Frank Hamblen's advantages over Phil Jackson

I know lots of posters are hot to have Phil back. But I thought I would toss out a thought - would the Lakers be better off with Hamblen instead of Phil? I thought I would list the Hamblen's advantages:

No baggage
No poisoned relationship with Kobe. No prior attempts at getting Kobe traded. No books that bash Kobe. No prior criticisms of Kobe in the press.

Uses offenses other than the triangle
Hamblen knows the triangle probably almost as well as Phil does. However, he doesn't view it as the ONLY offense and runs a variety of plays. I get the impression that players get sick of the triangle and would welcome the variety.

Won't have major input into personnel decisions
From what I have read and guessed, Phil had major input into personnel decisions and most of it was bad. I think Mitch will be able to build a team more effectively if Phil is not around to veto good moves.

Will actually coach during games
I have never understood why Phil just sat there like he was watching the Rose Parade. In my tiny little amount of coaching experience, players are most open to coaching during a game.

To me, Phil's greatest value is that he knows how to implement what has been the most effective offensive philosophy in the NBA over the last 15 years. It's one thing to know a system and it's another to know how to get players to commit to it. I lived in Dallas when Jim Cleamons tried to implement the triangle and it was UG-LY. But I think a lot of that advantage is lost because a number of Lakers already know the triangle and Kobe supports the use of it.

I am not saying that the Lakers won't hire Phil. However, I don't think Phil is clearly superior to Hamblen as some people might think. The impression I got from the comments of Mitch that were posted on the board is that the job is Hamblen's for the rest of the season. If he does well, I can see advantages to the Lakers sticking with him.

Posted here on LG.net

My "All-Miserable" Team

Posted on LG.net on 1/17.

NBADraft.net had an article recently on "The All-Miserable Team". I agreed with one of their picks, strongly disagreed with the two Lakers on the list. Here is my "All-Miserable Team":
PG - Carlos Arroyo (article had Jason Kidd)
Arroyo wants out of Utah bad and if you don't believe me, go to his website carlosarroyo.com. From his website:

Carlos Arroyo says he is not the type of player to demand a trade. But now that he has dropped to third or fourth in the Jazz's point-guard rotation, "I want to play, and I can't succeed on the bench," Arroyo said Wednesday. "If I can't play here, what can I do?" Arroyo emphasized that "my first choice is for things to go back to normal." In other words, reinstating him into the Jazz's starting lineup, where he played 71 games last season and 16 this year before being demoted last month. "But what I'm hearing now is, [it's] probably not [going to happen]. So I need to find a way to change that."Arroyo was careful to avoid saying he wants to leave Utah. He did admit, however, that he doesn't mind the attention from other teams. "If nobody talks about you, then you're not important. If nobody shows interest, that's a problem," Arroyo said. "Very humbly and with my feet on the ground, I say this: People know what I can do. They know I can play, and they understand that I shouldn't be on the bench, playing two minutes."Fans in Arroyo's homeland are angry at Jazz coach Jerry Sloan for benching the star of the island's Olympic team, especially since he signed a four-year, 6 million contract in July. "Basically, a lot of people are worried. A lot of people are upset back home because I'm not playing," said Arroyo, who also held a news conference via phone with Puerto Rican sportswriters Wednesday afternoon. "They see the Jazz gave me a contract [and] they expected me to play. Now I'm not and they want to know why."

Yes, Kidd must be unhappy at the prospect of playing out his career for a rebuilding team, but at least he his playing. Baron Davis is probably miserable from his back pain and the play of his team. Marcus Banks has to be miserable because if Gary Payton hadn't been slow to report, he would probably be starting on a Lakers team where everyone seems to like one another instead of being a back up on a team where the coach is loathed by several of the players. And Sam Cassell is miserable, but self-induced misery doesn't count.

SG - Ricky Pierce (article had Steve Francis)
I agree with the article that Stevie Franchise is major-league pissed that his team traded his best friend and long-time running mate, Catino Mobley. If anything, the article left out reasons why Francis is pissed. GM John Weisbrod's comments about the trade can't make Francis too happy:

"Cuttino has always been there for him through his headaches and his issues and sometimes people misunderstand Steve," Weisbrod said. "Because Steve has a loud game and sometimes a loud mouth, they think he has a stronger personality than he does. He's scared. His security blankets are being taken away a little bit. I try to make him understand it's in his best interest. I want to push him outside his comfort zone. Sometimes I feel I've got bigger plans for some of these guy than they have themselves. You can't mistake comfort for success. Sometimes a little brother doesn't reach his full potential until he's out of big brother's shadow."

Now, the Magic are making Doug Christie their point and moving Francis to SG to minimize Francis' miscues (link). However, I still consider Francis to be a PG, so he is good back up to Carlos Arroyo on the All-Miserable team but doesn't make the starting 5.

Ricky Pierce is definitely a SG and he is getting more and more miserable this season as the Celts continue to lose. Pierce is not getting along with new coach Doc Rivers, who has benched Pierce twice, once for not playing a team game in the offensive end and once for defensive sins. The second benching produced this sulky-kid quote:

"I guess I didn't play no defense, if that's what he said. I guess we have to outscore everybody, or sit me down, I don't know.

As the Boston Globe recently reported:

After a recent loss to Toronto, Pierce threw out the name of the franchise's Voldemort. "Even Rick Pitino wouldn't give up 100 [points]," he said in digust

From what I have read, there doesn't seem to be a single happy veteran on the Celtics and misery is contagious.

SF - Jim Jackson (article had Luke Walton)
Jim Jackson refuses to report to the bottom dwelling Hornets, prefer no pay to nightly humilation. It is hard to imagine a stronger expression of misery. Jim Jackson beat out a long of strong choices. While he was been injured, Andrei Kirilenko had been forced to watch his team go from red hot to lottery bound. Tim Thomas has been dogged all season by trade rumors. Jiri Welsch, the Celt's "starting" SF, is averaging only 23.6 mpg and 6.6 shots and has to watch Paul Pierce hoist up 15.6 shots per game while shooting a worse shooting percentage. Then there is Eduardo Najera, who went from being the super sub for the very good Dallas Mavericks to the tenth man on a very bad Golden State Warriors team.

The choice of Luke Walton by the NBADraft.com author was a curious one. A second round draft pick is unhappy about his playing time dropping from 10 mpg to 8 mpg? A player shooting 33% and with the worst Roland number of anyone on the roster is depressed about his DNP-CD's? I think the author is probably more unhappy about the lack of PT for a player he likes than Walton is.

PF - Kevin Garnett (article had Lamar Odom, with KG the center of the All-Miserable team
I think the NBADraft.com author nailed this one:

He's arguably the top player in basketball, but his Minnesota Timberwolves are easily the most disappointing team in the league. He's still putting up his usual monster stats (24-15-6), but the lack of help from his teammates has been shocking.

The choice of Lamar Odom by the NBADraft.com author was also a curious one. Every quote I have seen from Odom has been about how much he likes the team and playing with Kobe. Here is what Odom said after the results of Kobe's MRI came back:

"I'd rather have Kobe on the court. It's just not going to be on me or Caron. Brian Grant's going to have to get an extra rebound, Brian Cook's going to have to hit an extra three, Chris Mihm, block an extra shot, Jumaine Jones, get an extra loose ball, for us to win games. It's going to take everybody."

Not exactly doing cart wheels at thought of getting all those extra shoots.

