Why we so sure Magic Johnson knows what the fuck he's doing? Part #945

https://www.si.com/nba/2019/03/11/magic-johnson-luke-walton-lakers-front-office-free-agency

After agreeing to a deal with LeBron James in July, Lakers president Magic Johnson ignored the suggestions of his coaching staff to bring back Julius Randle and Brook Lopez, Bill Oram of The Athletic reports.

According to Oram, Johnson decided to sign Michael Beasley, JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson to one-year deals instead of bringing back the big men who were on last season's squad and are currently having career years away from Los Angeles.

Randle, the No. 7 pick by the Lakers in the 2014 draft, is averaging 20.7 points for the Pelicans in his fifth season and first away from the Lakers. In addition to adding some depth and versatility to the frontcourt, Randle also could have been a key trade piece for the Lakers, who spent much of this season wrapped up in rumors about a potential deal for Randle's New Orleans teammate Anthony Davis.


Lopez arrived in Los Angeles prior to the 2017-18 season as part of the deal that sent 2015 No. 2 pick D'Angelo Russell to Brooklyn. Lopez likely would have been the Lakers' starting center this season if he did return and his shooting would have been a huge boost for the team that is currently second-to-last in the league in three-point percentage. Lopez is shooting a career-best 36.7% from deep and making a career-high 2.4 attempts per game.

At 30-36 and with injuries to Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball, the Lakers appear to be headed for the lottery for the sixth straight season. There is speculation that coach Luke Walton could be fired at the end of the season.

Oram also reports there are some members in the Lakers front office who are still advocating for Walton, who helped the team improve by nine wins in each of his first two seasons. After this season, Walton has one more year left on the deal he signed prior to Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka joining the front office.

What was the point you were trying to make?

Lopez, playing very well for the best team in the league

Anybody that doesn't see letting Ju walk as an L is a loser and a liar

Resigning Zubac > letting the guys walk that you traded him for

They revamped the roster, then tried a reboot during the season

Wasn't a winning strategy

Good luck revamping the roster again for next year.

Can't blame feel
Can't blame Mitch
Can't blame Jeanie

and the guys still on rookie deals.

..y'all ain't sayin' nothin' new © the legendary roots crew.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Sexton and Cedi are improving within the tank. Kevin Love is helpin'.
there are gonna be a lot of shed assets come next season. there's room for optimism.

LeBron? Well, I can't be mad, except that he ran right into a disaster of a situation.


the only thing I could possibly be mad at is Clarkson, who is basically an expensive JR Smith at this point, but we tankin' so... eh.

only thing that I'm enjoying is the schadenfreude from the ESPN-class who wanted him in a "major market" only to for that to crash and burn.

other than that? it actually sucks (if you're a fan of him).

conversely, this has been a much more enjoyable season than 2010 was. the best thing about that season was the Clippers fleece (in retrospect) and Baron Davis.

>only thing that I'm enjoying is the schadenfreude from the
>ESPN-class who wanted him in a "major market" only to for that
>to crash and burn.

I keep saying they weren't going to win it this year anyway. Of course we expected to be more competitive this season but things are still on schedule.

Actually he’s with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.

Utter and total trash.

did you forget about them signing the best player in the world last summer?

They need to fire Luke AND the whole incompetent front office. This roster is an absolute joke.

free agency.

That meant signing a bunch of guys on 1-yr deals to play with Bron and the young guys and see how they develop. I've said before nobody was beating Golden State this year.

People overreacted to the slow start then overrated to the early success. I figured on us being about a .500 team, obviously Bron's injury and the unexpected AD trade drama dropped us below that. Rich Paul overplayed his hand but when it was out there the Lakers had to give it a shot. I think they underestimated how much other teams hate the Lakers and the last thing they want to do is help us put another banner in the rafters.

even going beyond this year to a two or three year deal, those were bargain signings for good bigs. my guess is that they were talking bigger money and passed, only to see that there wasn't a big market for them after all.

The fuck has that guy done to have that spot?

If you're blaming Rob under the premise that he's unqualified for the position, then that places the blame squarely on the guy who hired someone so unqualified.

Management has made questionable decisions up and down, from Jeanie to Magic to Rob.

We'll see how things play out this time next year though. Getting Brawn was a double edged sword with the roster and coach we had because he forces us to skip several steps in short order.

Jeanie looks like she made a mistake in hiring Magic. Magic may have made a mistake hiring Rob. Brawn may be a mistake overall.

But we'll see how all of this plays out.

>If you're blaming Rob under the premise that he's unqualified
>for the position, then that places the blame squarely on the
>guy who hired someone so unqualified.
>
>Management has made questionable decisions up and down, from
>Jeanie to Magic to Rob.
>
>We'll see how things play out this time next year though.
>Getting Brawn was a double edged sword with the roster and
>coach we had because he forces us to skip several steps in
>short order.
>
>Jeanie looks like she made a mistake in hiring Magic. Magic
>may have made a mistake hiring Rob. Brawn may be a mistake
>overall.
>
>But we'll see how all of this plays out.

AND the fact that she's generally very well liked and has GREAT media relationships. she's been a key "anonymous source" for years.

but yeah, folks refuse to criticize her. if she was a guy she'd be getting raked over the coals right now.

time has been spent digging out the hole her brother and Mitch Kupchak left the team in.

I’ll give them another full off-season and regular season before I start calling for heads to roll lol

That's the comedy.

I'm so sick of these double standards.

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O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

He said he'd bring some guys in by this upcoming summer or he'd resign.

The understanding was that the guys he was gonna bring in were going to make the team contenders.

They're not contenders yet so he's gotta bring in someone special this summer.

It would be an unfair expectation if he hadn't put it on himself.

point fingers when shit goes left.

So.....

If they kept Brook and JR their record looks much better imo. Only problem is Bron refuses to change his game...

>If they kept Brook and JR their record looks much better imo.
>Only problem is Bron refuses to change his game...

We could've brought back Lopez and Randle and been a .500 team in the west but I think we have higher goals than that.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1115780743484067840