and last, but not least, LeBron James.

Father Time wins every time.

Yeah, he’s not a post player. I agree with you that he should be, but he never fully developed that into his game. Maybe next year. I’ll say one thing for James, he definitely has become a more skilled player as he’s aged. Adding to his game.

Oh, I know it won’t happen! This FO is straight trash! I disagree that they’ll make multiple deep playoff runs though. The way things are going now, I see multiple first round exits/missing the playoffs.

Yeah, I remember watching that game : )

Yeah right now, but I said if they built team around Lebron like they should have to begin with, or they shouldn't have signed him at all.

He is not a great post player, but he is skilled as you said. LeBron has mentioned that he would/could play off- the ball and would serve the Lakers better if he did. Will he? No. Especially now with the Lakers on the outside of the playoffs. He is not going to be able to coast like he used to and this being his first major injury that he missed significant time, he's going to be tentative and that is going to effect the teams pacing.

Sadly, like KKennon1 was saying the FO did not build well around LeBron AT ALL. It's going not going to be pretty going forward.

Well they obviously shouldn’t have signed him at all. And only way they make multiple WCFs or further is with at least 2 other superstars! Don’t think we have a top 5 player on our team, so it’ll take a lot to go that deep in the West.

Magic and Rob are more concerned with bringing in another star then building team around LebRon, they think the way to win is having multiple stars and all scrubs. The Lakes should have traded LebRon for AD. This way they shed an aging star who seems to be struggling since his injury and not to mention that he seems to Be focused on his business ventures and not basketball

They are highlighting James’ defense from last night’s game, and specifically how non-existent it is.... at one point Kyle Kuzma actually shoved James towards the guy shooting a three!! It was funny as hell! And respect to Kuzma for having the balls to do that to THE superstar of the NBA! Guessing they’re getting a little tired of his act (just speaking about defense) by now.

Lol, what defense, has he played any!!!

ESPN - "Who will take over as best player on Earth?" This league/media loves watching our sinking ship. It's pretty easy to be against our own version of "Jersey Shore". Every other article I run into is either about how terrible this team is or about how no free agents will want to play here come summer time. I am so tired of the constant bashing. Do they not realize how much money this team brings to the NBA? Do they think they are going to generate this sort of revenue from the Clippers? It's not healthy for the league to force the Lakers into perpetual lottery situations. With that said, it appears the media is in favor of it. They are obsessed with keeping us down. This needs to change and when it does, I expect equal favorable coverage from these **** who put this **** out there. I am looking forward to when we turn this around. Hopefully soon, although it doesn't look good.

The intramural between Lebron and KK is clearly showing when during the Clippers and Lakers game, Kyle shoved Lebron to guard the three point shooter. Before, no one dare to mess up with what Lebron is doing, but now, Kyle has just totally lost respect for this old foggy Lebron. Maybe he knows who masterminded his being benched after scoring 23 points in the first quarter and being benched for the whole fourth quarter after scoring 41 points in the first three quarters. Likewise his being relegated to center so he will be unproductive after the NBA-ALL STAR where he received an MVP award whereas Lebron received NOTHING.

My gosh, this Lebron surely is a jealous guy and sows intrigues to the point of destroying the team. He sure is insecure because he knows father time has caught up with him and Kyle is fast developing to be a star. PATHETIC SUPERSTAR!!!

Spot on. But the sad fact remains we will likely be watching Kuzma become a star for another team. And maybe even Lonzo. BI has always been given the "teacher's pet" long leash even when he sucked so he might still be here.

Between Majinka and Busschak they could **** up a ham sandwich.

I agree, the Lakes will probably trade Lonzo and Kuz because we’ve taken a gamble on another aging star (on the decline). I’m guessing the young dudes would prefer to get away from LebRon anyway. Magic knew this type of situation was coming since LebRon creates team and locker Room tension! The Lakes seem to be a bigger mess since Magic and Rob took over, I wonder why everyone isn’t upset like they were with Mitch and Jim?

Just read an article titled “LebRon’s first year in LA has become a disaster”. The Lakes should have gone with Jerry West instead of Magic, who would have dreamed that things would get worse after Jim and Mitch were fired. I thought Magic had everything all figured out and had a plan when they signed LebRon. I guess the plan was to play small ball and make Kuz play center and get more old vets. Why would they sign LebRon, it looks like he can’t play defense and has a huge chip on his shoulder, why would anyone want to team up with him?

Exactly. Honestly think he’s playing the worst defense I have ever seen in the NBA. People that are far less capable, big or athletic at least put in some effort. It’s so embarrassing.

'They' said Mozgov and his contract was untradeable. Yet he's been traded twice since we got rid of him. So clearly not the case. What should have been said was, he's untradeable by the Lakers without paying too high a price. Just for the record I was always high on Fox and not on Ball (the perennially hurt PG with the screwed up family), and I didn't want James at any price, for all the reasons we see now. Nor did I want Luke. I spoke out against all those moves. Although I did want Russell traded coz he was a one man turnover machine when he was here, who never made more than 3 asst's, and was torpedoing other players. I also wanted us to keep Lou. He's a special player and now his special playing is setting records for a bench player in Clipper town. In other words, if the team had listened to me, we'd be ok now LOL. The problem btw with Luke, is the FO asked him to choose a former experienced head coach, older one, to be his top asst. Instead Luke said no and brought in ex team mates like Madsen (complete joke) and B Shaw (horrible coach). That alone, aside from poor subs and line up choices and play calling at times etc, is enough to cost him his job. However much potential he may have down the road. He's a 'project coach' and won't get the help he needs. Our coaching staff needs an overhaul. And so do our trainers and medical staff. We've been the most injured team in terms of lost players days in the NBA for years. And btw, little known or talked about fact. The Lakers have the WORST W/L record of ANY team in the NBA since 2012. Not....

Btw if Luke is let go after this season, which seems likely. How many ex-coaches will we still have on the payroll? LOL