C - Shaquille O'Neal (article had KG)
Shaq's quotes remind me of a woman who keeps badmouthing her ex months after they have broken up. My impression is that Shaq told the Lakers, "This team isn't big enough for Kobe and me. One of us has to go", and the most repected pro sports organization said, "Let me get the door for you, Shaq. The taxi is on its way." Based on how often he discusses him, Kobe is never far from Shaq's mind. Shaq has produced a steady string of barbs at his former teammate this season, all of which Kobe has ignored. Shaq has recently told reporters, "No more K questions", but I am sure Shaq will bring Kobe up on his own.

It has to hurt Shaq that now that he and Kobe are separate and Shaq has lead his new team to the top of the Eastern conference, the fans still prefer Kobe. The Lakers are still the top road draw in the NBA. Kobe's jersey isn't selling well, but that is to be expected because he hasn't had a new jersey out this year. Shaq's new jersey isn't in the top 10 sellers, being trounced not only by LeBron James and Carmello Anthony, but also by Tracy McGrady. I don't know if Shaq will get his monster extension out of Miami, but even if he does, it is clear that money can't buy happiness.

Alonzo Mourning had this position nailed down until he got traded from the Nets. Eddy Curry was his number two until the Bulls got the act together. Darko Milicic is unhappier than Shaq, but I think he is PF, not a C. There aren't many unhappy centers in this league, so I am guessing that Shaq is the unhappiest.

The steal that just keeps on getting better

Posted on LG.net on 1/20.

I am talking about the Payton-Fox for Atkins-Jones-Mihm trade with Boston. Last night, the trade provided the Lakers with their starting PG, SF and C. Those players did:
Atkins - 45 min, 10-17, 4-6 3pt, 3 reb, 11 ast, 5 TO, 25 pts
Jones - 36 min, 4-4, 1-1 3pt, 8 reb, 12 pts
Mihm - 26 min, 4-9, 6 reb, 3 blks, 1 TO, 11 pts
==================================
Totals - 18-30, 5-7 3pt, 17 reb, 11 ast, 3 blk, 6 TO, 48 pts

Boston, on the other hand, got their starting PG from the Trade. Their players did:
Payton - 36 min, 4-10, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 TO, 10 pts
Fox - does all his scoring in bars now
==================================
Totals - 4-10, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 TO, 10 pts

And in a candid moment caught on camera, Chucky gave credit to the improvement in his game to his coach, Rudy T. Gary Payton, in his candid moments, feuds with his new coach, Doc Rivers, just like he used to do on the Lakers.

Hey, Danny! How about another trade?!?

OT - If you want talk about a bad GM, talk about Ainge

Posted on LG.net on 1/24.
Re-posted on RealGM Celtic's board on 1/25.
Posted by someone else to RealGM Celtic's board on 1/26.

With the trade last year between the Lakers and Celtics and another rumored trade with the C's, I did a lot of studying of Ainge's off-season moves and here is my evaluation. Quick Summary - Ainge probably did well at drafting, but his other moves badly hurt his team.

Signs Doc Rivers as Coach
Ainge makes a terrible choice for a coach. If I recall correctly, Rivers won the Coach of the Year for taking some low-paid, unheralded veterans almost into the playoffs. Then once Rivers got some actual talent, the team regressed. Rivers earned a reputation at being bad at the X's and O's. Not exactly a track record you want in a coach. Now, if Ainge wanted a hire someone with coaching experience, Mike Fratello or Del Harris have much better resumes. I will discuss Rivers more later.

Drafts Al Jefferson, Delonte West and Tony Allen
From what I have read, Celtic fans consider it an excellent draft. Bill Simmons, a rabid Celtics fan who gets paid to write homer articles, recently rated Jefferson an "A+", Allen an "A-" and West an "Incomplete" (because of injuries). Just to provide some scale of Simmons' objectivity, he rates Rivers a "B-" and Ainge a "B+".

Signs Center Mark Blount to a Five Year Contract
Mark Blount had a good year last year, but he is a 29 year old player on a rebuilding team. The best the Celtics can hope for is that they will be able to compete at the top level about the time Blount is ready to retire. Also, Blount's last season is the only season Blount played well, so there is a huge risk that he will return to his prior form. Despite that, Ainge signs him to a 6 year, $41 million contract. And Ainge includes in the contract a 15% "trade kicker" in the contract. Plus, Blount is a Base Year Compensation player, so his full salary doesn't count when trading. What makes this signing even wilder is that, as this article makes clear, Blount doesn't fit into Rivers' system. Rivers' system requires that his players offensively to be able to get up the court quickly to force defensive mismatches before the other team can set its defense and defensively to be able to defend their man without help, to force turnovers and to grab defensive rebounds. From what I have read, Blount is not quick up the court, is suited defensively to fronting his defender and giving help, and is a poor defensive rebounder. The Celtics should have done a sign-and-trade; signed him to a shorter, more reasonable contract; or let him walk. This gives the Celtics a second aging player who is absolutely untradeable because of his contract - the other being Raf LaFrentz, who has a max contract for four years beyond this one.

Trades Chris Mihm, Chucky Atkins, Marcus Banks and a 2nd Round Pick for Gary Payton and Rick Fox
This was such a bad trade for the Celtics, however at the time, people thought the Lakers were getting rooked. For a rebuilding club, you want to trade away your veterans whose contracts are expiring for young, cheap players that have some years on their contracts. This trade is the exact opposite of that. The Celtics traded away two young players and a middle age player for two old players, one of which (Rick Fox) retired immediately and the other (Gary Payton) only has a year on his contract. The Celts trade away a young center and didn't get height in return - another no-no. Again, going back to the article on Rivers' system, the Celtics traded away their one big that fit their new coach's system. After this trade, Ainge was left with very little trading material (see below) to address the other problems on his roster.

"Tweaks" the Trade, Substituting Jumaine Jones for Marcus Banks and the 2nd Round Pick
This tweak was bad for the Celtics in so many ways. First, this has got to hurt Ainge's reputation in the GM circles. Ainge and Mitch had a agreement, but because Payton was slow to report, Ainge forced Mitch to sweeten the deal or suffer the embarrassment of having to take Payton and Fox back (I will discuss taking players back later). Are other GM's going to want to risk that same thing happening to them? Second, it is a generally stupid idea to take a player back. Basketball is about demanding a lot out of players out of loyalty to the club. The Celtics demonstrated to Banks that they have no loyalty to him. Third, it is even stupider to take them back from a more prestigious ball club. Once it was announced that Banks was traded, all of his friends and families probably called him to congratulate him. In Banks' mind, he should be the starting PG for the Lakers, playing in front of Jack and the other stars, off the court dating beautiful starlets. Back at the Celtics, he is always going to hold it against the club that it took away from him such a great opportunity.

Last, the swap hurts the Celtics. Banks is a defensive point guard and not a good playmaker. For him to succeed, he needs to be on a team where other players are handling the playmaking duties. There aren't many teams like that - I think only the Lakers and the Magic. On the other hand, the Celtics offensive system is designed around the point guard making good decisions as he brings the ball up the court. Banks is going to fail in that system. Also, the Celtics were already loaded at point guard with Payton, the "point guard of the future" West and "the big point guard "Jiri Welsch. The one position where the Celtics were thin on talent is SF - Welsch had never established himself there and Ricky Davis is a head case. Plus, when you read about how important steals, turnovers and rebounding is to Doc's system, you realize that Jones would have been a great fit.

