I've always said that bringing in Westbrook was a mistake and have never denied Bron had a hand in that. We've already talked about why they felt they had to do it but it wasn't a good decision.
Don’ be a Sabo while chasin’ 4 rings in LA: 2021-22 GOAT franchise Boss Angeles Lakers season thread
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I've always said that bringing in Westbrook was a mistake and have never denied Bron had a hand in that. We've already talked about why they felt they had to do it but it wasn't a good decision.
ALonelyDad
Veteran
Those people making decisions is ultimately on her. Dont think any other franchise would allow Rambis and wife to make decisions. Pelinka wanted Ty Lue but the Rambis duo didn't and they have more power clearly. That is on Jeanie. If she is serious, she hires a proper FO and lets them do their job without outside interference.
KFBF
Superstar
Team has gotten away with the cronyism for years and it only started to hurt them relatively recently. Jeannie won’t put in a real front office cause a real front office is going to tell rambis to kick rocks.
One final reference for @GreatestLaker
I still trust Pelinka. We know he wanted to do the Hield trade (not amazing but we could all see the logic) and if he wanted Lue but got overruled on that (I still think Vogel's fine), he can't be the one taking blame for this mess. His decisions have been sound.
Her hiring Kurt Rambis and Linda Rambis is being involved in basketball decisions.
Not to mention the ownership has been cheap on the court and off the court(medical staff).
TBH the Hield trade wouldn't fix the main problems the Lakers have. The only reason the Hield trade would have made the Lakers any better is because Westbrook wouldn't be on the team and KCP still would be. At times I've suggested getting Hield was a good idea but frankly his shooting has been uninspiring recently and his defense is ass. To succeed this season without AD, Lakers needed a decent backup PG, an elite 3-and-D, and a rim protector. Hield doesn't check those boxes (tho keeping KCP would at least have given them a better 3-and-D than they have now).
I know it would have been impossible to see the future, but landing Covington in the Blazers' pre-deadline fire sale would have been a bigger move.
Right Hield is overrated but the subtraction of Westbrook would massively help this team. Westbrook and Lebron don't work on defensive on the floor at the same time and they barely work on offense together.
I wasn't crazy about the Hield trade on its own but they'd certainly be better with him instead of Westbrick. The worst part about the Westbrick trade is it destroyed any roster flexibility when things didn't work out. Hield has a declining yearly salary too.
Also, Covington has been a so-so shooter his entire career. What he's doing with the Clippers so far is a total outlier so you can't complain about Hield's shooting this year and prop up Covington's. He was shooting 38%/34% with the Blazers. shyt happens.
Schroder still woulda been there waiting for an offer too since he had to take the mid-level with Boston. Bring him back for the low along with Caruso and they could have had a rotation of:
KCP
Hield
Caruso
LeBron
AD
with Monk, Schroder, Melo and whatever else off the bench. They'd still need one more big but that's a pretty balanced roster. Coulda played with the roster plus the 2027 first to take on Powell and Covington since Portland was giving them away.
The main thing though was Westbrook LOCKED them into the team they had with no wiggle room. There was no way out.
Y’all keep talking about these moves that would barely move the needle when the biggest issue is ANTHONY DAVIS. This team was built with the understanding that AD would carry this franchise like Giannis and Jokic are doing. I promise you if he was that guy, no one would give af about the other non moves.
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True but after last season and his injury history, they need depth to handle his inevitable missed time and now LeBron's.
They were able to tread water last year without those two because they had so many good role players.
