With that news - I guess you can't blame Kahn for not getting Crawford (if you wanted that deal)

The Nick Young deal I don't really get - I recognize it happened last minute (and frankly that entire deal involving Nene and McGee came out of left field), so I don't know how much blame you should put on him considering, how was he suppose to know the Wiz were shopping Young. (I know that is an idiotic argument, and that it is his job to find these deals, but personally I'm not gonna kill him for it. For all we know he might have called and the Wiz quickly hung up the phone saying 'Trading with you guys, after the last trade we did with you would be bad PR and put our Hardcore fans in a frenzy." I know that probably didn't happen - but it could have and to make me feel better about the fact we didn't get Young I am pretending another NBA team is so intimedated by dealing with us, they hang up the phone)

(Seriously they took Brian Cook for Nick Young... you mean to tell me the Wiz wouldn't rather want Anthony Randolph - an expiring contract who SUPOSEDLY has a boat load of potential - more than Cook at least)

And Sam Young - sure he is a fine player that plays hard, but I'm not gonna go ape sh*t over the fact we didn't get him.

Also, despite what I wrote above, and as it appears, I'm not gonna go ape sh*t over Nick Young either. He doesn't play D, shot selection is horrid and for all we know he has just been a scorer on a bad team. (This year his shooting % is way down)

So to make it seem like Nick Young is the definite missing link as to what gets us in the playoffs - I don't know if I neccarily agree with that.

Could he have been? Very well possible.

He also couldn't have been. He could have brought a peice of the current Wiz's enviroment over with him and had a bad influence on the team.

Why is he still making decisions? What the f*ck happened to f*cking Adelman's crew? Son and sh*t?

I would rather have had Nick Young than Jamal Crawford. So damn depressing that the Clippers got him for FREAKIN FREE!!!

And Bonk hit the nail on the head about our competitors (and division rivals!!!) getting worse, but us doing nothing. It is seriously damn depressing. At least... to me it is. I hate Kahn sooooo much.

The Rockets got Camby for Jonny Flynn & Hasheem Thabeet. Now there is a team dumping dead weight and trying to make the playoffs. We couldn't do the same thing with Miller/Webster/Randolph?

daddyfatsax wrote:

If it was Failor who blocked the trade, you can only blame Kahn for not having an "option B" drawn up. I think he was the most surprised (shocked, if you will) by what happened. It probably took a lot of convincing to make the deal, because Portland is blowing it up and CRAWFORD IS STILL THERE. They were absolutely sure that he was heading to Minnesota. Lakers didn;t care probably where Fisher would've ended up since they were getting Sessions in a separate deal and dumping Fish was easy on most teams.

If Kahn did the deal (and well, HE did it, as far as he was concerned) then we'd have a totally different conversation. Now he takes the fall for Taylor and his cheap (because what else?!) ways. If he vetoed it one day earlier then who knows, 24 horus is enough to swing something else, especially just before the deadline.

I, for one, am mad about standing pat, but not so much on David Kahn the GM. yes, he could always have lots of trades lined up and swing something, but it is becoming clearer and clearer it's not him being gutless blocking most of the options.

Kahn's only BIG deal? Got us Rubio. Got rid of a lot of salary in Foye and Miller. A good deal whichever way you look at it. He blew the 6th pick alright, but if you consider there was a deal on the table: #4 Tyreke Evans for #6 Jonny Flynn and #16 James Johnson (damn you bulls) then I understand he took Flynn over Curry if the Kings wanted it that way.

Good points Czaras. There is, however, another article that suggests the Lakers were trying to dump another dumb salary on the wolves (Peace, perhaps) and that Kahn wasn't down for it. So, I'm not sure we'll ever know the real reasons.

Either way, we often ignore the elephant in the room, Glen Failure. He loves Kahn because he cow tows to his every demand and takes the blame while Failure stays out of the lime light. Many of the terrible decisions are likely 75% Failure's doing.

Not trying to rub it in, guys, but Mitch Kupchak is Albert Einstein compared to Kahn's Alfred E. Neuman.

Kupchak's biggest coup, the Gasol Trade, was more a Wallace (Memphis GM) failure, rather than Mitch's success... on the other hand, the trade was ultra dumb back then. But let's check the standings, the Grizzlies are alright, and Pau is probably not the better of the Gasol brothers these days. Could it be?