Now, the swap hurt the Lakers, but not as much as it hurt the Celtics. The Lakers didn't need a fourth SF. However, with Devean George's injury, Jones only had to beat out Luke Walton to get playing time. I think Jones probably is not a bigger upgrade over Walton than Banks would have been over Tierre Brown. However, Jones was able to getting playing time and demonstrate his value. His trade value has soared, giving Mitch a valuable asset to trade for a point guard. Banks, on the other hand, has done miserably for the Celtics. As Bill Simmons reports:

I hate judging point guards until Year Four or Five -- just look at the careers of Kevin Johnson, Chauncey Billups, Gary Payton, even someone like Antonio Daniels. They're like quarterbacks. You have to give them time to develop and make mistakes. You just do. Banks also has two NBA-ready skills: He's a good defender and he's fast as hell; you could make a case that he's the fastest player in the league. There's no reason he couldn't become a healthier version of Robert Pack.

Three problems though:
1. He has no leadership abilities whatsoever. I can't emphasize this strongly enough. He even goes the other way -- he'll show someone up on the court if they screw up an alley-oop pass or something. He's the kind of guy everyone ends up hating in a pickup game, the guy with whom you don't even want to make eye contact at the water fountain between games. That's Marcus.

2. During timeouts, when GP would give him advice, Banks would basically snub him. Now GP ignores him for the most part. Smart move, blowing off a Hall of Famer who wanted to help you become a better player. That will get you far.

3. In my mind, the most important parts of playing point guard include: Overall court vision; unselfishness; the ability to even [i]see[/i] the open man; a rudimentary sense of right and wrong when running a fast break; knowing your teammates strengths and weaknesses and tailoring your game around them; the good sense to take [care] of your big guys when they're running the floor; when to take over a game and when to bide your time; and showing consistent leadership on the court. Unfortunately, Banks gets a solid "F" in every category right now. I'm not kidding. EVERY category.

Maybe this will change over the next few years ... but right now, I can only judge what I see. And I see a fast guy with an attitude problem who has no idea how to play basketball. He could be in All-Star in 5 years and I wouldn't be surprised. He could be playing in Greece in 5 years and I wouldn't be surprised. So there you go.

Grade: D-plus.

His trade value has plummeted and he was useful to only a few clubs anyways. Now, Ainge will be lucky to get more than a bag of Dorritos for him.

Ainge signs Tom Gugliotta
This is a "What were you thinking?" signing. If you are a rebuilding team, why sign a 35 year old, fragile player? Any minutes he gets are minutes that should have gone to a younger player. It wasn't a big mistake because Ainge signed him to only a year, $2.5 million contract. Still, that is a roster spot that the Celts could have used to pick up a promising young player who was cut late from a team or it could have been used for a 2-for-1 or 3-for-2 trade. Googs spent most of the season on the Injured List.

The Results of Ainge's Mistakes
Rivers' problems at coach
From what I have read, Rivers is not a good X's and O's coach. He has decided on a certain system that doesn't fit most of his starters and has stuck with it. It doesn't fit Blount, who was going to have problems being motivated after getting his ridiculous contract. As a consequence, Blount has stopped caring, has played awfully and is playing fewer and fewer minutes. His contract will keep the Celtics from ever being able to trade him. It doesn't fit Welsch, who (from what I have read) would thrive in a half-court pass-and-cut sytem. Welsch has regressed from last season and his trade value has dropped. Paul Pierce has become frustrated with the system and has been benched twice by Doc Rivers. Marcus Banks has regressed under Doc. The only starter that fits Doc's system is Gary Payton, who is old, going to be a free agent and is unlikely to be back next season. A good coach designs his system around his players. A good GM provides players to the coach that fit his system. Neither is happening in Boston.

Young players not getting enough minutes
The age of the top 10 Celtics players in minutes per game order: 27, 36, 25, 29, 28, 24, 20, 23, 23, 30. The Celtics have a lot of promising young players, but only one of the top five players in terms of minutes is younger than 27. Compare that to a fellow rebuilding club, Golden State (24, 24, 26, 24, 38, 30, 22, 33, 29, 35). The Warriors have young players as the top 4 minutes-getters, with veterans providing experience off the bench. Or compare the Celts to the Lakers (26, 30, 25, 24, 25, 25, 24, 32, 25, 20).

Can't to make trades to free up minutes for young players
When you look at the Celtics roster, the half of the players are untradeable because (1) of bad contracts (Blount, LaFrentz), (2) too much talent (Pierce), (3) young with unproven promise (Allen, Jefferson, Perkins, West), or (4) no talent (Reed). The rest won't get much in trade because they are: (1) young with little trade value (and that is dropping) (Banks, Welsch), (2) not young with minimal trade value (McCarty, Stewart), (3) young with a low basketball IQ (Davis), or (4) free agents-to-be that teams can pick up in a few months for free (Payton, Googs).

What Ainge Must Do
This off-season, trade Pierce with either Blount or LaFrentz for young talent, draft picks and expiring contracts. Pierce is the only one on the roster valuable enough to get a team to take Blount or LaFrentz's contract. Moving those two players would open PT for the Celtics' two most promising young players, Jefferson and Allen. The loss of Pierce would mean a huge step back in the team's ability to compete. If they don't trade Pierce, the Celtics are looking at sub-.500 play for the foreseeable future.

What I find ironic about all this is that I think Mitch did a great job last summer, but gets no respect from many posters on LG.net. On the other hand, I think Ainge did a poor job last summer, but I couldn't find much criticism of him when I recently checked out various Celtics message boards. Go figure.

Damn Malone!

Posted on LG.net on 1/14.

On 12/3, Mitch had dinner with Malone's agent, Dwight Manley. Malone hadn't shared with Manley that his relationship with Kobe had gone South 10 days before and that he wouldn't consider playing for the Lakers. Instead, Manley told Mitch that Karl is on almost completely recovered and will be ready to rejoin the Lakers in January. His agent added that after Malone's final season, he wanted to join the Lakers coaching staff.

Mitch went back to his office after the dinner with Manley and ponder his problem - how was he going to make space on the Laker's roster for Malone? The Lakers already had 15 players maximum and the only one with a non-guarenteed contract was Tierre Brown. Tierre Brown may be a poor back up PG, but he was the Lakers' only back up PG. If Brown was cut, the Lakers had no one to spell Atkins. If Atkins was injured, the Lakers had a huge hole in their starting line up.

Mitch started looking at other options and came up with Kareem Rush. If Brown was a poor back up PG, Rush was even a worse back up SG. He was shooting only 20% for the Lakers and he was getting virtually no minutes behind Kobe, the league leader in minutes per game. The Lakers had other options for back up SG - sliding Caron Butler down from SF, playing SF Luke Walton out of position, playing rookie Sasha Vujacic, even playing a Tierre Brown and Chucky Atkins backcourt. Far more options than if Mitch cut Brown. The only real value Rush had to the Lakers was as an insurance policy in case Kobe was injured.

Mitch decided Rush would go instead of Brown, but Mitch had a challenge - he could only get back draft picks for Rush. That meant he had to deal with a team that was far enough under the salary cap that they could absorb Rush's salary and still be under. Charlotte was one of the few teams (if not the only) that he could trade with and Charlotte knew it. Charlotte probably said that if they were going to acquire Rush for draft picks, the Lakers had to trade him to them now or else no deal. A few days after his dinner with Manley, Mitch traded Rush to Charlotte for next to nothing. But what Mitch thought he was getting in return was the roster spot for Malone.

The same day that Mitch traded Rush, Kobe went on the Loose Cannons show and made a comment about Malone. Malone reacted strongly to it and the Malone-Bryant soap opera dominated the air waves for the next two weeks. It was clear that Malone would never come back to the Lakers. In today's LA Times is a story about how Malone still can't decide if he wants to play, but if he plays it will be for San Antonio or Miami.

