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Post by Admin on Apr 10, 2019 15:39:53 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2019 16:45:04 GMT -5
No Playoffs for LeBron James, No Job for Magic Johnson. Why the Lakers Fell Apart.LOS ANGELES — Hours after Magic Johnson abruptly resigned as the Los Angeles Lakers’ president of basketball operations and mere minutes after his first season as the franchise cornerstone ended with a buzzer-beating loss, LeBron James left Staples Center on Tuesday night without speaking to reporters, trailed only by security officers and questions about the team’s future. Jonas Never, a prominent Los Angeles-based street artist, found that out the hard way. “Honestly,” Never said in a telephone interview, “Lakers fans are the trickiest.” He had talked a restaurant owner in Venice Beach last July to allow him to paint a mural of James in a Lakers jersey to commemorate his arrival, 75 cans of spray paint in 12 hours for the “King of L.A.” It did not take long for the mural to be vandalized — not just once, but twice in a span of four days. The first time, it was salvageable. Someone had defaced the wall with the words “We Don’t Want You” and “No King,” along with “3-6,” a reference to James’s losing record in the N.B.A. finals. But Never was able to restore the mural. (“A two-minute fix,” he said.) The second time, someone splashed yellow paint all over James’s face, and Never had no choice but to paint over it. “If it had been a car, it would have been totaled,” he said. Back in Venice Beach, Never painted a new mural during the middle of the N.F.L. season, replacing LeBron James with Derwin James, a safety for the Los Angeles Chargers. The mural has been up for months, Never said, and no one has touched it.
Pud
Telling.
LeBron James is such a polarizing figure. I hope that the other NBA stars don't try to emulate him. They will not have the personality to pull it off. We can already see the LeBron influence on KD causing locker room trouble in the Bay Area. Alvin Gentry ended up saying that Anthony Davis got bad advise. I can't wait for this era of LeBron James to come to an end, basically an era where some players start thinking that they are bigger than the game that makes them.
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Post by Admin on Apr 11, 2019 21:23:26 GMT -5
Polarizing ... when Magic realized how difficult it would be to attract 1-2 more star players and having James wasn't helping any, he stepped down sooner rather than later:
Magic Johnson's resignation leaves LeBron James staring at dark Lakers future
By Sean Deveney(Getty Images) The life of LeBron James, Los Angeles entertainment mogul, has been going well enough in his first nine months in town. He’s had some success with his self-serving chat-a-thon, "The Shop," on HBO and has hit some bumps with "Million Dollar Mile," a competition show which pits athletes against citizens making a run for prize money. That show was bumped by CBS to the moribund Saturday time slot after just two episodes. The life of LeBron James, Los Angeles Laker, has been more "Mile" than "Shop." On Tuesday, James’ situation with the Lakers may have crumbled altogether, the prospects of him ever being able to bring the franchise back into championship contention disintegrating with the sudden departure of team president Magic Johnson. On announcing his resignation, Johnson said he wanted to get back to being Magic Johnson, chatting and tweeting with players without the weight of tampering charges looming over him. The Lakers job, he said, was not fun. That’s an ominous sign for James and Lakers backers everywhere. The timing is especially distressing. If Johnson had real confidence that he would be able to entirely rebuild the team’s roster this summer, there’s no way he’d bail out here in mid-April. If he thought there was a chance — even a 50-50 shot — that he could bring in the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis by trade and/or a max free agent like Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson or Jimmy Butler, he’d still be running the Lakers. At worst, in that scenario, Johnson could be there to make his pitch to free agents. If it failed, he could then say, "I’m accountable," and resign. By quitting now, without giving previous warning to owner Jeanie Buss, Johnson is essentially conceding that the Lakers’ summer prospects are bleak. Remember, when Johnson took the job in February 2017, one of his selling points was his ability to be a selling point. The Lakers had famously struck out on a series of free agents, and Johnson’s star power was expected to strengthen their ability to pitch the franchise to players. Johnson got James last summer. But that was it. It didn’t take Johnson to lure James, either. James was heading to the Lakers to increase his entertainment portfolio, Magic or no Magic. As for supporting transactions, Johnson did not make a trade for Leonard, and did not even get a meeting with Paul George, who decided to stay in Oklahoma City before free agency officially hit. He was not able to bend the NBA to his will this winter when the Lakers pursued a Davis trade. Johnson got the message. This wasn’t going to be as easy as sitting across from a free agent, dazzling him with the well-known Magic smile and making the Lakers great again. Having James on board, Johnson discovered, didn’t necessarily make things easier, either.
The number of free agents looking to join forces with James as he careens toward into the back half of his 30s, it turns out, is limited.
That doesn’t bode well for James in Los Angeles. He was fantastic this season — 27.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 8.3 assists per game — but suffered the first major injury of his career and was inadvisably critical of his young teammates, making his own contributions to a disastrous season.
Perhaps Johnson could imagine sitting down with, say, Leonard and saying, "LeBron’s getting older and he might throw you under the bus, but come be a Laker!" No amount of dazzle in the smile can make that an attractive pitch.