Other starters? D-Fish's daughter cancer pracitcally moved him out of Utah to LA on his request. Artest signed because he took pitches from both Kobe and The Zen Master, rather than got great money. Bynum was drafted, ok.

I mean, if you;re the Lakers GM who has Kobe on his team and an owner ready to spend year after year its easy to look great.

Czaras hit the nail on the head. Without the willingness of the Ownership to spend money, you are hamstrung.

The teams that make good moves are the ones that are willing to make a short term investment in talent for long term gains in value as the team stays competitive.

The model we have followed by shedding big contracts and building through the draft only works if you actually pay to keep the talent that you bring in. You also need to build a team that makes sense rather than one consisting of 7 combo forwards and 3 point guards.

czaras wrote:

1) Just like when the Lakers got Shaq, we pretty much stole Pau. Credit to Kupchak, regardless of what you think. He put the deal together and the Memphis GM was just dumb enough to take it.

2) Across the board, Pau's numbers are better than Marc's. However, I will say that Marc has hugely improved his game over where it was a couple of years ago. Don't forget that Pau is now the third option for the Lakers, instead of the second. It seems that eliminating that pressure has helped Pau this season. (You couldn't use 16 PPG and 11 boards from your third option? After Love and Pek, you have no consistency whatsoever. Not only that, but Pau is a better defender than either of those two will ever be.)

3) Fisher's daughter had a very rare form of eye cancer. The best treatment available was in LA. Utah let him go so that he could return to LA - for less money, as I recall - to enable his daughter to get the treatment he needed. Kudos to the Utah franchise for facilitating that move.

4) Artest came to the Lakers because that is where he wanted to play. After watching Kobe get hammered during the playoffs the year before he signed with them, he reportedly told Kobe that he would make sure that never happened again. How many rings does MWP have since making that move? You don't really think that these guys only play for the money, do you?

5) Yes, Bynum was drafted, So was Howard. What's your point here? Bynum was a project that is finally paying huge dividends.

6) Re: Kupchak's biggest coup: Ummmmm . . . again, the Lakers got Sessions. Monta Ellis went to someplace not named Minnesota. After only two games, Sessions is looking like another huge steal for the Lakers. How was it that Kahn improved the 'Wolves? Oh! That's right! He didn't do a damn thing! Are you telling me he couldn't have traded Beasley for one of those guys? Give me a break! Walton and Kapono for Sessions is more attractive than Beasley for Sessions??? I'm laughing so hard that I pee'd my pants!

BTW, the Lakers are sitting third behind OKC and San Antonio, in the Western Conference. If they were in the East, they would be in fourth behind Chicago, Miami and Orlando. They would only be 1/2 game behind the Magic. They would be 3 games up on Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division. Memphis' W-L record is 2 games back of the Lakers. All that beginning of season garbage about who was the best team in the Pacific Division (Clippers vs Lakers), appears to have become just that - garbage!

Wolfenstein, Czaras - Yeah, you are both correct in stating that unless your owner is willing to spend, you are pretty much hamstruck. Obviously, Dr. Buss has been willing to spend the money for a long time and has done it very consistently over the years.

However, that doesn't begin to explain or excuse Kahn's complete inertia last week. The Lakers dumped a couple of guys who weren't playing at all unless it was absolute "garbage time" for a new point guard with some very solid skills. Not only that, but Sessions' roots are in LA. Think he isn't happy to be home AND playing with Kobe Bryant? Ramon is walking on air right now. Then, they sent Fisher's salary to Houston for a couple of prospects. Now, Houston is going to buy out Fish's contract so he can go sign with another playoff contender, like Miami.

Bottom line is that LA came out way ahead in both deals. BUT, on balance, it didn't cost the Lakers to make these trades. So, where is the argument about an owner willing to spend money? Buss saved money with these trades.

Beasley has more than adequate skills. Under the right system, he could be an excellent player for many years. Right now, he is as inconsistent as I would be in the NBA - 30 pts one night and 2-for-15 the next (well, I'd probably never get 30)! Kahn couldn't have traded Beasley for Sessions? Please, help me out here - I can't understand this.