Of course in the same paper is the story of Kobe's injury and how he will probably be out weeks. Now is the time that the Lakers wanted to pull out their insurance policy, Kareem Rush. But Rush is sitting in Charlotte because Malone wasn't honest with his agent and the Lakers.

Comparing Mitch to West

Posted on LG.net on 1/11.

I am getting sick of all of the Mitch bashing, so I thought I would do an objective comparison of Mitch with West, who IMHO is the best GM ever. West resigned as GM in August, 2000.

Drafting
This is West's greatest strength. West was able to consistently find starters with low-level drafts picks. The ten times the Lakers drafted with a first round pick in the 20's, West found a starter five times (A. C. Green, Vlade Divac, Elden Campbell, Derek Fisher and Devean George), a bench player once (Mark Madsen) and four busts (Earl Jones, Ken Barlow, David Rivers and Sam Jacobson). With four mid-level (11 to 19) picks, West landed a HOF (Kobe Bryant), an All-Star (Eddie Jones), a starter (Anthony Peeler) and one player who was a bust with the Lakers but a starter elsewhere (George Lynch). West also landed a starter with a 37th pick (Nick Van Exel) and a quality reserve (but not for the Lakers) with a 38th pick (Ruben Patterson).

It is still early to evaluate Mitch's drafts, but he doesn't appear to be nearly the drafter that West was. In 2002, Mitch traded up to draft Kareem Rush with the 20th pick. Rush has had flashes of good play, but was eventually traded for two future second round draft picks. In 2003, Mitch drafted Brian Cook with the 24th pick and Luke Walton with the 32nd pick. Cook has become a quality bench player, but Walton is yet to earn consistent minutes. In 2004, Mitch drafted Sasha Vujacic with the 27th pick. Sasha has played only a few minutes in a few games.

Signing free agents
West did a great job of signing free agent that contributed for years. Perkins was considered only the fourth best player on the Mavericks in his last season there, but he was a key contributor in the Lakers '90-'91season (where the Lakers lost to the Bulls in the finals). Rick Fox was the Lakers starting SF for years. Signing Shaq was one of the biggest GM coups in NBA history. Brian Shaw was a reliable reserve for four years. West signed Travis Knight in 1996 and he had a very promising rookie year and looked to be a key reserve for years, but Knight signed a big contract with the Boston Celtics and then went downhill fast.

Mitch's one attempt at signing a prime free agent, Samaki Walker, was a bust. Given that the Lakers already had championship talent, Mitch focused on acquiring veteran talent at the end of their careers. Unfortunately, Isaiah Rider was a bust in 2000 and Mitch Richmond was a bust in 2001. Mitch signed Gary Payton, Karl Malone and Byron Russell last year, but Gary wasn't a good fit, Karl had a (apparently) career ending knee injury and Byron Russell never contributed. He signed Vlade Divac this year, but Vlade hurt his back in training camp and may never play for the Lakers. No where close to the master.

Signing undrafted players
Given his greatness at finding talent at the end of the draft, I find it surprising that West never had any success with undrafted players. Some of that is that the NBA draft used to be for many more rounds. The only ones that I can remember contributing was Antonion Harvey and "Pig" Miller. I believe Miller was found by Mitch. I used to wonder why other teams could find players in the CBA or playing in Europe or just not drafted, but the Lakers never did.

Mitch has had a steady supply of undrafted players (Mike Penberthy, Jelani McCoy, Jannero Pargo, Tierre Brown) who were on the end of the bench for a season, but only Slava Medvedenko has stuck on the Lakers roster for more than a season. Mitch's so-so is better than West's zip, but not a clear difference.

Trades
IMHO, West was bad at trading. West "good" trades fall into two category - where he plucked someone useful off the end of somebody's bench for a low draft pick and where his drafting skill made the trade. In the first category are three big steals. In 1982, West plucked Bob McAdoo from the end of the NJ Nets bench for some cash and a second round draft pick. McAdoo was the team's sixth man for 3 and a half seasons, all of which the Lakers made the NBA Finals. In 1986, West also found Mychal Thompson on the San Antonio Spurs bench for a a couple of journey men and a the 23rd pick in the 1987 draft. Mychal Thompson was the Lakers' sixth man for four and a half seasons. In 1991, West traded three second round draft picks for Sedale Threatt. Threatt started at PG for two years and then was a quality back up for two years. In 1994, West acquired the persona non grata Cedric Ceballos off the Suns bench for a 21st pick and he became an All-Star for the Lakers for two years. The only one of these types of trades that were a bust for West was the 1990 acquisition of Terry Teagle from Golden State for a 25th pick.

In the second category, West actually made a bad trade but his drafting talent saved it. West's first trade was in 1983 and it sent the Lakers marvelous point guard, Norm Nixon, to the Clippers for the fourth draft pick (and there was a bunch of other throw-ins on both sides). Many people at the time thought the Lakers got robbed, but Byron Scott was a brilliant pick. In 1996, he traded Divac, one of the top ten centers in the league, to Charlotte for just a 13th draft pick. He should have gotten three first round draft picks for Vlade. However, no one noticed the lopsided trade because he then signed Shaq and drafted Kobe. Another lopsided trade that no one remembers was trading George Lynch and Anthony Peeler in 1996 for a Vancouver second round pick.

When it came to trading players for players, West usually did poorly. His only big success was in 1997 when he traded the head case Ceballos and Rumeal Robinson for Robert Horry and Joe Kleine. He had three big failures - in 1993, he traded Sam Perkins for the hold out (and future bust) Doug Christie and "the human boat anchor" Benoit Benjamin; in 1998, he traded his starting point guard (Nick Van Exel) for effectively Travis Knight and Tyrone Lue; and in 1999, he traded Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell for Glen Rice, J. R. Reid and B. J. Armstrong. All three of those trades, he traded away prime players for players who never fit in or contributed significantly.

On the other hand, Mitch IMHO is a great trader. On of his first acts as GM was pulling off a four team trade, clearing the cancers left over from West's bad trades (Rice, who was about to walk for nothing, and Knight) and a bottom-of-the-round draft pick for immediate help at PF/C in Horace Grant. He also got Greg Foster, which he traded in 2001 off the end of his bench for Lindsey Hunter, who started 47 games for the champions. Once Hunter had fallen out of favor with Phil, he traded him to move up in the draft and snatch a player with potential (Kareem Rush) instead of the usual end-of-the-benchers. These were good but small trades, but this year was the big trades.

First, he traded Shaq for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant. Shaq may be the most dominanting center in the NBA, but he was 32 years old, had battled injuries for a number of years and the Lakers HAD to trade him. Normally, teams don't get close to full value when they have to trade a player, but Mitch did. The Lakers got for Shaq close to what Orlando got for Tracy McGrady, even though McGrady is seven years younger than Shaq and McGrady didn't force the trade. Vince Carter forced his trade from the Raptors, and all the Raptors got were a washed up Alonzo Mourning, two bench players (Eric Williams and Aaron Williams) and two first round draft picks. When New Jersey traded their yound All-Star, Kenyon Martin, all they got was three first round draft picks. Based on those trades, Mitch did a great job getting two young talented players and a proven veteran for the Lakers.

Then, Mitch traded Gary Payton and Rick Fox for Chris Mihm, Chucky Atkins and Jumaine Jones. The trade originally had Marcus Banks instead of Jumaine Jones, but because Gary Payton was slow to report, the trade was tweaked to include Jones instead of Banks. Fox immediately retired and Payton was going to be with the Lakers for only one more year, so Mitch traded close to nothing. In return, he got a young C who is probably the fourth best C in the Western conference, the Lakers' starting PG and the Lakers' sixth man. It would have been interesting to see how Marcus Banks would have done on the Lakers, as would have given them a young, defensive minded PG that they need. If Banks had become a starter, Mitch would have traded the aging Shaq and the over-the-hill Payton for four young starters to compliment Kobe.