James can only wonder what’s next. Will the Lakers bring back Jerry West, who is 80 and enjoying his time with the Clippers? Would they make a play for Kobe Bryant, who almost certainly does not want the job? How about Buss’ ex, Phil Jackson, who was sniffing around Lakerland earlier this season? Try to poach Bob Myers from the Warriors?
Heck, how about turning the tables and hiring Dell Demps? (Kidding.)
The bigger issue for James is whether whomever the Lakers hire to replace Johnson can add two top-tier stars to the roster, whether a deal can be made for Davis and another player can be persuaded to come aboard. James can’t win with the Lakers’ current roster.
But Johnson’s resignation signals that at least one guy with knowledge of the situation — Johnson himself — doesn’t think it can happen. He’d still be in his job if he thought it could.
So what we saw this year might be what we get from James’ Lakers tenure. It’s increasingly likely that James the mogul will produce more television programs in Los Angeles than James the Laker will produce playoff appearances.
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Post by Admin on Apr 11, 2019 21:32:05 GMT -5
Magic Johnson's terrible Lakers tenure ends with an embarrassment of epic proportions By Joe Morgan
(Getty Images)
LeBron James knew his attempt to turn around the Lakers was going to be difficult, but there’s no way he knew he would end up in this kind of circus.
In one of the most bizarre moments we’ve seen in recent NBA history, Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson announced Tuesday evening he was stepping down immediately, addressing the media before the team's regular-season finale against the Trail Blazers.
Tuesday was supposed to be the merciful end to a disastrous first season with James in Los Angeles, but there was reason for hope. Johnson promised to land at least one other superstar this summer to help James compete in the loaded Western Conference. He had visions of restoring the Lakers brand and bringing back "Showtime" vibes.
Instead, Johnson decided that quitting on his organization was the best option.
"I had more fun on the other side than on this side," Johnson said during his impromptu press conference. "Because now, tomorrow, I would have to affect someone’s livelihood and their lives. That’s not fun for me. That’s not who I am. I want to go back to having fun."
What exactly did Johnson think this job entailed? He accepted the president title fully knowing the duties and responsibilities. The Lakers are always in championship-or-bust mode, something he learned as a player. A little over two years in, he didn't just fall short of expectations — he failed spectacularly, leaving the franchise in embarrassing fashion.
A brief history of his marquee moves...
— Johnson decided to trade D'Angelo Russell back in 2017 after just two short seasons in LA. At the time, the move didn’t look terrible, as Russell had not made significant strides in his early years.
But after a season in which Russell earned an All-Star nod for the first time and led the Nets to a surprising playoff berth, it's clear Johnson made the wrong call. He couldn't even stop himself from bringing up the old maturity criticism he had for Russell years ago.
— In 2017, when Paul George requested a trade from Indiana, he made it abundantly clear that he intended to eventually join the Lakers. Los Angeles didn't acquire George via trade, but Johnson did receive a fat tampering fine from the league office for openly talking about George.
Fast forward to free agency in 2018, and the Lakers weren’t even granted a meeting. (By the way, George hit the game-winner for Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.)
— The decision to select Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft wasn't a shocker, as the UCLA guard was a highly-regarded prospect.
However, reports have since surfaced saying Johnson may have preferred De'Aaron Fox over Ball. It also hurts to know Jayson Tatum was the very next pick in that draft. Both Fox and Tatum have shown much more potential to this point, but more importantly, they've been able to stay on the court and avoid injuries, unlike Ball.
— Then there was a plethora of head-scratching decisions over the past year. Johnson and the Lakers allowed Julius Randle to walk for nothing. They easily could have re-signed Brook Lopez, who has been a key cog in the Bucks' rotation.
Despite the LeBron-plus-shooters formula leading to success with James' previous teams, Johnson signed Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Michael Beasley in the offseason. And at the trade deadline, the Lakers inexplicably sent Ivaca Zubac across the hall to the Clippers in order to obtain the services of... Mike Muscala.
— Oh, right. The Anthony Davis debacle at the deadline. That whole thing left a giant fracture in the locker room, and Johnson's response was to essentially tell his players to toughen up.
As it turns out, Johnson was never fit for the job, and he never seemed particularly interested in doing the work.
He departs the Lakers at the most inopportune time. He couldn’t stomach making a difficult decision on the future of coach Luke Walton. He leaves that to general manager Rob Pelinka and owner Jeanie Buss. With his free-agency promises looking bleaker by the day, he preferred to bail rather than face the prospect of striking out this summer.
By proclaiming that the Lakers organization has a bright future ahead, he takes zero responsibility for the mess he's left behind.
Johnson will always be remembered as one of the greatest Lakers of all time, perhaps the greatest to ever wear the purple and gold. His time on the floor will never be forgotten.
But his time in the front office will be viewed as a complete and utter failure. The only thing Johnson has from his brief tenure is the hope that the past two years will not tarnish the rest of his Lakers legacy.
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Post by puddin on Apr 12, 2019 19:40:41 GMT -5
Luke Walton has just followed Magic out the door.... right after management showed young Luke the door.
What a mess in Tinsletown!
Pud
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Post by cole on Apr 4, 2022 18:18:38 GMT -5
Spam
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Post by elvissurfs on Apr 5, 2022 9:18:10 GMT -5
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