Overall
Prior to this off-season, I would say that Mitch had done little to justify the faith put in him by the Lakers. He did no harm, but he didn't help the team either. I kept being disappointed by his lack of success with draft picks and free agent signings. After this off-season, Mitch's strengths are clearer and they are completely different than West's. Mitch's strength is trading, where as West strength was drafting and signing free agents. Mitch knew he shouldn't make any big trades when he had championship talent, but made some great trades this off-season when it came time to rebuild the team. If West had been still in charge and he had gotten the equivalent of Rice, Reid and Armstrong when he traded Shaq, it would have taken years of great draft picks and signing free agents to rebuild the Lakers. I don't think people appreciate Mitch's wisdom in doing no harm when he had championship talent because he had to have been tempted to make some moves to establish his own indentity.

To me, Mitch has put together a team of tremendous depth. The Lakers bottom 5 of Medvedenko, Walton, Vujacic, Bobbitt and George could probably contribute on any NBA squad. Rush wasn't able to get any playing time on the Lakers and he has averaged 11.6 ppg in 24 minutes for the Bobcats. Mitch's style seems to be trade for starters, sign veteran free agents for holes in the starting line up (Divac was suppose to fall in this category) and use the draft, trade throw-ins and unsigned free agents to build a deep bench. If he can make one more big steal, I would say it is a successful style.

Despite Mitch's success, I think he still needs to make at least one more major trade. He needs to trade at least one, preferably two of our small forwards (Butler, Jones, George and Walton) to get a defensive PG, a quality back up SG and/or a defensive big. Many posters seem to think that Mitch can pull off a quality trade at any time, when the reality is that such opportunities come along rarely and take time to nurture. Also, he needs to learn how to sign quality young free agents. Mitch is not as good as Jerry West, but he has done a very good job of turning the oldest team in the NBA into a young team with lots of potential.

Comparing Phil and Rudy T

Posted on LG.net on 1/11.

Phil's style was that he knew all the answers and that all that his players needed to do was play the way he told him to. Now, there are several advantages to this approach: (1) as Phil did know how to win, it effectively raised the team's basketball IQ; (2) because Phil knew exactly want he wanted from his players, it produced improvement quickly; and (3) Phil could push players to improve in ways they would never have thought of. However, the downsides to Phil's approach were (1) some people can't put totally trust the coach; (2) it doesn't take advantage of the ideas of the players on the team; and (3) if Phil's system ever wasn't appropriate, there was no way to change the system. My impression is that Shaq loved having a coach tell him to play the Triangle offense every time, where as Kobe didn't care for being treated as intellectually inferior. To me, Phil's system really didn't work last year because IMHO a team of four HOF's should have won more regular season games. In particular, Phil never figured out how to take advantage of Gary Payton.

Rudy T's style seems to me to be totally different. My impression is that he has some ideas and a general philosophy, but is open with the players that he doesn't have all the answers and wants their suggestions, particularly Kobe's. Here is my impression of how the season has gone: Rudy T sat down with Kobe at the beginning of training camp and asked him, "What kind of offense do you want to run?" and Kobe said, "Give me the ball all the time and let me create for myself and my teammates." The Lakers ran that offense for a while and didn't do well with it. Rudy T then sat down with Kobe and said, "Running lots of iso for you is resulting in lots of standing around, lots of turnovers for you, you winding up exhausted and Lamar not being involved. What do you think we should do different?" Kobe said, "How about we iso Lamar a lot more, particularly in the third quarter and rest me at the start of the fourth, so that I will be fresher to close out the games." The Lakers went with that a while and had some success, then got pasted by San Antonio and Dallas. Rudy T then sat down with Kobe again and they talked about how their opponents were sagging so much, Kobe suggested the Princeton offense and Rudy T countered by suggesting the Triangle. The Lakers have since won two in a row and have showed a lot more movement on offense. I wonder - is this the mix of offense sets that Rudy T wanted all along, but he waited for Kobe to understand the need for using the Triangle? It would help explain why he kept Frank Hamblen on as an assistant coach.

Because the system Rudy T is implementing is gradually being developed based upon the input of the players, it is much slower to be implemented. However, because it is developed with the player's input, it has much more buy in. Also, it appears to me that Rudy T is working on only one or two things at a time, so the Lakers' complete game will take quite some time to develop. For example, the Lakers initially were allowing way too many offensive rebounds. In their first seven games, they allowed 16, 11, 16, 12, 16, 17 and 17. In their last four games, they have allowed 11, 8, 8, and 5. Another example - the Lakers are dead last in forcing turnovers, but from what people have posted on LG, the Lakers have in the last few games started putting a lot more pressure on the other teams' guards. Also, it appears to me that Rudy is almost forced to not play the players not in his regular rotation (Medvedenko, Walton, Vujacic) because he needs to focus on listening to only 8 or 9 players and needs his regulars to get as much experience with the system du jour as possible.

Overall, I think Phil's style suited a lot of superstars in the NBA, but not Kobe (and not Payton). Rudy T's style seems to be much slower to deliver results than Phil's, but it appears to suit Kobe much better. Phil's style was great for his superstars, but his role players and rookies never improved much. Under Rudy T, we have seen Mihm, Atkins and Jones produce far more than they ever did with other teams; Cook far more than last year; and Odom and Butler have made steady progress since the beginning of the season. The Lakers have a long way to go, but Rudy T's style seems to promise steady improvement throughout the season.

Timeline of the Kobe-Karl story

Posted on LG.net on 12/14.

I am going to re-create the Malone-Bryant timeline

Prior to 11/23
It is not clear how close the Bryants and the Malones were, but they appear to have been quite friendly. Bryant said on 12/12:

We've had fun, myself, my wife, [Malone's wife] Kaye, him, we've had fun together. We've been at their house together, joking around, giving each other a hard time, just clowning and being sarcastic with one another, whatever. Baby-sitting the kids and all that.

In that same LA Times story, Bryant's agent added:

Pelinka said Bryant and Malone were so tight that Malone confided to Bryant before the season that he would not return to play this season.

"He said, 'Hey Kobe, I'm done playing I really want to focus on my family. It's time for me to walk away from the game,' " Pelinka said. "Kobe became emotional about it and said, 'Wow, that's big news. If that's your decision, I wish you all the best. I hope it goes well for you and your family.' "

Malone's agent said Malone might have said he was close to retiring, but did not go beyond that.

"Karl was still hurt at the time," Manley said. "He was telling everybody he was leaning toward retiring."

Other evidence that Kobe and Karl were close come from this LA Times story:

When Malone arrived at Laker practice during training camp, he and Bryant embraced, and Bryant pretended to spar with Malone's son, Karl Jr. Malone, who has remained in peak shape, felt the bulked-up Bryant's biceps and they shared a private laugh.

and from the Shaq

"I'm very surprised how it came out," O'Neal said. "I've never seen anything like that before. I thought him and Karl were best friends."

Last season, Malone's first with the Lakers, "Karl was . . . the liaison between me and that guy," added O'Neal, who steadfastly refuses to speak Bryant's name. "I was always under the impression they were closer than they were."

11/23
Something happened that destroyed the relationship between Kobe and Malone. This day will be discussed later.

12/3
Per this LA Times story, Malone's agent Dwight Manley "and Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak had dinner on Friday before the Lakers' game against Golden State, and progress had been made in discussing Malone's future with the team, Manley said."

12/6
Kobe gave an interview on the "Loose Cannons" show on the XTRA radio station. Kobe said that it was his "intuition" that Malone was going to retire and that it was tough for teammates "to be looking over their shoulder, wondering if [Malone]'s going to come back and then everybody is going to disappear." Kobe also said, "it's not really fair to hold [Malone's situation] over the guys' heads that are here . They are here giving me 110% . I mean, you can't sit up here and speculate for the remainder of the season whether or not he is going to come back." Kobe didn't mention the 11/23 incident or that Karl had told him that he was going to retire. Posters on Lakersground didn't perceive anything negative about the interview.

12/7
Manley reports that

"Karl is furious and irate and said this is unacceptable, coupled with some personal comments Kobe made to Karl recently in private that have eliminated the Lakers from his choice, which is counter to what the owner, general manager and several stars on the team have been hoping for, as well as some of the fans. It's pretty obvious with what happened with Phil [Jackson], Shaq [O'Neal] and now Karl, there's a pattern of tearing people down. This was a clear statement."

"This is a pretty emotional, traumatic thing," he said. "We were really working toward doing a deal with the Lakers that was really moving in an off-court capacity and potential on-court capacity. All those discussions have stopped at Karl's direction."

Manley also said Malone had fully recovered from off-season surgery on his right knee and would decide next month whether to return to the NBA or retire. The leading candidate to sign Malone, if he chooses to play, is the San Antonio Spurs, who have the best record in the Western Conference.

Malone then told Bill Plaschke

"The bottom line is, Kobe Bryant doesn't want me to play for him, and it's his team," Malone said. "You've got to be wanted, and he doesn't want me there."
:
"When I see that situation there, I would love to play with those young kids, are you kidding me?" Malone said. "But when your main player doesn't want you, I don't have time for all that."
:
"No disrespect to anyone, but this wasn't an equipment guy saying this," Malone said. "This was the player who you gave your franchise to. I can read between the lines."
:
"I don't want to throw daggers at anyone, but I would have quit my job before I traded Shaquille O'Neal," he said. "I would have been unemployed before I would trade him, and that's all I'll say."

Plaschke's column has some unsourced statements that are also interesting:

On the surface, Bryant's radio comments do not seem to warrant such strong reaction. But don't be fooled. This is about more than that.

Bryant's words represented only a final shove, with Malone speaking as if Bryant had been pushing him out the door for weeks.
:
There has been talk of how, unlike some teams that have phoned Malone every day, Bryant rarely spoke to Malone during his rehabilitation from knee surgery, even though they live only blocks apart.

When they did speak recently, according to agent Dwight Manley, their conversations were not pleasant.

Malone, an old-fashioned sort who refused to publicly criticize Bryant, is clearly not thrilled that Bryant speaks as if he is the team's player-coach, talking about his teammates "giving me 110%."

Also a sensitive sort, Malone undoubtedly wonders why Bryant has not publicly supported him the way Malone was often the only player who publicly supported Bryant amid the sexual assault allegations.

My summary of 12/7 developments
Manley's comments sounds like he doesn't know that 11/23 happened and that Karl told him when ranting about the interview that Kobe had made some rude comments to him recently. I really wonder he gave Plaschke his background story. What Plaschke reported directly contradicts that "Kobe and Karl were close" story that started this timeline. To me, Malone is playing cute, acting as if the interview was a big deal when 11/23 was the big deal. Then Malone brings in the "wouldn't trade Shaq" dagger.

12/8
Kobe apologizes to Karl through the media.

Bryant appeared to be surprised by Malone's strong reaction and apologized five times in a seven-minute session with reporters.

"I'm shocked by it, really," Bryant said. "If I offended him, I apologize for that. I'm sorry for that, really. I meant nothing by it. I didn't think it was anything directed toward him or anything like that. I would love to have him here. I'm sure we would too, everybody would. If he still wants to come back and play, the door's always open here."

Bryant said he tried to call Malone and "square it all out," but had no success.

"If I felt like he was a distraction, I would have said it," Bryant said. "I didn't say anything like, 'I don't want him to come back' or 'He's a distraction.' I didn't say anything like that. It was in no way intended as an attack toward Karl or anything like that. I just wanted to make sure that my players know that I believe in them and I believe in what we have. If Karl comes back, it's going to be a tremendous addition to our ballclub, but if he doesn't, I'm fine with rolling with the guys that we have here because I have confidence in them too."
:
Said Bryant, when asked about his relationship with Malone: "You've always got little things that you don't see eye to eye on, but it's not big enough for me to sit up here and say, 'You can't come back and play here for the Lakers because blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.' I wouldn't do that."

In the end, after apologizing for a final time, Bryant said he would understand Malone's decision, whatever it may be.

"If he wants to go play someplace else, I can't hold that against him," he said.

My summary of 12/8 developments
Bryant says all the right things and tries to play down the innuendo about "personal comments".

12/11
T. J. Simers confronts Kobe with a story that has been going around town - that Malone had come on to his wife at the 11/23 Laker game, that after the game Vanessa told Kobe about it, that Kobe then called Malone on his cellphone and told him off. Kobe confirms the story. Simers then calls Manley and asks for his side of the story. Manley said

Malone hugged Vanessa, and then Vanessa asked as Manley recounts this part of the story "Hey, cowboy, what are you hunting?"

"She said it twice," Manley said, "and Karl answered the second time, 'I'm hunting for little Mexican girls.' "
:
"Karl wants me to give you two messages," Manley said after calling Malone. "He never hit on Vanessa, nor would he . In fact, when he first heard about [the accusation], he said, 'You have to be kidding me.'

"As for the comments he made to her that offended her personally, he told both her and Kobe that night that he apologized."

Manley said that after Malone apologized, "Kobe followed that with a string of threats."

Simers publishes this information in his 12/12 column in the LA Times.

12/12
After the Simers column, Kobe goes public with his descriptions of 11/23. I think the most of the LA Times article is worth repeating:

Bryant's agent, Rob Pelinka, related more alleged contents Sunday of a cellphone conversation during the Nov. 23 game.

Malone was courtside at Staples Center for that game, invited on behalf of the Lakers, and Vanessa Bryant was across the court, a few rows behind the Laker bench.

Vanessa Bryant was on her cellphone with Kaye Malone, who did not attend the game and was at home in Newport Beach. Vanessa Bryant told Kaye Malone that Karl Malone's son, Karl Jr., looked bored during the game. Kaye Malone said to give Karl Malone a call on his cellphone and invite Karl Jr. to sit with the Bryant family.

Karl Malone responded improperly when Vanessa Bryant called him, Pelinka said.

According to Pelinka, Malone said at that point, " 'No, why don't you come sit by me and give me a big hug that would be on the front cover of every magazine in the country?' Vanessa said, 'What?' "

According to Pelinka, Malone also said he was "hunting for a young Mexican girl" in response to a question from Vanessa Bryant as to why he was wearing a cowboy hat. Vanessa Bryant is a Latina.

Kobe Bryant said he had strong words for Malone during a cellphone conversation from his car after the game.

"Stay away from my wife," Bryant recalled Sunday as saying to Malone. "What's wrong with you? How could you?

"He said, 'I'm sorry if I said anything, if I was out of line, I'll apologize.' What he said is what he said. This thing went on for a while. My wife isn't going to sit there and exaggerate something or blow something out of proportion that doesn't need to be blown out of proportion. She felt uncomfortable being around the dude to the point where she felt like she had to call his wife and tell his wife, 'Your husband's acting out of control right now.' "

Malone's agent, Dwight Manley, said Malone did not act inappropriately.

"Karl did not do what he was accused of," Manley said. "He never hit on [Bryant's] wife. This is a soap opera that is affecting the best power forward ever and a gigantic franchise. Karl did not want to get sucked into it as much as he has. It's all the Bryants' soap opera. It's a personal matter between Kobe and his wife and Karl got drawn into it like a pawn."

Bryant said he could separate "personal from business" if Laker General Manager Mitch Kupchak and owner Jerry Buss went through with a plan to meet with Malone and Manley in the next week or two.

The Lakers are still interested in retaining the services of Malone, who has recovered from off-season knee surgery and is deciding whether to retire or return for a 20th season. The San Antonio Spurs are considered the front-runners to sign Malone, 41.

"If Mitch feels like and Buss felt like he could come back and play for us and help us out, that's a decision they're going to have to make," Bryant said.

Kobe's side of the story
Karl hit on his wife on 11/23. Kobe called him and Karl didn't deny it. On 11/23, Kobe and his wife called Karl and his wife to try to patch things up and Karl denied everything. Kobe and Karl's relationship was ruined at that point, but Kobe was willing to keep his month shut and have Karl back on his team if it would help his team. However, [my guess] Kobe was getting tired of waiting for Karl to commit to coming back with the Lakers (given that Kobe probably knew that Karl was almost full recovered) and his pique showed in a couple of comments made during a radio interview. Karl overreacted to the comments. For the good of the team, Kobe apologized (even though there wasn't anything to apolgize for) and said that he would love to have him on the Lakers. Then Simers approached him with the real story and Kobe couldn't deny it. I can't find any holes in that story.

Malone's side of the story
When Karl talked to Vanessa at the 11/23 game, he was just goshing. He hadn't talked to her directly before without either his wife or Kobe being there, so Vanessa misunderstood his comments and overreacted. Karl apologized. When Kobe called him on his cellphone, Karl couldn't believe that Vanessa had convinced Kobe he was really hitting on her. He apologized to Kobe. Kobe refused his apology and WAY overreacted. When Kobe and Vanessa called the next day, they were still WAY overreacting and tried to damage his marriage. That ended his relationship with Kobe. Karl was already pissed at Kobe and when he read the transcript of Kobe's radio, he blew up - first to his agent then to Bill Plaschke.

However, I can't make a consistent story for Karl. If he knew that Kobe didn't want him around and that was why he didn't want to come back to the Lakers, why didn't he have his agent tell Mitch that when they had dinner with Mitch on 12/3? Instead, his agent gave the Lakers every indication that Karl was coming back to the Lakers. If Karl was interested in not getting sucked into the "Bryants' soap opera", why did he jump all over Kobe's fairly innocent comments? Why did his agent bring up that their recent personal conversations had been unpleasant? Did they really expect that why the conversations were unpleasant would never come out? Why did Karl bring up the "wouldn't trade Shaq" topic? All Karl had to do after Kobe's radio interview was to say, "I am going to end the speculation now and say that I am not coming back to the Lakers. They have lots of young players that need playing time and they don't need a veteran at the end of his career like me."

My guess is that Karl never told his agent about 11/23. When Karl read the transcript of the radio interview, he was pissed enough to blow up. However, he wasn't honest enough to admit that this was minor compared to 11/23. Rather than admit that he was at least partially responsibly for the end of his relationship with Kobe, he tried to make Kobe to look like the bad guy for his not returning to the Lakers. Now that it has come out that he made comments to Vanessa that she interpreted as hitting on her, Karl doesn't want to talk about his personal relationship with the Bryant's because he knows nothing he can say will sound good.

Adande laid an egg today

Posted at LG.net on 2/2.

J. A. Adande lays an egg is so many ways in his most recent column:

:
: (meaningless fluff better suited to a tabloid)
:
Jerry Buss has watched his Lakers diminish into what he'd always dreaded: just another team. You could see it in the pockets of empty seats and occasional empty suites in Staples Center for Tuesday night's victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. For weeks, arena employees have bemoaned the lack of buzz at Laker games.

Adande apparently thinks that the Lakers should compete for championships EVERY YEAR. Did he follow the Lakers after Magic retired? For three seasons, they were *GASP* just another team. A team with a sub-.500 record over those three seasons, who didn't make the playoffs one year and who fell behind the Clippers. And was the owner then? Jerry Buss, the owner they have now. Buss didn't panic then and I doubt if he is panicking now.

If Jackson comes back to the franchise whose inner workings he just detailed, Buss' Lakers are once again the story in sports.

Now, I can see that a writer covering the Lakers would want them to be the story. However, I am sure Buss would rather have the Lakers be the champions. Next Adande would want the Lakers to sign Karl Malone and trade for Ruben Patterson, so he could write column after column about the turmoil in the locker room.

Kobe Bryant's image has been shredded thanks in part to Jackson's book and what better way for him to look like a good guy than by endorsing the return of the prodigal father?

Could Bryant do it? Could he coexist with the man who tore him up in print?

Here's one indication: Last week he manned up, broke the ice and we had our first cordial conversation in almost a year. And I've written much worse things about him than Jackson ever did.

First of all, I would think Kobe would be far more concerned about how he didn't get along with Jackson in practice and that Jackson demanded that Kobe be traded than anything Jackson said in some book that Kobe has never read. But this is a writer who apparently thinks that the sports world revolves around the sports pages. As for Kobe "manning up", I find that a odd phrase for "was willing to talk nicely to a moron who treated him badly in the past."

Jackson's standards are impossible for anyone to recapture even himself. He won't go to four NBA Finals in five years again. So why risk losing the damage to his mystique, let alone his stellar playoff winning percentage?

"Millions of dollars" is the first thing that comes to mind for me. "High standards" don't pay the bills.

Because the Lakers aren't in position to win.

What's sad is that Tomjanovich's resignation or retirement or health sabbatical or whatever you want to call it isn't a killer blow to the season. It's the latest indication of a franchise adrift, a meandering show desperately in need of a strong script and an authoritative director.

It's the reverberation of a shock wave that began with the exodus of Jerry West in 2000.

Yeah, the Lakers have done awful since Jerry left. Only went to the NBA finals three times in those four years. And this year's team has a .558 record with plenty of young talent. That is comparable to the '94-'95 record that happened after THREE YEARS OF REBUILDING under Mr. West.

Now we see the magnitude of the failure to extend Jackson's contract before the 2003-04 season began. Both sides indicated they were close when training camp began in 2003. But the longer they lingered without a deal, the more defiant Kobe Bryant became, fully aware that if it came down to a choice between him and Jackson, Buss would bet his future on the talented young guard.

That caused Jackson, in turn, to become increasingly intolerant of Bryant and made it a me-or-him-issue, and the Lakers chose, as O'Neal would say, him. The team's last offer was removed from the table shortly thereafter and Jackson was a lame duck.

Doesn't this moron know that kobe was a free agent after last season. That Kobe could have said that it was him or Jackson regardless of how many years Jackson had on his contract?

If they had kept Jackson, they'd have a coach now. They wouldn't be searching all over again just halfway through the first season after.

And if they made just about anyone else their coach, they would still have a coach. Duh!

Of course, that wouldn't even begin to solve their problems, because they have a patchwork roster that isn't equipped to compete for a championship.

Yes, that's true. That is because they are REBUILDING! That is what teams that compete for a championship do after their roster gets old.

When they traded O'Neal to the Miami Heat they got a complementary Caron Butler, a gimpy Brian Grant and an inconsistent Lamar Odom, who needs to have the offense run through him to flourish.

The old "They-should-have-gotten-more-for-Shaq" bit. Yeah, the Lakers should have gotten more for an obscenely-paid, disgruntled All-Star who refused to be traded to all but a few teams. Of course, Adande doesn't suggest what they should have gotten. I guess everyone knows the Lakers should have gotten Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki.

They counted on an aging Vlade Divac to be their presence in the middle. He couldn't even make it to the start of training camp before he got hurt.

And the five seasons before that, Vlade played a minimum of 80 games. Career ending injuries happen to even young players.

And they ignored the recent injury history of Bryant in making the team so dependent on him. Believe it or not, O'Neal played in more games than Bryant in three of the last five seasons and is on track to do so again this year.

Kobe averaged 72 games a season over the last 5 seasons and Shaq 71. Kobe may have been sidelined because of injuries in 3 of the last 5 seasons, but he also is a quick healer. What is Adande's point? That they shouldn't have built around Kobe because he can get injured?

The Lakers have been slowly adrift.

I guess Adande would prefer the fast adrift of the Chicago Bulls, who had the following winning percentages after they decide to rebuild: .260, .207, .183, .256, .366 and .280. Or he would prefer to have not rebuilt like the Celtics did in the late 80's and then after Bird and McHale retired had the following records: .390, .427, .402, .183, .439, .380, .427 and .439.

If hiring Tomjanovich was all part of some master plan to attract Yao Ming when he becomes a free agent in two years, that plan's out the window too. Yao has said, "Rudy is like a father," but now the Lakers can't include "come to papa" among their recruiting pitches.

I think Rudy was hired as part of a master plan to rebuild the Lakers into championship contenders. Yes, he would have helped with the pitch to Ming, but I would rate that fact Rudy was two NBA championships as slightly more important.

Tomjanovich isn't officially gone yet. Odds are that's because the Lakers hadn't finalized the buyout terms for the rest of his five-year, $30-million contract. One Laker staffer said the announcement would come today. Tomjanovich has to go now, just because it got this far. He can't command the locker room if the players think he'll bail on them at any minute.

You know, there are two views on respect. One view is that a person commands respect that the threat or use of power. Yes, Rudy wouldn't be able to command respect in that fashion. The other is that a person respects through being successful in his relationships. From all that I have read, Rudy has done that in spades. But I can see how some jerk who gets off on his power to spear people in his sports column would only be able to understand the first view.

In praise of Rudy

Posted on 2/2 at LG.net

Today is a day for recognizing the great things Rudy did during his brief tenure as coach of the Lakers. I praise Rudy for:

Turning Chris Mihm into a quality starting center
Prior to being coached by Rudy, Mihm had played for four coaches in three years. Under none of them did he play well. When the Lakers acquired him, he looked like a decent back up C at best. Mihm is having a breakout season, with career bests in shooting percentage, blocks, rebounds, points and assists. Under Rudy, Mihm blossomed into one of the top 10 centers in the league and probably in the top 3 of young centers (behind Ming and Amare).

Ending the locker room turmoil
I was sick of hearing about Shaq bashing Kobe or Payton bashing Phil or Phil bashing Kobe or .... It is so much more enjoyable to see a ball club where the team doesn't just get along, but where they are fond of each other and their coach.

Turning Jumaine Jones into a quality sixth man
Jones was a throw-in in the deal for Mihm and Atkins. At bottom of the bench player for the Celtics who seemed destined to slide out of the league. Under Rudy, he is having a breakout season as one of the top sixth men in league, with career bests in shooting percentage and 3pt shooting percentage (if you ignore his rookie year when he took 4 3-pointers).

Teaching Kobe the advantages of an offensive system
I think prior to this year, Kobe wanted to do it all on the offensive end. Rudy let him do that and Kobe saw the results - defenses keying on him and his teammates standing around. Kobe eventually suggested installing an offensive system and agreed to using the triangle. I doubt that Kobe would have been open to that before the season started.

Rejuvenating Chucky Atkins
Chucky had a very good '01-'02 season for Detroit. The last two seasons, his numbers dropped significantly. Under Rudy, his shooting percentage is back up, his 3pt shooting percentage is up and he is posting career highs for points and steals. Atkins is now a decent PG, which is better than what most fans thought we were getting.

Showing Laker fans like me that a nice guy can be a winner
Leo Durocher may have thought that "Nice guys finish last", but Rudy demonstrated that it isn't so. As a fan, I much rather rout for someone who I like personally as well as for his achievements. Thanks Rudy for being a great Laker and I wish you a speedy recovery of your health.

Myths about Rudy T's departure

Myth #1 - The Lakers were severely underperforming under Rudy
The Lakers were 22-19 under Rudy and were floating around the 6th to 8th seed. That is where the Lakers were predicted to be in most pre-season predictions. For example, if you examine ESPN's Power Rankings for the Lakers, they are very consistent with the team starting 14th pre-season, 13th in training camp, and then ranking 11th through 15th throughout the season. The pre-season rankings were based upon Vlade being the Lakers starting center and he has played a total of 37 minutes this season. Also, Malone was predicted to come back mid-season and he hasn't (and won't).

Myth #2 - The Lakers lost their buzz because of their poor performance under Rudy
No, the Lakers lost their buzz because Kobe was injured. No other player on the roster commands the fan interest that Kobe does. Through 27 games, the Lakers' home attendance rate was down only 0.8% from last year's 99.5%. Also, through 27 games the Lakers were #1 for road attendance. Very little fall off attendance from a team with 4 Hall of Famers to a team of Kobe and a bunch of unknowns.

Myth #3 - Dr. Buss and Mitch Kupchak were panicking because of the lack of fan interest
After Magic retired, the Lakers had three seasons where they were hard to watch. The Lakers this year have played better than the those teams and Buss didn't panic then. Given how well the attendance has held up (see Myth #2) and Buss' prior history, I find it hard to belive that he is panicking now.

Myth #4 - Rudy had coached enough games for Dr. Buss and Mitch to evaluate his performance
If you look around at the first year coaches this season, none of them are performing better than Rudy was and most of them are performing much worse. Byron Scott is 8-37, Mike Woodson is 9-35, Mike Montgomery is 12-33, Sam Mitchell is 19-27, Jim O'Brien is 21-24 and Doc Rivers is 22-24, . Yet, none of them have been fired. I think the general rule is that teams give a coach at least a season and a half to show if they can succeed with a team. Rudy hadn't coached anywhere near that.

Myth #5 - Rudy being sick was a concocted story so that the Lakers could hire Phil Jackson
Well, the first hole is that the Lakers haven't hired Phil and aren't certain to do so. Now, let's consider this - Rudy had a $30 million contract from the Lakers and wound up with a $9 million contract. Can you imagine someone giving up $21 million dollars to a team that had fired him? And then lying through his teeth to go along with the cover up? This isn't worth discussing unless someone involved changes their story.

Myth #6 - Rudy was driven to quit by Kobe
I am going to accept that Rudy was telling the truth when he said that he suffered such severe stress in the Lakers coaching position that his immune system tanked and he had been on antibotics continuously for the last month or two. Now, if you say that it took at least of two weeks of severe stress to push his immune system to such a low ebb, that means Rudy has been under severe stress for at least 6 weeks, probably longer. Now, I just can't accept that if Kobe was causing Rudy such severe stress for so long and that it wasn't noticeable. It would show during time outs or before games. Teammates would talk about it. Stories would leak out to the press. None of those things happened. Everything that hit the press prior to Rudy's resigning indicated that Kobe really liked Rudy and enjoyed playing for him.

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